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The Moon That Keeps Its Distance
I want to end this series by naming what the Sidereal Moon does not do.
It does not lean in. It does not interpret your experience. It does not ask you to come closer.
The Sidereal Moon keeps its distance—and that distance is part of its care.
So much of what we are offered in healing spaces asks for intimacy, depth, or surrender. This listening steps away from those expectations entirely. It does not confuse closeness with safety. It does not assume that being moved i
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Shared Night, Separate Bodies
This listening does not ask for togetherness to look a certain way.
When the Sidereal Moon is heard in shared space, it does not ask people to synchronize—to feel the same thing, to settle at the same pace, or to arrive at a shared meaning. There is no emotional alignment required.
Each body remains its own body.
Each person keeps their own interior world.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Cycles Without Obligation
You are not required to follow a rhythm here.
The Sidereal Moon is often confused with cycles we are meant to track, honor, or move with. This listening releases that expectation. It does not ask you to notice phases, align behavior, or synchronize your inner state with time.
There is no assignment.
You may feel out of step.
You may feel unchanged.
You may feel nothing at all.
All of this belongs.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Orientation Without Introspection
This listening does not ask you to look inward.
The Sidereal Moon is measured against the fixed stars. It is not concerned with what you are feeling, remembering, or processing. It does not invite emotional inventory or inner analysis.
You are allowed to remain oriented outward.
You may notice the room.
The floor beneath you.
The edges of the space.
The simple fact of being here.
Introspection is often framed as care.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Venus in Shared Space
When Venus is experienced in a shared space, it is often described as relational—bringing people together, encouraging harmony, inviting connection. For many nervous systems, especially those shaped by trauma, group spaces can feel complicated. Expectations of togetherness can arrive before safety does.
The Venus gong does not require togetherness to look any particular way.
You are not asked to merge with the group.
You are not asked to synchronize emotionally.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Pleasure Without Obligation
I want to be careful with the word pleasure.
For many people, pleasure has not felt free.
It has come with expectation.
With performance.
With the sense that if something feels good, you are supposed to respond a certain way—or want more.
The Venus gong does not ask that of you.
It does not require enjoyment.
It does not chase comfort.
It does not assume ease is the goal.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Beauty Without Performance
The Venus gong does not require that.
It does not ask you to find the sound pleasing.
It does not expect gratitude.
It does not need your approval.
Beauty, in this listening, is not something you perform.
You are not asked to soften your face.
You are not asked to relax your body.
You are not asked to respond with enjoyment.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Venus Does Not Ask You to Drop Your Armor
Venus is often spoken of as love, beauty, softness, and connection. For many bodies, that language has not felt gentle. It has felt like expectation. Like pressure. Like being asked to become permeable before safety was established.
The Venus gong does not ask that of you.
It does not ask you to drop your armor.
It does not ask you to soften your edges.
It does not ask you to become emotionally available.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Jupiter as the Inner Teacher
Jupiter Gong — Post 8 (Closing)
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Jupiter in Ceremony — One Mind, Many Bodies
Unity does not require sameness.
The Jupiter gong does not ask a group to feel the same thing, believe the same thing, or arrive at the same insight. There is no emotional synchronization required. No collective mood to match.
Each body remains its own body.
Each nervous system keeps its own pace.
Each listener stays inside their own experience.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


The Softening of Holding
I want to speak carefully here, because bodies hold for reasons.
In many traditions, Jupiter is associated with the liver—an organ connected with processing, flow, and the holding of suppressed anger. This listening is not about forcing release. It is about creating conditions where holding may soften—if it is ready.
The Jupiter gong does not demand emotional expression.
It does not provoke catharsis. It does not ask you to “let it out.”
For some nervous systems, holding
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Expansion Without Boundary Violation
Jupiter is not about breaking through boundaries.
For many people—especially those shaped by trauma—“expansion” has been framed as something unsafe. Pushing past limits. Ignoring signals. Being told you’ll be fine after you override yourself.
That is not what happens here.
The Jupiter gong does not push.
It does not flood.
It does not overwhelm.
Expansion, in this listening, happens up to the edge your nervous system can support—and no further.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


From Solid Ground to Atmosphere
Jupiter is the first planet in our solar system where there is no solid surface to stand on. It marks the transition from defined terrain to atmosphere, from certainty to becoming.
The Jupiter gong carries this quality.
Listening here may feel different than listening to planets with firmer edges. There may be less sense of structure and more sense of openness. Less focus on where you are, and more awareness of the space around you.
Nothing needs to resolve.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Safety in Widening
The Jupiter gong offers something different.
Jupiter is associated with the benevolent father—not authority, not command, but support without intrusion. When this gong sounds, widening does not feel like being examined. It feels like being backed.
There is no sense that you are doing it wrong.
No feeling that you should be more open, more confident, more joyful.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Jupiter and the Permission to Expand
So much of the language around growth carries pressure—be more, reach further, open wider. For nervous systems shaped by trauma, that kind of language can feel unsafe. It can feel like demand disguised as encouragement.
The Jupiter gong does not do that.
When Jupiter sounds, it does not ask you to push beyond yourself.
It does not measure your readiness to grow.
It does not reward optimism.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Chiron as Witness, Not Healer
Chiron does not come to heal you.
It does not arrive with remedies, methods, or solutions.
It comes as witness.
A witness does not intervene.
It does not correct.
It does not require change in order to stay present.
The Chiron gong remains near what has endured without approaching it.
It acknowledges pain without entering it.
It stays with survival without asking it to soften or resolve.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


When the Body Chooses Distance
Chiron respects this choice.
You are not asked to move closer to sensation.
You are not invited to drop inward.
You are not encouraged to “lean into” anything.
Listening does not require proximity.
You may remain oriented to the room.
You may keep your eyes open.
You may stay aware of exits, walls, light, and sound outside the gong.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 141 min read


After the Gong Ends, Nothing Is Required
When the Neptune gong fades, there is no next step.
No moment where you are asked to reflect.
No instruction to integrate what you experienced.
No suggestion that something should be carried forward.
Listening ends cleanly.
You do not need to hold onto the sound.
You do not need to remember it accurately.
You do not need to understand what happened while it was present.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 141 min read


When the Drum Stops
Listening does not end when the sound does.
What continues is the permission that was present all along—the permission to stop, to rest, to turn away, or to move on without explanation. The body is not asked to process what just happened. The nervous system is not expected to settle or change.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 142 min read


Shamanic Drumming, Part 7: Seasonal Rhythm
In Spring and Summer, rhythm may be shared more publicly. Sound may be played in ways that invite gathering, presence, or collective listening. Even then, the work remains non-directive. The drum does not ask more because the season is open.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 142 min read
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