Moon Magick
Moon Phases
The Moon has 4 different phases called quarters, first, second, third & fourth. The first quarter (New Moon) begins the cycle, during which the moon can’t be seen for 3 days. The Moon rises & sets with the Sun and therefor is obscured. By the end of the first quarter, the Moon appears as a slender crescent just after sunset. There are 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds between one New Moon and the next. The Second Quarter (Waxing Moon) marks the time between New Moon and the Full Moon.
During the Waxing period the crescent gradually grows into a sphere. The Full Moon marks the beginning of the third quarter. The Moon rises just as the Sun sets, and then sets as the Sun rises in the morning. The fourth quarter (Waning Moon) marks the period halfway between the Full oon and the New Moon. The Dark moon occurs four days before the New Moon. Void of Course means the Moon is in between signs.
The New Moon always rises at Sunrise
The Waxing Moon at Noon
The Full Moon always rises at Sunset
The Waning Moon at Midnight
New Moon– Beginnings, Increase, New Projects, Personal Growth Oriented Consecrations
Waxing Moon– Empowering New Projects, Healing. Growth, Blessings, Prosperity
Full Moon– Strongest Time of Power, Any Magical Working, Divination, Protection, Prosperity
Waning Moon– Decrease, Banishing, Completion
Dark Moon– Ending Circumstances, Secrets, Rest, Meditation, Astrology, Contacting Spirit Guides
Void of Course– No Magical Workings
Eclipse– Usually no Magical Workings
Moon Signs
Moon In Libra:
Initiate Love Magick for a True Love, a soulmate, or just for some friendship. A most harmonious time phase. Great for Socializing and meeting people. To redecorate the house, or change your appearance beauty knows no bounds During this Lunar Shine. If there are squabbles and disputes to be settled, then its a good time for situations where
Compromise, Diplomacy and a sense of fairplay can be invoked. Spells involving justice, meetings, balance, harmony, & healing spells of the Base Chakra and the kidneys.
Moon In Scorpio:
The effects of this powerful moon phase are very strong. Scorpio is a regenerative sign, meaning that things must die to be born. Be sure your Magickal requests can handle a Phoenix phase before you begin. Excellent time to lay back and plan Magickal operations for this is a good Occult Moon. Taurus, Leo, and Aquarius shouldn’t do
Magick at this time. Spells involving strength, power, sexuality ,& healing spells of Navel Chakra
Moon In Sagittarius:
Good will abounds here and if you’ve been asking for a miracle start now. It’s likely you’ll get it. This is a good Moon Phase for Legal Matters as shown in the ” win at court seal”. People who work on tipsshould always have a Jupiter Candle burning on these moon phases. If philosophy is your bag, light a Wisdom Candle and travel the Spheres.
Ancient Knowledge is an open door during this Lunar Phase. Jovial good times are in for Gamblers watch it though, you could lose a lot too. Spells involving travel, truths, finding lost items, & healing spells of the liver and thighs.
Moon In Capricorn:
When you have a project that requires no nonsense and a lot of hardwork, tedious labor, and difficult business situations, this is the time. All situations that call for self
discipline and ambitious effort. Spells involving organization, personal gains, recognition,career, & healing spells of the Base Chakra, bones, teeth, skin. Spells involving organization, personal gains, recognition, career, & healing spells of the Base
Chakra, bones, teeth, skin.
Moon In Aquarius:
Looking to start a revolution in your office, job or school? Also good for Humanitarian Endeavors, Group Projects, and Bonding Friendships. All Magick will be of a progressive nature. Inventions, Electronics, and Higher Knowledge of an Intuitive Nature. Sudden brilliant insight so its good when you are blocked to invoke now. Another Party Moon; just open the door and invite all the neighborhood Eccentrics.! Spells involving binding spells, freedoms, friendship, breaking bad habits or addictions, & healing spells of the Base Chakra, and blood. Moon In Pisces: The Psychic Phase of the Moon brings internal insight through Mediumistic Thought Processes. Good for developing all phases of Psychic Development, Dreams ESP, etc. Good if you are doing Magick for Divination, Crystal-mancy, Tarot Card, Pendulum, Psychic Healing, and all forms of Psychic Work. Spells involving music, art, telepathy, dreams, communications of all kinds, & healing spells of theBase Chakra and lymph glands.
Full Moon Esbat Info
January- Wolf Moon also called: Cold Moon, Quiet Moon, Snow Moon & Moon of Little Winter
The Wolf Moon is a excellent time to work of relationships, partnerships, and matters of the heart, new ventures or that which requires courage. As well as sorting through family issues and “rebonding” with your family
February- Ice Moon also called: Storm Moon, Horning Moon , Quickening Moon & Big Winter Moon
The Ice Moon is a good time for divination, meditation, and inner journey work. As well as psychism,& prophetic dreaming. It’s also very useful in works that require long-lasting effects
March- Seed Moon also called: Storm Moon, Plow Moon, Sap Moon & Moon of Winds
The Seed Moon is the time of Magical gardening, seed blessing, garden & tool consecrations. Excellent time to work on personal growth, creativity & inspiration.
April- Growing Moon also called: Hare Moon, Planting Moon, Pink Moon & Green Grass Moon
Growing Moon is a good time for efforts that involve increased physical health, productivity, renewed energy, and removal of obstacles. It’s a perfect time for working with fairies and continuing magical gardening, consecrating plants & seedlings.
May- Dyad Moon also called: Bright Moon, Flower Moon, Hare Moon & Moon when the Phonies Shed
On a more mundane level, the energies of this moon provides a good time to finish projects. Our productivity levels run high, and our goals – even the difficult ones – are suddenly within our grasp. & because the Lord and Lady also touch our hearts in Their dancing, love and romance also comes into play. This is undoubtedly one of the most powerful Moons of the year for witches. It is the time when even them impossible is possible.
June- Mead Moon also called: Lover’s Moon, Honey Moon, Strawberry Moon & Moon on Making Fat
The Mead Moon brings a time of metamorphosis. A time to reinvent our lives, to change our personal realities and become what we were meant to be. Also a great time for works of prosperity, inspiration & creativity. Things come to fruition quickly now.
July- Hay Moon also called: Wort Moon, Blessing Moon, Buck Moon & Thunder Moon
This moon also heralds the time for us to begin our spiritual harvests. Because of this, magickal efforts seem to come into fruition more easily. Personal psychic abilities are more potent, & divination readings become more clear. Dreams are filled with prophesy and vision.
August- Corn Moon also called: Barley Moon, Disput Moon, Harvest Moon & Moon when Cherries turn Black
Efforts involving new partnerships or relationships, legal matters (wills, legacies, inheritances), come to fruition easily now.
September- Harvest Moon also called: Wine Moon, Singing Moon, Sturgeon Moon & Moon when Deer paw the Earth
The Harvest Moon provides a good time to be quiet, still the body, and let the spirit take over. For this reason efforts involving mediation, divination, scrying, psychic development & astral travel. Also projects that involve guidance, answers & solutions. Pay attention to the wisdom that lives within you. Nurture it. Fertilize it. Cultivate and harvest it. Then follow wherever it leads you.
October- Blood Moon also called: Harvest Moon, Shedding Moon & Moon of the Changing Seasons
The Blood Moon honors the cycles of life, death & rebirth, nearly any magical efforts work well now. Breaking bad habits, separations, decrease & removal of disease. Closing of chapters to bring about new beginnings
November- Snow Moon also called: Dark Moon, Fog Moon, Mourning Moon & Moon when Deer shed Antlers
We finish projects and tie up loose ends. We relax and regroup. We contemplate the goodness of the Earth and the fertile abundance She shares with us. We count our blessings. They are many and we are thankful. The Snow Moon is a great time for dream work, as well as meditation, divination& projects that require endings.
December- Cold Moon also called: Oak Moon, Long Night’s Moon, Big Winter Moon & Moon of Popping Trees
Cold Moon has the perfect energy for candle magic that involves strength, self-confidence, balance between the worlds, prosperity, release & beginnings.
Blue Moon also called: Moon of the Dead, Ancestor Moon & Hunter’s Moon
A Blue Moon occurs when there are two Full Moons in any given calendar month.
During the fullness of this moon, it’s important to kick back and relax, and take some time for ourselves. This doesn’t just mean physical time, however. We need spiritual time, too. Take time to make that inner journey and find out who we are and where
we’re going. Our growing season will come soon enough. And when it does, we need to be ready. The phrase “Once in a Blue Moon” doesn’t mean never, it just means its rare. Take that once in a blue moon opportunity to catch up on much needed rest, or finish that project that hasn’t gotten done. Also, any magick done at this time will pack some extra “oomph” so take advantage of this time to do some magickal work.
Black Moon
A Black Moon occurs when there are two dark cycles of the moon in any given calendar month. It is believed that the second dark moon is a time of great power within the spiritual world and any magic worked during this time is especially powerful. Please note that this in no way refers to black or negative magic – This is a time of ultimate creativity________________________
* Moonlight Garden Plants- Author- Ingrid Graff
Ingrid Graff is a New Hampshire writer, gardener, and mother of two.
My favorite herb gardens, this one came about almost by chance. After my original circular herb garden grew to fullness, I decided to expand it further by adding crescent-shaped beds on opposite sides of the circle.
I dug out two crescents of lawn to the north and south of my main garden and surrounded them with rocks to match the original design. After turning over the soil, I sat down on a nearby bench with a cup of tea, pondering the possibilities and waiting for inspiration. I had already decided that one crescent should contain the herbs mentioned by Shakespeare. I’m originally from England, and a Shakespeare garden would give me the opportunity to plant many English flowers that I feel nostalgic about—cowslips, primroses, violets, columbine, and daisies. The second garden, however, presented so many possibilities that I wallowed in indecision. Already flourishing in my yard were a medicinal garden, a scented garden, a bee garden, and a garden of kitchen herbs. Did I want to add a tea garden, a dyer’s garden, or perhaps a witch’s garden just for fun?
The inspiration finally came from the shapes before me: the crescents framing the round bed resembled phases of the moon. A moonlight garden of silver and white would combine beauty and practicality. Not only would pale gray leaves show up wonderfully in the moonlight and light the way for evening strolls, but they would furnish me with a fine supply of material for herbal wreaths. I already had a number of gray and silver plants in other parts of the garden, so I could begin by transplanting rather than buying, a gentle beginning for my budget. The idea of a restful, pretty garden bed that comes alive at the end of the day was appealing to me, and I dug in.
I had many plants in mind for this garden bed, but only later was I able to articulate the essential requirements for their inclusion: silver foliage, white blooms, or evening fragrance. (Using the same criteria, Carolee Snyder of Carolee’s Herb Farm in Hartford City, Indiana, has planted a larger moonlight garden in the same shape. Her plant list that accompanies the illustration is a wonderful starting point for any would-be moonlight gardener.)
The Silvers
Shades of silver and gray play an important but subordinate role in most gardens, where they act to both brighten and tone down other colors and blend areas together smoothly and harmoniously. They are lovely colors to work with, complementing pastel shades and making peace between brighter, even clashing tones. In the moonlight garden, however, these subdued colors take on more significance. Not only are they a source of reflected light, but, massed together, they become a dramatic contribution to the tapestry of texture created by foliage, flowers, and seed heads.
Many moon-garden possibilities exist among the artemisias, and that was a natural starting point for me because I already had, elsewhere in the yard, several large and handsome ones. I am especially fond of mugwort (I grow Silver King) because it furnishes a beautiful, well-nigh-indestructible base for wreaths. It is an ancient, magical plant with very deeply cut leaves that are silver on top and darker on the bottom. Wormwood is an attractive, tall, graceful plant with pretty, intricately cut leaves. Those who have the space might try the vigorous Silver Mound, Valerie Finnis, Roman wormwood, or Silver Brocade.
When I moved in silver herbs with a variety of leaf textures, such as silver horehound, curry plant, lavenders, silver sage, silver tansy, and lavender cotton, the garden became even more inviting. Every moon garden should have lamb’s-ears, whose furry leaves seem to illuminate any pathway even when the moon is only a sliver. A visiting friend brought me a plant of silver thyme, whose tiny pale leaves edged with white introduced striking contrasts in both texture and scale. A trip to a nearby field yielded a large mullein. Its large, soft silver ears of woolly down and its robust spire of a flower stalk carry the eye upward, above lower-growing plants like silver speedwell, whose smaller, more delicate leaves also find a place here.
Many of the downy, gray-leaved plants are of Mediterranean origin. Mine thrive in a sunny location and well-drained, light soil. Most are fairly drought tolerant; too much moisture, especially poor drainage, is likely to kill them. The silver thyme and the lavender cotton are the only plants that I’ve had trouble wintering over. I have to mulch them to protect them from our cold winters in northern New Hampshire. An easy way I’ve found to incorporate more tender plants into the garden is to put them in pots that I can move inside for the winter.
The soft blue grays and interesting foliage of rue, Russian sage, a potted cardoon with its large blue thistle heads, and a variety of sea hollies are other candidates that will add a soft sheen to a moon garden.
I sat back down on my bench and saw that the garden was filling in quite nicely.
Bursts of White
Finding plants with white blooms that would rise above and punctuate the silver grays with light and brightness was fun. Many common herbs and flowers have white-flowering cultivars, and the possibilities far exceeded the available space in my bed. Some of my favorites are the clear white flowers of White Nancy dead nettle, white-flowering yarrows, a white agastache, white wood betony, and White Perfection viola. The tiny flowers of white baby’s-breath add airy puffs.
Annuals self-seed randomly around the garden, filling in the spaces and helping to tie everything together. I can count on Purity cosmos, Miss Jekyll White nigella, Woodland nicotiana, white larkspur, and the annual white foxglove Excelsior to return every year. Bulbs scattered through the bed between the clumps of established perennials and in spots to be filled later with summer annuals extend the season in the moonlight garden to early spring. They include white-flowering crocuses, tulips, and narcissuses.
It’s difficult to imagine a moonlight garden without old-fashioned white shrub roses. There are so many to choose from! Mme. Legras de St. Germain, White Rose of York, Blanc Double de Coubert, and Mme. Hardy are just a few of them. All contribute not only their delicate white blooms and sturdy structure but also their heavenly perfume, another of my requirements for this garden.
Fragrance in the Night
Returning home late at night as a teenager, I used to have a rather dark and lonely journey down our lane. A huge mock orange stood near our gate, and when I saw its glow and smelled its fragrance, I knew I was safe. Now, so many years later, I realized that the addition of sweet-scented flowers to my garden would enhance the sense of peace that descends after a hectic day. A mock orange was among the first of the plants that I would add for their scent alone. Their various fragrances alert my senses and evoke memories.
While some flowers send out their scent only during daylight hours, others deign to grace only the air of evening. I have two favorite silver-leaved plants that perfume the night: night-scented stock and evening primrose.
Night-scented stock is a Cinderella of a plant. This hardy annual is so frail and scraggly during the day that I plant it behind more focal plants or discreetly along the edges of the bed. As soon as twilight seeps across the sky, however, a fairy godmother waves a wand and the little plants become more erect, open their tiny pale mauve flowers, and give off a perfume that travels on the evening air in sweet waves. It is not a cloying scent but rather one that causes you to take deeper breaths to drink it in more fully.
The evening primrose that I grow, Oenothera caespitosa, is a low-growing, white-flowered perennial native to western North America. It has gray-green leaves and blooms all summer. Just before sunset, the buds open and release a lovely citrus-jasmine scent to the evening. I remember vividly first smelling that scent in the Grand Canyon. The scent led me to the discovery of O. caverna, a white-flowered evening primrose found only in the canyon. It looked delicate and fragile, a pale, glowing beauty, and it attracted many night-flying insects as well. The plant blooms at night to reduce water loss through the flowers during the day, as the flowering season is the hottest and driest time of year. Although the evening primroses in my garden don’t have such a spectacular setting, the fragrance is very similar. Before a dinner party, I sometimes place some buds with floating candles in a shallow bowl of water; during the course of the party, they open and perfume the room. Many other species of evening primrose would also be suitable for a moonlight garden.
I also planted an abundance of pinks; these smell sweet enough during the day but take on an even richer, deeper fragrance at night. The close mats of gray spiky leaves and their small, pretty flowers are a delight. Last year, I discovered the double white Mrs. Sinkins, which is wonderful as it catches the moonlight. I’m also fond of the larger gillyflower, also called clove carnation, whose rich scent the Elizabethans used to dispel melancholy. It is taller than the pinks, and the night seems to draw out its deepest perfume.
The moonlight gardener has an abundance of fragrant plants to choose from. Night-blooming jasmine can be planted in large pots and placed close to paths or benches, the better to experience its intoxicating scent when it’s in bloom. The pots can be tucked into any empty spots in the garden as filler before and after flowering. Many nicotianas have a sweet jasmine scent that is strongest at night, and varieties are available that grow as tall as 5 feet. However, some of the modern dwarf cultivars lack any fragrance at all. Phlox’s tall stems bear masses of flowers whose sweet scent also seems to intensify at night. I find that night-blooming daylilies have a cleaner, fresher, lighter scent than either that of phlox or nicotianas.
My moonlight garden grows and changes as I find new plants for it. It is pretty by day, but its true enjoyment is reserved for the evening hours, a reward at day’s end. As I walk through it in the evening, the dark green foliage disappears, the silver-leaved plants come forward, showing the way, and the many white flowers seem to float and bob against the blackness. I can look at the moon, breathe in the fragrance, and enjoy the flicker of fireflies.
Planting by the Moon
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
Ecclesiastes 3:1–2
Gardeners have been writing about the moon and its effect on plants since they first began to record their ideas and experiences. When and how to plant seeds and seedlings, when to harvest, and how to store have all been linked to the signs of the zodiac, the planets, and especially the moon. In ancient lore, moonlight was beloved of witches, and herbs for potions and spells were gathered in the full of the moon.
The notion of planting by the moon and stars may seem ethereal; in fact, it’s easy to get bogged down in a mire of complicated information and supposition. For the astrologically impaired, one of the basic tenets passed down by folklore—and one that’s easy to follow without access to a current zodiac—is that you plant seeds in the moon’s first quarter, when it is waxing. The idea is that as the moon increases, the seed will absorb its energy and increase also. When the moon begins to wane, its energy decreases, and so this is the time to reap, while the plants’ energy is at its peak—or so the pundits say.
Another moon-related idea that has passed into garden folklore is that seeds of plants with their edible parts above ground should be planted in the waxing moon, while those grown for their roots and tubers below ground should be planted while the moon is on the wane.
The idea of planting by the moon was given new life in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), an Austrian social philosopher and educator and the originator of the theory of biodynamic gardening. According to this theory, most vegetable and herb seeds should be planted two days before the new moon to take advantage of the moon’s gravitational pull, which is at a maximum when it is new. Just as the moon’s gravitational force controls the oceans’ tides, gravitational pull on the water absorbed by a seed planted just before a new moon is believed to help the seed to split. The plant’s further development is aided by the gradually increasing moonlight during the waxing period, and seedlings benefit by being transplanted at the full moon in maximum moonlight. The moon’s final quarter is considered a period of rest.
Throughout history, every theory of moonlight gardening has had its skeptics and detractors. For example, in his herbal The Art of Simpling (1656), William Coles points out that God created plants on the third day and planets the day after:
Thus did God even at first confute the folly of those Astrologers who go about to maintain that all vegetables in their growth are enslaved to a necessary and unavoidable dependence on the influence of the starres, whereas Plants were even when Planets were not.
Ingrid Graff is a New Hampshire writer, gardener, and mother of two.
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