Hex to Heal : The Solar Eclipse in Leo

The shape of today's New Moon Healers Project post will be different - for eclipses are times of shapeshifters and changelings. Eclipses are also a time of the bare bones of simplicity when we’re asked for the structure of our magick to be minimal but resonating. 

Here is the basic takeaway of the Leo eclipse energy: 

That mask you’re wearing? Take it off.
The cultural mask that you’ve been told to believe? Stop listening to it’s lies.
The heart crown of self-sovereignty you’ve been afraid to put on? Pick it up, wash it off with the tears of your stuggle and joy, and put it on.

We are being asked to hex in order to heal. In traditional witchcraft a hex is like a harvest. Witch folk know that in order to put bread on the table grain must fall. A hex cuts out that which is no longer needed. But, like a harvest, it should ultimately be healing and nourishing. If you are afraid to hex, to set boundaries, to say NO, to cross your arms and spit in the dirt three times, then you’ll probably be afraid to heal the deep stuff.

Photo by Kristina Flour 

What will you choose to hex in order to heal? Go after the big stuff, Witchen kin:

Hex racism
Hex white supremecy
Hex anti-semitism
Hex Islamaphobia
Hex the patriarchy
Hex misogyny
Hex transphobia
Hex ableism
Hex classism
Hex homophobia
Hex corporations destroying our beloved planet
Hex institutions upholding all of these "-isms" and phobias

Dig down into the little stuff, my magickal folki:

Hex self-hate
Hex internalized cultural lies
Hex microaggressions
Hex your fear of not being enough
Hex your belief that you’re ugly and unworthy
Hex assimilation
Hex the symptoms of trauma that hold you back from living how you want to live
Hex the lies you believe that tell you that your magick is anything less than profound

Hex what you need to hex in order to heal.
In order to live.
In order to love.

Photo by Tyler Lastovich

The Hex to Heal Rite

Begin in a sacred way (read the New Moon in Aquarius post for further inspiration). If you have a large dark, preferably black, piece of fabric have it before you, but it can be visualized if needed. Wrap the fabric around your shoulders and begin to turn slowly widdershins. If this movement cannot be achieved, it can be visualized. As you turn think of or whisper that which you are hexing. While doing this pull the fabric up over your shoulders and over your head. Once you have spoken all of your hexes, hold it up over your head for a moment, still turning. Continuing to turn widdershins, cover your head with the fabric, visualizing that which you have hexed dissolving into darkness. 

Stop and speak:

Hexes dissolve into darkness
Darkness dissolves into darkness
I emerge from the darkness
Hex-free and whole

Begin to spin again deosil, reciting the charm again and again until you are dizzy in its power. Until you fall back to the earth, a star reborn.

I've written about healing tarot and herbal allies for eclipse season if you're looking for more magick and support. 

Wherever eclipse season takes you (because it is just a starting point), may the path open up to healing and peace in your life. Remember, your individual liberation is a work of collective resilience. Work your magick.

P.S. Find all of the New Moon Healers Project posts right over here. Say yes to your magick and join my starry-hearted community of healers here. 

Healing Tarot for Eclipse Season

In a few days there will be a complete solar eclipse visible over much of the United States. For folks familiar with what eclipse season is all about, no one is surprised by this and what it's been stirring up. I've already written about herbal allies for eclipse season, because we all deserve to heal in community and not isolation. Star priestess Chani Nicholas guides us through the season with her wisdom writing:

These are complex days. Dense with the personal homework assigned to us. Loaded with the personal significance of each mission. Ladened with the opportunity to set new patterns for ourselves, our work and our lives. Whatever we do during eclipse season has an incredible staying power attached to it. We cannot control what happens, but every time we choose our integrity over our fear, we choose what is life-affirming over what is life-constricting. Every time we choose our integrity over our fear, we choose what is growth-enhancing over what keeps us bound up and unable to access our agency. Every time we choose our integrity over our fear, we choose to commit a little bit more to our path and divest a little more energy from what prevents us from fulfillment.

Traditionally, eclipses weren't seen as the best portends in traditional medical astrology, but modern understandings have given eclipses much needed nuance. What eclipses do best is reveal. Their revelatory powers are far-reaching and without restraint which means they can reveal the awful things we hide away from and the beautiful paths we thought we had lost forever. It's one of the reason that eclipses are often seen as potential catalysts for times of great healing. Profound healing, though, usually only happens after a period of profound pain. 

(And for those of you who read that last sentenced and focused on the profound pain part - because, I mean, who’s not anxious and struggling and in pain these days - read it again and place all the emphasis on profound healing. Because that’s the miracle - the healing, no matter how deep our pain, is always deeper and waiting for us. You got this, starry-hearted one.)

While we have no control over what might be revealed in our lives and our culture at large, we do have choice on how we will greet these revelations. Tarot is one of the tools within our magickal culture that can help prepare us for what lies ahead. And so, a tarot spread for eclipse season.

The Illuminated Tarot by Caitlin Keegan

The following spread can be adapted in a different ways for different needs as explained below. The primary purpose of The Solar Eclipse Tarot Spread is to help you connect with your celestial self while also revealing what's being stirred up in your life in order for you clear the path for your energy to flow freely. I have also done a sample reading with recommended actions so that you can get an idea of how tarot can be used as part of a healing practice. Consider it a very small preview into my new ecourse, The Tarot Apothecary.

The Eclipse Season Tarot Spread

The spread is only three cards: a Sun, a Moon, and a Shadow card. You for how you choose your Sun and Moon cards. You can either choose them based off of your Sun sign and Moon sign and the astrological correspondences to the tarot deck or just choose them at random. You could actually do both by doing the spread twice which has some interesting advantages. The first time you do the spread, cast the Sun and Moon cards at random which will give you insight into the energies of right now and the immediate present. Then, the second time you do the spread, choose your Sun and Moon card based on your natal signs which will give you a glimpse into long-standing issues in your life. Of course, there's overlap between these two methods (our short-term issues are often just symptoms of long-term ones), so it’s up to you to discern what is needed in your life.

The Sun Card : Represents your inherent vitality or energy. Some of us seem to have endless sources of energy, while others move at a much slower pace. In addition to our inherent vitality, the Sun also describes our will, how easily we direct our will, and our willingness to live our life as we want. To help you interpret the Sun card, start with the following sentence:

My energy is inherently…

Example : If you pull Temperance you might say that “My energy is inherently seeking balance and harmony. When out of sorts I tend to run hot then cold, easily falling from one extreme to another. But when I feel strong in myself my energy is unflustered and focused.”

The Moon Card : Represents the way that energy flows through our body. In other words, it is our primary mode of expression, especially around emotions. The Moon transforms the raw energy of the Sun into story and myth. To help you interpret the Moon card, start with the following sentence: 

I express myself easiest when…

Example : Pulling Justice for your Moon card might create the following sentence: “I express myself easiest when I feel like I am advocating for fairness and speaking my story from a place of just intent.”

The Shadow Card : The Shadow card shows the place where your energy is not transforming into easy expression. In more traditional tarot speak, this is the obstacles or challenges card. Within The Solar Eclipse Tarot Spread it is the card that illustrates what is being revealed to you by the eclipse. It’s not always easy stuff to look at, but the card that shows up here is not meant to be a roadblock but a path. It can also help you discover what it is you have to share with the world. For when our Sun and Moon align we are able to channel our energy with effective and purpose. To help you interpret the Shadow card, start with the following sentence: 

My shadow reveals…

Example : If you pull the Four of Wands, for example, you might say, “My shadow reveals that my energy is blocked somewhere within my home life. I don’t feel welcome in my own life. But the promise of the Four of Wands is that there is a home for all of us. That I’ll be able to express my inherent gifts with ease when I learn to take up more space in my own life and trust that I deserve a loving place to call home.”

The Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

If you're struggling to understand the Shadow card, I recommend pulling one to three helper cards to give you more insight.

Putting it All Together : Examining the three cards from our sample spread together, we can see that the inherently harmonizing energy of the querent is seeking out harmonious spaces - but struggling to find them. So, I might recommend working on the actual physical space of the home and body to allow for more ebb and flow of energy. This could be working on coordinating who you know you are within to how you dress and act in the world. I would recommend allowing for greater fluidity of self-expression during the time surrounding the eclipse.

Justice as the Moon card lets us know that we’re dealing with someone who has a strong sense of right and wrong in the world. It’s a gut feeling and when the querent senses injustice and they can’t rest until they feel things have been put right. Paying attention to the Shadow card, I would propose that something feels unjust in the place that the querent calls home. It could be that they feel unmoored from their homeland due to injustice. Or that they wish to live more justly, whether through their consumption choices or how they live, but for some reason they feel blocked. Maybe it’s fear of rocking the boat too much (something that they might struggle to do considering their balance-seeking Temperance Sun card). I would suggest a meditation on practicing just action as a way of bringing themselves and their world back into balance.

I would also recommend keeping the Four of Wands on their altar as an inspirational image and reminder that harmonious spaces will generate patterns of harmony within themselves. That they should make choices in their life that flow with their values as opposed to feeling like what they want is out of sync with who they are currently. 

So there it is, my take on a tarot spread for eclipse season. You can use this spread year after year and not just for solar eclipses, but lunar ones as well. And you can use it to check-in on how energies are settling in your life after eclipse season has passed. If you're looking for more eclipse season magick, check out my previous blog on herbal allies for eclipse season.

The Illuminated Tarot by Caitlin Keegan

I'll end with an eclipse season blessing for all my magickal kin, my witchsisters, and edgewalkers, because we could all do with a little more blessedness in our lives.

Eclipse Season Blessing

When the round dark
of the eclipse takes hold of sky
and runs a quickstep of shadow across land

When the mirror of the galaxy beating in your chest
is held before you

When you look into its limitless reflection

May you greet whatever is seen
with the same look of the first real compassionate person in your life
(whether known or unknown, met or yet met)
who saw you
and wept in the knowing of your beauty
and vowed to keep you well and safe
even though they knew it to be an impossible task
they knew even more that you were the starting point of miracles
that you have always been worth impossibility
because you have always been worthy

because you

you are worthy

Herbal Allies for Eclipse Season

Holy heck!

It's pretty clear that the energy of the last few weeks has sent so many folks in a tail-spin. We've been oversleeping, forgetting commitments and booking new ones, and generally feeling like sloths on a roller-coaster. Welcome to Eclipse Season.

Yes, eclipse season can feel like pulling the furniture away from the walls to find years of dust and grime, lost pens, crumpled up notes, and dead spiders. Yes, we are still lotus blossoms, but eclipse season reminds us that we have to push through the muck first to truly bloom.

You're not failing even though you feel like you might be falling.

Don't worry - it's not all direness and relieving old miseries. The surprising energy and sudden revelatory movements of eclipse season swings all ways. Sometimes when the veil is pulled back during eclipse season, we find ourselves laughing in joy. Those dark corners, in fact, were growing crystals and the perfect spot to brew a long-forgotten tincture of soul wisdom. 

Fortunately, we’ve never been meant to heal alone. Eclipse season can act like a shared community catharsis and coming together as we share in this celestial event.

Herbs can act as sturdy shields and gentle hugs. They can calm the roaring thoughts of a restless mind and repair the tenderness of a wounded heart. Often, our plant kin help us to adjust our physical and energetic stance so that we are better able to perceive what needs to be known in order to heal. And they are amazing allies during times like these when everything seems significant but sideways. 

What follows are short energetic profiles of a small selection of herbs that I find to be particularly for a wide variety of eclipse season experiences. As always, I affirm your ability to do your own research and work with herbal practitioners to to discover which plants will best suit your needs.

Let’s meet the herbal allies of eclipse season.

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Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

One of the reasons that I think eclipse season can be such a challenge for folks is because the Moon, which represents the hidden nature of ourselves and the world(s), becomes writ large in our lives. What is usually hidden blocks out the light we are so accustomed to. And together we live, for a few moments, not by the light of the Sun, but by the dark of the Moon. Working with a Moon herb, such as Mugwort, helps us to connect with our lunar selves. While many of us know our Sun sign, we don’t know our Moon sign which represents our most intimate truths about ourselves. Knowing your Moon means that you are better able to distribute the power of your Sun throughout your life. Working with Mugwort during eclipse season is one way to enhance your dreams, a primary mode of communication between our conscious selves and lunar selves. The herb can also help to unlock and enhance psychic gifts. If you’ve been denying your psychic gifts, eclipse season can be a time to reconnect with them, and Mugwort can help to open the path.

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Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

Skullcap is my go-to herb for folks with busy minds and racing thoughts. This is the herb that most often helps folks who tend to spin round-and-round in their heads. If you tend towards anxious thoughts that keep you up at night or generally draw you away from being present in the moment, Skullcap might be a good ally for you. I find that eclipse season can aggravate nervous thinking and hyper-vigilance, which is why I like to recommend Skullcap, both as a tincture and flower essence. Additionally, it can be enjoyed as a tea and it’s bitter taste helps with indigestion, especially when caused by nervous tension. Skullcap is also one of my favorite herbs for the season of Mabon or the Autumn Equinox which is just around the corner in the northern hemisphere - read more about it. 

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Rose (Rosa spp.)

When am I not recommending Rose? I know of some herbalists who work almost exclusively with Rose and I understand why. It’s a multifaceted healing flower that invites us to unravel the mystery of who we are, why we suffer, and how we might love while still being able to enjoy the side of life which will always remain mysterious. A Rose remedy is like ASMR for the aura - soft but energizing, soothing but inspiring. When I use Rose as a remedy I feel like I am stepping into a sacred temple that is outside of time and space. Eclipse season has a way of slowing things down and speeding them up all at once which is why Rose can be such a useful ally. It helps us deal with time and our experience of it (including memory and what is yet to come) with peace and steadiness. And if eclipse season is stirring up old heartache - try adding Rose into your remedy repertoire. 

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Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Catnip is the herb for those whose emotional turmoil manifests as discomfort in the stomach. Folks who have an affinity for Catnip often have experienced a difficult childhood. For Catnip folks, early life experiences have taught them to keep things hidden away as an act of survival and protection. They believe that what they present to the rest of the world must remain calm and unflustered. Their suffering is present but remains hidden - sometimes the depth of which is even unknown to them. Catnip helps folks to be able to experience their emotions without becoming incapacitated by them. To learn and trust that they can be vulnerable without feeling unsafe. During the revelatory episodes of eclipse season, having Catnip nearby can help to remind us that we deserve to feel safe and at home in the world.

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Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Hawthorn has similar energetics to Rose but with heightened protective qualities and an ability to help us connect with otherworldly guides - whether land spirits or ancestors. Eclipse season is inherently magickal but not necessarily the best time to be performing complex acts of magick. It makes more sense to find time to sit quietly beneath a tree or sipping tea before your house altar right now. Hawthorn, like Rose, connects us with the sacredness of time and it’s particularly talented at helping us learn how to establish boundaries to protect our time. So if the energy of eclipse season has you feeling like you need to be doing all the things at once, consider working Hawthorn into your herbal routine. I was on a podcast all about Hawthorn where I (if sometimes nervously but always enthusiastically) expressed my love and gratitude for the plant.

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Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

Ahhh, Milky Oat. A beautiful and powerful herb to nourish the nervous system and bring us out of state of unrest. I’ve not yet met anyone who has not benefitted in some small way by incorporating Milky Oat into their lives. If you’re someone who struggles with being a workaholic and taking time off, I would gently challenge you to start taking Milky Oat now and continue with it for at least three months. It’s an herb best enjoyed for an extended period of time and if you’re someone who puts off self-care or consistency (i.e. doing something nice for yourself more than once every six months) in self-care, I think you should consider Milky Oat. Milky Oat is one of my favorite New Moon herbs and you can read the full plant profile here.

My final closing advice for eclipse season is to observe and let it go. You are meant to have enough room in your own life to be completely and unapologetically yourself. Eclipse season is an opportunity to clear out the closets of psychic clutter. In a real physical way, clean your house, tidy up your altar, and drink enough water (no, really, most of us are super dehydrated). Don’t be afraid to take up space in your own life. Also, recognize when you might be taking up too much space in the lives of others because you're afraid of sorting through your own stuff.

Yes, eclipse season is about revelations. But it’s also about recentering. Be sure to take time to do just that.

Do you have herbal allies (or other tools such as crystals) that you find helpful during eclipse season? Be sure to let me know in the comments - I love learning about what it is that you find useful in your life.