The Cold Moon: Clearing the Air Before the Year Ends

INTRODUCTION

There's something poetic about ending the year under a moon called the Cold Moon.

Not dramatic, not mystical-for-show - just honest. It's the moon that shows up when everything has gone quiet, when the world has stopped pretending to be in full bloom, and we finally have space to see what's actually there.

And honestly? I needed that this year.

One of the hardest parts of 2025 for me wasn't business or money or juggling four kids - it was navigating tension with one of my own children. We weren't seeing each other clearly, which is hilarious in a tragic sort of way because I literary teach clarity and emotional awareness for a living. But life enjoys irony, so there we were: talking in circles, misunderstanding each other, and stacking frustration like Jenga blocks.

Even after things settled and we were "good", my body still didn't feel good. I could feel the energy sitting there - unprocessed, unfinished, like a conversation that ended mid-sentence.

Enter: the Cold Moon. Perfect timing.

This moon is all about communication, closure, and clearing old stories, and it's giving me the nudge I didn't even know I needed.

THE SCIENCE

Before anyone panics - no, the moon isn't controlling your life like a cosmic puppet master. But here's what is real:

1. The brain hates unfinished business

   Psychologists call it the Zeigarnik effect - the mind keeps looping resolved situations because it wants completion. That's why unspoken conversations feel heavier than the ones that actually happened.

   
   

2. Writing helps the nervous system discharge emotion

   
   

   Journaling activates the prefrontal cortex (logic + language) and calms the amygdala (emotion + threat response). Translation: putting feelings into words literary reduces emotional intensity.

   
   

3. Rituals tell the brain "a transition is happening"

   
   

   They create a closing signal, which helps the body shift out of stored stress.

   This is why even writing a letter you never send can change how you feel - the brain processes it as completion.

So no - the moon won't magically fix my relationship. But the timing can create the right psychological conditions for healing:

• quiet

• reflection

• emotional integration

• and the permission to stop carrying what was already over

THE SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE

Spiritually, the Cold Moon is a threshold moon - the final release before the new year.

Its themes are:

• closure without confrontation

• truth without explosion

• softening instead of shutting down

• endings that don't require drama

  
  

This full moon lands in Gemini, the sign of communication, perspective, and reframing. It doesn't force emotional purging - it invites clarity.

Gemini energy asks:

• What story have you been repeating out of habit?

• Is it still true?

• Do you want to carry it into the next chapter?

It's not about pretending everything is fine.

It's about changing the narrative so the past doesn't keep writing the future.

BRIDGING THE GAP (SCIENCE + SPIRIT WORKING TOGETHER)

Here's what I'm going to do - and why it will work on both levels.

I'll use:

• sodalite - for communication and staying grounded instead of reactive

• amazonite - to speak from the heart, not from the wound

• smoky quartz - to clear the mental fog and emotional residue

• clear quartz - to amplify the intention (not the feelings)

Then I'll sit you down with stationery - not my phone, not a text draft - but actual paper.

There's a reason this matters:

• Writing by hand slows the brain

• Slowing the brain increases awareness

• Awareness creates choice instead of reaction

I'll write everything I feel:

• what hurts

• what I wish had been heard

• what I need

• and - the uncomfortable part - what I could have done differently

And here's the key:

I won't send it.

Because the goal isn't to reopen the wound - it's to release the energy that's still living in my body.

As I write, I'll imagined being heard, which matters because the nervous system doesn't fully distinguish between experience and vividly processed memory.

So spiritually, I'll released the emotional imprint.

Scientifically, I'll completed the loop.

Same action. Two layers of impact. That's the bridge.

CLOSING

The Cold Moon isn't asking us to fix everything.

It's asking us to stop carrying what's already done.

Sometimes closure isn't a conversation - it's a shift in the story.

I don't know how the future will unfold with my child, but here's what I do know. The energy between us will be different. I'll feel lighter. The emotional charge will be gone.

And our relationship gets to move forward without dragging the past like a suitcase with one broken wheel.

So if there's something from this year that still lives in your body - a thought loop, a conversation you never had, a feeling that didn't get closure - this Cold Moon is your moment.

Not to confront.

Not to fix.

Just to release, so you don't bring 2025 into 2026 on repeat. Because sometimes the most powerful healing is the one no one else ever sees.

Mahogany Obsidian: The Stone That Helped Me Stop Judging My "Irrational" Self

INTRODUCTION

Mahogany obsidian showed up in my life the way certain people do - quietly, confidently, like it already knew all my nonsense before I said a word.

I was building an altar for my mom because I got this intuitive hit (a loud one), that I needed to say goodbye so I could actually feel her presence more clearly. Logical me completely agreed. Emotional me? She was already in the corner having a meltdown about being “forgotten forever.”

And of course, my pendulum pointed straight at the mahogany obsidian like,

“Yes sweetheart, this one is for you.”

This stone is not dramatic. It’s not shiny. It doesn’t scream: “I will change your life in 7–10 business days.”

But it is brutally honest in a comforting way - the kind of friend who sits next to you, nudges your shoulder, and says, “Okay, let’s look at the thing you don’t want to talk about.”

Which in my case was the part of me I’ve always judged as ridiculous.

SCIENCE: WHY THAT "IRRATIONAL PART" EXISTS (AND WHY SHE DESERVES A BREAK)

Here’s where my logical brain relaxes a bit: there is nothing irrational about the emotional part of you that panics during loss.

After my mom died, I remember having a straight-up internal debate with myself. One part of me was like, “You know she’s gone. We can’t bargain with reality.”

And the other part - the scared, grieving, attachment-driven part - said, “I’ll do anything if you give her back.”

Logically, I knew it made zero sense. I wasn’t delusional. But the emotional brain doesn’t care about logic, it cares about connection.

From a neuroscience perspective:

• The emotional brain responds to loss the way it did when we were kids

• The logical brain watches this happen and rolls its eyes

• And the survival brain is just trying to keep everyone alive

  
  

So, when I recently felt that fear again - the fear that saying goodbye to my mom on the altar would somehow erase her - my logical mind stepped in immediately to say: “That is NOT how this works. That is not even CLOSE.”

And yet the fear was there.

This is exactly where mahogany obsidian came in. Holding it grounded me just enough that both parts could exist at once:

• The logical voice with its calm reasoning

• The emotional voice with its fear of loss

  
  

And instead of arguing with each other, they finally had space to talk.

Which, ironically, is exactly what this stone is famous for: helping you stop bulldozing your emotional self.

SPIRITUALITY: WHAT MAHOGANY OBSIDIAN DOES (BESIDES FORCE YOU TO BE HONEST)

Spiritually, mahogany obsidian is known for:

• Grounding

• Shadow work

• Ancestral healing

• Emotional stabilization without overwhelm

  
  

It has the “truth energy” of black obsidian, but without the intensity that makes you question every life choice.

This one is softer. Warmer. It whispers instead of shouts.

For me, it showed up right when I was preparing to say goodbye to my mom in the way grief needed - not the way logic preferred. I kept hearing: “Let go so you can see her. Let go so you can hear her.” And the fear - that ridiculous, unwanted, emotional fear of losing her again - kept coming up.

Mahogany obsidian didn’t make the fear disappear. it just made it safe enough to feel without judging it. It reminded me that shadow work isn’t about fixing your flaws - it’s about understanding your fears. And one of mine is losing connection. Not death…connection. Which suddenly made the emotional part of me make perfect sense.

BRIDGING THE GAP: WHERE MY STORY MEETS THE SCIENCE AND THE SPIRITUAL

This is my favourite part - where both worlds finally sit at the same table.

When I held mahogany obsidian while building my altar, three things happened at once:

1.     My logical brain recognized this as a grounding object: It lowered nervous system activation. It helped me think clearly.

2.     My emotional brain felt safe enough to express the fear: Not perform it. Not suppress it. Express it.

3.     My spiritual intuition finally had room to speak. That’s when I got the download: “You’re not saying goodbye to her. You’re saying goodbye to the emotional grip that blocks you from feeling her.”

The stone anchored me in all three dimensions:

• Physical (nervous system)

• Emotional (grief)

• Spiritual (connection to my mom)

  
  

It let me have my human moment and my higher-self clarity at the same time, without making either one wrong.

This is the real magic, and also the real science: When the emotional brain feels safe → the logical brain stops judging → the spiritual intuition becomes clearer. Mahogany obsidian is the mediator.

CONCLUSION

Mahogany obsidian isn’t flashy.

It doesn’t promise miracles.

It doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.

It simply sits there and says: “You’re allowed to feel what you feel, even if it doesn’t make logical sense.”

This stone helped me see the part of myself I kept judging - the emotional part that reacted like a child when I was afraid of losing my mom all over again.

It helped me stop arguing with myself long enough to understand what that fear was actually saying. And in doing that, it helped me build an altar that wasn’t about grief, but about connection.

If you’re doing shadow work, ancestral healing, or trying to make peace with the emotional parts of you that don’t follow your logical rules, mahogany obsidian is a powerful companion.

Not because it fixes you - but because it helps you stop judging the parts that are still hurting.

The Beaver Moon: Rest, Reflection & Breaking Family Cycles

INTRODUCTION

November always feels like the world collectively exhales. The days shorten, the air cools, and suddenly your body starts whispering, “Can we not?” The Beaver Moon shows up right in that shift, reminding us to slow down, rest, and build a little emotional shelter before winter moves in.

It’s not about “doing” more. It’s about paying attention to our rhythms, our roots, and what’s been quietly living in our bodies, waiting for us to notice.

LISTENING TO YOUR BODY’S RHYTHM

Our bodies have a rhythm that matches the seasons, whether we admit it or not. As daylight fades, our energy naturally dips. It’s biology - not a lack of motivation. But we live in a world that tells us to push harder, drink more coffee, and ignore the fact that everything in nature is literally hibernating.

When I finally stopped fighting that slowdown, I started to notice something deeper. Stillness gives space for the things we’ve avoided to surface. Old emotions, buried memories, unprocessed grief - the stuff we’ve shoved into the corners of our subconscious comes tapping at the door when things get quiet.

That’s what happened for me. My grandmother never allowed herself to grieve the loss of her daughter, and without realizing it, I followed her lead when I lost my mom. I didn’t mean to, I just did what I knew: kept busy, stayed strong, and convinced myself I was fine. But grief doesn’t disappear because you ignore it. It just becomes trapped energy in the body, waiting to be felt and released.

Your higher self has this funny way of getting your attention when something’s stuck. You’ll feel off - your emotions are all over the place, you can’t explain the exhaustion, or your body starts sending distress signals that don’t line up with anything logical. That’s your system saying, “Hey, there’s old energy here that needs to move.”

THE SPIRITUAL WORK OF REST

Spiritually, this full moon is an invitation to stop running from that inner work and start honouring it. The Beaver Moon is nature’s built-in reset button. It’s the time to rest, to feel, and to clear the emotional clutter you’ve been stepping around all year.

This is when ancestral patterns show up loud and clear. When I started looking at what wasn’t working in my life - the places I felt stuck, drained, or on repeat - I noticed the same themes that showed up in my family. They didn’t always look identical, but the emotional roots were the same: grief avoided, pain buried, silence passed down.

Recognizing those patterns didn’t feel heavy, it felt freeing. Like I’d been handed the manual to my own energy. Each time I faced one layer, I’d find another beneath it. Healing is like peeling an onion - it’s not one and done. But each layer you work through gets lighter. I’m still peeling some of mine, but I can’t stress enough how incredible it feels to clear that stuck energy and know my kids won’t have to carry it next.

BRIDGING SCIENCE AND SPIRIT

Science calls it epigenetics - the way emotional stress and trauma can literally change how our genes express themselves, influencing future generations. Spirituality calls it ancestral healing or karmic clearing - breaking the cycles that repeat until someone becomes aware enough to change them.

They’re talking about the same thing. Whether you call it energy or DNA, the truth is: awareness transforms everything.

So, when you take time to rest, to cry, to journal, to sit with your feelings instead of running from them - that’s not indulgent. It’s evolutionary. You’re reprogramming patterns that have been echoing for decades. The Beaver Moon just gives you the perfect cosmic excuse to do it.

HONOURING THE ONES WHO CAME BEFORE

This is a beautiful time to build a small altar or sacred space for your ancestors with a candle, a photo, a stone, or something that reminds you of them. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s less about the setup and more about the intention. You’re saying, “I see the story. I’m choosing a different ending.”

Take a moment under this full moon to thank them for their strength, their lessons, even their unhealed pain. Because by facing what they couldn’t, you’re freeing both them and yourself.

REFLECTION

The Beaver Moon is about preparation, but not the kind that fills your to-do list. It’s the kind that empties your energy field.

Ask yourself:

• What patterns or emotions have been repeating in my life?

• What am I finally ready to face and release?

• What would rest actually look like if I stopped feeling guilty for needing it?

Breaking family cycles isn’t about blame, it’s about awareness, compassion, and conscious choice.

Affirmation:

“I rest and allow what’s ready to move, to move.

I honour the strength of those who came before me,

and choose peace for those who will come after.”