If you are a regular reader of my ritual blogs, you know that I usually follow the Native American naming of the moons for inspiration. The original tribes were in tune with natural rhythms and the celestial movements. Their lives were in balance because of it. This month, however, I’m expanding upon the Pagan/Wiccan naming of this the final Full Moon before the Winter Solstice, the Mourning Moon. What comes immediately to mind when you read the word “mourning”? Sadness? Loss? Grief? It has been my own experience over the years that mourning is something we don’t do nearly enough of, or rather it is something we aren’t allowed space for. Somewhere between the Victorian era and the 21st century, mourning became morose, indulgent, even weak. We take our “petits mort” and compress them down deep into our psyche ( and our physical tissues ) until they show up as triggers and we inevitably act out; Panic, rage, addictions, more stuff that distracts us from feeling. Mourning is the opposite. When we mourn, we go deep into the cut and rinse it clean. We make photo collections of memories and hang them prominently in the front of the mind. When we mourn, we take time to walk slowly and quietly, and often alone, through the skeletons hanging like witches ladders in the corridors of the mind. And when we do, we FEEL. Yes, we may be sad, we may laugh, we may be crippled over in pain at our loss or our own misguided choices BUT in feeling, we process, and once we process we can proceed.
The Mourning Moon is in Pisces. That twin soul energy that, to me, mystically represents the light and the shadow. This full moon is an opportunity to mourn all within you before Solstice, the turning of the year. This is the time to shine the bright bright spotlight into all of the dark and dusty corners, and clear the space. Cry if you need to, wail, howl, dance, drum, make fires, make art, make love. MOURN. Each and every broken heart, broken promise, unfinished task, unsaid matter… The full moon is here to help you release and reset. The twin energy ( being a water sign) adds that little extra kick of emotion, so know that however you choose to mourn, it will be felt down deep. So be it.
Ritual Supplies:
bathtub ( or some water source, but this is a bath ritual)
yellow candle ( for the lord of Wednesday, Mercury)
blue candle ( for the element of water, piece an energy)
white candle ( for the light of the full moon)
black candle ( for mourning)
BOS or journal or something to write on
The Ritual:
Create a sacred space in your usual way ( see previous blogs or feel free to contact me personally for more on this).
Draw a bath, placing all 4 candles around the bath ( can be placed on the floor or a small table next to the tub, light them)
As you sink into your bath, visualize your entire body softening. Imagine taking off the armour that is protecting you. With eyes closed, begin to relive the past year in as much detail as you can; the happiness, the sadness, the almosts and the things you never even tried. When you have feelings come up, write them down. Write the situation, or your feelings about it that went unspoken. When you feel like you have time-travelled through the entire year, look at what you’ve written. Take a very deep breath, and with gratitude, thank the Universe for the journey.
Set the paper aside, make your way out of your bath.
Carefully fold or roll the mourning paper up, and then using the black candle, light it on fire. As long as you feel safe, watch it burn for a moment and breathe. This is part of the release. Now, toss the burning list into the bath water as you say ( or think ) the the following incantation:
Release and clear, be gone from here. ( 3 times)
Extinguish the black candle. Your mourning is done.
Allow the 3 remaining candles to burn on your altar or sacred space.
Happy Enchanting )0(
