The Moon in Traditional Magic

Mankind has utilized the Moon in timing since the dawn of humanity. Whether she's used for calendric purposes (Chinese New Year), agricultural pursuits (Harvest Moon), or other seasonal observations, the Moon has played a central role in measuring and qualifying the human experience of time. Selecting the appropriate time for religious ritual and observation is another significant endeavor that the Moon has historically played a large role in. Several cultures throughout history have used a lunar calendar to schedule holidays or religious rites or otherwise applied lunar phases to pinpoint the timing of feast days. We see this with the Chinese calendar, where specific holidays are held on the same Moon phase year after year; the timing of the Islamic holy month Ramadan, and even in the determination of Easter in Christianity.

Lunar timing is a tool used not only by the state and the church, but also by occultists, witches, and magicians. Timing rituals to appropriate Moon phases is a popular method of spell casting for the modern conjurer. This technique, though, is as ancient as it is potent. The Moon's ever-changing phases are an obvious and dramatic celestial clock, reflecting the state and momentum of natural forces to those who know how to read them. Understanding these celestial portents and knowing how to utilize the current state of the heavens unlocks tremendous power. The Moon's phases are an easy, non-technical method of achieving this, making it a great starting point for the stellar theurgist in training. Interestingly, some of the contemporary ideas around ritual timing with the Moon have drifted from their historical origin.

The Moon's Many Faces

Classifications of the Moon's phases have differed somewhat throughout history. It is not unusual for contemporary Moon magic sources to identify 8 distinct Moon phases with each phase beginning at roughly 45° intervals. While this is identical to a certain iteration of the Critical Days technique, it is more common in historical source texts to have 4 Moon phases with 90° between each. These are sometimes divided into categories called Principle Phases and Intermediate Phases.

• New Moon- A principle phase, characterized by the Moon being invisible due to her close conjunction with the Sun.

• Crescent Moon - An intermediate phase, this Moon phase is characterized by the first time the Moon is visible in the West at sunset.

• First Quarter Moon - A principle phase, here the Moon is half-full while still increasing in light.

• Gibbous Moon - An intermediate phase, the Moon is more than half-full while still increasing in light.

• Full Moon - A principle phase, this is characterized by the Moon's face being completely veiled in light. She is considered at her most powerful at this stage, but begins to lose light.

• Disseminating Moon - An intermediate phase, here the Moon has past her peak and is losing her light, but has not yet lost a whole half of it.

• Third Quarter Moon- A principle phase marked by the Moon being half-full and losing light.

• Balsamic Moon - An intermediate phase where the Moon has nearly lost all of her light and appears as a slim crescent before becoming invisible.

More contemporary Moon magic tends to view the lunar phases as equal divisions of the lunar cycle. Each of the 8 phases takes up 45° of the circle and lasts for the duration of the Moon's stay through those degrees of the zodiac which will be roughly three and a half days time. The above graphic depicts this division and categorization more clearly.

This method is different from more historical approaches. Not only do source texts tend to reference only four moon phases, they also view them more like pivot points along the Moon's cycle. The New Moon is not a "phase" of the Moon, but more like a meaningful station or point along her phase. This is a direct reflection of the Sun's seasonal cycle where the solstices and equinoxes are specific points that occur while announcing seasonal shifts. This is a correlation that will come up again.

As a result of this, historical grimoires usually only reference two phases: waxing (when the Moon is increasing in light) and waning (when the Moon is decreasing in light). These two distinct phases have opposite meanings and applications. The waxing Moon is connected to growth and increase while the waning Moon is associated with decay and decrease. The waxing moon phase is characterized as more benefic and helpful while the waning moon is associated with more malefic powers. The basic idea is that when the Moon is waxing, it is a good time to do magic that is more oriented towards growth and gaining; wealth, health, career advancement, etc. The waning Moon is more suited towards banishment and decrease; cleansing, space clearing, habit-breaking, etc. Picatrix, a classic astrological grimoire from the 10th century, tells us more about moon phase magic.

"After the Moon separates from the Sun until her sinister square, and thence until she reaches opposition, she will always be good and appropriate for buying and selling, seeking judgments and loans, for disputations, and for seeking advice on any subject. After she separates from opposition, passing by the dexter square and thence towards her conjunction with the Sun she will be good and appropriate for seeking loans that we owe, for those who have the goods of others to return them, and for wisdom and seeking or inquiring after truth."

The Synodic Cycle

The monthly lunar cycle we're all so familiar with has another name; the synodic cycle. A synodic cycle refers to the cycle a planet has from one conjunction with the Sun until the next. The Moon's synodic cycle occurs monthly and is tracked from New Moon to New Moon. Astrologically, these cycles are very important and are conceptualized as the closest thing that the immortal planets have to a human life cycle. By understanding the lunar phases as the story of a life or the progressions of the seasons, we get better insight into why the ancient's characterized the Moon's phases the way they did.

​The Moon is born at the conjunction with the Sun and as she moves away from him and begins to be visible to the world, she experiences something like infancy and childhood. This young moon exists until she comes to the First Quarter phase. This is the Moon phase that is most like Spring. The Moon here is young, energetic, and flexible, the perfect Moon for magic that requires that sort of energy.

From the First Quarter until the Full Moon the Moon experiences her adolescence and early adulthood. The Moon is mostly filled with light and the experiences of her cycle, making her more visible and confident in her identity. This Moon is the most like Summer; forceful, assertive, self-assured, and focused and is ideal for magics that require the same kind of quiet confidence.

The Full Moon, while contemporarily regarded as a phase, is something more like a moment. The Moon reaches fullness when she comes to an exact opposition of the Sun. This serves as the peak of the lunar cycle. She has reached her limit, both in the amount of light she can carry and the space she can be distant from the Sun. The Moon experiences something of a mid-life crisis here fully aware that she has gathered all that she can and that she now must return what she has borrowed. This is an awkward time for magic as the Full Moon time represents the liminal space between the waxing and waning phase. Magics woven during the peak of the Full Moon may be beneficial for things that must happen now, but will otherwise bring things into manifestation quickly and immaturely, robbing seeds of the time they need to root and gestate safely.

From the peak of the Full Moon to the Third Quarter phase, the Moon initiates her waning phase and begins to let go and return to the Sun. This Moon phase is like the Autumn season. The Moon is advancing into late adulthood, losing her vitality and brightness. She releases things she no longer needs, even things she may once have been excited about in her more youthful phases. The third phase Moon is focused, dispassionate, logical, cold, and filled with the perspective of a life half-lived to be able to judge the things she no longer needs or dreams she may have had that she no longer wishes to invest in. Magic done with these same goals will prosper under this phase.

At the Third Quarter phase, the Moon approaches her old age and advances to the conclusion of her cycle. This Moon is like Winter. She is cold, aged, and weak. In this phase, the Moon maintains her perspective of the experiences she's had, but unlike the previous things, she is no longer concerned with things she should let go of, but now has the wisdom to know what things in this life to treasure and pass down. Knowing what awaits her at journey's end, the Moon ties up her lose ends, says goodbye to what she will leave behind, and rests easy knowing all is as it was meant to be.

Finally, as the Moon approaches the exact union with the Sun, she undergoes an intense purification. Releasing and processing all that she has accumulated along her journey and filling herself with the Divine Spark to do it all again. This New Moon time is another difficult period for the Moon. It is another space between the waxing and waning phase. Rituals and magics done at this time may struggle for visibility and the correct amount of awareness to bring them into being.

The synodic cycle is also something that is handled slightly differently historically than it is today. To be more accurate, the Moon’s conjunction with the Sun ends the previous cycle, but it is the next day when the Moon is visible again as a thin crescent that begins the cycle. This is why most lunar calendars like the Chinese and Hebrew calendars begin their lunar month the day after the new moon.

Emptiness and Fullness

One popular, present-day practice that is not found in classical astrological grimoires is timing rituals to the new and full moon. These two key points in the Moon's monthly journey are regarded as astrologically difficult times for the Moon as they coincide with challenging points in her relationship with the Sun.

The New Moon occurs when the Moon is conjoined the Sun and is overpowered by him. This is difficult for the Moon as she is invisible and essentially inert. Here, the Moon undergoes what is called Combustion. She is being purified in order to begin her cycle anew, but during this process she is weak; at one moment she experiences the frailty of old age and in another moment the vulnerability of birth and infancy.

The Full Moon is the time when many consider the Moon to be at her most powerful and most complete, but even here she experiences a difficult geometric relationship with the Sun, standing directly opposite him and facing the fire, as it were. Furthermore, the Full phase represents the middle point of the Moon's life cycle; a peak where, once attained, the only way to go is down. For these reasons, magic with the Moon at this time is undesirable, as she has completed her waxing phase, but has yet to begin to wane making it an awkward time for magic that naturally aligns itself with either phase.

Full Moon magic was popularized in the 1950s by the advent of the modern Wiccan religion into popular culture. This magical tradition refers to a gathering of practitioners during the Full Moon as an Esbat. Those who are not part of a group that gathers during these times tend to use the Esbats as times of personal spellcasting. These traditions have borrowed heavily from lunar phase lore, but have approached them with their own ideology which does not necessarily coincide with astrological lore as we have seen.

To the astral mage, the Full Moon and New Moon are less important or useful for spellcasting. What's more significant (but requires more knowledge of astrological mechanics) is whether she is waxing or waning, what zodiac sign she is placed in, and to what planet she is applying a geometric aspect. The combination of these placements characterizes the flow of natural energy more clearly and can be fine tuned for application. Historically, those less aware of the celestial mechanics at play were more likely to turn to almanacs for guidance. These books typically included lists of lucky and unlucky days which took much of this into account.

The Land of Dragons

Eclipses are another exciting time when the entire world tunes into astronomical happenings. Since eclipses are only visible in select parts of the world, there is often a sense of spectacle surrounding them as those who have the means to will travel to the path of totality to observe it. Astrologically, eclipses are not auspicious times as they represent periods of time where cycles are severed, interrupted, and destroyed. The cycle is not properly concluded, but cut down.

Eclipses are often associated with dragon or serpent imagery. We see this most clearly in Chinese and Egyptian sources. In Chinese, the word for eclipse 食 can also mean "to eat" and was thought to be caused by a dragon attempting to devour the Sun. We find a similar story in Egypt where the Serpent Apep tries to engulf the Sun during eclipses. It is likely that the Egyptian serpent connection survived into the Western astrological tradition where the eclipse points - the North and South Nodes - are often called the Head and Tail of the Dragon, respectively.

Historically, eclipses were associated with the deaths of high ranking members of government such as royalty and clergy. It's likely that this began in Babylon where they would seat a temporary king during an eclipse to face the brunt of the eclipse's wrath in an attempt to spare the real ruler. Similar views were held in China and other locations in the Far East. The most noteworthy manifestations of these fears occurred in 840 with the passing of Louis the Pious weeks after an eclipse and in 1133 where King Henry I sailed from England to Normandy on the day of a solar eclipse and died in 1135, never having returned to England.

In modern magical traditions, readers are more likely to see eclipses framed in more positive terms as times of great power. This is unique to those traditions and is at odds with the astrological meaning and symbolism of the event. Astrological grimories rarely mention eclipses, but when they do it is always in negative terms.

"Eclipses affect the Sun and Moon and other planets and influence them to the harm of other composite bodies." -Picatrix, Book II Chapter III

Because eclipses turn the planets into influences of harm, they serve as ideal times to work baleful magics. This idea is stated more clearly and practically in Francis Barrett's The Magus.

"They made the image of the Tail like as when the Moon was eclipsed in the Tail (the South Node), or ill affected by Saturn or Mars and they made it to introduce anguish, infirmity, and misfortune." The Magus, Book I, Pg 165

Eclipse rituals and magic were very uncommon historically. They were usually used as times for casting offensive magic and preparing curses. However, there is an Indian tradition that seeks to use the times of the eclipses to mitigate any ill effects caused by the eclipse. This was more likely to occur if the eclipse was visible from the practitioner's location, but can be used even if it is not. Please see Sphere + Sundry's helpful article South Node Eclipse Remediation + Rituals for more information on that. The exact strategy and mantra utilized would depend on which Node the eclipse was occurring with.

Conclusion

Much more can be said about the Moon's influence in magic, both theoretically and practically. While different magical traditions will have different approaches to utilizing the Moon, it's important to understand the astrological symbolism or worldview that these approaches were initially a part of.

For more information about the Moon and its function within the theoretical universe, see The Cosmos of Aristotle. For another application of the Moon's phases, see Critical Days Theory.