If you’d prefer to listen to this check it out on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts! The podcast episode includes my rationale behind the prompt questions as well as a semi-guided visualization exercise all of which is also at the bottom of this blog post.

🤔What is an Eclipse?🤔

Astronomically: an Eclipse occurs any time a New or Full Moon occurs in the same sign as the North or South Node. The North and South Nodes are not physical bodies but are mathematical points. The points exist where the path of the Moon’s orbit crosses the path of the Ecliptic/Sun’s path around the Earth. When a Lunar Eclipse occurs it is because the Moon is lined up perfectly with the earth and in Earth shadow. The light of the sun passes through the Earth’s atmosphere giving the Moon a red appearance. Fun Fact: Every single planet has Nodes!

Astrologically: Eclipses are intense and transformational times. We often experience major changes&difficulties related to the themes of the part of our chart that the Eclipse falls in. Eclipses are a great time to intentionally engage in Shadow Work&Meditation.

👀What To Look Out For👀

I’ve dubbed this Full Moon: The Cosmic Pivot

If, at the New Moon, we were faced with the reality of what we absolutely needed to let go of: at the Full Moon there is a spotlight on what’s to come and what we are working towards/what we have the potential to create. At the New Moon you may have identified what needed releasing and now here at the Full Moon it’s time to really let it go.

This is where the idea of Jaywalking comes in.

Have you ever been walking down the sidewalk, saw where you were going, and jaywalked because it was way faster than walking all the way to the crosswalk and waiting on the light? This Full Moon is illuminating the short path. It’s saying hey I know you think this is supposed to take forever and be lots of arduous work but it’s actually as simple as walking away from what ISN’T working and walking toward what IS (just make sure you look both ways before you cross the street, eh).

📝Practical Action Exercise🃏

Feel free to journal on these or use them to guide a Divinatory Reading (Tarot, Oracle, Dice, Playing Cards, etc.)

This exercise is inspired largely by the 10 of Wands Tarot card. This card is one that shows up when we are carrying way too much and need to put some things down so that we can focus in on what really matters to us. It is a Practical Action exercise and should take place after you’ve done the Shadow Work prompts from the New Moon post.

To start, set a 15 minute timer.

• Make a list of Ten (only Ten!) Wands (responsibilities/priorities/projects) etc. that you have on your plate or want to add to your plate now.
  • Example List:
    • Work
    • getting a pet
    • doing volunteer work
    • working out
    • dating
    • travel to a specific destination
    • creative project
    • side hustle
    • learning a new hobby
    • my current hobby
• Now make a list of the core needs related to your wands.
  • This list should have less than 10 items
  • Example list
    • financial stability
    • fun
    • companionship
    • health and wellness
• If you use Tarot/Oracle/Playing Cards in your practice pull a card for each Wand from the first list. If you don’t skip this step !
• Now, write 1-2 sentences about every single item from your first list ( keeping the card in mind if you pulled any). The point here is to adjust your relationship to each item so be honest! Which are just things you feel like you “should” be doing? Which are things you’re only doing out of familiarity or habit, not because they spark joy?
  • Example list:
    • I have to work, but I have been wanting a career change for a long time and keep applying for jobs in the field I want to leave because it’s so much easier to find jobs there.
    • I want a pet and I also know that I don’t have the space I need or the lifestyle to get one just yet.
    • the volunteer work I’m doing feels enriching to me! I would like to keep doing that.
    • and so on and so forth…make sure you write about each item from the first list!
• Now that all of that is done choose 3 (no more than three, less is fine) actions you can take to remove the things you’ve realized are holding you back.
  • Example List
    • Apply to 3 jobs in my new field every week
    • find out how much it would cost to live in a space that could accommodate a pet
    • create a separate account to save money for travel

🧘🏿Visualization/Meditation Exercise🌀

I highly encourage you to listen to the semi-guided meditation in the Podcast ep. of the Hermit’s Choice that accompanies this post! Below is a brief outline of the process.

Start by surrounding yourself with things that ground you. Some examples:

• your favorite meditation music
• incense
• a beloved plant or familiar
• a glass of water
• snacks
• pen&paper
• voice recorder/smart phone

• Once you’ve completed the journaling/divination exercise above, imagine a large portal appearing before you. It is a portal to a version of you that has shed the limiting beliefs you’ve already named.
  • Get into the sensory info of it all. What does it sound like? How big is it? What can you see in it?
• Before getting into the portal tie a rope around your waist so that, should you get lost or scared: you can guide yourself back to your current reality.
• Now step into the portal.
  • How does it feel to be inside of it? What does it sound like? How long is the path? What can you see beyond the end of the portal?
• Make your way through to the other side of the portal. Explore this new landscape.
  • Is it different from where you came from? What do you see around you?
• As you explore this place you’ll find that you can only go so far as the rope connecting you back to your past reality is pulling you back toward the portal.
• As you examine the rope you see that it is no longer made of fiber but is instead made of the fears&shame that you identified in your journaling/divination.
• A pair of scissors appears in front of you. You cut the rope. The rope slinks backward through the portal, as it closes.
  • What was released? What do you feel in your body as a result of your newfound freedom? Happiness? Excitement? Grief?
  • Hold space for what comes up and allow it to pass as you journey forward in this landscape crafted from your Joy.
• Close the ritual by thanking the Gods/Benevolent Ancestors/The Cosmos/etc. for the insights you’ve received.