Truth, Leadership, & Reminders from a Goddess
Reflections from my in person Dark Moon Desire ceremony on October 21, 2025 —
Hosted as a Guest Facilitator of the Frederick Sacred Sister’s Circle.
On Tuesday, for two hours, twenty people sat with me in an oblong ring under the dark moon in Libra.
We opened the circle, I did a bit of teaching, we moved our bodies, and called in our ancestors and guides. I led everyone in a Shamanic-style journey into the darkness of their shadows to retrieve the light. We journaled. I drummed.
Miraculously, we did all of that, PLUS every single person had time to share the truth of what they needed to release, their blessing to the community, and their empowered "I will" statement—all in time to close the circle and immediately hear a random Siri announce, "It's 9PM!"
We laughed. We cried. And we created meaningful connections in the spaces before, during, and after the ceremony.
Seriously—what an incredibly powerful container this circle was, and such an affirmation for me in where I am going next.
I was so in the space I didn't take any pictures of the altar!
Know it was a beautiful bed of silver, black, and blue with amethysts, moss agates, and tigers eyes arranged in four lines for the four quarters. Arianrhod sat at the center, and I had three candles lit to represent the past, present, and future. It was simple, but divinely inspired.
The Medicine of Holding Space
Going into the Dark Moon Desire circle, I'll admit I was managing a lot. Chronic health stuff, emotional bandwidth stretched thin due to flipping the Park House, and the usual beautiful chaos of simply being human.
But I also knew I needed to show up—not just for the circle, but for myself. I cleared my energy leading up to the ceremony, cleared my throat chakra, and drove down to set up feeling energized and purposeful.
Then what I witnessed in that ritual room reminded me why I do this work.
I could feel the collective anxiety in the beginning when I asked everyone to acknowledge what they were releasing. Hearts pounding. The weight of naming the truth.
I used this opportunity to invite them deeper into their bodies—to acknowledge the collective anxiety, fear, and pulse in the moment.
Then, we drummed in the ancestors and each person called in their own team of support. I felt the shift. I stopped having to do any emotional or energetic work in the shared field. Everyone was held. People moved as they needed. Someone got up to tend to their body. Others shifted positions. The container was strong enough to let everyone be human.
The ancestors did the heavy lifting, and I got to witness the magic.
We dove into the void together. I guided everyone through a journey to sit with the ways they weren't showing up for themselves—the overgiving, the people-pleasing, and the burnout shadows.
And then when we emerged, I laughed and said, "So who feels like they thoroughly called themselves out?"
Several people reached for tissues, and I could tell these were the good kind of tears—the kind that come and clear out what needs to go.
That's the good shit, in my opinion.
My Own Medicine: Truth and Take the Lead
I put oracle cards on either end of the night's altar and told everyone they could pull one anytime they felt called. One participant immediately smirked and leaned in to grabbed one. At least five others followed. The cards were moving all night, finding exactly who needed them throughout the ritual. Several people came back to retrieve another message. I loved the organic nature of it all!
I pulled two for myself at different moments: Truth (Moon Rising) and Take the Lead (The Moon's Wisdom).
When Truth came up, I knew exactly what it meant. Speak the truth. And I did. I was inclusive, holistic, and unafraid to push people toward their shadows. I named where we block ourselves, where we need to communicate our desires, where we get in our own way. I spoke my truth about what I needed to say, and I trusted that it was exactly what needed to be heard.
Then after the journey, while we were all journaling, I pulled Take the Lead.
It landed like an affirmation: This is what you're doing right now. You're taking the lead. You're guiding this experience. You're trusting yourself.
Yes. I am!
I am not afraid to be a leader. I know we are all leaders. We lead ourselves. We lead others to see themselves and reclaim their own sovereignty through out own self-leadership.
It is through our self-leadership, discernment, and discipline that we manifest aligned lives for ourselves.
Enter Saraswati: The Goddess of Independent Thinkers
When I read the booklet description for the Take the Lead card later that evening, I discovered it was connected to Saraswati (Sarasvatī)—the Hindu goddess of knowledge, arts, wisdom, and creativity. The first goddess to be worshiped in Hinduism. The patron of musicians, artists, writers, and students.
Picture from The Little Book of Hindu Deities, alongside one of my peacock decorations!
She is the independent woman who chose her creative community over a disastrous marriage. Who plays her veena as loud as she wants. Who sits with her beloved Vedas guilt-free for hours. Whose constant companion is the elegant white swan. I've worked a lot with Swan medicine in the past. I've even been compared to the swan before—an entity that appears to be effortlessly gliding along on the surface of life, but underneath the water, those feet are paddling hard!!!
But what really struck me in reading about Saraswati was I'd been feeling drawn to my peacock decor just days before, trying to figure out where to place it in my space after bringing it back from Park House. Peacock is associated with and sacred to Saraswati.
The card said artists, writers, and students are all part of her family.
I am a writer.
I have been longing to write more—more poetry, more fiction. I've been holding back because of all the things I'm managing, and all the energy I think I don't have.
But Saraswati doesn't ask permission. She doesn't wait until conditions are perfect. She plays loud. She reads for hours. She creates.
Ultimately, the card's message was clear: Take the lead in doing what you want to do, not just what you have to do.
What I Desired (and What I'm Claiming)
On my Dark Moon Desire worksheet, the same I handed out to participants of the circle, I mapped my conscious impulses, aka desires, across the four elements:
TRUTH (what I really want to do):
Write
Speak
Teach
Workshops & Retreats
Body (Earth): More rest time, deeper nourishment in my diet, less sugar, dancing, nature time
Mind (Air): Time to dump journal, writing time and structure, time away from social media to detox, good conversations
Emotions (Water): Write poems weekly, a sabbatical from carrying other people beyond a few moments here and there, more routine rituals, honoring what I want to do and not what just others want
Spirit (Fire): Talk with my team more, nature time, write spiritual poetry/blog, nature time
And my conscious actions—my "I will" statements:
I will start a new dump journal
I will write my novel
I will write poems in my journal once a week
I will set aside 1 day a week for poetry mat time
I will go outside daily
I will talk to A'ra'sha more (my guardian angel/primary guide)
I will take some time off social media
The Cards That Came After: Divine Will and Synchronicity
As I sat down to write this blog, I decided to pull two more cards for what the in-person ceremony initiated for me and what I'm stepping into next.
I used two different decks, and here's what came:
The Divine Matrix - Interconnectedness. Synchronicity. Godincidences.
Solar Plexus Chakra - The yellow Flower of Life that supports our sense of self, our personal power, our willpower, and our knowing of who we are and what our contribution is to the whole.
Divine Matrix from The Gateway of Light Activation Oracle & Solar Plexus from Sacred Geometry Activations.
Do you see it? Two completely different decks, but look at the patterns on the cards—the sacred geometry echoing each other. And the Solar Plexus card is all about will—which was the entire heart of our Dark Moon Desire ritual.
The Divine Matrix showed up to say: This is all connected. The tears. The laughter. The vibrations. The ancestors. The repeating patterns and symbols. Saraswati. Your desire to write. It's all synchronicity.
And the Solar Plexus said: You know who you are. You know what your contribution is. Now use your will to do it.
Alright. :) Challenge accepted.
The dark moon asked me what I desire, and I answered: to stop waiting for permission and start creating the life—and the work—I actually want.
That means more creative writing and connecting in nature and ceremony. I am an author—and I will be a prolific and well paid one. ;)
What do you desire, beautiful friend?
What will you do to find your way there?
Love,
Safrianna Lughna, LCPC, MS
Writer. Guide. Keeper of Sacred Portals.
Between the Veils
If you were at Dark Moon Desire, or if any of this resonates with you, I want to invite you to keep going with me.
Starting Monday, October 27th, I'm co-hosting an 8-day journey called "Between the Veils"—a deep dive into ancestral wisdom, personal magic, and revolutionary spirit during Samhain season, when the veil between worlds is thinnest.
Two ways to join:
🌙 FREE on YouTube - Follow me for free moon ceremonies, podcasts, and daily 10am ET live teachings throughout the series
🔥 Full Sacred Experience ($47) - Lifetime replay access, exclusive ritual on Zoom (November 2), daily reflection prompts, personalized oracle card pulls, and sacred pause meditations
We're not here to master anything. We're here to remember. To reconnect. To take the lead in our own lives and trust that our ancestors are drumming us forward.
Will you answer the call?
