A Might-do List for the Quarter Moons

Observing lunar time is one way of inviting a practice of ebb and flow into your healing work.

For those of us our raised in cultures and under institutional systems where our time and how we should “spend” it is often defined for us and not by us. So when we step purposely into healing work, at some point we find ourselves reassessing our time and all the ways that time can be measured and experienced. For me, the Moon offers an energetic pattern and mythological model that I find helpful when it comes to reconnecting to the sacredness of time (instead of its commodification), which is one of the reasons I’ve been writing a whole series on what you might (or might-not) do for the different phases of the Moon.

Having already offered might-do lists for the Full Moon and the New Moon, I wanted to turn our focus towards the Quarter Moons - the halfway points between energetics heights and depths of the lunar cycle.

The Quarter Moons, also known as Half Moons, are periods of balance tipping towards a period of expansion or increase with the growing or Waxing Quarter Moon or a time of retraction or decrease with the shrinking or Waning Quarter Moon.

The Waxing Quarter Moon, also known as the First Quarter Moon, marks a point of balance between what has been and what shall be. Momentum, disentanglement, vitality, and harmonization are key energies of the Waxing Quarter Moon.

The Waning Quarter Moon, also known as the Last Quarter Moon, offers us a time to shed, fall back, and sort out which seeds we're interested in planting, if not just quite yet. Change, reassessment, release, balance, and decluttering are all key energies of the Waning Quarter Moon.

With all that to explore, let's see what we might do (or might-not do, no pressure, it’s your time to experience) for our Quarter Moon celebrations.

image via @jannerboy62

Connect with the Elementals

I'm not entirely sure when or why I began associating the Quarter Moon with four element work and specifically working the spirits known as elementals, but it is a practice that has stuck with me through the years. The elementals or undines, salamanders, gnomes, and sylphs are part of European magickal and alchemical lore codified during the Renaissance, in part by German physician and alchemist Paracelsus, but with older folkloric roots. Of course, the idea of elemental beings is not isolated to European lore and you'll find stories of these types of creatures throughout the world - it can be a rewarding practice to seek out these elemental energy within your cultural and spiritual traditions if you’re not familiar with them already.

As a time of balance leaning either into expansion or retraction, the Quarter Moons can be an auspicious time to either call in more or release excess element-based energy by working with the elementals. If, for example, you've been trying to draw in more watery energy to you, such as for intuitive work, you might choose a Waxing Quarter Moon in a water sign such as Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces to help call in intuitive, watery energy through the mediating help of the undines. Alternatively, if you're dealing with too much fire energy in your life, you can work with the salamanders on a Waning Quarter Moon in a fire sign (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) where you offer them your excess fire energy, which they will be happy to accept. 

Practice Magnetizing Magick

The energy of the Waxing Quarter Moon is one of pulling towards and filling up. We can connect to this current of magick through magnetizing our practice to draw towards us of what we are seeking during any given lunar cycle. We might be in the midst of a long-term act of change, needing to draw courage to help us manifest who we are becoming. Other times we might need a quick bit of magnetic magick, drawing towards us opportunities and resources that we need as soon as possible. Within our communities, the Waxing Quarter Moon is a time for groups to act out big visions of what is possible, helping us all to bring in and anchor hope, and magnetizing our visions to draw in what is needed for the work.

Brew Recipes & Create Charms of Balance

Holding space between light and dark, the Quarter Moons are an auspicious time to make herbal recipes that help to bring us into a state of nourished homeostasis. Charms for balance, whether balancing energy, boundaries or whatever requires a steady balance in your life, can be made at either of the Quarter Moons. You might even draw the balancing energy of the Quarter Moons into the rest of your life through creating your own oracle of care to help remind you what it is that helps you feel centered.

image via @linalitvina

Rituals of Release

Whether walking a Moon Path (see below) or not, the Waning Quarter Moon is a time to release, let go, and sort out what seeds, ideas or dreams want to keep a hold of, and what we want to pass on for someone else to flourish with. Rituals to release regret, shame, sorrow, old identities and ideas, old pain and trauma, are all auspicious during the Waning Quarter Moon (and can be tied into any therapeutic support you've been receiving, such as supporting breakthroughs in therapy with ritual). If you need some divinatory support to better understand what needs releasing so that you can embrace your magickal gifts, come this way.

Get Rooted

Whether with the inward drawing energy of the Waning Quarter Moon or the expanding outward energy of the Waxing Quarter Moon, the Quarter Moon period is a wonderful time to practice grounding and centering magick. Living in times of hyperconnectivity and profound social noise, it can be increasingly challenging to slow down and get centered. Working with the phases of the Moon and the ebb and flow of lunar energy is a way to feel supported in our effort, connecting to an energy greater than our own to help us feel balanced. If you're feeling stretched too thin and pulled in too many directions, consider working with the energy of the Waning Quarter Moon. If you're feeling like you're struggling to stay strong and steady within yourself, consider working with the energy of the Waxing Quarter Moon.

Strengthen Your Resolve

By the growing light of the Waxing Quarter Moon we can practice rituals to help us strengthen our resolve, focus our willpower, and call in the allies needed to help us find whatever it is that we're seeking - from new job opportunities to like-minded friends to the courage to make a much needed change in our life. As the Moon waxes, so does your resolve, culminating in the vibrant energy of the Full Moon. As the Moon wanes, let it carry away doubt and fear, the New Moon carrying you forward with growing momentum.

Find Your Balance with Breathwork

One of the most effective ways that I know to find balance is through breathwork. Breathwork is free to practice and doesn't require any fancy equipment, and can be used at any time and in any place. With the balanced ebb and flow of energy present at the Quarter Moons, breathwork can be a powerful way to connect with your own sense of balance. You can find resources for your breathwork practice over here.

image via @oandersonrian

Tend to Your Tenderness

One of the ways that we can take care of those tender parts of ourselves is by taking time to pull our energy back from all the places it has gone wandering. Shedding layers of expectation, we can hold, with gentleness and care, those tender parts of ourselves that don't always get the space to just be soft. One of the mythological images of the Waning Quarter Moon that you'll find in modern Goddess spirituality spaces (though it is based on fragments of much older traditions), is the Waning Moon as the Goddess pulling her veil or blanket around her shoulders and head, retreating from the bright attention and needs of the world, to dwell a bit in the quiet dark. I love connecting to this mythological current of energy, drawing a protective mantle around my own energy, so that I can feel safe enough to spend time in my tenderness, instead of constantly trying to keep up with impossible demands of "toughing it out" under social and institutional systems not built for human scale. Plant allies like Milky Oat (Avena sativa) and Linden (Tilia x europaea) can be useful guides to work with if you're seeking extra support for your tender self.

Cast a Moon Path

Starting on the day of the Quarter Moon, there are about 8 to 9 days to either the New Moon, in the case of starting on the Waning Quarter Moon, or to the Full Moon if you're starting on the Waxing Quarter Moon. These days (or nights) of practice are an opportunity for Moon Path rituals, where you time your ritual to the increase or decrease of the Moon's light. If you're wanting to bring something into your life, something which requires effort and attention, a Moon Path ritual starting on the night of the Waxing Quarter Moon and culminating on the Full Moon can be a powerful act of magick. For something that you're wanting to release from your life, walking a multi-night lunar path into the dark to emerge again at the New Moon can be deeply healing.

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Do you have a lunar practice for the Quarter Moons? If you’re looking for more Moon-inspired might-do lists, I’ve written ones for the Full Moon and the New Moon. For more Quarter Moon practices, you can explore my simple rituals and healing practices for the Waxing Quarter Moon and the Waning Quarter Moon. If you’re looking for my full collection of post about the Moon (there’s a lot!), check out the Moon Studies section of my Astroherbology archive. If you’re looking for my might-do series on the sabbats, here you go.

And for those looking for a deep dive into the world of lunar healing work, come this way.

Friends, I hope that you found something useful for your own monthly practices, and that you find your unique balance and rhythm that helps you feel at home in your life.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

A Might-Do List for the New Moon

Every month the Moon cycles through phases of newness and fullness, representing our ability to shift and change in our own lives.

Humans have been measuring time for thousands of years by the Moon, so it is no surprise that many of us feel drawn to do something around the Full or New Moons. For my personal practice, I enjoy observing the esbats as part of my lunar healing work. The esbats are lunar-focused celebrations practiced by some magickal folk in some contemporary traditions of Paganism (most notably Wicca) and witchcraft. Having already written a might-do series for the sabbats and a might-do list for the Full Moon esbat, I wanted to follow-up with a New Moon list to continue to support your seasonal and lunar celebrations.

The New Moon is a time of possibility and promise, representing the release of what was to embrace what might be. With just a sliver of crescent in the sky - having emerged from darkness and growing steadily towards fullness again - the New Moon is an auspicious time for planting the seeds of intention and what we hope to bring into our lives. It is a time where energy feels sharp and brisk, untethered by old stories of the past cycle, and tumbling headlong into the new. There is a momentum in the air that many a folk draw upon for their magickal work and healing practice, something which you can do, too.

So if you're curious about developing a New Moon practice, here's a list of nine things you might-do for your esbat celebrations. 

image via @joshyb_

Refresh Your Altar

When I feel a need to refresh the energy of my inner and outer spaces, I take some time to refresh my altars.  The New Moon is a particularly fruitful time to practice an altar refresh because we can tap into the energies of newness, possibility, and focus that the New Moon offers. I tidy up any wax or ash, dust surfaces and objects, sometimes choose new altar art, and take some time to connect with my spiritual path through the items I use to represent this central part of my life.

After tidying, I’ll often light a candle and practice some simple devotional work before returning to the busyness of my day. Taking care of an altar, where all sorts of mystical and healing rituals take place, helps us to connect with the lovely truth that spiritual practice is both magickal and mundane, and paying attention to the needs of one aspect of our practice helps to support the other.

Clean Your Spaces

In addition to tidying your altar, you can also clean and cleanse your living spaces including your home, your workspace, and any modes of transportation you own and frequently use. Physically cleaning the space, maybe in a way that is more robust than a normal tidy session, helps to free up energy for the new lunar cycle and also provides us with the very practical benefits of a clean space.

I like to follow up a New Moon clean with an energetic cleanse. What an energetic cleans looks like for you will depend on your personal practice, sensory needs, and cultural framework. Some like to cleanse with the smoke of burning sacred herbs, others prefer candles, and others still choose sound based forms of cleansing like bells, songs, and/or drumming. You can choose the type of energetic cleansing based on the sign that the New Moon is in, perhaps cleansing by burning herbs when the Moon is in a fire sign or by asperging with water in the Moon is in a water sign. 

Draw a Lunar Bath

A bath blessed with lunar herbs, perhaps a bit of sea salt, and a spell sung over the water is not only a wonderful way to relax, but a beautiful way to wash away unwanted energy and invite in a feeling of renewal. Whether or not you use lunar bathing herbs or plant allies of your choosing, herbal baths are wonderfully customizable. You can add in Moon water either from the New Moon or the Full Moon, flower and gem essences, water-safe stones, fresh flower petals, and more.

image via @sayakbala

Burn, Bury, Banish

While the New Moon brings a promise of new beginnings, it is also a time to sweep out old unwanted energy. Writing down energies and experiences you want to banish from your life and burning it is a burn safe container can be deeply carthartic. Instead of burning, you can bury the paper, planting seeds over it to represent the power of earth to transform something old into something new. Burying is a particular good technique when you're trying to transform one type of experience into another (i.e. my stage fright is transformed into stage joy). There are also all sorts of banishing rituals that can be performed with the scythe-like energy of the New Moon, clearing the way for the abundance you seek to be drawn in with the growing light of the coming cycle.

Turn the Tides In Your Favor

As the Moon pulls the tides, so do folks who rely on the sea seek to pull Her favor. An old Hebridean chant to the New Moon goes: 

Hail to thee, thou new-lit moon,
I bend the knee, thou queen so fair;
Through the dark clouds thine the way be,
Thine who leadest all the stars;
Though thy light e'en find me joy-filled
Put thou flow-tide on the flood
Send thou flow-tide on the flood.¹

I love this charm, this simple Moon prayer, and it can be easily adapted to call in whatever sort of favorable energy you're seeking, from luck to love to peace and prosperity. If you're interested in learning more about Scottish traditions of charms like these, the Carmina Gadelica by Alexander Carmichael is a good place to start, including charms and the rituals surrounding them like these.

Cast A Healing Spell

For healing to happen, change is needed. The New Moon is a beautiful time to call in the change needed for the healing you are seeking to begin (or begin again or change directions). It can be as simple as intention setting or a more complex ritual to welcome in the energy of healing. I've written a series of healing rituals for each sign of the New Moon (you'll find the full archive of the New Moon Healer's project over here) and if you're looking for a place to start, how about calling in a healing temple? You can also, with permission, work healing magick at the New Moon for your loved ones, especially if they are starting on a new part of the healing journey and/or seeking some answers for where they should be headed next. The energy of the New Moon swoops in with clarity and hope, two things very much needed for any sort of healing work.

image via @contentpixie

Make A Wish

Making a wish at the New Moon is an old form of witchcraft in the British Isles, but one that you’ll find in cultures around the world. A New Moon wishing practice can be as simple as looking up at the New Moon blowing Her a kiss and making a wish. Or you might recite a charm like:

Blessed New Moon
Sharp and bright
I cast a wish
That you might
Bless me well
Seven-fold
Blessed New Moon
Bright and bold

Another New Moon wishing practice that flows into techniques of manifestation magick is to write down up to nine wishes on a piece of paper or in a journal at every New Moon. These wishes can repeat each month until they or something better comes to pass, or you might tie the theme of your wishing to the sign the Moon is in. Speaking a wish the first night a New Moon takes to the sky feels like it is a remnant of a much older form of ancestral lunar observation and a simple one for modern magickal folk to observe.

Offer Good Fortune

Take stock of the good fortune of the previous month (including, when times are tough, just being able to make it through) and consider the ways you can make sure the current of good fortune continues to flow by offering it on. Charitable donations are often what comes to mind when it comes to passing on good fortune, but you can also make offerings of time, skills, and attention.

Offering good fortune is a way not only of benefiting those people, places, and creatures in your life, but to recognize that you are a fortunate, needed being with meaningful things to offer community. So much of magickal and healing work is internal and invisible, so it is good to integrate regular community-oriented works into your practice to remind us that we are not only trying to return home to ourselves but to each other. 

Peek Into the Future

To quote tarot scholar Mary K. Greer "Tarot helps you meet whatever comes in the best possible way."² You've cleansed your space, your personal energy, and set some intentions, now is a ripe time to use divination to help set you up for ease and inspiration for the coming cycle. While my divination tool of choice is the tarot, I often like casting lots of some sort for New Moon divination - something about the action of throwing ogham feda or stones feels energetically aligned with the quickening energy stirred up by the New Moon. Check out a whole range of tarot spreads over here and if you're focusing on energies of renewal, you can easily adapt this annual spread for a monthly one.

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If you're looking for more lunar inspiration, check out my full archive of astroherbology posts, many of which are Moon-centered. You can also learn how to find your Moon sign in your birthchart (as well as understand how the current Moon shows up in your chart). For my newsletter subscribers they get access to over 100 rituals and recipes tied to the phases of the Moon - sign up to get free access. If you are a fellow herbalist or healer looking to incorporate more lunar wisdom into your healing practice, I invite you to join The Lunar Apothecary.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

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Footnotes

1. From The Road to The Isles Kenneth Macleod accessed via Graham King, The British Book of Spells & Charms (London: Troy Books, 2014), 251.

2. Via her resource rich website: https://marykgreer.com/

Rituals & Recipes for Moonfolk (Or how I’m celebrating 13 years of community)

This past month marked thirteen years of Worts & Cunning Apothecary.

It feels like both a very long time and a very short time has passed since I first opened the Apothecary in a small Northeastern city at the end of autumn, specializing in home-made herbal remedies with a focus on alcohol-free options. Now, I write and teach full-time, helping others to craft their own remedies and explore their inner worlds and community connections through the lens of plant healing and magick. It's been an incredible (and wonderfully strange and challenging and joyful) journey so far.

I love what I do, I love our community, and I am so grateful to be able to fulfill this calling of mine to help connect people and plants for our collective liberation and joy.

While my ideas of what Worts & Cunning would be and what I’d be doing as an herbalist has changed over the years, a constant thread has connected all my various projects and offerings together - to create and share resources that are useful, that spark curiosity, and help folks to call themselves back home. I’ve doubted whether or not this calling of mine is useful (Maybe it’d be better to open a dog rescue instead! Camp out in a permanent protest on the steps of congress! Become a city planner to help our communities be centered around the planet and people instead of cars and corporations!), but I return again and again to what it feels like to share resources, to teach a class where I’m learning along with everyone else present, and to know that hours of quiet research might help someone grow more into their practice and community. I love the feeling of being able to share my joy of land and plants and stars and the unknowns of life with so many kind-hearted folks, and to hear their stories of land and plants and stars in return. For me, sharing resources is a form of sacred communion and expansive connection, and I’m so grateful that this is what I get to do.

While I don’t know all of what the future holds (though I’ve got a lot of exciting things I’m working on), I want to take a moment to celebrate what has already been done. I've been writing this community blog for thirteen years and it is chock-full of free and useful resources from plant profiles to seasonal apothecary guides, explorations of the energetic system of traditional western herbalism, a guide to creating financial access in your own business, and my growing collection of astroherbalism guides. I host four courses and a growing library of plant knowledge which you can access for as little as $1. I have hosted in-person workshops, classes, and sound baths featuring plant song which some of you have been able to attend (and those are all coming back!).  I've taught as a guest teacher in other herbal courses and been published in zines, planners, and plant guides (my self-published ebooks and zines are available in patreon). I've chatted on podcasts about plants and strange encounters with your ancestors and how healing is a community effort. Three years ago I started a patreon community which has been so much fun and features extra guides and posts, as well as plant song recordings, free access to The Plant Ally Library and a not-a-podcast audio class thing. 

All of this has only been possible because I've had a community supporting me along the way and it's why I continue to do this work. I have been able to grow into my kindness and softness and complexity as a person because I've been held in a community that values such paths and reflected them back to me. As I continue to grow and learn, my goal is to keep making the majority of what I do free and low-cost so that you can access useful information and inspiration on intersectional herbalism and magick that supports your ability to re-member how whole and holy you are.

Which is why it was such a joy to share The Moonfolk Book of Shadows with everyone. With over 120 rituals and recipes, Moonfolk is my big-hearted thank you for thirteen years of support. You can access it completely for free by signing up for my newsletter and if you’re already a subscriber to Magick Mail you’ll find all of the details in the Magick Mail Apothecary (yes, there’s a secret section of the blog for Magick Mail subscribers).

So, in celebration of Moonfolk and cycles of change and transformation, below I’ve shared the ritual and recipe inspired by the New Moon in Cancer.

But all of this is to say: thank you, friends, for helping to make possible this quiet and kind-hearted community space.

Developing Intuition
I am intuitive

So much of developing intuition is learning to trust oneself and that can be challenging for many of us. The experience of having influential people in our lives (parents, caretakers, friends, partners, etc.) denying or dismissing not only our intuition but our truths is all too common and can make it hard to connect with our intuition later in life. 

Reconnecting with our inherent intuition can be a long process, requiring multiple healing practices from therapy to spiritual explorations to boundary-setting and so on, so please don't feel bad if you feel like everyone else has an easy time with it. Fortunately, Cancerian energies are excellent at supporting our ability to connect our waking consciousness with intuitive states of being, which is why an intuition ritual at the New Moon in Cancer ritual can be so powerful. 

The following is a simple ritual and guided meditation that can and should be practiced over a length of time (at least a full lunar cycle) to help you cultivate your intuitive gifts. Approach it with a playful heart or at least a not too overly serious one too focused on "results" and you'll find yourself having an easier go at things. Why do I recommend a ritual performed every day or night for a full lunar cycle? Often it has been years that we've been hiding away from or denying our intuition, so we deserve to give ourselves plenty of time to make space for our intuition to awaken and be embraced again. The time and effort are part of the ritual, showing your intuitive self that you really do want them to come home to you and feel supported.

You will need:

• An intuition altar filled with inspiring things and supportive objects like quartz crystals, images of the divine and/or familiar and ancestral spirits, and so on

• Vessel of drinking water or tea such as a bowl and plate, cup and saucer 

• Incense or feather

• Stone of choice

• Candle

Once you have set up your altar, make a place for your water vessel with the feather, stone, and candle forming a triangle around it. Cast a circle if you like and practice some breathwork and/or your favorite grounding and centering technique. Light your incense or hold your feather and pass it around your water three times while saying:

By Air
I awaken my powers of intuition
Already within me
Ready to arise

Hold your candle and pass it around your water three times, saying:

By Fire
I awaken my powers of intuition
Already within me
Ready to illuminate

Pour some of the water on the plate or saucer, symbolizing your intuition spilling over from its current confinement, saying:

By Water
I awaken my powers of intuition
Already within me
Ready to flow free

Hold your stone and pass it around your water three times, saying:

By Earth
I awaken my powers of intuition
Already within me
Ready to be embraced

Visualize your water glowing with the power of the elements, here to help you awaken your own intuition. Take a sip and begin the following visualization:

In the air before you visualize a closed Rose. See it slowing turning in the air in front of you so that you can see it from all sides, its color and shape, the way it seems to glow with an inner magick. Slowly but surely the petals begin to open one by one. Take time to watch this happen, feeling that something within you is opening, slowly but surely. When the flower is fully open, a magnificent bloom, it comes close to you and lands upon your heart, where it glows and slowly fades into your energy.

Once you are done with your visualization you can drink the rest of your water, knowing that the magick of the Rose is working within you, its softness calling forth your intuition, its thorns protecting your boundaries. Continue to work this ritual for a lunar cycle, keeping your altar fresh, and playfully practicing intuitive when you feel called to them.

Intuition Tea
I am tending to my psychic nervous system

I believe that part of the work of reconnecting with or strengthening your intuition is not only to strengthen your psychic body, but to tend to your psychic nervous system. While our intuitive gifts can show up in all kinds of settings, not least of which in stressful or challenging ones, developing intuition over time requires an ability to develop a sense of peace and inner security. Cancer is an excellent sign to work with when developing your intuition because it reminds us that the security of our shell (i.e. our boundaries) allow us to protect our inner softness (i.e. our receptivity to psychic insight). The following blend incorporates herbs that help us feel protected and regulated, as well as the gift of helping us awaken our intuition.

Blend together the following herbs:

• 4 parts Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

• 1 part Rose (Rosa spp.)

• ½  part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Standard dosage. Placing blended herbs under the light of the New Moon adds to their magick. Store with a quartz crystal inside or on top of the jar. Make a cup before any form of divination, ritual, and/or meditation. 

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If you want more lunar-inspired rituals and recipes, be sure to sign-up for Magick Mail so you can access The Moonfolk Book of Shadows for free.

Thank you again for thirteen magickal years and here’s to many, many more!

3 Simple Rituals for Your Lunar Return

After the sun finally gives up
the sky to the moon
and my children are dreaming

I sit in an empty, unlit room
soaking in the silky sounds
of silence. My body breathes again.

In this darkness, I am found.

~ Erin Kundrie ~

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While I cannot always tell you what day it is - either the name of the day or its date - I am often able to say how full or dark the Moon is.¹ This hasn't always been so. Connecting with a lunar-focused way of experiencing time while being raised within a solar-focused culture took time and effort, a reclamation of ancestral wisdom, and new understanding of time and space beyond strident, unending linear progress. My initial inspiration to reconnect to the Moon as an important and ancient way of knowing time and space came from the books I was reading as a young witch that spoke of the magick that could be done by moonlight and the lost Goddesses that could be found there. Sign me up, my little witch heart sang! Decades later I've come to know lunar time as an essential part of my ability to feel whole and holy - measuring my life by the Moon allows me to ebb and flow, to know that all things are changing and reforming, that growth requires the renewal of decay, that tides must come and go from the shore

Lunar time asks us to critically examine the impossible goal of eternal stasis and immortality set out by capitalism and kyriarchy, while instead connecting with the liberatory experience of ever-change, of inhale and exhalation, of deep relaxation after deep tension.

Celebrating my monthly lunar returns has been a more recent addition to my practice, but one that I've come to treasure. As I continue to write about lunar returns, I wanted to write about some of the very simple rituals you might choose to do to connect with the energetic ebb and flow of your lunar return (and if you haven't yet, read my introduction to lunar returns to understand what they're all about and why you might pay attention to them). I want to focus on rituals that aren't about too much self-analysis, focus on self-improvement or anything that moves us too far into our thinking mind and out of our feeling body.

image via @boothryan_

Our Moon sign represents a lot of interesting aspects of our life, but one of the most important ways our inner Moon helps us to understand ourselves is by illuminating the ways that we feel most comfortable and nourished in our lives. Of course, there is a usefulness to journal prompts and deep self-reflection to help you get to a place of knowing your needs around comfort and feeling emotionally supported, and these are tools I love, but sometimes we just need to tap into something more instinctual and intuitive rather than over-relying on the intellectual. Getting to a place of feeling intuitive and trusting your instincts is not an instantaneous process - not everyone, for example, was supported in their intuitive truths or had to develop instincts that may or may no longer serve us (i.e. an instinct driven by hypervigilance). So it can be really helpful to commit to a regular monthly practice where you engage in some simple ritual to help support your growth of healthy instincts and trust in your intuition, especially when timed to the empowering energy of your lunar return.

For me, a lunar return is not about manifesting the ability to be more productive. It's learning how to recognize your own needs versus the expectations of productivity culture. In a capitalist society like the United States, the expectations of productivity are limitless which conflicts with the finite resources of individuals, communities, and the planet we share. I think it's important to be cognizant and wary of the ways that we might slip productivity culture into our magickal, spiritual, and healing work. Endless striving for self-improvement can lead to self-care that feels increasingly laborious, joyless, performative, and isolating. This can ultimately muddy our intuition and make it difficult to develop instincts which support real resilience (i.e. resilience that sees rest as powerful and essential).²

Here's my encouragement for developing a lunar return ritual practice: strive for something which feels pleasurable, easy to do, and which feels like a benefit in your life. I know, those are broad descriptors of a practice and could mean many things to many people, but that's the point - what works for you is going to be unique to you. Make your practice enticing to you. Sometimes where the benefit of a practice shows up in your life isn't always the present moment, but the practice is benefitting future or past you. Present me doesn't always want to do my daily meditation practice but I never regret having shown up for my meditation practice once it's over. That's what I seek in any regular practice of mine - a practice that cultivates pleasure that surpasses time and space. Yes, showing up for my meditation or lunar return practice is beneficial to my present self, even if it might take effort in the moment, but it's also a gift to my future self that I'm grateful to receive.

Before any of these rituals you have all sorts of ways that you can prepare for them, but only if you feel like you have the time, energy, and inspiration to do so. Don't let the fear of not doing something "right" or "all the way" - whatever either of those things might mean - prevent you from showing up to the rituals that you want to practice. Can it be beautiful to set up an altar for your lunar return and take a shower or bath before a ritual? Yes! But if you don't have the extra energy or time to do those things, the path to your ritual is still one of beauty, and you don't need to do anything else before a ritual but show up. I rely a lot on breathwork before rituals to help me ground and center and begin to shift my consciousness from the busyness of everyday life to the time and space between where rituals take place. There will be time for elaborate rituals and preparations but do what you have the capacity to do now - it's all practice, all sacred. With that in mind here is a might-do list for before a ritual.

A Might-Do List to Prepare for a Ritual

Cleanse & bless your body

Cleanse & bless your space

Dress (or undress) in a way that inspires you

Build or re-energize your altar

Drink some tea

Practice some simple breathwork

image via @_k_arrin

The Lunar Return Rituals

In a previous post on the magick of your lunar return, I shared three tea recipes that I find useful for connecting with different aspects of your lunar return. They focused on the three themes of reflection, rebalancing, and reconnecting which I've used as a guide to create simple rituals to help you connect with whatever energy you're most curious about in your life at the time of your lunar return. If you feel called to, you can incorporate the corresponding teas with the rituals below and/or work with one or more of the plants throughout your lunar return cycle, but that's only if it feels like a pleasure to do.

Reflection: Sound Healing

Humans are noisy creatures, using sound and the felt vibration of that sound to communicate ideas, evoke different emotions, and create spaces of healing. I incorporate sound and sound therapy techniques into my own personal and community healing practice, and while I enjoy using the tools of sound therapy, one of our most powerful and uniquely attuned sound therapy tools is our own voice. Singing about and beneath the Moonlight is an ancient way of being human which is one of the reasons I think its a beautiful practice to incorporate into your lunar return rituals.

The healing qualities of sound are manifold, but when it comes to the lunar magick of reflection, sound acts like dropping a pebble into a still pound: the energy ripples out, new things come to the surface, and the shape of your current life is felt through the small waves coming to shore. I like to use a simple technique like humming or toning sacred words or syllables (i.e. such as galdr, ogham, bijas, and so on) but sometimes there is a simple song or chant from my spiritual tradition that I'm drawn to. It's not about being pitch perfect or sounding "good" but using sound as a way to explore your current energetic state and needs. I am guided by my own sense of what feels good to me and I encourage you to be guided by your own sense of feel good noise.

What is powerful about an audible or vibration based sound practice in reflection work is that often we feel a need to reflect because something doesn't feel seen, heard, and/or held in our lives. Through sound we begin to hear and/or feel our way home. 

I like to incorporate tea into this sound ritual, placing a bowl or teapot full of brewing herbs on my altar as I sing, drinking this sound infused tea as the ritual comes to an end. After any sort of ritual I try to pay special attention to dreams and sudden insights that come my way and this is especially true with sound work and the way it can stir up hidden depths.

Rebalancing: Breathwork

One of the simplest ways I find energetic balance in my life is through breathwork. Breathwork is a free and accessible form of healing, helping to address the underlying stress that can cause so much suffering in our lives. While I've created a short course on breathwork geared towards magickal folk, I've made sure that one of my favorite breathwork practices known as the tree of life is available for free.

While I practice some form of breathwork everyday, I like to set aside extra time and space to let myself sink into my breathwork practices on days like my lunar return. Sometimes I practice a slow tree of life meditation and other times I just begin to breathe deeply and let myself be guided by my breath to where I need to go.

I love incorporating tea into my breathwork practice, especially when I'm feeling distracted and discombobulated. I'll begin by holding my cup full of tea under my nose, letting the steam help to open my airways and carry precious volatile oils into my airways, and giving my mind something easy to focus on with the scent of the brew. 

A breathwork session can lead into other practices, such as divination, guided meditation, art, writing, and more, or it can just be a breathwork session. Being present to simple practices instead of always being in preparation for the next thing is a powerful way of grounding, centering, and rebalancing. 

image via @shisilya

Reconnecting: Movement

Using movement as a practice of reconnecting to what it is you have hidden away or lost sight of can help us find a sense of self as holy, as Land, and as beyond worthy.

How you move as an act of reconnection and calling yourself home is going to be dependent on you, your physical needs, and your own unique desires. The guideline I follow is that I can move in whatever way I want as long as it causes no harm to me or those around me - other than that I allow myself to move however I want. I try to be led by how my body wants to move instead of trying to move it and more often than not I don't incorporate any music - but that's just my preference, you figure out what works for you.

I think movement rituals are especially important when you've tried to think yourself back home and now you just need to feel it. We're not seeking wisdom through movement or specific guidance or answers (though sometimes one or more of those things become known through movement work), but we're seeking to move as an act of saying "I'm here, come home, I love you, let's take up space together."

Is ending a movement ritual with tea a very sweet and lovely thing to do? Yes, yes it is. I actually enjoy using movement as a practice of reconnecting to myself and my needs before situations where I know that I'll be outside of my comfort zone, and when I'm able to bring tea from the ritual along with me it feels like I'm carrying own confidence and comfort elixir.

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Reclaiming time during your lunar return for gentle intuitive magick remains a rebellious act. 

Through these simple ritual ideas I hope you're feeling inspired to explore how it is you might show up to your own lunar return if that is something you're called to do. And if you're feeling like you can't possibly add another thing to your life, don't worry, the Moon is already showing up for you.

If you're looking for more lunar-inspired wisdom, you've come to the right corner of the internet. Find my original post on finding your lunar return or you can explore my series on the healing rituals of the lunar phases. I can even help you discover your Moon sign and Lunar Mansion and understand your birth chart better. For those looking for a deeper dive, The Lunar Apothecary is my space for helping folks discover who they are as healers through Moon-centered herbalism and magick.

Blessings on your lunar journey and may you have many a magickal lunar return!

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤ Thanks, friends. ❤

Footnotes

(1) Though, before any of you think that this is some sort of holy moon priestess humblebrag, I can't always tell you what's happening with the Moon either, as sometimes the measuring of time and space in any terms is beyond my grasp and I'm just trying to make myself a cup of tea which does not require me to know much of anything beyond where the herbs are and successfully turning on the kettle.

(2) It's also not very fun, all this endless striving, and the Moon has long been a symbol of rebellion against conformity to any oppressive norms including social media driven "wellness" culture.

Bathing with the Moon: Herbal Baths for the Lunar Phases

One of my favorite forms of herbal medicine and magick is the herbal bath. Simple and inexpensive, requiring no fancy equipment, and with the ability to use both fresh and dried herbs, herbal baths are a beautiful form of self and community care. Basically, herbal baths are teas that you bathe in. If you don't have access to a bath, you can use them as shower rinses, too. Herbal bath blends are incredibly fun to make with little ones in your life, coven mates, and magickal kin, as well as by yourself before your altar, amidst the plants of the garden, or in the quiet of your kitchen. 

I've been using herbal baths as part of my Moon practice for many a year and they help me to embody a slow magick that spirals and flows, ebbs and rests, and strengthens the energetic and physical body against the pressures of endless work, productivity, and cultural expectation. Bathing with herbs is a deep ancestral practice, an honoring of our ancient bodies' need for warmth and feeling held, and a way to pause while cocooned in the waters of life. What I hope is that your Moon baths and observations of lunar time are richly radical, imbued with the magick of change, and an ongoing act of liberation, free from the idea that self-care is a cure-all (it's not) or that any of us has to go it alone (thank, Goddess).

image via @masonkimber

What follows are general guidelines and then a few suggested recipes guided by the traditional western herbalism that I practice as well as my Pagan spirituality. As with all herbal medicine and magick remember that practicing an earth-affirming path of healing asks us to use what we have, adapt what we need, and carefully consider how and when we acquire resources. In other words, if you don't have Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) easily and responsibly accessible, that silvery Sage (Salvia officinalis) in your cupboard might do just as well. Systems of correspondences (i.e. why certain herbs are assigned to different Moon phases) are useful in that they connect us with the energy of tradition but our relationship to an herb and our need for a type of blend is just, if not more, important which is why innovation is a powerful magickal tool.

I've also included items beyond herbs that you might want to incorporate into your lunar bathing rituals - none of these are necessary but I do hope it inspires you to think about the crafting of your herbal bath and ways that you can bring beauty to it. A jar full of lunar herbs is an altar in miniature, the act of bathing a ritual, and the re-emergence from the waters a sort of gentle rebirth. The care and intention that we approach our herbal baths is as much part of the magick as any herb or stone we might be working with.

A final few notes. There are lots of phases of the Moon that you can observe, but I'll be focusing on the New, Full, and Dark of the Moon which is when I'm most likely in my own practice to have a lunar bathing ritual. You'll also find that I use a lot of the same herbs, in different proportions in the recipes - that's because these are my personal allies and the plants that I have kinship with. I'll list different herbs for each lunar phase, but you don't have to use different herbs for different phases but should feel free to work intimately and consistently with your beloved plant allies in different combinations. Finally, here is my basic herbal bath recipe and guidelines for herbal bathing.

image via @straz

The New Moon

In traditional western herbalism, herbs of the New Moon are considered hot and moist. Energetically what this is trying to communicate is that we are in a period of enlivening activity (i.e. life-giving heat) and these are the conditions needed to grow and develop (i.e. the moist warm soil needed to grow seeds). Magickally, the New Moon is considered a time of new beginnings, an auspicious period for starting new projects, work manifestation magick, and it's also a good time to energize any aspect of your life including spells and charms. The New Moon also carries the energy of endings (as a new cycle begins so an old one must end) which helps us to part with and give up that which is no longer needed in our life, so cleansing magick and cord cutting rituals are especially auspicious. For a more herbal medicine based perspective on New Moon herbs, come this way.

A quick note on timing. Different folks determine the New Moon at different times of the lunar cycle. For some, the New Moon is when the Moon is completely dark and not visible in the sky. For others, like myself, the New Moon is when you can see the first sliver of the Moon in the night sky after a period of complete dark. This was what I was taught and it also allows me to observe the period of the Dark of the Moon as an important and separate aspect of the lunar cycle. But there is no right way - it's all made up by people just like you and me, so follow what works for you. 

New Moon Herbs: Angelica (Angelica archangelica), Basil (Ocimum spp.), Elder (Sambucus nigra), Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Peppermint (Mentha piperita),  Sage (Salvia officinalis). Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris or your local variety) is considered a Moon herb for all phases.

My favorite herb for New Moon baths is Basil (Ocimum spp.) and especially Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum, tenuiflorum). I love how effective Basil is at moving energy throughout the body which helps to connect with the upwelling of energy present at the New Moon. It is also a great ally for removing unwanted energy and also helps to protect our energetic boundaries for the cycle ahead. 

New Moon Herbal Bath

• 2 parts Basil (Ocimum spp.)

• 1 part Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa damascena)

image via @gkumar2175

The Full Moon

Cold and dry herbs are the traditional correspondence found in western herbalism. Energetically, we're looking at the completed structure that is solid, livable, and created to last. No longer in the phase of ideas and creation, the Full Moon rises in the sky, a source of heightened and potent energy, fully realized. Magickally, the Full Moon is one of the most auspicious times to work magick, charge up charms, amulets, and other tools of the trade, as well as gather together with other magickal folk in reverie and celebration. For me, the Full Moon has always felt like a time of deep connection with my Witch ancestors, my current Witchen Kin, and those Witch folk who will emerge long after I'm gone. Watching the Full Moon rise in the sky has filled me with hope and a sense of holiness again and again and it feels like a prehistoric sort of ritual. Blessing the self, working magick for community healing and justice, and re-dressing the body in an energetic mantle of sacredness are all auspicious to do when the Moon is Full.

Full Moon Herbs: Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), Mugwort (Artemisa vulgaris), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Plantain (Plantago major),  Sage (Salvia officinalis), Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris).

It's hard to choose between Milky Oat and Rose as my primary Full Moon herb - so I won't! Milky Oat and Rose are some of my dearest teachers and to work with them at the Full Moon feels like traveling to a sacred circle of healing and magick. Milky Oat is my most beloved of nervous system herbs and acts as a tonic for the soul, helping us to feel held and nourished at any time and especially during the heightened energy of the Full Moon. The seeds feel like packets full of Moon milk. Rose is an herb of unfolding mystery and magick. The flower helps us to connect with the old and wise parts of ourselves having been with our species for millenia. To be held in our unfolding is why I like using these herbs together. 

Full Moon Herbal Bath - Restorative

• 2 parts Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• 1 part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa damascena)

Full Moon Herbal Bath - Enlivening

• 1 part Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

• ½ part Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• ½ part Lavender (Lavandula officinalis)

image via @adilnapreda

The Dark of the Moon

I almost always make my Dark of the Moon herbal bath blend a few days before since I don't typically make any sort of herbal remedies when the Moon is Dark. For me, Dark of the Moon work is usually of two varieties: deep rest or shadow work. The Dark of the Moon is a time to retreat from the world, go deep within (including deep rest), and recenter yourself before re-emerging into the world with the New Moon.

Dark Moon Herbs: Elder (Sambucus nigra), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), Nettles (Urtica dioica), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Sage (Salvia officinalis), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

Mugwort, my dudes. Mugwort is an herb that I love and can only use in small doses because of how powerfully it works on my body and through my energetic systems. I have learned this in unexpected and humorous ways again and again, so I make sure to approach Mugwort with a lot of respect as She is a powerful herb. In Anglo-Saxon tradition, Mugwort is called Una, oldest of herbs, and I feel that in my bones (here is a great in-depth look at the Nine Herbs Charm - you really should read the original out-loud to get a sense of just how rhythmic it is). The herb works to connect us to the liminal, enhance our dreamscapes, and loosen the spirit from the body if travelling through the worlds is what you require. In general, beyond my own sensitivity to the herb, I think that Mugwort is best enjoyed in small doses and I think it is more effective for dreamwork (especially lucid dreamwork) and promoting rest when smaller doses are used.

Dark of the Moon Herbal Bath - Rest & Dream Work

• 1 part Lavender (Lavandula officinalis)

• 1 part Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata)

• ½ part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Dark of the Moon Herbal Bath - Shadow Work

• 1 part Elder (Sambucus nigra)

• 1 part Rose (Rosa damascena)

• ½ part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

image via @priscilladupreez

Additions to Your Herbal Bath

Add an herb for the Moon sign. When I am trying to work with the specific energy of the sign that the Moon is in, I add in an herb associated with that Moon sign. You can find affirmations as well as links to full profiles of each sign of the zodiac here. You can also choose to always add an herb for your Moon sign into each bath blend.

Salt and epsom salt. Adding salt or epsom salt to your bath can be a way of helping us connect to our oceanic origins (in the case of salt) or assist with pain relief (in the case of epsom salt). 

Honey. Honey is not only good for the skin but helps to sweeten the energy of whatever spell you're working.

Milk. Oat milk (preferably homemade) or your choice of milk is a beautiful addition to the bath and adds additional skin-soothing properties to the experience. Within folk magick milk is associated with the Moon because of its bright white color. 

Stones. Along as you check to make sure that they are water-safe, gemstones can be added directly to your bath water. Or you can place them in your herbal blend to add their energy to the mix before water is added. Silver coins are another traditional addition to lunar blends.

Add moonwater. Adding water charged by the Full Moon or whatever Moon phase you're working with can be a powerful addition to your bathwater.

Flower or gem essences. Flower essences and gem essences are a simple way to support the emotional body. You can add in the flower essences of whatever herbs you're working with (something I love to do) or different essences.

Invoke the spirits, call your guides. I bless the water and call in certain holy ones of the waters before I bathe. It is part of transforming the mundanity of my bathroom to a energetic temple holding space for my ritual submersion. On a practical level, speaking sacred invocations and other holy words before immersing myself in my bath is a way to help shift my consciousness to the magickal working at hand.

Work with Nines. Hearkening to the magick of planetary squares, the primary sacred number of the Moon is nine. So you can stir your blend of herbs nine times, chant a spell over them nine times, or any other variation of working magick nine times. I like the addition of mindfulness that this adds to my practice, helping me to focus on the work at hand.

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I hope you're feeling inspired to draw a bath (or magickal shower) next time you're feeling like working some lunar magick. Lunar baths are also a wonderful addition to lunar magick in general and I've written a whole series on the Moon phases and magick. You can find posts for all the phases below:

• Dark of the Moon

• New Moon

• Waxing Quarter Moon

• Full Moon

• Waning Quarter Moon

If you’re looking for a deeper dive into lunar healing and magick, how about learning about your personal lunar holy day each month or a path exploring your gifts as a healer?

Wherever the Moon cycle finds you, may your baths be lunar and your magick abundant!

This post was chosen by and made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎