There is an astrological blue moon to be celebrated on Thursday, April 18th, 2019. I know the trolls use “Social Justice Warrior” as an insult, but I’ll take up that banner with pride! I suggest to all my Witches of the world, that we hold a special esbat this night to work this second “Cardinal Spring” lunar surge. Let’s sow an extra seed for justice and equality! Let’s empower wise and trustworthy governance to be restored, so that we can level the playing field and build up a more just society that will serve our future, rather than clinging to a dying past.
Blue Moon?
First of all, this moon is “blue” because it is the second full moon to occur while the sun is in Aries, and the moon is in Libra. This is important! But wait, you say… my Witches’ daily planner doesn’t mention this being a blue moon!
That is because most almanacs and witchy planners are still naming the moons based on a mistake in Sky and Telescope Magazine in 1946 that has ZERO to do with magick. Just forget which calendar month we’re in. It matters which zodiac sign and season we’re in. If you’d like to read my painfully detailed explanation of this reasoning, go read The Blue Moon Debate: An Astrological Blue Moon in April 2019, then I’ll meet you back here, so we can get down to the witchy business at hand.
Tarot Magick and Astrological Timing
I’m planning my magickal working based on three cards of the Tarot: IV The Emperor, 4 of Disks: Power, and VIII Adjustment (Justice in the Rider Waite Deck). I use the Thoth Tarot Deck by Crowley-Harris, whose imagery and meaning pulls heavily from the astrology behind the tarot symbolic system. I often use tarot imagery in my spell work, because the images form a gateway through which we tap their egregore of power.
Sun in Aries: Fire Power of The Emperor Card: Bold, Wise, Trustworthy Leadership
In tarot, the Aries card is IV The Emperor. This card represents the wise leader. He is a pioneer, an innovator, and initiator of great wisdom and authority. He is the urge to action and the warrior who leads us to victory in a just battle. This card tells us that this is the moment for a change, or a new beginning, and that we should trust our power; that we can “rule by serving and serve by ruling.” (2)
During this quickly changing, turbulent and divisive time in our politics – especially as we gear up for another election cycle – I’m sure that the United States could use some brilliant public servants to feel the call to leadership. I’d like this magick to empower those people who will “serve our highest good, harming none,” to find their way into the debates, and onto the ballots, and then into the elected positions best suited for them.
Four of Disks: Power…Integrity, Security and Strong Character on all levels
For me, this card shows me that I have the power and authority to accomplish my work, and it needs to be well-organized in order to become effective. There is power to be gained by playing by the rules, but there is also sometimes a call to flip the board, and create a new game, so that our principles can be governed from the heart.
The affirmation suggested by Gerd Zeigler (2) to manifest this card is, “I offer my power in the service of Love.” It is the image of the castle that inspires me for this working. The castle represents an outmoded and oppressive form of Feudal government, which made most people powerless serfs to the ruling class. With this egregore, I intend to flip that script, so I’m reversing it.
Moon in Libra: Air Power of the Adjustment/Justice Card: Equilibrium, Balance, Justice
In the Thoth deck, the Libra card is VIII Adjustment, also known as Justice in the Rider-Waite-Smith decks. This card is about finding an equilibrium between extremes. Harmony is thought to come from clearly defining our core values – calibrating our moral compass to those values – and then behaving accordingly.
What are our core values as a nation? Are we behaving from any direction that moral compass might point? Is this 2019 or 1819? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. I’d say our national moral compass is broken at the moment. I’d go back to the constitution and suggest that America long-ago declared that *all* humans are created to be equal, and worthy of an independent pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Moreover, we are all equally responsible for contributing to the stewardship of our shared goals, fairly and securely. By gods! that relationship should be reciprocal!
The occult system of philosophy that the justice tarot card is based upon, contends that a kind of cosmic equilibrium will inevitably be restored. Though in the Thoth deck, it is recognized that there is no such thing as “justice,” outside of human perception. However, there is constant adjustment to regain that cosmic balance whenever it is lost. Folks often think of Karma as a punishment of evil deeds, but that isn’t quite the scope or depth of it. That would be an Abrahamic Religious idea based in their Good vs Evil paradigm. But the Occult/Pagan philosophy I employ is based on creation through Divine Love, and the tension created from the lack of that love. In my world, Love is everything.
Ye Old Good Vs. Evil Polarity: Benefit or Bane?
The age-old “good vs. evil” dance…le sigh. I choose not to use loaded words like good, bad or evil. I prefer to discuss Benefit and Bane. Beneficial or “Good” things flow easily with the tides of nature – they progress along the wyrd, or destiny, toward our evolution through Divine Love; they are expansive, beneficial and allow the creative forces to blossom in ease.
On the other hand, baneful or “Evil” things result when any hubris or ego-maniacal repression attempts to thwart that natural flow – it vainly impedes, or restricts our evolution through Divine Love in an imbalanced and unjust way; denying the equilibrium of that creative force, we suffer dis-ease, atrophy and necrotic rot for some, and bloated, parasitic excess for others.
That is an untenable recipe for disaster, folks! <gestures broadly> Could be why right now it feels exactly like the apocalypse. <cough<because it is the apocalypse>cough>
My Social Justice Magickal Intention
With this Aries/Libra blue moon magick, I intend to work for a destruction of the systemic impediments to equilibrium, so that through ingenuity and wise governance, we can rebuild a powerful, compassionate and generous society that is sustainable for everyone, including Mother Earth, Herself. Fire and Air will be the main energies to draw upon. However, I’ll use some “daring” water and earthy powers to manifest both real and emotional changes.
Note that I will not be naming any names, or political parties, or candidates. I will call for the “Highest Good of all involved, harming no inhabitant of this nation: flora, fauna, or the land itself.” I leave it to the Universe to creatively work out the details.
The Spell: By Fire, Air, Water and Earth We’ll Level the Playing Field
So here is my thinking:
Fire: We stoke the Aries fires for a righteous battle, bringing wisdom, passion and integrity to bear on the situation. Just to piss off the trolls, we may have to shout “Social Justice Warriors to Battle!” <cackle> Among the trees corresponding to fire, is both pine and cherry. We have an abundance of pine cones around here. Cherry wood chips used in smokers would also make a great addition.
Water: Over that fire, we brew up some “daring waters” in an iron cauldron. What are daring waters? Daring to overcome all obstacles is the projective mystery of elemental water from the Witches’ Pyramid of Power: To know, To Will, To Dare, To Be Silent. This links to my blog about Collecting Hurricane Waters for Justice Magick, where I said:
“Think of Hurricane water as a perfect magickal storm (pun intended) of the powers of elemental air and water. Rain collected during a hurricane can be used to remove blocks to your forward movement. This can apply to anything in your life that seems stuck and needs a strong wind to blow away the tangles to your vision and thinking. This fast moving water can help you break through barriers, and flow through anything that keeps you from your goals. Do you need to let go of some old emotional baggage? Well, this is the water to help do the job.”
During this Blue Moon rite, I intend to use the Hurricane water I made back during Florence; however, not already having this water on hand shouldn’t stop you from working this magick on April 18th. Daring water is any fast moving water that defies containment and has the force to carve a new landscape…like water collected at a river rapids, or flood waters. In this case, we can brew up and charge with our intention to utilize the equalizing forces of water, by brewing it with herbs and stones associated with Aries and Libra. You’ll note a fair few overlaps in common items that I might use, because I already have them, or they are growing in my back yard and in blossom right now. But you should use whatever is easily accessible around you. My source.
- Aries/Fire Plants: Dandelion, Blackberry, Garlic, Honeysuckle, Rosemary, Thyme, Allspice, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger
- Aries/Fire Stones: Apache Tear, Bloodstone, Carnelian, Hematite, Red Jasper, Emerald, Citrine
- Libra/Air Plants: Rose, Thyme, Violet, Dandelion, Burdock, Mullein
- Libra/Air Stones: Bloodstone, Emerald, Jasper, Citrine
Earth: Since I’m looking for a tangible adjustment here in the physical world, I’m creatively bringing in some sympathetic EARTH magick, to represent the impediments, strictures, and unjust systems that no longer benefit our society as a whole. To this end, I will be using sand I bought at Lowe’s to create a “sand castle” that looks a lot like the image on the 4 of Disks: Power card in my Thoth Tarot Deck. I’ve been playing with this idea in a plastic tub.
So that each celebrant at our rite can name an example of what they are working to eradicate, I’ve made biodegradable “flags” from cutting up the brown kraft paper of a grocery bag, a staple, and a piece of dry spaghetti. In this way, we each name the walls that will come tumbling down, and it remains mostly non-toxic and biodegradable for our purposes later on.
A few examples could be:
- Institutional bigotry that favors a subset of people <heterosexual bias, White Supremacy>
- Ideologies that threaten constitutional liberty and our Bill of Rights <Fascism, Nationalism, electoral college>
- Repressive gender norms <patriarchy and toxic masculinity>
- Unjust penal structures <for-profit prisons, the bail bonding scam>
- Systemic workplace injustices <pay inequality for women, unlivable minimum wage>
- Ruinous For-profit Healthcare <pharmaceutical price gouging, criminality of private insurance companies and preexisting conditions, etc.>
- Puritanical moral codes imposed by religious extremists <GLBTQ inequities, Pro-life control over female reproductive autonomy, Trans-exclusion in the Military>
- Denial of climate change and destruction/neglect of our natural environment. <Dependence on Fossil Fuels, single-use plastics>
- I could go on forever, but I’m sure you get the point.
The Ritual:
My idea is that in our rite, we will create our temple as we normally would, calling upon the elemental powers and Archangels and Deities with these specific intentions in mind. We will certainly call upon our ancestors who suffered under the repressive systems we seek to destroy. We will raise power with drumming, dancing and chanting, to stoke the fires of Aries. There will be an iron cauldron on a tripod over that fire, and we’ll add our ingredients and charge our daring waters to over come all obstacles as we restore wisdom and equilibrium to our society with the compassion of water. We’ll name what structures we mean to destroy with our little flags, and create a sympathetic link to the sand castle. When the power is at it’s peak, we’ll pour those boiling waters over the castle, to eradicate those impediments we’ve named. We will literally LEVEL the playing field.
The Transmutation: Crocosmia Lucifer
But what then? Whenever you remove something, you have to replace it with something else. The Universe hates a vacuum. To this end, I have a large number of Crocosmia Lucifer flower bulbs, organic compost and nutrient rich soil we’ll blend with the sandy remains of the spell in a prepared flower bed. In a prayerful way, I’ll plant the flowers bulbs, naming each to become a beautiful new aspect of our enlightened future. This variety of crocus blooms all summer in long stalks of clustered red flowers. As they grow and bloom in years to come, so will our intentions. It is so poetic that they are named for Archangel Lucifer, Light Bringer and champion of the human race against repression and ignorance.
The Tricky Business of the “To Be Silent Rule”
Sharing an impending spell in public isn’t generally a good idea, as that “to be silent” thing applies. However, in a large scale working meant to benefit everyone in society, having as many hands on deck working for common purpose is awesome. This is why I’ve not included my exact choices, or ritual language, or even shared the fullness of my own plan. I encourage you to derive your own creative version of this magick and join us in your own way!
SO MOTE IT BE!
~Heron Michelle
1) “What Is A Blue Moon?”
2) The Mirror of the Soul by Gerd Zeigler
Below is my lunar calendar for 2019, cross referenced with season, triplicity phase, zodiac sign of both sun and moon, and magickal name.**
**Authors note: There are many naming conventions for the moons, but these names provided would match relatively closely to those in the Llewellyn Witches’ Calendar and datebook. Though we disagree which moons are which, they’ll match up again after that blue moon in April.
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