There is a reason I have chosen to reflect backward in gratitude at the new moon here rather than project forward in demand, and that is to heal this thing around "magic", and instead hopefully discover more deeply the true magic of our daily gifts from our Creator. Having had a partly neo-pagan/new-agey background before I've been pretty steeped in subtle and not so subtle occultism, and one of the deepest wounds there is this thing about 'setting intent'. That's what occult magic comes down to in a sense. I know folks rave about the whole setting intent thing, I know it sounds trendly and it sounds harmless, but personally I have been harmed by it.

In 'setting intent' it is like arogantly giving God directions. Not only that but it gives me this sense of cold aloneness. And when it used to come up the most was precisely around the new moon. Around the new moon I'd get all jitterly. Because I knew that was the time I was supposed to 'get my list together'. There was this nervousness, that horrible ' be careful what you ask for' phrase in the back of my head--like it was all in my hands, that I alone had to decide what was best for me and ask for it , and pay the price if I 'got it wrong'. So the beauty of the new moon often also became for me a time i dreaded for that reason. That dreaded 'setting intent' made me feel more alone rather than more held by God, more nervous rather than more at peace, more detached rather than more in God's hands, in His hands right here and now as we are here in this wheel of spinning earth he gave us as our home.

And so the dreading that happened as I 'set intent', well that's not how the new moon is supposed to be. The new moon is a deeply beautiful tradition, one of true magic, of opening more deeply to our Lord and putting ourselves more deeply in His Hands, a time of deepening our relationship with Him. I'm sure there are lots of ways to do this, and so here, its simply that the one that stands out personally now is the one being focused on in this blog (the Love Letters from God blog).

I also feel a need to add something. That I have a hard time expressing this problem I have with intent without it being misunderstood sometimes. I wish I could explain better why I have so needed to step away from "setting intent" and instead am focusing more on paying attention to things taking shape instead, this subtle difference i can't seem to find the right words for. It's not that you dont act and focus but you do so by trying to listen to what "lights up" before you with each step rather than shaping it further ahead of time (which I feel can detach us from His guidance).

(Image is In His Hands by Gwen Meharg)