Moon

The moon, like the sun, rises in the East and sets in the West. Unlike the sun, the appearance of its size and shape continually change, at least from our earth-bound perspective. In a lunar month, there are four cycles of approximately seven days. The phases the moon goes through include the dark of the moon (also called the new moon). It waxes (grows larger) until the first quarter is visible as the half moon. When the moon continues to wax, its horns point to the East until it reaches a full circle, known as the full moon. It will then begin to diminish in size as it wanes through the last quarter, with the horns pointing West, and continues to wane until the new moon returns.

It is wise to time your magickal rites to coincide with the proper phase of the moon. By doing this you take advantage of lunar power, stay in sympathy with the natural pull of the universe, and combine your energy with nature’s. The more circumstances you can bring into alignment when doing magick, the better the results will be. Use the waxing moon to begin new projects, build friendships, rekindle a romance, and create new business opportunities. During the full moon, nurture and reaffirm intentions, focus energy on projects set in motion during the new moon, and work to create success and abundance. During the dark or waning moon, take time to reflect on goals and ambitions. Use this time to break undesirable habits and patterns and to undo negative influences coming from others

## Beliefs

Since ancient times, the Moon has been associated with woman and her fertility, monthly cycle, powers of nurturing and powers of darkness. The Moon, ruler of the night and the mysteries of the dark, represents wetness, moisture, intuition, emotion, tides, the psychic, moods and madness. It embodies time, for its phases provided humankind with the first calendar. In contemporary Witchcraft, the Moon is the source of Witches’ power, drawn down from the sky; it is the worker of magic. The Great Goddess, the Mother Goddess, the AllDewy-One, is at her most formidable and potent as lunar deity.

In the earliest primitive times, the Moon was viewed as the source of fertility of all things. Its light was considered indispensable for abundant harvests, large flocks and herds and human fecundity. It was believed that women were made pregnant by moonbeams. Women who desired children slept under the light of the Moon; those who did not resorted to crude charms, such as rubbing their bellies with spittle to avoid swelling like the waxing of the Moon.

Since antiquity, lunar phases have governed all facets of life. The waxing Moon is auspicious for crop planting and new endeavours, for luck and increasing; the waning Moon is a time of diminishing and destruction. Lunar phases have governed magical rituals for the creation and consecration of magical tools, the summoning of spirits, the preparations of remedies and charms and the castings of spells. One cut one’s hair and nails, entered into marriages and business arrangements, let blood and travelled according to the phases of the moon. The Moon was believed to govern the humours, the moisture in the body and brain. In 1660 one English astrologer declared that children born at the full Moon would never be healthy but ran the risk of moonstruck madness, or lunacy. Folklore beliefs about the Moon persist to the present day. The Moon still influences magic rites.

The cycle of woman’s menstruation is tied to the lunar phases. In many cultures, the words for “Moon” and “menstruation” are the same or very similar. The Moon as person and deity. The Moon was primarily a power and a force until about 2600 b.c.e., when it became personified in Middle Eastern civilizations as the Man in the Moon or the Great Man. During his waning, the Man in the Moon was eaten by a dragon and went down into the underworld. He rose anew as his son. The Moon also was believed to incarnate on Earth as a king; some lines of kings claimed to be the representatives of the Moon and wore horned headdresses. Eventually, the Man in the Moon was replaced by the deity of the Moon, who was first a god, then a goddess. The lunar goddess was the Great Goddess, the giver of all things in her waxing phase and the destroyer of all things in her waning phase. She took on the fertilizing power of the Moon and was the protector of women. As destroyer, she could bring storms, particularly heavy rains, and floods.

The lunar gods and goddesses were portrayed with crescent moons, the auspicious symbol of the waxing and lucky Moon. The Great Goddess was associated with the Cow, goat and bull, whose horns represented the crescent or horned Moon.

To the Greeks, the goddess Selene once was the sole lunar goddess. Selene was replaced by Artemis (Diana) and Hecate. The true power of the Moon resided in Hecate, who ruled the waning and dark Moon, the time when the Moon slipped into the underworld and ghosts and spirits walked the earth. Hecate became known as the Three-Headed Hecate, whose triple aspects combined Selene, Artemis and Hecate. The witches of Thessaly were said to be able to draw down the power of the Moon from the sky. In myth, Aphrodite taught her son, Jason, “how to draw down the dark moon” whenever he needed magic. The Moon in Witchcraft. In contemporary Witchcraft, worship of the Goddess is associated with the Moon. The consort of the Goddess is the Horned God, the god of the woodlands, whose horns represent both the beasts of nature and the horned Moon. The activities and magic workings of a Witch or coven are timed according to the phases of the Moon. Most covens meet at the full Moon; some also Witches and their cat familiars enjoy the full moon (Old woodcut) meet at the new Moon. The Moon is personified by a triple aspect of the Goddess, usually Diana (the Roman name is more common than the Greek name, Artemis), the Virgin, who rules the new and waxing Moon; Selene, the Matron, who rules the full Moon; and Hecate, the Crone, who rules the waning and dark Moon. Magic for healing, gain, luck and increase is done during the waxing Moon. Magical power is greatest on nights of the full moon, particularly at midnight. Magic for binding, banishing and eliminating is done during the waning phase.

The power of the Moon also is drawn down for a trance ritual called Drawing Down the Moon, in which the high priestess invokes the spirit of the Goddess into her so that She may speak to her followers. Some feminist witches have a ritual of howling at the Moon in order to connect with the primitive power of the Goddess within.

The Moon is associated with the metal silver, favoured by Witches for its properties as an amulet (see amulets) and as an enhancer of psychic powers.

## Moon Time

The earliest calendars were based on the lunar cycle and Moon time is still used in the modern world in both pagan and religious rituals: the Chinese New Year is a lunar festival and the Chinese ritual year follows the Moon and the Native Americans calculate their months by the Moon. The Coligny Calendar of the Gallic Druids, which runs from full moon to full moon, was named after the place in France where it was discovered in 1897, engraved on bronze. Similar calculations were inscribed in stone at Knowth, one of the sacred ancient megalithic sites in Ireland. Many of the original lunar calendars were based on the natural and agricultural world and helped in establishing an agricultural calendar, noting times in the cycle when crops were planted and ripened and when birds migrated, as well as the coming of the herds among hunting peoples. ‘Blue moons’, where more than one full moon occurs in the same calendar month, have always been regarded as especially potent.

## The Moon Mother

The Moon was regarded as the mother of all long before written records existed, for she was seen to give birth to a new moon every 29 days. Because the old moon apparently died, it was believed that she took the souls of the dead back into her womb and gave them new life. In the same way, the three main lunar phases gave rise to the concept of the Triple Goddess who has been worshipped in cultures from palaeolithic times where early cave art displayed crescent moons that have been identified as Goddess symbols. The evolved Triple Goddess of the Celts, which reflects the lunar cycles of the maiden, mother and crone, is an icon also seen throughout the classical world.

## Moon Magic

Moon magick is one of the oldest forms of ritual, rooted from the earliest times in the observations of humankind, of the changing phases of the Moon. These associations have passed into modern magick and it is by reconnecting with the natural energies that we can use the ebbs and flows of the lunar cycle, not only to amplify our own powers for magical purposes but also to harmonise with them, rather than fighting against our bodies and spirits in our everyday lives. Rituals throughout the ages have tapped into the prevailing lunar energies that, like the tides, are affected by the different cycles. In this way, magical intentions can be carried on either the outflowing or inflowing psychic tide to give them the impetus to manifest themselves in the physical world. To go against the Moon cycles in magick or in life is a bit like swimming against the flow: quite possible with practice, but involving unnecessary effort.

## Modern Moon Magic

In modern magick, old Moon names are a good way of connecting with the powers of nature that, unlike seasonal energies operate on a monthly basis, but magically are strongest on the actual eve and night of the full moon and the days before and after the full moon. So Moon names can give a focus to magical purposes at the right time in the yearly cycle, as they emphasise the prevailing energies that different peoples have interpreted according to their own seasonal trends. Sadly, we no longer top up our psychic batteries in the same way, and the further we move from nature, the harder it gets to access these helpful powers.

The night of the full moon is good for solitary practitioners and groups as well as formal covens, to tune into the full force of the monthly energies. You can carry out more than one full moon ritual on the same night, opening the circle and perhaps following an energetic spell with a gentler rite, or vice versa, before closing the circle.  Alternatively, you could perform it privately, perhaps the evening before or after the full moon. You can, if you are working alone, spread your full moon rituals over three nights, with the major one on the night of the full moon and the others on the preceding and following nights.

## Working with the phases of the moon

What magick when? Timing of magick and ritual is a very personal thing, but there are traditional correspondences that will help you understand the energy of each phase of the moon.

When you wish to work full moon magick, it is generally accepted that it is proper to do so anywhere from three days before the actual full moon to three days after the actual full moon. This is a total of seven days that ‘Full Moon energy” is present.
Because the energy of the moon is considered to be “full” during these seven days, it makes coven meetings easier to plan, relieving the pressure of coordinating the schedules of several people.

The full moon is the traditional time for Esbat celebrations for many Witches and other Pagans. The full moon illuminates the night for a wonderful ambiance during rituals, and it lends its energy to magick and celebrations. The moon reflects the light of the sun, balancing polarities and showing a magickal presence.

When you wish to work magick under the new moon or ‘the dark of the moon’, the procedure is similar. Three days before to three days after the new moon are considered acceptable new moon working times. Again, this is a seven day period.

Some Witches and other magickal practitioners view the new moon phase as a time to plant the seeds of new ideas, or to start new projects that will then grow as the moon waxes. Others see it as a continuation and enhancement of the waning moon energy and perform works of lessening, repelling and banishing.

### Moon phases for energy and Lunar Phases

It is interesting to note that a few traditions also perform Esbat rituals for the new moon, and these are often held in the daytime. When the moon is new, it is overhead during the daytime. Note in the image to your right (you can click on it to enlarge) that 1 represents the new moon. At this time the sun is illuminating the earth during the day and we see (or rather normally don’t see) the shadow side of the moon.
It is also important to mention that a few magickal traditions refer only to the three days prior to the new moon as the ‘dark of the moon’ and generally do not perform magic at this time. It is regarded in these trades as a resting time, and the time of Hecate’s rule.\*

The waning moon is the time when the moon is changing from full-back to new. Energy and magickal workings of decrease are done now, such as ridding a person of disease. When you wish to work magick under the waning moon, you can start as early as the day after the actual full moon, but it is usually more effective to begin the fourth day after the actual full moon. This provides another seven-day window in which to do your workings.

The waxing moon refers to the time when the moon is changing from new, or black, back to full. Works of increase and drawing are done now, such as gaining physical energy of health for a person. When you wish to work magick under the waxing moon, you can begin as early as the day after the actual new moon, but it is more effective to begin the 4th day after the actual new moon.