Highly sensitive people feel everything deeply. If you’re an HSP, learn how to cleanse and protect your personal energy to avoid overwhelm.

HSP, or highly sensitive person, is a term that refers to people who are a little more attuned to the things many of us don’t normally notice. This is a personality trait, not a mental health diagnosis, well-described and defined in Dr. Elaine N. Aron’s book The Highly Sensitive Person. HSPs feel things deeply, get stressed in overly stimulating environments, and often notice details others don’t. There is an intersection between the HSP trait and the quality of being highly intuitive. Spiritual awareness generally comes along, with an ability to feel things deeply and tap into energies that may not be so obvious on the surface.

June’s full moon is commonly called the Strawberry Moon, a name that originated with the Lakota, Ojibwa, and Algonquin peoples. The Haida name for this month’s moon is the Berries Ripen Moon.

Of course, this refers to the fact that many berries begin to ripen in June. It’s a time not only of blossoming and ripening but of animal babies being born. It’s also the month that contains the summer solstice (on June 21st) and the shift into a new season.

Energetically, a blood moon is an incredibly powerful time to set intentions, to release negative energy, and to try the practice of making moon water.

When we are seeking spiritual guidance, it’s usually because we are hurting. Something is missing within us, and we need support and reassurance we can’t get in our day to lives. We can feel that there’s something else out there, and we want to connect to it. That need makes us vulnerable. And a lot of people like to take advantage of vulnerability. 

Humans are wired for connection and to have some sense of spirituality, whether it’s directed at a particular deity, to nature, the moon phases, or to community. And when we lean into the parts of ourselves that believe in the magic of all we don’t know, we are stepping into our own intuitive magic.

In February we greet the full Snow Moon. It’s a name that comes from various sources, including the Naudowessie band of the Dakota tribe. Because February has typically been the month with the heaviest snowfall of the year, it became the month of the Snow Moon.