Celebrate the New Moon in Leo with Spontaneous Grace | feat our maternal grandmothers & Emily Dickinson
Celebrate the New Moon in Leo with Spontaneous Grace | feat our maternal grandmothers & Emily Dickinson
a four-step Soul FLOSS workout
Welcome to SPONTANEOUS GRACE, a Soul FLOSS ritual I’m sharing in celebration of today’s New Moon in Leo, a time for letting go, getting creative, and growing our hearts. Big. Bigger than we thought we could.
This luminous and wonderfully dark new moon is an invitation to celebrate our innate capacity to love: one another, and ourselves.
Today’s New Moon (Sunday, August 4th 7:13 am Et/4:13 am PT) challenges us to tap into the deep, dark, hidden places of possibility within ourselves, where we each hold—as Audre Lorde famously argued—“an incredible reserve of creativity and power, of unexamined and unrecorded emotion and feeling” and remember to trust ourselves and our capacities. To risk our hearts because we have one to share.
Dalia Sapon-Shevin circa the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests.
This month’s New Moon in Leo-inspired SOUL FLOSS ritual is lovingly crafted to help you flex the muscle that is the heart and build an inner shrine: a place full of empathy and self-love, a place where you go to befriend yourself, where you can remember how to hope, how to love and how to be loved in return—even, and especially when life doesn’t show up on your doorstep, wrapped perfectly, bow-tied tight.
I originally spun SPONTANEOUS GRACE for a new best friend—my hair stylist, actually, who had just given me the most magical cut of my life, who is truly a hair artist—after a Category 5 hurricane left us both feeling emotionally wrecked and like every action was an overreaction. (This would have been Gulf Coast Florida, circa 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.)
SPONTANEOUS GRACE helped us to settle our nerves and gave us some strategies for asking for help in moments of radical destruction and disconnection. This ritual also reconnected my “non-writer” friend with her writerly (i.e. self-reflective) self. She instantly became the kind of person who carries a notebook wherever she goes and avidly takes notes. Spontaneous Grace helped her to reintegrate self-reflection—which is the basis of all creative praxis—into daily life. Spontaneous Grace helped her to approach selfhood as an open-ended process of paying attention—her true self (as yours!) was always there, just off the radar of civilization. In other words, this ritual helped her to apply her innate creativity as a stylist to “the real world” and become the co-creative artist of her own life. And regardless of how you identify—or not—as an artist (we all are making something: a poem, a child, a symphony, a loaf of bread, a day), this ritual can help you to do the same!
I’ll be scattering seriously whimsical pics from our October 9, 2022 ritual throughout this missive—to inspire you to prioritize self-reflection, too!
SPONTANEOUS GRACE is great for anyone who might be suffering from some psychic blockages, who might need some help seeing past all the internalized bullshit that doesn’t need to be there and remembering how wonderful you are, how wonderful your life really is, how wonderful the world really is. In other words: anyone who might be struggling with Leo’s boisterous, life-of-the-party energy.
This deeply healing ritual is an invitation to live from your heart, recognize your unique value, and allow your true self to begin to shine—however your true self likes to shine, which might be less of a spotlight and more like tiny tea lights on an ink-black sea.
This ritual can also be a great antidote for writer’s block, or any impasse in the creative process—when you aren’t just lacking inspiration or motivation; the problem is something insidious, something worse—you are at a total creative impasse! And even your dream life is failing you!
And remember, if you’re short on time or an ingredient, it’s okay to skip it or to substitute or really just spin the whole thing in a direction that feels even better for you.
This workout is just a jumping off point.
It’s 100% customizable.
Step 1: Go on a Treasure Hunt
When you start collecting these ingredients, you are in the ritual the magic has begun. I like to imagine that I’m on a treasure hunt! It helps to adopt the spirit of the quest: opening portals, sculpting realities, creating points of convergence, expanding possibilities. In other words and in the spirit of vibrant, headstrong Leo: have FUN.
These objects will become an altar that you can visit when you need strength and resolve, when you need to be defiant, courageous, fearless. As you work with these objects over time, they will bring self-confidence and undo stories of unworthiness. They will help you to see yourself for who you are—and not how others want you to be. They will bring you small doses of faith when you need to take a leap into the great unknown. They will sweeten your endeavors, help you to focus your intentions, and invite conspirators into your life. As you charge them with your hopes, desires, fears, and dreams, they will become potent relics, reminding you of your human capacity for resilience.
Every ingredient is optional and you can improvise with what’s available.
1) Fire: three birthday candles. Choose colors that are meaningful to you and that will bring color and dimension to your psyche. Are you hoping to connect with a part of yourself you have forgotten how to remember? Choose blue. Have you lost your sense of personal power? Choose red. Are you at a crossroads and trying to decide who you want to be next? Choose white. Have you lost your sovereign connection to yourself? Choose yellow. Are you trying to locate the still point within you? Choose green.
2) Air: a piece of your grandmother’s jewelry. That’s ideal. But anything that was your grandmother’s—or a grandmother’s—will do. This will remind you that you are part of a larger story and put whatever self-doubts and second-guessing you are having into a larger perspective. Any time you put on this jewelry, let it be an act of self-remembrance—a sign to yourself of who you want to be, the role you want to play in this larger story.
3) Earth: a clear quartz or some quartz-fine sand. Quartz has the potential to become and will amplify and direct your energy, allowing you to dwell in possibility.
4) Water: saltwater, to pull sticky emotions from your body. This could be water from the Gulf of Mexico, or Epsom salt dissolved in tap water, or Florida water or another spiritually-enhanced water.
5) Spirit: a magical notebook that will be dedicated to your ongoing spiritual evolution.
6) A talisman: something organic you can throw into a body of natural water safely—a seashell, a pebble, a flower, a seed, a feather etc. This object represents what you’re letting go of—the internal and external judgment, self-criticism, etc.
7) A picture of yourself as a child. If necessary, get one via text and print it out. Decorate it: with markers or crayons, gluing flowers or stones or seashells to it, or use stickers or coins or dollar bills. However you like, decorate your child self. Why? Because, as Maia Toll reminds us, we humans have more empathy for children than for adults—it’s an evolutionary idiosyncrasy that makes it easier to love your child self.
As you gather these ingredients, put them somewhere where they can absorb the light of the moon. Or sleep with them under your pillow. The moon guides the tides and teaches us to swim in our own depths, find our own rhythms, and relax into cyclical renewal. Dreams are places where we can connect to the oldest, most ancient parts of our brain, where we live in symbols not stories. Supercharging these objects with the energies of dreamtime and the moon will open up a portal between your light and dark sides—light, as in the expressed, and dark, as in the unexpressed.
Step 2: Take a Field Trip
Plan a field trip to a body of natural water—even a kiddie pool, a city fountain, or a vernal pond will do! You’ll need to set aside at least 30 minutes once you arrive, and ideally more like 45.
Before you leave, put on your grandmother’s jewelry to evoke familial and future ancestors, inviting them to bear witness to your ritual and to lend support and/or guidance. If you have another kind of object, place it somewhere where you can exchange some energy with it physically—like a pocket, bra or shoe. Why our maternal grandmothers? Because, once upon a time, you were a seed in your grandmother’s womb. Because, once upon a time, all the potential your mother had inside you was born—like the seed of a tree—inside your grandmother’s womb. Her rhythms—how she walked, talked, sang—are the rhythms of your life.
Pack up all the objects you’ve been supercharging: your talisman, your magical notebook, three birthday candles, the quartz/quartz sand, the salty water, and the photo of your child self. Add a Tarot deck, something sweet (like a cupcake or a cookie or a gluten-free donut), and something to write with. This is your magical tool kit; the objects inside it will ground you and catch and absorb the energy generated by the spell.
When you arrive, sit on or close to the ground, as close to the water as you can—close enough that you can hear the water moving.
Unpack your magical toolkit and arrange the objects around you as a temporary altar.
Step 3: Connect With Your Maternal Ancestors
Set a timer for 3 minutes, turn to a fresh page in your notebook, and write wildly about your CHILD SELF, using as much detail as you can, so she becomes wholly present, so you can feel her taking up some space on the surface of your body: your ears, your eyes, your mouth, your hands, your feet, your skin. If it helps, take some time to move your body, like you did as a child.
Set another 3-minute timer, and write about your maternal grandmother with the same love and detail, so that she becomes wholly present, until you can feel her taking up space on the surface of your body, too. (If, like me, you have a complicated relationship to your maternal grandmother—if family trauma overshadows her story and prevents you from accessing her strength and beauty—that’s OK. This ritual is a safe space for sharing how scary and painful it can be to make ancestor magic.)
Turn to a new page in your magical notebook. At the top, write down one word that describes your grandmother, that celebrates your maternal legacy, your DNA, your familial fingerprint in the world. This will invite your familial ancestors to join you.
Draw the air sign underneath this word. The air sign looks like a pyramid, a triangle with a line through the middle so there’s an isosceles trapezoid on bottom and a triangle on top. Make it big, so it takes up the rest of page, leaving only a small white space below. It also helps if you write the date at the top.
My page looks like this:
PERSEVERANCE (maternal legacy) | 10/09/22
Inside the trapezoid (the bottom half of the air sign), write down any negative mind loops you are on—anything you’re ready to let go of, that no longer serves your spiritual growth. This might be “stuck, hopeless, empty” or “trying to please others though I know I cannot.” Whatever it is you want to rise above. Set a timer and write wildly for 3 minutes. TAKE NOTES. SKETCH. However you like to imagine by hand.
Four is the number of conscientiousness, groundedness, growth, harsh discipline, anger, judgment, abundance of caution, resentment, working too hard, heavy energy. It represents where you are and what you want to rise above.
Trace the trapezoid four times, very deliberately, like a child with a Sharpie.
Pick up your pen again and write the opposite in the triangle on top. So if you wrote “stuck, hopeless, empty,” write “free, inspired, full of life.” Set a timer and write wildly for 3 minutes. TAKE NOTES. SKETCH. However you like to imagine by hand. Either way: keep your hand moving WILDLY, like a CHILD’s.
Three is the number of happiness, strength, objectivity, communication, generosity, mental clarity, playfulness, wittiness, creativity
Trace the triangle three times, very deliberately, as if you were using a magical Sharpie.
Finally, trace the entire air symbol five times, very deliberately.
Five is the number of freedom, acuity, active spiritual energy.
As you trace the air symbol, imagine looking down at your current problems from a great height (like a pyramid).
Get out the Major Arcana and shuffle while you continue to look down at your life, from that zoomed out perspective.
When you are ready, draw a card.
Write the name of this card underneath the air sign. This card represents your future ancestors—who are already here on alternate timelines, completing the work you started!
My page looks like this:
PERSEVERANCE (maternal legacy) | 10/09/22
Star (future ancestors)
Now, a story is beginning to emerge—one in which you play a small yet essential role, in which you are one chapter in a much longer novel! (And can give yourself a break in terms of external notions of success and self-worth—you’re not the novel, you’re just a chapter!)
Place three birthday candles each in your cake or cookie or gluten-free donut.
The first is for your maternal grandmother and the second is for your future ancestor. The third is for YOU.
Light one candle at a time. (And if you are at the beach, you might BARELY MANAGE to light a SINGLE CANDLE, and that’s okay, too.) (If you are at the beach at 5 am, you might also BARELY MANAGE to bring some TWIX BARS, and that’s okay, too.)
Hold your talisman (something organic like a seashell, a pebble, a flower, a seed, a feather etc.) in your two hands, breathe deeply, gaze into the flames to ignite your intuitive body, and visualize future ancestors worshipping at the shrine of you. Take as much time as you need to get it right, to visualize alternate timelines in which you are already a future ancestor on someone else’s altar, someone who is finishing the work you started, who is here to finish the work you started.
Open your eyes and blow out the candles with your magical breath. Envision this breath dispersing the energy of beautiful, abundant, amazing you to the four winds that blow all over the world.
Get up and throw your talismans into the water. Watch the ripples emanate, radiating with energy. Visualize your future ancestor, catching the talisman, and moving on: to complete the work you started.
Ground yourself by eating the cookie or the cupcake or the gluten-free donut.
Step 4: Get Back to the Work You Came Here to Do
When you get home, make some space—on a side table, on top of the refrigerator, on a windowsill—to build a little shrine to remind you that you, too, are here to complete the work someone else started. Let this shrine be a place to honor your inner sanctum, to hold space for your truest self. Start with your grandmother’s jewelry, the quartz or quartz-fine sand, and the salty water. Add photos, loose change, coffee grounds, lemon peel, flowers, seeds, Tarot cards, etc.
Whenever you visit your inner shrine, pause in yoga’s Mountain pose; close your eyes and feel the energy radiating out from the top of your head and energy shooting down through your feet towards the center of the earth. Inhale and exhale all the way down into your belly.
Then, go get back to the work that you came here to do.
So your future ancestor has something to complete.
Extra Credit/An Extra-Magical Boost
Pay attention for signposts that signal the process is ongoing. Keep in mind that the worst you can expect to receive is… nothing! Like a firecracker that fizzles, or a poem you never publish, this spell becomes a part of the process of focusing clearly and positively on our goals, taking action to allow for synchronicities (elegant connections and doorways to understanding the relationship between the psyche, a more collective consciousness, and the neverending, generative universe), and trusting spiritual to align circumstances on a timeline that is right.
For an extra-magical boost, write short letters to your maternal grandmother or your future ancestors whenever you visit your inner shrine. I highly suggest jotting these down Emily Dickinson style—on the back of old receipts, on used envelopes, torn scraps of newspaper, whatever ephemera is on hand. Think fragment. Think a morsel of time in its pure state. (As Marcel Proust once described the fragment.) Think the fossil tracks of birds. (As a correspondent once described Emily Dickinson’s handwriting…)
When the spell is complete (trust you will know when), you can bury these delicious little missives in the Earth, who will pass along the message for you.
Dickinson’s envelope poems—cryptic messages lovingly penned but never sent.
That’s all for now, babes!
You can access the rest of my alchemical FLOSS rituals here on Substack, and all of my transformative SAUCE workouts on Youtube.
Please join me: in reclaiming the power that is RIGHTFULLY YOURS! ONE SOUL FLOSS WORKOUT AT A TIME!
xxxO, Dr. MLE | Beach Witch
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