The moon represents our feeling world, our emotional world, our subconscious.

—EZZIE SPENCER, BEING BOSS, EPISODE 74

When we decided to include the idea of setting intentions with the moon in our book, we thought it might be a little too woo-woo—but here’s the deal: the moon is a natural time tracker that gets us away from our screens and back into nature. The moon has not only a physical effect on the gravitational pull we experience on Earth (just look at the ocean tides) but also a cultural significance that we think is worth recognizing. We pulled in our friend Ezzie Spencer to share how setting intentions with the phases of the moon can make you a little more boss.

EZZIE SPENCER: In many different cultures over time, the moon has been associated with themes such as fertility, abundance, and agriculture. Taking up this symbolism, at each new moon, I plant a fresh seed—an intention for what I would like to cultivate in my life in the month ahead.

At the next new moon, you may wish to invite something material into your life. For example, you may wish to set an intention for your business to flourish with new clients and accompanying financial abundance. Or, your new moon intention could be more intangible: to cultivate more stability, peace, ease, flow, trust, joy, patience, or compassion.

The new moon is just the first of the eight phases in the moon cycle. Rather than set an intention at this first phase and then neglect it, you will optimize your chances of success with your intention by nourishing it throughout the entire moon cycle, which lasts about a month.

You can do this by returning to your intention each day in the cycle: journal about your experience, and anchor your intention by feeling it in your body. The more you pay attention to your desires, and take effective action based on this, the more likely you are to make your dreams real.

In the Lunar Abundance practice, the moon cycle is divided into eight phases, with each phase lasting for three or four days. These eight phases come in pairs, classified as yang (doing) and yin (being) phases. I’ve found that we need both “doing” and “being” to be effective and take good care of ourselves.

Rather than always hustling and pushing forward, it is essential to our well-being to slow down, at times, to reflect and restore. Pausing also helps us to see the path forward more clearly, and can help us see a solution when we are refreshed. For example, rather than getting lost in a spiral of worry about a lack of clients in a yin phase, we might take a walk or a bath or an early night and, when refreshed, see we have missed an obvious step that we could take, such as reaching out to a potential lead or starting a specific new promotional activity.

The reality is that life and work will never be fully yang or fully yin, but these alternating phases offer permission for both rest and action. I work with the moon cycle as a tool for reflection and a natural timekeeper. You can pop the moon phases into your calendar, stay connected with your intention, and take the time to develop the most effective action.

If we allow her, the moon may inspire our dreams, beckon us to create the life that we secretly feel we want to lead, and nudge us toward taking the most discerning action to make our intentions materialize—in a gentle, effective, and sustainable way.

Dr. Ezzie Spencer is the host of an iTunes podcast and the author of a book on how to work with the moon cycles to cultivate joy, peace, and purpose. Her concept, Lunar Abundance®, marries intellect with intuition and has reaped results for many women through one-on-one coaching sessions and the support of a flourishing online community at www.lunarabundance.com and @lunarabundance on Instagram.