Quickening Moon Blessings to You!
GRAPHIC MADE BY ME, DO NOT TAKE!
Also Known As: Wild Moon, Storm Moon, Horning Moon, Hunger Moon, Bony Moon, Red & Cleansing Moon, Moon When Trees Pop, Solmonath (Sun Month), Big Winter Moon, Little Famine Moon, Ice Moon, Sleepy Moon, Blackbear Moon, Moon of Candles, Winter Savory Moon, Mirror Moon
Element: fire
Nature Spirits: house faeries, both of the home itself and of house plants
Herbs: balm of Gilead, hyssop, myrrh, sage, spikenard
Colors: light blue, violet
Flowers: primrose
Scents: wisteria, heliotrope
Stones: amethyst, jasper, rock crystal, rose quartz
Trees: rowan, laurel, cedar, myrtle
Animals: otter, deer
Birds: eagle, chickadee
Deities: Brigit, Juno, Kuan Yin, Diana, Demeter, Persephone, Aphrodite, Mars
Power Flow: energy working toward the surface; purification, growth, healing. Loving the self. Accepting responsibility for past errors, forgiving yourself, and making future plans.
Mantra: I am creative and inspired.
Info on This Moon From About Dot Com: In February, the nights are cold and we begin to feel a bit of cabin fever. We're tired of being cooped up in the house, and there's a part of us that's just longing for a bit of warmth. This is the season of Imbolc, the days when we know that if we can just hold on for a few more weeks, we might get lucky and see little green shoots peeking out through the snow and slush.
This is a month when new life is beginning, but still lies dormant. Pregnant animals, due in the spring, begin to feel the quickening of their unborn young. The earth itself is quickening, as seeds and bulbs far beneath the soil begin their journey towards the light. We know these things are coming -- and we know also that this is a good month to make plans for the future. We can dream and hope, and set goals for ourselves. Accept responsibility for mistakes you've made in the past, and move on. Magical workings this month should focus on personal achievements and advancement.
BY THE BOOKS
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft by Denise Zimmerman and Katherine A. Gleason
Th Storm Moon, also known as the Death or Quickening Moon, is a time to do magick for fertility and strength. For most people in the Northern Hemisphere, February is a time of storms and bleak, short days. In the olden days, it was a time of true hardship.
This is a good time to do magic to help you face life's challenges. You could do a spell to help you with a particularly challenging project at work. Your spell could focus on helping you to accept the challenge, persevere, and make it through. You could concentrate on the idea of weathering the storm and giving yourself the extra stamina to succeed. This is also a time of cleansing both internally and externally. As such, it's a great time to get rid of physical things you don't need and any mental or emotional baggage you might be hauling around with you, too.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism by Carl McColman
FEBRUARY (Storm Moon)-- Light candles, honor winter's last few weeks of fury and plan new projects.
The Craft - A Witch's Book of Shadows by Dorothy Morrison
Name: Chaste Moon
Cakes & Ale: milk and chocolate chip cookies
Colors: white
Altar Decor: white flowers, narcissus and other early bloomers, white candles
Incense sage bundle
Esbat Purpose: Celebrate purity, innocence, and joy, becoming a child again, starting all over
Try Drawing the Circle With: wand cleansed with burning sage bundle
Witch's Brew: Good Spells for Peace of Mind by Witch Bree
February's Snow Moon is for honing vision and purifying your aims.
Witches Datebook by Yasmine Galenorn
Come February, we look toward spring. Imbolc reminds us of Brigid's fire, and so this month we focus on creativity and inspiration to hold us through the last gasps of winter.
For our Full Moon ritual, we focus on Brighid and Her fiery nature. Brighid rules over the spheres of poetry, healing, and smithery. Decorate your altar with a red cloth and set three candles out: black, red, and white. Add a jug of cream as a libation to the Goddess, then, around the base of the altar, arrange the items you use in your art, writing, or other creative projects. Cast a circle and invoke the Lady Brighid, then light the candles. Say:
Lady Brighid of forge and fire, hear now my heart's desire.
Bless these tools with which I create, woo for me the hand of fate.
To reach my dreams, inspire me, as I will, so mote it be.
Spend some time in quiet meditation after this simple but effective ritual. Affirmation for the Quickening Moon: I am creative and inspired.
Witches Datebook by Edain McCoy (2002)
The Ash Moon is the balancing force that connects all of us with all worlds, seen and unseen. It offers potent energy for healing spells, psychic work, protection in or on water, dream magic, and curse-breaking.
For this ritual you will need an ash limb, or you may wish to decorate and empower a dowel as an ash substitute. Face each direction in turn-- moving clockwise and starting in the west-- while holding the ash wand before you.
Visualize it beating down any curse energy or ill-will being sent your way.
By the ash to all worlds my will does goes,
To those who would curse, I say them, "No!"
The ash protects and absorbs the bane,
Breaking the curse so I'm whole again.
End the ritual by taking the wand outside and placing it on the ground so the negativity will be grounded.
Witches Datebook by Edain McCoy (2004)
The ash wand has long been a favorite of many magical people. The power of ash is in its ability to remain strong and unyielding, and yet appear to change and bend with our magical desires. The ash can help us see things as they are rather than how we want them to be, and this can help us to plan our next step no matter what goals we seek.
Find, buy, or make a wand of ash and spend three nights in meditation over it, asking it to open your mind to the truths that you don't wish to see. Take your favorite divination tool-- tarot cards, runes, etc. -- and wave the ash branch over it three times clockwise, saying:
I call on you, old ash, my friend,
Wood that seems unable to bend;
Strong as a bull, and stubborn as youth,
Help me to see in this the truth.
Witches Datebook by Edain McCoy (2006)
The Quickening Moon prods us to look inside ourselves for dormant possibilities. Our fellow creatures who sleep deep in the womb of Mother Earth are also feeling this pull as they are lulled into the hazy dreamland that prepares them for reawakening.
In western Europe this lunation heralded the cycle of birthing new lambs-- the first tangible sign of the much-anticipated abundance of food in a world still ruled by cold and darkness.
To find our balance, we must find the inner foundation on which we can build the lives we desire. Quickening Moon rituals draw out the potential that now lies dormant in you. You may not know what marvels lie in wait, but they are there and are aching to awaken.
Stirring embers 'neath dark logs blaze,
Sparks of life peek through smoke's haze;
Likewise, in my soul, is a potential untold,
Break loose my soul to make potential unfold.
Witches Datebook by Dallas Jennifer Cobb
The Full Moon in February can help you prepare for rebirth. Deep within, seeds are stirring with visions fertile and strong. While winter's fury blusters and brays, our own inner visions stir in the glowing light of days. Below the surface of the earth, small seeds are awakening. Spring is still but a memory within our heart, but the worst of winter has passed and soon the growing cycle will start.
It's a good time to clear clutter within and around. Let go of anger, resentment, and old, limiting behavior. Clear yourself of habits and things that no longer serve you. Make way for new growth. Light a candle, white for purification and potential, beckoning the brightness of spring.
Hunger Moon, Wild Moon, Icy Moon stealth,
in quiet preparation I love my self,
Brigit, Persephone, Diana, Kuan Yin,
Help to cleanse and heal what's within.
Witches Datebook by Elizabeth Barrette
To the Cherokee, February is the Bony Moon. In their southeastern territory, this historically marked the hungry time when people and animals grew lean. Similarly, the Choctaw call this the Little Famine Moon. To the Dakota Sioux, it's the Moon When Trees Pop. Out on the plains, it can get so cold that the moisture inside living wood freezes and the expanding ice causes tree trunks to burst.
Toward the end of winter, people and wildlife have used up much of their reserves, so be cautious and conservative when you find resources stretching thin. Conversely, if you have enough to share, look to help others. Donating to a food bank or cooking supper for a friend who's lost a job can soften the bite of this sharp Moon. Assist wildlife with rich foods, suet, corn, and fresh water. Check forecasts of extreme cold and protect vulnerable plants if necessary. Trees are especially vulnerable as warm weather makes the sap run, followed by a severe cold snap.
Magically, create abundance via gateways and gratitude for what you have. Pray for people experiencing famine and hardship; contribute to charities that aid them. Work spells of protection for the land and wildlife.
Witches Datebook by Ember Grant
The Quickening Moon is a time of subtle awakening. There is a stirring in the land, barely recognizable. Honor this month's Full Moon by making time to clear the way for a new season-- make plans for the future. Write a goal or project you hope to complete on a piece of paper and burn a white candle on top of it (in a safe container, or on a plate). Make a promise to yourself or pledge your effort to a project, life-style change, or other goal. The Moon is your witness. In August, revisit this goal and check your progress. If you'd like, dedicate a piece of jewelry during this ritual; something you can wear as a reminder of your goal. Burn incense of myrrh, sage, spikenard, or a combination of these and chant as you visualize your goal:
Constant Moon
Quicken my heart,
Quicken my blood,
This is the start.
Witches Datebook by JD Hortwort
Centuries ago, the main fare from the kitchen hearth in the cold of January and February was likely to be peas, beans, and root crops. If the family was lucky, they might dine on game. Sufficient, yes, but daily meals of gamey meat and otherwise bland legumes could only add to the dreary atmosphere of the season.
Enter winter savory. A hardy, semi-evergreen perennial, winter savory was considered by the Romans to be a gift from the satyrs-- half-man, half-beast creatures who roamed the surrounding forest. The leaves of winter savory give a warm, spicy kick to food. Medieval cooks liked it as a trusty treatment for indigestion. When taken as a tea, winter savory is said to raise psychic awareness, making it perfect for Full Moon ceremonies involving divination.
With a shape and textures similar to rosemary, winter savory was a favorite among the Tudors in herbal knot gardens. Perhaps they liked to have to available in the event of a bug bite or bee sting. When the leaves are crushed and rubbed on the skin, they can quickly take away the pain from an insect bite.
Witches Datebook by Natalie Zaman
The Mirror Moon
Many cultures offer tales of foolish characters who mistake the Moon's reflection for the real thing-- but fools are sometimes the wisest among us. A character of Turkish lore (and perhaps a historical wise man), Hodja had a reputation for playing the wise fool. Once upon a time, Hodja looked into the well behind his house and saw the reflection of the Full Moon in its depths. Desperate to save Her, he got a hook and a rope and tried to fish Her out, only to catch the hook on the wall of the well. He pulled and pulled and toppled backwards-- and beheld the Full Moon in the sky! He believed that he put Her back where She belonged-- a foolish notion and wise one too.
This month we celebrate Imbolc and the Goddess Brigid, to whom water is a scared elements and to whom many wells and springs are dedicated. At February's Full Moon, use a bowl of water to capture the Moon's reflection. Bless the water for magical work:
Into this watery looking glass,
Let gentle Luna's powers pass.
Witches Datebook by Blake Octavian Blair
The Ash Moon's energies coincide wonderfully with the energies swirling about in February during the Wheel of the Year in the Northern Hemisphere. While it is still winter, the earth is starting to spring into action after months of dormancy, the first signs of spring are becoming visible as the days are growing noticeably longer, and the earliest of bulbs are rising above the snowy ground green with hope. So also, the Ash Moon, in the Celtic Month of the Ash Tree, brings us the reminder that we have planned long enough-- it is time to move forward with action steps to make our plans and desires a reality! The energies of the Ash Moon invite you to expand your horizons as you grow tall, as the ash tree does, reaching your branches high toward the Moon. By many considered a guardian tree in folklore, channel its strength and confidently say,
By the light of the Ash Moon and with the strength of the guardian tree, with confidence and divine guidance, I welcome the action and energies of unfolding growth to me!
Witches Datebook by Deborah Blake
February Moon: Hearth & Home
February is often dark and gloomy, and our energy is usually at a low ebb. In some places, there is cold an snow to deal with or a prolonged rainy season. There may also be a collective genetic memory of this being a frightening time of year, when food supplies were scarce and predators roamed outside. This February, try doing a mini ritual for protection of house and home so you can feel secure and comforted until the return of spring.
If you like, you can form a circle of stones or small candles and sit inside it. Otherwise, you can simply place a ribbon or piece of yarn (black is good) on the floor around you. Light a black or white candle, visualize a wall of light flowing up from your circle, and say,
May the light of the Gods protect me during these dark days / And dark nights. / May my home be protected / And all those within it be safe. / By earth and air, fire and water / So mote it be.
A safe and happy holiday to all who celebrate~!
VIA SELENA FOX:
Blessings of Protection & Safety to All being impacted by Winter storms, blizzards, challenges