Full Aquarius Moon – Connect

The Full Aquarius Moon (August 3rd, 16:59 BST) brings a window of opportunity to connect with like-minded and interesting people. If you’ve been feeling a bit stale in your relationships (and I suspect that is the case for many of us during global restrictions of freedom of movement) what can you do to breathe some fresh air into this part of your life?

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It’s not so much the super deep and meaningful relationships I’m talking about here, it’s more friends/ acquaintances.
I read an interesting article yesterday on the (excellent) Mooncircles.com site by April Elliot Kent entitled “Aquarius Full Moon: Alone, Together” where she talked about this, which really resonated.

“You know when you begin to feel a lack of balance in your life, a paucity of happy, uncomplicated places where you can simply show up, be yourself, and have the sense that you belong there.”

April Elliot Kent

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

*What is the current state of my friendships?
*What do I need to to fulfil my needs in this area?
*How can I protect my need for space?
*How can I foster “happy, uncomplicated places”?

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*It’s Full Moon Ritual time!
*Release what is holding you back, perhaps through burning a list of those things and blowing the embers away with the breeze
*Invite what you need, perhaps through creating a charm bag with representations of what you’re looking for and some herbs/ stones to bolster your intent

First Quarter Moon in Scorpio – SWEAT

As the month draws to a close, the moon reaches its first quarter in Scorpio (July 27th, 13:32 BST). With Mars energy already holding sway, I feel like this first quarter, in Mars’s (traditional) home sign, will further fan the fire.

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They say that what we put our attention on grows, well, it is also (more) true that what we put our effort into flourishes. What do you want that you aren’t currently giving enough effort? Put your back into it, at whatever level you can manage. Not all effort is physical.

“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.”
― Helen Keller

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

*What area of my life requires more effort right now?
*How can I best spend my energy?
*How can I work smarter, not harder?
*What is possible for me in this area?

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*Effort is not confined to physical work, magical work counts too. Where can you throw some extra magic at a goal?
*Sigil shoaling for tangible short term goals will be effective now
*Support your increased effort by extra care for your physical body, a footbath, an early night. What replenishes you? Do that.

Cancer New Moon – LEAN IN

The new moon in Cancer (July 20th, 18:33 BST) is opposite Saturn in its home sign of Capricorn. It feels like the two grandparents, stern, but ultimately invested in our wellbeing, are watching over us. 

In a year already filled with weirdness, what happens next? Is it possible to bring elements from the past (ours, and from our ancestors) forward, in a healthy way, into the present? Not everything is obsolete, and equally, not everything traditional is useful. Lean in to what works, discriminate wisely. Ask the elders, incarnate or in spirit, for help. 

“The songs of our ancestors are also the songs of our children”
― Philip Carr-Gomm

 

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

*Whose child am I? 
*What are my ancestral blessings?
*What are my ancestral burdens?
*What is the song of my ancestors that I should sing today?

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*Spend time with your ancestors, whatever that looks like for you
*Spend time with your ancestors of place, the tree/ mountain/ city/ river spirits who you cohabit with
*Write your epitaph, what is your legacy? This doesn’t need to be morbid. I would love for mine to say “was kind”. 

Third Quarter Aries Moon – INCITE

The Third Quarter Moon (July 13th, 00:29 BST) joins Mars in Aries, squaring off against the sun. The mood is explosive. Something has to move. Stasis is anathema now. 

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Where in your life do you need to take action? What sparks need to fly? Dare to light the match. Begin. 

“These are burning times. And they call for Burning Women. Women embodied in their passion. Woman feeling in their bodies. Creative women. Courageous women. Women who have learned to run on a different power source to the world which is falling into flames around her. She has already disentangled herself from the wreckage of the patriarchal culture, so she will not be dazed, confused and disorientated by the systemic changes happening around her. Centred within herself, receptive to the Earth beyond her, she knows how to cultivate from the ashes, she knows how to find the embers to fuel the new fire.

Burning Women arise.
Our time is now.
Our time has come.”
― Lucy H. Pearce, Burning Woman

 

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

*What fuels my fire?
*What has burned out?
*Show me ways to burn that support my growth (take 3 cards)

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*Candle magic
*Fire ritual, burn off old habits, create space for new
*Drink hot and spicy tea, I love a blend of cinnamon and turmeric

 

Full Capricorn Moon & Eclipse – RELEASE

The full Capricorn moon (July 5th, 5:44 BST) is eclipsed, though only a faint shadow of the sun will be visible from the UK. This is a more subtle eclipse, rounding off the Cancer/ Capricorn eclipse cycle of the last 18 months or so.

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Eclipse energy is unstable. Better to rest and release expectation than to make and carry out grand plans. Take some time to look within and beneath.

“If you spent your life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were? What if the face you showed the world turned out to be a mask… with nothing beneath it?”
― Jodi Picoult

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

*What do I see in the mirror?
*What don’t I see?
*What lies beneath?

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*mirror scrying
*offerings to local spirits, the sun and the moon
*ritual bath – include bay and rosemary for cleansing and protection

First Quarter Moon in Virgo – CORONATION

Venus is invisible, and it may feel right now that all the beauty and goodness is being sucked out of the world. The enormity of the changes ahead has started to sink in. What do we do?

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Well, for one, we can focus on our own wellness. What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to be strong?

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

Separate the minors in your deck into the four suits. Ask “how can I best support myself now?” then draw one card for each aspect/ element – mental, spiritual, emotional, physical.
Repeat asking “how can I best support others/ be of service now?”.

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*Good old fashioned healthy diet and exercise (whatever that means to you, try not to get snagged in the details/ minutae of diet religion)
*sigil like a mad thing for all kinds of wellness goals: “full health and wellbeing”, “immunity to all disease” that kind of thing

 

Gemini New Moon – CROSSROADS

The big guns (Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto) are all retrograde, but I am hopeful that this Gemini New Moon (May 22nd, 18:39 BST) is the point where in-person communication and interactions become decriminalised. The road ahead is full of twists and turns, but then it always is, we just like to think it’s a linear path with clearly marked junctions where we make choices.

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What is your succour for the (necessarily unknown) path ahead? Gather your resources now.

“Everybody has that point in their life where you hit a crossroads and you’ve had a bunch of bad days and there’s different ways you can deal with it and the way I dealt with it was I just turned completely to music.”
― Taylor Swift

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

*What is behind me?
*What lies close ahead?
*Show me something helpful for the choices I will face

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*If you work with a crossroad deity like Hecate, or the devil, go HAM – road openers are also a good shout
*If you have a strong Venus connection you might want to join her on her underworld back and fore journey and find new and old ways to cast off all the trappings to get to the essence of who and what you are
*lean in to those hobbies and creative acts that reveal/ remind you that you have a bright and beautiful soul

 

Third Quarter Moon in Aquarius – MIRROR BUBBLE

Quarter moon energy can be tricky. The moon and sun are squaring off against each other, there is tension, but that also means there is impetus. Given that the moon is in fixed Aquarius (May 14th, 15:03 BST) I think it’s likely that this means some kind of pressure on our worldview. And that is not usually fun.

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It is easier to believe what we have always believed and seek out sources which confirm those viewpoints, than to confront ourselves with opinions that counter our own. With so much of our lives now online it becomes easier and easier to stay within a mirrored bubble where our version of reality is reflected back to us strengthening our conviction that what we believe is the one and only truth.

“It was a good answer that was made by one who when they showed him hanging in a temple a picture of those who had paid their vows as having escaped shipwreck, and would have him say whether he did not now acknowledge the power of the gods, — ‘Aye,’ asked he again, ‘but where are they painted that were drowned after their vows?’ And such is the way of all superstition, whether in astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, or the like; wherein men, having a delight in such vanities, mark the events where they are fulfilled, but where they fail, though this happens much oftener, neglect and pass them by.”
― Francis Bacon

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

*What does the truth of the world look like to me?
*What am I not seeing?

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*Personally, I would stay away from spellwork at this time, especially for anything generative. I think it’s likely results will be skewed and there’s a possibility of backfiring.
*Exercises to strengthen and support your middle eye/third eye/ astral vision would be on point and fun. Maybe start here.

 

Scorpio Full Moon – Dreamworks

I always find that when the moon is in Scorpio my dreaming is more lucid and tends to look and feel more like direct messaging/ spirit communication than usual, so I am expecting this Scorpio Full Moon (May 7th, 11:45 BST) to be a powerful one for dreams and receiving messages from beyond the veil. I hope it’s good news.

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If you’d like to enhance your dreamtime, people have had good results using mugwort tea or sleeping with it under their pillow (I put it in those pretty little bags that jewellery and crystals often come in and tie it tight so it doesn’t go everywhere).

If you’re finding the energy and the situation all a bit much, then regular grounding (bare feet on earth works great) and carrying a stone that feels calming and protective may be helpful. Tourmaline, and other dark stones, are my favourite for this purpose, but you may have something else which works best for you.

These suggestions are mutually inclusive.

“Blessings be on this house,” Granny said, perfunctorily. It was always a good opening remark for a witch. It concentrated people’s minds on what other things might be on this house.”
― Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

I have made a card spread for this full moon based on the imagery of a castle. It felt appropriate with the sun in earthy Taurus and with many of us being confined to our homes and perhaps seeing them in new ways as a safe haven/ fortress or perhaps a prison – or both.

The prompts could also be used for journalling if you do not use cards/ runes etc. Just say/ write :”what is my … ” and put the keyword(s) for each card in the … part of the sentence.

*What is my foundation? This may be what is supporting and sustaining you, or perhaps what is causing you to feel shaky and vulnerable.
*What are my walls? Are they useful fortifying boundaries or seemingly unscalable barriers, or both? What does that mean?
*What is my entrance? Do you have a door that lets you freely come and go (metaphorically and perhaps physically) or is it more of a portcullis that you are not able to open? How does that feel?
*What are my windows? Slits for shooting arrows through or large openings that let the light and world in? How does that feel?
*What is my flag? What message am I sending to others?

I realise that this is a somewhat complex spread that is going to take some nuanced reading of the cards. If you’re a newbie don’t be disheartened if you need to draw a clarifier or two, perhaps with the question “what would help me now?”

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*It’s hands dirty time. Plant stuff if you can. Touch and share space with other living things.
*Do you make your own skincare? A cleansing full moon bath soak with essential oils plus a clay-based face mask would be totes approps.
*If you don’t have an ancestor practice, start one. They want to hear from you.

 

Aries New Moon – FIRESTARTER

The balance has tipped. Whichever hemisphere you live in light and dark slip out of balanced stillness, and continue their dance of ebb and flow. The Aries New Moon falls a few days after the Equinox (March 24th, 9:28 GMT) and heralds a significant change in mood. The past is past, the future is not yet known or come, we look to the now – the gift that is the present.

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The energy feels clean and less complicated. What do you want to do/ be/ say/ achieve? You can do that now. And perhaps gather some co-conspirators along the way. Dance around the fire with your tribe.

“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves”
― Laura Esquivel

Divination/ Journaling Prompts

The new moons closest to the equinoxes and solstices are a good time to check in with your goals/ dreams/ plans. Each is a new start point, even more so than a usual new moon. Use this time to see if your plans are still relevant. Make adjustments if necessary. Be bold.
*What spark glimmers in me now?
*How can I fan the flame?
*What guard rails need to be in place?

Ritual/ EveryDayMagic/ Spellwork Suggestions

*Good time for a knees up/ ritual with likeminded souls. Have a fire or a representation of.
*candle magic. Place the thing (in written/ sigil form) you are bringing into being under the candle, and/ or carve it into the wax. Light the way for it to come to you.