The Workings of the Moon in Drai/ocht
Searles

Tue Jun  9 14:10:34 1998
I personally feel that the three days of the Moon's fullest time are all*br*excellent times for doing rituals requiring the power of her Deities.  In*br*matters of power, magnitude, direction and focus are all equally important.*br* Rituals that emphasize momentum in creation should occur as the power is*br*approaching it's fullness. Those that require focus should be done during*br*the time of the three days of fullness.  Those need the most power should*br*span the entire light half of the cycle.  For workings that banish, cleanse*br*or destroy, I apply this same approach to the Moon's cycles of darkness.*p*This is how I would divide the Moon's cycles:*p*Three Days of Darkness (Dark Moon on the second of these days, then New*br*Moon on the third), a time for focused dark power: curses, banishings,*br*immediate needs.*p*A five day period for completing any "dark" workings (those requiring the*br*fullness of the Moon's darker powers, this is the second, more positive*br*half of the dark cycle). The celebration of the Moon's right-hand horn.*p*The sixth day of the New Moon (the time for celebrating the change from*br*dark to light, death to life, negative to positive, the day of the*br*Mistletoe rite).*p*A five day period for starting workings requiring all of the Moon's*br*creative powers (The Waxing Moon in all of its glory).*p*Three Days of Light (The three days of the Full Moon, the time of the fire*br*festivals and the monthly celebrations), a time for blessings, weddings,*br*and urgent positive manifestings.*p*Five days of diminishing positive power, when those long term workings that*br*are for creation are finished and completed.*p*The time of blood ritual and sacrifice, the day of the Moon's left-hand*br*horn.*p*Five days to begin wardings, separations and acceptance of loss (The time*br*of the Waning Moon's reign).*p*Obviously, many rituals are not purely one way or another and most rituals*br*will combine all of the Moon's different aspects of power within them (in*br*varying degrees of emphasis, focus and separation).  That is why such*br*workings are seen as wheels, with their foci being represented by knives,*br*swords, wands and staffs.  One is the axle or spindle while the other is*br*the wheel or thread.  No part stands alone unless it is everything or*br*nothing.  There are tides in working with the power of the Moon that must*br*be anticipated if we are to sail through the waves that it causes.  There*br*is a time to leap into the darkness of the Pit and there is also a time to*br*quickly tread the brightness of the Moon paths.*p*Searles*p*P.S. In times of healing, there are times to remove, times to rest and*br*times to replenish and to replace.  Healing is a wheel, while the actions*br*of a cure may well be the axle.*p*