Photo by Megan McIsaac

Sarah Gottesdiener is an old friend and the modern woman behind Modern Women — an LA-based design, art and consulting institution that exists somewhere at the intersection of feminism, magic and winsome tote bags. Sarah developed a healing and self-awareness practice and accompanying workbook based on the phases of the moon. For the past two years, we’ve carried the workbooks on our shop, where they’ve promptly hot potatoed off the shelves into the eager hands of future witches. Sarah was kind enough to take some time out to talk to us about her life and work, the ways of soft power and how the moon can heal and help us.

Ace: Hi Sarah. You are an old Ace friend!

Sarah: Yes. I remember when Ace Hotel Portland was just getting built. [VP of Brand] Ryan Bukstein used to play drums for my band.

No way.

Oh yeah, Ryan’s an incredible drummer. He’s like one of the best drummers I know. Jesse [who runs Ace Hotel Shop] is a good friend. We just went to New Orleans together and stayed at Ace. I even interviewed for a job at Ace. I love you guys. I love everything you do.

We love everything you do, too. Is Modern Women a collective or is it sort of a moniker that you go by?



It’s a moniker. Modern Women started out as an apparel company. I’m a designer so — I think of it as feminist swag. I make sweatshirts and tote bags and t-shirts and prints.

My background is in art and graphic design. Anything I put out for mass consumption is under the moniker, Modern Women. I also like using a moniker for this project because every book that I put out has many, many amazing contributors, so it seems narcissistic to just credit me when I have six other esteemed well-versed practitioners and various healing modalities contributing to the project.

That makes sense. Tell me about the motivation for The Many Moons Workbook? Did you see a palpable lack of self love happening in the world or humans ignoring the moon in favor of their cell phone screens?

So, this book’s origin story: It’s one part boring and one part magical. I had been teaching with this kind of method that I call Moonbeaming. I’d been working with the cycles of the moon for the last five years of my life and I saw kind of miraculous results both magically and practically.

I’m incredibly practical. I’m an East Coast Jew who was not raised to be hippy or woo-woo, so anything like astrology — or anything intangible — I’ve always been very skeptical of. This was kind of the most practical, tangible way of working. I started teaching workshops called Moon-Beaming. People started contacting me, like, “Will you teach in Atlanta?” “Will you teach in New Orleans?”

I’m like, Well, I can’t just hop on a plane. I write on my blog pretty regularly. I share a newsletter. I’m on Instagram. But I need a way to get this out to a larger public. The magical part was I was just laying on my couch, tossing around the idea in my mind. Like, what do I do? Do I write a book? Writing a book seems insane. Writing a book seems like I’d have to dedicate five years of my life to it. I don’t know how to write a book. I’m not a writer, by the way, nor have I ever really wanted to be.

So Spirit was like…I call it Spirit. You might call it the Muse, you might call it inspiration. Spirit was very clearly like, “You need to write a workbook. You’re gonna do this for three years.” I was like, “Okay, well when does it need to come out?” Spirit was like, “It needs to come out by January 1st.” It was June at this time. I was like, “Okay!” So I did it, and it came out … This is the second year that you guys have them on your shop. A year ago it came out, like right before January 1st. Nick of time, December 26th or something. That’s kind of the origin story of it.

How did you get involved in Moon magic, as a skeptic?

I moved to Portland, Oregon, where you throw a rock and you hit a witch.

Ha. True.

A bunch of people I knew were either astrologers, psychics, intuitives … I’m an intuitive. I’m a tarot reader as well. I didn’t know that really until I moved to Portland, and met other people like me. I met a bunch of awesome women, and that’s how I kind of got started. I really respected them and, we would get together and do stuff, share. Again, it was just through meeting people and trying it myself.

Working with the Moon has been around since the dawn of time, there are a lot of resources around this kind of spiritual practice — everything from magic to astrology has been strongly tied to the moon for ages. I never tell someone to do something in the workbooks, or any time, that I haven’t tried myself, and haven’t had positive results from.

Yoko and the Moon posters by Sarah Gottesdiener. Photo by Nancy Neil.



What were those results for you?

Finding my perfect partner. Making my desired income. Finding a diagnosis for a chronic health condition. Getting debt paid off. Meeting really great people. Living life in a richer, more layered way. Becoming more present. Loving myself more. It’s kind of filtered over into everything. Helping people. Getting to help others. It’s kind of the gift that keeps giving.

How would you describe this Moon cycle work to, say, my grandmother?

The very basics are this: Human beings, before the Gregorian Calendar, for thousands of years, have used the cycles of the moon to mark the beginning of their month, to mark special holidays, to mark the new year. You see remnants of it in Christianity and in Western culture. Halloween actually correlates to a more Pagan traditional holiday called Samhain. Pagans and Wiccans use the Wheel of the Year, which correlates to the solstices and the equinoxes, and the points of celebration between them.

There’s light and dark and how it tracks. The first calendars were lunar. The Jewish calendar still is. I believe the Hindu calendar and the Chinese calendar traditionally is still lunar. Obviously, people who get their periods can schedule it according to the moon cycle. We’re sort of wired to be lunar in our DNA. It’s really only been in the five hundred or so years that we’ve used the Gregorian Calendar. For thousands of years before that, we used the moon.



The moon cycle is very, very natural and simple to work with. You can start a cycle with the new moon, where you begin a new project or set new intentions. Then you kind of do a check-in a week later, and then you begin to practically build in the world. The workbook takes you through all of this. The full moon is meant for gratitude, illumination, reflection, big big wishing, big big dreams, big big intentions.



In the waning moon period, which follows the full moon, you clear away anything you don’t want, or you clear away any habits or thought patterns, behavioral patterns that aren’t helping you get what you need. Then it kind of begins again in the new moon, so it’s a natural cycle that can correlate to any project, any process.

If you’re a creative person, the new moon would be the inspiration phase. It would mean making a mess and doodling and figuring stuff out and brainstorming.



Waxing period would be, “Okay, I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to make a poster about love,” or whatever the hell it is. Then you do it and spend time doing that.



The full moon is looking at the project, appreciating it, being stoked on it, being stoked on yourself. Then the waning moon period would be getting rid of anything you don’t need anymore. Refining. Editing. Doing away with anything that’s taking away from your focus or your creativity. Only to begin again.



It’s a very natural cycle that you can utilize for just about anything, whether it’s super-duper practical, like, “I’m gonna clean my house,” or “I’m gonna get my fucking finances in order finally.” Or really magical, like “I’m gonna invite the best possible outcome for love into my life,” or, “I’m truly ready now to make six figures,” or “I’m ready now to move to another country,” or whatever crazy, out-of-bounds idea you can come up with.



I’ve tried it for the really really crazy stuff, and I’ve tried it for the really really boring, mundane stuff like, “God, I gotta pay off this debt.” And it’s worked for both.

What about the simple act of looking at the moon alone? Not for any analogous purpose or means to an end? Is there value in that?

That’s great. That’s actually what I tell people in my workshops. A lot of times people are like, “How do I practice? How do I get started?” It’s really good to take a walk every night, around the block, or if you have a dog, take that night walk and spend time with the moon. I’m really lucky, because I live in LA and I can see the moon almost every night.

Start taking stock of how you feel in your life around the major moon cycles. Like around the full moon, you might feel really energized and really jazzed, or you might feel incredibly depleted or really emotional. It really just depends on your specific experience. Around the new moon, around the full moon, again, around the waxing, the waning, it’s good to take note. “Hey, I can see the moon, it’s halfway lit up, that means it’s in the waxing period. How am I feeling? Am I ready to put the pedal to the metal? What do I want to do?”

The other really interesting thing about the moon is that, due to its orbit, we only see one side of it at all times. We never see the “dark side of the moon”. That’s really beautiful and poetic. We’re always looking at the same side, but we’re looking at it from various stages of illumination. The sun is lighting up the moon. We’re looking at the light of the sun lighting it up, seven seconds earlier, right? That’s the speed of light. We’re metaphorically looking at our consciousness, the truth of the matter. The sun correlates to activeness. So we’re sort of getting lit up on the stage of this blank slate every time.

The moon is our subconscious. The moon is our interior. The moon is what needs to come out in order to keep going. We’re looking at this really interesting interplay of light and dark, of consciousness and unconsciousness, of day and night, and I think that’s a really beautiful thing to remember when we’re looking up at it and engaging with it.

Amazing. Would you say that your audience base is primarily women?

I would say it’s 92% women.

Why do you think that is?

I would like to ask a man why they’re not interested in this stuff, more than ask why a woman is. I’m not sure, but what I do know is there seems to be a correlation between the moon and between women of all kinds, however they’re identified. Trans, non-binary, in-between, femme, however you want to identify. There seems to be an inherent connection to women and the moon. I think that we’re having both a huge rise in feminism, and a backlash against feminism, right? Because every time we take a couple steps forward, they’re gonna try to push us four steps back. We’re seeing that in the laws that are happening. Obviously we’ve seen that in the election.



There’s a very, very long line of herbalists using the cycles of the moon to create their concoctions. Of shamans, of witches, of doulas, of healers utilizing the moon cycles in their healing works, in their practice.

There’s also this incredibly long lineage of these people being marginalized, oppressed and murdered basically from day one — having their healing practices taken out from under them. That’s why we see the preponderance of men in medicine when it actually was women who first were the practitioners.



You see it institutionalized, through laws and the government, through violence against the “female” or “othered” body. The moon becomes this symbol, this metaphor for the divine feminine. There are masculine gods or deities that are associated with the moon in various cultures, but, I would say, that I’ve found most deities that are associated with the moon are feminine. It’s kind of this cross-cultural specificity of correlating women and women-identified people with the moon.

A lot of it comes down to intuition. While everyone is intuitive, women are generally considered more in touch with their feelings, and are more likely to be open to noticing how the moon affects them in nuanced ways.

Do you think that just by paying attention to these sorts of things, it can in a way be a political act?

Yeah. We’ve totally been taught that personal is political. Have you seen She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry?

No, I never have.

It’s on Netflix. It’s a documentary about the first women’s movement from the 60s and 70s. This saying “the personal is political,” this documentary makes a really good argument for it. As people who are female-identified, woman-identified, femme, non-binary, the other, it’s really up to us to try to see things in a different way. I call it a sort of soft power. We’re trying to do things in a way that’s loving and kind and caring. Soft power is listening. It takes longer, it’s quieter, it’s more subtle. But I think these are all ways that we can kind of utilize this idea of our intuition, of process.

A still from She’s Angry When She’s Beautiful

We’ve been taught in our society to compete. We’ve been taught in our society that there’s a beginning, a middle, and an end, and that we’re racing, and that we need to get a trophy, and if we don’t get the trophy, then someone else will get it, and then we’ve failed. That’s very patriarchal, masculine kind of thinking. This moon cycle is literally this kind of spiral. It’s not a linear beginning, middle, end, like we see in movies, and all of these other sort of cultural references. It’s a process.

We’re not here to get one trophy, and beat everyone else out. We’re here to get 75 million trophies, whether it’s a trophy of getting up in the morning and taking a fucking shower, or it’s securing a job, or meeting the person of our dreams, or getting rid of an addiction, or forgiving our abuser, or forgiving our mother, or whatever it is we need to do. It’s this non-hierarchical kind of mode, and that’s kind of this moon cycle. It’s this non-hierarchical kind of mode, and that’s kind of this moon cycle. I think that’s what we need to be taking into account, both in the realm of self-actualization and love, and at a larger, more societal level.

Yeah. It’s a radical way of thinking. I was thinking about how the feminist movement wasn’t as unified as other civil liberties movements, and why exactly that was (and still is). I’ve often wondered if that’s because of patriarchal society or heterosexual relationships — to love the quote-unquote oppressor doesn’t necessarily help one’s cause. And it’s not like it’s men’s fault; they suffer from patriarchy, too. But it’s just a deep societal internalization of “the way things are” that women have taken on. Can you ever really gain traction if your immediate household is divided? Feminism, or the dismantling of certain systems of power, in some ways introduces an entirely new way of moving through space.

Totally. In the light of this new U.S. regime, and all that’s going on right now, the focus for me needs to be on myself, and those who I love, who might be affected by this situation, no matter what their gender. I am choosing to focus help and attention on those otherized, marginalized.

The other thing, I think, is that oppressed groups, especially women — generally, because women are so intuitive and such sponges, which can be really really useful and helpful for us in certain ways, but really detrimental in others — tend to take upon the actions of our oppressors subconsciously.

I’ve really been finding myself, in the light of recent events, taking a hardcore look at my internalized misogyny. Where am I unfair to other women? How do I immediately jump to sort of a defensive or judging mode?

Have you heard of Shine Theory? It’s this idea that we must focus and lift other marginalized groups up. There’s this really rad podcast. It’s called “Call your Girlfriend.”

Oh, I love Call your Girlfriend.

They talk about Shine Theory. Then there’s this really great magazine you should check out called Got a Girl Crush. All it is, literally, is a magazine of various female writers, artists and activists, and every issue is just a profile of 10 amazing women. The idea of Shine Theory is that we boost each other up, we look for the positive that is mutually beneficial. We congratulate each other openly. We help each other find jobs. I work at the Women’s Center for Creative Work. That’s where I rent my studio space. It’s in LA and it’s a center for women to come to work, to have workshops for events. The idea is that we’re here to network. We’re here to help each other. We’re here to give each other props. We’re here to support each other.

Yeah. It’s so important right now. I think about the kind of internalized misogyny that’s directed towards one’s self. The kind of misogyny that manifests in poor self-talk and instances of self-loathing.

Oh yeah. My work as a tarot reader, which is kind of like a therapist, and my work in workshops, I see it — we’re so hard on ourselves. We’re like unrelentingly savage. We’re like the Pepe Frog meme savage to ourselves. Whether it’s like "our shoelaces aren’t tied right,” “our hair looks weird,” whatever, “the dinner was a little too salty,” or whatever. “We’re five minutes late.” Whatever it is, we’re like very much in a state of contraction, holding our breath. Like, “Oh my god, this email wasn’t worded right. Oh shit, I’m five minutes late on the deadline, oh my god.” Someone hits you and you’re like, “Oh my god, I’m sorry.”

We’re doing all these things and we’re still not cutting ourselves enough slack, and I think that’s part of the self-love aspect. My favorite question in the Moon Book, I believe it was in the one that’s out now that you guys carry, but it’s like, “Have you finally let yourself off the hook?” “Have you finally given yourself permission to breathe, and be amazing, and awesome?”



We are so much better than we ever give ourselves credit for.

What has been inspiring you lately?



The design of Bruno Munari, A Seat at the Table by Solange, Annie Dillard, the artwork that the PDX gallery Nationale shows, the talks of bell hooks at the New School, the many different strains of activism of this country that is rising, and that will continue to rise in the coming years.

What advice do you have for the young feminist just starting out?

You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to start, and then continue in an authentic and consistent fashion.

The 2017 Many Moons Workbook is only available via print on demand here.

