MOON SISTERS

ART AND RITUAL MAGA ZINE

A SAMPLE COLLEC TION
ISSUE 4

Moon Magic 1
 MOON SISTERS
ART AND RITUAL MAGAZINE

Magic:

1. the power of using mysterious forces to influence events

2. wonderful, exciting
3. move, create or change as if by magic
4. an extraordinary power or ability
5. synonyms: power, prediction, magnetism, spell
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission Dana da Ponte, except in the case of brief quotations embodied n critical reviews
and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. Thank you for honoring the love and attention that went into this publication. If you
would like to share this magazine, direct your friends and loved ones to www.danadaponte.com so they may subscribe to the magazine and receive their
own copy also.

Subscribe
MOON SISTERS ART AND RITUAL MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY DANA DA PONTE
S U B S C R I B E AT W W W. D A N A D A P O N T E . C O M

2 WELCOME
 1
A S T E P - B Y- S T E P G U I D E T O M E E T I N G YO U R
6
EMOTIONAL NEEDS A GUIDE TO THE PHASES OF THE MOON

At the Heart of the Matter Moon Phases

2 7
M I X E D M E D I A I N S P I R AT I O N

Pretty Papers
Ritual Guide

3
A L I S T O F S O M E R E A L LY G R E A T T H I N G S
8
CHANGING A DAUGHTER’S LEGACY

Things I Love Healing the Mother Wound

4
S E T T I N G YO U R I N T E N T I O N S W I T H P E N C I L C R AY-
9
O N S A N D O R A C L E / TA R O T C A R D S HANDING IT OVER TO SPIRIT

New Moon Art Ritual Full Moon Art Ritual

5
I N S PI R I N G M E S SAG E S FO R TH E YO U N G FE M I N I S T

Lunch Box Love Notes

3
 Welcome

4 WELCOME
 Welcome to a collection I’ve put to-
gether to provide an example of what you can
expect from the Moon Sisters Art and Rit-
ual Magazine. This magazine is my humble
creation celebrating magic, art and ritual for
mothers who want to emotionally and spiri-
tually nourish themselves and their families.
It is published four times a year; at the spring
equinox, summer solstice, fall equinox and
winter solstice.
One evening, during an art ritual I was lead-
ing, I received a message from Divine Moth-
er. Her words soothed and comforted my
troubled heart. I thought it might be nice to
share her words here in case anyone else was
in need of a gentle reminder of Divine Moth-
er’s love.

In this collection, I include the step-by-step You are my child.

guide for navigating your unmet emtional
needs that I created and which I call, At the You are my essence.
Heart of the Matter. In it I share with you my
ideas for how to tune in and listen to your You are my air.
emotional needs to improve your relation-
ships and your overall emotional well-being. You are my earth.
I also include my guide to preparing for art
rituals. You are my water.

There are, of course, other gems and trea- You are my dream.
sures hidden in these pages. The section
Things I Love and Think You Will Too is full of You are my waking.
fantastically wonderful surprises. I also hope
this collection captures a little of the magic You are my inside.
of the moon and helps you deepen your
relationship her so I’ve included two moon You are my outside.
rituals - one for the full moon and one for
the new moon. I’ve also included a guide to You are my thoughts.
the moon phases. It’s based on how I like to
use the moon phases. You are my intentions.

I’ve also included Lunch Box Love Notes for You are my song.
all my fellow mothers who want to nurture
their daughters and sons to support and em- You are my breath.
brace female power. My article about healing
the mother wound might help with that also. You are my holy.
And lastly, I created some pretty papers for
your journals, art, collage and mixed media You are my reason.
projects or simply to enjoy.
Your mind is a bridge.
I hope you enjoy this collection of past issues
and please email me and let me know your Your heart is an ocean.
thoughts and experience with it. I would
LOVE to hear from you. Your body is a love pouring out.

Enjoy! Your smile is a welcome.

With love, Your eyes are a hug.

Your laugh is an invitation.

Your feet are a YES!!!

Keep going my sweet child.

5
 1
AT T H E H E A R T O F
T H E M AT T E R

A step-by-step guide to help create harmony in your

relationships and in your life by meeting your own
unmet emotional needs.
by Dana da Ponte

6 AT T H E H E A R T O F T H E M AT T E R
The following guide isn’t a scientific claim. It’s
a personal philosophy or a simple way of look-
ing at life that has helped me. It may be flawed
imperfect and incomplete. It’s also not as so-
cially inclusive as I want it to be. It’s a work in
progress and one I imagine I’ll be working on
for years. Nevertheless, it’s an extremely help-
ful technique that has changed my life and is
definitely worth trying if it resonates with you.
Emotional Nutrition
When it comes to the body, scientists have
discovered the necessary nutrients and
vitamins it needs to function properly.
Things like calcium, magnesium and Vita-
min C have been named and recognized as
essential to the healthy growth and devel-
opment of the body.
* A Quick Side Note
In this course-book and in my Intuitive Ther-
apy Practice, I use the word God. Please know
that I use the word God differently than a Sun-
day school teacher might. I use it to encompass
the great mystery that is the source of all life.
I could also use the words Oneness, Love, Spir-
it, The Universe, Source – and sometimes do –
but I like God because it’s a name. It feels more
personal to me, more intimate. Like calling me
Dana instead of Woman.
Depending on your spirituality, you may pre-
fer a different name to describe what you most
passionately believe. If this is the case, please
replace your language where applicable.
You had it
all along.
I like to imagine that our hearts (or our
emotional well-being) require nutrition
just like our physical bodies except instead
of food, vitamins and minerals our hearts
are fed and nourished with harmonious
FEELINGS – specifically, the feelings we
feel when we experience connection with
ourselves, nature, each other and/or God*
or Oneness.
Obviously a heart (for ease of communica-
tion I will refer to our emotional well-being
as the heart from now on) is much different
than a body but you can make some help-
ful comparisons. A body will experience
malnourishment which will lead to disease
or weaknesses, vulnerabilities and harm-
ful effects if it is lacking important nu-
trients and vitamins. It needs to be phys-
ically nourished in order to thrive and be
healthy. A heart can grow up malnourished
and suffer deficiencies also except they are
emotional deficiencies not physical ones.
Emotional deficiencies and emotional mal-
nourishment can show up in many differ-
ent ways such as the inability to feel good
feelings and the inability to connect to
oneself, God* or others. Because our emo-
tional well-being affects our mental body,
emotional malnourishment may also lead
to things like depression, anxiety, panic
attacks, mental illness, stress diseases etc.
And of course, our emotional well-being
affects our physical body so a malnour-
ished heart can also trigger a wide variety
of physical problems and diseases.
A malnourished heart also affects our
life choices and circumstances. Often,
in order to compensate for the empti-
ness and lack of good feelings, emotional
malnourishment causes people to expe-
rience an insatiable, intense desire to feel
good. This intense desire to feel good
coupled with the lack of awareness that
feeling good begins in the heart often
leads to addictions, affairs, relationship
drama and other unconscious choices
that negatively impact our lives. With-
out understanding that our hearts
are suffering and severely malnour-
ished, we mistakenly think that feel-
ing better will happen when some-
thing or someone in our life changes.
People whose hearts are emotional-
ly malnourished also tend to live life
steeped in negativity. This can lead them
to be unable to handle the problems that
life presents them with. They are either
really mean and miserable or withdrawn
and hiding. They blame or sit in victim
mentality. They react poorly when they
are emotionally triggered and they see
life as something that is unfriendly, un-
safe and working against them.
You can imagine, and may have experi-
enced for yourself, just how much of an
impact a parent with a severely emotion-
ally deficient heart can affect their chil-
dren. Because of our culture’s lack of
emotional education, most people suf-
fering from an emotionally malnour-
ished heart don’t even know it. This
causes negative cycles and patterns in
their lives to continue repeating over
and over again and their children suf-
fer the consequences of that because they
are forced to live in this emotionally
malnourished environment so their pre-
cious little hearts aren’t being nourished
the way they could be.
This is an oversimplified explanation of
a complex phenomenon. Our hearts are
nourished not only by our parents and/
or caregivers. They are also nourished
or malnourished by our extended family,
our community and our society and cul-
ture or lack thereof.
Emotional malnourishment plays out
differently for everyone and there are as
7
 many points on the emotion-
ally malnourished spectrum
as there are people so where
your parents and/or commu-
nity were emotionally defi-
cient or malnourished and
how that affected your child-
hood will be unique to you.
I believe healing our hearts
from the emotional deficien-
cies they may be carrying
from our childhood and pro-
viding an emotionally nour-
ished environment now for
our hearts to thrive in is very
important work. Creating
new emotional legacies for fu-
ture generations begins with
understanding what emo-
tional nutrients are, which
ones we were deficient or
malnourished in during our
childhood, which ones we
are deficient or malnourished
in now, how those emotional
deficiencies affect us person-
ally (because we are each af-
fected by emotional malnour-
ishment differently) and how
to nourish our hearts with
the emotional nutrients we’re
missing.
www.danadaponte.com
8 AT T H E H E A R T O F T H E M AT T E R
To simplify application of this
philosophy into my every-
day life, I like to place emo-
tional needs in 6 catego-
ries that I call core feelings.
LOVE, PEACE, SAFE, JOY,
CONNECTION and GOD (or
whatever word you use to de-
scribe the source of life and
love).
I see each of these feelings as
our basic emotional needs – or
in other words our most im-
portant emotional nutrients.
And yes, I view God as a feel-
ing but one that is unlike all
the others, of course.
As I stated earlier, I like to
imagine that our hearts or our
emotional well-being requires
nutrition like our physical
body except instead of food,
vitamins and minerals our
hearts are fed and nourished
with these core FEELINGS.
Each category of core feel-
ings consists of many similar
emotional needs or feelings. I
break those down like this.
Love
support, consideration, care, nurtur-
ing, praise, openness, affection, touch,
warmth, gentleness, encouragement, ap-
preciation, compassion, forgiveness, un-
derstanding, empathy, tenderness, ac-
ceptance, kindness, comfort, adoration,
friendship, presence, being seen
Safety
stability, trust, transparency, depend-
ability, predictability, freedom, protec-
tion, choice, reassurance, confidence,
honesty, independence and physi-
cal needs being met (such as, air, care,
health, food, shelter, touch, movement,
rest, sleep),
Peace
calm, ease, flow, serenity, order, relax-
ation, trust, tranquility, silence, still-
ness, satisfaction, space, serenity, clarity,
centeredness, groundedness, balance, si-
lence, fulfillment, quiet, harmony
Joy
play, spontaneity, enthusiasm, happi-
ness, amusement, freedom, humor, pas-
sion, contentment, invigoration, glad,
stimulation, fun, excitement, adventure,
motivation, vibrancy, pleasure, beauty,
optimism, rejuvenation, energized, up-
lifted, delighted, overjoyed, celebration
Connection
belonging, inclusion, service, oneness,
companionship, intimacy, communica-
tion, openness, transparency, partner-
ship, communion, community, close-
ness
God
wisdom, inspiration, creativity, grat-
itude, awakening, elation, radiance,
hope, magic, synchronicity, miracles,
faith, trust, surrender, euphoria, pur-
pose, reverence, divinity, holiness, rap-
ture, ecstasy, sacred, presence, growth,
blessed, grace, bliss, spirit, amazed, en-
lightenment, awakening, consciousness
 I know my heart is feeling
T H I S I S M Y V I S U A L R E P R E S E N TAT I O N O F A N emotionally deficient when I
E M O T I O N A L LY N O U R I S H E D H E A R T . want something or someone
to change. The key to chang-
ing undesirable repetitive pat-
terns in my life has been to
catch and stop the habit of
looking to someone else or
something else to change and
instead choose to feel how I
believe the changed person
or circumstances would make
me feel.
What follows is a set of fill
in the blank questions I’ve
found to be very helpful in
determining which emotion-
al nutrient I am needing. I go
through these questions when
I notice I’m wanting someone
or something to change in my
life.
1. I would be happier if
_______________________.
When answering this ques-
tion spend some time real-
T H I S I S W H AT I I M A G I N E A N E M O T I O N A L LY ly thinking about some of
MALNOURISHED HEART LOOKS LIKE . the things you’ve been try-
ing to achieve in your life. Is
there one particular thing
that you know would make all
the difference in the world?
Would you be happier if you
had more money? Would you
be happier if you lost weight?
What about if someone you
love treated you better? Write
down as many answers come
to mind. Sit with this ques-
tion for as long as you need to
capture deep, raw, authentic
answers. You know you’ve hit
the right answers when they
elicit an emotional response.
If none of your answers elic-
it an emotional response, you
probably have to give it some
time and dig a little deeper.
2. Circle the answer from
Step 1 that elicits the stron-
gest emotional response.
Before you move on to com-
plete this journey you’ll need
to choose one answer from
Step#1 to work with. My
suggestion is to choose the
answer that you felt most
strongly about but ultimately
you can decide which answer
you’d like to look more close-
ly at. Perhaps there was an an-
swer that surprised you and
you’d like to work with that
one.
You can repeat the entire
journey as many times as you
want so you’ll have the oppor-
tunity to explore as many of
your answers from Step 1 as
you’d like but for now choose
one answer to focus on before
you move forward.
3. Without ____(insert an-
swer from step #1)____, I feel
_______________________
Now is the time to get those
feeling words out. Your job
is to try and capture as accu-
rately as you can how it feels
to not have what you desire.
How does it make you feel to
be missing something that
is so important to you? You
might not be feeling the to-
tality of your displeasure right
in this moment but think back
to those times when it both-
ers you most. How do you
feel when you most want it?
If you’ve successfully found
an answer to Step 1 that re-
ally means something to you,
you’ll most likely be able to
use many words to describe
what it is like not having what
you desire most.
I’ve included a list of feel-
ing words to get you start-
ed. Choose the ones that cap-
ture how you feel and add to
the list if there are feelings
you experience that aren’t in-
cluded.
9
 Hurt like for you. When you’ve Still Ecstatic
Rejected had a chance to imagine your Spacious Sacred
Dimissed life with the thing, outcome Grounded Amazed
Lonely or situation you desire, write Centered Blissful
Depressed down or circle from the list Satisfied Enlightened
Poor below as many feeling words Whole Aware
Inferior as you can that describe how Complete Worthy
Incompetent you imagine you would feel. Fulfilled Proud
Ashamed Satiated Honored
Disappointed Once you’ve exhausted your Clear Competent
Incapable list, circle the feeling that Quiet Successful
Limited most encapsulates how you Harmonious Strong
Unhappy would feel and complete the Grateful Assertive
Powerless sentence above. Peaceful Relieved
Ugly Playful Smart
Irritated Supported Spontaneous Equal
Unattractive Considered Enthusiastic Limitless
Fearful Cared for Amused
Unimportant Nurtured Passionate 5. I think I want ______(in-
Devalued Praised Content sert answer from step 1)______,
Sad Wanted Invigorated but what I really want is to
Vulnerable Needed Glad feel ___(insert answer from step
Exposed Open Stimulated 4)___________________.
Weak Encouraged Vibrant
Failure Appreciated Pleased So here lies the grand illusion.
Frustrated Valued Overjoyed You think you want a certain
Empty Seen Happy thing, outcome or situation but
Trapped Heard Motivated in reality all you want is the
Judged Forgiven Beautiful feeling you believe it will give
Blamed Loved Optimistic you.
Deflated Accepted Rejuvenated
Angry Adored Energized Life unfolded and as it did
Hurt Understood Delighted you gave meaning to different
Hopeless Safe Celebrated things. Certain things meant
Pessimistic Stable Connected you were loveable, life was
Discouraged Trusted Like I belong great and all was well. Other
Unloved Trusting Oneness things made you believe you
Insecure Transparent Embraced were unlovable, life was ter-
Unsafe Dependable Intimate rible and all was definitely not
Helpless Predictable Joined right with the world. Once you
Hopeless Free Included believed something meant you
Lethargic Protected Close were loveable, life was great
Chosen Special and all was well, you formed
4. If I had ____(insert answer Confident Wise an attachment. This is what
from step 1)____, I would feel Honest Inspired the mind does. It defines expe-
_______________________. Independent Awakened riences as good or bad and be-
Healthy Hopeful comes attached to those experi-
Now let’s look at how you Wealthy Radiant ences it believes are good.
would feel if you got what Abundant Elated
you wanted. Before you an- Calm Magical This is fine when things are
swer, take a moment to visu- At Ease Faithful happening as your attachments
alize having the thing, out- In the Flow Aligned want them to. If being in a re-
come or situation that you Serene Euphoric lationship makes you feel com-
most desire. How would your Orderly Purposeful plete and you are in one then
life be different? Visualize Relaxed Reverent GREAT. But let’s look at how
the difference in as much de- Rested Divine precarious this is. The external
tail as you can. Really try to Tranquil Holy world is unpredictable, incon-
capture what that would feel Silent Spiritual sistent, continuously changing

10 AT T H E H E A R T O F T H E M AT T E R

and not in your power to con-
trol. You do not always have
the power to choose what
happens. What if the per-
son you are in a relationship
leaves you? Does your power
and your happiness go with
them? Are your moods affect-
ed by how they are treating
you? Are you happy when the
relationship is going well and
they are giving you what you
need to feel reassured they
love you? Are you unhap-
py, stressed or anxious when
they aren’t giving you what
you need to feel valued, loved
and important? If they leave,
do they take LOVE with
them when they go or are you
LOVE?
6. I am ______(insert answer
from step 4)__________.
You had it all along baby.
Feelings originate within us.
It is an erroneous and futile
idea to think that a certain
experience, person or thing
can give us a feeling. Buying
into this notion is problem-
atic because it ensures we re-
main powerless. As long as we
believe our feelings require
an external source, which is
normally unpredictable, we
become unhappy and want
things to be different.
Wanting things to be differ-
ent keeps you in a state of suf-
fering. Any moment you are
unhappy, you are attached to
something…some result, out-
come, expectation, need or
desire.
By moving through these
questions you see what you
are attached to. The aware-
ness is usually enough to shift
your perspective and your
mood. Instead of remaining
in displeasure, you see the
source of your unhappiness.
Shining the light on the source
of your unhappiness is usually
enough to evaporate it.
If it isn’t and you still feel mis-
erable even after you are aware
of what is really going on, I en-
courage you to ask yourself
if you are attached to feeling
good. What if you were okay
with feeling difficult or chal-
lenging emotions? What if
you didn’t need to escape them
or try to change them? What
if you could simply allow your
emotions to ebb and flow as
they naturally will. As a human
being, you will experience a
vast array of emotions and they
will come and they will go. You
can be attached to feeling good
as much as you are attached to
any other desire or need.
This material is the culmination of
many years of personal self-study,
channeled angel wisdom and my
own personal Intuitive Therapy
approach. Please honor the love
and attention that went into this
work by not distributing this in-
formation or republishing any of
the content that’s lovingly written
on these pages.
Thank you for respecting the hard
work of this author and artist. All
rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods,
without the prior written permis-
sion Dana da Ponte, except in the
case of brief quotations embod-
ied in critical reviews and certain
other non-commercial uses permit-
ted by copyright law.
11
 2
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE
T O P R E PA R I N G F O R
ART RITUAL S

This is a quick guide to the steps I use leading up to

my art rituals. The intention, timing and main activity
of each art ritual may change but these steps are how I
prepare myself and my space for ritual.

12 RITUAL GUIDE
My rituals are informal and playful by na-
ture. I’m not a stickler for rules. I like to
go with the flow and practice my spiritu-
ality with a spontaneous and joyful ener-
gy versus a somber and serious one. Some
of my favorite ceremonies have happened
from a late night call to my besties where
we each quickly stuffed a few things in
our bags, met by the river, laid down a
blanket on the grass, pulled out our of-
ferings, placed them on the blanket then,
as we each looked at what we had to work
with, talked about why we were meeting
under the moon and what we needed from
our impromptu ceremony. Then we just
did whatever we felt called or inspired to
do whether that was bless each other with
oils, write a prayer on the bark of a tree,
repeat a mantra we dreamed up or scream
our wishes into the night sky. It was all
very Ya Ya of us (If you’re unfamiliar with it,
that’s a reference to The Divine Secrets of the
Ya Ya Sisterhood by the way. Watch the movie.
It is worth it.)

The steps I share here in this guide reflect

my preference for intuitive flow and sug-
gestions versus rules. I don’t follow any
particular tradition but I have found these
steps to be helpful in preparing my space,
mind and heart for ritual and ceremony.

PR E PA R E

Decide what the intention of your ritual is.

Consider all the steps you plan to do dur-
ing your ceremony or ritual and gather all
the spiritual tools and art supplies you will
need. To me, spiritual tools include things
like my crystals, candles, rocks, sage, in-
cense, essential oils, feathers, sticks, oracle
cards, tarot cards, pendulum, bells, wand,
my grandma’s holy water, my other grand-
ma’s rosary, images of the spiritual mas-
ters I admire and images that remind me
of those in Spirit I pray to. Depending on
how your tools look or feel, you may need
to clear or cleanse them before you use
them. Once you’ve gathered your items
and supplies, organize and clean the phys-
ical space you’ll be using to perform your
ritual, like the room, table, bed or floor.
If you plan to do an intuitive, impromptu
ceremony in the beautiful outdoors then
by all means, grab a bag, throw some of
your favorite items and spiritual tools in
it and head out to scope out a perfect lo-

13
 cation.
C R E AT E S A C R E D S PA C E
Ultimately, I believe the sa-
cred space I need is already
within me and setting up a
physical space that feels sacred
isn’t necessary - but it is fun.
And over time, the more I use
my spiritual tools, imagery,
nature or my altar to enter the
holiness within me, the more
quickly they help to open my
heart and slip me into the holy
wonder that lives there.
If you have an altar set up in
your home, you can perform
your ritual on or near it. If
you are performing an art rit-
14 RITUAL GUIDE
ual with your kids, let them
choose the spiritual tools and
items they want to include and
allow them to arrange their
choices in a manner they pre-
fer. There are no rules here.
Just give yourself the freedom
to play and create. Personal-
ly, I often start with a pretty
piece of material then I lay my
crystals, cards and candles on
it. I add whatever tools, items
and imagery match the inten-
tion of my ritual. If I am doing
a new moon ritual, I’ll include
my painting of the new moon.
If I’m doing a spring ceremo-
ny, I’ll add things like flowers,
seeds, decorated eggs. And
if I’m in the great outdoors,
I’ll pick the rocks and sticks
 W H AT I C A N D O A L O N E I S N O T H I N G C O M P A R E D T O W H AT I
around me and create a design
in the grass.
CLEAR
In this step the goal is to clear
your physical, mental and
emotional space. There are
many ways to do this. Ring a
bell. Play a crystal bowl. Med-
itate. Say a prayer. Chant.
Spray a mist of water and es-
sential oil around the room
you are performing the ritual
in. Light incense or sage and
move it around to clear your
physical space, your mind,
your heart and your energy.
Listen to a guided meditation
or close your eyes and focus
on your breath. Do whatev-
er works for you to step out of
your everyday busy monkey
mind and drop into a more re-
laxed, open and still mind.
Try your best to release ten-
sions, worries, negativi-
ty, anxieties, fears and stress.
You can even ASK FOR HELP
with this step. Ask your an-
gels, Spirit, God, Divine
Mother, the wind or whoever
you pray to to take your wor-
ries, anxieties and negative
thoughts away. Release feel-
ings of unworthiness and self-
criticism. I often call on Arch-
angel Michael for help in this
step. Do whatever works for
you to clear away the mental
clutter and any fears you may
be hanging onto. Ask for your
mind and emotional body to
be cleansed and relieved of
what no longer serves you.
Ask the Divine for help to
prepare your body, heart and
mind to open to connecting
with spirit and performing
your ritual.
In this step, consider what you
C A N D O W I T H S P I R I T.
enjoy doing or what makes
you feel taken care of. Some
days lighting my incense and
saying a prayer is enough.
Other days life weighs heavy
on my mind and I need more.
On those days I slow down
and spend more time in this
step than I normally would.
Effectively nurturing your
heart and shifting your men-
tal and emotional state is
more important than robot-
ically going through the mo-
tions of each step. Listen to
your body and your heart and
do what you have to do to
shift into that sacred space.
CALL IN
I like to think of this step as
an invitation. I prepared my-
self and my space, I creat-
ed a pretty setting and I qui-
eted my monkey mind. Now
all I have to do is invite Love
and Spirit to join me. I’ve been
lucky enough to witness the
many miracles that unfold
when I invite Mother Earth,
the four elements and direc-
tions, God, Divine Mother,
my Spirit Guides and angels to
participate in my rituals with
and for me. This step is cru-
cial in saving me time and ef-
fort. What I can do alone is
nothing compared to what I
can do together with Spirit.
My method of calling in Spirit
is very simple. I close my eyes,
take a deep, grounding breath
and say a prayer out loud. I
speak an open invitation by
saying, “All those in Spirit that
are here for my greatest and
highest good and for the greatest
and highest good of all the people
participating in this ritual with
me, thank you for being here.
Thank you for sharing your wis-
dom, healing and guidance with
us. Thank you for helping us re-
ceive your Divine messages and/
or healing clearly and effective-
ly.”
Then I pause for a moment
and consider specifically who
from my Spirit team I would
like to invite. I speak their
names and invite them to
join me. I do this in an infor-
mal way and speak as I would
if I were on the phone with a
friend asking them to come
over. I thank them for all the
help they’ve ever given me in
the past and gently request
their presence.
PROTECT
The last step I do is ask my
spiritual helpers to protect my
sacred space. I establish clear,
firm boundaries of love and
light, stating that only those
that are here for my high-
est and greatest good are wel-
come in my space. I also invite
Archangel Michael to pro-
tect my boundaries. When
you perform this step you
can also create a circle around
you with items like stones
or salt or oracle cards to af-
firm your boundaries. What
I try to achieve in this step is
a very clear boundary within
myself and within my phys-
ical space by being very clear
about what kind of energy and
intentions I want to hang out
with. Finally, after all the pre-
paring, clearing, aligning, in-
viting and protecting, I’m
ready to perform my ritual or
ceremony. It might seem like
a lot when you read it here
but, depending on my state of
mind when I begin, it usually
doesn’t take all that long.
I hope this guide helps you
enjoy many spiritual adven-
tures of your own or enhance
the ones you already do.
15
 Things
I love Fo o d fo r N e w - A g e Th o u g h t

IDENTIFYING OPPRESSIVE IDEAS IN OUR

SPIRITUALIT Y
https://bitchyandwitchy.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/call-
ing-in-the-new-age-identifying-oppressive-ideals-in-our-
spirituality/

16 THINGS I LOVE
3 A Ki c k - A s s A r t i c l e
A N E X P L O R AT I O N O F T H E D A R K W O M A N A R C H E T Y P E

http://www.carmenspagnola.com/2017/09/learning-see-
dark-reclaiming-power-transforming-world-dark-woman-
archetype/
 A G r e a t B r e a k fa s t C o o k i e A R e a l l y G r e a t Li s t

THE RECIPE I MAKE E VERY WEEK 1 5 0 A C T S O F R E C O N C I L I AT I O N

http://ohsheglows.com/2014/01/17/banana-bread-muffin- http://activehistory.ca/2017/08/150-acts-of-reconciliation-
tops/ for-the-last-150-days-of-canadas-150/

A Ne w O rac l e De c k A B e t t e r Ph o t o S o u r c e
DEAR SISTER (NOT JUST CISTER) A PHOTO SOURCE WITH A MISSION

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/dear-sister http://www.diversify.photo/

17
 SET YO U R NEW MOON INTENTIONS
W I T H P E N C I L C R AYO N S A N D O R A C L E
A N D/O R TA R O T C A R D S
The New Moon is a perfect time to con-
template what you would like to achieve,
create or intend during the next moon
cycle. I love this particular New Moon art
ritual because it involves tracing my hand
and there’s something primal, decisive
and assertive about the handprint. When
I was doing this ritual I imagined I was in
an important board room with my team of
angels around the table, the moon perched
dark and still above us and the stars twin-
kling to cheerlead me on as I slapped my
hand on the oversized table and declared,
“This! This is what I want. Can you please
help me with this?” I also appreciated this
particular ritual because my art was in-
spired by the oracle cards I chose to use. It
was an insightful and powerful ritual that
led to some beautiful art. Definitely give
this one a try during the next New Moon.
You won’t regret it.
On page 18 of the first issue of the magazine,
I wrote The Beginners Guide to Preparing
for Art Rituals. You may want to refer to that
guide before you begin this ritual. You can find
18
4
NEW MOON ART RITUAL
it at www.danadaponte.com/moon-sisters-art-
and-ritual-magazine
Materials
Paper or a page in an art journal
Writing journal
Oracle and/or Tarot Cards
Pencil
Pencil crayons
Candle
Instructions
1. After you’ve lit your candle and
set up your sacred space, did your clearing,
called in Spirit and protected your space
(these steps our outlined in the Beginners Guide
to Preparing for Art Rituals on page 18 of the
first issue of the magazine), take your Ora-
cle or Tarot cards and hold them in your
hands. Close your eyes and say a prayer
letting Spirit know you would like them
to help you use these cards for insight or
messages about the upcoming moon cycle.
2. Pull three cards from the deck or
decks you chose to use. If you are not fa-
miliar with the message of those cards,
look them up in the accompanying guide-
books and in your journal write the over-
all message you feel the cards are telling
you about the upcoming moon cycle.
3. Next, write in your journal what
you would like to intend, create or achieve
during the upcoming moon cycle.
4. Now comes the fun part. Trace
your hand on a piece of paper.
5. Inside your hand print start
drawing and coloring images from the or-
acle and/or tarot cards you pulled. Pick out
imagery that stood out or spoke to you.
6. Mix in images that represent the
intentions you wrote about in your jour-
nal. Draw pictures that represent your in-
tentions or write words and phrases that
help to capture your intentions.
7. When your handprint is full of
imagery and words that reflect your New
Moon intentions, blow out your candle
and express your gratitude to Spirit.
8. Place your handprint art some-
where you will be able to see throughout
the upcoming moon cycle.
New Moon
Ritual 19
 lunch
notes
for the
5
young
feminist
A COLLEC TION OF LOVE NOTE S TO CUT AND PL ACE IN YOUR
FAVO R I T E A S P I R I N G F E M I N I S T ’ S LU N C H B OX

20 LUNCH NOTE S FOR THE YOUNG FEMINIS T

21
22
23
6
A GUIDE TO THE
PHASES OF THE MOON

This is a guide to the symbolism I use when aligning

myself with the phases of the moon.

24 MOON PHASE GUIDE

NEW MOON

The phases of the moon represent different things to different people. This is what
they represent to me at this time in my life.

I like to think of this phase as an empty canvas or an empty garden plot

filled with rich black dirt just waiting for me to plant a seed in. The New
Moon Phase is a time to go inward, be still and dream up what you next
want to create in your life. During the New Moon, I like to perform art rit-
uals around manifesting, getting clear on what it is I really want, looking
forward, planning and thinking about what I want the next Moon Cycle to
look like.

The New Moon is also a perfect time to ask Spirit to help me stretch my
imagination so I can better conceptualize what is possible in my life. I have
a tendency to not see my value or my worth and feel as if I don’t deserve
all the love and abundance available to me and consequently I dream and/
or think small. I like to spend some time during my New Moon art ritu-
als asking God, Divine Mother and/or Spirit to help me feel worthy and
open my heart to receive all the good and all the magic and adventure that
is already there waiting for me. I also like to use this time to create a New
Moon altar that supports and holds my New Moon Intentions.

WA XI N G CRE SCE NT

This moon phase is when a silver sliver of the moon begins to appear in the
night sky. It is a time for courage, moving forward and keeping the faith.
The moon is moving from being still and invisible to growing and com-
ing into full power. I like to think of this phase as the time when the dream
seeds I planted during the New Moon are just starting to form shoots or
tiny roots. I might not be able to see my prayers being answered or my
dreams manifesting but I can have faith that despite being able to gather
proof of it, Spirit is conspiring in my favor and there are invisible forces at
work in my life helping me to grow, heal, evolve and create.

In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m meditating on the intentions I
set during the New Moon. I’m revisiting my intentions and trying to call
them up in my imagination again and trying to tap into the emotions those
intentions evoke within me. I’m feeding my dreams with the power of my
imagination and my emotions. It’s the phase in the creation process where
I’m using my mind and heart.

FIRST QUARTER

This moon phase is when only half the moon seems to be lit up in the night
sky. In the creation process, it is a time for commitment and confidence.
I imagine this as the phase where the roots of my dream seeds are real-
ly starting to anchor in the ground. They are becoming thicker and stur-
dier. I still may not be able to see any of my New Moon Intentions coming
true or manifesting in my life but its important to stay committed because
I wouldn’t want to disrupt the momentum that is happening behind the
scenes or in the invisible realm of Spirit. Events, ideas, circumstances and
synchronicity may be happening without my realizing it. This is the phase
in the creation cycle where there is a tendency to give up or doubt the pro-
cess. Challenges or obstacles may come between myself and my goals and
my job is to remain committed despite whatever gets in the way.

25
 In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m observing my self-talk and heal-
ing whatever shadows surface. I see my job in this part of the creation cycle
is to ensure I am taking actions and making decisions from my Spirit and my
inner wise woman than I am from my insecurities and doubt. Art rituals that
connect me to my passion, purpose, bigger reasons and to my eternal Spirit
are nurturing and supportive at this time.

GIBBOUS

This moon phase is when the moon seems almost full. In the creation pro-
cess, it is a good time for me to consider habits or routines that support my
New Moon intentions. What can I do from now until the next New Moon to
support my dreams and/or desires? It’s also a good time to tweak or recon-
sider my New Moon intentions. Now that a little time has passed since set-
ting my intentions, is there anything I am more clear about or more certain
about? Is there any part of my intentions that needs a slight adjustment in my
thinking?

In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m thinking about whether or not
my everyday life supports my New Moon intentions. What about my every-
day life can be shifted or changed to better support the direction I hope I’m
heading? Are there routines or habits I can begin that will better support my
dreams and goals? Are there any subconscious wounds I can heal? Are there
subconscious beliefs or stories that are working against me? It’s also a great
time to look over my New Moon altar and determine if there are elements I
can add or omit to my altar to better support my intentions.

FULL MOON

This phase is when the moon is full and bright in the night sky. In the cre-
ation process, it is the time of manifestation or harvest. Your intentions may
have come to be or they may still be in the works. Either way, it’s time to let
go and release them, trusting they are firmly planted in the realm of Spirit
and what is meant to be will be. I like to think of this time as when I place my
intentions in God or Divine Mother’s hands trusting them with my heart’s
desires and trusting that if my Spirit is meant to experience my intentions
coming to be, they will come to be. If my Spirit has conflicting intentions, I
trust it has a wiser perspective and sees things I may not be able to see. My
job at this phase of the creation process is to trust and let go.

In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m thinking about release, letting
go and forgiveness. I think of it like an energetic spring cleaning. What do
I need to clear from my mind, heart and Spirit? Who do I need to forgive?
What do I need to forgive myself for? Which grievances are ready to be re-
leased? Which beliefs is it time to surrender or grow out of? During this
phase, I change my altar to reflect what I’m asking Spirit to help me heal and
let go.

D I S S E M I N AT I N G

This phase is when the moon is just starting to become smaller. It is a

time to rest, relax, rejuvenate and move inward and focus on self. This isn’t a
time to start anything new. It’s a time to ponder, reflect and evaluate. It’s also
a time to accept and feel gratitude. Feel grateful for the New Moon inten-
tions that came to be and feel acceptance for the ones that didn’t. I bring my
attention to a deeper surrender and trust during this phase. It’s a great time
for expressing your devotion to Spirit and for presenting offerings to Spirit.
I like to use this phase to perform random acts of kindness or give to chari-

26 MOON PHASE GUIDE


IT WA S TH E K I N D O F M O O N
T H AT I W O U L D W A N T T O
SEND BACK TO MY ANCESTORS
AND GIFT TO MY DESCENDANTS
S O T H E Y K N O W T H AT I T O O ,
H A V E B E E N B R U I S E D . . . B Y B E A U T Y.
SANOBER KHAN
ty or my community as a way of saying, “Thank you.” to Spirit. It’s also a
great time to show my gratitude to Mother Earth and all the ways She nur-
tures and supports me.
In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m thinking about self-care as well
as emotional and spiritual nourishment. Which emotional needs have gone
unmet? Did I feed my Spirit what it needed or is it hungry for nature, still-
ness, play, creativity, passion, magic, wonder, depth, devotion, freedom or
love? Women live with unwritten expectations to perform the majority of
the emotional labor in the family and community. Its important to focus
my attention on my own emotional and spiritual needs as well.
THIRD QUARTER
This phase is when the moon is once again half in light and half in shadow.
It is a good time to address the shadow aspects of my personality and to get
curious about what I have buried in my subconscious. Sometimes, when life
is busy, I don’t have time to process the emotions and triggers that arise in
my everyday life and in my relationships. This phase of the Moon is a good
time to deal with whatever I didn’t have time to deal with before. Taking
this time to make friends with my shadow before a new moon cycle begins
helps me to be clearer and less influenced by my inner wounds when I next
make my New Moon intentions.
In my art rituals, this is also the time when I’m thinking about the strength
and wisdom I find in my shadow side. There are so many parts of myself
that I have suppressed in order to fit in and be loved. By pulling up the
parts within me that have been repressed, I heal my wounds and learn to
embrace and accept every precious part of my being. I pull up the places in
me where I feel shame, guilt or fear and I ask Spirit to help me bring uncon-
ditional Love to these aspects of my being. Without my mistakes or shame-
ful qualities, I am incomplete therefore I must embrace and love ALL parts
of me - even the parts others could not show compassion or acceptance for.
BALSAMIC
This phase is when the moon is once again a silver sliver in the sky. She is
retreating and preparing to hide away in the darkness of the New Moon.
This is the time to move inward. To grow still and quiet and change the di-
rection of my looking. To look within and trust my own wisdom and truth
even when she comes in the form of my darker shadows like grief or rage.
This is not a time to fear my dark. It’s a time to embrace it, become friends
with it and understand it. Communing with Spirit and my deepest self is
also helpful during this phase. I use this phase to make time to communi-
cate with the angels and my Highest Self. I try to tune into the wisdom and
support I carry within me. The veil between Spirit and my conscious mind
is thinner at this time of the moon cycle so it eases communication and in-
tuition.
In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m considering how I can deep-
en the relationship with myself. How can I better value what is impor-
tant to me? How can I honor my feelings? How can I better trust my intu-
ition? How can I mother my own heart? How can I better support my own
dreams? Where do I need support and how can I reach out and ensure I am
receiving it? What is my grief, addictions and rage trying to teach me? It’s
also when I’m focusing on my intuition, paying attention to Spirit Signs
and my nighttime dreams and communicating with Spirit.
27
 7
Pretty
Papers
28 PR E T T Y PA PER S
29
30 PR E T T Y PA PER S
31
32 PR E T T Y PA PER S
33
34 PR E T T Y PA PER S
35
36 PR E T T Y PA PER S
37
Healing the
Mother Wound
38 HE ALING THE MOTHER WOUND
8
W H AT K I N D O F E M O T I O N A L
LEG AC Y D O YO U WA NT TO
L E AV E B E H I N D?
Mother can be such a beautiful word. For
many it conjures up memories of a wel-
coming shoulder to lean on, a warm hug to
fall into and a batch of fresh baked cookies
to ease the pain of a bad day. But it’s also a
complicated word – a word loaded with dif-
ficult memories and yes, sometimes a lot of
hurt, abandonment and pain. Every woman
experienced a unique relationship with her
mother but not every woman blossomed in
that relationship.
Many women, despite their mother’s good
intentions and well-meaning hearts, en-
dured relationships with their mothers that
caused issues that affect them to this day
– and this isn’t usually the mother’s fault.
The problems we face are bigger than that.
I believe being negatively impacted by the
mother-daughter relationship is as common
as it is because women, as a gender, have
endured centuries of abuse, neglect, dis-
missal and oppression. We western daugh-
ters of the women who earned the right to
vote sometimes forget this. We forget our
grandmothers’ history and this causes us to
ignore some very important details about
our own personal problems and challenges.
The arguments we keep repeating with
our spouses, the areas we feel disconnect-
ed from our children, the unhealthy pat-
terns we keep repeating, the insecurity that
plagues us, the mistrust we have of our own
intuition and gut feelings, the areas in our
lives where we can’t speak up, the competi-
tive or inauthentic relationships we share
with other women, the challenge we have
with setting healthy boundaries and the way
we feel removed from our passion and pur-
pose can all be traced to the legacy of how
women were treated that runs in our family.
If we don’t know what that legacy is, how can
we hope to heal it?
I work with women who have experienced
complicated relationships with their mothers
and the one thing I’ve come to understand is
women are a brave and beautiful bunch. We
are emotional warriors who, despite the pain
and tears, face the scariest and most gruelling
emotional battles with courage and determi-
nation – and we do it for our families, our
marriages and because we want to take care
of our communities and the world. We heal
because we care. We heal ourselves and our
own emotional wounds because we want to
prevent our children from experiencing the
suffering we endured. We talk about our feel-
ings and dig up our past because we want to
offer unconditional love to our spouses. We
look at our issues and take responsibility for
our emotional wounds because we want to
heal the planet and make it a more peaceful
place. We aren’t perfect but try and we care
a lot.
We put other people’s needs ahead of our
own. We empathize and carry the emotion-
al burdens so others won’t have to. But the
mother wound exists because women have
been expected to do this. They have been
forced to shoulder more than their share of
the emotional labor in the family, in their
communities and in the world and it has left
them depleted, spent and empty. And, in their
emotionally depleted state, they’ve often been
responsible for raising children – who had, of
course, no choice but to become emotional-
ly depleted also.
It’s not just that mothers have been raising
children from an emotionally depleted state.
It’s also that their wisdom has been devalued
and mistrusted. In our western culture, emo-
tions, intuition and creativity are regarded as
frivolous, unnecessary and ineffective more
often than they are acknowledged as power-
ful and important.
These ideas about emotions, intuition and
creativity affected our grandmothers and
they affected our mothers and they have
most certainly also affected us. You can’t
take that which is inherent within human
beings, put it down, devalue it, dismiss it
and expect these actions not to affect the
children and daughters of our world. This
is a global problem and an ancestral prob-
lem which infiltrates and affects our per-
sonal lives – even in this enlightened, mod-
ern day.
The Mother Wound is real and it is most
likely affecting your life in one way or an-
other. But healing the Mother Wound
doesn’t have to be hard. It can be as beauti-
ful as women coming together and support-
ing each other in healing circles. Women
coming together to mother each other –
spiritually and emotionally – heals the
Mother Wound for every heart in the room
who is witness to the healing. Sisterhood is
medicine. And it is such an important med-
icine for mothers of daughters to take regu-
larly. It will heal the past and usher women
into a new relationship with each other and
ultimately reunite each woman with her in-
nate wisdom. And from her center she will
navigate her life with her unique internal
compass and her life will become her own.
She will no longer apologize for having an
opinion. She will no longer feel content
with playing small to make someone else
feel comfortable. She will no longer swallow
her feelings, sweep the issues under the rug,
cry herself to sleep without asking for help,
expect herself to be a super woman, ignore
her dreams, feel ugly in her body, settle for
inequality, keep her mouth shut or feel like
a bitch, value being nice to the point of sac-
rificing herself and take care of every sin-
gle other person while putting herself and
her needs high up on some abandoned shelf.
Through the Mother Wound, we learned
to abandon our intuition, our passions, our
opinions, our needs, our magic, our cre-
ativity and our emotions. We sacrificed
ourselves. Meeting with other conscious
women in an authentic and sacred commit-
ment to unconditional sisterhood, we can
find ourselves again. And when we heal,
our relationships heal, our children heal,
our communities heal and our daughters
are freed. Our daughters can lay down the
Mother Wound and follow their hearts. But
first it’s up to us. Let’s free our own hearts
and show them how it’s done.
39
 Full
LET GO, FORGIVE AND RELEASE WITH COLORS AND THE
FULL MOON

As I mentioned in A Guide to the Phases of the Moon, I like to use

the energy of the Full Moon to clear and cleanse my emotion-
al, spiritual and mental space. I contemplate forgiveness of myself
and others. I think about areas in my life that cause me stress and
tension. I ask for help releasing habits and addictions that do me
more harm than good. I contemplate expectations I place on my-

Moon
self and expectations others and/or society place on me. I think
about ancestoral baggage I’d like to let go. I think about the pa-
triarchy and colonialism and what I need to release to no longer
contribute to that sickness. I consider my ideas and beliefs and
evaluate which I’d like to keep and which I’d like to throw away. I
think about my society and my culture and what they are feeding
me that I no longer want to digest.

I consider roles and rules and ask myself how many boxes I’m try-
ing to fit in that just aren’t aligned with who I am or the kind of

Ritual
world I want to co-create. I think about chords that need to be
cut, old stories that need to be burned and wounds that are ready
to be handed over to the higher powers that light my way. I think
about relationships its time to let go and dreams that are ready
to be surrendered. I envision laying in a shallow, warm river as
the water rushes around me and seeps into my cracks and crevic-
es and cleans my Spirit from everything that no longer serves me.

This Full Moon art ritual is one way I like to explore what it is
I’m handing over to Spirit. Ultimately, that to me is how I clear
and cleanse my body, heart and soul; I hand it all over to God, Di-
vine Mother and my Spirit team. In this art ritual, I imagine my
palms facing upwards with ribbons of prayer coming from the

9
center of each of my palms. My prayers are carried by the wind as
they dance their way to the Moon. When they reach the Moon,
she becomes like a bowl whose bottom opens to the Universe and
my prayers are peresented to those in the world of Spirit who will
take care of them for me.

On page 18 of the first issue of the magazine, I wrote The Beginners

Guide to Preparing for Art Rituals. You may want to refer to that
guide before you begin this ritual. You can find it at www.danadaponte.
com/moon-sisters-art-and-ritual-magazine

Materials
Paper or a page in an art journal
Writing journal
Oracle and/or Tarot Cards
Pencil
Pencil crayons or watercolor pencils
Candle

Instructions

1. After you’ve lit your candle and set up your sacred space,
did your clearing, called in Spirit and protected your space (these
steps our outlined in the Beginners Guide to Preparing for Art Ritu-
als on page 18 of the first issue of the magazine), outline your hands
while your palms are facing upward. The thumbs need to be fac-

40 FULL MOON RITUAL

ing outward in order to give the appearance of hands in a giv- to Spirit before the New Moon.
ing or handing over kind of pose.

2. Draw a spiral coming out from the palm of each hand.

Imagine that spiral is a long ribbon unwinding itself from the
palm of your hands. Allow the lines of that ribbon to swirl and
twirl all over the pages.

3. Add another line right next to the line you created in

each spiral to thicken them and make them appear more like a
ribbon.

4. Color or paint the background a color that represents

Spirit or your Spirit team.

5. Color the handprints a color that represents the atti-

tude you embody as you release your prayers to Spirit.

6. Color the ribbons.

7. Once everything has been colored, start from the cen-

ter of each palm and in the ribbon write your prayers of for-
giveness, release and healing along the entire length of each
ribbon.

8. Blow out your candle and express your gratitude to

Spirit.

9. As an offering, commit to an act of kindness in service

41
With love,