Hello and welcome to the Midlife Spirit!
This week’s sacred pause practice in the video above includes a Blessing of Renewal from my book I Am With You: Words of comfort & strength for difficult times, (buy it HERE) - perfect for the energy of today’s New Moon 🌑(There’s a written version at the end of this post.)
Now, read on for the best things I’ve been reading and listening to.
✨For Your Midlife Spirit…
Each week I’m sharing links to articles, podcast and things that have helped me nourish my midlife spirit that I think you’ll also enjoy.
I hope they inform, inspire or uplift you … and please do comment with your own recommendations.
📖Something to read
READ:
- Arriving on the night of the full moon, The Lunar Dispatch will bring you the latest news and musings about our nearest celestial neighbour … Though perhaps not quite in the way you were expecting! I love this monthly letter - always fascinating and thought-provoking. Each month it takes the Moon as a starting point and muses on what it can tell us about our past, present, and future.🎧Something to listen to
LISTEN HERE: Queering the Cycle on The Menstruality Podcast with facilitator, educator, activist, writer and mentor Lottie Randomly and Red School Leadership Mentor, Abi Denyer-Bewick.
In this conversation you’ll hear:
- How the practice of menstrual cycle awareness naturally brings up questions and personal exploration around the identities we hold.
- How to expand the conversation around menstruality expands to include the experiences of all people with menstrual cycles, including non-binary and gender-expansive folks.
- “Menstrunormativity” and the harmful impacts around the unsaid assumptions about the menstrual cycle and menopause.
🤔Something to reflect on
TIDES: Ebb and flow. Emotions. Change. Trust.
Where do you need to allow change in your life? What messages are your emotions trying to give you? Can you trust in the ever-changing ebb and flow of life? What happens when you don’t?
Do you need to receive this message today? What is your soul’s response? How does it feel to look at this card? What other images or words or feelings arise as you gaze at it?
…Breathe, and receive your soul whispers … And trust yourself.
✍️Over to you…
Share something in the comments section that has nourished or uplifted your midlife spirit this week. Write a few words to describe your experience or perhaps share a link if it’s something you’ve read, listened to or watched.
I’m a firm believer that as we share our stories, thoughts and experience we help ourselves and each other feel less alone. So do please consider leaving a comment for me and others to read!
Thank you so much for being here.
If you wish to support my work then why not buy me a herbal tea or decaf coffee HERE? 🫖🍵☕🙏🥰💞
🌙GO DEEPER: Meditate With the Moon
Learn how to be held by the rhythm of the Moon and unlock the door to your deepest needs and desires.
Meditating with the moon is a soulful and centring practice which is especially relevant to peri/menopausal and post-menopausal beings who wish to explore or continue a monthly cyclic practice when you no longer have a regular menstrual cycle.
In this resource you will receive:
🌕FIVE LUNAR MEDITATION AUDIOS
At the heart of this resource are five meditation audios that guide you to receive the healing energies and wisdom of each of the main phases of the lunar cycle.
They’re restful meditations, each around 28 minutes long to give you time and space to sink into a deeply relaxed state of being so you can activate your imaginal senses and hear the whispers of your soul.
🌑LIVE BY THE MOON GUIDE
A 32-page information-packed and inspiring ebook guiding you to understand the lunar cycle and its healing gifts, as well as guidance on how it relates to the menstrual cycle, lunar astrology, Life Cycle archetypes and the Moon’s relationship with your soul.
🌙A MOON CHARTING GUIDE & TEMPLATE
A 12-page practical, step-by-step guide to charting your moon journey each lunar cycle and how to use the cyclic intelligence you’ll gather by doing so.
➡️BUY IT HERE (£25 or equivalent in your currency, incl. VAT) 🌛🌕🌜
(or find out more here).
Video Transcript: A Blessing of Renewal
Hello and welcome to this week’s Midlife Spirit with me, Stella Tomlinson and welcome to this short practice to centre yourself and connect to the wisdom within.
Let’s begin by invoking the Midlife Spirit: that energy within us and around us that can help and guide us in our middle years.
Heart to heart, flame to flame, Midlife Spirit we invoke your name. Flame of healing, flame of guidance, flame of self-compassion, we open to your presence and welcome you in.
In today’s practice I’m sharing with you some words from my book I Am With You - a blessing of renewal for the New Moon, though of course while the New Moon is a beautiful time to think about renewal, what you’re wishing for, beginning again … you can of course work with those energies whenever you feel the need to or whenever your heart longs for that.
As ever, I’ll share these words with you as part of the short Earth-Heart-Sky centring practice that I love to practise every day and love to share with you.
So, let’s begin.
Take a few moments to settle … And now invite your awareness to move down through floor…. Down into the earth beneath … The soil, the rocks the roots below… Sensing the solidity and strength of the earth … always there… An ongoing presence of support and strength … And invite a sense of calm strength to rise up from the earth into your body … into your bones … into your muscles… rising up through your spine… Peaceful strength flowing through your body…
And now let your awareness rise to sense the vast expanse of sky above you … Unlimited, expansive, free ... And feel the air dancing around you… And sense golden light is shining down from the sun … light and energy and clarity… …flowing down through the crown of your head... into your body … …energising, expansive … … and soothing, nurturing … ….you’re filled with golden light, sparkling through every cell of your being….
Receiving from above and below …. The energies of the earth and the energies of the sky mingling in the centre of your being … Breathe and receive…
And now you might like to gently place your hand on your heart if you wish to …. And bring to mind someone for whom you feel affection … a tender warmth… A person or maybe a pet … And notice how it feels to think of them with warmth and affection …
Notice how it feels in your body … Maybe there’s a softening… An expansiveness… Or a tingling… Maybe even a gently subtle smile softening the corners of your mouth … And now open to receive warmth and affection from them … Breathe and receive this loving connection… Tender warmth flowing out … tender warmth flowing in …
Inviting a feeling of peace, contentment and tender warmth to flow through every cell of your being … Breathe, and receive the healing balm of peace, contentment and tender love… As I invite you to receive this Blessing of Renewal:
May you find the courage to begin again.
May you open to see your path unfolding.
May you walk with hope and curiosity.
May you trust in your own potential.
And may you know
That you are worthy and that you are loved,
So you may rise, renewed.
Let those words land within your heart. And just notice if there’s anything your heart and soul wish to communicate with you… Perhaps there’s an image, a word, a feeling, guidance, a longing … Breathe and receive this whisper … and trust yourself.
This completes today’s simple centring practice.
And we’ll finish by closing our sacred space:
Thank you Midlife Spirit, your flame is in our heart always.
Until next time, I wish you the blessings of fierce and tender self-compassion for your midlife journey,
Stella x
Books for your midlife spirit
New Moon Blessings! 🌑