Creating a Lunar Healing Practice That Actually Works for You

If you've found yourself here, reading these words, it is likely that you're interested in some sort of Moon-based practice. Maybe you've always wanted to hold Full Moon rituals every month or want to explore the ebb and flow of time from a more lunar perspective. Perhaps you've heard about the benefits of working with the Moon when it comes to creating healing and wellness in your life or you've tried to have a lunar practice before and got bored or overwhelmed or some other stumbling block appeared on your path. Whatever has drawn you here, I hope to spend some time with you helping you explore your unique needs for a lunar practice and ways to create one that you'll actually show up to on a regular basis (whatever "regular" means to you). 

I'll start by suggesting some self-inquiry practices (i.e. asking you a question that you can write about or meditate on), help you figure out the structure that'll best support your practice, and then share some tools that I think are useful when it comes to supporting a lunar practice.

Ready? Let's start with the all important why.

The Desire for a Lunar Healing Practice

Before we're even able to start a new practice, an important first step is to know your "why" for wanting to make an effort to show up in the first place. Defining your desire for a practice helps you to recognize what needs are most present in your life as well as help you to connect with dreams and visions of your own becoming. Knowing our desire helps to motivate us to show up for our practice but it also helps us to shape what our practice might look like.

Now, some of you might be getting ready to scroll away or skip over this section because you feel like you know your why already and don't need to define it again or you want to get to the good stuff. But I'm going to encourage you to keep on reading and to spend some time answering the one question I propose about finding your why. 

​​I'll be honest with you - when I have taken courses and come across writing prompts or questions to consider during meditation I have found myself on more than one occasion hesitating to do them. I would tell myself that I wanted to get to the easy-to-measure practical stuff or I've asked myself a question like that before so I didn't need to do it again. 

However, I've never regretted actually making time to practice self-inquiry, especially through writing, and the one thing that helped me show up to the practice was making it into a special ritual. I make myself a cozy cup of tea, I grab something nourishing to eat, and light a candle. Sometimes I pull out a collection of colorful pens, but usually rely on a trusted favorite black ink pen as a favorite tool. Often I like to hold a stone in my hand for a few quiet moments, something that helps ground me and connect me to my edges, calling myself back home again to this moment and this place. Doing these things in a ritual manner starts to wake up the curious part of me that's interested in being asked questions and answering them in turn.

So I hope you'll stick with me and take time either now or later to participate in the lunar magick that is self inquiry.

Deck shown is Lilifer Tarot by Marion Constentin

Everybody's why is going to be different, though there are certainly similar needs that show up again and again when we're talking about Moon magick and healing work. I've gone ahead and listed out examples of desires underlying a need for lunar practice below to help inspire your own self inquiry.

• I want to connect more deeply with lunar time as a way to break out of habits of overwork.

• I want to awaken my intuitive gifts.

• I hope to feel connected again to ancestral practices through connecting with the lunar calendar.

• I want to dedicate time each month just for me and my spiritual practice.

• I want to explore my inner world through shadow work guided by the Moon.

• I feel called to develop my skills as a healer and I feel that a lunar practice would help me.

• I feel called to the Moon and I want to understand why.

• I want to gather together with my magickal friends for a Moon ritual each month.

• I am working on creating feelings of wholeness in my life and the Moon feels like an appropriate symbol to help guide me.

Ready to explore your own why? You might have some very clear reasons or they may be more vague feelings, but wherever you're at in defining your desire, I encourage you to go ahead and answer the following question, whether spoken aloud, considered in meditation, or written down:

Why do I want a lunar healing practice?

Remember, no one is going to read or hear your answer to the above question unless you choose to share it (and you really don't need to share it unless you're called to share it with someone you love and trust). It's time to be honest with yourself and try to move out of the place, as much as you can, of comparison and performing-for-others-first space that has been hypercharged in our culture through social media, including amongst magickal practitioners. Get inspired by the magickal world, but don't get lost in the smoke and mirrors of the online world. In fact, being intentional and (at least initially) private about our desires around a lunar healing practice is in itself lunar healing work.

Working with the Moon is, in part, a process of understanding of our consciousness and subconscious realms beyond expectations of culture and peers, of trends and institutions in order to be able to show up to ourselves and in community as our ever-whole, ever-changing lunar self.

Once you have your why, let's talk about creating a structure that'll honor the rhythm of your needs, the ebb and flow of your magick.

Deck shown is The Morgan-Greer Tarot by Bill F. Greer

The Circle That Supports Us

Within the magickal communities that I belong to, the most often used symbol of magickal space is the circle. Never-ending and all encompassing, at the beginning of rituals and gatherings, special care and attention is placed on creating (or really, recognizing) the holiness of the time and space we're in. Sometimes these circle preparations are longer than the actual ritual itself, which is a good indication for how a successful magickal practice, including a lunar healing one, might be structured. 

Being intentional and following our desires when it comes to creating a circle or structure for your practice to thrive in is important if you want to develop one that is long-term and sustainable. Below I've listed some questions to help you to define a structure for your practice that'll best support you. There are broad and general questions, but you can use many of them as starting points for deeper inquiries (i.e. you don't have a lot of time for a lunar practice as your life is right now, but you want to make big changes to your life to make more time, and want to ask yourself what sort of effort that'll take).

• When you imagine a lunar healing practice, what does it look like to you? How does it make you feel?

• What do you imagine achieving, realizing, releasing or other experience through a lunar healing practice?

• How much time can you, reasonably and without hardship, make for your practice right now?

• Where do you want to practice and what sort of physical space do you have for your practice?

• What lunar phase do you feel called to work with? Learn more about the healing energies of the Dark Moon, New Moon, Waxing Quarter Moon, Full Moon, and Waning Quarter Moon phases.

• What tools do you feel called to incorporate into your lunar healing practice, such as plant allies, a divination practice or devotional work with deity?

Let's start to put this all together by imagining that our friend, Magnolia, is excited about starting their own lunar healing practice. They are feeling called to this practice because they really want to develop their intuition after years of feeling like they kinda understand it, but are now interested in being intentional in their explorations. They feel like their intuition was dismissed a lot as a child and young adult which has led them to not listen to their intuition as much as they would like to. Magnolia wants to incorporate tarot into their lunar healing practice because they've been reading the cards for about a year and want to be able to rely less on their tarot books and more on their intuition when it comes to interpretations. 

Magnolia is called to work with the Full Moon during a monthly ritual. They made space in their bedroom for a little altar that they have already started meditating at in the mornings. When they were doing research on Moon rituals, they came across an old book by Margot Adler called Drawing Down the Moon and the cover inspired them so they've added a picture of it to their altar. (1) Magnolia decides to start with a simple structure for their monthly Full Moon ritual:

• A simple ritual to create sacred space based traditions from their African and Irish heritage. 

• A short meditation to awaken their intuition.

• A simple tarot spread where they won't read from their tarot book at all, but only interpret the cards intuitively. They are thinking of doing a tarot spread based on the sign the Moon is in (i.e. a Aries spread for an Aries Full Moon and so on), but they're going to be flexible about it and not stress too much over finding the "right" spread.

• Practice one psychic development game with the tarot.

• A few minutes to journal about their experiences.

• Closing up the space.

Through stating their desire and considering what it is that they hope to experience (re-awakening their intuition), Magnolia has created a very sweet and simple lunar practice. There are no fancy tools, just the items that they already have. They dream of being able to perform their Full Moon ritual on a beach like the image from Drawing Down the Moon, but that is something that they hope to draw towards them as they work with the Moon each month. There is plenty of space for them to innovate, add to or subtract from their practice as time and energy allows and mostly they feel inspired. Having a Moon altar in their room means that they get to see and be reminded of their intention every day, creating a path of connection between one Full Moon to the next. 

Magnolia is not trying to observe all the Moon phases every month (which would be every night because the Moon is always changing into a new phase) or trying to practice a multi-hour long ritual every New and Full Moon complete with an herbal bath consisting of dozens of herbs, three tarot spreads, thirteen candles that they hand-dip themselves each fortnight, and an elaborate ritual that includes a interpretative dance and costume change halfway through. Now, I'm not saying that this is not going to be the way that some of you want to practice, but for most of us this sort of effort is not sustainable for the long run and part of being in practice is being able to maintain a practice. Remember, a personal lunar practice is about being able to show up, not show off or be beholden to the expectations of others. (2) Good questions to ask yourself when you're developing your outline are:

• Is this useful?

• Will I be able to show up for this practice with as little hindrance as possible?

• Do I actually want to do what I'm proposing?

What would the outline of your lunar healing practice look like? Go ahead and take some time to write it down now. If you like you can start with your most elaborate dreams of a lunar practice and then distill that into something that is much more achievable for you in this time and space. But like Magnolia, with their picture of Drawing Down the Moon on the altar, you can incorporate affirming and aspirational images to your practice space to help you feel inspired.

To help spark your inspiration and imagination, I've listed types of lunar healing practices that you might want to try or make your own below:

• Cast a tarot spread each month during the Moon phase of your choice. I've created tarot spreads for the Dark, New, Waxing Quarter, Full, and Waning Quarter Moon phases.

• Take a monthly bath during the Moon phase of your choice each month, perhaps incorporating sea salt and/or lunar herbs into the water.

• Perform simple rituals of healing.

• Observe your monthly lunar return in a special way.

• Commit to learning a particular magickal skill at a certain lunar phase each month (i.e. crystal divination, trancework, charm making, psychic development and so on).

• Dance, howl, and sing under the Moonlight.

• Learn about and engage with lunar deities.

• Moon bathe (i.e. get outside under the light of the Moon, preferably with some bare skin exposed) as often as you can and are called to do.

Hopefully at this point you're starting to form a clearer idea of what it is your lunar practice might look like and feel like. Next, I want to introduce you to a few useful tools to support your practice.

Deck shown is The Natural Ink Tarot by Martha Miller

Useful Tools for Your Lunar Practice

Writing down your lunar practice plans - whether in a planner, on a calendar, in your journal or book of shadows, or on a note stuck somewhere you'll see it all the time - is one obvious, simple, and useful way to show up for your practice. You can even choose to have a special notebook reserved for writing down reflections, tarot spreads, dreams, and rituals all relating to your lunar healing practice, but you can also just use what you have available (like a current journal - use a different color ink to help you easily find entries about your lunar healing practice - or a notes app on your phone).

Find a way to keep track of the phases of the Moon. The cheapest, (often) easiest, and most ancient way is to look outside up at the sky to see what phase the Moon is in. Now, light pollution and limited access to safe spaces to Moongaze might restrict your ability to do this, but actually being able to observe the Moon in the sky whenever you can (or being under Moon light and dark whether or not you're able to physically see the Moon), helps us to connect with the very old parts of ourselves and our species that have been watching the Moon for millenia. Of course, there are apps and websites that help us learn even more about the lunar phases, signs, and mansions that the Moon is in and these are a useful addition to physical observation. Astroseek provides a free and comprehensive Moon calendar and there are plenty of other apps that you can find for your devices. For my own practice, I like to use the We'Moon planner for helping me track lunar and celestial rhythms. 

For those of you trying to find your way back into practice after a fallow period or who are struggling to reconnect with your magick, might I suggest some pageantry? I know I warned against performing-for-the-other, but we can still perform for ourselves. Sometimes we don't feel able to show up to a practice because we're struggling to connect with someone we were before or we can't yet imagine what we're becoming. Perhaps we're struggling with feeling worthy of our magick or what the meaning of having a lunar or any sort of practice is. I feel you. Here is where we can practice a bit of ancient and effective magick: faking it til you make it. Get dressed up, create a soundtrack for your ritual, step into the role of a confident healer / witch / priest/ess, and perform. Stir your tea mug as if you're the Great Goddess Herself stirring the cauldron of life and death and rebirth. Swirl your skirt, draw sigils on your jeans, pretend to be an old hag of the wood who is deeply enamored with their own sense of curmudgeonly self. Speak your whole ritual in "ye olden english" and let a character of your own creation show up to the ritual first. It can be silly, but all ritual is silly and strange to some degree, and if it helps you to show up to a practice that you really want to show up to, it's not just silly but a very effective form of magick.

Here are a final few questions to help you discover the desire of your practice:

• Who do I hope to become and/or feel through my lunar practice?

• What do I hope to call home to myself through my lunar practice?

• Where do I want to go with my lunar practice?

I hope you're feeling inspired and like you have some tools and ways of thinking about your lunar healing practice that'll help you show up to your practice. Through working with the Moon I hope you are able to know yourself as always whole and always changing and that you're able to set up practices in your life that make space for all of you to show up however you want and need to.

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Discovering your monthly lunar return can be a very sweet way of starting a lunar healing practice. Or you might spend a year observing the lunar sabbats. If you're interested in learning more ways of including tarot in your healing practice, come this way.

There are so many ways to create a lunar healing practice that is all your own. For those of you called to learn more about your unique gifts as a healer through lunar-based rhythms and rituals, you're invited to join me in The Lunar Apothecary.

Wherever your journey with the Moon takes you I hope that helps you spiral home again and again to your own wild wisdom and the ways you are deeply interconnected with your community.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

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Footnotes

(1) For my beloved readers who have balked at the thought of Drawing Down the Moon considered an "old" book by the current generation of young magickal folk, it was first published in 1979 which is 43 years ago and is sort of the equivalent of reading Dion Fortune's books in the 1990s (which were considered "old" books at the time by school age witches like myself). Seeing the new books I read as a young witch being touted as "vintage" by the younger generation is the main way that I recognize that I am becoming increasingly (thankfully) old. 

(2) Public ritual performances, on the other hand, can be a great time to show off! 

Bathing with the Moon: Herbal Baths for the Lunar Phases

One of my favorite forms of herbal medicine and magick is the herbal bath. Simple and inexpensive, requiring no fancy equipment, and with the ability to use both fresh and dried herbs, herbal baths are a beautiful form of self and community care. Basically, herbal baths are teas that you bathe in. If you don't have access to a bath, you can use them as shower rinses, too. Herbal bath blends are incredibly fun to make with little ones in your life, coven mates, and magickal kin, as well as by yourself before your altar, amidst the plants of the garden, or in the quiet of your kitchen. 

I've been using herbal baths as part of my Moon practice for many a year and they help me to embody a slow magick that spirals and flows, ebbs and rests, and strengthens the energetic and physical body against the pressures of endless work, productivity, and cultural expectation. Bathing with herbs is a deep ancestral practice, an honoring of our ancient bodies' need for warmth and feeling held, and a way to pause while cocooned in the waters of life. What I hope is that your Moon baths and observations of lunar time are richly radical, imbued with the magick of change, and an ongoing act of liberation, free from the idea that self-care is a cure-all (it's not) or that any of us has to go it alone (thank, Goddess).

image via @masonkimber

What follows are general guidelines and then a few suggested recipes guided by the traditional western herbalism that I practice as well as my Pagan spirituality. As with all herbal medicine and magick remember that practicing an earth-affirming path of healing asks us to use what we have, adapt what we need, and carefully consider how and when we acquire resources. In other words, if you don't have Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) easily and responsibly accessible, that silvery Sage (Salvia officinalis) in your cupboard might do just as well. Systems of correspondences (i.e. why certain herbs are assigned to different Moon phases) are useful in that they connect us with the energy of tradition but our relationship to an herb and our need for a type of blend is just, if not more, important which is why innovation is a powerful magickal tool.

I've also included items beyond herbs that you might want to incorporate into your lunar bathing rituals - none of these are necessary but I do hope it inspires you to think about the crafting of your herbal bath and ways that you can bring beauty to it. A jar full of lunar herbs is an altar in miniature, the act of bathing a ritual, and the re-emergence from the waters a sort of gentle rebirth. The care and intention that we approach our herbal baths is as much part of the magick as any herb or stone we might be working with.

A final few notes. There are lots of phases of the Moon that you can observe, but I'll be focusing on the New, Full, and Dark of the Moon which is when I'm most likely in my own practice to have a lunar bathing ritual. You'll also find that I use a lot of the same herbs, in different proportions in the recipes - that's because these are my personal allies and the plants that I have kinship with. I'll list different herbs for each lunar phase, but you don't have to use different herbs for different phases but should feel free to work intimately and consistently with your beloved plant allies in different combinations. Finally, here is my basic herbal bath recipe and guidelines for herbal bathing.

image via @straz

The New Moon

In traditional western herbalism, herbs of the New Moon are considered hot and moist. Energetically what this is trying to communicate is that we are in a period of enlivening activity (i.e. life-giving heat) and these are the conditions needed to grow and develop (i.e. the moist warm soil needed to grow seeds). Magickally, the New Moon is considered a time of new beginnings, an auspicious period for starting new projects, work manifestation magick, and it's also a good time to energize any aspect of your life including spells and charms. The New Moon also carries the energy of endings (as a new cycle begins so an old one must end) which helps us to part with and give up that which is no longer needed in our life, so cleansing magick and cord cutting rituals are especially auspicious. For a more herbal medicine based perspective on New Moon herbs, come this way.

A quick note on timing. Different folks determine the New Moon at different times of the lunar cycle. For some, the New Moon is when the Moon is completely dark and not visible in the sky. For others, like myself, the New Moon is when you can see the first sliver of the Moon in the night sky after a period of complete dark. This was what I was taught and it also allows me to observe the period of the Dark of the Moon as an important and separate aspect of the lunar cycle. But there is no right way - it's all made up by people just like you and me, so follow what works for you. 

New Moon Herbs: Angelica (Angelica archangelica), Basil (Ocimum spp.), Elder (Sambucus nigra), Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Peppermint (Mentha piperita),  Sage (Salvia officinalis). Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris or your local variety) is considered a Moon herb for all phases.

My favorite herb for New Moon baths is Basil (Ocimum spp.) and especially Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum, tenuiflorum). I love how effective Basil is at moving energy throughout the body which helps to connect with the upwelling of energy present at the New Moon. It is also a great ally for removing unwanted energy and also helps to protect our energetic boundaries for the cycle ahead. 

New Moon Herbal Bath

• 2 parts Basil (Ocimum spp.)

• 1 part Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa damascena)

image via @gkumar2175

The Full Moon

Cold and dry herbs are the traditional correspondence found in western herbalism. Energetically, we're looking at the completed structure that is solid, livable, and created to last. No longer in the phase of ideas and creation, the Full Moon rises in the sky, a source of heightened and potent energy, fully realized. Magickally, the Full Moon is one of the most auspicious times to work magick, charge up charms, amulets, and other tools of the trade, as well as gather together with other magickal folk in reverie and celebration. For me, the Full Moon has always felt like a time of deep connection with my Witch ancestors, my current Witchen Kin, and those Witch folk who will emerge long after I'm gone. Watching the Full Moon rise in the sky has filled me with hope and a sense of holiness again and again and it feels like a prehistoric sort of ritual. Blessing the self, working magick for community healing and justice, and re-dressing the body in an energetic mantle of sacredness are all auspicious to do when the Moon is Full.

Full Moon Herbs: Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), Mugwort (Artemisa vulgaris), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Plantain (Plantago major),  Sage (Salvia officinalis), Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris).

It's hard to choose between Milky Oat and Rose as my primary Full Moon herb - so I won't! Milky Oat and Rose are some of my dearest teachers and to work with them at the Full Moon feels like traveling to a sacred circle of healing and magick. Milky Oat is my most beloved of nervous system herbs and acts as a tonic for the soul, helping us to feel held and nourished at any time and especially during the heightened energy of the Full Moon. The seeds feel like packets full of Moon milk. Rose is an herb of unfolding mystery and magick. The flower helps us to connect with the old and wise parts of ourselves having been with our species for millenia. To be held in our unfolding is why I like using these herbs together. 

Full Moon Herbal Bath - Restorative

• 2 parts Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• 1 part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa damascena)

Full Moon Herbal Bath - Enlivening

• 1 part Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

• ½ part Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• ½ part Lavender (Lavandula officinalis)

image via @adilnapreda

The Dark of the Moon

I almost always make my Dark of the Moon herbal bath blend a few days before since I don't typically make any sort of herbal remedies when the Moon is Dark. For me, Dark of the Moon work is usually of two varieties: deep rest or shadow work. The Dark of the Moon is a time to retreat from the world, go deep within (including deep rest), and recenter yourself before re-emerging into the world with the New Moon.

Dark Moon Herbs: Elder (Sambucus nigra), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), Nettles (Urtica dioica), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Sage (Salvia officinalis), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

Mugwort, my dudes. Mugwort is an herb that I love and can only use in small doses because of how powerfully it works on my body and through my energetic systems. I have learned this in unexpected and humorous ways again and again, so I make sure to approach Mugwort with a lot of respect as She is a powerful herb. In Anglo-Saxon tradition, Mugwort is called Una, oldest of herbs, and I feel that in my bones (here is a great in-depth look at the Nine Herbs Charm - you really should read the original out-loud to get a sense of just how rhythmic it is). The herb works to connect us to the liminal, enhance our dreamscapes, and loosen the spirit from the body if travelling through the worlds is what you require. In general, beyond my own sensitivity to the herb, I think that Mugwort is best enjoyed in small doses and I think it is more effective for dreamwork (especially lucid dreamwork) and promoting rest when smaller doses are used.

Dark of the Moon Herbal Bath - Rest & Dream Work

• 1 part Lavender (Lavandula officinalis)

• 1 part Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata)

• ½ part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Dark of the Moon Herbal Bath - Shadow Work

• 1 part Elder (Sambucus nigra)

• 1 part Rose (Rosa damascena)

• ½ part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

image via @priscilladupreez

Additions to Your Herbal Bath

Add an herb for the Moon sign. When I am trying to work with the specific energy of the sign that the Moon is in, I add in an herb associated with that Moon sign. You can find affirmations as well as links to full profiles of each sign of the zodiac here. You can also choose to always add an herb for your Moon sign into each bath blend.

Salt and epsom salt. Adding salt or epsom salt to your bath can be a way of helping us connect to our oceanic origins (in the case of salt) or assist with pain relief (in the case of epsom salt). 

Honey. Honey is not only good for the skin but helps to sweeten the energy of whatever spell you're working.

Milk. Oat milk (preferably homemade) or your choice of milk is a beautiful addition to the bath and adds additional skin-soothing properties to the experience. Within folk magick milk is associated with the Moon because of its bright white color. 

Stones. Along as you check to make sure that they are water-safe, gemstones can be added directly to your bath water. Or you can place them in your herbal blend to add their energy to the mix before water is added. Silver coins are another traditional addition to lunar blends.

Add moonwater. Adding water charged by the Full Moon or whatever Moon phase you're working with can be a powerful addition to your bathwater.

Flower or gem essences. Flower essences and gem essences are a simple way to support the emotional body. You can add in the flower essences of whatever herbs you're working with (something I love to do) or different essences.

Invoke the spirits, call your guides. I bless the water and call in certain holy ones of the waters before I bathe. It is part of transforming the mundanity of my bathroom to a energetic temple holding space for my ritual submersion. On a practical level, speaking sacred invocations and other holy words before immersing myself in my bath is a way to help shift my consciousness to the magickal working at hand.

Work with Nines. Hearkening to the magick of planetary squares, the primary sacred number of the Moon is nine. So you can stir your blend of herbs nine times, chant a spell over them nine times, or any other variation of working magick nine times. I like the addition of mindfulness that this adds to my practice, helping me to focus on the work at hand.

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I hope you're feeling inspired to draw a bath (or magickal shower) next time you're feeling like working some lunar magick. Lunar baths are also a wonderful addition to lunar magick in general and I've written a whole series on the Moon phases and magick. You can find posts for all the phases below:

• Dark of the Moon

• New Moon

• Waxing Quarter Moon

• Full Moon

• Waning Quarter Moon

If you’re looking for a deeper dive into lunar healing and magick, how about learning about your personal lunar holy day each month or a path exploring your gifts as a healer?

Wherever the Moon cycle finds you, may your baths be lunar and your magick abundant!

This post was chosen by and made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Finding Your Moon Sign in Your Birth Chart

When I learned what my Moon sign and how to find it in my birth chart it was an unexpected act of transformative magick. While I had been observing lunar cycles for years at that point, I was intimidated by how complex birth charts looked like, so I avoided diving into my own. I realized through a bit of study and practice that the birth chart is far less mysterious and complicated than it appears.

What I hope to do with this tutorial is demystify the process of finding the Moon in your birth chart so that you can begin to connect with your lunar flow in even more insightful and powerful ways. For the Moon represents the ways that we channel the vastness of consciousness into our life, how we are shaped by our most true yearnings and desires, and ultimately, helping us find our way back to the inner place that we call home. It’s powerful stuff, so let’s dive in.

Generating Your Birth Chart

Finding your Moon sign (also known as your birth Moon sign or natal Moon) is an essential part of your lunar journey. Use one of the free resources listed below to get your birth chart - my favorite site to do this on is Astrodienst at astro.com. Another option for calculating your chart is Chani Nicholas' beautiful chart generator. It is a great teaching tool for those of you super new to looking at and reading birth charts and works well with her book You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance (which I highly recommend). If you have the resources to, I also recommend printing out a copy of your birth chart and writing all over it as you learn more about what it means and who you are as reflected back to you by planet and star.

image via @anniespratt

Finding The Moon in Your Birth Chart

First let's start with a quick definition. The Natal Moon is the position of the Moon (including its Sign, House, and Lunar Mansion) at the time of your birth. Your Natal Moon is what we are referring to when we talk about your Moon Sign. Your natal Moon (and all of the positions of the planets and other celestial players in your chart) will never change throughout your lifetime. If you were born under a New Moon in Aquarius, you will always have the New Moon in Aquarius as your Natal Moon. This tutorial is all about helping you find your Natal Moon and its position in your birth chart.

So, once you've generated your free birth chart, you can find your natal Moon by looking for the crescent moon symbol - ☾ - on your chart. Below I have highlighted the two places on a free chart from astro.com that information about your Moon sign will show up. On our sample chart, our friend's natal Moon is in the sign of Capricorn. In other words, our friend's Moon sign is Capricorn. You can see the glyph of the Moon - ☾ - located in the sign of Capricorn and numbers next to the glyph which are the exact degrees (i.e. position) of the Moon in that sign. These degrees are also listed below the birth chart along with the degrees of the other celestial players in the chart - I've highlighted its location with an orange box and arrow.

For our sample chart, the natal Moon is located at 19° (degrees) 39' (hours) and 46" (minutes) Capricorn. You'll also see this written as 19 Capricorn 39'46" or 19°39'46" Capricorn in various astrological texts and apps. Most of the time, unless one is making very precise astrological calculations beyond the scope of this course, you only need to know the degree and hour numbers of a sign (i.e.19°39' Capricorn). Knowing the degrees of your Moon sign will help you calculate the position of your natal Mansion of the Moon - but more on that in a minute.

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Finding Your Moon Phase

The simplest way to find your Moon phase is to use an online Moon phase calculator such as Moonpage or Chani Nicholas' birth chart generator. You can calculate your Moon phase with an ephemeris and math, but that type of manual astrological technique is harder and harder to find in books these days. The one book in my collection that teaches this technique is Phases of the Moon: A Guide to Evolving Human Nature by Marilyn Busteed and Dorothy Wergin in case you want to learn it.

Whole Signs House System

You'll see that I use whole signs for my house method. If you have a preferred house method for your charts, please use what you are comfortable with. If you don't have a preference, I recommend using whole signs. The whole signs system for measuring houses is one of the most ancient and the style that many of our traditional western astrology ancestors used. I find it to be very accurate and easy to read for beginners and advanced students of astrology alike.

To select whole signs for your birth chart on astro.com, go to the "My Astro" section and click on your name to generate your chart. You'll be taken to a page where you can select the type of chart you want - choose the "Extended Chart" option. Scroll down and you'll see a section labeled "Options for Zodiac and Houses" - use the drop down menu to select "whole signs." Once you do that you can click the "show the chart" button to generate your whole signs chart.

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The House Your Moon Is In

You'll notice that the circle of the birth chart is divided into 12 sections (and if you are using the whole signs house system this will be 12 equal sections). Towards the center of the chart you'll see numbers 1 through 12 marking each of the twelve Houses. The Houses always start with the First at the left hand side of the chart and then move in a counter-clockwise direction through the other eleven.

Looking at the sample chart above, we can also see that our friend's natal Moon falls in the 11th House. You can see the number 11 in the center of the chart. The Houses coordinate to different areas of our life - come this way to learn more about the Houses as places of healing rest. 

The Mansions of the Moon

Don't worry if you've never heard about the Mansions of the Moon before - while it is an ancient form of astrology it's not used much within modern astrological practice. The Mansions of the Moon (also known as Lunar Mansions) add another layer of auspicious timing to works of magick and self-discovery.  We explore the Mansions of the Moon in my course, The Lunar Apothecary, but if you search around there are a few books and websites on the subject that can get you started on learning more (I've listed a few here). 

Remember how I pointed out where to find the degrees of your natal Moon? We'll use those degrees now to figure out which Mansion of the Moon your natal Moon was in at the time of your birth. If you look at the list below you'll see that each Mansion is defined by an area of degrees between one to two signs. So the boundaries of the 1st Mansion is from 0°00' Aries to 12°51' Aries. If the degrees of your natal Moon is on or between the degrees of 0°00' Aries to 12°51' Aries then your natal Mansion is the First Mansion. 

Using our sample chart, we can determine that our friend's natal Moon - 19°39' Capricorn - is located in the 23rd Mansion.

• 1st Mansion - 0°00' Aries to 12°51' Aries

• 2nd Mansion - 12°51' Aries to 25°42' Aries

• 3rd Mansion - 25°42' Aries to 8°34' Taurus

• 4th Mansion: 8°34' Taurus to 21°25' Taurus

• 5th Mansion: 21°25' Taurus to 4°17' Gemini

• 6th Mansion: 4°17' Gemini to 17°8' Gemini

• 7th Mansion: 17°8' Gemini to 0°0' Cancer

• 8th Mansion: 0°0' Cancer to 15°51' Cancer

• 9th Mansion: 12°51' Cancer to 25°42' Cancer

• 10th Mansion: 25°42' Cancer to 8°34' Leo

• 11th Mansion: 8°34 Leo to 21°25' Leo

• 12th Mansion: 21°25' Leo to 4°17' Virgo

• 13th Mansion: 4°17' Virgo to 17°8' Virgo

• 14th Mansion: 17°8' Virgo to 0°0' Libra

• 15th Mansion: 0°0' Libra to 12°51' Libra

• 16th Mansion: 12°51' Libra to 25°42' Libra

• 17th Mansion: 25°42' Libra to 8°34' Scorpio

• 18th Mansion: 8°34' Scorpio to 21°25' Scorpio

• 19th Mansion: 21°25' Scorpio to 4°17' Sagittarius

• 20th Mansion: 4°17' Sagittarius to 17°8' Sagittarius

• 21st Mansion: 17°8' Sagittarius to 0°0' Capricorn

• 22nd Mansion: 0°0' Capricorn to 12°51' Capricorn

• 23rd Mansion: 12°51' Capricorn to 25°42' Capricorn

• 24th Mansion: 25°42' Capricorn to 8°34' Aquarius

• 25th Mansion: 8°34' Aquarius to 21°25' Aquarius

• 26th Mansion: 21°25' Aquarius to 4°17' Pisces

• 27th Mansion: 4°17' Pisces to 17°8' Pisces

• 28th Mansion: 17°8' Pisces to 0°0' Aries

And that's it! You now know your natal Moon Sign, House, and Mansion.

image via @anniespratt

Knowing Your Moon

When you learn your Moon sign you can start to read about the ways that your inner Moon shapes the world you live in, the way that you feel at home, and your truest, often hidden, desires. When I say "desires" I am thinking of that which we yearn for most. Very few folks in our lives get to meet our lunar selves as it is such a personal and intimate part of who we are as opposed to our more outward facing Ascendant or Rising Sign and Sun Sign. Our Moon teaches us how we observe, participate in, and perceive our own consciousness - it's a big deal in the birth chart and how we are shaped as individuals. 

When you know your Moon sign, you can begin to learn more about the healing gifts of each sign of the zodiac. You can also practice the profound magick that is your monthly lunar return. By knowing your natal Lunar Mansion, you can engage with your shadows for healing and clarity. Of course, those are only just a few ways that learning about the Moon in your birth chart can be of use to you and your practice of healing and magick. I wrote a whole course of study centered on lunar herbalism and magick as a pathway to helping folks discover their unique gifts as a healer because the observation of the Moon in my life has been so profoundly useful. I hope you find it useful, too!

🌙

Wherever your journeys with the Moon takes you, may the path be filled with the sort of insights and tenderness that come from looking into the darkness and finding how holy it is and how sacred we are.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Seeding: Waning Quarter Moon Ritual & Healing Practices

After the first round of intense heat, many of the grasses, the salad greens and sweet peas, and some of the herbs growing on the land I live with have gone to seed. I live in a place of multiple growing seasons each cycle of the year, so this cycle of seeding will happen a few times yet. This cycle, I'm learning how to collect seeds - it's an incredible sensation to be able to hold a small seed in your hand, knowing that it contains the possibilities of a new plant within it, and the possibilities of who it'll feed, help heal, bring beauty to the body and all the senses.

These periods of seeding are times that fall both backwards and forwards. There is the plant and flower which has died back, fallen to the earth, and revealed the forward momentum of a seed ready to find earth. Sometimes that finding of earth to grow in takes time - sometimes seeds are digested and eliminated from the bodies of people and animals, sometimes they are carried on the wind, sometimes they take a nap in a carefully folded seed packet passed from one gardener to another. All of this ties into the energy of the Waning Quarter Moon, sacred pause that allows us time to reassess where we've been, where we currently are, and where we might be going, after the climatic height of the Full Moon.

Like with the Waxing Quarter Moon, the Waning Quarter Moon is a time of balance. As the Moon is growing towards darkness, marking the midpoint between the Full and New Moon, the Waning Quarter Moon offers us a time to shed, fall back, and sort out which seeds we're interested in planting, if not just quite yet. Change, reassessment, release, balance, and decluttering are all key energies of the Waning Quarter Moon.

image via @ao_space

Herbal Traditions

In Traditional Western Herbalism the New Moon is considered a time of cold and moist herbs. If we were to think of the Moon phase as a cycle of building a sacred structure, the Waning Quarter Moon is a time for redesign and reworking of a temple space after it has been lived in for a while, bringing back the cool damp of malleability to reshape a space. For my garden minded friends, the energy of the Waning Quarter Moon is of the compost, already spread in the garden, ready to receive water and new seeds.

As I've shared throughout this series, there are so many ways to approach the meaning of the different phases of the lunar cycle and what follows is my interpretation through the lens of Traditional Western Herbalism and magickal practice. I encourage you to be guided by your own intuitions, spiritual practices, and cultural stories. For me, plants that have gone to seed and are in that phase of focused tension between having died back and letting loose their seeds to the earth embody the energy of the Waning Quarter Moon. I enjoy working with plant allies that help me to figure out where to draw my focus in and down as opposed to expanding outwards and up. Herbs that help me to relax, sleep deep, and digest experiences (from food to emotions to information) are all ones that I reach for. As mentioned in my Waxing Quarter Moon post, sometimes I like to use the aboveground parts of a plant during the Waxing cycle and the below ground as well as barks and seeds of a plant during the Waning cycle.

Examples of Waning Quarter Moon Herbs: Aloe Vera (Aloe vera), Borage (Borago officinalis), Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale), Elder (Sambucus nigra), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Willow (Salix alba).

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

I was first introduced to Hawthorn through the work of herbalist Deb Soule of Avena Botanicals (in fact learning that I could even be a professional herbalist happened because a friend in college handed me a copy of Deb's herbal catalogue - I read it through many, many times, completely enchanted). One of the remedies she offered was for the broken-hearted featuring Hawthorn as a primary ingredient. A few years later, remembering Deb's remedy, I blended together a couple of herbs I had stored in my dorm room, Hawthorn included, into an incredibly bitter tea for a friend who had shown up crying and heartbroken from their break-up. She drank it in stride (brave, sorrowful soul) and I began my journey with Hawthorn as a teacher (who would teach me that bitter times doesn't always call for bitter medicine). 

Hawthorn is a deeply prized cardiotonic herb in Traditional Western Herbalism. The herb is a cardiac trophorestorative which is a restorative tonic for the heart, bringing the hard working muscle back into balance whether from an illness, stress, or the effects of aging. As a powerful but gentle herb, Hawthorn can be used for children, seniors, and all between. Part of Hawthorn’s heart healing gifts is its possession of antioxidants which prevent and reverse damage caused by free radicals as well as reducing oxidative stress on the capillary walls and improving circulatory tone (whether by relaxing or strengthening). It's an herb best used over the long-term and integrated into your daily life.

I like working with Hawthorn during the Waning Quarter Moons to help reflect on the ways that grief and loss has shaped me. This can be the small griefs of temporary separation from loved ones or the unexpected change in plans (like not getting into the program you wanted or missing out on an adventure with friends) to the long and enduring griefs of losing a loved one. Hawthorn helps us to swing between what was and what shall be as we deal with the grief of what is. This magick arises from Hawthorn's power as an herb of the hedge and the hinge. The hedge refers to its use both as a thorny bush marking land boundaries but also as the hedge marking the space between our world and other worlds (traditionally that of the Good Folk and Land Spirits), between one possibility and another. As a hinge herb, Hawthorn assists the "doors" between the chambers of the heart helping to regulate and improve myocardial function. But since herbs work on multiple levels of experience, Hawthorn also "acts as guardian of the hinge, hawthorn wisely discerns the right timing for the wounded heart to open" as noted by Judith Berger in Herbal Rituals.

I write more about Hawthorn within the context of thorn magick. It's an herb that I use in my practice often from breathwork to eclipse season, too.

Altar + Rituals

Decorate your altar with dualistic images if that calls to you or images beyond the binary and objects that evoke a sense of balance from within you. If you've built a Waxing Quarter Moon altar earlier in the cycle, you can choose to rebuild it, but reverse the location of all the objects for a bit of mirrored magick. Seek out patterns of harmony amongst the unexpected. Before you begin any ritual, take in an even number of deep and sustaining breaths. Shed any symbols, jewelry, items of clothing of who you no longer wish to be or things you no longer wish to hold onto before you reach your altar. Earth and seed planting spells, spells of ink and sigils, ice and snow magick, grounding and centering magick, and rituals that help you to slow down and focus in. As an offering, think of what you can do now that will be of great benefit to future you or your future communities from booking your first appointment for mental health services to planting the first seeds of a community garden. Learn about the sign that the Moon is in for more specific ideas and recommendations.

image via @brunoadamo

A Simple Waning Quarter Moon Ritual

To ground and center in your magick

For this ritual you will need one stone, preferably large and heavy but comfortable enough to lay on your belly - but it's completely ok if you only have a small stone available. This might be a stone from your garden or a sacred crystal that’s lived on your altar for a while, but be sure to invite them into the ritual before you start, honoring our stone ancestors in the process. 

Relax into a position where you can feel the edges of your body - this might be laying down before your altar or somewhere outside, covered in blankets on your bed or sitting in your comfiest chair. The purpose is to feel planted like a seed within the nurturing earth. Take up your stone and place it on your body (such as on your belly or over your heart) or hold it in a way that you are relaxed but able to feel its weight. It can also help to have a soft cloth or pillow over your eyes to aid your meditation.

Close your eyes. Take deep and relaxing breaths, allowing yourself with every in-breath to sink deeper into a state of grounded relaxation and with every out-breath releasing any tension you might be carrying. If you get distracted, that's just fine, as it is in our nature to become busier in our minds when we are trying to become quieter in our bodies. Simply call your attention back to the weight of the stone and your breath.

Begin to visualize your body growing roots into the earth below you. It can be one single taproot or multiple smaller root systems extending from your body into the earth. Spend some time reaching out to the healing dark of earth and soil.

Take a deep breath in and out, noticing a green energy stirring around you and your root systems. The earth is reaching out to you. Call up their green energy through your roots into your body. Let the earth energy pool and swirl within you. Spend some time breathing deep here, filling up with earth energy.

When you feel grounded in the energy of the earth, it is time to center. With every in-breath draw the energy of earth inward towards a single point in your body - you can choose this spot intuitively or draw the energy into the center of your body, an inch or two below your belly button. With every out-breath feel yourself releasing excess energy back into the earth.  Feel the energy coalesce into a single, vibrant place within you, humming with contentment and power.

When you feel centered, draw your attention back to the stone. Feel it's presence helping to draw you back up from the depths of your meditation. Begin to slowly move your body, stretch, and open your eyes.

Speak the following charm three times into the stone as a way to help collect the energy of the ritual so that you can easily evoke the experience of grounded centeredness again in the future:

By earth, to earth, through earth.

It is by earth we are made, to earth we are born, and through earth we come home again and again. Having completed the ritual, you can keep the stone on your altar, beside your bed or carry it on your person for extra grounding and centering magick. 

A Simple Waning Quarter Moon Tarot Spread

To help you recognize your magickal gifts

Card 1 · Mirror

The Moon is a mirror reflecting back our truths. This card helps you to understand who you are as a magickally gifted and psychic person. 

Card 2 · Veil

At the Quarter Moons, the Moon draws a veil across half of Her face, retreating from view. This card helps you to understand the ways that you hide your gifts from the world. A veil can be beautifully protective and holy, so this card doesn't always suggest that you are inappropriately hiding something, but that there are certain parts of your magickal gifts and psychic abilities that you might keep secret for your own benefit. This card can also help you recognize something about yourself you are not seeing.

Card 3 · Soil

This card helps you to understand what supports or hinders your ability to grow into your gifts.

Card 4 · Seed

This card shows one way that you can grow into your gifts, perhaps sharing them with others or using them in your life in ways that you currently are not.

Card 5 · Story

The overall message of the Waning Quarter Moon in your life. If you are familiar with your birth chart and how to find the transiting Moon in your chart this card can help you to understand the message of the Waxing Quarter Moon in the context of where it lands in your chart.

I hope you enjoyed this fourth post in my series exploring simple ritual practices of the lunar phases (and thanks to my patrons who requested this series!). You can find the posts for the other phases here:

• Waxing Quarter Moon

• Full Moon

• Dark Moon

• New Moon

If you're looking for more encouraging tarot spreads, check out my tarot as your best friend spread. For spreads to help you connect with your inner wisdom (and time travel) check out my conversation spreads with your ancient and future selves. And if you want to dive deeper into the world of lunar magick, come this way.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Fruiting: Full Moon Ritual & Healing Practices

Living in a space shared with several fruit trees, the various seasons of fruiting means that I’m daily visiting with the tree spirits, to touch, smell, and listen to their journey of maturation. Buds grow thick skin and stretch outward filling up with the sweet food within. It always seems that fruit is hard until it is not - all of a sudden it is soft and ripe. For me, that sudden softness of fruit come to ripeness is the energy of the Full Moon. While there is always variety in how it plays out because of the unique flavors of whatever sign the Moon is in, the culminating energy of the Full Moon is one that follows a pattern of focus and tension that suddenly falls back into softness, openness, and possibility. With the Full Moon the altar is overflowing with fruit and abundance, and we can feast with hearts open and souls ready for nourishment.

Let’s explore together the magick of the Full Moon, calling in plants as teachers and bringing simple ritual and divination practice into our lives. At the height of the Moon cycle the Moon is at its fullest and most mature, casting its brightest light and acting as the mirror to the energies felt at the Dark Moon. What was in shadow is revealed and understood anew. Expansion, release, openness are all key energies of the Full Moon, and the days surrounding this time are ripe with possibility of celebration, fertile opportunity, and completion of a phase.

image via @anniespratt

Herbal Traditions

In Traditional Western Herbalism, the Full Moon is considered a time of cold and dry herbs. If we were to think of the Moon phase as a cycle of building a sacred structure, we would be at the point of the process of cooling and maintaining dryness to allow for a more sturdy and structurally sound building to stand (this coming after the after the heating and drying energies of the Waxing Quarter Moon that helped us to build the walls of our temple). At the Full Moon a temple space is ready to be lived and loved and held in. Or to bring us further into the garden with our metaphor, the compost of the Moon cycle has cooled and dried out enough to be used throughout the garden.

There are many ways to approach a Moon, though, and I encourage you to be guided by your studies, your cultural stories, and your intuition. Think about plants which help you feel open, soft, and at ease. Plants that are exuberant in their flowers, greenery, and/or fruiting plants - all hold Full Moon qualities. Plant allies that help you feel alive and connected with the world are wonderful, too. As you work with plants and the Moon cycle, always prize creativity and curiousity in re-membering yourself back into relationship with our plant teachers and guides.

Examples of Full Moon Herbs: Rose (Rosa spp.), Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), Sage (Salvia officinalis).

Rose (Rosa spp)

Rose is an ancestor plant with fossils found across Europe, North America, and Asia dating back from as early as the Miocene period (7 - 26 million years ago). This is a plant which has observed our development as a species and it isn't surprising that Rose is often associated with gentle parenting and mothering energies and deities. Call on Rose when you need a surrogate parent in your life - when you need to be held and protected to help you get in touch with your vulnerability. Rose is a beautiful ally in learning to treat yourself (and others) with ease and gentleness.

As a plant of Venus, Rose brings harmony to any situation as well as assists in harmonizing the energies of herbal preparations and those who use them. I love to use the flowers and hips in teas and tinctures, herbal oils and especially as a hydrosol or floral water. Rose has an incredible quality of helping us to become comfortable with the skin we’re in, working on phsyical and energetic levels to help us come home to our physical selves. Since it is a thorn plant we also know that it has protective qualities - adding Rose into your daily beauty blends can help to strengthen your psychic boundaries from unwanted energetic intrusions (I’m looking at you, microaggressions).

Connecting with the Traditional Western Herbalism correspondence of cool and dry herbs for the Full Moon, Rose fits both of those profiles. Rose is an excellent remedy for various forms of inflammation (bringing cooling qualities to overheated conditions) and as an astringent it acts as a plant which tones damp states in the body (such as excess oil production on the skin) bringing us into a state of balance. Hildegard von Bingen - herbalist, mystic, language creator, composer, and philosopher - writes of Rose's cooling and drying qualities recommending that one place Rose petals on the eyes in the morning to refresh them and draw out any imbalance in the bodily humours. The use of Rose medicinally is vast, so spend some time with your favorite plant books to learn more.

What I love about using Rose in Full Moon magick is that it helps to reassure our selves on a soul level that "I might not know everything, but I know enough to experience the abundant magick of this moment." It helps us to value mystery as something not to be solved, but experienced, which in turns helps us to settle into our joy and the appreciation of what we (and our community) has accomplished so far. Let's apply this Rose magick to recent events. So we all know that 2020 was a year and we're not out of it yet. The magick of Rose with its many-petaled wisdom helps us to recognize the layers of 2020 - there was extraordinary pain and suffering alongside the largest, most diverse, and most intergenerational global movement for a more kind and more just world that there has ever been in our recorded history as a species. Real change is already happening and the momentum of these movements is only going to keep rolling as we move beyond this pandemic. And the world we’re dreaming of can also feel so very, very far away. Rose helps us to hold all of these realities and get deep into the abundance of hope without having to write a thesis in our minds on why this hope will or will not fail us or why we deserve this hope in the first place. Rose just says "open up, be soft, settle in'' because we can have this moment (and better it be when the Moon is full*) without having to know what comes next or even what exactly has gone before.

I've written about Rose a lot, here is one of my favorite Rose recipes, and if you're an empath or highly sensitive person, Rose might be a good ally for you to work with.

image via @abigailducote

Altars + Rituals 

Decorate your altar with round and soft objects, things which help you to soften in turn. Unbind your hair. Wear soft and/or loose clothing. Practice rituals of celebrating our inner child and supporting the process of re-parenting. Water and cauldron spells, spells featuring song, rituals of abundance, hope, and self-worth. As an offering, consider the ways that you can create ease in the lives of others from home-cooked meal, a donation of time or money, small gifts which you know will bring someone laughter and a moment of levity. Learn about the sign that the Moon is in for more specific ideas and recommendations.

A Simple Full Moon Ritual

To help you open up to the possibility of your own becoming

Begin by creating sacred space in whatever way is meaningful for you.

On your altar place a bowl of Rose petals, whole flowers, and/or hips. Next to the bowl of Roses, place a bowl of salt water representing the ocean from which all life emerged. If you can charge this bowl of water before your rite with Full Moon energy by holding it up to the light of the Moon. Alternatively, because light pollution, quarantine or physical inhibitions may not allow for charging your water directly with the light of the Moon, place a silver colored coin at the bottom of your water bowl to represent the Moon's light and power. Whether with the assistance of the tarot spread below or other reflective practice, come up with a simple phrase that expresses a part of you or your life that you want to soften and open up to. Keep it simple, affirmative and easy to recite (i.e. I open up to more healthy and authentic self-expression).

Take a few centering breaths and begin to focus on your intention for the ritual - opening up to the possibility of the moment. Pick up the bowl of Roses, taking a moment to smell them, notice their color and form, and consider the complexity of life that led them to come into being. Holding them at your heart, begin to visualize a Rose blooming into a wide, open, soft flower. Feel this same blooming from within your own heartbody and say:

As the Rose opens, I open
As the Rose blooms, I bloom
As the Rose knows, I know myself
And all my possibilities

Take a Rose bloom (or petal or hip) and dip it in the Moon water. Anoint your brow, your heart, and whatever part of you that you choose. It is ok to let the water run on your skin for a moment, paying attention to how water quickly adapts to the shape and curves of your body. Becoming soft in our own wisdom and possibility is an act of shifting shapes, perceptions, and expected form into a place that is more vulnerable, more curious, and more able to meet the moment exactly where one is at. Breathing deeper into your openness and rubbing the Rose and Moon water into your skin, an invisible charm to carry with you in the Moon cycle ahead, say:

As I open, I bloom
As I bloom, I know
As I know, I soften, I dream, I flow

Repeat this charm until you feel your own flow then speak the simple phrase of openness you've written for yourself. You might feel called to speak it, sing it, move with it several times - honor your flow. When you're ready give thanks to the water and Roses, making sure to hold on to this feeling of openness, knowing that you can revisit this state of flow at any time by connecting with Rose. Close the rite  and be sure to either offer your water and Roses to the land or use them in other appropriate and respectful ways. 

A Simple Full Moon Tarot Spread

To help you open up to the magick of nourishing softness.

You're encouraged to adapt the following spread in ways that make it more useful for you including using the questions for journaling or meditation instead of divination. I like to cast these cards or journal as at the start of my Full Moon ritual - the reading can help guide my ritual and how I open up. Or use this spread for whenever you need more insight into an area of tension in your life. For those of you who thrive with variety and multi-faceted storytelling feel free to pull cards from multiple tarot and oracle decks for each question.

Card 1 · Tension
What is a source of tension in my life that I should be paying attention to?

Card 2 · Softness
How can I soften this tension? What tools, skills, people, and/or places can help me in release this tension?

Card 3 · Openness
What is calling me to openness? When I become softer what am I able to open up to? 

Card 4 · Nourishment
What is a source of nourishment for me? How does softness and openness nourish me? 

Card 5 · Story
The overall message of the Full Moon in your life. If you are familiar with your birth chart and how to find the transiting Moon in your chart this card can help you to understand the message of the Full Moon in the context of where it lands in your chart.

So begins a new series on the magick of the lunar phases! The idea for this series of lunar magick and herbalism was requested by my patrons who support me in keeping the majority of the work that I do free and open to everyone. You can find the posts for the other phases here:

• Dark Moon

• New Moon

• Waxing Quarter Moon

• Waning Quarter Moon

There is plenty of lunar-oriented reading for you to enjoy within these pages, from a full years journey through the healing potential of the New Moons, Moon-inspired slow magick and a tea I thought was the worst but turned out not to be, a deep dive into what a lunar return is and how to find your own, and a course about your own Moon-centered magick.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

*I’m quoting a line from The Charge of the Goddess which is a piece of inspired prose that I and a many Pagans hold to be sacred. There are a few versions of it, but the one that I most often refer to is Starhawk’s adaptation of Doreen Valiente’s. It’s a beautiful text and you should check it out.