Review: Moon Journal 2020

As a yoga teacher, a Plant Spirit Healer and Reiki practitioner it would be fair to assume that journalling is a comfortable and well-used tool for me. But actually it isn’t! 

Moon Journal 2020: A Lunar Meditation Companion by Ingvild Skodvin Prestegård

I find it hard to know where to start, or where to end. The pages look blank and uninspiring. I often end up feeling overwhelmed by the many suggestions available as to how to reflect, plan, affirm. So I find I do none of them.

With that in mind, I have been actively looking for something that will gently guide me, offering a step into the world of journaling. I specifically wanted a guide that used the lunar cycles, the seasons, the cycle of the year and the relationship of all these things to the Divine Feminine archetypes of Mother – Maiden – Crone. 

All in the Moon Journal

Amazingly I have found all these in the Moon Journal, combined with an emphasis on meditation, another practice that I want to rekindle in the next year.

The book itself is a pleasing size that feels comforting. It gives the sense of being something special (a trait I appreciate in any meditation/contemplation companion) but not a weighty tome. 

Inside the Moon Journal’s covers are calmly laid out pages relating to each new and full moon cycle for the whole year. These lunar cycles are punctuated with the seasonal festivals, titled by their Pagan names. This gives a beautifully circular feel to the book, rather than a linear start and end. 

Going beyond the book

You are gently introduced to the concept by Ingvild’s foreword. Then you are led to online material that helps to contextualise and expand on the book itself. Here I have found PDFs that I will print out and place in strategic places around my home; a beautiful illustration of the Wheel of the Year, affirmations, a gratitude journal and a year planner.

The Year Planner is a wonderfully concise approach to something I usually have trouble with. A few well-chosen questions help guide reflections on the year you are leaving and the one you are heading into. I feel I can do this. So it’s not going to make me feel swamped by expectations but will help me to assess positively what I have achieved in the year past. And therefore what I want to prioritise going forward.

Notably, the Moon Journal isn’t superfluous. It is straightforward, grounded and practical. But it most importantly it deals with concepts that will take me on a journey to parts of myself that are often ignored in my (far too) busy life.

I am excited to put my pen to the pages, to be guided by Ingvild’s steady presence, which I can feel on every page, and to be part of the community she has created online.

Inner and outer connection

This is where the Moon Journal really embraces the true essence of our modern lives. It offers time to be reflective, quiet, still and alone and then bring that back to connect with others around the globe through her Facebook page. A beautiful balancing act of inner work and outer connection.

I can see how the Moon Journal connects us back to the cycles of the earth, to the passage of the moon, and how to embrace the fact that we as humans have cycles through our years and our lives. Bring on 2020!

You can buy the Moon Journal 2020: A Lunar Meditation Companion by Ingvild Skodvin Prestegård on Amazon.

Ingvild sent me a free copy to review (but I’ve already bought another!).

Do you journal? What do you love about it? Or do you struggle like me?