CONVERSATIONS WITH THE MOON

by Devon Loftus March 04, 2021

BY: DEVON LOFTUS
+ THE MOON CYCLE BAKERY COMMUNITY

There was a reason
That she was so
romantic about
the moon.
It never asked her
questions or begged
for the answers nor
did she ever have
to prove herself
to it.
It was always just
there — breathing,
shining,
and in ways most
humans can’t understand;
listening.
– Christopher Poindexter

Often times I’ll see her when I least expect it. Through the crack in the window, full bellied and ripe. Or sometimes in the middle of the night as I turn over on my side, I open my eyes just enough to see her silver shade dusting the world below her. I always smile. And she always smiles back.

What is it about Mother Moon that ignites our bodies and spirits with iridescent blood and stillness? What about that hazy home in the sky depicts wonder and imagination from its cosmic bodies on earth?

As humans, we’ve been fascinated by the moon and her powers for centuries. From Hippocrates stating that “one who is seized with terror, fright and madness during the night is being visited by the goddess of the moon,” to people on trial for murder in 18th-century England requesting for a lighter sentence on grounds of lunacy if the crime occurred under a full moon, to the Buddhism and Native American folklore recounting the tale of a rabbit that lives on the moon. ( i ) People have sat in wonderment, adoration and even fear at this mystical being since she first claimed her throne in the sky; seamlessly embracing her phases + showing us that expansion, change and renewal can be as graceful as ballet and as tactile as draped silk.

There are stories about Mawu, the African goddess of the moon, night, joy + motherhood who created the world alongside her partner, Liza, the bearer of day, heat + strength. ( ii ) Or the Hindu belief that the moon houses the elixir of immortality, known as Soma, that only the Gods + Goddesses had access to. When they drank, the moon was drained of it’s powerful properties, which explains it’s waning phases. ( iii ) And we have the Algonquian Tribe to thank for the names of our full moon’s which originated from listening to the nature that surrounded them; July’s full moon is a Buck Moon because new antlers of buck deer, with their velvety coat, began to form and September’s Harvest Moon got its name from the everlasting bright moonlight that foragers + farmers were able to keep working under long after the sun had hung his hat up. ( iiii )

BUT DESPITE FOLKLORE AND LEGENDS, AS ALWAYS, WE CREATE OUR OWN TRUTHS. WE SIT CROSS-LEGGED UNDERNEATH THIS EVER-ACTIVE MAGIC AND CREATE OUR OWN MEANING. BEFRIENDING SOMEONE WE’VE KNOWN OUR WHOLE LIVES.

In honor of Eclipse season with a solar eclipse + new moon bestowing us with it’s most powerful gift yet — the encouragement to shed layers and let go — we reached out to our community and asked several women what the moon means to them.

Read ahead for a glimpse into Mama Moon’s muses and how they find their moon dust coated fingers tightly grasped in hers:

NATALIE FINCH:

I feel most connected to her when I’m alone, surrounded by the night — my bare feet planted on the cool ground. When she’s full and her light glows… she makes it feel like magic is real. I imagine her gentle light spilling down over me, cleansing away all of the energetic impurities collecting within my spirit. My dear mother moon, I am grateful to you for your nightly presence, reminding me of the endless healing I receive from your light.

KRISTINA WUNSCH:

Perspective, light, shadow and change. As women, we can identify with our similarities to the moon. Are we illuminated in full by our place in life or do we have just a sliver of radiance to share? This sweet reminder in the sky shows nothing stays the same for too long. Feel free to change. Rise and set over new horizons. Create wonder each day because you too are just as magical as the moon.

DEVON LOFTUS:

The moon has always felt like a companion. She reminds me to slow down, to soak in; to trust in the unknown + dance with mystery. She illuminates the lessons inside that are beckoning for me, and some nights, her glow feels sparse and eerie. Other nights, I am being led home by the light that finds us all at the beginning and end of our human experience — warm, comforting, and loved. She always listens, she tells the truth and loves me through my phases and cycles; reminding me that I am the magic I feel and that I am never alone.

DARCY GOEDECKE:

To look up at the moon is akin to beholding the patterns in a leaf, the softness of a feather, and the soul in an animal’s eyes. It brings me indescribable peace and wonder. That somehow something so beautiful was crafted, by mysterious divine hands. To silently conduct our bodies and the Earth in a rhythmic symphony of life. Her gravity pulls at weary hearts and grounds our flighted souls.Always a light in the darkest of places. To look up to her reminds us how small we are, but also that the world is magic — and that we are never alone.