Join us in real time!

a Leo New Moon Ritual:  July 30, 2000 3:26 GMT   (July 31) 20:26 MDT 22:26 EDT 19:21 PDT 21:26 CDT 12:26 GST (July 31)

Rituals lift us from mundane concerns and connect us to the greater flow of things.  Our MoonCircles CyberRitual is a monthly experiment in collective attunement -- to each other and the moon.  Across time zones, we collect our creative energies into a healing meditation, as a gift to ourselves and the world.  Join us in real time "on the astral plane."  Or harmonize at a time of your own convenience, so that our astral voices may continue throughout the moon's waxing and waning cycles, as in a round.

PREPARATION
Before the exact hour of the CyberRitual, you may wish to find a quiet place where you can protect yourself from intrusion. Then, as the Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan recommends, take steps to "surround yourself with a zone of silence." Light candles and incense, or play a piece of contemplative music to help shift attention from the periphery, to the quiet center within.   You may wish to recite a prayer or sacred phrase, or repeat the New Moon invocation in this month's Moon Meditations to calm your spirit.  Watching the breath - inhaling in, exhaling out - further deepens the energy.

You may plan to join us at the appointed time, but suddenly find yourself surrounded by others, unable to light a candle or set aside a special place.  At such moments, clearing sacred space can be as quiet as breathing, and finding your center yet possible even when all is commotion around you.  If you've familiarized yourself with the flow of imagery ahead of time, you may still be able to add your spirit to our circle!

RAISING THE ENERGY
As you do any of these contemplative techniques, you may begin to feel filled with a mood of sacred expectancy. Like a curtain parting, imagine next that you are walking down a pathway through a forest. As you approach a clearing, you see a beautiful temple.  With its spacious interior and graceful columns, it is open to the sky and surrounding nature. Within this temple sit a circle of figures, immersed in meditation. Stepping up to the circle, you join in, finding your place among them.

As you join in this meditation, feel linked by the love encircling the group. Within the center sits a wise spiritual being.  He or she may be in a familiar guise, a beloved teacher, or a spiritual being not of the earth plane, perhaps Luna herself.  Allow your imagination to create an image of the figure at the center, who is now guiding the circle in a meditation.

As you join in this meditation, feel linked by the love encircling the group. The meditation is on the image of the sacred hearth fire. As guided by the teacher, experience your heart as a spark of fire, or a candle flame. Then, as the circle communes together, feel each person become a sacred torch. Continue this concentration, until you feel the circle is a circular chain of torchlights. A feeling quality of vibrancy, inspiration and enthusiasm pervades the circle. 

THE HEART OF THE RITUAL
Then, imagine that there is an altar in the center of the circle, upon which burns a steady fire. Next, imagine that sparks from this fire are flying about, lighting up the air in the circle with a crackling, lively intensity. These sparks then extend beyond the circle, spreading light and creativity to the surrounding world. All that is dark, all that is lifeless, all that is hopeless, is rekindled by these sparks. Continue this concentration for several minutes. 

CLOSING THE CIRCLE 
Then, withdraw your attention back into the circumference of the circle, and then to your own heart.  Listen as the wise being  leads a closing prayer.  Rising, give thanks for your participation in this ritual, then walk back down the path through the woods, come back to yourself in contemplation, and, finally, come back to your home and life.