Today is a New Moon. And I did something radical. Some people - my friend Cilla for one - would say it's about time. This has been a long time coming.

I have basically pressed the reset button on my spiritual life. I'm starting again from scratch. I am taking a break from all of my favourite practices and making space to hear the guidance of Spirit more clearly. I am starting on a new journey and I have no idea where it will take me.

I don't think it's sunk in yet just how radical a departure this is. I only decided this a couple of hours ago. The thing is, I have been told, again and again, that I need to do more of my shamanic work. And when I ask Spirit how to do that, the answer is that I need to listen. Sounds simple really.

Trouble is, I get in the way. Big time. I make up all kinds of spiritual exercises that I 'have' to do, so that I can learn more, be more, be a better person. And you know what? It's tiring me out so much. I don't actually want to try and be a better person anymore. I want to just be me. Because I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to be anything other than who and what I am, and that that is actually who and what I am meant to be. As long as I get out of my own way.

So I'm trying an experiment for this Moon. I'm going to do what I have been asked to do for so long. I'm going to just sit and listen. That's it. For my daily spiritual practice, I am going to find a place of quiet and just sit there and listen. Listen for the currents of life flowing around me and through me. Listen for the quiet deep inside all things. And listen for guidance. I am hoping Spirit will notice and show me, teach me how to be fully myself.

The first thing I did was strip my altar. It is usually filled with all kinds of things that mean something to me: some of my shamanic tools, a tarot card, a candle, bits and pieces I have collected in Nature and on the shore of the Thames. Now there is The Fool from the Margarete Petersen Tarot, because this certainly feels like a fool's journey into the unknown, a candle, and my beads that represent the journey around the Wheel of Life. That's it. I want to empty myself so that I can hear Spirit speak.

Of course, I'm hoping a lot of things. I'm hoping that this Moon will bring some kind of breakthrough, some amazing new beginning. I'm hoping that I will learn to be still enough to actually hear the still voice of Spirit. I'm hoping that I'll find my way, my unique path. But what I hope for most is peace. The peace of allowing myself to just be. I don't think I've ever managed to give myself permission to just be me before.

Wish me luck. I'll need it. And if anything interesting happens, you'll be the first to know.

Inspiration for this experiment came from the writings of Oriah Mountain Dreamer, whose three small books, The Invitation, The Dance, and The Call I have each read a few times.