Monthly Rhythm

I cherish our monthly rhythm.  It really is the heart and soul of our family.

We discovered our monthly rhythm after the birth of my daughter.   My daughter was born on a new moon, and it wasn’t until she was a year old that I realized the three days before and day of a full moon were so very difficult for her, full of unrelenting energy and powerful emotions. As predominantly phlegmatic, I’m sure the moon also pulls on her water qualities with the ebb and flow of the tides. Once I came to realize the moon’s strength in our family (yes, I discovered it wasn’t just my daughter, but myself and my son as well who are influenced by the moon cycles), it changed the way I viewed those days. I prepared for them. I embraced them. And to this day, we play accordingly.

One of the lovely side effects of adopting a Waldorf inspired home is that it reminds me how connected we ALL are to the earth and her rhythms, and how acting on this can bring a sense of calm to the home.

My daughter is no longer a wee one year old, but still strongly feels the pull of the moon. I use that awareness to support our cycles of learning. While most people focus on daily, weekly and seasonal rhythms, our monthly rhythm is the glue that holds us all together. Below I’ll explain a bit about the cycles and how we used them to guide us.

The full moon is a time of great excitement, filled with energy and bursting with new ideas. The two days before and the day of the full moon I always plan lots of outdoor time and purposeful movement.    This helps us all reconnect with the earth and allows us to absorb as much light as possible.  In a way it resets our internal clocks.

I find that during a full moon, we don’t sleep as well.  There have been studies (you can read a report on one here ) that have proved this to be true, but I don’t need a study to know that it takes us longer to fall asleep and we wake up earlier each and every time the moon shines bright (even if it is cloudy).  I take this in to account when I am planning and make sure that we not only have lots of time outdoors, but quiet time indoors to balance the need for extra rest.

From the full moon towards the new moon, we fall in to the darkness, gradually slowing down our days until we at last come to the darkness of the new moon.  On this day we often close the curtains and use candles during the day, do quiet activities like handwork and read alouds, water colour, a movie afternoon, or a walk on a trail through a thick forest.  It may sound crazy, but we all really look forward to this day!  The kids call it our cozy day and it functions as an anchor for us each month. It cocoons us, and when planning blocks, I will fully plan things into the day that fit these requirement.

Also during the two weeks from the full moon to the new moon we focus on things we have already learned, practice skills and knowledge, continue to work on projects we have started, and discuss goals we have or things that need changing.  This is a time of review and contemplation.

The next two weeks from darkness to light are full of activity and new beginnings.  As we climb to the light back towards the full moon, we focus on introducing new concepts, starting new projects (or new wings of old projects), learning a new skill, and put lots of energy in to our days, finally hitting the climax of the full moon. We spend increasingly more time outdoors, basking in the light of the sun and the moon.

Once the full moon has passed and we fall back in to darkness, we take all the new skills and concepts we have spent the last two weeks focusing on and let them sit.  We rarely introduce any new concepts during this time unless they are entirely child led, but even that is a rare occurrence.  It seems the children have a natural understanding and pull towards living in the moon cycles.

And around and around it goes.

Now, obviously there will be times when we can’t stick to this rhythm. A group trip during our quieter two weeks, or a need for review during the rise to the light, but because we hold so firmly to our rhythm for most of our activities, blips and trips every now and then really don’t effect our over all rhythm.

And there you have it!  Our happy little moon rhythm. I hope that these ideas might help you find or build a sense of rhythm in your home.

Cheers!

Marina