collapse

* Recent Posts

Re: "Christ Is King" by Sophia C
[Today at 07:21:31 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by SirPalomides
[Today at 07:13:48 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Sophia C
[Today at 07:04:14 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Sophia C
[Today at 06:56:16 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Yei
[Today at 06:56:00 pm]

Author Topic: Full Moon Rituals  (Read 2433 times)

Marie

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Sep 2016
  • Posts: 2
  • Total likes: 0
    • View Profile
Full Moon Rituals
« on: September 16, 2016, 10:32:23 am »
Hello everyone,

Long story short I haven't committed to certain way paganism over another. I'm leaning towards eclectic but that may be just because I can't make up my mind and I know I don't necessarily have too. I haven't done much in regards to rituals or worship. I would like to do something for the full moon but I'm at a loss. I would like to be something simple but fulfilling. I have basic altar supplies as well.

Any help would be great, thanks!

Jainarayan

  • Sr. Master Member
  • *******
  • Join Date: Oct 2014
  • Posts: 606
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 169
    • View Profile
Re: Full Moon Rituals
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2016, 04:48:00 pm »
Quote from: Marie;196313
Hello everyone,

Long story short I haven't committed to certain way paganism over another. I'm leaning towards eclectic but that may be just because I can't make up my mind and I know I don't necessarily have too. I haven't done much in regards to rituals or worship. I would like to do something for the full moon but I'm at a loss. I would like to be something simple but fulfilling. I have basic altar supplies as well.

Any help would be great, thanks!

 
There's a bunch of hits for Full Moon Rituals. I suppose you could glean ideas from multiple sources to build your own personal ritual. :)

Not to rain on your parade, but you have a month to prepare a ritual for the next full moon. I don't know where you are, but on the east coast of the US the full moon was at 15:06 today, 3:00 PM. I print a calendar from the timeanddate.com site, as well as checking my (Hindu) temple calendar. Rituals for the full or new moon are done the evening before the time of that phase. So, last night was the full moon ritual because tonight the moon will no longer be full.

I hope you're successful in putting together a ritual. ;)

Darkhawk

  • Senior Staff
  • *
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 5219
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 1123
    • View Profile
    • Suns in her Branches
  • Religion: An American Werewolf in the Akhet; Kemetic; Feri; Imaginary Baltic Heathen; Discordian; UU; CoX; Etc
  • Preferred Pronouns: any of he, they, she
Re: Full Moon Rituals
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2016, 05:01:12 pm »
Quote from: Jainarayan;196320
Rituals for the full or new moon are done the evening before the time of that phase. So, last night was the full moon ritual because tonight the moon will no longer be full.

 
Um, maybe that's the case in your background; in mine the full moon lasts roughly three days, though I prefer to time my full moon rituals for the day in which the astronomical full moon happens, more or less.  (Not that I do major full moon rituals; I make offerings for the Good Folk at their shrine in the back.)
as the water grinds the stone
we rise and fall
as our ashes turn to dust
we shine like stars    - Covenant, "Bullet"

MadZealot

  • Adept Member
  • ********
  • Join Date: Nov 2011
  • Location: So Cal
  • Posts: 2594
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 339
  • Eye yam tu papi.
    • View Profile
  • Religion: Founder of the Church of No Pants.
Re: Full Moon Rituals
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2016, 05:07:50 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;196321
Um, maybe that's the case in your background; in mine the full moon lasts roughly three days, though I prefer to time my full moon rituals for the day in which the astronomical full moon happens, more or less.  (Not that I do major full moon rituals; I make offerings for the Good Folk at their shrine in the back.)

 
I was taught similar, and it's nice to have a flexibility in your schedule when other life things get in the way.  

If the OP is just looking to do a simple commemorative ritual it'd probably be OK to be 'off' by a day, anywhoo.

Oh, and for the OP: Some groups have been kind enough to upload entire full moon rites to YouTube, in case you wanted to see one in action.
You have my sword
And my shield
And my... um... slacks.

Jenett

  • Senior Staff
  • *
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Location: Boston, MA
  • Posts: 3743
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 1235
    • View Profile
    • Seeking: First steps on a path
  • Religion: Initiatory religious witchcraft
  • Preferred Pronouns: she/her
Re: Full Moon Rituals
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2016, 07:55:12 pm »
Quote from: Marie;196313
I haven't done much in regards to rituals or worship. I would like to do something for the full moon but I'm at a loss. I would like to be something simple but fulfilling. I have basic altar supplies as well.

So, starting with "I want to do something but I don't have a practice to center it in" is hard, because doing something is both 'why you might do something' and 'how you do it'.

First, on timing: many witchcraft traditions count the full and new moon as being three days - this is basically the amount of time before there's a visible change to the naked eye, so that makes a lot of sense.

People who are doing more complex ritual work may pick one of the nights for practical reasons (if you work late one night, you might pick a different one) and adapt what they do slightly.

People doing group work in a coven setting often schedule the ritual for the nearest weekend, because group ritual work after a regular work day can be tricky to coordinate and still meet other commitments well (if ritual runs long, and some people start work early, it's a lousy combination.) In that case, it's common to adjust the ritual as needed "As we come up to the full moon, we are still building X..." or "As the moon begins to wane, we are letting go of..." that acknowledges the different date.

Fairly simple options for 'I want to recognise the full moon' might be:
- Go out and watch it, if it's a clear night.

- Take a bottle of water and leave it out in the moonlight for the night, then use the water for magical work, to splash a little on your hands every morning or night, use for magical washes for your home, etc. Some people add a small stone (associating with whatever properties they'd like to charge the water with), some add a label to the outside with a focus (health, prosperity, etc.)

- Divination - Christina Jette's book Tarot for All Seasons has spreads for specific times of year, for example, as well as moon phases, but there are tons of other options for 'what should I let go of in the next two weeks' or 'what should I focus on for the coming month' or whatever timing makes sense to you.

- Meditation (either emptying your mind and seeing what comes up form, or doing a guided meditation.) Some people consider this better on the new moon: I'm of the 'it depends on what I want to do with the meditation' school.

- Other simple tasks. I was playing for a while this past year with doing bullet journalling/sketch notes each fortnight with what I was working on religiously, goals, things that happened. I fell out of the habit, but I think this coming year, I want to see about doing a lunar cycle instead, and if that works better. Even 20 minutes to reflect is a good start!

Over time, you can build up to more complicated options, if you like. These might include:

- More specific ritual structure with multiple steps.

- Combining multiple things (i.e. divination *and* some kind of magical working or meditation.)

- Some people follow a schedule of moons that traces through different associations.

Sometimes that's seasonal associations (Cold Moon, Hunter's Moon, Flower Moon, etc. though some of these can be appropriative from indigenous tribes. Taking the concept but coming up with your own names may be beter.)

Some people focus on the astrological association (which sign the full moon occcurs in, for example, is the easy one, though you can get a lot more complicated.)

Some people look at the day of the week, and do magical work related to that day, whatever might be relevant in their lives.

Some people (or groups) rotate through learning about and honouring different deities each ritual - usually in a season they're particularly relevant or active. (So that might be Brigid in February, Demeter in the summer, Persephone in either spring or fall, depending on focus, etc.)

There are all sorts of other options, like spending a month or a couple of months focusing on each element, or on some other broad sets of concepts. You could build them into an entire month's focus, or just spend an evening with them.

- If you build specific relationships with deities or other beings who like full moon like scheduling, then that's a good option as a time to check in, spend time with those entities, etc.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2016, 07:56:14 pm by Jenett »
Seek Knowledge, Find Wisdom: Research help on esoteric and eclectic topics (consulting and other services)

Seeking: first steps on a Pagan path (advice for seekers and people new to Paganism)

Jainarayan

  • Sr. Master Member
  • *******
  • Join Date: Oct 2014
  • Posts: 606
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 169
    • View Profile
Re: Full Moon Rituals
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2016, 08:43:31 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;196321
Um, maybe that's the case in your background; in mine the full moon lasts roughly three days, though I prefer to time my full moon rituals for the day in which the astronomical full moon happens, more or less.  (Not that I do major full moon rituals; I make offerings for the Good Folk at their shrine in the back.)

 
I thought it was a given that I can't speak for every tradition and was relating what I know. I apologize if it seemed otherwise. Even if in other traditions like yours that go for three days, if one day before and one day after the astronomical full moon, that leaves only tomorrow to design and perform a ritual.

SunflowerP

  • Host
  • *
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Location: Calgary AB
  • Posts: 9909
  • Country: ca
  • Total likes: 732
  • Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
    • View Profile
    • If You Ain't Makin' Waves, You Ain't Kickin' Hard Enough
  • Religion: Eclectic religious Witchcraft
  • Preferred Pronouns: sie/hir/hirs/hirself
Re: Full Moon Rituals
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2016, 12:36:57 am »
Just a couple of points in this that I want to elaborate on.

Quote from: Jenett;196325
Fairly simple options for 'I want to recognise the full moon' might be:
- Go out and watch it, if it's a clear night.


This has been my basic (not necessarily monthly, in that I don't worry if I have a lot of other stuff going on or my sleep schedule is weird or it's cloudy, and I miss it - but more often than not) full moon ritual for... something on the order of ~43 years. It's easy, it's non-obvious to other people, it needn't take more than a few minutes, it requires no more in the way of equipment or ceremony than you want, and it will tend over time to develop significance and 'ritual content' organically.

Quote
Sometimes that's seasonal associations (Cold Moon, Hunter's Moon, Flower Moon, etc. though some of these can be appropriative from indigenous tribes. Taking the concept but coming up with your own names may be beter.)

 
I strongly recommend doing your own observation of seasonal phenomena local to you, and coming up with names accordingly, for this - most commonly-cited names for lunations come either from translations of names used by indigenous tribes in the northeastern US, or (possibly) from European, generally British, folk tradition.

So as well as the issue of appropriation (which is more complicated than it looks, since some names are likely ones that were fabricated, then falsely attributed to indigenous tribes, for the sake of exoticization - and it's not at all clear, anymore, which are genuinely indigenous, which are European, and which are invented), there's the issue of whether they accurately reflect your own seasonal cycles.

Sunflower
I'm the AntiFa genderqueer commie eclectic wiccan Mod your alt-right bros warned you about.
I do so have a life; I just live part of it online!
“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” - Oscar Wilde
"Nobody's good at anything until they practice." - Brina (Yewberry)
My much-neglected blog "If You Ain't Makin' Waves, You Ain't Kickin' Hard Enough"

Marie

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Sep 2016
  • Posts: 2
  • Total likes: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Full Moon Rituals
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2016, 07:56:32 pm »
Quote from: Jainarayan;196320
There's a bunch of hits for Full Moon Rituals. I suppose you could glean ideas from multiple sources to build your own personal ritual. :)


 
Thanks for all the resources! Thanks to everyone for their reinterpretation, great examples and starting points! This was my first post and you guys are great, thank you.

Tags:
 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
3 Replies
2945 Views
Last post July 13, 2011, 06:51:18 pm
by ryman19
2 Replies
2121 Views
Last post August 22, 2011, 11:24:11 am
by Aubrey_Rose
5 Replies
2512 Views
Last post February 16, 2012, 09:39:06 pm
by spoOk
15 Replies
4723 Views
Last post July 17, 2013, 01:02:18 am
by EclecticWheel
10 Replies
1958 Views
Last post March 22, 2019, 12:14:48 am
by ehbowen

* Who's Online

  • Dot Guests: 190
  • Dot Hidden: 0
  • Dot Users: 4
  • Dot Users Online:

* Please Donate!

The Cauldron's server is expensive and requires monthly payments. Please become a Bronze, Silver or Gold Donor if you can. Donations are needed every month. Without member support, we can't afford the server.

* Shop & Support TC

The links below are affiliate links. When you click on one of these links you will go to the listed shopping site with The Cauldron's affiliate code. Any purchases you make during your visit will earn TC a tiny percentage of your purchase price at no extra cost to you.

* In Memoriam

Chavi (2006)
Elspeth (2010)
Marilyn (2013)

* Cauldron Staff

Host:
Sunflower

Message Board Staff
Board Coordinator:
Darkhawk

Assistant Board Coordinator:
Aster Breo

Senior Staff:
Aisling, Allaya, Jenett, Sefiru

Staff:
Ashmire, EclecticWheel, HarpingHawke, Kylara, PerditaPickle, rocquelaire

Discord Chat Staff
Chat Coordinator:
Morag

'Up All Night' Coordinator:
Altair

Cauldron Council:
Bob, Catja, Chatelaine, Emma-Eldritch, Fausta, Jubes, Kelly, LyricFox, Phouka, Sperran, Star, Steve, Tana

Site Administrator:
Randall

SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal