Blessings of Trees Cracking Moon!
Art by Mark Duffin
Also known as: Oak Moon, Goose Moon, Wolf Moon, Cold Moon, Aerra Geola (Month Before Yule), Wintermonat (Winter Month), Heilagmanoth (Holy Month), Big Winter Moon, Moon of Popping Trees, Moon of Long Nights, Wintergreen Moon
Element: fire
Nature Spirits: snow faeries, storm faeries, winter tree faeries
Herbs: holly, English ivy, fir, mistletoe, cinnamon
Colors: blood red, white and black
Flowers: holly, poinsettia, pine
Scents: violet, patchouli, rose geranium, frankincense, myrrh, lilac
Stones: serpentine, jacinth, peridot, obsidian, ruby
Trees: pine, fir, holly
Animals: mouse, deer, horse, bear
Birds: rook, robin, snowy owl
Deities: Hathor, Hecate, Neith, Athene, Minerva, Ixchel, Osiris, the Norns, the Fates, Athena, Persephone, and Hades
Power Flow: to endure, die, be reborn; Earth tides turning. Darkness. Personal alchemy. Spiritual paths. Reach out to friends and family, the lonely and needy.
ABOVE FROM THE BOOK MOON MAGICK BY DJ CONWAY
Mantra: I remain serene in the chaos around me.
ABOVE BY YASMINE GALENORN FROM THE WITCHES' DATEBOOK
Info on This Moon From About Dot Com: The last moon phase of the year is the Long Nights Moon in December, also called the Cold Moon or Big Winter Moon.
As the days get shorter and Yule approaches with the longest night of the year, we force ourselves to get through the darkness because eventually we will see the sunlight and warmth again. Think about the things in your life that you've had to endure. Sometimes, a part of us must die in order to be reborn. Now is the perfect time for spiritual alchemy -- time to evaluate your life, and know that you'll survive the dark times.
If you've already put the darkness behind you, take your good fortune and share it with others. When it's cold outside, open your heart and home to friends and family. Reach out to people who might be suffering from the chill of winter, either spiritually or physically.
BY THE BOOKS
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft by Denise Zimmerman and Katherine A. Gleason
Also known as the Cold or Long Nights Moon, the Oak Moon is a time for hope and healing. This time of the year the Moon has reign over the Earth, because there are more hours of night than day. Our thoughts turn to the rebirth of the light and the longer days that are promised after the Winter Solstice. Women who have become pregnant in the spring are about to give birth and will probably want to focus their energies on delivering a healthy baby. This is the time of year to complete something you have worked hard on and to make sure that the task is truly completed, all the details dealt with. It's also a great time to let go of old patterns or problems and start anew. If something has been eating at you for a long time, work to give it up at this time. Let go of the negative and let the light of the longer days shine inside you. Working with children in a nurturing way can be very rewarding and healing.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism by Carl McColman
DECEMBER (Oak Moon)-- Strength, trust.
The Craft - A Witch's Book of Shadows by Dorothy Morrison
Name: Oak
Cakes & Ale: gingerbread and apple wine or spiced cider
Colors: white and yellow to welcome the sun
Altar Decor: holly, mistletoe, and sun symbols
Incense frankincense
Esbat Purpose: Celebrate the birth of the sun and the coming light
Try Drawing the Circle With: yellow candles and sunflower seeds
Witch's Brew: Good Spells for Peace of Mind by Witch Bree
December has the mysterious Cold Moon, a time to rekindle the flames of heart and soul.
Witches Datebook by Yasmine Galenorn
We have entered the holiday season. Tension builds at this time of year, so we focus our ritual on releasing stress.
Buy a bottle of your favorite bubble bath. Cast a circle in your bathroom; light candles. Fill your tub with warm water and add a generous amount of bubble bath. As you remove each piece of clothing, shed one more worry from the daily world. When you are naked, step into the foaming bubbles. As the water leaches tensions from your body, lean back and close your eyes.
Imagine yourself drifting in a tropical sea, with the Sun gently beating on your face. Slide into the ocean, as tension is carried away. Sense the life that pulses around you, in the waves and under the glassine surface, and yet, none of this activity interferes with your peace. Give up the worry that permeates your days to the water mother. When you leave the bath, take a cool rejuvenating shower. Affirmation for the Long Nights Moon: I remain serene in the face of the chaos around me.
Witches Datebook (2002) by Edain McCoy
The Birch Moon prepares us for the journey through the year ahead. Purification and protection rituals are common practices as the year again beings its waxing phase.
Prepare yourself for things to come by making a birch broom. For the shaft choose any branch or dowel two to four feet in length. Attach birch twigs to one end using twine. Light thirteen candles, one for each of the thirteen Celtic Tree Months.
Rhythmically tap the broom over your body to purify your spirit and to garner a protective force around you. Think of losing the uneasy and unsettled elements of the past year while gaining those needed to make this year better. Do this to a chant.
Broom and birch my spirit free,
Preparing me for what may be;
The past is done, the future unformed,
With purity and protection my path is adorned.
Witches Datebook (2003) by Edain McCoy
The birch tree was a totem tree of Celtic shamans. It was seen as their "World Tree," the axis upon which the universe spun.
The birch is a magical metaphor for traveling through all worlds and times. As the shaman progresses up the trunk of the tree, the way gets more difficult and the paths grow more numerous. Only the well-initiated can see past the maze-like foliage to the top of the tree, and the universal divine with which we seek union.
The Celtic shaman might have been flogged with birch branches because of their purifying properties. Flogging should not be painful. Merely tap the branch over your body as you ask for a new start this year:
[Gods], shed your light
On me who stand before you this night;
Pure in spirit let me be,
Allow me to climb your sacred tree.
Witches Datebook (2004) by Edain McCoy
The Birch Moon begins the cycle of a new lunar year, falling near the time of the Winter Solstice when the solar year begins to wax again. One of the birch's major properties is the ability to purify and cleanse the spirit.
Place a medium-sized birch limb on the center of your altar. To the left place a bowl of water, and to the right place a bowl of salt or sand. Call upon the deities of the new year, or upon your patrons, and ask them to help purify you in spirit as you enter a new phase of spiritual growth.
Dip the top of the limb in the water and then in the salt or sand. Lightly tap the limb against your bare skin while chanting:
Birch of purity, white and clean,
Rid me of ill and malice unseen;
Take me into the lunar year
Pure in heart and free of fear.
Witches Datebook (2006) by Edain McCoy
The name "Long Nights Moon" stirs up images of the Winter Solstice-- a date that has been designated for spiritual observance for more than twelve thousand years.
Beneath the Long Nights Moon, light a candle of white or silver to honor the lunar Gods. Thank them for the light of the night sky and the knowledge of the sunlight's return in the months to come. Let the candle burn itself out when you are finished.
Great Luna, Queen of the Long Night,
Grant me safety until the sun's light;
Your silver orb a comfort gives,
We know in You the sun still lives.
Lord of moonlight, equal to your Queen,
We await the moment when the Earth grows green;
Sleep in the womb of Your mother most fair,
Who sleeps in the Earth until we waken Her there.
Witches Datebook by Dallas Jennifer Cobb
The oak symbolizes earthly and spiritual strength, with its roots running deep and branches reaching high and wide. While the sacred oak appears dead this time of year, we know there is much more to life than can be seen by the eyes. The strong oak reminds us to stand tall and endure, as the Sun's return draws near. We too have grown strong as we journey through the dark and look to our spiritual roots for answers.
Take this time to prepare small gifts for loved ones. In these dark months were times of great scarcity for our ancestors, so even the smallest gifts were precious. Share your treasures, for when the above earth looks dead and dark, the roots shelter the life within. Offer these gifts as symbols of good will, peace, protection, and love, strengthening the relationships that sustain us.
Long Nights Moon, Big Winter Moon, Moon of Popping Tree,
Strong Oak wisdom rooted deep within me,
Ixchel, Athene, Minerva, Fates,
In the darkness light awaits.
Witches Datebook by Ellen Dugan
The Winter Solstice plays a part in our December Full Moon celebration. According to midwinter mythology, this is the time of the Oak King, who lends us His name for the year's final Full Moon. At the Winter Solstice, the Oak King has defeated His brother, the Holly King, and the waxing half of the year has begun. From this point, the light will only grow stronger, and our daylight hours will grown longer.
In herbalism, the oak is a tree of wisdom, power, and magic. So on this night of the Full Oak Moon, ask the Oak King for His blessings. Find a small oak twig or acorn and set it in a place of prominence. Then arrange next to it a gold candle for illumination and a green candle to encourage prosperity. Light the candles and say:
A Full Moon night in December brings magic true,
Oak King, please grant me wisdom in all that I do.
See the burning candles of green and gold bright,
Light and plenty they bring on this blessed night.
Witches Datebook by James Kambos
Winter owns the land, but tonight, the Long Nights Moon owns the sky. With icy brilliance as fragile as glass, it casts charcoal shadows across the snow and glints off the rooftops. We walk in darkness on this night, but know the light will return.
It's easy to lose our way in the dark-- sadness, grieving, and death touches each of us. But night does not last forever. The Long Nights Moon teaches us to accept the darkness, not fear it. This ritual focuses on purification and trusting fate. Cover your altar with a white cloth, representing a future shrouded in mystery. Honor the Moon by lighting one white candle. Before the candle, lay one pine branch. Meditate about this year and what you hope for next year. In an act of purification, brush yourself with the pine branch from head to toe. Say:
During this, the darkest time of the year,
Long Nights Moon, keep me safe and free from fear.
I trust in the future, I trust the Fates,
I trust in the Divine Spirit and whatever awaits.
Witches Datebook by Elizabeth Barette
In December rises the Goose Moon. This is a time of cold quiet nights, when life must subsist on stored energy. Goose's fat and warm feathers epitomized this self-reliance. People fluent in this energy are prudent, capable, and industrious. They balance independence with family loyalty, preferring traditions over fads. Similarity, winter is a time to think back on the past year and value your accomplishments, not to begin new projects that would better wait for spring.
For this ritual of remembrance, you will need a goose quill pen, a bottle of ink, and a piece of good parchment paper. Clasp the quill and connect with the energy of Goose, who holds all good things under sheltering wings. Dip the pen into the ink and write out a list of what you achieved in the past year, and good things that happened to you. Don't worry about your handwriting; it is the intent that counts. When you finish, write the date on the back of the paper. Fold up the paper around the quill and seal it closed.
Use this stored energy to remind yourself of what you can do when you are feeling discouraged. It is proof of your year's work.
Witches Datebook by JD Hortwort
As the year draws to a close, we cling to those plants that remind us of the vitality of the growing season. Wintergreen is one of them. Use a wintergreen essential oil to anoint altar candles for the winter solstice to ensure strength and vigor, going into the New Year. Wintergreen's thick, leathery, green leaves may get a tinge of bronze or red in cold weather, but it is the bright red berries that really poop! The plant's growth cycle is such that the red berries can linger a long time. It is not unusual to see a plant that still has some of the previous year's berries when blooms in late summer.
Overwhelmingly, the wintergreen used in flavoring today is made from synthetics. Both leaves and berries will render that delicious wintergreen flavor and aroma; however, it is the leaves that are most often used in home medicine. For external application, the leaves can be brewed into a tea. A towel soaked in the wintergreen tea can be lightly rung out and places on aching joints or minor skin irritations. A gentle steam from wintergreen-infused water can help with respiratory problems.
Witches Datebook by Natalie Zaman
Once upon a time the Moon came down to earth. She was curious to gaze upon the bogs and mashes, for she had heard that they captured her reflection more beautifully than any other body of water. As she marveled at the bog, she spied a man. Frightened he might fall in and drown, she came closer, and bogles, wicked creatures of the marshlands, pulled her in. The Moon lay buried under water and weeds, and folks noticed that she was missing. They asked their wise woman what happened, and she told them to search the bogs. Spying a glimmer of light, they freed the Moon. ever since, Luna shines most brightly over bogs and marshes, the better to protect those who pass through them in the dark. It's easy to appreciate the Moon when she is full, but even in her most shadowy phase, she is powerful. Every stage of her monthly metamorphosis has its own significance. Offer a blessing for her at the year's end, as you asked for a blessing at the year's beginning:
Buried in dark, or crowned in light,
I bless the Moon each and every night.
Witches Datebook by Blake Octavian Blair
The Elder Moon gives us an opportunity for helping others with a magical boost to move forward, leave the troubling parts of the previous year behind, and begin anew at the winter solstice when the Sun is reborn. The elder tree brings magical energies known for banishing harmful energies, bringing us healing and closure, and promoting new beginnings. The elder is often referred to as the guardian of gateways. This sounds like just the ticket at this point in the calendar!
Bundle up and head into the moonlight if you can. Visualize yourself as an elder tree, roots deep into the ground, branches stretched high under the cleansing moonlight. See yourself with bare winter branches. The moonlight cleanses away harmful energies that do not serve, the magic of elder pushing them out and away from you. As they exit your trunk, the moonlight cleanses. As they exist your roots, the earth transmutes. Feel the earth, elder, and Moon working together as a sacred triad. Then, visualize new leaves, as if in spring, blossoming and bringing you new beginnings!
A safe and peaceful holiday to all that celebrate~!