New Moon Endings, Become New Beginnings
The new moon today has us planting seeds for the new astrological year, which begins in two days. It also marks the first day of Spring and Ostara, in the wheel of the year. With the new moon being in the sign of Pisces, we can’t help but be emotional about the endings that we have faced over the past year and have extra feels about the uncertain future. While the wars are waging and the World is chaotic, I want to remind anyone who is willing to listen (or read), that we can create ripples by how we choose to manage our mind, body, and spirit. The sign of Pisces can feel the weight of the world through the emotional body and that can feel like a lot. One small way that I like to work with this, is to imagine that I am able to affect energetic change with my smile through each person that I come into contact with. If someone is extra grumpy, I smile bigger. If I am in a stage of grief, which I am currently in today, and that isn’t possible, I find little ways to be grateful wherever possible or a creative outlet (hence this post/email).
This past Sunday, my fiancée and I faced an inevitable ending. We had to say goodbye to our beloved pup, Artax (Arty). While this isn’t my first rodeo saying goodbye to a fur baby, it was a first for Tim. My body, mind, and spirit had been bracing for this inevitable heartbreaking impact for way too long to be considered normal. Since Tim and Arty came into my life, I feared this day, knowing how incredibly difficult it is to lose a pet.
The thing about grief and loss is that when you lose a person or a pet, you fear losing other people or pets. You wonder about when that next loss will come and how to prepare for it. There is no amount of preparation that can be done when a loss is imminent. However, what I did differently with Arty was to appreciate every mundane part of caring for him. Luckily, the 15-year-old doggo had so much Spirit that his quality of life remained extremely high until only the last 48 hours of it. The gratitude and envy I felt toward him each morning as his favorite part of the day was going to the bathroom followed by BREAKFAST! How I longed to feel that excited about starting the day, so I did my best to vicariously live it through him.
Arty is only having tea with me because I also have a meat and cheese board
Rare Cha Dao buddy
Arty would hardly ever be with me while I was having morning tea.
Now that one of the days I feared most has come and passed, how can I “be like Arty” without his physical presence? I think that’s the practice of living in the present. It isn’t a destination or a goal; it is a continuous art of practicing without making perfect. With all endings, comes new beginnings, no matter how messy they feel. The only way out is through.
The new moon seeds that I will be planting won’t veer too far from the idea of being present, first thing in the morning. For me that means, getting back to my daily Cha Dao (Chinese tea practice), where I begin each day with a mindfulness practice. Since moving in with Arty and Tim in 2024, having a daily Cha Dao practice was difficult for me because if I was the first one up, I would be the one to care for Arty. If I wasn’t the first one up, that meant that I slept in and didn’t have time for Cha Dao. One thing that I learned from Cha Dao and from mindful presence was to stop resisting the forcing of daily practice, and be in flow with our household life and care for Arty. In this moment, I can honestly say that I appreciated every part of being a “mom” to Arty and was able to not take one second of it for granted, no matter what it entailed, poop and all.
