your lunar love letter for the buck moon*
potential time investment (estimated reading time): 5 minutes
Important dates this cycle (ET):
New Moon: 7/5
First Quarter Moon: 7/13
Full Moon: 7/21 Buck Moon*
Third Quarter Moon: 7/27
Last Day of this Lunar Cycle: 8/3
Happy new moon to your kindred spirit —
We are entering a powerful time of year on the lunar calendar — this upcoming cycle centers around the Buck Moon*, known for naturally occurring power and evolution.
In the northern hemisphere, we might witness this as young animals growing into maturity, the weather electrifying with more frequent thunderstorms, or the air settling into a thick summer fragrance.
Nature just natures — driven by natural design.
There’s a lot we can learn from this. Just like ‘out there’, we have a natural design that’s a source of power and magic, and many of us are disconnected in some way from that.
When I think of the natural design of being human, I first think of the basics like food, water, shelter, and movement, and then I immediately go to all the ways we’ve complicated our relationships with those things (no shade — just observing the distance that’s there).
I once read that shoes were the worst invention ever created because it separated mankind from the earth, and that small layer of distance meant that we had to work differently to connect to nature, if we even still do at all. And many other technological advances that followed made that disconnection more prevalent and gaping.
The distance comes in many forms. Things like having to pay extra for more natural food, or having to purchase bottled water because of nasty chemicals in the ground, or having to schedule gym time because we work too much and have too many responsibilities with not enough communal help.
Many of us feel that disconnection constantly and work diligently to maintain a relationship with the natural world, but still find it hard.
Luckily, one of the most accessible portals to strengthen this connection is your body.
You are a natural creature made from this very natural world.
You are a moving solar system of atoms and molecules.
And you have so. much. power. within your body – it’s literally electrified.
What could happen if you tapped into that power? Got to know your own natural power better?
How, you ask?
By taking it back — to primal and basic.
I want to use the energy of this lunar cycle to amplify inhabiting my body more fully by relying less on what I’ll call traditional movement (for lack of a better name) and exploring more primal movement and shapes.
For me, this looks like spending intentional time with shapes that are functional (think squats, twists, hinges, etc). These are shapes our bodies are naturally designed for — hence why it’s also referred to as functional movement — and it’s accessible to everyone. We can all do some version, and we already do in our daily lives.
I want to dedicate time for in-depth exploration of how those movements and shapes make me feel, how they connect me to a long line of humans that came before me, and how I am living, breathing concentrated energy in natural form.
There is so much to experience in a body, and the basics always have more to teach us because we arrive there with all our new experiences since the last time we visited, our lenses altered and our bags full of new data. There is good magic here.
So if we set aside the idea of refining a posture and concentrate our attention on the natural movement of the hinge or twist, what might we tap into? How might that shift our perspectives and help us lean into our natural states of power?
How does thinking about that make you feel?
I feel electrified just typing about it — I’m so excited to get on my mat and see what this offers.
I’d love it if you’d share in this experience, whether that’s noticing how you use squats in your daily life or devoting whole yoga practices to a singular primal shape.
Let me know what comes up and maybe what doesn’t (because that’s also interesting). Keep me posted
✨ May this lunar cycle witness us taking up more space ✨
With much good energy 💚
photo credit: Jonas Kaiser on Unsplash
*The moon names and phase details given here are as given on the Farmers' Almanac website. There are many other moon names and stories from other cultures that are not included here, but I encourage you to do your own research. It’s fascinating!
All resources mentioned in this newsletter are included for research purposes only and are not affiliated with Zenful Mindings LLC.
