“Your thoughts are a veil on the face of the Moon. That Moon is your heart, and those thoughts cover your heart. So let them go, just let them fall into the water.” – Jalal Uddin Rumi
The beloved moon in our sky has always been synonymous with witchcraft, the occult, and magic and for more reasons with more depth of history than I could even begin to touch upon here. She speaks in lightness, darkness, and rhythms. Most of us at some point in our lives become enchanted by her wilding call. For many she is the entity that first beckons us and hints at a world past our own eyes. Her draw is so strong you would be hard pressed to find a single person, walking a magical path or not, who hasn’t had an intimate moment with the her. Sometimes just as fleeting as a double take on a clear night, or gazing for just a moment longer than normal, but she touches us all.
When you look up at the night sky consider our solar system a giant clockwork, an intricate system that follows a rhythmic cycle. Through our eyes the zodiac is that clock’s face, and our moon is our second hand. It tells the passage of time in a much quicker way than the rest of the sky, and its passage through time sits more in tune with the swiftness of our very perishable lives; this makes one of the many reasons why we feel such a connection to her in comparison to the rest of the celestial bodies. The ebb and flow of the moon’s energy shifts and changes as she moves in our sky, and her swelling and shrinking through the faces of the zodiac impact the way those changes are felt.
And it is within that pattern of change that we can work our most optimal magic if we take the time to learn that lovely ebb and flow. In approachable terms the moon is broken into four main cycles – new moon, waxing moon, full moon, waning moon. I want to talk about the waning moon.
Waning Moon magic is not manifestation magic, and as a result this half of our moon’s cycle can easily be overlooked, as manifestation often takes the wheel behind the vehicle of witchcraft. Releasing, diminishing, weakening, banishing, clearing, cleansing, path clearing, opening doorways, and shifting energy to stimulating change, are all so vitally important to successful magic and are all things that can optimally be done with the moon’s waning cycle. These are types of magic that can help pave the way for powerful experiences and can open up space and create opportunity to delve deeper into yourself and explore how you want to manifest your craft.
Other areas of magic that are great for the waning moon is curse breaking, weakening, weight loss magic, uncrossings, breaking behavioral or emotional cycles, removing influences from your life, becoming less visible, managing your stress, and controlling debt, just to scratch the surface.
Now, looking past the kinds of magic listed, you can start to see a pattern emerging for the way in which we are working with the moon’s energy and it is that pattern you’re seeing that is infinitely more important than the actual list I rattled off to you. All of these examples have to do with taking something that is and sending it along to be broken down to become something else. We’re not necessarily getting rid of that thing, but we’re adding raw material to the universe to be transmuted into something more beneficial. I like to call this pattern of energy cosmic recycling.
With that knowledge in hand you’re able to take on the study of how the moon’s energy changes based on her position within the zodiac. Even if you aren’t interested in pursuing the study of astrology, understanding the moon’s frequencies will only aid you in creating successful magic. If you are interested in pursuing the study of astrology, there are three other planets that mesh very well with the vibe of the waning moon.
The closest to us is Saturn, who is our planet of restrictions, boundaries, and discipline. Saturn doesn’t necessarily tell us no, but it does hit the breaks and prevent things from growing too big. It showcases limitations and teaches us how to embrace them. This is necessary medicine for us when we use the essence of the waning moon.
It’s neighboring planet, Uranus, sings a different tune that meshes with the waning moon, and that is about radical change. Uranus is the rebellious, noisy one of the planets. It’s unexpected events, disasters, and upsetting the norm. This planet is a strong ally when it comes to destroying the conventional, and mirrors that break-it-down energy of the waning moon.
On the outskirts sits our icon of transformation – the true phoenix of the planets – Pluto. Of all the planets, I personally feel as if Pluto and the Moon have the most in common, and even more to say to each other. Pluto’s lessons are embracing the cyclical nature of life and death, especially concerning the releasing aspect of it. If you want to build back better, you have no stronger allies than the waning moon and the transformational energy of Pluto.
But what do these planets have to do with the Moon? They all fit together in the cosmos and tells stories back and forth between each other and the dance they partake in in the sky. By understanding the complexity in their relationships with one another, we are able to relate the personality of each planet to the different phases of the Moon. It broadens our awareness of the immense depth of this vibrant luminary, thus broadening our connection to the Moon, and strengthening our magic.
Tracking the moon these days is a breeze. There are so many resources that do all the hard work for you, that all you have left to do is commit to the routine of finding that knowledge and that is usually as simple as opening an app on your phone. Next time you see the waning moon, perhaps consider asking yourself what things you are ready to surrender up into the universe to transmute into something new.
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