• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Connect
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Login
Story Circle Network Logo

Story Circle

by, for, and about women

  • Home
  • Events
    • Spain Writing Trip
    • Members in the News
    • Opportunities
  • Classes
    • Online Classes
    • Webinars
    • Enroll
    • Propose a Class
    • Propose a Webinar
  • Book Reviews
    • Story Circle Book Reviews
    • For Authors & Publishers
    • Author Interviews
    • For Reviewers
    • Review Team
  • Publications
    • SCN Journal
    • Our Substack
      • True Words from Real Women
      • StoryCraft: Writers Write About Writing
      • Submit a post
    • Real Women Write anthology
      • 2024 Anthology
    • Member Library
    • Story Circle Books
    • Flash newsletter
  • Book Awards
    • Sarton & Gilda
    • Guidelines
    • Sarton Application
    • Gilda Application
    • Past SCN Book Award Winners
  • Contests
    • The Story Circle LifeWriting Competition
    • The Story CIrcle Poetry Competition
    • The Story Circle Online Writing Competition
  • Growing Together
    • Circles Program
    • Roundtables
    • Opportunities
    • Member Library
    • Media
  • About
    • About SCN
    • Member Benefits

Seeing Darkness in a Whole New Light

December 3, 2020 by Story Circle Network 2 Comments

By Tina Games

My transformational work with creative mothers and spiritual artists came out of my own experience of connecting with the moon during a really dark period in my life. Shortly after the birth of my first child, and after making some fairly significant life changes at the same time, I fell into depression – a place that felt so foreign to me, a place where I felt like I had fallen into a black hole with no way out.

It was during this time, a period that spanned over two years, that I had disconnected from everything that made me happy. Because my son suffered from chronic illnesses related to serious colds and severe ear infections, I made a very difficult choice to give up a successful career in order to care for my son full-time. I hadn’t realized until this experience how much of my identity was tied into my chosen path of work. Without it, I felt very lost and very unhappy.

No one understood the pain I felt – except my mother. She was the one person I could speak to without censoring myself – and she became my confidante from that point on.

I also found myself falling back on a great passion of mine – journal writing. And as a mom of a baby who did not have a normal sleep schedule, I found myself exhausted and emotional much of the time. So night after night, after I’d get my son settled and after my husband went to bed, I’d grab my journal and retreat to my favorite chair – beside a big bay window where I caught a glimpse of the moon. It was the moon that taught me the meaning of transition. I’d watch this beautiful lunar goddess, night after night, move in and out of her various phases. And before long, I began to connect her phases with my own emotional tides.

I noticed that the moon always began in darkness and gradually, she’d move into full light – and cycle back around again. And I noticed the contrast between dark and light – the darkness of the night sky against the beautiful full moonlight. I started connecting to this – as if I was being divinely guided through my own transitions of dark and light. I began to notice the ebbs and flows of my emotions. There were good days and bad days.

So when I came to the point of writing my book, Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self-Discovery, I wanted creative mothers to realize that every human transition begins in darkness and gradually moves into light, where we get a glimpse of what is possible. And then we retreat, to ponder the many ways we can manifest these possibilities into reality. This requires deep work, where we step into our own truth and into our own power – and where we can emerge in the most authentic way possible.

This is what I call the Blue Moon phase – when we finally realize that we are here on this planet to be WHO we are, to put our personal thumbprint on the world in the most truthful, most authentic, most unique way possible – being divinely guided on our own purposeful path.

As creative individuals, we have the power to create great change in the world through our artistic endeavors. And this change has the most impact when we begin with ourselves – looking in the mirror and honoring the person who is staring back.

  • WHO is this person? Do you really know her at her core? If you were to remove every label that she wears – mother, wife, partner, community leader, business owner, loyal friend, etc. – who is she?
  • Pretend for a moment – that each of these labels is a blanket. Slowly remove each blanket, acknowledging the label it represents and set it aside. Continue doing this until you have no more labels except – SELF.
  • Who is SELF? Take a moment to describe SELF from the inside out. How do you feel when you’re not bombarded by what the world thinks you should be? What are your passions? What are your dreams? What makes you come alive? How does this person – from the inside out – want to show up in the world?

These are great questions to ponder in your journal, allowing yourself to answer them – truthfully and completely.

When we start chipping away at the exterior labels, what do we look like on the inside? What is our “diamond in the rough?”

Once we discover this, we’ve connected with our authentic self. And it’s from this place where purposeful, powerful, and magical masterpieces are created.

Tina M. Games is the author of Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother's Path to Self-Discovery. As a certified creativity and life purpose coach, and a master retreat leader and certified journal writing facilitator, she is the "Moonlight Muse" for women who want to tap into the "full moon within" and claim their authentic self, both personally and professionally.

Through her signature coaching programs, based on the phases of the moon, Tina gently guides women from darkness into light as they create an authentic vision filled with purpose, passion, and creative expression. She lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts with her husband and their two teenagers.

For more information about Tina’s work, please visit her website: www.TheMoonlightMuse.com

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who is passionate about nature, books, art and writing. A native Texan, and longtime Utah resident, she spent nine years traveling this country in an RV. She now lives in Tucson with her canine companion Pepper. Her book, Travels with Maggie, was published in September, 2017. Pat is a staff writer for the Story Circle Journal, is the co-mom of the Writer2Writer Roundtable, and manages SCN's tweets. Visit her blog.

Filed Under: StoryCraft: Writers Write About Writing

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Patricia Roop Hollinger says

    August 7, 2019 at 10:43 am

    My divorce thrust me into a dark period of my own life. As I began slowly to recover I went back to college and obtained my BS and MS as well as being an LCPC. This resulted in 23 years of having a career that I loved and cherished. Without the divorce that would not have happened.

    Reply
    • Patricia Bitondo says

      September 8, 2021 at 12:53 pm

      Dear Ms. Hollinger,
      I grew up in Carroll County, graduated from Westminster High School. I still read the Carroll County Times and read your remarks in the opinion column. I would like to inform you that our organization is forming a march against the Texas law. If you are interested click on http://www.democraticwoman.org. I believe you would be a great asset to the group.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

JudeWalsh

This blog is coordinated by author Jude Walsh.

Subscribe

Get new posts in your inbox!
Loading

Archives

2009-2019 Archives

This blog is written by Story Circle members.


Not a member? Go here to join.

Contributors

  • Ariela Zucker - View Blog
    • Using Photographs to Enhance Writing
  • Cynthia F Davidson - View Blog
    • Would I, Could I, Should I Write a Memoir?
  • Debra Thomas
    • The Better Story: Why I Prefer Fiction
  • Ellen Notbohm - View Blog
    • Writer, Get Out of Your Own Way
    • Why Not Me?
  • Fran Hawthorne - View Blog
    • I'm Listening
    • Can a Journalist Really Write Fiction?
  • Francesca Aniballi - View Blog
    • Journaling into Winter and the New Year
  • Gerry Wilson - View Blog
    • When Life Gets in the Way
    • Tough Story Love—How to Receive It
  • Linda Maria Steele
    • How Visual Images Can Shape Us as Writers
  • JSchecterZeeb
    • A Fishing Expedition
  • Jude Walsh
    • We've Moved!
    • Publishing Opportunities
  • Kali - View Blog
    • August 1 - Why I Love Story Circle Network
    • May 31 - Fiction vs. Memoir: Finally I Made The Choice
  • Kathryn Haueisen - View Blog
    • Endings as Prologue to New Beginnings
  • B. Lynn Goodwin - View Blog
    • Trouble Getting Words on the Page?
    • Crawl Inside Your Character's Head
  • Linda Wisniewski - View Blog
    • The Space Between Stories
  • Len Leatherwood
    • The Beauty of Revision
    • Interview with Dinty W. Moore On Flash Nonfiction
  • madeline40 - View Blog
    • What It Takes to Write a Book
  • Marilea Rabasa - View Blog
    • My Life As Pentimento
    • Spelunking
  • Claire Butler
    • E-Circle-Six
    • Lovin’ Story Circle Network
  • simonandrea - View Blog
    • Here's the Story of Lovely Ladies
    • Severe Behavior Problems
  • Story Circle Network - View Blog
    • Someday, I'll Write
    • Wisdom from Brenda Ueland on Writing & Creativity
  • Sarah White - View Blog
    • Three Writing Prompts to Make You a "Writer in Residence" This Summer

Footer

Footer Example
Story Circle Network Logo
  • Home
  • About
  • Classes
  • Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • Growing Together
  • Connect
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Login

Copyright 1997 - 2025  Story Circle Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy