Lunar Letter
when was the last time you spoke with the Moon?
Witchcraft is a lunar practice. Like the Moon, witchcraft flourishes in the darkness. It is ever evolving in its shape and quality of light; it is ancient, primal, ever present. Like the Moon, witchcraft is an essential and mysterious part of our human existence. One could say that the Moon is the first cosmic teacher of all witches.
As a celestial body, the Moon reverberates with the brilliance of the Sun. Illuminated by solar force when the Sun is occulted by the Earth, the Moon transmutes the Sun’s golden intelligence into silver wisdom, wisdom that is gentle, silken, revelatory. The glow of the Moon provides a type of light that quiets our egoic urges, and allows our unconscious desires and knowledge to emerge. What is more comfortable being expressed in the shadows is most comfortable being explored by the light of the Moon.
My first magical encounter with the Moon was when I was seven years old. Being driven home from a social gathering late one July night, I trained my eyes on the shimmering silver orb, tracing the lace of blacked out pine trees whirling past. Once home and in bed, I couldn’t sleep. The light of the Full Moon had flooded my bedroom, filling my body with a new type of wonder. I stayed up most of the night, staring out of my bedroom window, feeling the magnetic pur of the Moon, calling out my name. This was the night I first knew I was a witch.
It wouldn’t be until many winding years later when I would formally discover the practice of “drawing down the Moon,” a meditation technique in which we call forth the Moon’s insights and wisdom, inviting in this lunar intelligence and effectively embodying lunar power. When drawing down the Moon, we may notice how much of this lunar light we feel we have capacity to hold within us. The Moon can charge our bodies, our spirits, our psyches, in ways that empower the intuitive, silvery, psychic currents within us. As witches, the Moon is our collaborator, our teacher, our source of power. The ways in which we engage with and create relationships with the Moon affirm how we are in relationship with our own bodies, each other's bodies, and our essential grasp of natural cycles – death, birth, and renewal. As the Moon changes phase and level of illumination, we too can assess the texture and stories of our own natural cycles of growth and release, emptiness and fullness. When we draw down the Moon and hold her in our bodies, we affirm a basic understanding that all humans are influenced by the Moon. Just like the tides are pulled and pushed by the Moon, so is the water and blood within our bodies. Working with the moon is an animist practice.
When was the last time you spoke to the Moon as if it was your primal and ancient ally?
Enacting a lunar practice is basic and it is revolutionary. Moving through the world with an awareness of lunar phases is a radical act that can change the fabric of your life, both your waking life and your inner worlds. Do you sleep better on the New Moon or the Full Moon? What does the tempo of your life feel like during the waxing Moon phase, versus the waning Moon phase? What lunar phase were you born under? Everyone’s experience of the Moon is completely unique to them, and contemplating your relationship with the Moon serves to deepen your understanding of self, and how you might shape your personal witchcraft practices. Not only is working with the Moon a personal spiritual practice – it is also a political act.
“There is reason, after all, that some people wish to colonize the moon, and others dance before it as an ancient friend.”
- James Baldwin
On the eve of this Supermoon in Pisces, I encourage you to track how and when the Moon shines its light most willfully into your awareness. These moments when the Moon is calling out to you are moments ripe for revelation, reflection, and intuitive development. Tune into lunar time, and allow yourself to contemplate how the Moon inspires magick in your life, from high ritual to mundane routine. In astrology, the Moon represents our emotions, our bodies, and people – the collective experience of all of us – the people. The Moon is not only encouraging quiet contemplation and introspection, no, it is encouraging us to recognize how we’re all intimately connected on Earth, under our one precious Moon. The Moon pulls on the waters of my body just as it creates the tides, just as it pulls on the blood of your cycle. The Moon inspires intuitive action. With its soft silvery brilliance we are all called on by the Moon – just as we all have the capacity to practice witchcraft. We are all lunar beings with lunar needs, just like we all have the capacity for intuitive knowing. What would happen if we collectively attuned to those intuitive/lunar needs? What is the Moon here to teach us collectively?