Ice Moon
Also called: Storm Moon, Horning Moon, Hunger Moon, Wild Moon
Holidays:
Feb. 1-3: the Lessor Eleusinian Mysteries in ancient Greece; a celebration of the Returning Daughter Persephone
Feb. 7: Day of Selene and other Moon Goddesses
Feb. 9: The Chingay Procession, the Singapore New Year, which is a celebration of Kuan Yin and the promise of the coming spring.
Feb. 12: Festival of Diana the Divine Huntress in Rome
Feb. 13-18: In Rome, the Parantalia and Feralia, a purification festival honoring the Goddesses Mania and Vesta
Feb. 14-15: In Rome, the Lupercalia, when women petitioned Juno-Lupa for children. Aldo honored the god Faunus an aspect of Pan.
Feb. 14-21: Aphrodite�s Festival of Love in Rome
Feb. 17: Fornacalia, or Feast of Ovens, in Rome
Feb. 20: In Rome, the Day of Tacita the Silent Goddess who adverts gossip
Feb. 21: Latern Festival in China and Taiwan, also a celebration of Kuan Yin
Feb. 22: In Rome, the Carista, a day of family peace and accord
Feb. 23: In Rome, the Terminalia in honor of terminus god of land boundries
Correspondences:
Nature spirits: house faeries
Herbs: balm of Gilead, myrrh, sage
Colors: light blue, violet
Flowers: primrose
Scents: wisteria, heliotrope
Trees: rowan, laurel, cedar
Stones: amethyst, jasper, rock crystal
Animals: otter, unicorn
Birds: eagle, chickadee
Deities to study:
Brigit, Juno, Kuan Yin, Diana, Demeter, Persephone, Aphrodite
Go out into nature this day. Leave apples, seeds, and nuts for birds and squirrels. Pick up litter, help someone in need, try to find homes for abandoned animals.
Find a statue or a picture of an animal or bird that appeals to you and put it in a prominent place in your home. Each time you look at it think of the connection between you and every living creature.
Go outside and look at the moon. Take a deep breath and feel the energy flowing through you. Lift your arms up towards the moon and say:
Goddess of the forests and the Moon
Diana of the Silver Crescent
I chant my praises to you
I lift my arms to your heavenly crescent
My thanks to you for caring for the woodland creatures
For protecting the forests and meadow lands
Protect me and mine for we are your spiritual children
Lovely Diana I sing your praises.
Full Moon Ritual: Giving Love
Spend the week prior doing things to promote love. Buy or make Valentine�s cards, sign them �A Friend� and give them to the nurses at a local hospital to hand out to the children there or to the mothers of newborns or to the elderly at nursing homes. Or all of them! Tell everyone how you love them and make them feel special. This will be returned to you.
On the Full Moon wear something red. Carry in your pocket all day something that makes you feel loved. At night light a red candle. Fill the bathtub with warm water, a pinch of salt, rose oil and lavender oil. Soak and feel love entering you body completely. When you are finished wrap yourself in a warm robe and curl up to drink a hot drink, tea or chocolate. Immense yourself in a romantic atmosphere, listen to romantic music, read romantic book, spend time with someone special.
Dark Moon Ritual: Celebrating Rebirth after Death
In preparation for this ritual try to bake fresh bread or rolls.
On your altar place a slice of bread in the center. To the right place a small dish of salt, and to the left a chalice of juice or wine. Behind the bread set a dark blue candle. Light myrrh incense.
Hold the incense to the east and say:
East is the place of birth, the door to new life.
Move to the south and say:
South is the place of maturity, the gateway to responsibility.
Move to the west and say:
West is the place of growing old, the beginning of the path leading into the lands lost to memory.
Move to the north and say:
North is the place of darkness and death, the final point in the spiraling path. But it is also the beginning into a new life.
Place the incense back on the altar. Lift the bread with your left hand and think about the planted seed, the grain that died to be reborn into waving wheat. Think about the cycle of human life and the rebirth of your own body.
The Maiden Goddess and the Fertilizing God plant the seed of life. They are the planters, as the farmers planted the wheat that was the beginning of this bread. The Mother and the Father bring the life into existence, forming it into the required shape. They are the millers and bakers, like those who gave this bread its shape. At the time when life is ripened they cut it down. The seed is not destroyed, like the farmer who gathers wheat seeds for the next planting the Mother and Father gather our seeds and prepare us for the next planting, the next life.
Dip the bread in the salt:
This salt represents the Earth and the waters of the Earth. All life must have food and water to grow and survive. My body was first nurtured in the womb of the Mother and watered with spiritual love. I thank the Goddess and the God for their care.
Eat the salted bread. Raise the chalice:
As the fruits must be harvested and crushed before it can become a drink so must each life be tempered with trials and experience. Our life essences are changed into new forms, flavored with the old yet sweetened with the new. May the Mother and the Father give me courage to undergo the process with dignity and grant me understanding and guidance to make my journey with ease.
Drink from the chalice. This is a good time to read Tarot cards or runes about your spiritual development and life path.
As I am part of the grain of wheat so am I also part of the Goddess and God. All creatures and cycles of life are intertwined in an eternal cosmic dance. The doors to all mysteries lie within me. Grant me the wisdom to open them at the proper time.
