Category: Blog

At 5:55pm on Sunday evening the moon was New again.

The theme for this past cycle was Integration. After years in programming, I can tell you that one of the trickiest phases in the software development lifecycle was Integration – blending myriad patches with existing code in preparation for release. I don’t think I realized how many different changes were going to be manifest in this integration.

This past cycle saw my first participation in Improv Camp. I’d been using voices and characters to either entertain others or mask myself for years – but this was one of the first times using them intentionally and while being directed. Overall it was a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to do it again – but one class in particular moved me.… More...

The moon was New again at 4:17am this morning. It’s unusual for me to post one of these on the actual day, but it’s nice once in a while to announce a new intention with a whole month ahead of me.

The most recent theme of Silence took on a number of different flavors throughout the month. Having an intention does not always mean choosing that path – it just brings mindfulness to it. A few times during the month I had opportunities for self-advocacy which showed me that speaking my own truth can reap wonderful rewards. Meanwhile, when my Silence is induced by my social anxiety, it can hinder my progress. A case of balance in all things, I suppose.… More...

On Thursday afternoon at 1:55pm the Moon was New. Later in that afternoon, Jupiter went Retrograde. It is said that Jupiter retrograde calls us to review or Release something and can be a time of personal growth.

Timely for Jupiter’s turn, last month’s focus was on Release. In my Initiation ritual I was called to let go of my over-thinking and put more trust in my intuition. I have begun to trust that intuition more in the past three years than I used to – I always believed in it, but I would always second-guess myself. Now I find I’m saying “yes” more when I am moved to. If there needs to be damage control on the other side, so be it – but I would much rather work to make amends to someone else as a result of being true to myself, than live with the regret of not having lived this life to the fullest.… More...

At 10:52pm on June 28th the Moon was new again, and today at 2:38pm the Blessing Moon (or Meadow Moon, or Buck Moon) was full.

I am not “late” for this intention, but there were some things to move through before I could be sure what the focus was actually going to be.

The last cycle saw me looking into empowerment and something I chose to call “compassionate assertiveness”. This is something I feel I’ll be working through for a while – as with so many lessons – I had some of the “assertiveness” down, but can find places I fell short on compassion. Still, using a recently found voice is going to come with some rough patches, so in many ways some of the compassion I need to exercise is also with myself.… More...

On Monday morning at 7:30am the Moon was new again. The theme of Kindness last cycle took an unanticipated turn; the beneficiary of the Kindness ended up needing to be myself. The week following a wonderful Beltane celebration saw the final dental implant posts, and while the surgery itself was fine, I think we discovered a sensitivity to amoxicillin which leaves me feverish and fatigued.

The rest of the cycle was spent being very mindful of how I was moving through the world. A birthday and a quick trip for work helped to remind me how different my life feels these past few years.

It’s been said that my trip to Australia in 2019 was ‘outside the box’ for me – very much unlike the Sean people had come to expect.… More...

On Saturday, April 30 at 4:28pm the moon was new again.

Last month I spoke of the sweetness and simple joy found in Harmony. The idea that “the best of times can be found in the simplest things” carried on through the month. The day after I had posted that focus I left for a five day trip to Pittsburgh to honor the life and path of Fred Rogers. The path that he had manifested so clearly and consistently was one of Kindness, and this informed my focus choice for this cycle. This ethos is also reflected in one of my favorite quotes from Doctor Who – “always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind”.

It is not easy to consistently exhibit Kindness though.… More...

At 2:24am last Friday, April 1, the moon was new again.

The focus during the last cycle was Comfort – something that was much needed in light of my contracting Covid and the trials that the prior cycle’s focus on Resilience had brought. Finding Comfort has often been challenging for me, as the most Comfort I usually feel is when I retreat into my own worlds. While that can feel comfortable – I would hesitate to say it brings actual Comfort.

Places that have historically brought me Comfort have been times I’d been playing with a band, and the moments that really bring me the most joy have been singing in Harmony. Thirty years ago when my musical journey began, I could never find harmonies in songs on my own – I felt it was some odd alchemy that vocalists could just find a 3rd or a 5th in a scale and weave counter-melodies and harmonies.… More...

This new lunar cycle began with a New Moon at 12:35pm on Wednesday, March 2nd and earlier today she became Full. So far, this has not been the easiest cycle to work through, It was very early on that I thought that I’d know what the focus for this month would be – but things changed quickly when I tested positive for Covid-19. Suddenly looking at things from a distance cause them to start to lose their meaning, and we reach for what really matters.

The focus for the last cycle was Resilience – I had thought I’d had a handle on that, but a series of dominos fell that showed me that sometimes when we are faced with challenges, no amount of being present in the moment can seem to stop our history from reacting to them.… More...

At 12:46am this morning, as the moon turned new, I was just packing up my gear from the first band practice of the new year. We’d made plans to rehearse, and we have gigs coming up – but the universe occasionally conspires to divert us from our planned course.

That was one of the tangents from last cycle’s theme of Intuition. How we can get so mired in the planning that we lose sight of the simple joys in spontaneity. Last month I wrote that “I’ve learned, more and more over the past 3 years, that better things happen when I can “be” and live in my moments, to follow the whims and whimsy of the muses.”

The past three years have been a steady progression toward a me I had thought I’d lost a long time ago.… More...

Last Sunday at 1:35pm the moon was New again. When the cycle shifted, I already knew what the new focus would be – but I didn’t have the words. This was odd, since the focus last month, in a tribute to Nez, was Lyrics.

In that post I suggested that we go back to favorite songs or artists and listen to the words they chose – looking to understand meaning and intent. I did follow my own advice, and turned my attention to a few songs I hadn’t embraced for a while. It was good to sit and get to know those old friends again – perhaps even with an ear toward introducing them to the band.

But as I struggled to figure out how to write these words tonight, I began to be more aware that there are other pieces to the puzzle.… More...