A Meditation for the New Moon

Although it is of course possible to enact ritual at any time in the moon's cycle; the period just after the new moon lends itself more aptly to mediation and the forming of ideas that can be further developed once the crescent appears in the sky.  Candles and incense are unnecessary, but if you especially want them, then use a small candle such as a minature dinner candle or a birthday cake candle, and a fresh incense with a slight tang or spicy overtones ~ Isis is a good one.

Wait till dusk and then sit comfortably upright and alert somewhere quiet and dark, such as the room you use for ritual, or in front of an altar or shrine.  Be open to the energies of the moment; really let yourself experience the way the atmosphere around you seens to quicken, and yet takes you within.  Observe closely how you feel.  Consciously seek out the beat and rhythm of thoughts and feelings so that you are filled with an excitement that is irritable and restless as well.  Take note how this affects you, whether you experience it as exasperation or eagerness.  Take some short, quick breaths in and out, tense the muscles all over your body, and then give a sudden shout.  This should release the extra tension, allowing you to settle into the next stag of the meditation.

Relax and breathe deep into your belly, imagining as you do so that your whole being is opening out but taking you deeper within at one and the same time.  This sounds a complete contradiction when written dow, but try it and see how the experience unfolds for you.  Sense darkness within, but realise that this darkness is not a total void; rather it is teeming with energy, potential, and creativity.  Keep your breathing deep and regular, so that you seem to be inhaling and exhaling through your navel area . . . really attempt to feel your breath entering lox in the body.  Try to enter a state of listening awareness. . . you are listening for your thoughts, waiting for them to coalesce.  If you have any ideas you had intended to develop or work toward in a magical sense in this munar cycle, then allow them to focus as well, but don't force them, and be alert for fresh impulses too.  As you breathe in, imagine that heat and power irradiate your being; as you breathe out, visualize a small bright point of light within the darkness, and watch it gradually grow, becoming stronger, clearer, and more concentrated.  Let the thoughts become focused too until you can seperate them out and see what they are trying to tell you.  Sometimes this kind of exercise, done before the moon is visible, can teach us a lot about our own impulses and creative drive, and ideas can emerge at this tiem that are more profound or more closely aligned with our deepest intuitive promptings.  Of course, you don't have to do more than observe at this stage. . . just allow thoughts and impulses to show themselves and to wait for your input before unfolding their potential.  Some thoughts will not be feasible, but some may be worth bringing into the light and incorporating into the magical work of the month ahead.  Watch them all without judging until one or two particularly draw you: these may be the ones worth working with and expanding.  Let your intuition guide you over their relevance and worth.

Finally, withdraw from the inner space and touch the ground to earth yourself, then think about what you have experienced, or write it down in your magical journal.  Let its significance sink into your mind like seeds settling into the soil.  In the next few days these seeds will take root and begin to grow toward the light, becoming visible with the moon's first appearance in her current cycle.  If you like, you can take actual seeds and name each for a thought that inspires you and then plant them in a bowl of earth.

A goddess particularly relevant to this time is Brighid.  Her activity spans both the very new moon and the time of the newly born crescent, leading from her smithing phase, when she brings thoughts and ideas into being from out of the flames of her forge, to her persona of poet when those ideas are shaped and given creative life.  She is involved with the fire of smithcraft, the hearth fire, and the flame of inspiration necessary for any creative work.  As the smith she is very much a solar deity whose sacred flame was kept perpetually alight by her priestesses, yet she is appropriate here because of the closeness of sun and moon at the start of the lunar round.  The following is a prayer to her that can be recited to bring her help with fashioning reality from thoughts and aspirations:

Lady of inspiration, daughter of water and fire,

Bright Goddess,

strike creative sparks from the anvil of my mind.

Craft my desire from the metal of potential,

annealed in your sacred flame.

Over the next two days or so, as the moon gains in strength, motivation increases, ideas settle into possibilties, and we gain the sense of direction that was difficult to find before.  There is an upsurge of energy that is at the same time very grounded and purposeful.  People seem to manifest a briskness and optimism as they go about their daily business, and it is possible to accomplish much more during the course of a day because life is flowing freely and accelerating into a much more outward and practical way of being.  About two to three days after the point of astronomical newness, the finest silver crescent can be seen low on the horizon soon after sunset if the sky is clear.  This is a potent time, when the energy is tender, bright, and uplifting, a time of purity when we can start work on fresh projects with the knowledge that the moon is now waxing and will lend her power to our efforts.

A white candle lit now and burned at dusk for a week will honour the Goddess and the new moon, and will send an atmosphere of peace, clarity, and purity into the enviroment.  It is also lovely to cense the home with sandalwood, jasmine, or lavender incense, or maybe damiana.  If the emergence of the lunar crescent fals on a cloudless night, then it is time to go outside, gaze on her, make a wish, or state whatever you want to bring into being magically, whilst enjoying the joyful lift she fives to the spirit.

The Goddess is still in her Maiden period, though growing through adolescence to young womanhood.  Her character is airy, eager, and quick, and she can be appealed to for the vigour and enthusiasm to start something novel, or to carry an existing goal or project into a new phase.  

From Elen Hawke's book " Praise to the Moon: Magic & Myth of the lunar Cycle"