The final aspect of Moon,3:07 pm 12/18, is a nice sextile to Uranus—make this an opportunity for desirable change.
A Centering ritual for New Moon, to be repeated as needed.
Take a deep breath, release it slowly and meditate on the goal you would set for this lunar cycle. Turn to each of the four directions and call upon the elemental power of each for what you need to clarify your intent and your course of action. Conclude by calling to your Center for spiritual guidance. Pause for a moment or two after each call to listen for the message of Spirit within. By the completion of this rite your vision will become clearer as to what you want to do and how best to proceed.
To the East I turn for clarity, for balance and freedom of thought
To the South I turn for energy, strength of convictions and the will to stand for them
To the West, I turn for compassion, intuition and beauty of Spirit
To the North, I turn for stability and discernment.
May that which I manifest in my world be for the highest good.
In my Center, God/dess be within me. Spirit of my highest Truth, I open myself
to your message and trust in your wisdom.
Crescent Moon, 13 Aquarius 51, December 20, at 9:50 am EST
Mars turns retrograde 8:27 am, just before this phase begins, and with Moon in Aquarius, emotions could be rather erratic. We’re working into Moon opposite Mars all day into the evening (9:44 pm). Could be testy, but with awareness, we don’t have to buy into that. Keep your cool & think “outside the box.” This is the phase when the challenge is always to keep moving forward, despite little backsteps. Have faith in yourself and your goals! Moon’s final aspect tomorrow is a conjunction to benefic Jupiter.
Winter Solstice (Yule) December 21 at 12:47 pm EST
Sun at 0 Capricorn 00
Sun enters Capricorn during the void Moon in Aquarius. The Winter Solstice chart set for Washington, DC is interesting in that Eris, our new planetary Goddess of Discord, is rising in Aries. Does that not sound a bit like current congressional news? Well, that is there, but our celebration of the rebirth of the Sun, whereever we may be, need not reflect it. An old year is passing away. Think about its joys and sorrows, give thanks for what has been learned through both, and then welcome the birth of a new solar year with hope and resolution.
Burning the Yule Log
Each year I make a Yule Log, usually cut from a birch log—there’s a lot of birch in the forest land where I live. I mount a candle on it and decorate around the candle with evergreen and holly. The Yule Log candle burns on the altar for Winter Solstice ritual and at the close of the rite, we burn the Yule Log according to old folk tradition within the fire pit at the center of the stone circle. We try to save a small piece of it to keep and use to ignite the Yule fire the following year. Ash from the burning of the Yule Log can be used for protective magick.
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First Quarter Moon, 3 Aries 03, December 24 at 12:36 pm EST
It’s the “crisis of action” phase for Christmas Eve, and Moon is in action oriented Aries. Sun conjuncts Pluto at 12:30 pm & Moon squares Pluto 5 minutes later, just 1 minute before First Quarter phase begins. If holidays tend to be hectic, planetary aspects suggest the potential of “more so”—unless we, with awareness, choose otherwise. Ahead on Christmas day is a more subdued Sun square Saturn, and Venus enters practical Capricorn. Mercury slows toward his turn to retrograde motion on Dec. 26.
Gibbous Moon, 21 Taurus 51, December 28 at 6:16 am EST
Holiday aftermath is mixed, likely leaving many feeling feeling scattered and/or tired as Moon continues on into Gemini, but the phase cycle is still waxing. Full Moon is still ahead.
Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse, 10 Cancer 20, December 31 at 2:13 pm EST
Moon comes to fullness just minutes before a Lunar Eclipse at 2:21 pm EST. We won’t see it in the USA, though given clear skies, it may be visible over much of Europe, Asia, Africa. A primary association with the sign of Cancer is the home. A new year—and a new decade—will arrive while Moon is still on course in Cancer, heading toward her final aspect, a trine to Uranus. Let’s take that as a omen of for conjuring creative change for the better.
For this Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse, a Working for Protection of Home
Prepare a hot teapot with calming herbs of water correspondence. Some good choices that are even available in teabags include: blackberry (healing, protection), chamomile (purification, protection), lemon (purification, love) or raspberry (protection, love) and bring it to your ritual area along with a teacup, a large bowl, a pitcher of water, salt and a candle in a Moon color (white, silver or pale blue).
Begin your Full Moon rite by creating space according to your usual tradition. When you invoke the Goddess, light her candle. Place the bowl on your altar in front of the candle, and slowly pour the water into it, saying:
O, cleansing waters, sparkling pure,
Flow of power come to me, Sacred waters, source of life
By Goddess’ grace, blessed be.
Bless the salt by drawing a pentagram over it while saying:
Salt of Earth, I charge you now
Protective power come to me
To sacred waters I now blend
By Goddess’ charge, now blessed be.
Sprinkle salt into the water and mix it with fingers or athame. Pour a cup of tea into your teacup, and then pour the rest the tea slowly into your bowl of water, saying:
O herbs of calm, protective power
In bowl and cup now come to me
Blessed and charged onto my will
By Goddess’ grace, so mote it be
Take a few moments to drink the tea and meditate while gazing into the candle flame. Know that the safety and calmness you seek must begin within in order for you to create it without, so savor each sip of the calming herbal brew while thinking of your blessings. When you are ready, carry your watery brew all around your home, dipping in your fingers to sprinkle a little as you go. If your bowl is too large to easily carry, you could dip a cupful at a time. While you are doing this, focus on warding your home against what you do not want within it, for in sprinkling the protective brew you’ve created, you are forming a psychic shield. When you come to any place where one could enter your home (door, window, vent, perhaps even the phone, fax or computer) dip a finger in the water mix and draw a small pentagram as an extra barrier. Keep focused on protection—that within your shielded area only those influences you wish to welcome may enter, while disruptive influences will stay away. If there is any place within your home where upsetting things have recently occurred, give that area an extra sprinkling, focusing on calmness and peace. When you are finished with this step, return to your altar. Leave the bowl there and take up the Goddess candle. Carry it all around your home reinforcing your work with Goddess’ blessing. Chant:
Goddess bless this home of mine
And all who dwell with me
Bless me, too, and keep us safe,
In peace and love, so mote it be.
Disseminating Moon, 28 Leo 32, January 3, 2010 at 7:29 pm EST
Moon is void in Leo as this phase begins Enters Virgo at 9:52 pm. Monday Sun conj Merc in midst of lunar trines to Pluto, Venus, Merc & Sun—it’s a good Monday for getting back in gear after the holiday and starting the New Year off on a positive note.
Last Quarter Moon, 17 Libra 01, January 7 at 5:39 am EST
Energy winds down with easy trines ending with Jupiter.
Balsamic Moon, 5 Sagittarius 52, January 11 at 12:29 am EST
Also looks like it may be fairly easy--finish things up, clear your desk
take time to dream.
Moon moves into serious Capricorn shortly before midnight on Jan. 12,
and Saturn turns retrograde on Jan. 13. A Solar Eclipse comes when Moon is New on January 15, and Mercury will turn direct again. A ritual release could be especially beneficial now. Accept responsibility for whatever has been created that you’d now like to bring to closure and release. Prepare for New Moon now—clear the decks for a positive
new beginning.
Ritual for the closure of Balsamic Moon, Moon in Capricorn
Capricorn is a practical sign, so our ritual can serve a mundane purpose at the same time as it helps our emotional and spiritual process of banishing and cleansing. Choose an area in which you’ve accumulated stuff for longer than you can remember such that you no longer even know what is there. Most everyone I know has at least one drawer or corner fitting that description—the place you’ve said time and again, “I’ve got to clean that out,” but somehow never get it done. Do it now. Give it the will and intent of magick to serve the practical purpose of clearing it out, while at the same time charging it as an active meditation. Set your intent by lighting a black candle to burn while you work:
Goddess of the waning Moon
Guide my work that I will see
The things and thoughts I do not need,
And banish them, so mote it be!
Sort through the clutter and throw away anything for which you no longer have any use. If you find something useful that’s just misplaced, immediately take it to where it belongs. If you find something you know someone else can and would use, put it where you can’t miss taking it with you the very next time you go out, to give or send to the intended recipient. Don’t stop until the area is completely clear.
As you work, think about what has been worrying you. Name things you are finding in your cluttered area to correspond to each concern, so that the choices you make to either throw away or keep and commit to use it effectively empower your inner process. Taking the time to get up and deal with a thing you want to keep helps you think through how you will effectively deal with the worry you assigned to correspond with it. As you throw a thing you don’t need or want into your wastebasket, exhale completely with relief as you release its corresponding worry.
After your once-cluttered place is clear and clean, thank the Goddess, extinguish the candle and then take the wastebasket full of the things and thoughts you’ve discarded and get rid of it completely—out of your house and out of your mind. Keep the place you’ve cleaned absolutely empty until after next New Moon, to give you time to decide what really should occupy that space that will best keep it a useful and uncluttered area.
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