The Full Moon

There has been much discussion about the energies surrounding the full moon this week.  It has brought up a lot of emotions for many people.

The full moon is traditionally a time for releasing those issues which no longer serve us.  It is a time to look at where we are in relation to where we want to be in all aspects of our lives, and to release those issues which are holding us back or weighing us down.

For some, there is no need to know the cause of the emotions which the full moon brings; it is enough to acknowledge those emotions and to feel them fully.  If the emotion is sadness, then having a good cry helps us to release not only psychologically, but physically as well, particularly if our entire body is involved in the process with great heaving sobs.

If the emotion is happiness and joy, then it is not necessary for us to understand what it is which brought us this emotion, but to be grateful for it.  For joy is our natural state of being.  We can extend our joy and happiness into laughter, which is the best medicine for our mind and body, by watching funny movies or just playing with our pets.

If the emotion is anger, then it is a good time for us to learn that we don’t have to take out our anger on those we perceive to be the cause.  We can do as the ducks do with built-up negative energy, and flap our metaphoric wings.

But with anger, it could also be a good time to learn the lesson which Abraham has been keen to teach us: any negative emotion is merely an indication of a discrepancy between how Source energy (our inner being) sees an issue, and how we have been relating to it.

I had a good example during the week, which I am a little embarrassed to share with you.  A lot of people think that to become a spiritual teacher, one must first have overcome all of one’s shadows, and be living the life of a saint.  From my experience, we begin to teach what we, ourselves, need to learn.  Having learned that lesson, we are in a better position to assist others in learning that lesson, but there are always more lessons, and often we have to repeat a lesson in a slightly different way, just so we can fully understand all about it.

I was reminded just how far I am from becoming a saint when I was taking my beautiful, sweet dog, Cassie, for a walk on the beach.  She ran off to catch toad fish in the shallow pools.

Apart from being poisonous if ingested, these fish also have tiny barbs on their skin, which pierce the skin inside Cassie’s mouth with every chomp.  This causes a lasting infection if she is allowed to pursue her pleasure, as she is wont to do.  She loves the thrill of the chase and the wonderful feeling of revenge as she pierces their inflated bodies with her large canine teeth.

When she started to run off, I naturally called her back, in order to stop her from catching toad fish.  However, instead of returning to me, each call of her name or the word, come, seemed to have the opposite effect, as she seemed to pick up speed while running to the pool furthest away from me.

I would like to tell you that my anger, which increased with every step I took towards that distant pool, was due to my concern for Cassie’s welfare, and I could have convinced myself of that if I had tried.  But that would not explain the lashing out which happened when I finally caught her, as I slapped my dog hard across her rump and the side of her chest.

Prior to this incident, I had been enjoying a beautiful morning and a beautiful walk.  I had felt at peace and that all was right with the world.  At the time, I knew that my anger was more about being forced to leave that peace that I had found, instead of Cassie leaving her pursuit of pleasure to return to me.

As Cassie sat on the lead before me, she looked up at me with her once-again sweet face, and I knew then that she had become her wise self with another lesson for me.

We sat together on the sand, looking out at the water, and I spoke to my inner being, my Source, my God.  I felt very guilty for lashing out at Cassie, and I wanted to understand what had caused this outburst and how to stop it from reoccurring.

I began to understand that the lesson was relating to the teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Abraham.

I had allowed my ego to dictate my attitude to Cassie’s behaviour.  My ego was offended that Cassie had chosen her pleasure over mine.  I knew that the anger I had felt was an indication of the difference between the physical human me, and the spiritual God-like me, the potential saint in me.  So I asked this inner being “What would you have done differently?”

The answer came as:
“I would not have allowed Cassie to disturb my peaceful morning, my beautiful walk.  I would have allowed Cassie her pleasure in whatever form she desired, while taking my pleasure in whatever form I desired.”

I knew that this agreed with the teachings of Abraham, who has taught that I need not be affected by what someone else is doing, unless I allow myself to be.

“Even when her pleasure involves something detrimental to her health?” I asked.

“Yes”, came the response.

I knew that the ‘art of allowing’ is fundamental to the teachings of Abraham.  I knew that it made a lot of sense when Abraham, through Esther Hicks, related these words and the lessons which helped other people come to terms with this concept.  It is the art of allowing all that you desire to come to you, as you allow all that others desire to come to them.  It made so much sense when Abraham told us that we can’t achieve our happiness by trying to control other people’s behaviour.  It made so much sense when talking about other people and the world in general, but how could I take this lesson and apply it to my relationship with Cassie.

I knew that this required a letting go of control, a control that my ego was still unwilling to release.

I know that Source (God, the Creator) allows us to do things which are detrimental to our health, without interfering.  We are allowed to smoke, to drink to excess, to consume unhealthy food, to go to war.  We are provided with many teachers to point out the consequences of these unhealthy pursuits, but still we persist.

Could it be that in following these unhealthy pursuits that we are in the process of having our own spiritual lessons?  Is it possible that Cassie, too, will take some spiritual lesson from her pursuit of toad fish?

I am hoping that acknowledging this possibility is enough at this time, because I still don’t feel ready to let go.

This full moon has shone its light on another of my shadows.  The work I did with Debbie Ford’s online Shadow Effect course had helped me to illuminate some of my shadows, thus allowing me to integrate the light and the dark of those aspects into my life.

Debbie’s term for the way we normally deal with our shadows is ‘the beach ball effect’.  We try to submerge our shadow, just like trying to hold a beachball under water, but as soon as we are distracted, our shadow pops up, just as the beachball does.  Until we examine our shadows, we are so focused on holding down that beachball, that we have trouble really enjoying our lives.  We also have trouble making use of the positive aspect of that emotion, which resides at the opposite end of the spectrum from that shadow.

While I am still focusing on holding down my anger, I am not easily able to make use of that emotion which sees a situation it doesn’t like and wants to change it.  I am less of an effective activist than I could be if I could integrate the light and the dark aspects of my anger and put that emotion to use in bettering the world.

This is the other way to deal with those emotions which the full moon has brought up.  For some, it is time to examine the emotions, to find out how a deep-seated reaction to an issue from our past (generally our childhood) has been triggered by the full moon energy.  For those, it is time to look deeper, to do some shadow work, to go through what can be a painful exercise, but which leads to a brighter, lighter future.

What has the full moon energy been telling you?

Image courtesy of Exsodus / FreeDigitalPhotos.net