The Mother Moon : Water Ritual

January 2, 2018 Kerrie Basha

Our first full moon peaks later today in Cancer, the bright lady's home state and the hallowed realm of nurturing and nourishment. She is the divine feminine supercharged: as close to us as she can be (perigree) as earth too moves as close to the sun as she can (perihelion). These powerful astronomical markers are not just lyrically beautiful. They are evidenced by our king tides and too by the rising emotional tide within us.The full moon embodying the divine feminine opposes the serious cluster in Capricornia, shining her blazing gaze on Saturn and his three year mission to restructure and rebuild; on Venus completing her cycle with hard won knowledge tucked into her hummingbird heart; on Pluto and his transformational agitation. She trines Neptune for a favourable injection of shamanic insight, lighting up our dreams in every sense. Uranus our cosmic awakener is stationing direct, eyes peeled for the lightning to strike. Within half a day our galaxy is all in forward motion and ready to support ours too.The ancient stories all whisper of a mothering spirit, she who guides and protects us along our path. She is called by many names, an antlered goddess who sacrificed her reindeer kin to provide humankind with food, skins and ritual tools as she guided the earliest nomadic peoples through bleak brutal Winters that may otherwise have claimed them. Reindeer herds are led by their elder females, who care for and guide the herd with their vast experience, the wisdom of the grandmothers.We cannot help or heal from a place of malnourishment. Our mother wounds may yet be gaping but it is from here that we can be guided to nurture our sweet selves in their becoming. Use this first full moon of the year to show you where your self care or protection may be lacking or sacrificed in the service of others. Develop an intuitive morning ritual and routine that serves you first, filling your empty vessel before you turn to nourish others. Start now as you mean to continue.The divine feminine is further empowered this year, its mission to save our world heralded at this first peak. Let the great mother spirit guide you and keep you first as you raise your antlered head to the good work of your life.The full moon peaks in Cancer in:La La Land on Monday at 6.24pmNu Yoik on Monday at 9.24pmOld Blighty on Tuesday at 2.24amWollombi NSW on Tuesday at 1.24pm

The Mother Moon ritual works with the water and earth elements, with the full moon peaking in Cancerian waters and trine Neptune in Pisces. This speaks very much to our emotional body so allow yourself all the feels today: sans judgement, redirection or denial. Let the moon illuminate your emotions so you can see and work with them as they are.The full moon every month is a calling in and a letting go, thus this ritual is in two parts. The calling in builds on that which we began to manifest on the new moon. The letting go releases all that has been shown to us not to work or fit in that time. It both reinforces and hones our intention.

Prepare a salt soak for a bath (or if you are showering instead use this as a scrub, ground together in a mortar and pestle). Begin with ground pink salt and add oils and flowers of your choosing to the bath, as you find them about you. I like evening primrose oil for its feminine indications but sweet almond or olive will do too. Collect flowers and leaves: especially rose for self love, mugwort for dreaming and to separate us from old stale energies (white sage works here too), rosemary for clarity and willow for its relationship to women, water and the moon. I also collected a pretty calvia, some succulent flowers and lavender buds. Allow yourself to be guided in these choices by your environment. We can only work with what we have. Trust your intuition. Magic does not work when you overthink it.

Because I am in Australia and it is mid Summer, I ran a cool bath. Add each of your ingredients with clear intention, acknowledging the nature or power of the plant and its function in this ritual. Part of my intention with this ritual is to honour my ancestors and begin to work more closely with them, particularly with respect to my matrilineal line. Thus I created a little altar on the side of my bath to honour the antlered goddess, with the lyrebird feathers representing the twin lines of my ancestry.

As you soak in these enchanted waters or scrub your body as water flows over you, allow any and all that no longer serves you to be pulled from your body. Watch your thoughts from a safe distance and use their markers to guide you to where your body is holding on. Breathe deeply into it and deeply out to release. Soak in the love and regard this ritual gifts you.Once complete drain your bath and collect the spent botanicals. Head outside under mother moon and create an altar with all the elements. Air represented by incense or a feather. Water in a chalice. Your botanicals as earth. A contained candle for fire.Breathe in the moonlight. Dedicate yourself to you first: to your health and care, to your life and loves, to your good work. Speak the words out loud and begin each sentence the same way, "Mother Moon I dedicate myself to..."Give thanks for her illumination and ask any questions you have of her now. Allow the answers to bubble through you and accept them unaltered.Note well what you have been shown and scribe into your Book of Shadows. Allow the incense and candle to safely burn down as you do. Watch your environment throughout, acknowledging any animal, bird, plant or spirit visitors that join you. Seek their meaning, their true names, in books for later reference.Drink in the moonlit beauty of this moment. So mote it be.