Embrace the Snow Moon: Set Intentions and Achieve Your Goals with the New Moon Journal by Namaste Studios

By Dennis Bluthardt at Namaste Studios

Named for the hefty snowfall often occurring in February, the Snow Moon is significant and enjoyable for many people. It is also a time for setting intentions and goals.

Snow Moon is about releasing and leaning into a bigger, more authentic life, so the clever folks at Namaste Studios created the New Moon Journal, a chic, stylish journal designed to help you set meaningful, powerful intentions each new moon with their signature 3-step formula.

The Snow Moon is also about manifestation practices: dreamy new lotus silk manifesting wraps, super helpful journal prompts, and a potent candle ritual with the accompanying candle.

What is the Snow Moon?

The Snow Moon gets its name from the heavy snowfall in February. Its origins are Native American and colonial American. Different tribes throughout what’s now the United States had their specific names for the various phases of the moon that were based on the behaviors of the plants, animals, or the weather during that moon, and many of these names have become part of our modern folklore about moons here in the U.S. The Snow Moon marked when hunting became hard; thus, interest-based “learning” would have been most challenging due to the deep snow.

Physically, it’s interesting to note that the Snow Moon is traditionally the full moon that manifests in February. In other words, the moon’s cycle and the Gregorian calendar (the one most of us use) don’t match up that well. The time between one full moon and the next is close to 29.5 days, so a “typical” February (containing only 28 days) will only include one full moon (following the one on January 1). All students love thinking about time and the calendar.

Culturally, the Snow Moon is a great time for storytelling and other cultural events. It is typically a harsh month, but it is also met with the hope that spring is not too far away. Traditionally, it would have been a time of “lesson-guided” project-based learning from and about the local environment. In the modern age, this means more “storytelling” about the “actual” snow moon; the kinds of outdoor events you might hold would depend on your local environment and its climate (below).

The New Moon Journal by Namaste Studios

The New Moon Journal is a fantastic tool for personal growth and setting intentions. It utilizes the powerful energy of the new moon.

With this journal, you will have a place to set your intentions, reflect on your journey, and track your progress in sync with the lunar cycle. People regard the new moon as a moment of reset, an opportunity to start fresh and manifest whatever they want. Use your journal to guide yourself through this meditation, and use the best of your intentions when you take up this sacred time to begin manifesting. Ensure you do so with the utmost clarity as you make your spells. Use your manifesting journal as a guide to make your intentions as clear and concise as possible.

The time for tracking is significant. On the other hand, make sure that you don’t become too obsessed with the result. Once you make your intentions, keep continuing to track your progress. This will keep you regularly making progress, allowing you to earn a deeper appreciation of your development. When you are tracking your development, please list all your accomplishments, no matter how small they may be.

From a physical standpoint, investing in your craft is just as important. Getting involved in aspects of high alchemy, working with other techniques such as Feng Shui, meditation, visualization, and potentially scripting, to ‘git ‘r dun’ is also an excellent idea. On a material level, you will be very comfortable and skilled at setting your craft up to the point that you will be instructed intuitively on navigating the physical plane.

Setting Intentions and Creating SMART Goals

When we set intentions, we clarify what we want and endeavor to align our actions with those desires. I love doing this type of work during the Snow Moon in February.

Energetically, the moon is about reflection and renewal, so it’s a perfect time for intention-setting. As my fellow elk on the East Coast prepare for the last snowstorm of the season, I know that they earnestly intend this to be the very end of winter, on the one that brings the promise of new life as it wearily melts in the first promise of spring.

Here is some practical advice for setting your intentions to think about the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals framework. Sometimes, this framework helps to see and clarify what you want to do in the world. For example, I could measure their health indicators rather than saying “I want to live a healthier life,” based on an individual’s understanding of good health. In another example, “I will exercise for 30 minutes, five days a week, for the next 12 weeks.” It’s that simple, folks. It is sometimes, and sometimes I must remind myself that I’m making it way too complicated, and usually, the most straightforward answer is the right one.

The last tip for today is to write it down in a New Moon Journal. Like a vision board, this journal should include a dedicated space for journaling and a ritual practice around intention setting for the New Moon.

Releasing Negativity and Embracing Positivity

“The Snow Moon” is a term that usually occurs in February, representing a time of reflection and renewal. As snow tends to melt as we head towards spring, the snow moon symbolizes letting go and starting anew, like snow turning into water. What things do you want to let go of during this period? It’s an excellent time for grounding exercises.

Try deep breathing and visualizing things, situations, or people you’re ready to let go of and move on from. As you breathe in, imagine bringing in new, positive energy; as you breathe out, imagine the release of bad energy in your life. A similar and popular technique is to write down things you want to let go of on paper. Once you’re ready to let go, burn the paper and imagine those things transferring into ashes. I’ve done this plenty of times, and it feels so good! I try to visualize myself becoming friends with past “energies,” and be okay with them moving on. I remember times when it’d be hard to let go of people, goals, or projects. I couldn’t be where I am now without my ongoing persistence to be a better reader and improve my thoughts daily.

Use the natural environment around you to your advantage. Putting your bare feet on the ground, staring at the moon when it’s dark outside, and taking a peaceful moment to give yourself a mental rest can be an excellent “starting over” technique to try! And who knows – as you read this, getting ready to go on with your day, you realize that you should take time to unwind at the end. That’s perfectly okay, it’s the first day of a new journey!

Meditation and Energy Healing Rituals

The Snow Moon of February is a moon of reflection and renewal. Meditation techniques that focus on looking inward at our feelings and emotional healing go well with the energy of this moon. Try doing a guided visualization where you see yourself bathed in the soft, buttery light of the Snow Moon. See this delicate, pale light illuminating every corner of your body, inside and out; let it light up all the “cobwebs” in your mind, the “baggage” you’re still carrying around, so you can see these “old things” clearly and decide, yes, choose, it’s finally time to let all the old stuff go and fully and completely walk into a beautiful new beginning. Ever onward and upward; nothing gets old except “things.” Being isn’t a “thing.

This is a good moon for using energy healing techniques of all sorts. Try “programming” a few quartz crystals with your intentions for the coming four weeks, and then place the crystals around a lit candle, in a circle, for a moon-cycle meditation. After you’ve finished “programming” your crystals, sit before your candle and crystals, and sit with the “feeling” of your stated intention. 

One after another, just run that list of “wants” (don’t be shy!) one by one, through your mind, at the visualization level, even acting out these “desires” with your body, either in whole or symbolically, to lay out some fresh new grooves for those Snow Moon vibes to soak up. Get real creative with your intention messages. Just as in dreams, in our conscious “mind pictures,” only your opinion matters. Some people find that a bit unnerving. It’s your choice there, too!

Try journaling about your choices under this moon, cutting through clear conditions. Written or spoken, the “emanations” of the word, yes, verbal- that’s the place where the human and the divine intersect (the holy being the “11” of 1 and 1 becoming an intersecting doorway or ark).

Starting from that grounding “first step” place will give you a whole new “running start” at this ordinary old life. Go ahead and treat the awful “starting” places the same as you would eating something disgusting: swallow quickly, and then take hurried gulps of “something else,” something “better tasting, but still “real-world” practical (pun intended!). You do have a choice about it. Some people think the choice is some fantasy that leans heavily on attaining some or a super spiritual, perfect state of otherworldly being-ness. Try some “angle of light,” instead.

Practicing Affirmations and Gratitude

Affirmations are powerful because they reinforce your intentions/goals into a more straightforward, more “digestible “form for your brain to comprehend, and your mind begins to think positively. The more you say them, the more you believe these positive statements are factual. 

Believing in yourself and your goals is one of the main predictors of achieving these goals! Your motivation and self-efficacy increase, your wheels align with your general thoughts, and the goal of personal victory appears closer than before!

Where do you write down these victories? Where can you read and recite your affirmations? Life responds to energy: when you appreciate life and have specific goals written down in your journal, it’s easier to navigate mishaps and turbulence (life happens, after all!). Also, keep the ‘attitude of gratitude’ in your journal! When you first feel ho-hum or when things don’t go as planned, you can reflect on all you have accomplished. There, you are persistent. There, you are capable. There, you felt like a winner, a proven winner. Still feeling crappy? Look at all the gratitude from other parts of your life!

For one section of your journal, put “Thank you!” and write down a minimum of three things that you are grateful for each day. The first row will have three (or more) entries, like a row of beautiful flowers: that’s good. Repeat this exercise for the next day (the same journal section). Now, you’ll have a two-day streak: 2 entries down specifically for a spree. The entries will be similar (to the previous day), but different (unique moments about different days). The more repeats, the better (increased emphasis on good karma). If you must use a specific affirmation, you’d better obtain that goal!

Reflection and Journaling

Reflection is a significant part of growing and getting where you want to go. It’s a method for looking at your life, understanding your feelings, and seeing why you act the way you do. Along the way, it lets you know where you are, what you’re doing that’s good, and what you need to improve. It’s all about self-discovery, so you can figure out what you want to do.

The Snow Moon refers to the times in which the original exercise would be framed – in other words, early in the new moon and year in February. It’s that time of winter when you’re almost there, but not reasonably, so it allows you to review the past year’s goals, reflect on the whole year, and set new ones. Reflection questions include: What did you do well last year? What are some things you haven’t had a chance to do yet? What month would you consider the best? And describe something noteworthy that happened.

The New Moon is a term for setting various goals in the given exercise. It is the beginning. The purpose of New Moon Reflection is to give you an idea of what you are doing in a journaling setting/evaluation. The questions will follow a more goal-oriented and planning-related approach. Some reflection questions/questions you should answer (You should do this at the very beginning; in task/goal setting): Who is going where? (General, see you next month, movement) What do you want to write about? (“Impact on Life” Question) And how would you like to achieve that? (Let’s try to make this as realistic as possible. You are already a winner for achieving your goals. You don’t want to make this any harder; at the final step, congratulate yourself!)

I wish I knew the above to make a more structured plan to spend time on reflection throughout those years. Use reflection to learn things about yourself, impact your actions, and then set a goal based on what you learned. Use the moon’s power to [make more “impact”] on yourself.

The Snow Moon, named after the amount of snow that typically falls during February, signals a time of bona fide renewal and transformation throughout the depths of winter. This full moon rises when winter begins to feel old, but we have not yet reached its conclusion. This is a potent time to sit with The New Moon Journal and the thoughts you try to avoid in your mind. The New Moon Journal provides a structured and methodical framework for exploration that simultaneously compels and invites you to dig below the surface to examine what is. The simple act of purchasing The New Moon Journal symbolizes a decision to get more familiar with “unknown” or “other” parts of yourself. Much can be gained by coming to know and love those parts of you that you’d rather never see again, but imagine that they could lurk somewhere deep within (a.k.a. “shadow” work). Many people find significant gains in finding their “shadow” self. This is a perfect time to start (or continue) such work as the Snow Moon ushers in.

To learn more, visit our Moon Journal Blogs at Namaste Studios or buy a New Moon Journal on Amazon or our Namaste Studios Bookstore. 

For a Limited Time:  Get your NEW MOON JOURNAL for a massive discount at Amazon here!

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