The Dark Moon Current
and Liminal Spaces
The dark moon current (or shadow current, as I sometimes call it) appears when we endure any kind of ending in our life. This happens in relationships, in projects, in careers, during loss, and when we must fight our way through difficult times.
Sometimes the dark moon current is gentle, and the ending it creates feels natural and complete. Other times it can be a harsh crisis that brings your life crashing down. Either way, it’s often difficult and uncomfortable, as growth tends to be. Just as the earth, seasons, and moon rotate through dark and fallow times as they move forward, and just as a seed needs to germinate in the darkness underground in order to sprout, we humans must traverse the shadows on our way to becoming whole. We’re as much a part of this great cycle as every seed and star, and our experiences reflect this.
I’ve heard it said that the dark moon is a time for rest and little magickal work. Likewise, when you’re going through emotional upheaval and hardship, it’s best to put your wand away and wait it out. This seems strange to me, as these energies have so much to offer. I propose we welcome the dark moon current, welcome the mysteries, and welcome the unknown. Let’s stop fearing the uncertainty and instead embrace it. Once we have lived and learned the nature of darkness, we become wiser and more powerful than ever before. That’s what shadow work is all about.
What Is Shadow Work?
Shadow work is magickal practice that corresponds with the dark moon current in our lives. Shadow work is a term used to describe spiritual practice with our inner, hidden selves. It refers to working through trauma, ingrained behaviors, and facing our demons, so to speak. Shadow work is generally focused inward and involves confronting things that we have shunned from our public personality. Our shadow is where our darkest feelings, such as sadness, rage, wrath, and fear, live, alongside unhealthy behaviors, such as addiction, obsessions, and more. By facing these uncomfortable truths, we’re forced to take a more awakened approach. Embracing the shadow means stripping away the ego and really facing ourselves, even the ugly, weak, or undesirable parts.
The workings in this book fall under the category of shadow work for various reasons. Shadow work is represented by the dark phase of the moon; however, as I mentioned, it is not necessarily in synch with the actual lunar cycles in the sky. The need to do shadow work is often brought about by situations outside your control or changes that throw you into chaos. Tumultuous relationships, death of loved ones, breakups, hitting rock bottom in your personal life, and loss are all things that can leave you no choice but to look inward and deal with what you find in there.
Shadow work is absolutely necessary in order to grow spiritually and live a full life. Often when you meet someone, witch or not, who has done their shadow work, you will feel it. They are wise and resilient. They’re empathic and strong. There’s something about them that says they have wisdom beyond the ordinary. They’ve walked through the shadows and come out the other side.
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Venturing into a dark moon phase in life and facing the shadow self is much like entering a mysterious enchanted forest, full of the unknown. There are some dangers that you must conquer in order to move forward. You may unearth qualities of yourself that you’ve been taught to deny: aggression, fear, anger, and weakness. Sometimes discovering these things is a shock, like reaching your hand under your bed and touching something cold and scaly.
Society teaches us to shove these feelings out of sight and to hide the darkness we have inside us. This makes it seem like these feelings have no place in magick and we should reject them. However, this is unbalanced and only leads to bigger problems, like ignoring a leaky ceiling until the whole roof collapses on your head.
Feelings of anger, revulsion, and dislike are natural. They exist within us for survival. They force us to fight for our territory and our safety and to protect what is ours. War gods and goddesses are not evil or bad; they represent a very real part of our human experience.
This book has a lot of curses in it and employs taboo materials like bones, blood, and body parts. I feel these items and magickal techniques fall under the dark moon umbrella simply because they’re hidden out of sight with all the other socially unacceptable witchcraft stuff. Manipulative magick, hexes, curses, and banishing all fall within the realm of the dark moon for various reasons.
The dark moon, being a time of inner work and reflection, can bring your shadows out. If you’ve been identifying strictly with love, light, and positive thoughts for a long time, discovering these things can be as scary as meeting monsters. I call them monsters because if you ignore them long enough, they grow in strength and ugliness, slowly digging their poisonous talons into your mind, affecting what you do and how you live your life. The dark moon is the perfect time to face and release them, as this is when they are closest to the surface. To be an awakened person and truly understand nature, life, and spirit, you can’t ignore or gloss over the dark side. You must accept the invitation when it calls and take the challenge because spirit has chosen this time for you to grow, learn, and become a true master of your own life.
When you enter the dark moon phase of your life, you will be up against some form of combat either with yourself or someone else. This won’t always be pretty and you may not win, but you will definitely be wiser because of it.
Signs of the Dark Moon Current
Nature, God, the universe, spirit, Goddess, the All, Source—these are all names given to a higher power, the force that creates existence. This force, whatever we choose to call it, is constantly giving us signs, symbols, guidance, and warnings in earthly form, almost like road signs along our path. Learning to see these symbols takes quiet effort and patience, but once you become aware of them, your life will drastically change.
The dark moon current (or dark deity, if you prefer) may try to get in touch with you through symbols.
The waxing, full, and waning moon energies—sometimes called Maiden, Mother, and Crone energies—enter and leave your life all the time. Once you’re in tune with nature’s great cycle, you will begin seeing their messages. Recognizing the cyclical phenomena of progress comes with peaceful acceptance of the hardship life brings because you’ll understand it as natural and temporary.
Spirit showing you a symbol is not some bizarre sensational thing like movies would have you believe. There aren’t lightning bolts or a big voice booming, “Look out!” The messages are much more subtle than that and often quite mundane, which is why many people fail to pick up on them. Symbols come to you exactly when you need to see them, in the little coincidences and small things that get your attention. Symbols you receive from spirit will always make sense to you specifically. Spirit will not send you puzzles to figure out. Usually when you see a symbol, the first association you make in your mind is the first step to deciphering what it means.
There are some “dark” symbols that have been quite consistent within the human psyche across cultures and back through time. Crows, owls, ravens, snakes, serpents, black cats, moons, cauldrons, deep wells, scissors, knives, keys, skulls, and bones are just some of the imagery that may come to you when you are entering a dark moon phase. If you’re seeing these things again and again, it is time to pay attention to what is changing in your life.
How are these symbols shown? In the most direct way possible: in your real day-to-day life. On social media, the news, snippets of conversation overheard on the bus, pictures or posters you see in passing, dreams, even cloud formations—any way to get it right in front of your eyes!
If you’re consistently encountering one or more of these objects seemingly for no particular reason, there’s a good chance the dark deities want your attention. Remember, they don’t necessarily herald a physical death. Rather, the shadow current is letting you know that a chapter in your life is going to end soon. This may sound foreboding or even scary, but it really doesn’t have to be. Being a witch means accepting, understanding, and even embracing this period of darkness because it is essential to growth. Consider it a quest.
Liminal Spaces
The word liminal means threshold—any point between entrance and exit. It is a place of transition, waiting, and not knowing. Just like the dark phase of the moon, a liminal space encompasses the gap between an ending and a beginning. Our lives also cycle through liminal times, when we are transitioning from one phase of life into the next or when catalytic things occur that permanently change us.
Performing spells and rituals for shadow work in a liminal space and time can increase their power.
Liminal Spaces:
• Wells
• Where a large body of water meets land
• Cemetery gates
• Where a cliff drops off and meets air
• The crossroads
Liminal Times:
• The dark moon phase
• Samhain (October 31)
• The solstices, when day and night are equal length
• Midnight
• Dawn or dusk
Liminal Experiences:
• Moving
• Breakups
• Changing careers
• Grieving a death
• An unpredictable change
• Loss of all kinds
What all these things have in common is that they are the in-between time, when one thing ends and another begins.
In witchcraft, the crossroads are one of the most popular liminal spaces in which to work magick. Crossroads are literally an intersection of two streets or pathways that make a cross or X shape. This can be country lanes, busy city intersections, train tracks, or any variation of these. They’re a place of transformation and change, which is part of the reason they’re in so many spells. This is because like death and rebirth, the crossroads represents two intersecting events. They are a symbol of choice and transition.
Folklore about the crossroads abounds. It is where the goddess Hecate can be found, seeing into the past, present, and future. Faeries are rumored to gather there, and even good old Satan is believed to like it there. Some traditions also believe that in these places the veil between worlds is thinner and spirits of the dead can be contacted there.
A liminal space can be used to disperse energy, so place a charm there to carry its vibes in all directions. If you have an important message to send energetically, incorporating a liminal space will ensure it gets carried far and wide. It can also be used in spells regarding difficult choices.
While the absence of the moon in the sky is easy to understand as representing death, it’s also a bridge from one place or form to the next, a liminal space that connects two things. That space of “nothing” is where great change happens, and sometimes great change is a result of battle and destruction. The dark moon can represent fighting from one side of a problem to another or overcoming any form of darkness to find light on the other side. Sometimes this darkness takes the form of enemies and rivals who we must face in battle—not necessarily with swords and weapons, of course, but with our will and our heart.
The Dark Moon Phase in Magick
The dark moon is just as powerful as its popular, attractive sister, the full moon. When the dark moon rules the sky, you might feel a need to look inward at yourself. This can be difficult but is absolutely necessary. The dark moon energy forces you to see things from a new perspective—the shadows make everything look different. Your own actions and feelings come into a stark exposure, and you’re forced to question your behavior, beliefs, and relationships. Your psychic abilities may be enhanced at this time, increasing your sensitivity to the feelings and intentions of others, which can reveal some harsh truths. In the dark, you can see things in ways you never did before, and all the shadows are visible: shadows in others, in society, and in yourself.
Most popularly, the dark moon is a time of meditation, divination, cleansing, and banishing. It’s a time for truth seeking and growth. It’s a time for clearing out the old in order to welcome the new. These undertakings are all socially acceptable ideas that don’t sound so bad after all. They’re safe and very politely omit the heavier stuff. However, there’s a lot more to the dark moon than house blessings and protection spells. It’s also the time when a witch does her dirty work. Dirty work can be unpleasant acts, such as exacting revenge, throwing curses, banishing unhealthy attachments, and drudging up an inner trait to look it right in the face and kill it. These experiences are the definition of shadow work, and they make us confront the most painful things and learn from them.
Building an Altar to the Dark Moon
If you are feeling drawn to the dark moon phase or are repeatedly seeing shadow symbols in your life (even stumbling across this book could be a nudge), why not create an altar to the dark moon? This way, you have a sacred space within which to commune with it and with your own dark side. Building a dark moon altar signifies your openness to initiation, change, and growth. It’s an act that announces to the physical and astral realms that you are ready to welcome the energies of knowledge, wisdom, death, and rebirth.
As with any altar or sacred space, the dark moon altar doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate. It simply must be meaningful to you. You don’t have to build an entire dark moon altar unless you want to. Instead, you can add objects to your existing altar during the three days of the moon phase. The rest of the time, keep these special objects hidden in a black box, bringing them out only during the dark moon. Keeping them secret makes them more powerful, and storing them in darkness further sanctifies them for their purpose.
When building a dark moon altar, use certain objects that resonate with this energy. I recommend black, dark red, or purple for an altar cloth and black candles. See if you can find some natural items that are of the dark deities’ realm, such as black feathers, black stones, or bones and teeth. Some additional items to consider are figurines or pictures of the dark deities’ animals, such as crows, cats, owls, bats, or snakes. Scissors or a small ritual knife is also useful, as is a cauldron-like vessel.
The cauldron is an important part of dark moon symbolism. You don’t have to own a big, monstrous cast-iron vat from fairy tales. You can find small cauldrons for sale online and at metaphysical stores that are a perfect size to place on an indoor altar table. You can also use any dark-colored circular bowl made of stone, metal, or other fireproof material. What’s really important is what the bowl or cauldron represents: a dark place of creativity, mystery, transformation, and change.
Another important item on the dark moon altar is a knife or blade. This can be a pair of special scissors (there are some very nice decorative sewing scissors out there), a small knife kept aside only for this purpose, a scythe, or even a pocketknife. It need not be sharp, as it is for severing energy only and creating endings in the astral realm. This ritual knife is used for symbolic killing of situations and things—never for objects, people, or animals, and is not meant for physically cutting anything.
From this altar space, you can perform the following rituals and devotionals. Leave your altar set up like this for the three days that the dark moon presides over the sky. In between, store your items in their box in a dark place until the next moon cycle.
Casting a Dark Moon Circle
If you’re reading this book, chances are you’re familiar with casting a circle prior to rituals or spells. Casting a magick circle is the act of creating a separate magickal energetic space removed from everyday life within which to do your work. This is meant not only to protect yourself and your working from unwanted outside forces, but also to keep just the right kind of energies and vibrations inside. When you release the circle at the end of your work, you are setting that energy free to spirit to manifest.
You can customize how you cast a circle according to your working. If you are working with the dark moon current or death energy, you will want to customize your circle to suit this. Below is a simple circle casting that compliments most dark moon rituals.
As with a usual circle casting, you will be calling upon the cardinal directions and their associated elements: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. However, because you’re working with death energy and darkness, you’re going to be calling upon the elements in their most destructive forms. Just like people, each element has a shadow side.
Here is a table explaining it, along with some objects associated with the shadow side of each:
|
Element |
Direction |
Light Side |
Shadow Side |
Objects for Dark Moon Circle |
|
Fire |
South |
Creativity, inspiration, sexual energy, victory, success |
Destruction, anger, rage, war |
Ashes, charred remains of a fire, an object that survived a house or forest fire. A piece of stone or dirt from the site of a fire, especially one that caused significant damage. An object that has been warped and ruined by heat either by your own doing or naturally. |
|
Water |
West |
Intuition, deep feeling, emotion, empathy, love |
Navigating sadness and depression, addiction, being submerged in others’ feelings, obsession |
Silt from the bottom of a pond or lake. This will contain decomposed plant and animal life. Fish bones (these are often tossed onto the beach by birds of prey). A lost object that has been worn down or destroyed by the water over time and washed up on shore in a state of decomposition and transition. This could be sea glass or some other man-made item that has significantly changed from exposure to water. |
|
Earth |
North |
Prosperity, growth, fertility, abundance |
Physical death; deep, dark change such as compost, decomposition, rot, survival instincts |
Animal bones and skulls, dark earth from a deep hole, dead roots of trees from underground, dirt from a grave. |
|
Air |
East |
Communication, self-expression, connecting to others, writing and art, intellect |
Knowledge of the dark arts, communicating with the dead and unseen spirits, crossing information between living and dead worlds, expressing the shadow self through words or art, teaching and learning hard lessons |
Crow or owl feathers, burning dark moon incense (explained below), your breath taken during the dark moon phase contained in a bottle. |
To perform the dark moon ritual, first choose your space and orient yourself to the directions.
Place your chosen objects facing their associated elements, either around you on the floor or on your altar. Many shadow magick books suggest casting the circle widdershins, or counterclockwise; however, I choose to cast even my dark circles deosil, or clockwise. It feels right to me to do so, as even though I’m making a dark energy circle, I’m still creating it, not banishing it. You can cast your circle deosil or widdershins, depending on what feels right for you.
Stand in front of your altar for a moment and take some deep breaths. Face the west, the place where the sun goes down, the direction of endings. Hold a jar of water and walk clockwise around the circle, sprinkling water from your fingertips as you go. I use dark moon water, which is explained in Chapter 3. As you walk, state out loud:
I cast this circle for protection.
No unwanted energies may enter here.
Within this circle we are darkness, we are germination, we are ending and beginnings.
With this I create a sacred space and time.
So mote it be.
Feel the barrier you have created. See in your mind the divide between your circle and the outer world. It may seem like a film of gray or black energy, a veil or a shield. The energy of a dark moon circle may feel heavy, almost oppressive. Contrarily, it may feel empty or cavernous. Dark moon energy is unique and feels different from life energy.
Now face the east. Gaze at the objects you’ve put there and consider what they mean. Remember the dark side of air: spirit communication and messages from the other side. Say:
Hail to the east,
Spirits of air,
Whisperer of secrets,
Voice of the dead.
I honor and invoke thee.
Enter this circle.
Imagine air swooshing into your circle and lingering there, perhaps in the form of the dead or your ancestors. You may also envision a grimoire that symbolizes dark knowledge.
Move to the south. Gaze at these objects, considering the dark side of fire: destruction, rage, revenge. Acknowledge that you have these inside you. Say:
Hail to the south,
Spirits of fire,
Harbingers of rage and revenge,
Powers of destruction.
I honor and invoke thee.
Enter this circle.
Imagine a violent flame entering the circle.
Move to the west. Contemplate the objects there, the powers of water to shift inner worlds, to feel the truth, to understand the dark side of emotion. Say:
Hail to the west,
Spirits of water,
Keepers of the deadly current,
The undertow beneath our lives.
I honor and invoke thee.
Enter this circle.
Envision a rush of black water running into the circle.
Face the north. Look at the objects, at their lack of physical life. They represent what is left when a life ends. Understand the temporary state of physical death, the fertility hidden within it, and the importance of transition. Say:
Hail to the north,
Spirits of earth,
Place of bones,
Keeper of corpses.
I honor and invoke thee.
Enter this circle.
Imagine a deep hole in the ground appearing in your circle.
Stand in the center of your circle and raise your arms above you to the sky. Feel the energy of the dark moon current streaming down into you. Say:
Hail to the dark moon,
Spirit of death and renewal,
Keeper of the great cycles.
I honor and invoke thee.
Enter my circle.
Now your circle is cast and you can perform your dark moon rituals.
To banish the circle, start in the west. Walk counterclockwise around the circle and say:
I cast this circle into the universe.
The circle is open but never broken.
As you return to the west, visualize your circle spinning off into the night like a wind tunnel or cone of energy.
A Dark Moon Devotional
This is a simple way to acknowledge and make use of the dark moon energies each lunar cycle. Perform these monthly exercises each dark moon to acknowledge your shadow self, get in touch with intuition, perform a reading, and take full advantage of this special energy.
materials
Small strips of paper
Pen
Envelope
Scissors or knife
Cauldron or fireproof vessel
Matches or a lighter
Strand of your own hair or fingernail clipping
Throughout the entire waning moon phase prior to this devotional, pay attention to those things in your life that you wish to change. Any time you think of something you’d like to get rid of, banish, or outgrow, write it on a slip of paper and place it in the envelope. Keep the envelope hidden somewhere safe. You don’t have to add something to it every single day, but having at least three things written down is best. Some examples are discord in the home or workplace, low self-esteem, a creative block, and even a person’s unwanted influence over your feelings. In essence, any circumstance you’d like to transform can be written down and added to the envelope.
On the night of the dark moon, while you are sitting quietly at your dark moon altar and have cast a circle as outlined, visualize the dark moon current in your mind’s eye. You may see a wise person, a cloaked figure, or simply a black hole. This is death energy. Take all the slips of paper out of the envelope and put them in a pile in front of you. Pick up the first one and read it out loud. Remember how you felt when writing it. Allow yourself to experience the feelings again, and then place the paper in the cauldron. Take the scissors or knife and “cut” the ties between yourself and the issue by slicing the air above the cauldron. Imagine you’re cutting threads of energy between yourself and the papers. Feel yourself become lighter as you do this, the threads being released and floating away. Repeat this with each slip of paper. When you’ve done this process with all the papers, add a strand of your hair or fingernail clipping to the cauldron. This physical piece of your body symbolizes the parts of you being given over to the dark moon to be transformed. Do one final snip with the scissors between yourself and the vessel, separating your current and past self. Then, burn them all to ashes. If you wish, do some scrying or divination to seek guidance about how to move forward. Release the circle.
Scatter the ashes outdoors. Take a moment to present an offering to the dark moon and thank it for helping you grow. An offering can be a coin, a crystal, a pretty rock, or a cup of wine or tea placed or poured on the ground in thanks. As you leave your offering, imagine the vast emptiness of the black hole of change, acknowledging it with your heart.