Moonthly Letter III: Notes from Mars Retrograde + February Lunar Calendar
Permission to follow the beat of your own drum
If you’d rather listen to this moonth’s letter, here’s the audio version. As a heads-up, I have, since the recording of this, adapted the written version to reflect the opening up of my chat space here on Substack. At the time of recording it, I was merely contemplating it.
Hi and welcome to January's letter. I call them my moonthly meanderings of a slow creative life. And yes, it is a reference to the moon.
To start off, I'd love to share these words that came from my heart to yours on a cold January morning after my beautiful chat with Mars. We've been chatting a lot these past months. You see, my Moon is in Aries and Mars is currently hanging out in Gemini - the watery and airy fires dancing so beautifully on the pages of my journal. Not so pretty to feel that constant push and pull as a physical human body though. So my journal has seen a lot of me lately.
I wrote:
You are enough as you are right at this very moment.
There's no need to rush in so that you can prove yourself, and prove your worth.
There's no need to appeal to everyone. In fact, it is humanly impossible.
But know that this is not a reflection of your worthiness.
And it may be the same for you. Maybe, you too, have been in this push and pull for months now. Or you may have noticed a little bit more chatter in your mind. Mars has been retrograding in Gemini for a few months but is finally moving forward again. So you may start to notice forward motion. You may start to notice the chatter subsiding.
And if you are an avid journaller, I'd recommend you look through your pages from around 20 August 2022 till now, and till March 2023 really which is when Mars will move into Cancer.
What has Mars been telling you, teaching you? And technically you don't even have to know that it was Mars giving you these nudges. But I bet there's some wisdom there for you to extract and perhaps start integrating into this human experience.
And if you are a fellow Astro nerd, have a look at where your Gemini is in your natal chart. Where's that extra chatter been happening?
For me, all of this has been going on in my 10th House - the house of our public self, our work out in the world. To make matters more complex, my North Node and my MC happen to be there too.
As I looked through my own field notes from the last 6-7 months, a few things emerged around that theme.
On 20 August last year, I wrote down these three words:
Follow the charm.
I'd just started exploring sacred geometry and mandala art. It captivated my heart, soul, and mind. I was so fascinated by the patterns that revealed themselves through making circles. I just love making circles. It had thoroughly consumed me and my detail-oriented self was loving every second of it.
These three words have morphed into following one's delight. Everything that I do now is rooted in that truth. These roots are spreading and more words are helping me on that path.
I call them the four Ds:
Delight
Dedication
Devotion
Discipline
It became disciplined devotion and dedication to one's delight. (Who doesn't love good wordplay.)
I have to give thanks Jo here, for this piece that spotlighted this for me.
The thread that helps me anchor to these words is the Moon, both the Tarot card and the moon itself with its phases. And the teaching in that is about creating my own rhythm and following my own pace through this life and honouring it instead of allowing the fears or the feelings around scarcity to push me into action when there's no need.
And yet the human part of me still struggles with this earthly life. I'm creating this path forward but it hasn't become any easier. The pressure doesn't simply disappear, no matter how much I want it to or how rooted I am in my own truth.
And I don't think it ever will, or that it necessarily has to, even when we do discover what lights us up in this life.
Our passions need constant recommitment. We need to constantly choose to show up for them, to give our energy to things that matter.
Creativity is a process that needs continuous tending.
We need to keep giving ourselves permission to show up to our fires.
It is our responsibility to show up to our magic and then sprinkle it onto the world.
But dedication to our creativity does not equate to hustling. That much I know.
Dedication means we know what matters.
Dedication to our creativity means we know what we need at any given moment.
Dedication to our creativity means we trust in the timing of things.
So the main lesson that seems to be emerging from this Mars Retrograde and Mars in Gemini in my 10th House is that we have to give ourselves permission to follow the beat of our own drums. And The Moon is emerging to be one of the main players for me, especially in cultivating a practice around the lunar phases. And creating the lunar calendars is part of that story.
Britten, one of my cherished astrology teachers said something that resonated so deeply in her recent workshop, and I'll add the link to it to my January Delights list. She said:
"The Moon is here to help us listen to the intentions that want to live through our lives."
-Britten LaRue-
This brings me to The Story Behind...
Creating lunar calendars has been a dream of mine for a couple of years and there are a fair few unfinished Canva projects laying around somewhere. So when Zak shared his lunar calendar tutorial I grabbed at the opportunity. But I knew I did not want to simply copy his design. I want to make it my own and make it work for what I seek from a lunar calendar - mostly, it is the added zodiac signs.
I remember the day when February's mandala design came to me. It was Boxing Day. We were sitting and chilling at Nick's mum for the holidays. I noticed this beautiful diamond element on one of the candle holders on the coffee table. In it, I could see the center of a mandala.
I started by creating a Seed of Life pattern which creates six petals in the middle. I used those as a guide to the diamonds and layered them with more diamonds in them.
I then went on to create the petals and the leaves. As you can see, the final piece has stippled elements as opposed to the initial drawing of filled-up edges. I prefer the softer effect that stippling creates. I also prefer the process of stippling. It invites me to cultivate patience and joy in the mundanity.
I also knew I wanted to improve my lettering. So I borrowed a couple of calligraphy books from the library and practiced what's called a Versal type. I loved the look of it and ended up using it for the month as well as the dates.
I also knew I wanted to refine the actual lunar phases and again stippling added the softer, gentler effect I was looking for.
This time I've also added the zodiac signs to the quarter moons. I prefer them being underneath the moon phases. I did wonder whether to add them to each day but opted out of that for now.
I knew I wanted to add a charcoal element to it as with January and it seems to have become a signature element of sorts. The initial sketch had the charcoal around the whole mandala and inside the petals. But as I kept making different versions I realised that it wasn't working. So I decided to encase the mandala in a circle with the charcoal element drawn inwards. What I love about it is how it draws the eye to the mandala.
If you’d love to see the process of it all, I’d love to invite you to check out this month’s video, during which I also share my rediscovery of watercolour pencils and the fun it has brought to my life.
And now a quick question for you:
I'm curious: would you be interested in seeing the process of these monthly lunar calendars as it happens?
I'm pondering a couple of options. Firstly, I'm thinking of opening up my Substack chat.
UPDATED: I have since opened up my chat which in and of itself was a cathartic act. I followed the nudge in me and was reciprocated with beautiful words and a confirmation that it is indeed needed.
Here are the instructions to join in case you’re not already familiar with Substack chat:
Download the app by clicking this link or go where you get your apps from. It is now available on both iOS and Android.
Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.
That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.
Parts of the chat space would be a place where you get a glimpse into the nitty-gritty of my creating the moonthly calendars, and potentially give feedback on earlier iterations. I imagine those to be for paid subscribers. And I'm percolating a few ideas around how to make the space more of a collaboration rather than a mere documentation of my creations.
But also, I'd love to cultivate a more private community of lunar lovers to draw cards with, journal with, and share our moon wisdom with each other. Parts of that, I imagine, would be paid and parts open to everyone. The ideas are still percolating and I've no rush to force them prematurely.
I also love the idea of offering regular physical goodie mail related to the Moon too. As someone who loves physical art, and practical art, I'm also calling in those that resonate with it.
And secondly, I'm playing with the idea of starting a Patreon page for basically the same thing but just a different platform.
Now, there are pros and cons for either. The biggest difference between Patreon and Substack is the minimum subscription charge. Patreon can start from as low as £1 whereas the minimum for Substack is $5 which I know can be too much in these times we're living in.
I'm putting it out here, first of all, to gauge interest, and second of all, which platform would you prefer or do use in a similar capacity?
If you have any comments on it, feel free to share them. And thank you for your feedback.
Thank you for reading, listening, and watching. I will see you in the chat and on the last day of February for the moonthly letter.
Take care.
Lots of love,
Silvia
January Delights
Despite January being cold, dark, and damp as far as the weather goes, and the desire to simply hibernate til spring has been ever-present, I did find lots of delightful things in it.
Slow meandering start to a new calendar year.
Rediscovering my water-soluble pencils that behave like watercolour when made wet. Oh, the joy it brings! (Link YT video)
The free workshop I mentioned from Britten.
This episode from The Regenerative Mystic Podcast on building strategic foundations.
This article on The Coming of the Ice Moon.
This article on a new calendar year and making resolutions. *a sigh of relief for everyone being pressured to set new years resolutions*
Cosy mornings in bed with breakfast, journal, Tarot cards, and this book on the story of art without men and this book about living on an island off the coast of Scotland.
Foreign movies. I have Nick to thank for that. ( A Japanese movie called Love Letters and a Korean movie called Oldboy. A heads-up: the last one is a violent one.)
Boardgame Arena. Find me if you’re on it. (My username’s Sillibear)
These songs by SYML, Luca Fogale, and Plastic Picnic.
I don't have the capacity to say a lot right now, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. Thank you, Silvia!
Oh Silvia, this is such a sumptuous feast of delights for the soul. Thank you for your generosity in sharing so much of what delights you. I adore your 4 Ds and can deeply resonate with each one, as they’re part of my life now too, post ADHD diagnosis.
I really love your lunar calendars. They’re crafted with such love. I’m curious to dig out my birth chart later to explore where Gemini sits! 😍