Dark Moon

"I'm one with the Goddess
and open to Her Wisdom."


30th Day of the 9th Lunar Cycle
Ruled by Hecate
Lunar Tree Cycle ~ Muin/Vine
Moon Phase: Dark/Old Moon
Moon rises 6:55AM EDST
Moon sets: 5:57PM EDST
Moon in the Cardinal Air Sign of Libra
Ceridwen's Cycle of the Moon
Lunar Meditation: The legacy of wisdom you would bequeath to your descendants.
Sun in Libra
Sunrise; 7:32AM EDST
Sunset: 6:38PM EDST
Solar Question for the Day: "Which of your skills needs to honed at this time?"
Lughnasadh (Gwyl Awst) Quarter of the Year
October 17th, 2009

"Spiritsd of sleep and darkness,

thank for these dark silences.

For you, the Great Darkness,

we wait here in the silence.

Watchers, look: see how empty

the sky is of all shining.

The night has shut her eyes, and

the moon has turned away from us.

Let us wait in the darkness

and make offerings to the night.

__ Song from Iroquois fire ritual

Dark Moon:  At last the moon's light is swallowed by blackness, and we are left with a fathomless and profound inner dark in which the potential for future growth is stored. LIke the debris of many season's leaves and loam, our hidden selves contain a rich and potent store of discarded or repressed experiences that can reveal valuable material that can be transformed to our own benefit. Meditation to determine blocks and areas of stagnation in life is useful now, and the end result can mean a release of dammed-up life force that can be utilized, thus bringing us more strength. It is also a time for spiritual work, scrying, and any mean ingful inner effort. This is not a wasted period, but a necessary one, a preparation for the approaching expansive cycle when sun and moon conjoin once more and begin a new phase. Much can be accomplished by working with the energies instead of falling into sluggish resistance, and doing so will dispel the weariness that people often experience now, and will bring satisfaction and a sense of contempletion.

Old Moon Meditation

   You should do this meditation at night, when the moon has vanished to its pre-new dark state.  Burn a sombre incense such as Hecate of myrrh. One can be made by adding several drops of patchouli oil to a small jar of myrrh resin and stirring thoroughly. Use one black candle on the altar. Cast your circle in the usual manner.

  Make yourself comfortable by sitting on a cushion, meditation stool, or chair within easy reach of the altar. Make sure you have matches or a lighter near you. Ask the Goddess in her Crone form to protect and guide you. Concentrate on the candle flame for a while, allowing yourself to relax, letting your breathing become deeper till you feel that both breath and vital energy are rooted into your lower stomach area. Feel the weight of your body, your legs, and the point of contact between your buttocks and the surface on which you are seated. Let everything go so that your back is straight and yet you seem to be settled into your thighs and posterior, and by extension into the floor and the earth beneath.

  When you are feeling relaxed and stable, snuff out the candle, close your eyes, and begin to turn your attention inward, withdrawing interest from your surroundings and focusing on your potential inner realm.  If this seems difficult at first, concentrate on your stomach area while taking a few very deep breaths and imagining that your whole body is comfortably swelling will it is like a huge room with you inside.

  Once you feel you have gone into yourself, gently explore what you find there. Tell yourself that you will only see whatever is safe and productive for you to view. Ask the Goddess to help you. Go in peace, and tread softly through your own inner process. Keep sitting there, keep exploring inwardly bit by bit until feelings, thoughts, or images begin to arise, and when they do, view them in a relaxed and slightly detached manner, allowing them to unfold without forcing the issue at all. Imagine, if you like, that you are in a large attic with many dusty lumps under sheets and in boxes. Some of these may attract you, may even light up so that you are persuaded to looki into them. Lift the covers on the ones you instinctively feel are relevant to you. Of if you prefer, visualize your inner space as a cave, hollow, or a chamber deep in the earth where leaves and soil go through the process of breakdown and regeneration and where treasures are buried. Whatever comes out of this meditation, whatever you perceive or experience, the idea is that you will be able to release or transform what you find so that you can clear space or liberate energy.

Many of the blocks that we experience in our lives are caused by pockets of dammed-up energy that can be confronted and let go of, leaving us unburdened and refreshed. This is not meant to be a traumatic process in which you can attempt to face past pain that would be better dealt with by means of professional help. Nor should you try to force yourself to let go of something that is still dear to you, no matter how much your rational mind tells you to. Be prepared for brief tears, laughter, or other powerful emotions during the resolution process. If nothing comes up at all, it doesn't matter, and you may need only to enjoy a tranquil interlude.

  When you feel it is time to end the meditation, slowly bring your attention back to the surface, and begin to raise your level of breathing to your chest, then your throat, quickening its rhythm as you do so.

Then clap your hands briskly but not too hard, relight the candle, stretch your limbs, and look around.

[From "Praise to the Moon" by Elen Hawke]