Ninth Lunation: Waxing Moon Cycle
Days 1–16
Two-Day Moon-Wise Retreat
Remember that during this lunation it would be wise to try (if you haven’t already) a two-day Moon-Wise retreat schedule (see appendix D). You can schedule your retreat at any time during this lunation.
Day of Silence
Engaging in wakeful silence allows you the opportunity to observe not only what is happening in your environment but also your internal responses. One of the most damaging responses we can have as magical folk (and as human beings, in general) is our tendency to gird against our life’s experiences.
We have good reason to do so sometimes. Our history, family, culture, and more can predispose us to certain responses. Our genetic makeup and even our preference for pleasurable experiences can also cause us to pick and choose and guard against what we perceive to be undesirable and thus something to be avoided.
But unless we find ourselves in extreme circumstances, there is little reason to actively guard against life as it unfolds. As the day progresses, look for times when you clench, tighten, and withdraw. Notice when you are pulling away from other people or situations. As you feel your body sensations, try to notice your inner commentary about the person or situation as well. Nothing more is needed, except your awareness.
A Word to the Wise: If you are being abused in some way, there is more than ample reason for you to guard against the experience. Or when you have the impulse to harm yourself or others, you have good reason to guard against the experience. When we are truly tuned in to such conditions, we know that we need to seek assistance.
Third Immutable Axiom
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Direction: |
Southwest |
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Power: |
The power of bounty |
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Season: |
Midsummer |
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Festival: |
Lughnasadh |
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Theme: |
Freely sharing resources |
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Date: |
August 2 |
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Axiom: |
A practitioner of the Old Ways acts with natural generosity. |
Lughnasadh is an Irish Gaelic name for the festival on August 2 when we celebrate the harvesting of the first grain of the growing season. It is the first of three harvest-themed festivals in the Witch’s year. Depending on the region, Lughnasadh is sometimes also called Lammas, or “loaf-mas.”
The mythology and symbolism of Lughnasadh are clear. The grain, which generously gives us life, is “sacrificed” (reaped) to nourish us. In early European agricultural communities, Lughnasadh was the first day of harvest. It was a time when the fields would be glowing with corn or grain and the cycle of reaping would begin. Harvesting would continue until Samhain (on October 31), which was when important stores of food were put away for the dark and dangerous winter months.
The central theme and energy of Lughnasadh is that of using all the ingredients of your life and holding nothing back. Like the ripening fields, we see ourselves as a resource for ourselves and for others. The fields, trees, and vines all give of their gifts generously, and they even provide seeds for future giving.
If we follow the example of the plant world, we can see that giving is a natural state. An apple tree does not get upset because someone harvested all of its apples. It produces more and still more than that, until the season will not allow it to continue any further. But our conditioned impulse is not to give, but rather to take.
Greed as a human impulse is built upon millennia of behavioral patterns around human survival, so we shouldn’t beat ourselves up for these natural impulses. After all, to act with the generosity of, say, the apple tree goes against every cultural norm and human survival impulse. That being said, in Western cultures, we have taken these impulses to a new level. Our cultural view endorses the idea that all things (including intangibles such as time, effort, empathy, affection, attention, etc.) are “products.” These are things that we own. Or if we lack them, we are encouraged to obtain them.
We live with a burdensome sense of wanting and grasping around our resources. “There’s only so much to go around” is what we tell ourselves. This is what we have been told culturally, and we believe the message. So we limit what we share, if we share at all. And in the process, we fall out of alignment with nature, which shares what it produces unhesitatingly.
That isn’t to say that the season of plenty does not eventually come to an end. The fields of grain do not go on producing for us, even in winter. Being prudent with our resources, and not acting foolishly or carelessly or using resources unnecessarily, are sensible checks and balances to natural generosity. Plants cannot plan for their future, but we can. So wisdom is required in order to discern when we are using more than our share of resources, wasting them, or acting with grasping hands.
The third immutable axiom’s power is that of natural bounty. When we learn to use all the ingredients of our lives, we learn to give at the level of our best effort and then accept the results. Another way we express this is to live our lives so that the perfected relationship between bounty and generosity becomes apparent to everyone around us.
Power of Bounty Incense and Oil
Magical Purpose: Making a magical herbal aid to invoke the power of natural bounty.
Power of Bounty Incense
What you’ll need:
• 2 tablespoons dried fenugreek
• 3 tablespoons frankincense tears
• ¼ cup oak (powdered is preferred, but use regular sandalwood if you do not have oak available)
• 1 teaspoon dried barley, wheat, or other grain
• 5 drops heather essential oil
• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil
• An airtight container
Mix the dry ingredients together first. Add the essential oil to the glycerin or carrier oil. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients take on the scent from the essential oil and the mixture looks fluffy. Keep stored in an airtight container until you use it.
Power of Bounty Oil
What you’ll need:
• 3 drops frankincense essential oil
• 2 drops oak essential oil
• 2 drops heather essential oil
• Pinch of grain (barley, wheat, etc.)
• 1 ounce vegetable glycerin or other carrier oil
• An amber or dark-colored bottle with a tight lid
• 1 drop green food coloring (optional)
Mix the ingredients together and store in an amber or dark-colored bottle that has a tight lid to preserve the magical properties of the essential oils. If you’d like, you may add one drop of green food coloring to add a corresponding magical energy to this blend that can bring forth bounty.
Practicing Natural Generosity
Magical Purpose: Aligning with the Third Immutable Axiom all day long.
During the next couple days, maintain awareness of several factors, including:
• When you are and when you are not using all of the ingredients of your life.
• When a situation calls for generosity and you meet the moment by withholding.
• When someone you are with meets the moment by withholding.
One common concern that may arise is feeling as though other people might take advantage of you as the result of practicing natural generosity. This can be especially so when it comes to the workplace. It is not uncommon for fellow workers to withhold their best efforts, their full potential, their enthusiasm, their care, or their interest in serving others. If you notice this manifesting in your own workplace, do not necessarily go out of your way to change the circumstances. Instead, change your relationship to the workplace in general. Be an agent of change, of care, of investing appropriate energy in exchange for pay, and of caring for others who are in need. Engage in this activity as a natural expression of the Gods’ energies manifesting in the world.
In doing so, you will become an influence for good, and as a matter of course, the law of threefold return will begin to fill your hand just as generously as you release nature’s bounty to others.
If you do not go to a workplace, maintain this spirit at home and in your community. Wherever you go, open to natural giving, using every ingredient of your life.
Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter
Magical Purpose: To acquire bounty in the form of riches, wealth, or honor.
What you’ll need:
• A printed copy of the Fourth Pentacle
of Jupiter (see illustration). It would be convenient to print this pentacle from your color printer (if you own one) in blue ink. If not, you will have a chance to retrace the image with your own blue ink.
Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter
• Blue ink (you have either already made this or purchased it)
• A feather quill pen
• 5 blue votive candles or tealights
• Jupiter Incense and Oil
• Your circle-casting tools
Information about the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter:
• The Key of Solomon advises that this pentacle should be inscribed in silver on the day and in the hour of Jupiter, when the planet is in the sign of Cancer. That’s a bit much for us. The pentacle is to serve as a focus for our magical intention.
• At the top of the pentacle, above the magical sigil, there is the name of Iah, an ancient Egyptian moon god. Below are the names of the angels Adoniel and Bariel. The Hebrew letters that form Bariel’s name are at the top, bottom, sides, and center of a square that has four inner squares. Around the outer edge of the pentacle are the words “Wealth and Riches are in his house, and his righteousness endureth forever.”
Start by finding the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter online and printing it out in blue ink (if that is available for you). Before you print it out, be sure to match the one you find online with the one printed in this book. Or simply photocopy the image from this book.
Cast a circle in the hour of Jupiter (refer to the planetary hours charts in days 11–12 of the second lunation). Light the five blue candles and place them at the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Then place the final blue candle on the altar pentacle. Light the Jupiter Incense and retrace the circle with its burning smoke. Anoint yourself just above the genital area with Jupiter Oil, tracing (as best you can) the magical letters of Jupiter: 23
Using blue ink and your feather quill, retrace the images of the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter. While you do this, concentrate, imagining that your activity is imbuing the pentacle with spiritual power and your intention to open space in your life for material wealth or honor to manifest. I recommend not being too specific about what form the manifestation will take, nor to give a specific timeline. Specifics such as these place constraints on the vast, interconnected workings of the universe. Just holding the intention clearly and resolutely is enough.
Magical Letters of Jupiter
Sprinkle the pentacle (carefully, so it doesn’t smudge) with blessed water and salt. Hold the pentacle over the burning Jupiter Incense and then pass it quickly (so as not to singe) through the fire candle on your altar.
Use the middle finger of your right hand to trace the outer circle of the Jupiter pentacle with Jupiter Oil. Present the Jupiter pentacle to each quarter, starting in the east and moving clockwise. At each quarter, redraw an invoking pentagram for each respective element using the Jupiter pentacle as your magical evocation tool. Thus, at the east, use the pentacle to draw an air-invoking pentagram. At the south, use it to draw a fire-invoking pentagram. In the west, draw a water-invoking pentagram. In the north, draw an earth-invoking pentagram.
Stand at the center of the circle, hold the pentacle up to the sky, and close your eyes. Intone the names of the magical beings inscribed on the pentacle, one syllable at a time:
Eko, Eko, Iah! (pronounced Ee-yah)
Eko, Eko, Adoniel! (pronounced Ah-dahn-ee-el)
Eko, Eko, Bariel! (pronounced Bar-e-el)
As you intone the magical names, imagine that the pentacle in your hands blazes with a jewel-tone blue energy. When you sense that the pentacle has charged enough, close the circle quickly and dispose of the blue candles immediately. Place the pentacle in a plastic ziplock bag (or other waterproof protector) to keep it clean, and put it under your pillow so that you rest on it throughout the night.
Keep the Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter with you at all times until some positive shift in your finances occurs or some honor or recognition is given to you. Once the pentacle produces an effect, it is important for you to burn it and bury the ashes.
Eight Sabbats for Today’s Witches
Magical Purpose: First steps in ritual writing: learning the link between myth and ritual.
Learning how to write your own rituals is a key practice for Wiccans. Once you understand the basic elements of ritual design and the building-block images and themes for sabbats, creating your own rituals will be fairly straightforward and will be limited only by your imagination.
Mythologist Joseph Campbell said that when you participate in any ritual, you participate in a myth. Myths and rituals are projections of the psyche’s “depth wisdom.” Rituals put you in touch with that wisdom. Campbell goes on to affirm that rituals put you in accord with your own life’s wisdom.24
Rituals are a way for mythic symbols to live and breathe. The myths and symbols of Wicca touch upon experiential truths (which are also called archetypes) common to all of humanity, such as living, dying, being born, growing to maturity, aging, and more. But the mere fact that a symbol system speaks to universal truths does not exempt it from becoming stagnant or lifeless. This can easily occur if the participants in the spiritual path are not actively engaged in reinterpreting the symbol systems again and again, so that their underlying messages can shine vividly with meaning for the life we are living right now.
One common error in living with spiritual systems is the deep desire to “concretize” the symbols and myths, attempting to turn symbol and metaphor into “fact.” We like it when things are solid and can be seen and relied upon from one year to the next. Meanwhile, the spiritual, life-sustaining messages behind the symbols can get lost in this kind of inflexibility, leaving spiritual seekers with stories and practices that make no logical sense and do not actively inform their lives.
It is important for Witches to keep in mind that spirituality is art. It isn’t science or math. Its language of symbols is meant to be fluid and poetic, as it speaks to “that which cannot be spoken.” Therefore, our next days’ practices are aimed at engaging you in this process of reinterpretation of our basic symbols and practices. It is about making them meaningful for your life right now. It may also be about making the timeless symbols immediately relevant for a spiritual community.
For the next days, you will consider the basic sabbat forms common to the British traditions. Along with them, you will discover the common symbols that you can use as building blocks for creating your own rites.
The stages of a mythic journey are the same stages of ritual. They permeate every myth and fairy tale across the globe.25 (By the way, good films, novels, and plays also follow the universal mythic structure I will present to you.) And when a myth veers from these criteria, we simply call it a tale. Tales can be amusing, but they do not inform the deep recesses of the mind, heart, or spirit. So we typically forget about them almost as soon as we hear, read, or see them.
The same can hold true for rituals that you might create. If you do not dive deep enough into your composition and ensure that the ritual has the general archetypal structure, you can bet that it will have little impact on you (or anyone else attending your rite).
Here then are the basic stages of myth and ritual: 26
• The ordinary world
• The departure
• Crossing the threshold
• The ordeal
• The return
Looking through the lens of the Witch, we can see the following alignments with our magical/spiritual paradigm:
Pentacle with the Five Elements
Pentacle with the Five Stages of Myth
The stages of myth and ritual align with the elements thusly:
Spirit: At the top of the pentacle, we see the sign of spirit. In myth, the dimension of spirit is where all journeys begin and end. On Pagan paths, spirit does not reside in some other “realm.” Instead, Witches see spirit as part of their ordinary world. Spirit may not even be recognized at the beginning of one’s journey, as it is residing in plain sight. It takes the journey to open one’s eyes enough to see that spirit is the very life we have right now.
Air: Traditionally, Witches associate air with inspiration, ideas, communication, and rational cogitation. Witches also associate this element with beginnings. Frequently a journey begins with an inspiration of some form. In myth and fairytale, a little animal or creature, or some strange new situation, might suddenly appear, and the adventure begins from there. The beginning part of a journey is the departure.
Earth: Witches think of earth as substance. It is the rocks and mountains of our path in a journey; thus it can represent the solidification of some obstacle that must be overcome. This stage is the crossing of the threshold.
Fire: We’ve likely all experienced a “trial by fire.” Fire transforms substances. It was crucial in alchemy, as it could change one substance into another. Most anything that goes through fire is changed afterward. In our mythic stages, the ordeal aligns with fire because the purpose of an ordeal in myth or ritual is to change or transform the individual.
Water: The element of water closely aligns with the moon and female energies that are cyclical. In our mythic stages, water aligns with the return, as it highlights the cyclical nature of coming back to the place where it all began. However, after the previous stages, the mythic hero has usually had his or her eyes opened enough to see, upon the return, the shining nature of spirit.
Interestingly, it seems that in aligning the stages with the elements, we find a widdershins (or counterclockwise) movement around the pentagram. This is no mistake. Going on the hero’s (or heroine’s) adventure is one that goes deep into darkness, the unknown, which is what widdershins movement is all about.
When we embark on our own inner journey into the unknown, we encounter dragons, beasts, and monsters that symbolize the repressed and forbidden material of our lives. These are what we must “slay” (or really, assimilate) in order to come out of the adventure with the elixir, the healing balm, the treasure.
In exploring mythic cycles, we’ll start with our own lives, beginning the adventure with the ordinary world.
The Ordinary World and Its Limits
In Campbell’s stages, one’s mythic journey begins when one ventures away from the known world, and there, encounters supernatural wonder.27 The hero (and heroine) of every myth is a symbol representing you and me.
As Witches, in applying the skeletal “architecture” of myth and ritual to practical ritual writing, we have to start with an intimacy and a familiarity with the limits of our ordinary lives. This isn’t always easy to do, since we are in the midst of our own “adventure” as it is going along. In order to understand the contrast between what is ordinary and what is supernatural wonder, we must start with what we know.
The ordinary world is where we experience day-to-day life. It’s the experience of work, play, making friends and enemies, paying bills, finding love, and having children. It is the place of common human experiences. But when we take up permanent residence among what is always known, we can easily become dissatisfied. Life lived without the depth that comes through encountering the supernatural wonder that lies beyond what is known becomes stagnant and unhappy over time.
Exploring the Symbols of the Ordinary World
To get our next days’ practice started, we will first observe how our own lives are mythic structures. You and I are living out a myth right now. Are you Beauty or are you the Beast? Are you the Sleeping Beauty? A Frog Prince? An ogre? As you get a sense of the mythic symbols you’re living out, you’ll develop an appreciation for how you can apply this understanding to your ritual writing.
For today’s exercise, make a list of the elements of your ordinary life on one side of a page. On the opposite side, list some imaginary events that would take you from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Try not to leap to magic and mythic beasts right off the bat. Keep it simple and realistic for now, with just a simple tweak of the ordinary activity to make it suddenly an “event.” There should be a mild form of tension in the extraordinary event that hints of something more on the way.
For example, here is a list of my ordinary events and how they might suddenly start to become extraordinary:
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Ordinary Event |
How It Becomes Extraordinary |
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Doing laundry |
I suddenly discover in my partner’s pocket a strange object, or a phone number or name written on a piece of paper. |
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Washing the car |
I run out of gas on the way to the car wash, or the car doesn’t start. |
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Driving to work |
Someone blows me a kiss from their window. |
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Making dinner |
The ingredients that I need are mysteriously missing from the fridge. |
The main rule in doing this is that whatever happens in your event, it must continue to involve your participation. In writing ritual, we must look for ways to heighten the experience of the ordinary and make it extraordinary in the context of (against the backdrop of) daily life.
Next, take a few moments to reflect on today’s teaching, then journal about the following:
• What are some limitations I face in my own “ordinary” world?
• What extraordinary events took place in my life today (no matter how small)?
• What step might I have taken to engage the extraordinary events of my day?
Finally, consider times in your life when an ordinary event became notably extraordinary. Journal about these questions:
• What were the circumstances? What was the effect on your body and mind?
• Did you immediately know how to resolve the situation? If not, what was the rest of this adventure?
• How was it resolved? If it wasn’t resolved, what was the experience like for you mentally, emotionally, and physically (if you know)?
The Departure
Magical Purpose: Learning about the departure stage of the myth you’re living right now.
The stage of departure frequently begins with recognizing what you may lack in your ordinary life. This is the “herald” of the adventure. Through recognition of the herald, you come to realize that a journey outside of the ordinary circumstances of your life may be necessary. We take the journey because the antidote, the potion, the treasure, is just outside of our grasp in ordinary circumstances.
A classic example of this mythic stage occurs in “The Frog Prince,” when the princess first meets the little amphibian. In the fairy tale “Snow White,” the moment of departure is when Snow White’s stepmother (or, in earlier versions of the tale, the child’s own mother) banishes her from the kingdom.
For today, make a list of areas that represent lack for you. These areas can include the following:
• Personal characteristics that you perceive to be flawed
• Wounds (of all kinds) that you have received in your lifetime
• People or situations that seem to hold you back
After you make this list, write down what it is that would be the antidote to each flaw, wound, or situation. For example, if I were to say that a flaw of mine is anxiety, then I might identify the antidote as serenity.
The call to adventure, or “departure” phase, occurs when:
• there is a call, pressure, or temptation to alleviate the flaw.
• someone continually brings up the flaw, telling you that something must be done.
• you’ve run out of options and now you must do something very different.
Now, to apply this to your own life and experiences, answer the following:
• What is one call, pressure, or temptation you have experienced to alleviate your perceived flaw, difficulty, or wound?
• Who in your life brings up the issues, wounds, or flaws, telling you that something must be done?
• How has your flaw reduced your options? (For example, less freedom, reduced health, less happiness, communication difficulties, etc.)
Again, although you may not see the pieces coming together yet, stay with these practices and it will all make sense eventually.
Crossing the Threshold
Magical Purpose: Learning this stage of the mythic journey you’re living right now.
In this phase of myth and ritual, you must go someplace you’ve never gone before, do something you’ve never done, or try something new, different, or even dangerous. Classic examples of crossing the threshold in the mythic structure include when Ashputtel prays to the tree-let and her wish to attend the king’s ball comes true. In “Snow White,” the moment of crossing the threshold is when the princess must fend for herself in the dark forest. The road will take each of these characters far from their ordinary lives and experiences.
This is the stage where you commit wholeheartedly to some new experience, knowing that things may not be the same afterward. But as Campbell says, crossing the threshold is the first step into the sacred zone of the universal source.28 For Witches, this means stepping into the sacred realm of the Gods.
At this stage there are typically dangerous threshold guardians who meet the hero. These threshold guardians are commonly people who challenge us, who point out our flaws, or who tell us that we cannot get past our flaws or advance because of our weaknesses.
For today’s task, journal about the following:
• What is one very different thing you’d have to do to address your flaw (assuming that whatever you’re doing now is not really addressing the issue)?
• Who or what is the challenge to you in your “knowing”? (For example, a coworker, a boss, a random stranger on the street who makes a jarring remark, etc.)
• What steps would you have to take to meet the challenge of the threshold guardian in your life?
Full Moon Ceremony
Magical Purpose: Practicing the skills you’ve learned thus far in your year.
For this lunation, please incorporate the following components into your ceremony:
• The Cabalistic Cross (which you should do before Drawing Down the Moon)
• Use of Supplication Incense and Oil prior to Drawing Down the Moon
• Drawing Down the Moon
• Aspecting the Goddess and speaking her words
• Reading the Charge of the Goddess
• Complete a magical working you’ve already started, or try something new as the main portion of the ritual.
23. See Francis Barrett, The Magus (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1967). The magical letters of Jupiter, as well as all of the other magical letters found in this work, are from Francis Barrett’s The Magus, which is an almost literal, line-by-line transcription of Henry Cornelius Agrippa’s important magical masterpiece, Three Books of Occult Philosophy.
24. Joseph Campbell, The Wisdom of Joseph Campbell Audio CD, interview with Michael Toms (Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2005).
25. Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949), p. 3.
26. I am basing these stages on the Campbell formulae. However, Christopher Vogler has written an important and accessible account of these stages. His book is intended as a writer’s reference; however, a study of Vogler’s explanations sheds important light on Campbell’s writings. See Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey (Chelsea, MI: Sheridan Books, 2007).
27. Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p. 30.
28. Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p. 81.