the feed is a practice... & where lotuses emerge
Hello to you as you are in this moment.
My hope is that this bi-weekly Moonletter meets you well exactly where you are, and is a reminder of your inherent enoughness and interconnection to the whole. Inspired by the framework of Cyclical Mindfulness, this space is both a practice for myself and an offering for you. May you take what resonates from these musings, inspirations, and creations, and leave the rest behind.
Pause into the present
I am tired. Sometimes I feel guilty for this. Then I remember empathy does take energy. But is a natural exchange, one I feel is fundamental.
Collective grief is present, and today I realized...
The Feed is a Practice
Always, but especially right now as we witness and attempt to stop a genocide, the feed (here or elsewhere) is a practice.
The feed is a practice of letting your heart break open
to allow space within times of change and pain,
to emerge from the debris of collective trauma & witnessing genocide
to reconnect with the potential that exists for a better world.
It's a practice of being present with cycles of the collective, while simultaneously balancing our personal patterns and phases.
It's a practice of being with all beings - facing towards the storm so we can be a flowing part of the weather rather than torn apart by it.
What is natural? Is it what happens without our say or how we interact and respond, relate and reciprocate?
I choose to keep my heart open, whether my eyes are open to receive, or when my eyes need a rest.
My hands held up in prayer, summoning, open to giving and receiving the wisdom, action and or presence that is needed.
I choose humanity. I choose to be present to the cycles.
First, I want to invite you into a Practice that might help with any overwhelm you may be feeling right now.
A Cyclical Mindfulness Practice for Collective Care:
- I ground into my humanity, I wait to respond, I root into my resources and foundational practices - caring for myself so that my nervous system does not burn out.
- I feel the weight of it all; the grief, the suffering of others, the calling to action by the breaking open of hearts. It is heavy, but I can hold it when I open to knowing I am not alone.
- I allow there to be uncertainty in times of change and crisis. Through this space and surrender, I can trust the cycles and listen for the right way to engage.
- I reflect & respond as I rise from this place of internal support into action - I offer what I can, and trust that even the smallest of acts counts as we work to create collective justice.
Notice the cycles
Current cycles and energy...
Our New Moon in the fixed water sign of Scorpio exacts at 4:27 am EST on November 13th, 2023.
(If you're reading this at a much later time, it's still relevant to reflect on your life around this time / season, especially in comparison to what's happening now.)
As always, this peak of the lunation cycle is just that; the energy of a transit affects our collective before and after this moment as well. Additionally, we continue to integrate the lessons of a transit well after it shifts - whether we're aware of it or not.
In the depths of a scorpio stellium, we are invited into not stagnancy but stillness. Not forcing our nervous systems, but honoring and listening to them.
There is both a heaviness and a buoyancy in the marshy/swampy depths - the kind of place where lily pads & lotuses emerge from the muck.
We are swimming where the lotus might emerge.
In scorpio we have our moon, sun and mars in mid-late degree scorpio - very fixed energy - accompanied by mercury in early sagittarius. Scorpio is a sign of the depths but it can also feel weighed down by all the subconscious awareness present here.
Today the fixed water sign is ruled by pluto, but its modern ruler is mars. This is really felt during this new moon conjunct mars, giving it the 'phoenix rising from the ashes' feeling. So beneath the debris of trauma, turmoil and injustice - there is an active hope still brewing, shifting the surface as we face the darkness of the depths.
These subcutaneous/subterranean layers are reminders of this hope that exists in our foundational personal, relational and collective bodies. This can also feel overwhelming and pressureful at the same time. Where do you feel this weight? Where does hope still live within this space?
Mercury in sag asks us; how can we honor our mental health and nervous system's need for support and expressive expansion during this contractive time? Can we honor our individual needs within collective change?
To make things feel more blurry, this new moon is happening in opposition to uranus in taurus. There is a grounded revolutionary present with us during these long 7~ years with this transit in our collective sphere. This is part of the strife we've been experiencing since March 2019, and will continue to perservere within through July 2025.
SO we are in need of sustainability in our responses and actions. We can maintain choice and autonomy even while holding ourselves to collective accountability.
Where can we find support? We can find clues in what aspects the tension of this opposition line.
We have saturn in pisces (which recently went direct) in a wide square to our new moon, offering us to find the softness, malleability and fluidity within all of the structures and systems in our lives. Where can we implement compassionate boundaries, or where are we unintentionally letting down our boundaries completely?
Our new moon is also trine neptune in pisces, which is where this sign is at home - inviting us to blur the lines of what we are told is right, and find what actually feels right at a deep, sub-dermal, vascular level. What subconscious symbols represent this vision of your values?
There's much to say about the unseen but felt during this time and beyond. There is medicine beneath the topsoil that allows it to emerge with more accessibility and awareness.
What have your dreams been trying to tell you lately? Sometimes dreams hold solutions, and sometimes they hold stressors to nudge us towards the stillness within in the storm.
All signs, in my opinion, point to going beneath the conscious realm to find the support we can't see but only can feel and follow.
Silent walks, humming in the shower, meditating with anchoring tools, prayer and poetry... that's where I'm being called right now. This does more than you know. What practices help you deepen into your non-dual depths?
Trust
So far we have raised $33 for the PCRF to help the innocent children of Palestine receive aid, support and care. I rounded up to $40 and donated this today, and I will continue to donate every Friday what we earn from proceeds through sales of The Cyclical Mindfulness Guide.
I wish I could donate more myself right now, but in transparency, lately my expenses in the business have been larger than income, but I know that every little bit counts, so I am grateful to be able to forward these funds.
If you have yet to purchase the guide for a sliding scale of $11-33, this is an invitation if you are able. If not, please share with others!
There is still so much more we can do aside from financial support. Please continue to call your reps, and advocate for ceasefire - as many lives are lost everyday, and compounded trauma prevails. I listed some direct resources in the last blog post, and you can also check out our IG saved stories for resources & accounts to learn from and take action in ways accessible to you.
Reflect & Release
Invitations for you to sit with - you can pull cards about these, meditate on them, and/or reflect in your journal or notebook...
I had many prompts pop up through out writing this. I left them as they were for context, but I'll copy them here for clarity:
- (sun/moon/mars) Where do you feel this weight? Where does hope still live within this space?
- (mercury) how can we honor our mental health and nervous system's need for support and expressive expansion during this contractive time? Can we honor our individual needs within collective change?
- (saturn) Where can we implement compassionate boundaries, or where are we unintentionally letting down our boundaries completely?
- (neptune) What subconscious symbols represent this vision of your values
- What have your dreams been trying to tell you lately?
- What practices help you deepen into your non-dual depths?
Gratefully connected,
Rachael Amber (they/she)
Creator of Cycles Journal / Cyclical Roots
All words, photographs and artwork are by Rachael unless quoted or otherwise stated. You're welcome to share (for non-commercial reasons only) so long as credit / links remain attached! Thanks for supporting living artists <3
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