The Healing Energy of the FULL MOON! Tap into it Right Here!!!

Transcript generated by AI:

Elizabeth Winkler: 0:18

Welcome to the Shadow and the Light podcast with internationally renowned meditation teacher David G.

davidji: 0:25

And heart healer and psychotherapist Elizabeth Winkler as we guide you through our unique fusion of ancient wisdom and modern psychology.

davidji: 0:34

Get ready to awaken your true essence.

Elizabeth Winkler: 0:38

Heal your wounds and transform your stuff into Hi, David G.

davidji: 1:07

Hello, and welcome to The Shadow and the Light. My name is David G. I’m here with cosmic moonologist Elizabeth Winkler. And if you’re here on this episode, might be a full moon. This is our full moon episode. Elizabeth and I have been celebrating the full moon for decades. And we have ascribed meaning to it. We have translated the most ancient meanings of the full moon. We have used it as a powerful ritual for cleansing and healing and so many other things. So if you’re curious about the full moon, this is that episode. If you’d like to use the full moon to expand your life and make meaningful shifts, this is that episode. So hello, Elizabeth. Hi, David G. What does a full moon mean? Well, there’s so many different uh aspects of a full moon. Let’s take a couple of steps back. The sun represents our outer world. The sun also represents masculine energy. It represents our identity, our personality. It represents our ego. It represents how we shine our light in this world. It’s all yang energy, masculine energy. The moon, conversely, represents our inner world, our hidden emotions, our grudges and grievances. Think about how resentment grows and fetters, turns into anger, upset, mind, torture. We begin thinking about the past and we can go really deep. And then we could start projecting into the future. And our imagination runs wild with predictions about what could happen. But at the time of the full moon, all energy is amplified. And so the moon is not the yang energy, it’s the yin energy. It’s not the masculine energy, it’s the feminine energy. Remember this concept. The moon has no light of its own. The only light it has it’s receiving from the sun and glowing with that. So think about this concept of the yin and the yang, the divine masculine and feminine, in this powerful convergence that only happens a dozen times a year. And so in the full moon, when everything is amplified, all is heightened. We’re emotionally heightened, we’re spiritually heightened. And I have always thought about the full moon as the pruning moon. So why do we prune a bush or a tree or a plant? We prune by cutting away all the branches or leaves that no longer serve. And what does that do? It drives energy down into the roots. And so that’s what we can do at the full moon. We can begin the process of pruning away that which no longer serves us, and in that process, it will drive energy into the roots. So simultaneously creating space and fueling us. I also refer to that full moon as a gratitude moon. There are so many different ways that we can refer to this concept, but while on a full moon, when the moon is fully illuminated by the sun, and we can see it there on display, this yin yang energy is in a state of pure harmonic balance. And I believe that happens for 72 hours preceding it. Certainly in that 24 hours when it is at its peak. And then of course in the 72 hours after that. So there’s sort of like a halo. In addition to the gratitude moon and the full moon, I like referring to this moon in so many different ways, but this is a an opportunity for rebranding, for community, and for full-on release. Elizabeth, you are an astrological expert, as a matter of fact. And so please share with us. I’m just using my basic rituals that I’ve used for the last 20 years, but you, of course, actually know what this stuff means. So take us deeper.

Elizabeth Winkler: 5:51

I started studying astrology when I was in my 20s, which was a long time ago, in my early 20s, and when I went through my first Saturn return, which this may mean nothing to people, but it’s a challenging time. It happens around 27, 28, 29, 27 to 30. We go through it a second time. But anyway, that’s a whole nother episode. But I really was interested, and so I started studying it, but then cut to, I don’t know, a decade at least ago. I’ve seen a lot of people in a day. Could be eight, could be twelve. And I started to notice one day in particular that was so funny. Every client was saying, on Saturday night, I was crying my eyes out. Different story, but similar effect. On Saturday, I was a mess, the next person. On Saturday, I couldn’t get out of bed. On Saturday, this, and guess what was happening on Saturday? Full moon. Correct. So little bit by little bit, I started to share with some of my clients who I knew were more open to that, because I didn’t think people that were coming to see therapists necessarily wanted to be talking about full moons or new moons or astrology, but I was quite pleasantly wrong. People really have found bringing in the understanding of where the moon is and how it’s affecting you and the planets is very grounding, stabilizing for people. All those people that were talking about what happened on Saturday were feeling like there was something wrong with them, that they’re crazy, that something’s wrong with them. And when they all got the information that there was actually a full moon that day, they kind of lifted a little bit of the burden and saw that, oh, this is universal. So it’s another example of how we can get so locked in our negative judgment and personalization of how bad I am or what I did wrong or something’s wrong with me, sort of thing. And it doesn’t mean that because there’s a full moon, you get to, you know, act like a terrible person either. And I haven’t seen that. That’s one thing I just want to say off the top because that’s something I have really noticed that these energies are powerful. We are on a planet. That’s actually one of my lemon mantras. You’re on a planet because you are. That’s a fact. Most of the things that we’re telling ourselves are not facts. I’m a bad person, I’m this, or whatever. Those are made-up stories that are connected to deeper levels of pain. But you are on a planet spinning in space right now, you know. So remembering that, remembering that. And there are all these energies that are affecting us. And full moons bring intensity, they bring things to light, they are illuminating. If you’re feeling this full moon today or been feeling it, David G, you were talking about the build up to it. Some people feel that build more than others. And it really depends on your own personal chart. I have hundreds of charts on file. And so a lot of my clients like to look at where is the moon. You can look at where it’s aspecting, what it’s aspecting. So all of those things are going to play a part in how it’s affecting you. But yeah, what is being illuminated? And what I like to do, I love doing ritual. I think it’s a wonderful way to honor the pain or the sadness or whatever is coming up in a way. You know, we’ve talked in past episodes or most episodes about how we need to bring attention into our body or into our minds and our hearts to things so that they can shift. So a ritual is an experience you can do, especially on a full moon, where you’re honoring something. And what I like to do is a bay leaf ritual. So you’d get bay leaves, and if you don’t have bay leaves, that’s fine. You can just use paper. And you write, you could first journal about how you’re feeling, et cetera, et cetera. But ultimately we’re moving into an energy of letting go. What do I need to let go? So I usually just journal, journal, journal, and then I take my bay leaves and I take a red pen, a red Sharpie, and I write all the things I’m letting go of, like in a word, like maybe it’s shame or um, you know, people. Um a really powerful practice is to write down names of people. I do their first and last name, could be exes, could be um a work relationship, and writing their full names. I I actually did this during a full moon lunar eclipse. And I wrote down all these names of old relationships. And then you burn them, you know, outside somewhere, you burn them, and and then once that those ashes have cooled, you can offer it back to the earth either in the sand or in the dirt or in the water and the ocean in some way. Um but one time when I did this during eclipse season, um, I burned all these bay leaves, and one of the people that I burned, who I hadn’t spoken to in years, both texted and called me within the next hour.

davidji: 11:12

And what were you actually, you wrote their names down. What were you seeking to happen?

Elizabeth Winkler: 11:17

Okay, let’s say that I were to write my sister, who I love. We have challenges from time to time. I could write her name and I could burn it. And any energy that needs to be released that’s sticking to it.

davidji: 11:28

Oh, so you’re writing this down to dissipate any emotional charge, perhaps?

Elizabeth Winkler: 11:33

It’s letting go. For me, full moons are about letting go. So it’s letting go of any tangled threads that may exist that are still cords. People talk about cutting cords, okay? It could be a cord. You’re releasing the cord from to this other person. Now, it might be someone you love and adore. It could be your husband, your wife. But you’re gonna have stuff. Hello, we’re in relationships. Relationships are hard.

davidji: 12:01

So those cords that’s not the person that you’re letting go of. It’s the sort of like the tension or the conflict. Anything that doesn’t serve. Anything that doesn’t serve.

Elizabeth Winkler: 12:10

That’s what full moons are about for me. Now it’s only if it resonates. But I use that story because I couldn’t believe what happened. The person reached out, which to me was a validation that these cords are real. Energies are real. When you burn it, the other person might feel it. In that particular case, that person did. So anyway, I love to honor it with ritual. And I think using the bay leaves is a very ancient practice. I just love it. I do it every month. I do for the full moon, and I also do one for the new moon, which we’ll talk about in our new moon episode.

davidji: 12:46

Aaron Powell Yeah. Another thing about full moons, and I think it’s very, very important. Like I said, I call it the pruning moon, the full moon, the gratitude moon, the healing moon. We think of this, the moon is at its fullest point. Whatever has been manifested since the new moon, you know, the moon’s just been filling, filling, filling. We have been manifesting, we’re achieving, accomplishing, you know, leveling up. I also refer to this sometimes as the taking stock moon. So as I look at this, this is the opportunity of all opportunities to boldly hold up the mirror and be so honest with ourselves that we can begin to see, perhaps for the first time, perhaps for the 10,000th time, see what doesn’t serve. And look at a brand new way of refining it. Look at a brand new way or a new opportunity to sculpt it, co-create something different, perhaps move into a new direction, or shed not all of it, perhaps refine it, shed some of the unnecessary aspects. This divine feminine component, we have to have that awareness. But divine feminine is essentially holding the space for us to do this.

Elizabeth Winkler: 14:08

Also, you know, you’re talking about what’s come into manifestation. For those that are really interested in paying attention to the new moon, full moon connection. When you have a new moon, let’s say an Aquarius, that would be January, February, the full moon in Aquarius is going to be six months later, in like August. So the seed that you plant at the new moon, it’s six months later that that comes into its fruition. So if you start to take note of the seeds you plant at these, you know, particular times, you can have a journal for new moon in Aquarius. And then six months later, so wherever we are in the full moon, you can look back, what seed did I plant, and look at how, to your point, how well is it going, et cetera, et cetera. Are there things I need to release, things standing in my way, that sort of thing. So that’s just like a journaling practice for those that are interested. But one other thing, sun is opposite the moon. Full moon is sun opposing the moon. So oppositions are challenging. They’re challenging. Full moons are challenging. So it is a perfection of the sun completely opposite the moon. But in a birth chart, in an astrological birth chart, a square or an opposition is a challenge. It’s a place where we grow, it’s a place where we learn. Sun opposite moon can feel like a very dualistic situation. So some people during a full moon can feel more in their moon or more in their sun, or you can move back and forth. So that’s just something to bring in as to understanding that full moons are in opposition to each other.

davidji: 15:50

So like I said before, if you’re here, it’s because you want to know more about what this full moon is doing. You’re curious about the full moon. All of our emotions, all of our feelings, our dreams, our mental processes are all amplified on the full moon. And this can cause friction. Doesn’t have to, but this certainly can cause friction. But it’s also going to uh increase your vision, your clarity, your crystallization. And so on this gratitude moon, we get to again I like to call it a taking stock moon. I know. You’re saying, wait, you’ve got like nine names for this moon. I know. The full moon I give a lot of lot of leeway to. But this is where we get to feel grateful for what we have manifested. This is where we get to feel grateful and give thanks to the people who’ve helped us along the way. This is energetically a very, very important moon because this is the shedding, the catharsis, the letting go, the release. And Elizabeth talks about all the time where’s our pain and suffering come from, mostly resistance. This would be an opportunity, perhaps to give yourself permission, even to let go of one thing. Even it’s just one thing that doesn’t necessarily serve you. This could be okay, I’ll I’ll let go of my insistence that I lay in bed and watch TV for three hours every night. Maybe it’ll be two hours going forward. This is my insistence that I need to eat animals to feel better about my life. Maybe this one day where we don’t eat animals. Maybe it’s I think let me take a little more care of my relationships and let me return some calls that I’ve been a little negligent or putting off. Let me have that difficult conversation because I’ve been resisting it, resisting it, resisting it. And I need to allow that to happen. This is an opportunity, if we could just let go of one thing in one area of our life, this could really make a powerful difference, whether that’s a purge, whether that’s a surrender, whether it’s just loosening your grip, just a little bit. As I mentioned, it’s usually 72 hours before 72 hours after, and that full 24 hours, which means there’s a large runway for us to make shifts to acknowledge certain things that it’s like, let me tap out now, let me acknowledge. Had a good run, and as we’ve said on another one of our episodes, gone.

Elizabeth Winkler: 18:48

I love that. Beautiful. It’s such an opportunity for us to honor, you know, the the pain, the the sadness, and whatever’s been holding us back, you know, so a time to detach.

davidji: 19:05

Right. And you may say, oh, uh what what do I do? Is there a particular ritual? Yes, well, if you’re a kooked-out crystal person like me, uh then you would be putting your crystals out in the moon and letting them all get cleansed. But you can also put yourself out in the moon. Maybe you’re gonna take a drive, maybe you’re just gonna sit outside or take a walk in the glow of the full moon. This is where we have an opportunity to honor our ancestors. These could be actual relative ancestors or just those who’ve come before us. And this would be that moment to give ourselves permission to embrace all the beauty and magnificence of our ancestors and let go, or perhaps end the cycle of other ancestral practices that aren’t necessarily hurting us. But number one, I would say it’s full of moon, this is the time to let go of old wounds. And I think everybody out there has an old wound. I’ve got one, at least. I know Elizabeth has one as well. And so tonight we’re just gonna moon bathe. We’re gonna step out under the moon and give ourselves permission to begin the process of letting go of old wounds. Any other practices you like to deploy?

Elizabeth Winkler: 20:28

Yes, water. Embracing water in some different way. You know, you can take a bath, but also another thing I love to do is to put water outside. You can put some crystals you can put in water, like I do rose quartz. So if you put crystals out, that’s great. But you could also put like a mason jar with water, put the rose quartz in it. You can set intention into that water and then set that out. And then with that water over the next month or however long you would like, you can drink some of it a little bit at a time. You can put it in your pet’s water a little bit, or you can put a little bit in your baths. Um, and it becomes this really powerful ritualistic water that you can use. And I I love doing that. I don’t do that every full moon, but from time to time I do.

davidji: 21:18

It’s like a healing elixir.

Elizabeth Winkler: 21:20

It is an elixir, it is. You don’t have to put the crystals in, but you can. Just check to make sure that it’s a crystal that can go in water.

davidji: 21:28

You made a very good point. Remember, selenite. Don’t allow selenite to touch water, because I once put a selenite stick in this beautiful vase of water. And it’s like salt. When I woke up in the morning, there was nothing there. Yeah. So um also don’t let your dogs lick selenite and don’t lick it yourself or touch it with wet hands. Yeah. But otherwise, allow those crystals, allow that energy. Embrace it. And here’s a really important reason. Elizabeth and I are really, really big believers in ritual because we know that when you can add some meaning to ritual, that truly equals transformation. And so this is an opportunity for you to use the cosmos, use the beauty of our universe, you know, the stars, the moon, the planets, by using that to infuse the magnificence of our solar system and ritualize it. And this will lead to powerful and personal transformation in your life.

Elizabeth Winkler: 22:35

The more that I have engaged with this kind of ritual with the moon, whether it be journaling, but especially a burning ritual, it just takes it to a whole nother level. You know, it makes me think of just intention and attention. Even if we’re not planting a seed of intention, there’s an intention of letting go with a full moon. You know, here we are in the web of the universe. And when I’m sitting out with my bay leaves and my pen, getting ready to honor whatever it is that’s been challenging me and relationships within myself in any area of my life, I pull that energy in, that vortex of letting go. I take time and space to honor, to write it down, and then to burn it. And that kind of attention is so compelling and transformational. I really would encourage people to try it. Right.

unknown: 23:40

Yeah.

davidji: 23:41

That’s so great. So whether it’s a bay leaf or whether it’s anything, I’ve had powerful sacred fire rituals in my life, but everything becomes so much more powerful, especially any kind of cathartic letting-go ceremony that you activate in that halo, in that glow of the full moon.

Elizabeth Winkler: 24:02

It also makes me think of the alternate nostril breathing, because those are honoring the lunar and the solar aspects of our being, right?

davidji: 24:14

Right. The ida and the pingala.

Elizabeth Winkler: 24:17

Right.

davidji: 24:18

You know, the ida is the left side, yeah. And the pingala is the right side, the masculine side. And that’s why if we ask the question, which nostril is more dominant right now? We can take that to a whole nother level as well, because your right nostril, masculine energy, your left nostril, feminine energy.

Elizabeth Winkler: 24:43

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: So maybe we should explain this a little bit for people that don’t know what we’re talking about. The the Nadi Shadona. So Nadi Shidona is an alternate nostril breathing exercise which brings balance into your system. David you might be able to speak about it better than I, but I’ll do my best. So the Ida begins and ends on the left side of the Shishumna. The Shishunna is like the river of all the energy that moves through it.

davidji: 25:12

So there’s three, there’s hundreds of thousands, nadis, supposedly. But there’s three powerful, we could call these like superhighways. The Shishunna runs from the the root of your spine straight up, all right, in a very straight fashion. Then there’s sort of like on your left side is divine feminine energy, the ida on the right side is divine masculine, and they sort of like crisscross at the junctions of the chakras, sort of like um ribboning back and forth, crisscrossing as they move up. Ultimately, everything ends at around between the nostrils and the third eye. And so this is all that energy that’s running through us. Nadi means channel, N-A-D-I, and shodna is cleansing or clearing of the channels. So that’s essentially alternate nostril breathing, sort of like helps you clear the channels, harmonize the left and right hemispheres of your brain, harmonize the left and right sides of who you are, masculine and feminine, and then create this space of such peace and calm.

Elizabeth Winkler: 26:28

So maybe we could take people through practice. I think you’re the best leader of that.

davidji: 26:33

Sure. Let’s dive deep into that. All right. So um the the way we do this is we’re gonna use our thumb of our right hand to rest on our right nostril, and we’re gonna use our ring finger of our right hand to rest on our left nostril. And essentially, we’re not gonna breathe in deeply, we’re not gonna force the breath, we’re not gonna do anything other than breathe in. We’re not gonna hold the breath in on our inhales or out on our exhales. We’re simply going to breathe. And so see if you can ever so gently rest your thumb against your right nostril, closing it, and take a long, slow, deep breath in. This is just for experimentation purposes here. We’re not doing the practice yet. And take a long, slow deep breath in through your left nostril. And as soon as you get to the top of that inhale, use your ring finger to close your left nostril, open your right nostril, and let that breath out. And then breathe back in through the right nostril. And then close that right nostril and exhale out of the left. So that’s basically it. That’s it. So again, we’re not gonna force the breath, we’re not gonna take long, slow, deep breaths in or out. But what we are gonna do is ever so gently just breathe, opening and closing our various nostrils. Now, what I’d recommend if you’re congested in any way, you might want to blow your nose right now.

Elizabeth Winkler: 28:11

And is there anyone that shouldn’t be doing this practice just in case?

davidji: 28:15

Just be gentle. Anytime you’re doing a practice, as long as you’re just breathing normally, you’re okay. But if you’re going to breathe more rapidly, if you’re going to hold the breath, if there’s going to be any force, if you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t do it. With your doctor’s support.

Elizabeth Winkler: 28:34

Right. And I think if you’re menstruating, it will make you menstruate more than that.

davidji: 28:38

It can increase your flow, absolutely. So just be aware. At any time, if you don’t feel comfortable, stop. At any point if you feel dizzy, stop. And don’t sit at like a bar stool or a high top chair for this one. Anytime you do any kind of breathing, sit as low to the ground or as low to your couch as you can. So let’s do it together. All right. We’re just going to breathe, opening and closing our various nostrils. Again. We always like to begin with our left, that’s our divine feminine side, and that will start the flow of prana energy. Well, let’s do ten rounds together. So take your thumb, gently rest it on your right nostril, and let’s breathe. We’ll start breathing in through our left nostril. And don’t hold it, close it, exhale out the right. Back in through the right. Close it out through the left. Back in through the left. Close it out through the right. Starting to get a rhythm here. Back in through the right. Close that right nostril out through the left. Notice you’re settling down a little bit, back in through the left. Close that nostril, open the right, out through the right. Slowing down a little bit more, in through the right. Close it out through the left. Almost like pulling a string between your two nostrils back and forth. Back in through the left. Out through your right. And you’ve got the flow here. Back in through the right. Close it out through your left. Back in through your left. Close that nostril out through your right. Now see if you can do a couple of rounds on your own right here. Or in your lap. Now imagine how powerful this is if we close our eyes and do it for five or ten minutes. Again, be gentle. All these practices that we’re going to share with you in the Shadow and the Light podcast, they’re all designed very specifically as gentle healing modalities. What did we do? We just lowered our blood pressure. What do we do? We just lowered our heart rate. What did we do? We just boosted our immune system. That’s all scientifically proven, all evidence-based. What do we do? We harmonize the left and right hemispheres of the brain. And most importantly, at least for the purposes of today, we harmonize the yin and the yang, the masculine and the feminine, which we’re best when they’re in equilibrium. Right? If we’re a little sluggish, it helps to have a little more masculine energy. If we’re a little harsh or a little fiery, it helps to have a little divine feminine energy. But when we can harmonize them, we truly take ourselves into balance. So happy full moon. Let’s celebrate, giving ourselves permission to let go.

Elizabeth Winkler: 32:55

Let go and flow, as I always say. That’s what we get to do with full moons. We get to bring awareness. So honor yourself no matter what kind of mud you feel like you may be sitting in, what kind of a water of flow you may be in, these big tidal waves of emotion that we often feel, just like the ocean waves become quite large while the moon is full. The same is true for us. So honor that tidal wave within you and allow that to be the space in which you release.

davidji: 33:32

And if I could give you just a little advice on how to kick it off, perhaps sit under the full moon, inside or outside, rest your hand on your heart and ask yourself the question what am I holding on to right now that no longer serves me? And let your heart answer that question. The rest? Leave it up to the universe. Thank you for joining us for the Shadow and Light podcast. This is David G and Elizabeth Wenkler, and uh we are loving that you joined us for the full moon. Enjoy.

Elizabeth Winkler: 34:15

Shadow and the light.

Elizabeth Winkler: 34:17

Music: 43:23

I want to be afraid of the shadows and the dark. They will lead the way to the heart.