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By The Light Of The Blood Red Moon

  
  

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Papess
19:22 / 01.03.07
There is something ecliptical about that fact, Mordant.
 
 
Princess
19:28 / 01.03.07
Ah, any offence upon the wonderful people of the Temple was accidental. Though I'm trying to convince him, I don't believe it to be the case. It's just, I wish I'd never found out about magic. It just opened up a whole new world of things to get neurotic about. It doesn't, on the whole, seem to increase my happiness.

As far as I can see, my little brother is using magic the same way I did, as a distraction from the real problems in his life. When I managed to work through some of my adolescent angst I realised that I was using magic in a particularly deluded and self destructive way. There are times when I still wonder if that's what I'm doing now. But the point is, even after I'd moved through some of the causes, the symptom remained. I'm still a witch. I can't undo the thinking which went into the process of (eurgh, can't think of better word) bewitchment. And, because of the way I taught myself to think, I'm not sure if I should anyway. Since getting involved with these things life's been nothing but a constant crises of faith where nothing ever seems secure.

If my brother is going to get into this scene then he'll get into it anyway. If he's not then all I'm doing is wardnig him away from something that he'd find as addictive and maladaptive as I did.

Perhaps my specific wording was a bit off up-thread. Apologies, I'm a horrible mood today and it's causing random acts of foolishness. I don't think that all magic and magic users are fruit loops. I just think that an awful lot of "magical thinking" is sloppy, unhelpful and annoying. Whenever my little brother asks theory questions I tell him the truth and I give him the sceptics critique. I don't think I can be fairer than that. When he ask about personal experience I tell him nothing other than how ridiculous I was/am. I don't want to make magic seem glamourous to him. I want to point out that the communities involved in it are slightly worrying,(YMMV obviously, but outside of this lovely green place I've found very close to no intelligent discussion)that the risks involved can often vastly outweigh the benefits and that an "occult" view isn't nessascary to see the world as wonderful and mysterious.

Maybe that's not doing the magical community any favours and his experience would obviously idffer from mine but anything else would feel like pushing the syringe into his hands.
 
 
Princess
19:45 / 01.03.07
Or, to be simpler, I'm only doing for him what I wish someone had done for me.
 
 
Ticker
22:11 / 01.03.07
You wish someone had told you what specificly?
That being presented with the option to participate in the creation of your reality using some old and new tools would be frustratingly hard work?

I don't mean to sound harsh mind you, but I'm finding many folks don't grok the time and investment it takes to develop skill in a craft, be it magic or wood working. Rare is the hand that is born knowing how to instantly shape the image the mind sees.

I'm not quite sure why you see magic as being more burdensome than productive, more maladaptive than beneficial. I suspect only you know why that is but I believe it may be a misstep for you to assume another person's path would mirror your own, no matter how much alike you are.

Just sayin'.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
22:26 / 01.03.07
Princess, if you're finding the practice of magic a net negative in your life you need to either a) change your practice or b) chuck it in and do something else. There's no law that says you have to be a witch. Drop it for a few months. It'll still be there when you get back.
 
 
Mon Oncle Ignatius
22:41 / 01.03.07
Interesting. I'll be playing some records in a fairly large public space around then, in front of a crowd who will have quite a few members who will probably be into this event for its astrological significance. We might even be able to see the moon through the windows, and it's right by the River Thames. I think I'll find a suitable track to mark the occasion.
 
 
ostranenie
23:14 / 01.03.07
Django: I think I know where you'll be, because I'll be there too. w00t!



I can certainly join in on the coin-charging thing, though it may not get chucked in the Thames until the following morning. Quantum, I liked the idea of a phrase we could all focus on. Any more thoughts on that?
 
 
Make me Uncomfortable
03:05 / 02.03.07
I too like the idea of a coin charge- I am quite landlocked here in Pittsburgh, but I could take the coin down to Point State Park. What with the confluence of three rivers thing, its not the worst water-place.

I know that during the eclipse itself I will be at a local band concert extravaganza (Eight bands, but they are so incestuous that there are only about 4 bands worth of people), but I think I can take the time to step outside, point out the faint red moon to people, and charge the coin.

As for the verbal componant, perhaps something like this:
(Fill in the blanks with your negative thoughts, those unhappy tiding that you would see put behind you)

I draw you down, O blighted Moon,
Shadow locked and satin stained.
By this token I twin you,
Your shadowing is my shadowing.
I cordon my complaints in the currents of this currency

My _____ is ____
My _____ ______
The _____ ____ _____
And ___ ___ ___

But change begets change
And as your redness fades
so too shall troubled thoughts
Until but you and I remain

I lift you up, O blighted Moon
In shadows bound, but in water released.
 
 
Make me Uncomfortable
03:24 / 02.03.07
Oh yeah- this is in response to Quantum's want for a vocal componant. I didn't get in as much about making communication easier than I would have liked (a little ironic, that), so it might need a little tweaking.

Also, I was going for generic with the wording, but I might have strayed into some old school Wicca with the moon being "drawn down". I of course meant it in the sense of twinning with a silver coin, rather than the "please posess our circle's high priestess and speak through her" sense, but YMMV, and feel free to change it up how you want.

And if you think I'm a whore for abusing alliteration and half rhymes... guilty as charged.
 
 
Liadan
05:13 / 02.03.07
Bah... where I am (west coast of the US) it'll be almost over at moonrise, if I can see it at all, since local moonrise is later than "statutory" moonrise due to my living in a valley (i.e., the moon doesn't rise over the hill ridge until later than astronomical moonrise).
 
 
Quantum
13:33 / 02.03.07
There is a solar eclipse on the new moon.

Cool! A gold coin for that I think, or maybe a bimetallic £2. Thinkthinkthink...

Mordant- not many sun goddesses and moon gods out there, I can only think of ANINGAN (Inuit/Eskimo) The moon, brother to the sun whom Moon chases across the sky. Aningan has a great igloo in the sky where he rests. Irdlirvirissong, his demon cousin, lives there as well. The moon is a great hunter, and his sledge is always piled high with seal skins and meat.
 
 
Ticker
13:52 / 02.03.07
There's a good handful of female solar Deities around the world. Amaterasu is the Japanese sun Goddess and I believe Tsuki-yomi (her brother?) is the moon.
 
 
Unconditional Love
14:23 / 02.03.07
Sin is the sumerian moon god, khonsu the egyptian, thoth has lunar associations with fixing horus's moon eye, as does horus in a certain respect.

The moon and sun contain both masculine and feminine associations.
 
 
Z. deScathach
14:45 / 02.03.07
A question that I have is: Are we going to have a shared intent in terms of global impact, or are we going to keep it personal.

Oh, as the resident tantrika, Justrix, thanks for the sadhana!

As for the discarded change, I'll probably be going with a sadhana instead. Every body of water near me is frozen solid, and I can just imagine one of the locals coming across the quarter I would throw. "Hey look George! Found a quarter!" I still remember way in the wayback days when my cat came into a ritual and imbibed the saltwater that was ussed to absorb everyone's negativity. Imagine a furry rocket with a frightened startled look on it's face. That was the last time I did that.
 
 
Papess
15:46 / 02.03.07
Oh, as the resident tantrika, Justrix, thanks for the sadhana!

I am glad you like the sadhana and I hope you were refering to yourself as the resident tantrika.

Since we are on the subject, though, i found this retreat which is taking place now, I believe. Anyway, it touches on the belief of compounded karmic impact of eclipses.

The retreat will take place during the first fifteen days of the Tibetan lunar calendar, during which time the Buddha displayed a different miracle each day for the benefit of dharma practitioners. Due to the power of the Buddha’s blessing, all virtue is multiplied 100,000 times during this period. The retreat will culminate on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the occasion of a lunar eclipse, at which time the power of practice will be multiplied over 10 million times.

I am not certain on those numbers. Maybe some gurus are more conservative than others.

One very interesting point about Tibetan pujas is the deity is quite often sitting on a sun and moon seat, which would seem to suggest a perpetual eclipse.
 
 
Z. deScathach
15:50 / 02.03.07
Yes, I was referring to myself.
 
 
Z. deScathach
16:00 / 02.03.07
My gut feeling about a lunar eclipse is that it would refer to a "covering" of internal, psychic issues. I would seem to me that it would be useful to banish or dissolve the occult causes of problems, their hidden base. I have used a solar eclipse to banish external and open issues to similar effect.

Perhaps this would be useful in dissolving the underlying "hidden" aspects of social issues, as well as hidden problem areas within oneself. As such, it could be used to create greater self awareness.
 
 
Papess
16:12 / 02.03.07
Very good, then.

I am glad you like the sadhanas because I wasn't very excited about them in the first place. I find them very simple, but that is sometimes very profound in practice. I kept looking aroound because I know that eclipses had much more meaning to them than just the karmic bounus points. Here is something that stikes close to that:

"The first Bardo (...) the Bardo of the State of Emptiness, which in some versions of the Tibetan Books of the Dead is described as the culmination of the preceding Chikhai Bardo and therefore included within it, represents the moment of psychic death or reabsorption. It is a complete black-out of individual consciousness and dissolution of individuality. This is sometimes compared to the eclipse of the sun and the moon, where the solar female energies and the lunar male energies dissolve into empty space. The practice of Tummo (gtum-mo) or internal psychic heat, where the two polar energies within the body of the single individual, the feminine and the masculine, or the solar and the lunar, are integrated, also serves as a preparation for this experience."

Quoted from: vajranatha.com.

It is another example of lunar-male/solar-female as well.

Has anyone ever heard of Merichi (i am unsure of the spelling)? She is a Tibetan Solar Goddess. I am having trouble finding information on Her, probably due to my terrible spelling.
 
 
Z. deScathach
16:33 / 02.03.07
Years ago, I used to practice witchcraft, so I've had difficulties in switching to male lunar/female solar energies. Some experiences that I had in that community soured me on working with deity, but bottomline, I'm going to need to go back to deity work. It's IMO the best way to re-imprint, somthing that is necessary to do in order to properly perform said sadhanas. Still, if it was our desire to have a unified intention, different attributes would result in manifesting the intent from different pathways. Flexibility is a good thing, I've always felt.
 
 
Quantum
14:40 / 03.03.07
*bump* The weather is looking clear, good good.
 
 
Quantum
19:22 / 03.03.07
Right, I'm off out to the beach, hope you all have a good view. Bury a coin for me!
 
 
Mono
20:00 / 03.03.07
We are having a little spur of the moment elipse party at our place with red wine and a telescope...will post some of mork's pics if anyone's interested.
 
 
Ticker
20:07 / 03.03.07
post pictures! Please!

We've got a snow sky here probably no or very little glimpse in 20 minutes on moonrise. The soup is almost done to offer and I have a bar of Dagoba Eclipse chocolate as well as some farm fresh goat milk. (Holy crap brand new kids are sooooo cute!!)
 
 
Olulabelle
22:09 / 03.03.07
Lovely clear weather here right through so we built a fire and did some personal things. I tried to take some pictures with my new camera but because I am lazy and have not read the manual yet I am still in automatic only, which made the camera decide the moon did not exist.

The Lovely Boy stayed up to watch and took great delight in being 'in the way'.

Exceptionally beautiful. More coppery pink in the shadow than copper red, the colour that copper goes when you first start to heat it. And it had the palest blue edge for us.
 
 
Haloquin
22:34 / 03.03.07
Beautiful!

Thanks for starting this thread btw! Spent an hour watching it by the river on campus with a friend and my partner, which was lovely. I threw a copper coin in the water to ask the moon-shadow to carry away blockages and a silver coin for thanks to the moon and the water. Which was nice. I thought of something very self-evident but that struck a chord for me;

If the moon is the mirror of the earth; an eclipsed moon shows us our shadow...

But thinking now, its more a mirror for the sun. Although my friend was saying that for the moon the earth mirrors the suns light, so I wonder how it all fits in.

I'm now off to bed, hope everyone else had a gorgeous night!
 
 
Gendudehashadenough
06:00 / 04.03.07
I imagine this won't hold a candle to the majesty of this afternoon's (were I am) event. Many pages of inspiring, diovular beauty, nonetheless.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
10:20 / 04.03.07
Had a lovely clear night for this. I walked up to one of the miradors on Montjuic with beers, a 2-litre bottle of water, various bits of jewellery and a razorblade.

Under the red and hunted moon, I poured out/drank toasts to Máni, the Moon-God; to Jord, Whose shadow fell across the face of the Moon; to Hatí, the Jotun wolf-God who pursues Máni across the sky and keeps Him on His proper path; to the Gods I work with most closely; to the Aesir, Vanir and the Jotnar in general. I exposed the bottled water to the moon's rays. I'll be using it in some ritual work later on.

Making a small cut in my thumb I applied blood to my wolf's-head pendant and asked for it to be blessed. I renewed certain commitments made last Spring to the Gods and to myself. I dedicated and smoked a Lucky Strike for Loki, Father and Granddaddy of Wolf Gods.

Interesting to reflect that the lunar eclipse we've all been looking forward to so happily and snapping with our digital cameras might well have been a thing of mortal horror back in the day. The devoured moon, a sign of terrible things on the way...
 
 
Twice
10:56 / 04.03.07
The air was clear and chill, here, and I watched from the patio. Then, as the last snatches of white left its face, I stepped down onto the beach and walked to the water. It was still and calm, though the surf was long and strong, drawing the pebbles back and pushing up again to my feet. And yes, I felt for a moment part of a bigger thing. I picked a stone, feeling for the right shape in the darkness. I let my mind fall upon something good, and threw that thought into the waves, thinking I might give it life. I turned, walked back up, and went to bed.
 
 
Mono
16:26 / 04.03.07
here are some pics from last night:









for the full slideshow, you can visit mork's nature blog.
 
 
Quantum
21:22 / 04.03.07
Great pictures!

I went to the beach and marvelled at the moon, covered it with the coin a few times as it eclipsed, then when it was dark said 'Less tomorrow than today, all my troubles ebb away, by land and sea and blood red moon, all my troubles ended soon'. Then threw the coin out to sea, and went to dip my necklace in the waves and tripped over a sword, a red child's plastic sword. Then I got wet because the sea snuck up on me, but I still have the sword.
 
 
iamus
23:01 / 04.03.07
During the first two nights of the month I had two seperate dreams involving menstruating women and I had no idea why. It made a lot more sense last night when I looked up and saw the eclipse.

Does anyone have any good information resources on the links between moon phases and menses? Something needs exploring here.
 
 
Make me Uncomfortable
01:38 / 05.03.07
The eclipse was good. I was actually in a valley and it was pretty cloudy, so the moon didn't really rise to a visible level until around 7pm EST, about twenty minutes too late to see the eclipse proper, but I got a real nice view of the brightness coming back and the red fading, which was cool.

The invocation went well. I had a quarter, which I notched the edge of, five notches evenly spaced. It's actually still in my jacket pocket. My plan is to take it down to the Point tomorrow, where the Monnongahila and the Allegheny join to form the Ohio river (one of the Mississippi's main tributaries), and throw it in.

I did feel a little weird treating something so pretty as bad, or if not bad, unwanted.

As far as I can tell, I don't think anything positive is going to happen until I put the coin into the river. Right now its in a sort of weird charged but not released state. There's actually a different, unrelated sigil I just finished that is in a similar state, perhaps I shall burn a copy of it when I throw the coin into the confluence- there'd be some nice fire-water dualism going on. It could be good.

Thanks everyone for, you know, getting me up and out of the house to paddle about with magic.
 
 
Papess
17:26 / 05.03.07
Eclipse over Montreal. It was rather snowy, but we caught a clear spot.

BTW, I wouldn't expect any real action until Mercury goes direct on the 7th of March. Things are in a bit of a holding pattern, atm.

 
 
Z. deScathach
18:56 / 05.03.07
My experience was rather strange. I decided not to do the coin thing, for the reasons I gave earlier in the thread. The full ecplipse was not visible to me, because of where I live, but the last half of it was.

I decided to formulate a mantra for the general cleansing of myself and my society, and I went out chanting it under the moon. As I got close to home, I was accosted by two christian missionaries. They said, "We need to talk to you!" I said, "No you don't!" They said "Yes we do!" At which point I replied in the most gruff voice I could muster up, "Go away! I'm in prayer!", at which point they stammered, "Ahh...ok....have a nice evening..." I'm still trying to figure that out.....
 
 
Make me Uncomfortable
21:21 / 09.03.07
Just delivered the coin to water and burnt my unrelated sigil. It was a bit of a trip- I had to take a bus into downtown and walk a bit through a semi-sketchy park. Had a lot of synchronicity going though, which is great. City magic too- graffiti, signs, etc keep catching my eye. I added a few magic words to my list.

Also, just turned in a huge application and portfolio- I'm trying to change my major, and have been working on this for a month or two.

So I feel... drained but amazing.
 
  

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