Blessings of the Moon of Long Nights
Dec. 7th, 2022 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdolene
Also known as: Oak Moon, Goose Moon, Wolf Moon, Cold Moon, Aerra Geola (Month Before Yule), Wintermonat (Winter Month), Heilagmanoth (Holy Month), Big Winter Moon, Moon of Popping Trees, Cracking Trees Moon, Wintergreen Moon
Element: fire
Nature Spirits: snow faeries, storm faeries, winter tree faeries
Herbs: holly, English ivy, fir, mistletoe, cinnamon
Colors: blood red, white and black
Flowers: holly, poinsettia, pine
Scents: violet, patchouli, rose geranium, frankincense, myrrh, lilac
Stones: serpentine, jacinth, peridot, obsidian, ruby
Trees: pine, fir, holly
Animals: mouse, deer, horse, bear
Birds: rook, robin, snowy owl
Deities: Hathor, Hecate, Neith, Athene, Minerva, Ixchel, Osiris, the Norns, the Fates, Athena, Persephone, and Hades
Power Flow: to endure, die, be reborn; Earth tides turning. Darkness. Personal alchemy. Spiritual paths. Reach out to friends and family, the lonely and needy.
Mantra: I remain serene in the chaos around me.
Info on This Moon From About Dot Com: The last moon phase of the year is the Long Nights Moon in December, also called the Cold Moon or Big Winter Moon.
As the days get shorter and Yule approaches with the longest night of the year, we force ourselves to get through the darkness because eventually we will see the sunlight and warmth again. Think about the things in your life that you've had to endure. Sometimes, a part of us must die in order to be reborn. Now is the perfect time for spiritual alchemy -- time to evaluate your life, and know that you'll survive the dark times.
If you've already put the darkness behind you, take your good fortune and share it with others. When it's cold outside, open your heart and home to friends and family. Reach out to people who might be suffering from the chill of winter, either spiritually or physically.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft by Denise Zimmerman and Katherine A. Gleason
Also known as the Cold or Long Nights Moon, the Oak Moon is a time for hope and healing. This time of the year the Moon has reign over the Earth, because there are more hours of night than day. Our thoughts turn to the rebirth of the light and the longer days that are promised after the Winter Solstice. Women who have become pregnant in the spring are about to give birth and will probably want to focus their energies on delivering a healthy baby. This is the time of year to complete something you have worked hard on and to make sure that the task is truly completed, all the details dealt with. It's also a great time to let go of old patterns or problems and start anew. If something has been eating at you for a long time, work to give it up at this time. Let go of the negative and let the light of the longer days shine inside you. Working with children in a nurturing way can be very rewarding and healing.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism by Carl McColman
DECEMBER (Oak Moon)-- Strength, trust.
The Craft - A Witch's Book of Shadows by Dorothy Morrison
Name: Oak
Cakes & Ale: gingerbread and apple wine or spiced cider
Colors: white and yellow to welcome the sun
Altar Decor: holly, mistletoe, and sun symbols
Incense frankincense
Esbat Purpose: Celebrate the birth of the sun and the coming light
Try Drawing the Circle With: yellow candles and sunflower seeds
Witch's Brew: Good Spells for Peace of Mind by Witch Bree
December has the mysterious Cold Moon, a time to rekindle the flames of heart and soul.
Witches Datebook by Yasmine Galenorn
We have entered the holiday season. Tension builds at this time of year, so we focus our ritual on releasing stress.
Buy a bottle of your favorite bubble bath. Cast a circle in your bathroom; light candles. Fill your tub with warm water and add a generous amount of bubble bath. As you remove each piece of clothing, shed one more worry from the daily world. When you are naked, step into the foaming bubbles. As the water leaches tensions from your body, lean back and close your eyes.
Imagine yourself drifting in a tropical sea, with the Sun gently beating on your face. Slide into the ocean, as tension is carried away. Sense the life that pulses around you, in the waves and under the glassine surface, and yet, none of this activity interferes with your peace. Give up the worry that permeates your days to the water mother. When you leave the bath, take a cool rejuvenating shower. Affirmation for the Long Nights Moon: I remain serene in the face of the chaos around me.
Witches Datebook by Edain McCoy
The Elder Moon is both the end of the Celtic lunar year and a time to prepare for the next. The day after the elder Moon resides in no month, but is a solemn spiritual day known as the Secret of the Unhewn Stone or the Feast of Potential.
During this Moon, plan to meet with your shadow self or cowalker-- the part of you residing in the otherworld who is the key to your completeness.It reflects the true self of the year gone by, so that you may prepare to fulfill the potential of the year to come.
Turn your altar to the west and light one black and one white candle. Gaze between them into a portal to the otherworld. Call out to your other self to appear to you between the candles. When the image is visible, commune with it in whatever method seems appropriate. Learn from this self all you can about your true earthy nature.
Offer your shadow self food and drink before bidding farewell.
Witches Datebook (2003) by Edain McCoy
The Elder Moon contains the darkest days of the year, when the spirit world is closest. The day after the end of the Elder Moon month, before the start of the new year with the Birch Moon, is no moon at all, but a magical time "in between" when the worlds of form and fancy collide and we can easily open up to the realm of spirit.
The spirit world is constantly with us, but our modern eyes cannot always see into the world that interpenetrates our own on a different plane. To help you see spirits, gather elder twigs during the Elder Moon month and weave them into a chaplet to encircle your head. Make sure it's large enough to cover the psychically sensitive area just above and between your eyes.
Place the chaplet on your head after sundown on the last day of the Elder Moon and gaze about you. You may see, and even be able to communicate with, the spirit world tonight.
Witches Datebook (2004) by Edain McCoy
The Celtic lunar year ends with the Elder Moon, representing a cycle associated with death and renewal, prosperity and healing.
Before the turns to its next cycle, allow the elder to help heal your body, mind, and spirit with its energies. Either in the physical world or deep meditation, find the biggest, strongest elder in the forest. Ask if you use its regenerative powers to heal yourself. If you don't know of anything you need to have healed, ask the elder to protect you from illness. You may be rewarded with a falling limb, leaf, or piece of bark to take with you as a talisman of health and well-being.
Be sure to thank the elder for its gift:
Stranding strong in winter's time;
Healing tree of body and mind,
Thank you for your gifts so kind.
Witches Datebook (2006) by Edain McCoy
The name "Long Nights Moon" stirs up images of the Winter Solstice-- a date that has been designated for spiritual observance for more than twelve thousand years.
Beneath the Long Nights Moon, light a candle of white or silver to honor the lunar Gods. Thank them for the light of the night sky and the knowledge of the sunlight's return in the months to come. Let the candle burn itself out when you are finished.
Grant me safety until the sun's light;
Your silver orb a comfort gives,
We know in You the sun still lives.
Lord of moonlight, equal to your Queen,
We await the moment when the Earth grows green;
Sleep in the womb of Your mother most fair,
Who sleeps in the Earth until we waken Her there.
Witches Datebook by Dallas Jennifer Cobb
The oak symbolizes earthly and spiritual strength, with its roots running deep and branches reaching high and wide. While the sacred oak appears dead this time of year, we know there is much more to life than can be seen by the eyes. The strong oak reminds us to stand tall and endure, as the Sun's return draws near. We too have grown strong as we journey through the dark and look to our spiritual roots for answers.
Take this time to prepare small gifts for loved ones. In these dark months were times of great scarcity for our ancestors, so even the smallest gifts were precious. Share your treasures, for when the above earth looks dead and dark, the roots shelter the life within. Offer these gifts as symbols of good will, peace, protection, and love, strengthening the relationships that sustain us.
Strong Oak wisdom rooted deep within me,
Ixchel, Athene, Minerva, Fates,
In the darkness light awaits.
Witches Datebook by Ellen Dugan
The Winter Solstice plays a part in our December Full Moon celebration. According to midwinter mythology, this is the time of the Oak King, who lends us His name for the year's final Full Moon. At the Winter Solstice, the Oak King has defeated His brother, the Holly King, and the waxing half of the year has begun. From this point, the light will only grow stronger, and our daylight hours will grown longer.
In herbalism, the oak is a tree of wisdom, power, and magic. So on this night of the Full Oak Moon, ask the Oak King for His blessings. Find a small oak twig or acorn and set it in a place of prominence. Then arrange next to it a gold candle for illumination and a green candle to encourage prosperity. Light the candles and say:
Oak King, please grant me wisdom in all that I do.
See the burning candles of green and gold bright,
Light and plenty they bring on this blessed night.
Witches Datebook by James Kambos
Winter owns the land, but tonight, the Long Nights Moon owns the sky. With icy brilliance as fragile as glass, it casts charcoal shadows across the snow and glints off the rooftops. We walk in darkness on this night, but know the light will return.
It's easy to lose our way in the dark-- sadness, grieving, and death touches each of us. But night does not last forever. The Long Nights Moon teaches us to accept the darkness, not fear it. This ritual focuses on purification and trusting fate. Cover your altar with a white cloth, representing a future shrouded in mystery. Honor the Moon by lighting one white candle. Before the candle, lay one pine branch. Meditate about this year and what you hope for next year. In an act of purification, brush yourself with the pine branch from head to toe. Say:
Long Nights Moon, keep me safe and free from fear.
I trust in the future, I trust the Fates,
I trust in the Divine Spirit and whatever awaits.
Witches Datebook by Elizabeth Barette
In December rises the Goose Moon. This is a time of cold quiet nights, when life must subsist on stored energy. Goose's fat and warm feathers epitomized this self-reliance. People fluent in this energy are prudent, capable, and industrious. They balance independence with family loyalty, preferring traditions over fads. Similarity, winter is a time to think back on the past year and value your accomplishments, not to begin new projects that would better wait for spring.
For this ritual of remembrance, you will need a goose quill pen, a bottle of ink, and a piece of good parchment paper. Clasp the quill and connect with the energy of Goose, who holds all good things under sheltering wings. Dip the pen into the ink and write out a list of what you achieved in the past year, and good things that happened to you. Don't worry about your handwriting; it is the intent that counts. When you finish, write the date on the back of the paper. Fold up the paper around the quill and seal it closed.
Use this stored energy to remind yourself of what you can do when you are feeling discouraged. It is proof of your year's work.
Witches Datebook by JD Hortwort
As the year draws to a close, we cling to those plants that remind us of the vitality of the growing season. Wintergreen is one of them. Use a wintergreen essential oil to anoint altar candles for the winter solstice to ensure strength and vigor, going into the New Year. Wintergreen's thick, leathery, green leaves may get a tinge of bronze or red in cold weather, but it is the bright red berries that really poop! The plant's growth cycle is such that the red berries can linger a long time. It is not unusual to see a plant that still has some of the previous year's berries when blooms in late summer.
Overwhelmingly, the wintergreen used in flavoring today is made from synthetics. Both leaves and berries will render that delicious wintergreen flavor and aroma; however, it is the leaves that are most often used in home medicine. For external application, the leaves can be brewed into a tea. A towel soaked in the wintergreen tea can be lightly rung out and places on aching joints or minor skin irritations. A gentle steam from wintergreen-infused water can help with respiratory problems.
Witches Datebook by Natalie Zaman
Once upon a time the Moon came down to earth. She was curious to gaze upon the bogs and mashes, for she had heard that they captured her reflection more beautifully than any other body of water. As she marveled at the bog, she spied a man. Frightened he might fall in and drown, she came closer, and bogles, wicked creatures of the marshlands, pulled her in. The Moon lay buried under water and weeds, and folks noticed that she was missing. They asked their wise woman what happened, and she told them to search the bogs. Spying a glimmer of light, they freed the Moon. ever since, Luna shines most brightly over bogs and marshes, the better to protect those who pass through them in the dark. It's easy to appreciate the Moon when she is full, but even in her most shadowy phase, she is powerful. Every stage of her monthly metamorphosis has its own significance. Offer a blessing for her at the year's end, as you asked for a blessing at the year's beginning:
I bless the Moon each and every night.
Witches Datebook by Blake Octavian Blair
The Elder Moon gives us an opportunity for helping others with a magical boost to move forward, leave the troubling parts of the previous year behind, and begin anew at the winter solstice when the Sun is reborn. The elder tree brings magical energies known for banishing harmful energies, bringing us healing and closure, and promoting new beginnings. The elder is often referred to as the guardian of gateways. This sounds like just the ticket at this point in the calendar!
Bundle up and head into the moonlight if you can. Visualize yourself as an elder tree, roots deep into the ground, branches stretched high under the cleansing moonlight. See yourself with bare winter branches. The moonlight cleanses away harmful energies that do not serve, the magic of elder pushing them out and away from you. As they exit your trunk, the moonlight cleanses. As they exist your roots, the earth transmutes. Feel the earth, elder, and Moon working together as a sacred triad. Then, visualize new leaves, as if in spring, blossoming and bringing you new beginnings!
A safe and peaceful holiday to all that celebrate~!
