Hello!
You may have seen the Lunar Abundance book, but have you seen the companion Lunar Abundance Reflective Journal?
And, have you joined the free online Lunar Abundance community on IG?
Readers of the Lunar Abundance book gather globally for online live intention-settings at each New Moon and Full Moon.
Join the free online community here.
Love,
Ezzie
Today, I’m so happy to give you a free 2024 Lunar Abundance planner. It’s a free digital download, which you can print & pin to your vision boards, set as your digital planner and computer background, or add to your journal.
CLICK HERE to download the free planner.
By using this free planner, you will be able to:
If you feel called to share the word, please direct your friends here, so they can download for free too.
Love,
Ezzie
I’m delighted to announce that, at last, the U.S. edition of the Lunar Abundance book is ready for order if you’re in the US, Canada, UK, Europe and, well, elsewhere in the world!
Click here to order your book now
The U.S. edition is called “Lunar Abundance: Cultivating Joy, Peace, and Purpose Using the Phases of the Moon”.
It’s a step-by-step guide to working with the cycles of the moon — full of stories, ceremonies, beautiful illustrations and journal exercises to help you cultivate feminine flow, and the life of your dreams, aligned with the moon cycle.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀
It is very similar to the Aussie edition, but it’s a new title, cover (those moons!), and it’s bigger etc… maybe if you have the original Australian edition you might want to grab this one for a friend?! .
In 2018, I launched the Lunar Abundance book in the United States. Many thanks to the hundreds of readers in Florida, New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. (and Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life, Boca Raton Regional Hospital, the Assemblage, the Alchemist’s Kitchen, Kai Stinchcombe and aloyoga for hosting me!).
Click here to order your book now
When you receive your copy, be sure to tag it on Instagram @ezziespencer and #lunarabundance so I can see!
Love
Ezzie
Rather than be knocked around by the power of the Full Moon, release, inquire and create space for more goodness in your life.
Download your free Full Moon abundance meditation here:
Love
Ezzie
P.s. Intrigued to go deeper? Grab your copy of my Moon Cycles book here.
Tell me in the comments below: How do you release and let go at the Full Moon?
Women often share with me their deeply felt connection with the moon.
You tell me that you feel the call of the moon. That just looking at the moon at night ignites your intuition and imagination, and evokes a remembering of sorts.
And after investigating La Luna for awhile, the question often arises: what’s the link between the cycle of the moon in the sky, and our menstrual cycle?
Sometimes there are follow-up questions too, occasionally voiced, and often just hovering in subtext- am I doing it right? And: can I still work with the moon if I don’t bleed (or if I don’t bleed at the New Moon?)
I explain this much more below but, my quick answer is: yes, yes, yes.
In my Lunar Abundance system, we work with the Moon as representing the yin to the yang of the Sun. I see the moon as a symbolic moving mirror into which we can gaze and explore aspects of ourselves, including our feelings, our subconscious mind, and our feminine way of being.
I use the terms “yin/feminine” and “yang/masculine” to refer to alternate modes of being or doing, both of which are available to us, regardless of gender (although the Lunar Abundance work seems to be vastly more interesting to women than it is to men- perhaps because women are more curious about their “feminine” than men).
On this reading, the moon’s cycle provides fertile ground through which to explore our feminine selves.
The menstrual cycle is one aspect of our relationship with the feminine. It is a female cycle, but just one of many physical cycles and rhythms that we experience. Others include our circadian rhythm (our 24 hour cycle), the REM sleep cycle and more- check out chronobiology. Longer cycles include the seasonal cycles and annual cycle of the Earth moving around the Sun. The menstrual cycle is a female cycle, but of course, not all women experience a menstrual cycle.
If you are not bleeding, it does not mean that you can’t work with the moon. Women pre- and post- the cycling era of their lives are still drawn to the moon. Women with cycle interruptions or irregularities are drawn to this work, as are pregnant and post-partum women, and women whose cycle is suppressed by hormonal contraceptives or other medicines, and women who have had permanent interventions such as hysterectomy.
All women can experience the feminine magic of Lunar Abundance. This is my personal practice, premised on the moon as being representative rather than causative. The Lunar Abundance system provides a map to practice coming home to a feminine way of being. My approach has many applications that are relevant for cultivating inner peace and an abundant life, which I teach in depth in the Lunar Abundance Salon.
In other words, you don’t need to be experiencing a menstrual cycle to find delight and magical benefits by following this particular lunar system. Yet I cannot ignore that over many years of doing this work with women, I have heard time and time again that, when women start to follow the moon:
* Note, I’m not a medical doctor. This is me relaying anecdotal evidence that many, many women have voluntarily shared with me over several years.
So some women do experience welcome physical effects from following the moon cycle. This, of course, begs the question: why?
There are plenty of theories which may be right but which I am not sure are entirely right, including the gravitational pull of the moon (why would it not affect us all in the same way?), and what is “natural” for women (more on this in a moment, and my own take on the observer effect is outlined below).
In particular, I’d love to see greater evidence for the received wisdom that it is natural/traditional/ancient for women to bleed together at the New Moon.
I’m open to being convinced. The PhD in me acknowledges how problematic it is to demand the production of written evidence from pre-industrialised societies, or from secret and oral traditions.
Yet this same PhD simultaneously wonders: Really? How do we know? And what may be the unintended consequences of stating this?
Heard less frequently online is the view that the menstrual cycle was/is not always similar in duration to the moon’s cycle. I’ve also heard that women traditionally used to bleed 3-4 times a year- and indeed that women in some types of communities outside the Western world cycle like this today. If this is true, what other factors are at play here?
Could our very understanding of the menstrual cycle be at least partially constructed by culture and modernity? Do you have any research to share? What is your experience?
Increasingly, I receive messages and questions from women asking me whether it is okay that they bleed at the Full Moon, or some other time in the moon cycle, and not at the New Moon, and whether they can follow a lunar practice like mine if their menstrual cycle is out of sync with the moon cycle.
I’m also frequently asked by women how to sync their cycles better with the moon as to bleed at the “correct” time. By all means, experiment with tracking and light and so forth.
But a note of caution. If you don’t find a correlation, that might be just fine.
And if you do, I suggest that is also fine – and it also might not be a generalisable finding. To other women, or perhaps even to yourself in other phases of your life.
When I hear a woman problematising her body or put pressure on herself to be in a certain way because she is not naturally fitting within the model that she has told applies to her, I feel that something is amiss.
What I do know – because I have fallen prey to this myself – is that one of the traps in developing deeper understanding of the nature of ourselves is to use “spiritual” language and personal development concepts to continue to perpetuate ideas about what we should be like, rather than loving how we are.
My own cycle is irregular in the sense that my bleeding swaps from the New to Full Moon. I’ve observed this over the many years since I stopped taking the pill. My cycle depends on so many factors. Perhaps it is linked with the cycles of the women around me, diet, workload, artificial light. Perhaps it means what several traditions interpret this to mean. And maybe it is just because my body Is Who She Is and because she does She Does What She Does. And that’s perfect.
Most of the women who have been tracking the moon and their cycles over many months and years observe similar patterns, that is, that their cycle moves. I’ve also heard other experts in female embodiment work, like Saida Desilets PhD, say the same thing about the women that they work with.
Of course, if you bleed, you may bleed every 29 or so days at each New Moon, or you may bleed at each Full Moon, or you may be out of sync with the moon but unlike me you may have a regular cycle and bleed every 25 or 28 or 35 days or whatever, like clockwork. I often hear about these cycles.
I’m not yet convinced that we know what is “natural” for women and their bodies, nor that there are definitive “meanings” of when you bleed – although I’ve heard many views. What I am convinced of is:
What I offer here is encouragement for you to accept, adore, and love your body.
Experiment and track the moon and your cycle without worrying that there is something “wrong” (although it goes without saying that you should seek a professional medical opinion if you feel that something is seriously awry).
The paradox is that by not trying to change yourself, by approaching your body with curiosity and love, perhaps you may find that what was unwelcome melts away: but this can only happen as consequence, not as driver.
Be real with your motivation for inquiry.
Acknowledge whether you are coming from a place of genuine inquiry, or whether you are wanting to Fix yourself in some way because on a deep level you see your body/self as inadequate.
And be gentle with yourself in that inquiry, with what you find: we are so used to judging and critiquing and punishing our bodies and ourselves.
This is so fundamental in our culture that we are often not even aware that we have succumbed to this whip, especially when it is dressed up in what appears to be a divine feminine practice.
You can free yourself from this pattern through acquiring self-knowledge, acting with discernment, allowing yourself to feel what is truly going on, and opening yourself to what you find, with deep devotion.
After years of musing and reading and speaking with hundreds of women about this, the exact nature of the relationship between the moon and the menstrual cycle still feels murky to me.
There is a relationship, without a doubt, but what is it? I’m eager to see more research.
Aligning with the moon cycle has effects, but this may be for several reasons, including us paying more attention to and harnessing the power of what I see the moon as representing, ie our feminine self. This is a process that a physicist would call the observer effect.
Indeed as noted, in Lunar Abundance, we work with the moon as a mirror. You can look in that symbolic mirror to see multiple aspects of yourself, from different angles. If the moon ignites your curiosity to notice and learn about your body: awesome.
Witness and celebrate your body. Honour and love and celebrate the temple that she is, and the perfection that is your cycle.
Know thyself.
We are complex, multivalent beings. We can better understand ourselves and access our deeper and innate wisdom with the light of the moon as our guide.
For you, this may include the menstrual cycle. And much, much more. Lunar Abundance focuses on my personal practice, on what I know. It was the gateway for me to create a better life for myself, starting with accessing many levels and aspects of self-knowledge, from the emotional to the physical to the spiritual- as it can be for you.
Simple lunar tracking is a way to start connecting with the moon cycle:
// Go outside at night and look up. Notice where the moon is in the sky.
// Journal how you feel in correlation with each moon phase.
// Download your lunar planner to predict the dates, free for you here.
// Consider going D – E – E – P into this lunar and self-inquiry practice by joining my Lunar Abundance Salon when doors re-open.
Keep following my emails as I share more about my lunar practice.
And as always, I’d love to hear how this practice works for you.
Love Ezzie
If you know a woman who would resonate with this sentiment, please share:
When I talk about abundance, I’m not just using this as another word for “money”.
I’m actually talking about a way of being (with certain thoughts, and actions, flowing from this in turn).
Once you develop a deep understanding of abundance, and start to act in accordance with this understanding, my experience has been that money will indeed flow. But it’s not about striving:
We were discussing the roots of the word “abundance” in the Lunar Abundance Salon recently. One of the Salon Sisters, Catherine, noted that the word “abundance” comes from the Latin words:
“unda” ==> “wave”
“ab” and “undare” ==> “from” and “surge”
“abundare” ==> “overflow”
One of the core characteristics of abundance is about being in the “flow” – as fierce as that can be.
In the Salon, many shared that learning the roots of the word “abundance” helped them to better understand that living in abundance is to live in the overflow, and that the Lunar Abundance practice helps to ride the surging waves of life, to know that abundance is about receiving energy and joy and love, and it’s also about sharing the good vibes from this overflow with others.
Perfectly put 🙂
Money is a tangible expression of energy that flows- and is perhaps the most obvious one when we speak about abundance. But money is not the only way that this flow of energy expresses itself.
Personally, I have moved from a struggling/grasping mindset (where on a subconscious level, I believed that life had to be hard, and kept myself small through guilt and fear), to a situation where I am increasingly being invited to gracefully receive increasing amounts of attention and opportunity in all areas of my life.
When you develop a true abundance mindset, you will find that when living in this type of flow, there’s actually an abundance of everything in your life- connection, job offers, clients- and even romantic interest 😉
Most of all, there is an abundance of opportunity.
On the surface, abundance may look like a bank balance with several zeroes, and that *may* be an indicator of abundance, but it’s not what it is really about. I’m increasingly understanding that abundance is a way of living.
When I mean is that abundance is more of a mindset, a way of being – and, importantly, acting and behaving in a way that is informed by this perception – than it is about external markers.
Most of all, abundance involves a deep knowing that everything is OK. Living in abundance means that you fully internalise this knowing.
(knowing not that it will be okay, but that it is okay).
Abundance is about knowing that the Earth is a constantly replenishing place. And abundance means that you are able to hold tangible expressions of abundant energy- like money.
That involves having discernment to not just purchase another thing, making an “investment” without properly researching it because others tell you it is a good idea, or fritter it away on a myriad of random things that you don’t even pay attention to or notice until it is gone.
In other words, squandering is not part of a true abundance mindset.
Hoarding isn’t either- enjoying and wisely investing your money is essential.
And again, money is not the whole picture.
Having money in the bank does not necessarily mean that you have an abundant mindset. It’s a familiar story: becoming cashed up, and then promptly spending that cash or making dubious or unthinking investments {yes, I’ve been there- a story for another day}, or transferring anxiety about making money into anxiety about keeping that money {or making more}.
Abundance is about freeing yourself from anxiety about what you don’t have, living in a relaxed way where you know that you will never be “without”, because you have a practice that allows you to live in the overflow, and because you GET the principles that allow you to cultivate more.
Abundance involves being happy, and being well.
Abundance is about peace, as much as about prosperity.
And the best way to cultivate abundance is to practice.
My practice is a super simple one, starting with the New Moon. You can download your free lunar calendar here to get started with the practice.
A deeper practice: The Lunar Abundance Salon is a supportive, active community of women in which I go deeper into my very feminine, abundant living practice: Click here to hear when the Salon doors re-open.
Love
Ezzie
If you know someone else who would benefit from reading this, please share:
This article is relevant for you if you are an entrepreneur, planning to offer an online eCourse or eBook or a new service offering.
There is an art to timing all such requests or offers.
But there is actually something that is more to the point.
This is usually glossed over in answers to whether it is “better to launch on a New or Full Moon…”
That is, you cannot game the universe. You’ll learn what you are ripe to learn.
(and anyone who has ever launched knows what an opportunity to learn it is!)
And a key element of your success remains with what you bring to the table : in other words, the core abundance principle of giving value still applies.
Launching on a New Moon (the first of eight moon phases) will help you seed a longer-term project, especially if you set an intention for how you want to feel. It’s a quieter energy, a time to plant seeds and wait for these to bear fruit.
On the other hand, there can be more ‘pop’ in launching on a Full Moon (the fifth of eight moon phases). The light may give you greater visibility.
Both are Yang phases, with the action-oriented energy that involves.
But that’s just the beginning.
Launches and so forth always need to be based in reality, meaning that you need to pay attention to things like the day of the week (do you really want to send out a mass email or contact your boss at 3am on a Sunday morning, even if you are keen on New Moon timing?).
And don’t put yourself under stress to make a deadline- that is the antithesis of what I teach in L.A., which is to be gentle with yourself.
But there’s something else, too. If you’ve been following along with your free Lunar Abundance planner and my Instagram updates, you’ll know that giving value is a core abundance principle in the Lunar Abundance technique.
And when you are considering your launch / request, the most important factor to consider is how much value you are giving.
Giving value is not the same thing as working hard, or sharing your passion, and doesn’t necessarily involve a lot of money to glam up your offering.
These may contribute to the value of your offering, but value is its own proposition altogether. That is determined by the beholder.
I know this first-hand, having poured months upon months of hard work, love – and cash – into developing online courses. My first course on the moon cycles was launched in 2013, and I am forever grateful to the small and committed group who joined the original Spencer Salon. I launched again in 2014, with a dramatic upgrade. The sales eclipsed those of the first course tenfold, making it a viable proposition to upgrade the course and run it again.
Both launches were timed by the moon. Both were important for me in that I learnt a lot.
Even though I gave my all to both courses, the difference between them was that between the two launches I worked out how to give much more value. And whilst the launch date was significant, it was not the most significant factor in what was a way more successful launch the second time around.
Giving value also applies in a work setting. When I first asked for a pay rise in 2007, buoyed by reading Dr Lois Frankel’s Why Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and discussions in the feminist law society that I was in at the time, I recall making a case around fairness- that I wasn’t paid as much as my colleagues, and I wanted to be paid more because I deserved to be.
My bosses were quite taken aback, I think, and gave me a raise. I was elated. But I tried a similar argument at the next year’s annual performance review, it failed, and I felt totally deflated.
I eventually learnt how to negotiate much more effectively, and to create, understand, translate and quantify the benefits of my work.
So by all means, launch on a Full Moon for visibility. Or, align your launch with the New Moon and feel your intention for that specific lunar cycle, L.A. style.
If what you are really asking is how to make the most money from your launch or your job, the answer also involves you demonstrating how you will give your client or your boss what she really wants- not merely your blood, sweat and cosmic tears.
xo Ezzie
If you know someone who would benefit from this piece, please share: