The Magic of a Full-Moon Meditation

By Alison Potts

Why is meditating under a full moon so powerful?

When you were a child, did you ever find yourself stopped in your tracks by the moon at its fullest – arrested by its astounding luminosity – the brightest object in the sky and so close to the earth it felt like you could reach out and touch it? Did its sense of vast and ancient mystery make your skin shimmer with goose-bumps? Could you feel its compelling magnetism drawing you in?

And now, do you still find a full moon can take your breath away? Take you out of your every- day mind? Stir things in you – unspoken things, deep longings, currents of awe and wonder and a sense of being pulled by into an intimate embrace by the mystery of life itself?

Those moments of appreciation and wonder that penetrate our beings so deeply are meditation. The times we feel our spirit moved by the artistry, the drama, of the natural world are moments of intimate communion between our inner spirits and the Spirit that permeates all of life.

I was always a moonchild. Maybe you were too.

Picture by Elizabeth Ann

Throughout my childhood, the draw of the full moon was more powerful than anything else vying for my attention. I have vivid memories of standing in my backyard, the lit kitchen window to one side and the lawn to the other, gazing into that funnel of ethereal light that pulsed between little me and that great, mysterious celestial body. It was as if we were in some intimate, wordless communication, the moon and me. I felt the presence of the ancient in time and space. The moon beamed at me like a wise elder. I drew power from that somehow and resource. In that timeless communion between us the things that were shy in me seemed to receive a boost of confidence and the tense and frightened sticky-icky parts seemed to wash through me in that same flood of moonlight and leave me feeling ecstatically peaceful and realigned.

As the months went on, I began to recognise that I felt a particular way every time we were in the build up to the full moon. With such a lot of energy pouring down, I could feel extra emotional or tired. I was often extra tense with new ideas pushing inside me to be expressed, competing with anxieties and doubt that were bubbling up with an energy that insisted they too be set free. But I also noticed at this time that I felt especially close to my dreams – they hummed inside me more clearly and seemed more reachable. I became sensitive to this and that there was a power that could be harnessed at this time that illuminated and amplified what was important to me at the same time as seeming to wash away those fears and tensions that tended to blur that inner vision.

I have diaries where in my childish hand I noted the waxing and waning lunar cycle and pointed gleefully to each full moon. It’s funny how I was tracking the energies long before I knew there was a lineage and tradition involved in doing exactly the same. And no surprise that I would end up guiding groups in full moon meditation.

If you are sensitive to lunar energy, if you perceive a special relationship between you and that mysterious golden planet in faraway space, you are not alone. Our ancient ancestors in every part of the globe have revered the moon, recognising the influence of its cycles on their crops, the tides, fertility, the biology of all living things and yes – even on their moods and abilities to release and heal and renew, as wisdom passed down orally shows.

Every culture, society and spirituality throughout time has claimed powers for the full moon that when harnessed in deliberate practices, are for the good of creation and humankind. Since the earliest times under its potency there has been planting, spell-casting, healing rites, crystal-charging, rituals of protection, prophecy and divination.

And it has, of course, long been recognised as a powerful time to meditate. In fact, that’s exactly what we are doing when we step into the night and pause moonstruck in awe, totally absorbed to the deepest parts of our being by that moon and all the mystery and magic it resonates.

In India, ancient belief saw the moon as controller of the water, and that circulating through the universe and sustaining all living creatures is “Amrta” – the ambrosia of the universe, the nectar of the gods. Everything that flows, from blood and water to milk and the sap of plants, is permeated by different states of this nectar and the vessel for this elixir is the moon. Indian scriptures from myriad different spiritual systems attest the power of full moon rituals and practices.

The full moon naturally illuminates that part of us drawn towards wonder, possibility and that inexpressible something that is deeper and richer than we might experience in daily life. It reminds us also that we are not just aware of the mysterious forces of life, we are collaborators with them. We belong in this wonder. We are part of this wonder. And this magical energy is beneficial to us and there for the harnessing. It is a blessing for dreams, healing and release and anything in our lives that needs extra clarity and power – from finding a new job, to surrendering something we have been hanging onto that does not serve us where we are headed.

Meditation at this time is a gift because we are naturally enabled by the dream-like quality of the energy of the moon so close to our Earth. In day-to-day life, getting into our dream state, our intuitive being, is often something we resist. But there lies our remembering of who we really are and what we are here to be. We are no longer living in a culture that values either dreaming or rest. . We have cars and offices and phones that somehow keep us apart from our relationship with the bigger, mysterious natural forces in which we belong – those which convey to us the power of magic and possibility. At Full Moon, that power comes back to be reclaimed – the power to harness the energy of our dreams and to make courageous moves to surrender things that have been clinging to us, in ways that feel as easeful as the flow of moonlight itself.

In meditation we learn to attend to all the sacred energies naturally flowing inside us, including our sensibilities and vulnerabilities. There is an energy that comes with the full moon that enhances our feelings but also empowers and supports them. Our dreams and what is closest to our hearts are illuminated. Things become clear. Old wounds and obstacles are given the extra energy they need to be released back into the universe. What desires to be expressed and manifested is given extra oomph. There is a sense of ancient and new in communion and a process of integration into wholeness inside us and outside. The ancient sages often advised taking rest, relaxing minds and turning to spiritual pursuits at the time the moon is fullest. There is an ease, a potency and a deliciousness about meditating at this time.

The October full moon is known in some cultures as The Harvest Moon. Native American traditions have also called it The Travel Moon. In our own hearts and bodies, we all feel the moon in different ways. We all share a connection to the energies but that connection expresses it personally to each of us. If you are a fellow moon-lover, why not take a whole journey, a bath in the full moon light? Meditation is the perfect architect of that moon-guided journey home.

© Alison Potts 2021

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