by Crystal Pomeroy

Luna gives us a special gift by repeating her fullness as the month ends (or as June begins, depending on what part of the world you’re in). For the Daykeeper family, it may seen as a tribute to our beloved Maya, whose name contains that of the passing month, and whose influence on my life’s work is directly related to the special prayer magic I share for this lunation, as we will see a bit further on. In fact, May was originally named after Maia, the eldest daughter of the Pleiades. When Maya and her colleagues decided to name their group after this constellation some forty-five years ago, she didn’t know about this name coincidence. Our mother loved the moon, and would go out of her way to observe it whenever possible.

As the month most associated with Mother Earth’s fertility comes to a close, Luna is full again. Nina Bouska gives the only precise explanation of the Blue Moon that I’ve found in my research, in her Daily Success Guide, including a fact important for this space: “In Vedic traditions, because blue is the color of Krishna’s skin it’s thought to be an important time, especially potent for prayer and meditation.”

Nature traditions also attribute special powers to this lunation. Known as the Dyad or Flowering Moon, it is especially potent for magical work, even for achieving the impossible. Dyad is from Latin, meaning double, and corresponding to the marriage of the god and goddess principles. Pagan author Dorothy Morrison suggests using wedding décor to celebrate it. A bit further on you will find a fascinating, timely way to synchronize with these energies that go beyond the idea of joining masculine and feminine in nature or partnership. We are before an alchemical portal for courting our own anima or animus and recovering its role in our path of power.  

I became familiar with this concept at an early age thanks to my mother, who invited me to join her in a series of seminars with Joseph Campbell on the anima and animus. Over the years such knowledge has proved to be a fascinating tool. Dr. C. George Boeree summarizes its importance:

“…part of our [Jungian] persona is the role of male or female we must play. For most people that role is determined by their physical gender…  When we begin our lives as fetuses, we have undifferentiated sex organs that only gradually, under the influence of hormones, become male or female. Likewise, when we begin our social lives as infants, we are neither male nor female in the social sense. Almost immediately—as soon as those pink or blue booties go on—we come under the influence of society, which gradually molds us into men and women.

In all societies, the expectations placed on men and women differ, usually based on our different roles in reproduction, but often involving many details that are purely traditional. In our society today, we still have many remnants of these traditional expectations. Women are still expected to be more nurturant and less aggressive; men are still expected to be strong and to ignore the emotional side of life. But Jung felt these expectations meant that we had developed only half of our potential.”

I was surprised to learn that author Riane Eisler considers the Jungian animus-anima a mistaken model, one that reinforces stereotypes of masculine and feminine. It’s true the time has come to update the collective unconscious and generate new archetypes; but let’s not forget that the deeper mind prefers stories over linear analysis. Just as the characters in our dreams play out different parts of ourselves, in the mythology of our unconscious, disowned strengths can be associated with an opposite sex figure.  

If, as Morrison says, the Dyad Moon portal can optimize any magic, it becomes miraculous when applied to recovering the god or goddess within, empowering our lives and projects, restoring the springtime of our beings. Could this be an inference of the following quote from the apocryphal Book of Thomas?

Jesus said:

“When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner…, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female…, then you will enter[the Kingdom].” (adapted by Elaine Pagels)

The chart for the present lunation blesses this process of integration in several ways. The Grand Trine in fire harmoniously joins the expansive properties of Jupiter; the discipline of Saturn with Pluto’s promise of bringing out that which is hidden and Mars for effective action. Jupiter squaring Pallas in the twelfth house also stimulates a hidden, intuitive genius to combine male and female archetypes. To quote Nina on this Full Moon: “the Sun-Moon opposition also squares the Moon's Nodes, the 'karmic points,' in Virgo-Pisces. This combination emphasizes 'discriminating use of our accumulated skills to achieve spiritual wholeness, and an ability to rely on intuition and approach our problems with creativity.'”

Pre-prayerations for the Dyad or Flowering Moon

Bring the elements into your prayer space or corner a way that reflects your marriage to yourself:

Earth as flowers in your hair or a bridal-like bouquet, and/or a favorite ring on your finger.

Sparkling wine for the water element.

Gold and silver candles for the fire of electric and magnetic polarities.

Floral incense, such as jasmine, rose or lavender for air.

As you light your candles and/or incense, know it is an offering to the Angels of Wholeness and Self-Embrace, and call on them to guide your marriage with your anima or animus potential.            

Inner work for the Dyad Moon

1. Repeat words like those that follow 15 times:  

I invite my anima/animus into loving union with my conscious mind. I am not afraid of its power. Infinite Intelligence in me knows and shows how to recover the capacities I have hidden or denied until now, in order to live with wholeness, freedom and the power to create the life and dreams that form part of my highest potential.  I now embrace my whole self in symbolic marriage, and reclaim those  strengths I have previously projected onto others.

2. Write down three initiatives you can readily take to integrate your repressed “male” or “female” energies into your daily life and projects.

Note: Full Moons are great for dream work. The above process is especially effective if you do step 1 before going to sleep, then write down step 2 immediately upon waking each day from now until the next New Moon.