February 16, 2026 • Waning Crescent/Dark Moon • The quiet before renewal
Dear Beautiful,
I hope this lunar letter finds you well and attuned to your body’s communication. We are in the waning crescent phase, sometimes called the “dark moon” in poetic language. This is the final quiet stretch before the New Moon, when the light is almost gone and the sky feels empty.
This phase invites stillness, not through effort, but through allowing what has completed to settle. It’s a moment to notice where energy feels low, where emotions feel tender, or where the body is asking for less, and to honor that without needing to interpret it.
For highly sensitive women, this matters deeply. When the nervous system is attuned to subtle shifts in light, rhythm, and environment, even the turning of a lunar cycle can be felt physically. Fatigue, headaches, quietness, or inwardness are not signs of failure. They are signs of awareness.
This is where sensitivity becomes wisdom. Your body registers transition before your mind does. It senses when something is ending and when something new is not yet ready to begin.
The dark moon supports clearing, not striving. Releasing, not initiating. Allowing the soil to rest before the next seed is planted.
This week also marks Lunar New Year in many traditions, and the beginning of Lent for many in the Christian faith. Both honor renewal through reflection, simplification, and clearing before growth. These layered rhythms remind us that new beginnings rarely arrive with force. They arise from stillness.
Nothing needs to be fixed. Simply noticing where your breath can soften, where your pace can slow, or where you are bracing for what has not yet arrived is enough for now.
Sensitivity is not something to manage. It is a form of sensory intelligence. It's something to trust.
This reflection connects closely with the Body Series of the Highly Sensitive Series, Navigating Your Body's Signals and Needs, shared in my previous writings.
An excerpt from the blog: "Your body's reaction to stress is more intense and nuanced than others might experience. When faced with stressors - whether emotional, physical, or environmental - your system responds with a cascade of reactions..."
Continue reading: Navigating Your Body's Signals and Needs
From Last Week's Conversation
Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul, Episode 15: Your Body's Unique Response System
This conversation reflects the evolution of my understanding, especially after completing advanced training in Quantum Biology Health with Dr. Catherine Clinton, ND, whose research-informed approach deepened my knowledge of how light, water, sound, frequency, and rhythm support the body at a cellular level.
New episodes of Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul are released each Wednesday at 4:44 PM Pacific. An invitation to take a break and breathe love.
Available on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube
Listen here: Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul
A Moment to Pause | A Space to Inquire
As we move through the dark moon and into the new lunar cycle, questions might surface. About sensory intelligence. About patterns that keep returning. About what it might look like to live with more alignment and less self-override.
On February 19th & March 5th, I’m hosting live, free gatherings. A spacious, heart-centered Q&A where sensory intelligent women are welcome to pause, release the bracing, ask questions, and explore what support might feel right for them in this season.
There is no pressure to join anything. Attend one or all. This is simply a place to be heard, to learn, and to sense whether The Re-Aligned Journey, beginning at the spring equinox, feels like a true next step.
Sign Up to attend the live call A Moment to Pause | A Space to Inquire
Closing Blessing
May this Dark Moon hold you gently as you release what has run its course. May you trust the wisdom of clearing before beginning again.
As a new lunar cycle approaches, and as many mark renewal in their own traditions, may you feel no pressure to rush forward. May your body guide the timing. May your breath soften the bracing. May what is ready to fall away do so with ease.
You do not need to force a new beginning. It will rise naturally from rest.
I’d love to know what this moment is clarifying for you. You’re always welcome to reply and share what you’re noticing.✨
If this reflection felt supportive, feel free to pass it along to another sensitive woman who may need the same reminder today.
We rise together when we pause, breathe, and realign with love.
With moon and heart,
Melissa
Melissa Jean Paulson, MSW
Integrative Mental Health | Quantum Biology Health
Mind–Body–Soul Wisdom Spiral Guide
Creator of Heart Wisdom Re-Alignment™
& The Re-Aligned Journey™
✨Rise. Reclaim. Remember. ✨
Where the heart leads, the body remembers, and the soul awakens.
Ways to stay connected & explore my work:
My Offerings:
• The Re-Aligned Journey - Starting Spring Equinox 2026 (20 Sessions)
• Rise & Realign: An Integrative Intensive for Sensitive Women (~ 4 hrs)
• Re-Alignment Sessions - Personalized quantum attunement sessions that meet you where you are and may include guided meditation, quantum biology health protocols, Human Design insight, and heart-brain coherence to support subconscious healing and embodied self-trust.
• Stress Resilience: Preventing Burnout with Holistic Self-Care Mini-Course
My Writing Highly Sensitive Series & Blog Archives
My Podcast Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul
|
