May 7th, 2013
 Hamming it up ‘In the Dream’
One of my favorite rolls as an ‘Elder Artist’ is mentoring and demonstrating the Art/Life for those who are coming up to break new creative ground…this past few weeks has been rich in opportunity…from hosting a group of MOCA teen art apprentices who visited my studio to my being with over a thousand students in two different schools. There is an aliveness that saturates the atmosphere, it’s tangible and I soak it up. It sinks into me through osmosis and I become infused with possibility simply by being in the company of those who have not forgotten how to dance.
 Nature table 
I travel with my nature collections and share Q&A sessions that are robust and inspired…
 Memory Drawing I offer a three part drawing challenge, a brain game, that always makes for a lively sense of adventure and exploration…here is the last piece of the experience…the memory drawing…they are the most exciting and unexpected of course.
I also had the chance to create in an unexpected way by accepting the invitation to help design the outdoor setting for a back yard wedding…one concern that needed to be addressed was the walkway which brought guests into the ceremony cite…for that I made banners inspired by prayer flags:
 Cottons and Batik…a Black n’ White theme
 The completed main, one of five strings
 Doing what they’re meant to do…
Here’s to the dance of possibility…
and of course…to Luna See as we Follow the Moon.
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March 25th, 2013
GIBBOUS GREETINGS – March 23, 2013
Happy Vernal Equinox!
The astrological new year begins with the Sun’s ingress into Aries. We embark on this new year less than half way through the Pisces lunation cycle, giving us the chance to absolve the past and initiate our vision for the future As I said last month, this is the year to transform our vision of the future and what better time to practice the art of adjusting our vision, than the Gibbous Phase each cycle
Pisces Lunation
March 11 – April 9
The focus of this 29.6-day cycle is on dissolution, release and surrender. Pray for inspiration, compassion and empathy. Blessings come with completion. Meditate on the fulfillment of work well done. Dream of the future possibilities for the seeds of your accomplishment.
Pisces correlates to Purity on the Medicine Wheel where free from discordant qualities one transcendes the personality and merges with the whole.
Use this cycle to tap into your creative imagination and/or get in touch with your spiritual path. This cycle provides the opportunity to listen to the voice within. Feel your way. Impressions are important. Bring your illusions and delusions out into the light and have a good look.
Become a mystic; let your intuition guide you through illusion.
Affirm: I believe in the power of love
Gibbous Phase – Time for Creative Adjustment
March 23 – March 25
Sun at 03 Aries 16
Moon at 18 Leo 16
Analyze your feelings, especially those surrounding children and/or creative projects. Examine and refine how your need for attention qualifies the attainment of your goals. Trust in your creativity.
What pictures were you framing in your mind’s eye during this lunation cycle’s New Phase (March 11 – 14)? Refresh your memory by referring to your appointment book, your journal, your calendar, or even emails you sent and received. What movies did you see, or TV shows did you watch? Whatever was visually stimulating to you then, can now be seen and uderstood more clearly.
What actions did you take during the First Quarter phase (March 19 – 22)? What can you glean from the initial results of those actions. Did the results of your actions meet your expectations? What was the motivation underlying your actions?
Let your curoisity lead you to discover new information. Look for ways to express who you are through the lens of your spirituality. Set your ego aside. Consider how you demonstrate your love for others and what kind of impression that makes.
Questions to ponder for insight:
- What inspires you?
- How do you access the sacred space within?
- Do you listen to your intuition?
- When do you feel most at peace?
- What triggers your doubts and feeds your anxieties?
- How does your communication reflect your truth?
- When do you feel most protective of your privacy and why?
- What is your dearest illusion?
A short meditation to assist with your revisioning:
- Relax, center, and balance.
- Align with your core. Connect with your essence, the creative spark that dwells in your heart.
- Visualize your goal with ingenious simplicity.
- Restate your goal for the cycle in ten words or less.
- Envision how your world will look upon achievement of your goal.
- Make an image of your goal. See it in your mind’s eye.
- Put yourself into that image. Do you look changed?
For greater effectiveness, give your vision form. Draw a picture, take a photo, make a collage.
With the Moon in Leo, I’d like to share an article by Michael Michalko, “Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking.”
Here is the first thing he lists:
- “You are creative. The artist is not a special person, each one of us is a special kind of artist. Every one of us is born a creative, spontaneous thinker. The only difference between people who are creative and people who are not is a simple belief. Creative people believe they are creative. People who believe they are not creative, are not. Once you have a particular identity and set of beliefs about yourself, you become interested in seeking out the skills needed to express your identity and beliefs. This is why people who believe they are creative become creative. If you believe you are not creative, then there is no need to learn how to become creative and you don’t. The reality is that believing you are not creative excuses you from trying or attempting anything new. When someone tells you that they are not creative, you are talking to someone who has no interest and will make no effort to be a creative thinker.”
In joyful spirit,
Sandra Mosley
Sandra@ZodiaArts.com
The function of the Gibbous Phase is to renew the passion of the New Phase via REFINEMENT and REVISION.
The Gibbous Phase always follows a period of rapid growth. Recent actions begin to show results. This is the filtering & adjustment stage of the cycle, during which we look for ways to enhance and strengthen our vision. Review your patterns and consider making appropriate changes
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March 12th, 2013
| Fourth Lunation 2013: Purity/Clarity Moon March 11 – April 10, 2013
|
Welcome to the Fourth Lunation, March Equinox and the beginning of the Natural New Year!
The 2013 focus is on relationship stability. As Luna-tics we consider this within the context of relating with the inner masculine and feminine. We can look at the map above and imagine that the light side represents the masculine ‘go forth’ quality of the coming six months of spring/summer in the Northern Hemisphere. We can look at the shadowed side as the intuitive/receptive feminine of fall/winter. In following the natural cycles of the seasons we can foresee the beauty of our creativity being enhanced by relating with our personal light and shadow. Exploring the action-oriented masculine and the quiet/responsive feminine can bring an extraordinary and sustainable harmony.
During the days between now and the equinox release impurities that might hamper the birth of the Art/Life vision that you have been dreaming during the past ninety days.
With the Vernal Equinox we enter the East Gate of the natural calendar and shift away from the feminine focus of the past six months and turn toward the masculine desire to accomplishment. Herein lays a paradox: even as the masculine energy begins to move us forward into the new growth and evolution of the six months ahead the feminine energy isn’t disappearing… you can still feel the pulse. To help integrate the feminine quieting of the last six months into the masculine ability to stake claim to new territory we have the help of the ME/muse (the inner feminine intuitive urge). It’s a wobble of sorts as we adjust our relationship with these two aspects of the self… requesting that they work together as the new 90 day pathway opens creates a fertile ground for your seed vision. The feminine desire to rest and dream now relates to the masculine need to push forward and outward with the aim to achieve. This will be an exceptional natural year as we work consciously with this infinitely inexhaustible greater realm of creativity and self-expression.
The 3 Eastern/Spring ‘ME’ moons:
April look: clarity in areas where you sense confusion
May look: for wisdom and understanding
June look: for illumination and the AHA! Light bulb going on
The March 11th New Moon brings us full circle on the natural calendar. Ten days into the cycle places us on the threshold of the Spring Quadrant.
This is an exciting, enlivening, radically uplifting time for visualizing the seed idea that we intend to plant, nurture and grow during this first 90 days of the new circle walk.
Ask the Masculine/Sky Father to assist the ‘art of the start’ for you. During the last cycle you took note of your relations… now you can see your greatest opportunities for new beginning. Take time in these days prior to the March Equinox to hold an image, make some sketches, and write in your journal about the value of the situations, circumstances and relationships most in need of your investment.
How much stronger can you become this year?
During this first moon of the 90-day Spring/ME quadrant take time to visualize your direction. These 90 days are perfect for bringing out into the open the inward dreams that came to visit you since December 20.
Having gone into the depth of your Art/Life intentions over the past 8 weeks you now have a conscious relationship with the Mystery/The Divine Feminine/Inner Muse. You’ve inspired your greater dreams and renewed your creative focus… now the joy of visualizing what’s possible comes into play.
Here’s my short story:
I slowed myself down over the past six months.
I tapped into natural time and really invested in a gentle pace and a going deeper within.
I discovered a very uncomfortably edgy place. I began actively dreaming and reconsidering the next step in my Art/Life. From there I sensed a change coming and the desire to adjust my direction. Having walked around the wheel of life 64 times (23,376 days) I felt the need for a more current, truer fit.
For my birthday, I gifted myself with a re-dedication to the 60-Day Non-Human Program… I’ve invested in this experience many times and I can highly recommend it during the Purity cycle of any year. If there is ever a time when you feel the need to release a buildup of energy that feels off center this 60-day practice can purify areas that you didn’t even realize you contained, much less held fast to.
Appreciate Relationship Balance
This cycle is an excellent time for initiating your goals in any area of your Art/Life. Goals provide focus and framework. Goals allow intention to unfold. The ninety days of the spring quadrant are tailor made for your best goal setting advantage. This is the time to wake-up the impulses and passions that are in your heart. Dance with your goals. Drum out the rhythm of your goals… make them come alive. Tell your inner masculine and your inner feminine what your goals and intentions are… let these inner partners assist and represent your strengths moving forward.
This month relate to self through the eyes of the masculine. The masculine lives in the realm of ‘let’s make it happen’. At the same time practice balancing with your feminine side by recognizing her role in inspiring the masculine action that will unfold in the coming six months.
Ask yourself: What does a balanced relationship with my inner masculine and feminine feel like? What is my most balanced relationship model? Where am I out of alignment?
Equation to consider: pure intention + vision = healthy goal
Creative Exercise: see, sense and feel what you intend to grow this year
Best action for this Moon: be alert. Be awake. Pay attention
Keywords that enhance Purity/Clarity energy: action, compassion, completion, evolve, finish, forgive, humanitarian, impersonal love, mercy, service, still, visualize, volunteer
Keywords that pull Purity/Clarity energy away: aimless, debts, judgmental, narrowed interests, narrow minded, neglected friendships, self-righteous, unfulfilled
Purity/Clarity Homework: Follow Zodiac Arts Monthly Moon Phase Calendar. Visualize your goals as you distill and clarify your dreams adding color to the New Moon Mandala Design.
© Donna Iona Drozda, all rights reserved. Please feel free to share with friends while also including copyright information.
Lifecycle Forecast: Luna See© is written by artist/author/educator Donna Iona Drozda. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to:
drozda@donnaionadrozda.com
At ‘Luna See’ we share ‘the art of personal energy management’ following the moon through the Natural Year: March Equinox to June Solstice to September Equinox to December Solstice and back around to March… spiraling through the cycles of the seasons. In addition to the ‘Luna See’ monthly newsletter, there is the weekly ‘Following the Moon’ blog post. There are also e-Studios that assist you in aligning your creative energies with the natural rhythms of the year-by-year spiral dance.
Join our mailing list which is never sold, never shared.
www.donnaionadrozda.com
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February 26th, 2013
 Step 1: Paper mache covers guitar I send all best to you as we wind down this mysterious time of the natural year when deep internal realignment takes place preparing us for the approaching 90 days of spring.
I’ve invested this moon in renewing my heart. I’ve been sitting in the quiet of my studio creating a tribute to my dear friend and mentor Ann Dearsley Vernon.
The video shows Ann’s art created in the 12 months following a cutting edge medical treatment, the insertion of an LVAD. The procedure gave Ann a new lease on life…her vitality and passion soared and her paintings flowed like the newly revitalized blood in her veins.
On December 12 at 2am Ann suffered a massive stroke. Since that time she has been unable to communicate clearly and her time is spent in physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions. Every aspect of her recovery is made more complicated and affected by the LVAD that literally keeps her on the planet.
Honoring the family’s request for holding back and not flooding her with visitors I sat and wondered what I could do so that my love for her was being directed in a healthy way. When the idea came: create a tribute…every step fell into place.
 Step 2: gesso applied to guitar & stitched image transfer of Ann Vernon painting is placed Along came the call for artists to create an ‘instrument of art’ for the 6th annual Sea Level Festival’s . Both Ann and I have been active with Tidewater Arts Outreach since it began in 2004. TAO is the organization that hosts the SeaLevel Festival and so I accepted the half size guitar offered to me and went into the studio.
A work of art using someone elses images, in this case Ann Vernon’s paintings as transfers, became my new experience as I moved forward to create a tribute to her life well lived.
 Step 3: begin to lay in color& texture
 Step 4: layers of paint carved with transfer applied
 Step 5: back of guitar with repeat transfer of Ann’s painting of her fall in the garden
 Step 6: side panel with transfer of Ann’s painting of ‘Word Salad’  Step 7: side panel with Ann and her painting ‘My
Mechanical Heart’As we move into the last weeks of the winter ‘Mystery’ quadrant of this year’s natural wheel I dream of best health to heart and world.
Enjoy your Luna See
d
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January 31st, 2013
 Fishin’ (detail) Drozda acrylic/canvas, 2008
The hand is directly connecting us
to the pathways of the heart.
What we make with our hands
keeps those pathways humming.
Barbara Bash
Welcome to ‘Following the Moon’ where La Luna leads the way to slow the flow of time.
Over the last few moons…going back to the September Equinox…I’ve been gathering evidence for the sanity of really really really sinking into the yearly quadrant patterns.
Here’s a brief review of primary Luna-tic behavior…it reaps rewards as it calms time down…I’m reminded of the song we sang in childhood:
Row row row your boat gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily , merrily life is but a dream.
The operative urging here is to row downstream, with the current, and there are three ‘rows’ and four ‘merrilys’ and that says a lot for how luna-tics work with time. Do you keep a journal?…you may find it interesting to add these quadrants to your yearly calendar and begin taking note of your observations…
March Equinox to June Solstice: place a healthy focus on self and plant a seed vision.
June Solstice to September Equinox: focus on relationships with others and grow your vision in collaboration.
September Equinox to December Solstice: begin to relax your relationship with life and slow it down…making space to listen…there’s a harvest to attend to.
December Solstice to March Equinox: lean into the Mystery and dream what will be…set a new seed vision into your heart/mind.
Year after year consciously connecting to the 90 days quadrants becomes a creative frame. In 2013, as we add in the global vibrational field (read the LIFECYCLE FORECAST 2013) we can engage a deliberate and new relationship with time. This is a year for looking at the world through the third eye of inner vision/intuition. We can remind and share that idea with one another and see where it leads us…moon by moon.
Here are the moon/months within the seasonal quadrants including the keyword/point of access… rule of thumb, since this is a year for practicing inner vision: look inward before acting outward.
The 3 Northern/Winter ‘MYSTERY’ moons:
January look: for purification through cleansing your thoughts and projections
February look: for renewal of your most impossible Art/Life dream
March look: for integrity in all your relations as you prepare to midwife the next phase of your dream into being
The 3 Eastern/Spring ‘ME’ moons:
April look: for clarity of seeing/ ‘Clear-seeing’ is shamanistic (NOTE: the Aries new moon begins the Natural Calendar year)
May look: for wisdom/ see what is valued deeply/ notice what you care for and what you will tend for the year ahead
June look: for ‘light’/ see your brilliance as well as that which is radiating from all living beings
For the 3 Southern/Summer ‘OTHERS’ moons:
July look: for expansion and growth/see the best of what you can offer in this most evolutionary time
August look: for and trust that what is seen from within is true for you and worthy of your trust
September look: for love and find love in your relationship with self, others, life and mystery… everywhere
The 3 Western/Autumn ‘LIFE’ moons:
October look: for experience of relating with a quiet mind and gentle heart…make notes of what Life brings this month…this is a preview point for 2014
November look: for death and look for rebirth and see that they are both and each as natural as your own breathing
December look: for strength and recognize the calm that comes with the light that shines from within you and outward to all those your Art/Life touches
WALKING THE WHEEL IN RELATIONSHIP
2013 is a powerful year for trusting and adjusting. See if your intuition provides prompts to help you up-level and open wide to your relationship with your Art/Life.
Ask: what do I want to have come of this time? What is this time for?
My Short story:
A relationship vision that I’ve held for many years is that of supporting my partner BD and her dream of reclaiming ravaged land (in this case 50 acres that was brutally clear-cut in 2009).
In 2010 she purchased the bones of this ‘scape…and we now serve as witness to the rebirth of a land she has named ‘Blue Bird Gulch’.
She has, for the thirty years of our relationship, spoken of what it would mean to grow a “Henry Moore forest” … for a long and long time BD has talked about her seed dream…her impossible dream…that of being able to stand as a witness to the healing of injured land. Land that she would offer the time to heal on its own. Blue Bird Gulch (BBG) now serves as our shared ‘landscape laboratory’. She immediately built 8 blue bird houses and she took the intiative to have 7000 pine tree seedlings planted within weeks of purchase.
She is keeping the land off the grid, solar panels for a minimal amount of power, composting toilet, sun shower. No wi-fi, no data.
She care-takes BBG as it reclaims its forested self….and I bow in her direction and say ‘Thank you’. I am drawn to this open silent healing place. It reminds me of any one of us when we have been traumatized and need to rest and reclaim a sense of who we are now…now, post trauma on the other side of that….where scar tissue forms and a very differnt level of strength comes. I give thanks that my Art/Life now relates to this damaged yet vibrantly healing breathing space reminding me of the power of each of us and for all of us to be about the healing work of the Art/Life.
I’ll share bits of this journey with you as we walk the wheel together this year…here are a few images to begin…
 2010 the day BD signs the papers on the land
 2010 clear cut landscape
 2010 bringing in the first blue bird houses
 2010 bluebirds arrive within three weeks of the houses going up  2010 blue bird nest box
-
 2011 the blue bird field
 2011 the road to the upper field and cabin site
2012 the Nugget our little retreat cabin
Round we go…creating the Art/Life by ‘Following the Moon’…
Bodhi and JuneBug in the stream at Blue Bird Gulch…
 Bodhi and JuneBug exploring the stream
I send you so much quiet joy from the land of puppy love.
d
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January 24th, 2013
 My rescued pup…December 10, 2012
What a difference 90 plus days make. Here’s my new dear companion…meet Bodhi…she’s a little less than a year old and I found her at the Virginia Beach SPCA on December 10. We’ve had a bit of time to get to know one another and we’re happily racking up the miles as we walk the wooded neighborhood or the maritime forest paths at the park right across from the beaches of the Chesapeake Bay…she’s a happy girl.
Shortly after she arrived so did her new sister…meet JuneBug, born October 1 and truly full of herself and all that each day offers.
It’s been a long time since ’Following the Moon’ posted yet truly, and wonderfully, La Luna has been in the lead the whole way.
Instead of posting here, or anywhere, there’s been a lot, a lot of long-hand (ahhh…don’t you love the feel of the pen gliding across the page taking a line for a walk ‘-) writing and drawing going on and out of that some new sense of space has been created. That space has been made up of silence in both long walks and in taking an opportunity, during the quieting time of the natural year to simply step back. I have learned anew that trusting the feminine process of being, as in ’not doing’, is clearly… not easy….somewhat unnerving…but oh my…I begin to sense into how excellent the dividends and possibility can be. Right here. Right now.
In conjunction with Following the Moon…each year since 1998 between October and December I write the Yearly Lifecycle Forecast. This is a way of walking around the natural wheel of the year in tune with the cycles and the seasons while also aligning with the global energy that can drive creativity in an uplifting and impassioned way.
Year after year Lifecycle Forecast is a creative way of looking at and mapping a new relationship with time.
The article is always published by my friends, and fellow ‘Luna-tics’, Sandra and David Mosley over at ZodiacArts…also on their site…throughout the year, at the New Moon, I add the current natural/creative energy read.
Round we go…creating the Art/Life by ‘Following the Moon’.
The 2013 Lifecycle Forecast article is long I know… (it addresses the energy that will be visiting all year)…and our attention span is known to be shorter all the time…so the article is something that can be bookmarked and savored.
Check it out at Zodiacarts or download and print the 2013 Lifecycle Forecast PDF file here: LIFECYCLE
FORECAST 2013 that way you can have it on your bedstand for a lovely bedtime slow down read.
I send you so much quiet joy from the land of puppylove.
d
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August 25th, 2012
 The start of the Healing Garden design installation, Drozda, 2012 Welcome to ‘Following the Moon’ and the First Quarter Phase (August 24-August 27).
It’s time for taking concerted action…and for knowing how to step onto your life stage dancing fluidly, joyfully and with creative passion. Naturally we stumble, and sometimes we fall, yet at this place on the yearly wheel it serves us well to remember that we can pick ourselves up and take that next step… and the next.
I’ve been having an amazing time, step by step, dancing into several new creative projects….The first project… shown above… is the installation of my design for the Robert Calloway Memorial Healing Garden. Native plants will be going in this next couple of weeks. The dedication takes place on September 21…it will be a wonderful Equinox celebration with a full day Equinox Creativity workshop taking place on September 22 in the Lorain County Community College Stocker Art Gallery. These events are free to all …come by if you’re near Elyria, Ohio.
I hope that you’ll visit my new public art project ‘Life in Transit’ and click through to the Face Book page and LIKE the page. It’s so helpful when we support one another in the dance of life.
August, each year, is the time to allow your radiance to shine. Be talking to your brilliance…know one else came to share the gifts that only you bring.
Speaking of shine…let me once again share with you the monthly entry written by my dear sister/friend Sandra Mosley at ZodiacArts…we love to dance the wheel together…
1ST QUARTER GREETINGS – August 24, 2012
Sandra Mosley here.
The Leo New Moon on August 17 began a 29.6-day cycle highlighting children, courage, creativity, ego, drama, generosity, heart, loyalty, playfulness, pride, self-expression and sincerity.
During this lunation we have the opportunity to honor the child within. The tendency is to relegate play to childhood and limit it for ourselves as we mature. However, play frees the mind, generates new ideas, and loosens the body. Play is rejuvenating.
Develop a new appreciation for recreation and re-creation.
Leo correlates to Trust on the Medicine Wheel. Arriving from the place of Growth developed during the Cancer lunation, we now enter the space of Trust. Trust is based on belief, confidence, commitment, dependability, and reliance. This is where we develop faith in our safety and survival.
During the 1st Quarter phase of this cycle it’s important to take action that supports the expression of will and creativity. Broaden your outlook. Identify and break away from restrictive details and/or bondage to old beliefs that limit your expression.
Here are some suggestions for “Moving With Spirit” during this 1st Quarter phase (August 24 – 27):
Register for For Purpose, Inc.’s 20th annual conference, “Creating with Spirt”
Go Outside
- Go camping and tell stories around a campfire
- Hike a mountain trail
- Hug a tree
- Run or ride a bike in a marathon
Enhance Your Creativity
Make your movements grand, enthusiastic, and passionate — go DanceWalking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib3Duz_6a9M
Questions to consider during this phase:
- How do I express myself
- What situations tug at my heart?
- What brings me joy?
- When am I most confident and courageous?
- Where and with whom could I be more generous with my affection?
- When do I feel most vital?
- Who in my life is an example of a good steward?
This cycle we have the opportunity to practice “Moving with Spirit” by answering the 1st Quarter “Call to Action” through the filter of Leo. When we have trust, we expect the best and are able to create a heartfelt joyful life of love.
Affirm: “I am a radiant child of light.”
May we walk together in trust.
Until next month,
Aloha
Visit ZodiacArts to Follow the Moon with Sandra
On Monday, August 27 -August 31 we dance across the stage enjoying the Gibbous Phase…this is our opportunity, during this Love Moon, cycle to truly, deeply engage the love that you have for the Art/Life that you’re living…in Gibbous the idea is to invest in creating and at this time of year it’s about actively creating what you LOVE. Surely those aspects of your life that you love will make you dance dance dance.
May it be so.
 Dance Life, Drozda, 2006 Until ya can’t dance no more…
 I Die Daily, Drozda, Journal entry, 2002
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July 20th, 2012
 Leo-Opposite hand Tarot, Drozda, mixed media, 1993 I hope you’ve had a fabulous Growth Moon and here we are…in the blink of an eye…
Welcome to the New Trust Moon. As we are well aware it requires strength to cultivate trust. I truly appreciate that in a subtle way each year, at this place on the Natural Calendar, we have the opportunity to set a vision for where we choose to invest our Trust. Being born in February my moon/month keyword gift is Renewal…now half way round the wheel… is where I discover my opposite point and the challenge/opportunity for growth. Year by year I learn a bit more about surrendering fears, known and unknown, and trusting Life.
These polarities exist for each of us and it does no harm to tap into yours. Find your birth month: there lies your gift. Find the month half way round the wheel:there lies your challenge/opportunity…
THE NATURAL YEAR STARTS WITH:
APRIL…CLARITY
MAY…WISDOM
JUNE…ILLUMINATION
JULY…GROWTH
AUGUST…TRUST
SEPTEMBER…LOVE
OCTOBER…EXPERIENCE
NOVEMBER…INTROSPECTION
DECEMBER…STRENGTH
JANUARY…CLEANSING
FEBRUARY…RENEWAL
MARCH…PURITY
Thursday, July 19 through Sunday, July 22 is the New Trust Moon. Hold a vision of Trust. Ask, “In what have I come to trust since Spring Equinox? Now roots are sinking deep…it’s a very active time…how is your sense of stability and balance?
The Crescent phase begins on Sunday, July 22 (early evening, EDT) and provides time for research. Research your vision of Trust. This unfolding continues until Thursday, July 26 in the predawn. What’s emerging for you? What might you share with Others?
 Swallowtails emerging, Drozda, 2012 Here at Wren House we support our local Black Swallowtail butterflies by keeping a nursery for their eggs and developing caterpillars. Fifteen years of research has shown that without a support system they become instant snack food. Cardinals coming to the bird bath, next to the fennel, love to gobble them up.
I send to all a rooted trust that Life supports us and wishes us deep strength and courage as we create an Art/Life of beauty and depth.
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June 16th, 2012
 Plein Aire Painters in My Garden, Drozda, 2012 Welcome to Following the Moon…can you sense into and feel the need for an Art/Life stretch? It’s Growing-pain time…and that’s meant to be a healthy and beneficial sensation.
Week by week , as Luna-tics, we engage the natural rhythm of the moon cycles and the seasons to find our current creative flow. This week we end the ‘Illumination’ Moon cycle . Illumination visits each year during the Moon of June. Of course nature could care less about our calendars and not every moon falls exactly within the confines of a month. For example, currently we’re experiencing the half n’ half quality of the new moon falling at the midpoint of the month. This makes for an interesting opportunity to straddle our keywords…the moon cycle now closing is the Wisdom/Illumination cycle.
We’re in the Balsamic Phase between now and Tuesday’s New Moon. Each month these last several Balsamic days, prior to the New Moon, are perfect for dreaming. What do you dream of growing in the cycle ahead?
The New Moon, beginning on Tuesday, June 19, brings us the Illumination/Growth cycle. In June, July and August we’re looking at the most fertile and expansive period of the Natural Year. Whatever you are intending for the Natural Year’s walk from Equinox in March all the way round to next spring when we begin anew…really put a push on now.
Our opportunity to expand continues as we curve out of the first quadrant where the focus is on the alchemical , mystical, ‘ME/Muse’ and move through the doorway of the June 20, Solstice. into the second ninety day quadrant of the Natural Year where the appropriate opportunity is to be connecting with Others. We’ll have the next three moon/months to experience and express our growing communication skills.
Ask: Who inspired me early in my Art/Life? Who stands as a model for where Iwould like to grow?
Artist Dana Cunningham Anderson of ArtLightMedia.com is expanding with new ways to share her yearly ArtLight Quotation Calendar and the beauty that she brings to the world. Using an X-acto knife and a blend of media and message Dana combines the Neuland alphabet and other handcarved stamps, chalk pastel, cyanotype, monoprint, unmanipulated digital photography, and calligraphy, with meditation, prayer, chant, time in the garden, yoga and her focused presence:
 ArtLight Quotation Calendar 2012-June, Dana Cunningham Anderson We can, as balanced artists, ‘make haste slowly’ . We can each in our own way be “delicate in a hurry“…don’t you love that phrase! Even during this full-steam-ahead time of the Natural Year there is the capacity to hold a calmness and an empowered awareness (awe-wareness)…no acting hasty.
Pushing now might be best thought of as akin to birthing labor.
Isn’t it empowering to be aware (awe-ware) that concerted pressure must be applied and we must exert ourselves in order to midwife our creative vision.
Push on.
This is the first Moon/Month of the Second (ninety day) Quadrant of the Natural Year. The focus turns from Me/Muse to Others. I’m repeating this because this shift opens a doorway that is so exciting to explore. We open now to the ways in which we connect and communicate with the Others in our Art/Life….something wonderful can be grown in a new way with ‘All Our Relations’.
May your Art/Life blossom and bloom day by day
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May 29th, 2012
 Young Artists Entranced by Andy Warhol Silver Pillow, Drozda, MOCA, 2012 Welcome to Following the Moon…it’s the First Quarter phase of the Illumination cycle. Each year at this time we have the opportunity to push out and make contact with ‘lightening up’.
Once again I’m sharing my artist/friend Sandra’s writing. She publishes an essay on the First Quarter each moon/month…
The New Moon in Gemini on May 20 began a 29.6-day cycle, during which the emphasis is on information. The quality of our thoughts shapes the quality of our lives. Throughout this lunation, we are choosing what to bring into our consciousness, and thus into our experience. The results of our efforts will become evident seven months from now, during the Capricorn lunation. Consider the differences between reporting and gossip, knowledge and intelligence, versatility and superficiality.
This is a good cycle to engage in remedial studies, address transportation issues, or to make contact with others via correspondence and telephone.
Gemini correlates to Illumination on the Medicine Wheel. Arriving from the place of Wisdom developed during the Taurus lunation, we now occupy a place of illumination. Illumination allows us to interpret and make use of the clarity and wisdom gained thus far in the cycle that began with the Aries lunation. At this place in the cycle we develop a road map of sorts to guide us through the rest of the year.
During the 1st Quarter phase of this cycle it’s important to be discriminating. Pay close attention to everything heard and said. Filter out facts from speculation. Identify and break away from old mental patterns and styles of communication, especially as they occur in your daily activities and routines. Cultivate habits which make your communication more efficient.
Sometimes the smallest actions can have far-reaching effects and that is certainly true during this phase. Simple practices like counting silently to ten before responding to another in conversation.
Here are some additional suggestions for “Moving With Spirit” during this 1st Quarter phase (May 28 – 31):
Physical activity during this phase should be detailed and well-considered. All actions this phase need to be taken from a place of service and humility.
Questions to consider during this phase:
- How do you express your feelings of appreciation?
- When are you most verbal and what words do you use repeatedly?
- What triggers your curiosity?
- Where and with whom would it serve you best to speak your truth and communicate with greater clarity?
- How are your relationships with siblings and/or neighbors?
- What situations bring out the student, teacher or debater in you?
Affirm: “ I communicate with honor and sensitivity.”
May we walk the path of illumination together with humility and grace.
 Cosmic, Joanne Warfield, Photo, 2012 On Friday, June 1 and until Monday, June 4 at dawn, go over all the ‘Illuminating’ material that you’ve gathered since the cycle began (on May 20) create the beauty that only you can share. This entire cycle has us adventuring with words… see how lightly you can play with the way in which you communicate.
You might enlist lists as a tool…I have a favorite prompt :
“But along through those years I began to make lists of titles, to put down long lines of nouns. These lists were the provocations, finally, that caused my better stuff to surface. I was feeling my way toward something honest, hidden under the trapdoor on the top ofmy skull. The lists ran something like this:
THE LAKE. THE NIGHT. THE CRICKETS. THE RAVINE. THE ATTIC. THE BASEMENT. THE TRAPDOOR. THE BABY. THE CROWD. THE NIGHT TRAIN. THE FOG HORN. THE SCYTHE. THE CARNIVAL. THE CAROUSEL. THE DWARF. THE MIRROR MAZE. THE SKELETON. I was beginning to see a pattern in the list, in these words that I had simply flung forth on paper, trusting my subconscious to give bread, as it were, to the birds. Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
May your week sparkle and shine…
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Virginia
Beach,