CHAPTER 1

The Lunar Calendar: Spells for Every Phase of the Moon

The proper phase of the moon is essential for spell craft. The waning moon is the time to wind down any personal challenges and see them to an end. The new moon is an auspicious time for a fresh start. While waxing, the moon grows steadily larger and is good for spellwork toward fruition. The full moon is a great teacher with a special message for each month. The moon moves through the wheel of the zodiac from sign to sign every two to three days.

Performing a spell at the optimal time in the lunar cycle will maximize your power. As you read the spells in this book, keep this elemental magic in mind:

Each lunar cycle begins with a "new" phase, when the moon lies between the sun and the earth so the illuminated side cannot be seen.. The moon gradually "waxes" until it has moved to the opposite side of the earth, its lit side faceing us in the "full" moon phase. It then begins to "wane" until it reaches the New Moon phase again. The entire cycle takes a month, during which the moon orbits the earth. To determine the sun sign governing the moon, you will need a celestial guide or almanac. My favorite is Llewellyn's Daily Planetary Guide.

New Moon Flower Power

This flower-infused potpourri is wonderful for clearing the way for the new in your life and planting "seeds" for new moon beginnings. You can also create a wreath with garlic bulbs for self-protection and insurance that your newly laid plans won't go awry.

Flower ingredients:

• Rose

• Snapdragon

• Marigold

• Carnation

Place the flowers in a bowl and then sprinkle them with a few drops of geranium, clove, and cinnamon oil. Place the mixture on the south point of your altar for the duration of a full lunar cycle, from new moon to new moon.

New Moon Spells

We all know about the power of full moon spells, but don't neglect the energy of the other moon phases. New moon spells can be quite powerful as long as you target the right purposes during this time of the lunar cycle.

The new moon is the time for beginnings and new projects, so this is a good time to work some magick towards a new path in your life. Needless to say, cast these spells during a new moon phase.

Seeding the Future - New Moon Ritual

What are your intentions for the coming months? What you can imagine, you can bring into being. This ritual will aid you in getting what you want and need for yourself and loved ones. Nothing says "new beginnings" like planting a seed, so use the power of a growing plant to bring success to your own new moon projects. Assemble the following:

• A flowerpot filled halfway with soil

• Enough soil to fill the pot

• Seeds (nasturtiums are oh-so-easy to grow)

• Egg shells

• A small piece of paper

Get everything together and write your intentions on the paper in as few words as possible and roll into a scroll. Place the scroll in the pot, and then crush some egg shells on top of that. Fill the rest of the pot with soil.

Repeat the following:

I plant this seed when the moon is new, Manifest my intentions, I ask it true. So mote it be.

Keep repeating this as you plant your seeds, and give them a little water. After the ritual, keep the pot somewhere sunny and you should start seeing some success in your plans when the plant begins to sprout. Keep it healthy and thriving to keep the magic going. You can perform a ritual like this anytime you feel the need and the moon is new. You can also be very specific in your intentions: new love, an interview for a new job, finding a new home you love. I find that the more specific you are in setting your intentions, the more powerful the spell.

New Job, New Moon

Another good spell purpose for the new moon is getting a new job. If you're seeking new employment, try this ritual out. Get your supplies out:

• 2 green candles

• 2 white candles

• 2 gold candles

• 2 pieces of green jade or another green stone

• Cinnamon oil

Line up the candles, alternating the colors. Anoint each one with cinnamon oil, and rub a little oil on the stones too. Start at one end and light each candle. With each one, repeat these words:

A new career is what I desire, I cast this spell to get a hire. By the light of this new moon, I need a new job soon.

After all the candles are lit, take each stone and gently pass it through the flames (careful of your fingers). Then hold the stones in your hands and visualize the type of job you want to get. After the spell, pocket the stones and carry them with you. You should have a new job by the next new moon.

The Dark Side of the Moon – Eclipse Enchantments

When the moon passes into the Earth's shadow, this is a lunar eclipse. These are rare occasions that make for a truly enchanted evening. I recommend you think ahead to what you want to accomplish in this phase, since an eclipse only lasts several hours. Think about what you want brought out of the shadow and into the light – do you need to dust off old dreams and reactivate them? Do you have old hurts and wounds you need to let go of and purge from your life? Do you feel there is a secret being kept from you? This one night is perfect for the purposes of saying goodbye to the old and ushering in the new. Simply plan your magical workings to coordinate with the passing shadow. When the moon is in full eclipse, treat those few moments as if the moon was in its Dark phase. It is also an excellent time to honor the goddess of the moon in a group or solo ritual. Think through carefully your heart's desire and what will serve you for many months to come.

White Light of Love: A Waning Moon

To light the flower of love in your heart, time this charm for the waning of a New Moon. Place a green candle beside a white lily, rose or freesia. Make sure it is a posy of personal preference. White flowers have the greatest perfume and either of these beauties will impart your home with a pleasing aura. I like to float a gardenia in a clear bowl of fresh water, truly the essence of the divine. Light the candle and hold the flower close to your heart. Pray,

Steer me to the highest light;
guide me to beauty and truth.
Much have I to give.
Much have I to live.
Bright blessings to one and all.

Waning Moon Money Magic

To attract money, fill a big pot with fresh water and place it on your altar during the waxing moon. Pour a cup of milk with a tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of ground clove into the pot as an offering. Toss handfuls of dried chamomile and mint into the cauldron. Say aloud:

I call upon you, gods and goddesses of old, to fill my purse with gold. I offer you mother's milk and honey sweet.

With harm to none and blessings to thee, I honor you for bringing me health and prosperity.

Place the offering bowl on your altar and leave the aromatic mixture there to instill your kitchen with the energy of abundance. After four hours and forty-four minutes, go outside your home and pour the offering into your kitchen garden or into the roots of a shrub. Then bow in appreciation of the kindness of the gods and goddesses.

Lucky 13 Waxing Moon Spell

Your altar is the heart center of your home, your sanctuary. Yet the world is constantly coming in and bringing mundane energy over your threshold — problems at the workplace, financial woes, bad news from your neighborhood or the world at large. All this negativity wants to get in the way and stay. While you can't do anything about the stock market crash in China or a coworker's divorce, do not allow this bad energy to cling to you. Instead, you can do something about it with a homekeeping spell. The best times to release any and all bad luck is on a Friday the 13th or on any waxing moon. As you know, Friday the 13th is considered a lucky day on the witch's calendar.

Get a big black candle and a black crystal, a piece of white paper, a black pen with black ink and a cancellation stamp, readily available at any stationery store. Go into your backyard or a nearby park or woodlands and find a flat rock that has a slightly concave surface. Using the pen, write down on the white paper that which you want to rid yourself and your home of; this is your release request. Place the candle and the black crystal on the rock, and light the candle near an open window. As the negativity is released outside while the candle burns, intone:

Waxing moon, most wise Cybele,
From me this burden please dispel
Upon this night so clear and bright
I release ___ to the moon tonight.

Go outside and place the rock altar on the ground and visualize a clear and peaceful home filled with only the positive as the candle burns for thirteen minutes. Stamp the paper with the cancel stamp. Snuff the candle, fold the paper away from your body, and place it under the rock. Speak your thanks to the moon for assisting you. If you have a truly serious issue at hand, repeat the process for thirteen nights and all will be vanquished.

Under a Waxing Moon

When the first narrow crescent of the waxing moon appears in the twilight sky, place a green candle beside a white lily or freesia. White flowers have the most intense aromas. Anoint the candle with tuberose or rose oil. Take a handful of seeds, such as sunflower, walnuts, or pistachios, still in their shells, and place them in front of the candle.

Close your eyes and recite aloud:

Under this darkling moons,
In Eden fair, I walk through flowers
In the garden of my desires,
I light the flame of my mind,
I plant the seeds of things to come.

Safe Haven Potpourri

Potpourri was a medieval product revived by the Victorians, who used the symbolic meanings and powers of flowers. Grow flowers in your kitchen garden or buy cut flowers. Dry them; then place them in a pretty container. Choose flowers that connect with your astrological sun sign, moon sign and personal energy. Try a mix of your favorites along with some of the beloved posies of Victorian and medieval times:

Daisy opens in the morning and closes when the sun goes down; this beloved flower is associated with purity, loyalty, innocence, patience and simplicity.

Pansies are also called Heartsease and represent merriment!

Iris stands for wisdom, faith, friendship and hope eternal.

Floral Healing Remedies

Flower essences mixed with 30 millimeters distilled water can also be used as the following remedies:

• Addiction: skullcap, agrimony

• Anger: nettle, blue flag, chamomile

• Anxiety: garlic, rosemary, aspen, periwinkle, lemon balm, white chestnut, gentian

• Bereavement: honeysuckle

• Depression: borage, sunflower, larch, chamomile, geranium, yerba santa, black cohosh, lavender, mustard

• Exhaustion: aloe, yarrow, olive, sweet chestnut

• Fear: poppy, mallow, ginger, peony, water lily, basil, datura

• Heartbreak: heartsease, hawthorn, borage

• Lethargy: aloe, thyme, peppermint

• Stress: dill, echinacea, thyme, mistletoe, lemon balm

• Spiritual blocks: oak, ginseng, lady's slipper

Blessed Balm Spell (Waning Moon is Optimal)

Simmer this mixture whenever you feel the need to infuse your home and heart with the energies of protection. A waning moon is the time to banish old negative energy. This will safeguard you and your loved ones from outside influences that could be negative or disruptive. Set your intention and gather together the following herbs:

¼ cup rosemary
1 teaspoon dill weed
4 bay laurel leaves
cup cedar
1 tablespoon basil
1 teaspoon juniper berries
1/8 cup sage

Mix your herbs together by hand. While you are doing this, close your eyes and visualize your home as a sacred place protected by a boundary of glowing white light. Add the herbs to a pan filled with simmering water. When the aromatic steam rises, intone:

By my own hand, I have made this balm;
This divine essence contains my calm.
By my own will, I make this charm;
This precious potpourri protects all from harm.
With harm to none and health to all,
Blessed be!

Blowing in the Wind – A Charm (Waning Moon is Optimal)

When the moon is waning, this is your opportunity to release anything that no longer serves in your life. We all need to embrace the winds of change in life, clearing away the old and making room for the new. This charm helps overcome upset and can help release anger and grudges. And isn't this an important first step to happiness? What you'll need: a blustery day, access to the outdoors, basil and sage.

Well, it's not mandatory that you have a hill for this, but you do need an open area outside for happiness spells like this. It does need to be windy.

Take your herbs to your spot of choice with your back to the wind. Take the basil and sage and throw them up in the air as you visualize your problems blowing far, far away. Repeat this charm aloud:

No more fear and doubt and pain
Nothing to lose and only joy to gain.

Now, turn around and face into the wind. Speak aloud:

May the winds of change be kind to me
And bring about happiness and glee.
Stress-free and happy I will be

Close your eyes and feel the breeze on your skin and blowing through your hair. Stand still for a few more moments, focused on the release of your problems and the acceptance of peace and the calm that lies ahead in your future.

Spring Full Moon - Invocation of the Flower Moon

This dazzling spring Flower Moon is an optimal opportunity to strive for the new, to initiate a phase of transformation that will last long after the Full Moon has waxed into darkness. This invocation honors the season, planting seeds of positive change in your life to bloom for years to come. Start by gathering red and green apples, candles of the same colors, and seed corn from a gardening store, along with three stalks of lavender and three long strands of night-blooming jasmine. Leave these offerings on your altar all day.

When the Full Moon of May reaches the highest point in the night sky, light one red and one green candle on your kitchen altar. Wind the jasmine and lavender into a crown for the top of your head, breathing in the lovely scent the flowers produce. Holding an apple in each hand, speak this spell while circling the altar clockwise three times.

Moon of Flowers; light the way to change tonight,
Through the power of Earth and Air, Water and Fire.
As I bite this fruit of knowledge, I am thus inspired.
All possibilities are before me. And so it is.

Eat from both apples until you are fully satisfied, and then bury twelve corn seeds and the cores in the rightmost corner of your garden. With the spring rains and summer sun, your intentions will flower into being. By the fall full moon, you will harvest the bounty of change from this spell, with great gratitude.

Lunar Lore – 12 Months of Full Moons

Many of our full moon names come from medieval books of hours and also from the Native American tradition. Here is a list of rare names from the two traditions you may want to use in your lunar rituals.

January: Old Moon, Chaste Moon; this fierce Wolf Moon is the time to recognize your strength of spirit

February: Hunger Moon; the cool Snow Moon is for personal vision and intention-setting

March: Crust Moon, Sugar Moon; the gentle Sap Moon heralds the end of winter and nature's rebirth

April: Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon; spring's sweet Pink Moon celebrates health and full life force

May: Milk Moon, Corn Planting Moon, Dyad Moon; the Flower Moon provides inspiration with the bloom of beauty

June: Hor Moon, Rose Moon; the Strawberry Moon heralds Summer Solstice and sustaining power of the sun

July: Buck Moon, Hay Moon; this Thunder Moon showers us with rain and cleansing storms

August: Barley Moon, Wyrt Moon, Sturgeon Moon; summer gifts us with the Red Moon, the time for passion and lust for life

September: Green Corn Moon, Wine Moon; fall's Harvest Moon is the time to be grateful and reap what we have sown

October: Dying Grass Moon, Travel Moon, Blood Moon, Moon of Changing Seasons; the Hunter's moon is when we plan and store for winter ahead

November: Frost Moon, Snow Moon; Beaver Moon is the time to call upon our true wild nature

December: Cold Moon, Oak Moon; this is the lightest night of the shortest day and is the time to gather the tribe around the fire and share stories of the good life together