The Moon

The moon carries a certain fascination. Through the ages it has been connected with Gods, inspired poets and artists, watched over lovers or just given comfort in a dark night. In Wicca, the moon (often) is a symbol for the threefold Goddess, She who embodies change, and the life cycle of women. There is the maiden, the young one, connected to the waxing moon, full of joy, free of burden, without much experience, but with the vigour and passion of the young. There is the mother, symbolized by the full moon, the fertile one who has to care for her offspring, who offers nurturing and love. And there is the third one, the crone, symbolized by the waning moon, the old one whose strength is vanishing, but also the wise one, full of experience. Sometimes, there is a forth face, the dark mother, lady of death, she who takes back what the mother has given, the new moon.
This threefold Goddess is an empowering role model, especially in our world where it sometimes seems that we must always be young, beautiful and dynamic. I want to emphasise one point here: I do not worship the moon – I honer the Goddess whose symbol is the moon.

The charge of the Goddess tells us to meet at the full moon to honour her. In a busy world where everything goes to the rhythm of weeks and months, that can be difficult to accomplish, and there is no real reason to insist on the full moon. However, if we want to do some meditations on the moon, having the moon actually present, visible in the phase we are meditating about, will provide a better focal point.
This weeks exercises are therefore intended for a week of the full moon. You can do the contemplation on every day, but do the meditation on the day of the full moon itself if possible. You can find the current moon phase for example here ; the moon will be full on Tuesday this week.
There will be a post on the new moon in a later week. It is interesting to note that the associations of the three faced Goddess belong to the waxing, full and waning moon, while often rituals and meditations are performed at full and new moon. For magic, on the other hand, you associate the phase of the moon that shows the effect you want to achieve: growing, full of strength, decreasing, banishing.