Full Moon. 1:37 PM, CST. July 13, 2022.
Buck Moon (Algonquin), Feather Molting Moon (Cree), Thunder Moon (Western Abenaki) Vyasa Purnima (Hindu), Hungry Ghost Moon (Chinese)
(Liturgy length: 20 minutes)
Supplies:
A white candle, or any candle you have on hand
A match or a lighter
A blank sheet of paper
A pen
Go to a place that instills you with spiritual contemplation. Prepare that space appropriately as dictated by your personal practice. Find a comfortable place to sit down, and begin reading.
Opening
“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”
— Sam Keen
Place the candle in front of you at arm’s reach. Light the candle. Then read the following out loud:
“The Full Moon is overhead. A spiritual space has been created to honor this moment. We choose to participate in the cycles of nature, recognizing the importance of the individual and the indispensability of the whole.”
Action: Clap twice
Welcome! With your act of creation and participation, the Liturgy has begun.
Breathwork
The warmth and green of summer accompanies this Full Moon. Celebrate its light and heat with 5 deep, full breaths.
Sit up straight, and place both hands on your navel. Breathe inward slowly through your nose, filling the space beneath your hands. Breathe outward slowly through your mouth, exhaling in an even, controlled manner.
As you repeat this pattern, focus your mind on the heat slowly building within your navel. You are creating heat and energy to nourish yourself, just as the Cosmos creates heat and energy to nourish the Earth.
Supplication
Supplication is a profound act of love through expressing grievances. It accepts grief and anger fully while focusing the mind on hope for positive change.
Take your pen and sheet of paper. Briefly write down three negative situations and how you would like to see each of them resolved; one from your private life, relating to family and friends; one from your community, relating to social groups you are a part of; and one from the globe, relating to a large-scale circumstance that has weighed on your consciousness.
Once you are done writing, read each of your three supplications to yourself, then read the bolded responses out loud:
For [this grievance in my private life and how I hope for resolution],
I share my grief with the universe.
For [this grievance in my community and how I hope for resolution],
I share my grief with the universe.
For [this grievance in the world and how I hope for resolution],
I share my grief with the universe.
My sadness has been expressed and my intent has been made known. Though chaos causes my pain, I will accept it for what it is. Though order is not guaranteed, I trust that change will come when the time is right.
Action: Bow for a moment, meditating on these things. Raise your head when you are ready, and continue the Liturgy.
Seasonal Contemplation
Read this short meditation and consider its observations:
Many Native American Nations have specific names for each Full Moon to help keep track of the seasons. Some of the names used by different Nations naturally refer to similar things, like the Hunter Moon in October, or the Winter Moon in December.
But there are a slew of different names used to refer to July’s Full Moon; the Algonquin call it the Buck Moon, the Cree call it the Feather Molting Moon, the Ojibwe call it the Blueberry or Raspberry Moon. There’s also the Halfway Summer Moon, the Thunder Moon, the String Bean Moon, the list goes on as it varies from Nation to Nation.
The reason for the variances is probably because there’s a lot that goes on every summer. Thunderstorms come and go, fruits are just starting to come in, juvenile birds are trading their baby feathers for flight feathers, and male deer are almost done growing back the horns they shed the winter before.
Even moving away from natural rhythms, there’s a lot that goes on every summer. Weddings occur nearly every weekend, farmers markets pop up for pedestrian perusal, then there’s concerts, family reunions, vacations, trips to the beach. There’s a lot to do, a lot to get caught up in. What should be done with it all?
There are of course exceptions, but many of the names used for July’s Full Moon reference things that are in progress, not finished. Bucks have not quite finished growing their new horns. Baby birds have not quite become full-fledged adults. First fruits have started to come in, but the full harvest is not here yet. And when things are almost but not yet, all one can do is keep watching and keep resting.
So keep resting. There will be more to do when the growing is finished, but it’s not quite finished yet. Embrace the heat, embrace the season, and do the things that bring life and rest as the world finishes growing beneath the summer sun.
Personal Contemplation
You may either journal your thoughts on your sheet of paper or consider them in your mind, whichever is more natural for you.
What kind of growth have you been experiencing this summer?
What is keeping you from finding rest this Full Moon?
What kind of rest would you like to experience today?
What can you do to pursue the kind of rest you would most like to experience today?
Breathwork
Your relaxation into this Full Moon is essential to your participation in the dance of the Cosmos. Resonate with gratefulness in 5 deep, full breaths.
Sit up straight, and place both hands over the base of your ribs, right above your diaphragm. Breathe inward slowly through your nose, filling the space beneath your hands. Breathe outward slowly, humming a single, sustained tone in an even, controlled manner.
As you repeat this pattern, imagine that with every breath in, you are pulling in the clean, humid air of summer. As you hum outward, let summer’s air be transformed into an expression of gratefulness for the rest the world creates for itself.
Closing Blessing
Place your palms together over your heart pointing upwards. Read the following out loud:
As I bask in the light of the Moon, I will also bask in the greenness of today. The universe does not question the time it takes to grow within rest. So as a part of that universe, neither will I. Here are blessings for myself and for all that binds us together.
Action: Clap twice
Fold up the piece of paper you wrote on today’s, and place your pen on top. Blow out the candle in front of you.
Thank you for participating in this Liturgy.
Enjoy the presence of today’s Full Moon!
A new liturgy will be published for the upcoming New Moon on Thursday, July 28.
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