It’s an eclipse and a supermoon. Eclipses make for awesome viewing and this one will be widely visible. Google around to check its visibility in your location. Some full moons are slow, rich and sonorous, making it easy for us to slip into meditation and communion. But a lunar eclipse–especially a bright supermoon–is more electric and unstable. This energy–unmet by your conscious mind–can manifest as insomnia. If that occurs, what should you do with it?
First, tune into your experience over the past couple days. What were the energy levels around you? Have people been agitated? Or was it business as usual? How are you feeling now? Are you inspired to activity? Or do you feel like pulling inward? In other words, let the eclipse tell you what to do with it. It might be nice to charge out of bed and commune with Her directly. Full moons are a great time to immerse yourself in the Divine Feminine. But how do you do that when it’s late–or too cold to sit under the moon comfortably–or maybe the temperature is fine, but it’s cloudy?
Here’s a lovely indoor full moon practice that I love. It begins in bed, as you’re drifting (or attempting to drift) off in to sleep. It relies on your imagination–your hard-wired apparatus for hacking your own brain. This ancient technology alters your consciousness so that you can connect with divine energy. You can make a direct connection with the Divine Feminine in the moon. For an imagined picture, you could see a luminous moon with your Third Eye. But when your image doesn’t have eyes or a mouth, it’s actually harder for your subconscious to connect with it as a living quality.
So imagine your Moon Goddess as a woman, in a pose that’s safe and relaxed. I’ve often used the Sleeping Goddess of Malta (above), but lately I like the earthy goddess pictured below, from the Lost Gardens of Heligan, England. Note that both goddesses are sleeping on their right side. The pose is meant to advise us. As the yogis instruct, when we lie on our right side, we energize our moon channel, empowering it to do the moon’s nightly chores while we sleep.
Try this as an experiment. Meet the Goddess on the night of this supermoon lunar eclipse. First, imagine Her floating in front of you. Once the sense of this image feels alive and stable, let it grow bigger and bigger, so that it’s exactly your size. Then merge with it. Sense–or just imagine–that you and the Goddess are now one. Don’t worry about how this happens, just allow it to happen. Let go of your thoughts. Let your neurons merge into Hers. Surrender into Her body as you drift off to sleep.
During an eclipse, many of us are kept awake by the wild energy in the atmosphere. Collecting that energy into this sleeping form is an effective way to tame excited shakti. So if you don’t immediately fall asleep, it’s not a problem. Keep imagining yourself as a sleeping goddess, rising and falling with the world breath. Notice how your system is calming down as you do this.
Energy a little wonky? Give yourself the Bliss treatment: Check out my Bliss Tapes. Each pleasurably passive practice is 22 minutes (20 minutes is the minimum your body needs to shift its rhythm). Unwind physical tensions, clear energy channels, and refresh your spirit–all while lying in bed!
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