New Moon | Emergence
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Welcome to the Wild Wisdom Monthly Practice.
Each New Moon, you are invited into a monthly practice designed to support your spiritual life in a grounded, lived way. These practices draw on the rhythms of the Earth and the cycles of the Moon, offering reflection and simple ritual you can return to throughout the lunar month. They are created to help you stay steady and in relationship with your inner wisdom as life unfolds.
Our practice is Emergence.
Our Prayer is:
I honour the power within me
As I allow new growth to take root
I am the love that is deep within.
Emergence
Life is continually bringing something new into being. A seed emerges from dark soil, growing into a tree reaching towards the light. Water bubbles from the earth and, becoming a river, finds its way to the sea. Emergence happens through alignment, a continual movement towards balance as life finds its way through an ever-changing world. And we are part of this extraordinary process.
We live within the natural rhythms of life. Change can bring uncertainty, struggle and disruption, particularly when what is emerging challenges everything we thought we knew. Sometimes we resist because we're holding tightly to the familiar, or because we can't see what comes next.
When we create spaciousness, resistance can fall away. Spaciousness is vital in both our inner and our outer world and the life we are creating. It brings inner warmth, building our strength and our spiritual immune system. With that space, we can move through transitions with greater ease and peace, opening a pathway for the future that wants to emerge. This is what our rituals and practices are for.
Every morning brings possibilities for new beginnings and new ways. Creation is a process of cycles.
A Never Ending Story
Nothing emerges alone. Trees, rivers, swamps, floodplains, fish, animals, moss and rocks belong to an intricate world of relationships. Each contributes to the conditions in which other life can flourish. Through our relationships we give and receive nourishment, wisdom and possibility. Life is reciprocal, and these exchanges reach across generations.
We are part of a story that began long before us and will continue long after we are gone. What emerges through our lives may be the beginning of things we will never live to see unfold.
The footprints of our ancestors reverberate through time. Their experiences, discoveries, stories and wisdom form an inheritance which supports us through our lives. They helped create the conditions for ours; we are creating possibilities for those who follow.
I stretch up on my tiptoes, straining to see inside the cardboard box, from which sounds of snuffling and squeaks are emerging. I hear Granddad tell Nan that he found them in a drain, and that the two at the bottom were submerged in water. Nan clucks her tongue in disgust at people and pours warm milk into little bowls. Granddad lowers the box so I can see the six squirming puppies inside. He deftly pulls out the two soaking wet ones and wraps them in towels, handing me one as he tells me, “Hold him close and warm him up.”
It was the beginning of my lifelong commitment to animal rescue. Nan and Granddad had always taken in stray and orphaned animals. Years later, when we became a wildlife shelter, my grandchildren helped care for the orphaned joeys we raised.
That love has continued through the next two generations. One of our daughters works with animal medicine and healing. My eldest granddaughter works full-time with horses, and another helps when I need to transport an injured or sick animal to the specialist vet.
I wonder if Granddad had any idea, as he placed that puppy in my arms, how far that moment would reach.
Recognising What Wants to Emerge
We may not know what wants to emerge, or where it will lead. By listening to our inner voice and following what delights, intrigues or draws us into deeper exploration, or feelings of lightness or openness, or an awareness that something familiar no longer fits, may help us recognise what is emerging.
We can make room for uncertainty by not requiring an immediate answer. We don't need to see the whole journey to be part of it. Making space, listening with an open mind and taking a small supportive or experimental step helps us discover how to respond.
Recognising our granddaughter’s love of animals and fascination with horses, and encouraging her, helped create the conditions for her to explore what she loved. We couldn't have known where it would lead.
Emergence asks us to participate in life, not simply imagine what might be possible.
THE PRACTICE
Last month, through the Doorway of Wonder, we explored the stories and gifts of those who came before us, and how we keep our relationship with wonder alive for future generations. This New Moon, that journey continues with Emergence.
We will continue to tend our ancestor altar, keeping the ancestor tablet we created at the Full Moon and making room for our descendants and the emerging future. We have a hand in what comes next.
Missed last month’s practice?
Three Flames
Bring three candles and a notebook or piece of paper to your altar.
Light the first candle for your ancestors — you might include your lineage, teachers, people whose lives have inspired you, and those with whom you share spiritual kinship. Light the second for your own life and the third one for your family and descendants.
An Inner Journey
Choose a quiet moment. Do this as a journey or meditation. You can do it once or as many times as you feel drawn.
Place your hands over your heart. Close your eyes. Take three deep breaths.
Imagine walking through a forest. At the roots of an ancient tree lies a book bearing your family name. Open it. Its pages hold the lives of those who came before you. Then you come upon a page that is blank except for your name.
The pages beyond yours are unwritten. They belong to those who follow you. Consider how something meaningful you do may reach further than you will ever know.
When you are ready, come back to your breath and open your eyes. Spend a moment with your three candles.
Write Your Page
Write your name on your paper or in your notebook. Add words, images or symbols for what arises. Include what you want to nurture and what you dream of passing on. Leave room for the unknown—a blank space, or a symbol for something you sense but cannot yet name.
Place your page or book on your altar.
Keep the Fire
Through the waxing Moon, return to your altar whenever you can, morning or evening. Light the three candles. Be present to what is emerging in your life.
Add to your page when you feel inspired.
With love
