"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." — Anne Lamott
I have been trained by the dog. Magnus has developed an acute sense of when I should be going to bed and comes to ask for his bedtime treat at precisely the same time each evening. Sometimes he waits patiently, sometimes not so much. He is not much into words of affirmation and does not notice acts of service (who said it is only cats that have staff?), but he loves a good tummy rub, a ball, and a treat — well, then you are speaking his love language.
This month has felt like a watershed between the hustle of the first half of the year and the possibilities of the second. My pause has been fruitful: less chasing short-term deliverables, more setting the stage for longer-term projects and letting ideas percolate. It has been wonderful to have time to think. Now it is back to making things happen and to welcoming my son, Mark, home from his many months in Jamaica. Time to celebrate.
A Strawberry Moon – 30th June
June’s Full Moon, the Strawberry Moon, peaked overnight at 12:57am BST. The name comes from Algonquin tradition, marking the time when wild strawberries ripen, one of the first fruits of summer, small and sweet, and worth the patience of waiting.
This moon follows just nine days after the summer solstice, riding unusually low across the southern sky. Its light passes through more atmosphere than usual, giving it that warm amber glow near the horizon. There is something grounding about a moon that stays close to the earth rather than riding high overhead. Look out, not up. Notice what is already ripe.
Gate 52 — Mountain: Keeping Still
As the Strawberry Moon reaches fullness, the Sun illuminates Human Design Gate 52, Keeping Still. The image is the mountain, surveying the commotion in the valleys below, unhurried, undisturbed, simply witnessing.
The shadow here is stress, and most of us know it well: that low-level hum of a mind running constantly, rehearsing conversations, managing problems that have not happened yet. Shallow breathing tends to come with it. The body is usually the first to notice.
What becomes available through awareness is restraint, the simple capacity to pause before you respond, to choose rather than just react. At its best, this Gate opens into genuine stillness: not emptiness, but full presence without the noise.
Bottle G1 — Incarnating
Bottle G1 carries clear over copper — transparency above, the warmth and steadiness of the earth below.
Its name is Incarnating, not a common word or a concept we consider often. At heart, it is about being fully here. Not hovering at a slight distance from your own life or waiting for conditions to improve before you properly arrive, but inhabiting this body, this season and this particular Tuesday.
This bottle suggests the ground is more solid beneath you than it may have felt recently. The copper asks you to receive what the earth offers – steadiness, patience, the sense that you belong here. In certain light, there is a small flash of yellow on the centre line: the joy that is present, even when it feels inaccessible.
Together, Gate 52 and Bottle G1 speak with one voice: stop, breathe, put your feet on the ground. The perspective you have been seeking is not found by moving faster. It is found in the clarity that becomes available when you finally let yourself be still and present.
Working with July's Energy
Three questions for July:
- Where has busyness become a substitute for presence and what might change if you slowed down?
- Where have your words and your actions quietly drifted apart?
- What would it feel like to be fully present, in your body, in this season, right now?
Book Corner
This month I am recommending The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. You may well know it — it has been in print since 1992 for a reason.
Chapman’s central observation is that we do not all give or receive love in the same way — words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time and physical touch — and most of us assume the people we love speak our primary language too. If you have ever poured energy into telling someone how much you appreciate them, only to find it does not quite land, it may be less about the sentiment and more about the language. They might value service over words and be waiting for you to put the bins out!
The Inner Forge — July's New Moon Circle
Our next New Moon Circle is on Tuesday 14th July at 7:00–8:30pm BST. These monthly gatherings with Kit Mills, Mark Stevens, and myself are a space to pause, tend your inner fire, and reconnect in good company. We’d love to welcome you.
Final Thoughts
