My moon with Willow
Reflections on the Willow Moon ~ Tree of feminine flow
As we spiral around the tree wheel of the year I thought to share some of my personal pilgrimage with you. So enjoy my monthly reflections on each Celtic Tree Moon.
Continuing the spiral wheel of my personal Lunar Tree Calendar, last moon we transitioned from the Alder tree on to Willow – the tree of feminine flow, whose support allows us to navigate the rapids of the river of life, with grace and with ease. During this Willow Moon I continued building the new tree relationships I have been forming since our move here nearly four years ago now. In my elemental tree system, the Willow is also one of the Water Element Trees, (as was Alder) having Water as its dominant element; its secondary element is Earth. As I spent time with the Willow over this moon, I noticed a continuation of the slowness I had seen with the Alder, to come into bud and produce her branches full of fluffy catkins that I always look forward to each spring.
Willow Catkins
I had a strong sense of how the spiral of the tree calendar changes each year, and how that spiral is mirrored in my own life and the world around me. As I move along the path of life and my experiences deepen, so my perspective adjusts too.
Following on from my work with Alder, from whom I had asked for support in balancing my masculine and feminine aspects; I decided to work with Willow to deepen my connection to the flow of my feminine side.
I often find I am in a more introspective space when working from my intuition and having received so much wisdom around balancing the masculine and feminine during the Alder moon, I wanted this creative, intuitive aspect of myself to flow outward more and be reflected in how I presented myself to the world.
Summer Willow leaning over the river
Early in the moon I travelled out across marshy bog-lands in search of small sprouting Willow groves, spending time soaking up their grounded and yet bubbly and joyful energies; and I found myself connecting into my bright maiden aspect, witnessing how she travels alongside and inside of me through all my life phases of woman. As I have navigated my time of being the Creatress and the Mother and then onward through into the rich and deep place of the Dark Maiden, the High
Priestess, the phase that I sit in right now as I travel beyond Menopause and rest in the place of the void.
Out on the land closer to home, some of the larger trees began budding and leafing as the moon progressed and I found myself sitting beneath some gorgeous graceful, broad trunked ancient Willows with wide reaching canopies. Here I leant into their strength and wisdom, and for the first time I began to openly and excitedly, feel into my own approaching transition into the phase of the crone; something that has been beckoning to me from beyond the void for some time now.
This moon then became all about flow, flow in the creation of my personal world, flow in how I offer myself, to myself to my family and loved ones and flow out into the outer world, flow through transitions, and flow through the spiral of the different phases of the feminine.
The Willow has gently held me in this process this moon.
She has called me into the heart of the flow, and I have been getting myself bodily into the wild waters of both River and Sea Loch throughout this moon, embracing the transitions back and forth across the liminal edges of the shoreline, and relishing in the ebb and flow between water and earth.
The path ahead is unfolding more quickly now and begins to rise out of the mist that shrouded it through the early moons of this year, parts of the upcoming journey are being revealed, and I allow my steps to carry me more easily along it, as I surrender into a place of trust, and unknowing.
I sit here in deep gratitude for the Willow and give her my heartfelt thanks for the gifts of her medicine blessings and the safe place I have found beneath her softly drooping.
How was your Willow Moon, have you felt this tree’s influence in your life? Feel free to comment below!
If you would like to explore the tree year with me, or deepen your connection to one or more of the Celtic Trees then take a look at some of my tree offerings – just follow the links below
