Moon Magic

The more specific, detailed knowledge and experience a witch has of the natural world, the better  her magic will be.  Temple of Diana, Inc teaches a young witch to keep an "elemental inventory", a record of her interactions with the four elements in their different forms, to help her remember specifics.

Besides experiencing air, fire, water, and earth in their various forms, a witch needs to know some things about the natural history of plants, animals, and astronomical objects. The moon especially has been the focus of much powerful magic for a long time. Maidens, would you like to learn about the moon? Read on. 

There are two bright lights in the sky, the sun and the moon.

You've seen them many times.

SUN

The sun follows some simple rules.

• The sun is always round.
• In the daytime, the sun is in your sky.
• At night, the sun is not in your sky, the sun is on the other side of the earth. If you have a friend halfway around the world, she might call you during her daytime and wake you up in the middle of your night!

MOON

The moon follows rules, too. But the rules for the moon are not as simple as the rules for the sun.

• The moon changes shape, it has phases.
• Sometimes you can see the moon in the sky all night.
• Sometimes the moon is in the sky for part of the night and part of the day.
• Sometimes you can't see the moon anywhere in the sky for the whole day and night. This time is called the dark of the moon.

Here are some of the names for the phases. If the moon  

• looks like a whole circle, it is a full moon.
• looks like a half circle, it is a half moon.
• looks smaller than a half circle, it is a crescent moon. The very smallest crescent moon that you can see is called the new moon.
• looks bigger than a half circle, it is a gibbous moon.
• is getting smaller, it is a waning moon.
• is getting bigger, it is a waxing moon.

Can you name the phases in the picture above?

People long ago watched for the moon night after night and day after day. They learned where (and when) they could expect to see the moon in the sky. They noticed that it takes about 30 days for the moon to go through all its phases, so they gave that length of time a name: a moonth month.  Some of them carved what they saw into bones, like this one:

People noticed other things about the phases of the moon, too. The ocean tides change, depending on the phase of the moon. Animal behavior changes, too. If you have never seen a California beach when the grunion are running, go to http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/grunionschedule.asp

Witches too noticed that there is different energy at different phases of the moon. A night when there is only flame to light the darkness has a very different feel than a bright moonlit night. This was easier to understand before electricity was everywhere. To use the moon for magic, do magic so the phase of the moon gives the magic a push and doesn't hold it back.

MOM

Your mom---everyone's mom---and the moon have a very close connection. You know that the moon goes through a cycle of phases in about a month. The same thing is true about your mother!  Your mother's phases are not

 as visible as the phases of the moon. Her changes happen inside her body. Because of the changes inside her body, about once a month she is in the phase that makes it possible for her to become a mother again. To find out when that phase will happen, women sometimes make charts. Hmmm...do you think it's possible that's what a woman was doing with that old bone?

Just as the rules for the sun are simpler than the rules for the moon, so the rules for the moon are simpler than the rules for women. Your mother will explain those rules to you. If you are old enough to read this, then your body will soon have phases too, like the moon does and like your mother does. Or maybe your phases have started already. I like knowing that the moon and I behave in some of the same ways. Do you like knowing that?

Excerpted from Edna Myers, SUN MOON MOM: A Book for Girls