Dark Moon Blessings

Another dark moon ritual lasting into the wee hours. No, it isn't the new moon, not yet, at least for me - that will happen when the first crescent appears in the sky. We dedicated our ritual to Hekate, of course, did a little divination and left offerings at the crossroads. Raven's partner prepared a lovely cassoulet, some of which served as our offering to Hekate - meat, beans, onions, garlic - along with a libation of Strega liqueur. Yes, of course we had our little nip too. We were even given a little omen - a frog jumped right across our path as we made our way to the car. There are reasons why I think this is a good omen, but I will not elaborate. I drove home in a haze, tired after a long day, reeking of incense and oil and feeling that our divinatory session was helpful and motivating.

August is around the corner. My Festival of Demeter the Bountiful on August 1st, a birthday, my 55th (can't believe it) later in the week, Hekate's Night on the 13th along with the Full Moon - how lovely! I am a true ritualist at heart so, as busy as I will be, it will be labors of love.

I would love to hear from you about how you celebrate the dark of the moon vs. the new moon.

Blessings nine!

Full Moon Blessings!

Luna, every woman's friend,

To me thy goodness condescend;

Let this night in visions see

Emblems of my destiny.

~ traditional ~

May our Lady bless your Full Moon revels!

 Blessings nine!

Scattering Rose Petals Under the Moon

courtesy of Marie's Freebies blog

It  has been a busy month and the rest of the summer looks to be the same. This week I am at the shop three days caring for the crystals and advising in my capacity as "Resident Witch" - I love my job! It seems like we were just honoring the Dark of the Moon and now, here is the Full Rose Moon, a moon I love celebrating! This is so much a women's moon, for me and mine anyway.

There are quite a few names for July's Full Moon, in fact Rose Moon may apply to June as well. In June I celebrate The Moon of Fruit and Flowering, which is a celebration I created myself. Here are some other names for July's full moon:

Summer Moon - Colonial

Hungry Ghost Moon - Chinese

Ripe Corn Moon - Cherokee

Moon of Claiming - Celtic

Mead Moon - Medieval

Buck Moon - Thomas's Old Farmer's Almanac, Algonquin Tribes

Blessing Moon - Wiccan

For our celebration of July, the main theme is the Rose Moon, but adding Claiming and Blessing as well. The altar is dressed with roses, both fresh and dried petals and buds. Rosewater to cleanse with and a special rose blend oil for anointing are also included. We invoke the Goddesses with a calling out of Their names and the energies we associate with Them and claim our power and worth with a prayer for affirmation of self-worth. Offerings, a libation and divination are included among other things.

As our coven is dedicated to Hekate, we naturally honor Her, but include other Goddesses as well, such as:

Aphrodite, Persephone, Selene, Hestia, Sulis, Rosmerta, Lilith, The Fates and Ananka. Yes, this is mixing our cultures certainly, but for this ritual, we honor ALL Goddesses, of all cultures and all women. For us, it's our Dianic/Feminist thing!

I hope you are blessed by the feminine power of the rose this full moon.

courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Blessings nine!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July

and

Goddess Bless America!