Whether you believe in the power of the moon or not, this one will make you pause.
My first memory of her. Somewhere between Constantine and Laghouat, before dawn, I pressed my forehead against the dusty car window and watched the moon hover over the desert line. I must have been 5 years old.
Without thinking, I said, “That’s God’s bedroom.” My parents laughed, I shrugged. I didn’t have language for what I felt, I just knew that she wasn’t decoration.
When I created Yallah Zine, Maktoub Studio’s seasonal dispatch, I named one section the Moon Almanakh for us to pay attention. “If she’s a calendar, a compass, and the force behind our tides and our tempers, she cannot be ignored,” I thought.
That section is meant as an invitation to notice the season we’re in -in the world and in ourselves- so we can move with it instead of against it. Now the next few days will bring the mighty duo of a New Moon and a Solar Eclipse, so thought I’d talk about it.
The darkness of a new moon symbolizes making space for what wants to begin and eclipses are said to “interrupt” what’s familiar by dimming the usual light, to show us what we’ve been tolerating. I understand this as a metaphor: Disruption that brings clarity to help us begin anew. In that sense, this lunation feels like a widening.
Have you been negotiating with something you already know isn’t right? 🌙 The negotiation phase is ending.
Have you been carrying ideas that don’t fit the old version of your job or life? 🌙 You will feel them pressing more forcefully.
What have you been calling “circumstance” that is actually choice? 🌙 Clarity will expose it.
Have you outgrown certain rooms? 🌙 It’ll become harder to stay in them.
Given the rapid shifts reshaping the world as we know it, it feels that we are being pushed to become more honest with ourselves. So the question(s) this moon asks us to reflect on is “What feels true for ME now?” and “What future am I willing to help build?”
Because this energy goes beyond just supporting personal change, it supports collective action! It will force us collectively to come up with better systems and braver communities. We need to design creative ways of living that feel more aligned with self, others and our environment. And vision alone won’t cut it, the shift will require purposeful direction, or Niya fuelled by a steady fire, or Himma, to see it through.
Imagine being ready for what you can’t predict and meet it with both imagination and design. That’s disciplined freedom!
If you’re looking for a deliberate companion to navigate bold transitions such as these, consider the lunar rhythm and olive-rooted wisdom that shape Ayur & Azemur.
Moonologically yours,
Ratiba
