[----RITUALISM AND THE MOON----]

By Farella Lunseer, translated by A. Siar'luin

Moon and Her many faces have never ceased to fascinate the outsiders, from Her place reigning over the Spirit of the Night, to Her subtle presence within the day. She is considered in my mind, the Greatest of all Spirits to come into Creation before the Hunter made the Great Stag who physically represents our sacred earth.  I have long pondered our customs as of the Coven. It is our crucial foresworn duty to seek that which what Ellindel Treeheart taught us long ago, to bring the spirits of the ethereal space to fulfill their duties and become our companions. She, who-was-the-healer, and gentle with our fae-melian[1] whilst creating our humble coven, had left most of our culture to the chance of those who came after her first teachings. We heal, we protect and we praise, but how it is that our arcane gifts work and how that in which we praise is most important and primary to our success –Whether it is enacted formally, or done within the Covens we form with those who may respect our triune Spirit but may not completely understand. It is ritualism that is secreted within the depths of our movements, the connection to the spiritual world, the ethereal of born of sacred earth and all the elements and the gifts we have been given have lead to this culmination of understanding. It is why we are called Moondancers as well as Wiccan. These prime rules of those of our faith are a balance of the will of Nature, just as the Druids of Glinshari walk, but in a direction that weaves a teaching that allows us to flourish with the fae and our Spirit Mother.

Ritualism is a devotional process that we hold high within the Coven, we seek to uncover our roots and connect us to both spiritual and the physical. And in this, with the rudimentary skills of Ellindel – We discovered very key facts to the ebb and flow of our Spirit Mother.  Each phase of the Moon has special meaning from the fae, as I have found when I have sought their council to discover how they are and why they are indeed so insistent to remain as blessed of Her light. One example of this can be noted in the phase of Waxing, where a trinity of a small coven can easily heal wounds at this time. This theory of phase separation predominates most rituals that I have written, which section out how some arcane positivity and resurgence can be brought to some use, if it be praise, blessing or curse. There will be of course, always have some overlap because of the nature of how the Moon works in Her mysteries – There is great opportunity for wiccans to appreciate and create at will under the guise of her light in general, but if one is working[2] in a more ceremonial setting I would recommend that one consult the table I have sketched here, depicting the overall cyclical maintenance of how witchcraft can be performed to the singular wiccan or a coven of a grander scale. It is very important to our lives as wiccans that we work in harmony with the working the Moon in our obscure gifts; to go against Her tides from the heavens would be unnatural to the sacred earth and its reaction on ourselves, commune members and enemies.

[With long quill marks, the author has translated the table in a precise, neat script]

Working Cycles of Mother Moon:

                         New Moon | one full day

                         Waxing Crescent  | seven full days

\\First Quarter\\one full day

            Waxing Gibbous| seven full days

                         Full Moon | one full day

                        Waning Gibbous  | seven full days

            \\Last Quarter\\ one full day

                        Waning Crescent | seven full days

--We then return to the sub-cycle of the New Moon--

Anomalies of Nature:

\\Dark Moon\\

\\Lunar Eclipse\\

\\Penumbral\\

Beginning in the table, we have the New Moon that possesses an aura of positivity that brings power to the Wiccan. In this short time, the Moon’s love and flow of energy is new in this time to attune to the wiccan who seeks healing, who has a desire for a change that brings newness to themselves personally as well as communally.  The preferred rituals in this phase are those that draw things to those who are working to attain their goal. Consecration of objects sacred to the individual or coven can be cleansed in this phase, as well as any tools such as an athame, broom or your fae companions. Whilst this is the direction recommended for time of consecration and cleansing under the light of the New Moon for beginning practitioners, the Dark Moon phase, three days prior, can be used to pamper the energies of the wiccan and send these positive vibrations within your instruments. Though, the New Moon holds the most power when it concerns ritual cleansing.

The Waxing Crescent and Gibbous bear the arcane mysteries of attraction magic, where spells and rituals are centered on love, both inner and external for couples.  The most powerful spells, or workings for protection can be made within both specific waxing phases. They can be general or more specific depending on how one creates an atmosphere in your circle[3]. Though, one must be warned that there have been many cases where love spells have gone amuck in the past few years that I have heard of them being practiced, especially when it comes to desperate lovers or youthful fools. And it is usually known throughout Wiccan practices that whilst love spells may occur and appear to be successful, there is always a counter action for every reaction a Wiccan acts to create. Thus, those without this wisdom might be marked as less than reputable in their practice. Yet, in special cases, I have preformed and worked love spells directed towards things to bind people together positively through the circumstances where tragedy has left them destitute. Love in this case may not always mean lust, or perpetuated happiness between two persons; it may mean healing, safety and comfort. Love spells where there is unwilling energy between those that they may be directed to will cause hostile effects that are more devastating, be advised.

A Full Moon, whilst it comes every thirty-one days according to the earliest of timekeepers is likely the most curious of the phases for working in the arcane guise of a Wiccan in practice and duty. It is the dominating phase in which we perform and request prophesies from the spirit of Chuchip, and empower the font of the Great Spirit Hart as well as the Manifestation of Mother Moon. These are some of the many examples in which one is banishing issues or darkness from the midst of one’s environment for a purpose to reveal what may be hidden, or what has given cause to harm. With this moon’s rays, there is a great chance for influencing the unwanted to disappear from one’s personal life.  There is also the suggestion to most traditional practioners that the Full Moon can set positive energy in motion, tearing down walls for the healing of the self and others to make paths more effective and easier to maneuver. This phase may also have great power for protection, as we often see that the Hart desires in this phase to safeguard the Verasavir Valley and to deliver them into safety. Divination by spirits or the self is extremely effective within the light.  I often see the Druids take advantage to cast their runes within their groves, to gaze with their shaman’s eyes through the flames to discover the mysteries of the physical and spiritual status of the commune. We as Wiccans may do so as well, through the great trance of our dances, and our workings in Astrology. Use these opportunities in the rarity of the phase for ceremonies, or rituals that require great power and a gathering of energy. War-time frequently gathers the rage of the Coven together to slay the unworthy and the tainted, this working while well-known is different based upon the phases which it can be performed.

The waning phases of Gibbous and Crescent are known in the coven as the phases of the Mother, Selene.  These two seven-day periods are very popular with those that align themselves with Ellindel’s healing practices. Due to that the Moon’s light is attuned to being more receptive to curing ailments, relieving negative emotions and bad habits. One can also cleanse instruments and other objects of negativity in these phases, whilst keeping in mind that the void within them would need to be replaced with good, flowing energy shortly after the void was made. These phases are the last of those we find are most common within the heavenly body of the Moon, bear in mind that the practiced Wiccan values these as the core of when workings are most effective.

The anomalies that occur in nature are those that the Coven as a whole may have varying opinion on, as does the Coven of the Night prior to their descent into the manipulation of the spiritual energy of Night for wickedness. One of the first occurring that is often recognized as the Dark Moon, or the Void of Course, a small, minor phase which happens three days prior to the New Moon. The phase, while obscuring the Moon completely from the view of mortal eyes rarely has any arcane workings done within it, as astronomers of the Basin do not recognize it as an astrological phase. This is a time when the Wiccan can focus on the self, to take a leisurely time to replenish ones energy. From deep meditations to vision quests, one can perform, as little or as much depending on what one feels is correct. In my standing opinion, the Dark Moon has the opportunity to be thwarted by the spirit of the Night if given a chance, but it is rare that the Night Coven understands how the energies of the Dark Moon are transferred to the sacred earth of the Basin. The nearly once in a lifetime opportunity of a lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the Basin’s shadow, when all things are encompassed in moonlight and the Basin’s energy that aligns with the astral planes. While only lasting a few hours, it is usual that the Coven has planned a ritual working in advance, dedicated to the Goddess of Wisdom. It is necessary to remember with the lunar eclipse than one must account for the shadow of the Basin as it covers the Moon. Whilst this trait is not a factor of Mother Night’s design, it is what occurs within nature and has yet to been claimed by either Spirit as their specific machination. The Penumbral is a subtle eclipse which is hard to spot even by the telescope, while it has no relation to the secret ritual of the Night Coven’s ‘Penumbra,’ it is not a time for casting or working of any kind due to the distorted appearance of Mother Moon. It is merely a time for thankfulness, gratitude and praise of the Goddess of Wisdom.

 [The next few lines bear interesting runic symbols, which have been translated side-by-side for a clearer view of the table below in the same neat script. Illustrations of progressive colours of moons from sapphire-white to the depths of crimson and burnt orange hang above the top of the table, each sketched in such a way that show the phases of the moon interchanging. Whilst the bluer hues of the other progression of the moon end with an azure hue ringed with silver tint that record the daily changes of a moon during the fall of night.]

...it is throughout my time as High Priest that I have seen the Moon's colours change frequently. The Blue Moon, has been a mystery to me for several years. Unknowing how to proceed in practice, I spoke to my companion who gave me a sign that it was to be the Crone’s Moon, always blooming wide in the month of Klangiary. The Druids of the Hartstone also call it the Moon of the Crone, even in my vision I understood that it may perhaps be correct to my delight. I have always sensed it was a time when I could speak to the Goddess of Wisdom and Her daughter with greater clarity, as if I could see all before me without the possibility of the shadows of darkness entering into my midst. I have performed workings within the Blue Moon and found the pulse of life to be at my fingertips, the Nature world echoing in exultation that it is understood. This moon of blue, occurring yearly and perhaps not all together is a sign of evolution, of change. When one performs rituals within the month of Klangiary, keep in thought that its nature is volatile enough for workings to be either a great success of have a high chance of failure.  As my inquiries furthered with the Druids, my time spent with them invaluable and priceless they knew the moon which I had called the 'Red Tide' moon, to be the Moon of Blood, on the eve of the end of the autumnal season in the month of Shanthin. For long I have studied its nature and rays upon the Basin, even prior to my own thoughts of the Moon of Crone. This Moon of Blood is most sacred to those of the Hartstone, whose worship of the Great Spirit of the White Hart is known throughout Serynwodenhillirim. Wiccans take the time, now that I have instructed them, to combine with the Druids in worship of the White Hart giving more thanks for bounties, the hunt and the hunted, and the gifts of the natural world. Blood offerings and sacrifices are known to be prevalent with Druids, offering corpses on their Broken Stone to increase the power and resilience of the White Hart to protect against the malign spirits of Glomdoring. In older practices, I have heard whispers of mortal sacrifices of enemies being the greatest way to praise within a ritual of the time of the Moon of Blood, many still practice such things today.

Condensed Index:

[1] - FAE-MELIAN: Also translated to fae 'friends.'

[2] - Workings: In which Wiccans perform a ritual, through a sacred circle.

[3] - The sacred circle of protection which is required for most forms of wiccan ritual.