New Moon

For those who like to keep track of the Lunar comings and goings, today is January's New Moon!

I found a cool moon calculator to add to my blog. Check it out midway down the left side column. This way you can keep track of where the Moon is at!

Now, why would you want to keep track of the Moon cycles? Well, if you were so inclined, you can align yourself with the cycles of the Moon to help you with your gardening, spellwork, personal spiritual work, among other things. The Lunar cycles are strong, so why not pay attention to that energy and run WITH it, instead of AGAINST it?

The Moon can help us work with our "darker" personal energies. Now this might sound dire, but it's not all bad! We can take advantage of these cycles to look inward, and do the corresponding work. If you have patterns in your life that repeat themselves, and you would really rather that they not, you can use the waning phase of the Moon to address this. Similarly, if you want to create abundance, love, and prosperity in your life, then doing work when the moon is in waxing mode will help that along.

When the Moon is full, we can feel that energy at it's most influential. Doing divination work on the full Moon will help illuminate your issues right now. When the Moon is new, as it is today, it's a great time to start planning a new venture. you might want to wait a day or two before doing any magickal works associated with it, though.

Some general lunar magickal correspondences are love, dreams, sleep, fertility, peace:

• Metal: silver


• Stone: moonstone


• Herbs: Lotus, Camphor, Dulse, Poppy, Myrrh, Sandalwood (to name a few)


• Goddess: Athena, Aphrodite (among many others depending on pantheon)


• Animal: Owl (again, there are many)

These are just a few of the many correspondences for the Moon. All the monthly moons have names, attributed to them in Native American traditions. This moon is called the Wolf Moon. This name can be different depending on what text you are referencing. Even if you aren't ready to get something new started right now, you might want to plan for next month's new moon, or even this month's full moon.

The Power's Out ~ Now What?

Well, the electrical power went out this morning just as I was headed into the shower. Luckily, I hadn't gotten in yet. I called our power company and they said the repairs should take about 2 hours. Now, I had planned to get showered and tackle a bunch of stuff on my to-do list. Since all of those involved using electric, I needed a new plan. That got me thinking about what we can do to slow down, take a breath, and get away from the Mile-A-Minute technical world we live in, even if just for a little while.

Maybe some of you might use the time to meditate? Not me, as I'm a most fidgety meditator! I love guided imagery techniques, but left to my own devices, I'm not successful in my attempts.

Since it's a really rainy and dark day outside, there's not enough light to read by inside. I played with my cats awhile, and then sat down to write a bit in a notepad. When was the last time you wrote anything on a notepad, not a keyboard? It' s been awhile, I bet, unless you journal often.

I ended up thinking about being in the dark and then the Moon, as she is in a waning phase now.

When the moon is in her dark (or new) phase it's a great time to start a new project, or maybe do a spell for a positive change you would like to see. It's a great time to do candle magick, as you are illuminating the dark with your spell. I think that the shining light will gather more light as it grows, and the process of building that light will make the spell more powerful.
What does the dark of the moon inspire in you?