The Hunter's Moon on Your Sober Path.. An October Musing.

I have been thinking about cycles and nature and working intentionally with them since writing Love Your Sober Year. An important foundation of my recovery has been to put all of my ideas through the sober filter. I use and adapt the things, resources, ideas and tools that give me and have given me inspiration over the years and apply them to the sober journey.

So tonight is a full Hunter’s Moon in the Northern Hemisphere. So what.? What’s this got to do with sobriety?

Firstly using symbols and myths uses the creative more emotional side of the brain which is proven to be powerful in habit change. If you have sever seen The Elephant and the Rider video on YouTube, based on the work of Jonathan Haight. This side of the brain leads first which is why we need to engage it when getting sober, because will power and should don’t last. We need to treat and coax the elephant with things it finds satisfying down the path.

Secondly, by working with the seasons and nature we honour our sensory needs and fluctuating energy levels and nutritional needs which give us resilience against triggers. We all know salad won’t cut it in the winter, so we need to update the sober toolkit each season.

Thirdly, setting intentions and reflecting on progress daily can be overwhelming so using the moon cycle of setting intentions on the full moon and reflecting at the full moon can by a more manageable overarching way of tracking progress in greater depth. Intentions and reflections are a way of being skilful, intentional and tracking progress, which had also been proven as one of the great motivating pillars in habit change.

So the way I am working with an awareness of the Hunter’s Moon and my sober journey tonight is to ponder the following.

The Hunter’s Moon is about seizing the opportunity to use the light to hunt in preparation for winter. It’s about planning, timekeeping and being sensible!

So I am thinking.. I need to look at my diary over the next couple of months and check for overwhelm and clashes, for busy times which will need recovery down time afterwards and also for money. With a season of greater socialising approaching I need to not go with the glut when it’s here but squirrel something away. I need to check my energy levels and allow things to settle down rather than create endless new projects.

Journaling prompts for the Full Hunter Moon on your Sober journey.

🌕 What do I need to boundary in terms of time and energy?

🌕 What do I need to say no to?

🌕 What do I need to save for later in terms of health, work, socialising?

🌕 What do I really need ?

🌕 What do I need to hunt out in order to sustain myself through winter ? Coaching, a course, a book, a new hobby?

I have also asked my daughter if she would like to go up  onto the South Downs with me with a flask of hot chocolate and see the moon rise this evening. In the drinking days I would have been concerned with whether myself or my husband would be designated driver as I’d have wanted to take wine with me.

So this is freedom to ask the big one and dare to dream ..

🌕 How can I use the superpower of sobriety to hunt down what I want to manifest in my life... Or maybe the gifts are already here in presence, greater clarity and being sober and being enough.  See the gifts, let the moon illuminate the path and see the scattered treasures just waiting for you, sober one.

Love Kate x