In these final days of 2023, we are asked how we have stewarded what we have been given.
The Full Moon arrives at 4* of Cancer this evening at 7:33pm Eastern. Pregnant with possibility, this moon heralds (re)birth; full moons are so often about what is finally being brought into the world after months and even years of effort.
Here, we strike Capricorn’s mountain with our staff, and from it, Cancerian waters flow forward. The stream, finally opened up, gushes forth onto the fecund fields of Jupiter in Taurus, which supports this moon; whatever we are bringing into the world, or launching, or committing to, has the potential to be extraordinarily expansive.
This moment connects back to whatever seeds and desires you were sowing during the New Moon in Cancer, back on July 17th. Review your calendar (or IG feed) to see what you were up to, and how what you were working on and moving through then may connect to what you are completing, or pivoting to, now.
The timing works out well with the Gregorian calendar; such astrology is not always so neat. The new year approaches, and with it, the tradition of new years’ resolutions. The truth is that lunar cycles can be as mental, emotional, and spiritual as they are physical or literal. You may not have a physical thing to point to as “proof” of completion in this moment — in the capitalist sense. You may find yourself, more, in a changed emotional state. Or, as is so often the case, having realized that the seeds you planted, or intended to plant, back in July are altogether different than the ones you would plant in this moment.
Astrology is useful, in this sense, as a mindfulness practice that brings us into greater awareness of not only how the world around us is turning, but also of our own personal cycles.
The lunar cycle is a continual reminder to check in with our own desire — and to continually be called to accountability in how we do, or do not, take action.
This is the last lunation of 2023. I encourage you, wherever this finds you, to reflect on what the year has brought you, and what you have brought to your year.
If you find yourself dissatisfied with your writing routine, here at the end of the year, or simply in a state of desire for more routine, more structure, or even more community, I would like to invite you to join the next cohort of Showing Up to the Work: 12 Weeks to a Viable Draft. This is an open genre, all level container where a group of writers meet to write together, in silence, cameras on or off.
The Q1 cohort will meet Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10am-12pm Eastern, from January 3rd through March 21st. Here’s what some members of the previous cohort had to say about their experience:
I jumped to sign up for Showing Up for the Work as soon as I saw Jeanna's first post about it: it came just when I needed a container in which I could focus on trying to bring my work in progress to a new stage. And it was magic to join this group of writers. I came away from these weeks with exactly what the session's full title named: a viable draft. A viable draft of my book project! I am so grateful and so excited for the spring. — Sarah J. Heidt
Showing Up for the Work was just the right container I needed to support me through a particularly challenging time in my work. Non-judgmental, supportive, creative, and kind, Jeanna is a highly capable steward and keeper of the flame for the writing process. Being in community with other writers and being able to have a laugh or receive some gentle encouragement to go easy on the days that just weren't going well has been wonderful medicine. — Elizabeth Cuccaro
Such a great group! Fulfills what my old and now inaccessible mornings-writing-at-the-cafe practice used to. Showing Up is an excellently supportive space to battle writer-isolation life without forcing an expectation to socialize, as the point is to actually write. And we do it! — Pallas Augustine
This container created a generative space that spilled out into every part of my life. With this group and space for accountability, I worked through giant structural changes in my project and I was suddenly prioritizing my writing by setting those often elusive boundaries on my time in order to work. It's always true that to write, you have to just sit down and do it, but this container made it easier to come to the page day after day. — Laura Guidry
Showing Up is a practice. Jeanna creates a gentle container of intention & community, a space to show up to the solitary work of writing. As someone who periodically struggles with maintaining a regular writing practice (or any regular practice tbh), Jeanna's magic lies in offering a practice of accountability that feels generative, rather than punitive. Downright lovely; what a gift. — Ames Wilder
Writing Prompts for the Full Moon in Cancer
What did you begin or seed on or around July 17th during the New Moon in Cancer? How has that desire grown, or shifted, since then?
What are you completing, honoring, birthing, releasing, or letting go of here at the end of the year? What are you saying “thank you, next” to?
What did you write this year that you are proud of? It doesn’t have to be “big!”
How have you grown or changed in your relationship to your art or aesthetic identity this year?
❤️❤️❤️