When I was a child I especially loved a book I'd been given called Twice in a Blue Moon by Edith Mary Bell, published in 1947. The main character was a goblin called Nab, and Granny Grouch, who also featured in her earlier book, The Fairy Months. I loved this book so much, it took me somewhere secret and mysterious. It felt like it needed a key to fully understand what it was all about. I made me wonder; is a blue moon something real? But I didn't find out for many years, that a blue moon is simply a calendar month with two full moons. This only happens every two or three years, so yes, a blue moon is special, rare and rather mysterious.
This recent full moon, which came into its fullness from the night of Wednesday 29th August, was also a blue super moon.
The moon is full when it is at the point where we can see an entire side – the only side of the moon we ever see. For magical purposes, this is a good time to do rituals focused on personal growth and spiritual development, and to rid oneself of anything no longer needed; to move away, in other words from a feeling of 'over fullness', The powerful Full Moon energy can help to dispel any heavy or old energy that does not serve us anymore
There can be a difference of up to 30,000 miles in the distance of the Moon from our planet. The closest point is called the perigee (and the furthest is called the apogee).
If the moon becomes full when it is reaching or approaching its closest perigee to the Earth, it appears bigger in the sky when viewed from Earth, and is considered a super moon. To have a blue super moon is an even rarer occasion, and one that calls out for magic.
At the end of August this year we gathered to celebrate the blue super moon and do some moon magic.
Firstly I set up a place where we could gather in a circle and picked some blue hydrangeas, which represented this lovely moon. We laid out a yew wand to cast a circle and some moon water (made by leaving spring water out in the light of the full moon) and some joss sticks to consecrate it. We had paper to write down our thoughts and a drum so that we could journey to the full moon. People brought their Tarot packs to share and to use.
We opened a circle, calling in moon power from the four quarters. Finally, to begin, we chanted three Awens. This helps raise the power of this circle. Awen is a Brittonic word for “poetic inspiration”. We call out the Awen three times to call for the inspirational muse of all creative magicians to flood into our beings.
So then the eight of us were ready to do some Full Blue Super Moon Magic.
This sort of thinking about our personal lives and experiences needs strong intuitive awareness and the full moon can be used to increase understanding to aid this. We were asked to consider, "'What is it that you don’t need in your life at this moment" This could have been anything that we needed rid of to prevent that 'overfull feeling'; a change in one's own behaviour, or in our working life, or in relationships, or regarding items we no longer needed.
As we considered this – the ridding of some unwanted thing – we were thinking also about the vacuum that might be left, as the unwanted departed. To make sure we attracted what we needed and required in our lives as we got rid of what no longer served us, we needed to make sure that vacuum was filled consciously.
For instance, I decided I no longer needed to go at full pace all the time; I can stop rushing, as I get a little older, and take time to smell the roses and 'stop and stare', something I am very bad at achieving! So I decided to use this magic to be rid of unnecessary bustle, and the pressure I put on myself to always be busy. But into that vacuum, I had to think about what being 'less rushed' actually meant, what it felt like, and what I had to do to maintain that feeling.
We wrote down what we needed to rid ourselves of, using as few words as possible, and being careful how we phrased our words, so that we didn't ask for the wrong things. We also, if needed, wrote down the things we wished to retain or gain, to fill up any vacuum, and thought also about things that might help us grow stronger, more rounded, like this supermoon, in all her fullness.
Once everyone had completed their work, we burnt our papers. This allowed the thoughts, wished, desires and hopes that we have written down, to dissipate into the ether. We cast our papers into the flames one by one and watched them turn to ash, as the magic moved into a different realm.
Then we made ourselves comfortable. The Herald talked us quietly into relaxation at the start of our magical journeys in the otherworld, and the drumming began; that steady beat which seems fast, but actually slows our brain waves into an Alpha rhythm.
Each of us had a satisfying journey. As we slowly woke from our journeys, back from the depths of our dreaming time to the perceived world, we took a moment to feel back in our bodies and in the room, then began to relate our journeys to each other.
I will tell you about mine.
"In my safe circle of trees, Hare came bounding up to me. 'Well,' I said, you're not exactly who I was expecting. You are a very busy, rushy animal, yourself, Hare.' He grew in size until I was able to clamber on his back. 'I'll take you to someone I know, called Slothful.' We raced (hared!) over the meadows and up a hill. The huge full moon was glowing just above the peak of the hill. There, Hare became his usual shape and size and I was confronted by a giant tortoise. This was Slothful! I sat patiently, because waiting for him to impart wisdom was a slow business. It taught me a valuable lesson just to wait like this. Slothful spoke slowly and every so often would retract his ancient head back into his shell and make me wait again. But eventually he had imparted all his steady wisdom. I suddenly realised I loved him very much. I went to hug his darling head, but it disappeared into his shell; 'don't touch me', he warned. At that point we said goodbye formally and Hare returned to take me back to my circle of trees, just as the call back sign came from the drummer."
We individually pulled out the Moon card (XVIII) from our chosen pack. These had some similarities throughout, but often were quite powerfully different depending on the pack.
Once we'd taken all this varied 'moon energy' in, we each randomly chose another card. This worked hugely well; The Sun, The Star, the Wolf King of Stones (the king of pentangles), and Pryyowen (VII, the Chariot), all came through. Often what had been shed, and what had been journeyed for, came through strongly.
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It was time to close the circle, thanking the quarters and unwinding with yew wand. It was late, and the moon was up. We all crowded outside to watch clouds scud over its bright surface. It felt powerful, calming, determined. By then, we were are peckish, and went back inside to ground ourselves with cheeses, cakes and wines.
It will take me some time to process this journey and the card I pulled from the Hallowquest pack. But already I can feel the influence of the Giant Tortoise on my life!
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