The Woo in Cycles
Season 2: Episode 004
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Script*
*Note: The script has been edited for readability and will stray from the original audio recording.
Woo No 4
Crystal: Welcome to the Plan for Wonder podcast. I'm Crystal, the talking head founder and creator of myLifePlanners.ca. In these moments together, I want to explore and understand my own struggles to find focus, bring clarity, live with intention, and ultimately how to plan for wonder. So I'm back with Eileen March, founder of My Luminous Life.
She's an intuitive coach and energy healer. And this is going to be our last episode. And we're ending with sort of a cliffhanger, cycles because a cycle never ends. For everybody, we're always in the middle of some type of cycle of life. And each point, each person is at a different point of it.
As women, we're born with a biological cycle of our own. And I've read some gurus out there tie those into phases of the moon, which opens the door of this energy for everybody. Those who are done with their cycles and those who don't have that biological element. Eileen, when you think of cycles, what do you think of?
Eileen: The first cycle that comes to my mind because I work with it so closely is the cycle of the seasons, which is a macro version of that same lunar or menstrual cycle in terms of the energies. But one of the first things that I really tapped into when I started my practice was holding a ceremony or ritual to tie back to our last episode, for the 8th of July.
But what is called the wheel of the year seasonal celebrations, of which there are eight? So there's only four. There are four seasons. Oh, okay. But there are eight wheel of the year celebrations. So, the wheel of the year is a calendar. It's an ancient agricultural calendar from Europe. It's a Celtic calendar.
It's been adopted by modern-day Wiccans, and Pagans will often follow it. And it celebrates. It's the, for the solstices, the equinoxes, which are quite commonly known. And then it celebrates the midway points in between as well, and this beautiful way of marking time and slowing down and reflecting and looking forward, planting seeds of intention.
It begins with the winter season, which begins on this calendar with Samhain, which is Halloween, on October 31st.
Crystal: So that's the different version of a new year.
Eileen: Yeah, it's the witch's new year, often called the witch's new year. Yeah, that makes sense. And it does, along with all those scenes, but it's actually the Celtic New Year because the Celtic calendar begins with winter, and the Celtic day begins with dusk.
So, a new day begins at sundown. So after dinner when you're as you're getting ready to go to bed.
Crystal: That opens up so many new ways of thinking when it comes to cycles.
Eileen: It does and for me it was just like this when I heard that the first time my whole body like my nervous system side Like oh we get to begin with rest. Yeah, it's not only allowable, but it's necessary to begin in the dark.
Crystal: Cause we don't have to earn it. It's you can't start your day without it. Without it. Yeah. I still get chills when I talk. I'm getting chills. That's awesome.
How exactly does this new cycle, how does this help with planning and that kind of thing?
Eileen: For me, it's layered because there are not only the larger cycles of the seasons, but as you mentioned, the menstrual cycles, or if you're not in a menstruating body, the lunar cycles of energy. And they mirror those bigger ones. So full moon energy, ovulation energy, summer energy. energy, bleed energy, winter energy.
Crystal: Interesting. And so when we think about planning, planning for wonder, planning our day or our month or a week, no, knowing where we're at in these various cycles can help us plan in a way that aligns with our energetic ebbs and flows instead of bulldozing through them. So when I first learned about this, I started being really a lot gentler with myself when I needed or wanted nine or 10 hours of sleep in the winter when it's dark, the sun goes to bed early, and I get to bed by 8 PM.
Eileen: And why not allow ourselves that animal privilege or right, really, to rest more? The same goes for. With the new moon, you might find yourself with lower energy, or if you're in a body that's menstruating, those first couple of days of your bleed, really, if you know about them and you've planned your days or weeks out accordingly, those are days you don't want to be making a whole bunch of extra plans.
Obviously, especially if you're in a 9 to 5 like you still have to go to work, but you can plan not to go out for days. After work drinks or put off errands until another day, plan to get up a little bit later and go to bed a little earlier. Don't worry about exercise on those first, at least the first day, but even the first two to three days of your cycle, like some gentle yin yoga stretching before bed, is plenty.
Your body doesn't want more than that. And that knowledge, especially if you have a regular cycle or if you don't, maybe it's easier for you to cycle with the moon That ability to give yourself the permission to weave and plan more rest in but also to plan For more outgoing active, awe-inspiring activities around that full moon or your ovulation or in the summer Which is why summer feels so busy often because it's natural tendency and we don't feel it sleep as much because the sun doesn't sleep as much.
Crystal: And I think one of the things that really triggered me with this idea of the day actually beginning at dusk, cause I know normally I sit at my table for my day starts in the morning and I plan my day. So if I do that at nighttime, not only that's the start of the day. I'm processing everything that's happened during the day.
So, that kind of understanding of what needs to be done. And then, by doing that, I'm going to sleep easier and waking up even easier because I've actually pre-done. I've eliminated the decision fatigue because I'm waking up. I'm not having to make decisions. I did all of that work before I went to bed.
Eileen: Exactly. I love that perspective.
Crystal: And then you're probably not going to need that piece of paper by your bed quite as much, right? Or it is by your, it is by your bed. And that's what you do before you go to bed.
Eileen: Yeah, exactly.
Crystal: And it just makes it in that ritual of going to bed. So I love that.
So I want to tie into and what makes you unique is your woo.
Crystal: So you have a program coming up that you're launching.
Eileen: I do. It's the second time I've run it. We're harnessing the energy of September, autumn energy, also Virgo energy. And so we're looking at back-to-school energy in some ways that is an energetic new year in a lot of ways for people is that kind of okay, let's focus, let's learn, let's get the details organized before we go into our long rest.
And so the program is called Unleash Your Inner Witch.
It's a beginner's course in witchcraft for the Woo Curious. And we haven't really spoken to the word witch here yet, but Carmen Spagnola's definition will always be most resonant for me. And she talks about witchcraft being honouring your ancestors. Cultivating a community of care for those around us by being in tune with your body and the seasons. And so, for me, that's all that this means.
Crystal: This relates to me because I'd be more aware of the indigenous knowledge that we have in the land. It's just a different continent, I think, that the ideologies have come from. And it's similar. It's amazing how similar it is.
Eileen: They really are. And the, again, the word which was as a bad word was created by old white guys, how often does this happen? To again, take power out of the hands of women, because we were the knowledge keepers, that we were the wise women or the midwives.
I've always apparently been a witch, but this course is a six-week course. We talk about things like the wheel of the year, the seasons, and the cyclical energies. We talk about creating ritual and sacred starts, cultivating a relationship with the land, and practicing all of these things. There's also tarot and crystals and stuff in there.
It really is like a toe-dip into the more woo side of living in the world. For me, the more I move into and through it, the less woo it feels and the more like coming home to the village that lives.
Crystal: When I think of women who were labelled as witches, it was them who healed the community, who had an awareness of the connection of the land.
Eileen: And so getting into that healingspace. Yeah. The healing space that returned to what feels true and resonant in our bones, like that ancestral memory lives there.
Crystal: That's amazing. So, I want to end with a collaboration, and you've been using the tools. We briefly talked about that. And how we can incorporate and plan. When to stop in nature and notice things around us. And that idea of the night before planning. So with the program one of the things that you a lot of it is a lot more journaling and that kind of thing. So when it comes to the tools that we have, I have a, my week, a, my day, and then I have the day version, which is a notepad.
The myDay has more space for journaling, which I think sounds like a tool that will be used within your program.
Eileen: Yeah. There's definitely the reflection piece and an encouragement to be writing in as part of the reflections.
Crystal: So we're really, we're excited to share, we're going to be collaborating. So, anyone who does sign up for her program will actually get this tool. Ship directly to them. So they're going to have it in their hands and it'll help them to learn and work with you as you go forward. No promo code is needed, right?
Eileen: Yes. It's just a perfect tool for you. If you're working through the program, you need that accountability piece to yourself and a dedicated space to check in and implement some of the really simple, very, not time-consuming shifts. I emphasize this over and over because so often when we think about the changes, the things that are required to make those shifts or to learn something new, it feels overwhelming.
And I've often said I'm a lazy witch, I'm a super lazy witch like I don't want things to be overly effortful. It can be so simple and so subtle as much as just changing your relationship to your morning coffee, tuning into your intuition in the mornings, do I want coffee or do I want tea?
Those little tiny, subtle shifts are where the magic lies.
Crystal: So, if you were to give someone an idea of what they're going to come out with at the end of these six weeks?
Eileen: A greater connection to your intuition and a more of a trust in it a bit of a homecoming to. Your place on the earth Because again, I part of it you alluded to it is cultivating a relationship with a place in nature And returning to it day after day and That re enchantment of the world, or the beginnings of it, for sure.
Crystal: To bring more wonder. To bring more wonder into your life. And with that, I don't know what better way to end.
Eileen: That was not scripted, but it's perfect.
Crystal: Thank you so much, Eileen.
Thank you for spending these last four weeks with us. And if you are keen her website is myluminouslife.ca, so you can find the details there as well in the show notes.
And remember that the space you take up in the world matters to me, but even more importantly, you matter the most in your life.
