What is on the other side of the pain?

May this newsletter bring you the love and light that you need.

Over the last few months, I have written a lot about the themes of pain, grief, sadness, limiting stories, and the like.  In that time, I experienced a lot of emotions, old stories, limiting ideas about myself coming up for me and witnessed many of you going through a similar transformative process.  It is my understanding that this energy of flux, transformation, change, and healing is part of this time and part of a larger evolutionary process.

Today, however, I want to tell you what is on the other side of the pain and address the question, “why are we doing this?”

Many of us come to the Moon work with the hope of manifesting our dreams, which is what Lunar Alchemy is designed around.  Our dreams and heart’s desires are messages from our possible selves (our souls) telling us what we long to create in our lives.  Dreams and desires lead us back to our hearts and our essential selves informing us of what gives us juicy joy, what gives us fulfillment, what gives us maximum aliveness.

The underlying goal of this work is to express our soul’s true purpose.  Part of this journey is tapping into what that is and getting to know yourself (in a profound way) to allow this soul self to shine.

This is more of a process of peeling away layers than changing yourself into something new.  Your soul is you manifesting in your human form.  But it is my experience in my life and working with many people, that our soul light can often be hidden from us because of cultural ideas, painful life experiences, traumas, the limiting stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, or that we have never had the opportunity to get to know ourselves. 

Soul Seris #1 by Sydney Francis, MFA-IA

The goal of Lunar Alchemy to peel away those layers of pain and programming to allow your light to shine the brightest in a way that brings you the most joy, the most fulfillment, and the most abundance.

We do this by listening to and seeding our dreams (New Moon), gently moving toward those dreams (1st Quarter), tuning into our growth (Full Moon), and letting go of what no longer serves us (Last Quarter).  This process is meant to be biodynamic, meaning it is holistic, based-on the Moon Cycles, and holds a space for sustainable growth.

I am putting together a soul work centered spiritual community for people seeking to discover, develop, and express their soul's true purpose.  If you are interested in learning more about this please email the word “soul” to sydbfrancis@gmail.com and I will send you further information on how to be a part of this new community.

How to do Lunar Alchemy (including how to work with each Quarter of the Moon Cycle) is available for free on my YouTube channel. 

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The Moon this week is going into its Last Quarter early on Wednesday morning at 1:37 am PT in Libra.  To align with the energy of the Last Quarter Moon phase, set your intentions to release the ideas, feelings, beliefs, or behaviors that are causing you pain.  Sometimes you experience immediate relief from doing this last quarter Moon work and sometimes it takes more time to release it.  It depends a lot on the nuances of your particular situation.  I set the intention to release stuff and then burn those intentions to symbolically and ritualistically release it.  The purpose of this activity is to make the space to make that forward movement-- for gentle, biodynamic growth.

Most of us are not gardening right now because it is Winter.  In terms of your garden, whether it is literal or metaphorical, this time of year is ideal for going inward and listening.  I do not, yet, have a clear vision of where 2021 is taking me.  Just sit with the silence and listen for what is calling you.  

Happy New Year 2021!  I hope this blog post finds you well.

Lots of love and blessings to you,
Sydney