New Moon Old Magick

Waxing Moon in Cancer, a Hedge Witches Dream

Good morning, my lovelies!

What a fabulous day!!  Today is Saturday, the 9th of April, and this article is being written in the Southeastern United States.  At approximately 5:15pm this evening, Eastern Time, the moon will enter into Cancer.  She will now be in her first quarter waxing phase in Cancer.  There is no more fertile time in the entire cycle of moon phase than waxing (growing) moon in Cancer.  This is the absolutely best time for planting seeds, transplanting starts, planting trees, annuals, perennials, fruits, above ground veggies, below ground roots, herbs, you name it.  Plant it now.

Cottage Garden

Even if you have nothing to plant, and you are still in a cold climate and before your frost dates, go out into your garden and do SOMETHING to prepare for the time when you CAN plant.  Get the energy flowing.  If you are an apartment gardener, plant some pots of herbs for your window, or add a tiny rose or a new violet to your indoor garden.  Get your hands into some earth.  Now is the time to reconnect with the energy of growth and fertility.  Women, it is part of us biologically and energetically, and it is vitally important to spend time celebrating that Goddess energy in ourselves.  Men, you don’t need me to tell you, go wallow in some feminine energy!  Enjoy!

Correspondingly, it is also a fabulous time to do things in your life that will seed a new endeavor or put efforts into getting something going that you have been hoping for, WITH THE CAVEAT that Mercury is still Retrograde, and that one needs to avoid contracts, initiating new communications, purchasing real estate, and avoiding buying a new computer, car or airplane!  Otherwise, work those contacts you have already made.  Develop those products you have researched, do your homework on your business and take care of those things you have put off.  Come back to studies you have abandoned and wish to revisit, fix the car that has been sitting forlornly in your drive.  Revisit old friends, or an old flame.  In other words, now is the time to put effort into things you want to grow or to accomplish.

Cancer is the Cardinal sign of the Water triplicity.  Water is considered the most fertile of the elements, the source of life.  Cardinal is the most active of the Water signs, being the one who gets things going, the first and most INITIATING of the signs.  If it is possible for a Water sign to be Yang, this would be it.  So now is also an excellent time for ritual!!!

And any kind of ritual is worth doing now.  Not just the high holy qabbalistic Lodge ceremony, but the little hedge witch pick-a-leaf-and-blow-it-into-a-wish ceremony.  AND because it is the Water element, it is an excellent time to use that element in your ceremony.

If you live near a stream or an ocean, you are very lucky.  This is moving water, and you can definitely use this energy to carry your wish to the Powers that Be.  Even the flow of water into a storm drain is perfectly fine if there is none other available.  The point is to find flowing water, if you are using that element.

Here is a good and very simple personal ritual that uses either flowing water or earth.  You can do this at home, at work, or if you are travelling, really any place at all.

• As you are walking near a source of flowing water, a large fountain, a stream, the ocean, or the ladies room, find and pick up a leaf or blade of grass.  If you are indoors in an office building, and cannot find an indoor plant with small leaves, go outside the building for a moment and raid the landscaping near to a sprinkler!
• When you pick, remember that because this is a magical working, no matter how small, connect with the plant in your imagination and give it some respect and gratitude for the gift of the leaf.
• Take this leaf in your both your hands, and really look at it.  Look at the smoothness or roughness of the texture, at the veins of sap running thru, at the different colors of green and brown that mottle it.  There is no ‘perfect’ or leaf of ideal appearance, and to seek one would be to sterilize your ceremony.   Pick one at random and then really look at it.  This period of study will help take you out of your normal busy day mind.
• Take a few seconds to imagine the light coming on above your head and flowing down into you and around you, as we have been doing for the Divination 101 posts.  Let this light also flow into and fill the leaf in your hands.  Along with the light, let your wish flow into the leaf.  As you look at the leaf, really try to visualize the light of your own divinely connected energies filling it, carrying your wish.  Or if you are more kinetic, feel the warmth of that energy and your wish filling your leaf, as your hands warm it.
• You may hear a sound (sometimes I hear harmonics) or simply just know that the leaf is full.  It all depends on how you process information, but there will come a point when you will know or see, hear, or feel a signal that you are done.  If you don’t, don’t worry about it, just decide you are done and the leaf is full.  It’s your ceremony, after all.
• With a feeling of gratitude for a wish already granted, drop the leaf into the stream or the wave.  If your stream is the flow of water into a gutter, go for it!  If it is the ladies room in your place of work, fine!  Just flush.  Whatever works.
• Imagine that leaf flowing away from you and carrying your wish to the Universe, to the Powers that Be, to the Divine energies, whatever positive and fertile and active energy you wish to work with.

Here is a variation for those of you to whom flowing water is not convenient, if you prefer to work with the earth.

• You can also take the leaf and push it into the dirt near the plant, imagining in your mind that you are ‘planting’ your wish, and that it will grow with time.
• If it is a really big wish, obtain a small personal crystal and, using the method we just described, place your energy and your wish inside the crystal and ‘plant’ it.  Put it into the potted plant on your desk, as long as it is your plant and won’t migrate to someone else!  OR, simply push it into the ground somewhere outside in the landscaping and let the chips fall where they may!

Remember, as we’ve said before, casting a spell to harm or damage or manipulate another is not in our purview.  This is black magick, most especially if you do it in the name of prayer or religion, and it will backfire on you sooner or later.  Usually sooner.  That’s not shaking a finger, it’s just the way energy works.  As in life, you create the energy you will have to live with.

This type of hedgewitch ceremony is wonderful for real life problems.

• If you are forced by circumstances to work in a horrible environment where your finer qualities are not recognized, and bosses are taking the credit for your good work and blaming you for everything that goes wrong, even if it has nothing to do with you, this is a good way to work to change that energy.
• Since we do not want to initiate NEW communications, you can visualize that the truth of your good efforts and work abilities becomes known in your company. or among those you have contacted.
• You can imagine or visualize that your reputation for reliability and hard work, correspondingly along with your pay, grows and flourishes.

Then let the Powers the Be decide how that will look.  Try NOT to visualize your obnoxious boss getting the boot or being hit by something large on wheels, OK?

If you are searching for work, this is an excellent time to do ritual to obtain a job.  Plant your job in that leaf or crystal and let the Great Mother Earth grow one for you.  Remember to be as specific in your visualization or description of the qualities of your desired job as you can, WITHOUT GIVING A SPECIFIC COMPANY OR NAME OF AN INDIVIDUAL. Use positive language.  Do not say what you do not want.  Declare what you want.  Good pay.  Good co-workers.  Appreciative boss.  Recognition of your qualities.  Interesting and rewarding work.  To do some good in the world.  Whatever is of importance to you.  You can even write some of your requirements on a small slip of paper and bury it with the leaf, or wrap it around the crystal.  Plant your wish, or throw it into the stream or the ocean and walk away.

Alright lovies, there is another moon unit, with some little rituals thrown in.  Thank you again for your patience with the blog itself, and I promise that I will let you know when the RSS feed and the email subscription are fixed and all better.  Enjoy your weekend and get out and put your hands into the earth of the Great Mother if you can.

Blessed Be,
Marie Angeli

all text and images ©2011 Marie Angeli

Moon in Capricorn
So Sorry, dear readers!  I’ve taken a few days away from blogging to rest the old hand, and in the interim the Moon has slipped into Capricorn.  We almost midway thru this earthy sign which Liotte says is ‘somewhat’ fertile.  Since we are heading towards Pisces (after a short stint in Aquarius) and a VERY fertile period, now is not a vital planting time.  But if you wish to do some late Sunday afternoon planting, or want planting time tomorrow, then waning moon Cap is another very good time to plant root crops.  We’ve mentioned them previously, potato, sweet potato, sunchokes, onion, herbs like ginseng that are primarily used for their roots…

Think fertilize, earth, mud, decomposition, subterranean.  This is the energy of Capricorn.

I was reminded gently by a friend in upstate New York that several areas of the country are yet snow bound.  It is sometimes easy to loose track.  My neighbor is laughing at me because I’ve not yet seeded my peppers.  In March!  But the world is a big place, and planting zones differ from region to region.

If, like my New York friend, you are still at the mercy of below freezing temperatures, you may want to think about initiating your composting system.  Begin a pile if you do not have one, and if there are no neighborhood laws against it.  Get a compost turner or the Home Depot equivalent if you have a balcony garden.  Now is a good time to work with the mechanics of your grow lights if you have indoor agriculture in an apartment.  Even better, work in your window greenhouse!  If you can do nothing else, you can plant a couple of pots of green onions and tiny carrots and radishes for your windowsill, or for your kitchen counter under a florescent light.  Just a few pots of herbs are sometimes enough to change the whole energy of your indoor space.

That’s all for now, my dearies.  Blessed Be.

Marie Angeli

words and text ©2011 Marie Angeli