X: Blood on the Moon
For once I am sending this newsletter out reasonably on time - and in fact, I’m sending it out in advance of this upcoming full moon. This full moon will be a blood moon due to the lunar eclipse and I thought it might be worth giving some guidelines for magical workings during an eclipse. This is a general guide: it applies to the next eclipse coming up, but also to any future eclipses.
A Note—
The thing that many beginner witches do not initially realize about magic is that there are almost no firm rules. There are slivers of magic where you can give some pretty conclusive advice: in herbalism, for instance, “wolfsbane is poison” is not a matter of opinion. I suppose you could have a different opinion about whether wolfsbane is poison, but you would not be likely to live to tell the tale. Astrology, as well, is a pretty firm system. People may argue about how to interpret Jupiter being in a certain sign, there’s no argument about whether or not Jupiter is actually in that sign.
For everything else - everyone has an opinion about everything. One witch’s “bad omen” is another witch’s “I-think-it’s-a-good-omen-actually”. Trying to hand out any sort of guideline about anything often results in a chorus of witches saying, “Well I did the exact opposite and everything turned out perfectly for me.” This, understandably, may leave you feel like it’s pointless to try to give advice or suggestions to anyone.
Then other witches will say, “Oh no, I did the thing you said I shouldn’t do, am I going to die??? Will I be cursed forever??? How can I undo the thing???” They will be so sad or freaked out about it that you are forced to relent a bit and say, “Look, it will probably be fine. Stop panicking.”
I’ve said this kind of thing before: the outcome of any given spell anyway may be wholly based in what any given witch believes. Outlining one’s own beliefs and superstitions is not tapping into some universal guidelines for magic because there are no universal guidelines for magic. Or, at least, there are none that play by the rules of Science and Evidence.
How to use anything in your practice is up to you - but I can at least provide suggestions for you to work off of.
The Blood Of The Gods—
Lunar eclipses, historically, were considered bad omens. It makes sense that the moon losing light comes across as, uh, at least mildly alarming. In many cultures - those of Ancient China, the Philippines, the Incan civilization, India, and Polynesia - lunar eclipses were explained as a god or dragon attacking or devouring the moon.
Of course now - in the age of Logic and Reason - we know that is not the case. It’s a cosmic coincidence that Terra, Sol, and Luna line up juuust right so that the Earth blocks the light of the sun from reaching the moon. Lunar eclipses always happen during a full moon, while solar eclipses happen during a new moon. There are between four to seven eclipses every year - some solar and some lunar (although each event is not necessarily visible from every location on Earth.) The orbital plane of the moon is not exactly the same as the orbital plane of the Earth, which is why there is not a lunar eclipse and solar eclipse every month.
But the ancient Babylonians actually knew that too. In Babylonian beliefs, lunar eclipses were a bad omen thought to threaten the safety of the king - although if Jupiter was visible during the eclipse, the king was considered to be safe. The Babylonian priest of the moon god, being a scientific type, could calculate the cycle of the eclipses based on the orbit of the planets. The Ancient Babylonians were well aware that it was a natural phenomenon that happened more or less on a schedule, and then it wasn’t a spontaneous divine message. They still attached a superstitious belief to eclipses: they are a divine message that should be doled out regularly.
Maybe even now it is fair to interpret that people need the message of an eclipse every so often to keep things from stagnating. Witches - some of whom feel that their power is drawn from the moon - may be particularly sensitive to these messages. After all, the moon is in our blood.
Speaking of blood - a blood moon, in particular, is when the eclipsed moon is flooded by a crimson color. The red color is actually the reflected light from the world’s sunrises and sunsets (which honestly sounds like the stuff of good omens, right?). The Danjon Scale is used to categorize the color of the moon during an eclipse:
L0 Very dark eclipse. Moon almost invisible, especially at mid-totality.
L1 Dark Eclipse, gray or brownish in coloration. Details distinguishable only with difficulty.
L 2 Deep red or rust-colored eclipse. Very dark central shadow, while outer edge of umbra is relatively bright.
L3 Brick-red eclipse. Umbral shadow usually has a bright or yellow rim.
L4 Very bright copper-red or orange eclipse. Umbral shadow has a bluish, very bright rim.
The color of the moon - even during non-eclipse times - is affected by the amount of water and particles in the atmosphere, as well as the position of the moon. The moon may appear more blue when there are more smoke and dust particles in the atmosphere. These particles in combination with a lunar eclipse may cause the moon to be a very dark red color.
The orbit of the moon around the Earth is not perfectly circular - so the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other points in its orbit. Being closer means the moon is larger in our vision, which is colloquially called a super moon. (The opposite is called a micro moon.) You may see particularly when a super moon is rising that it looks very big and orange colored (or even reddish). The moon always looks larger near the horizon, which is called the moon illusion. The horizon moon is actually the same size as the moon higher in the sky; they appear to be different sizes because of an optical trick.
However, the moon does actually take on a more orange tint at moonrise and moonset because the density of the atmosphere is highest near the surface or the Earth. The more atmosphere that the light travels through, the more the blue light is scattered - leaving only the reddish tones. This orange color (though it may be blood-like) is different than the effect to which the term blood moon refers.
Interlude in the Garden of Luna—
Personally I do not feel a connection to the moon exactly - but I feel some connection to the things that thrive in moonlight. I think having a moon garden would tap into some very true part of myself. I am infatuated with the fragrance of spring and summer nights.
Many years ago I read A Spy in the House of Love by Anais Nin and the only part of it that I really remember was this bit about moon-baths:
At sixteen Sabina took moon-baths, first of all because everyone else took sun-baths, and second, she admitted, because she was told it was dangerous. The effect of moon-baths was unknown, but it was intimated that it might be the opposite of the sun's effect.
The first time she exposed herself she was frightened. What would the consequences be? There were many taboos against gazing at the moon, many old legends about the evil effects of falling asleep in moonlight. She knew that the insane found the full moon acutely disturbing, that some of them regressed to animal habits of howling at the moon. She knew that in astrology the moon ruled the night life of the unconscious, invisible to consciousness.
But then she had always preferred the night to the day.
Moonlight fell directly over her bed in the summer. She lay naked in it for hours before falling asleep, wondering what its rays would do to her skin, her hair, her eyes, and then deeper, to her feelings.
By this ritual it seemed to her that her skin acquired a different glow, a night glow, an artificial luminousness which showed its fullest effulgence only at night, in artificial light. People noticed it and asked her what was happening. Some suggested she was using drugs.
It accentuated her love of mystery. She meditated on this planet which kept a half of itself in darkness. She felt related to it because it was the planet of lovers. Her attraction for it, her desire to bathe in its rays, explained her repulsion for home, husband and children. She began to imagine she knew the life which took place on the moon. Homeless, childless, free lovers, not even tied to each other.
It goes on a bit more - frankly I have half a mind to copy the whole thing into my grimoire. It’s a spell, isn’t it? Leaving your skin out in the moon the way some people leave out water. I think its now a goal of mine to have a private moon garden in which to moon-bathe.
This has mostly been about regular full moons. Bathing in the light of the blood moon sounds like a witchy thing to do - but I am not entirely sure what the effects would be. Let me know if you are brave enough to try it.
The Moon and You—
If you are interested in astrology, this is an extremely in-depth post about the energy of eclipses from Susan Miller. I could not even attempt to write something as well-informed as that. My very short astrology advice is that from an astrological perspective, you may want to look at which house the eclipse is happening in for your own chart.
Let’s assume, though, that the astrology interpretation of eclipse energy is the most common or widely used interpretation - and I will base my general suggestions off of that. This is a list of activities a witch may be inclined to do and my advice for each activity:
Should you…
Do blood magic?
Using your blood in magic is a personal choice that some witches are more comfortable with than others. In my experience, dealing with blood is not particularly dangerous. There is this vampire-I-know-who-lives-in-a-château who once told me not to drink too much blood. A vampire was warning me about drinking too much blood! Can you imagine? What nerve! Although to be fair, I was doing shots of one-part-bourbon, one-part-blood. My own blood, people. This paragraph is really going off the rails - but the point is that blood magic is mostly more dangerous in a mundane world toxicity-and-sanitation sense than it is in a magical sense.
It is very binding to use blood in your magic though. Despite this being a blood moon, I would not do blood magic on this day if you haven’t done it before/have a good idea of what you are doing. If you have done blood magic before and want to do it during the blood moon, you should have a very specific intention and purpose in mind. If you fall into that category, you probably do not need my advice.
If you have a specific idea of a spell or ritual you think blood would be good for during this moon, but don’t want to commit to using actual blood, I would recommend the juice of a blood-orange as a replacement.
Charge your crystals? Make moon water?
I feel like “it depends” is the most common answer I give to all questions - and it is also the answer to this question. Charging things (crystals, water, etc.) under some astrological event imbues them with the energy of that event. So, for example, if your moldavite has not been causing enough chaos in your life - then sure, leave it out under the blood moon. If you are using a crystal or your moon water for peace and tranquility… this may not be the moon for that vibe.
Create amulets?
This is kind of an extension of the previous answer - I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a super crystal-y person, but I am interested in amulets. These could be crystals, or it could be anything you want to charge with the energy of this moon. If you are using an eclipse or blood moon to mark some specific event - like perhaps you are leaving something behind, or being reborn from the ashes of something, or you are newly embracing the chaos of the cosmos - you may want to lock that energy into an amulet so you can invoke that strength whenever you need it again. Or you may want to harness some eclipse energy for a future time when you are stagnant and crave change.
Divine?
Divination is one of those things that it is always safe to do. This may be a good option if you need some clarification about how the message of the lunar eclipse pertains to you or what purpose the eclipse energy might serve in your life. Of course, you may not like the answer. I asked my tarot deck about the eclipse and got The Moon, so…. yeah. Reeeeal helpful.
Do protective spells?
You can’t really protect against the eclipse - if that is your intention. It’s understandable. There are certainly things that I don’t want to lose or don’t want disrupted. My advice though is to face this kind of thing head on. You cannot really defend against cosmic energy. You might be able to fight it. However the best tactic - if you are worried about this kind of thing - is to embrace the changes that are brought about. Easier said than done, I know.
Do other spells?
Again, it depends. Don’t do a spell just to do a spell or because you think you are supposed to. If you have some business with the eclipse, you probably know better than me what that business is.
Manifest?
Witches commonly use the moon cycle for manifesting - and the rule is usually that waxing moons are for things you want to increase, and waning moons are things that you want to decrease. Solar and lunar eclipses have a similar split - solar eclipses bring things, while lunar eclipses push things out. Use these energies for your manifestations accordingly - lunar eclipses are not the time to manifest abundance or prosperity.
Citrus Bloodbath—
You may wonder what I’m going to do for this upcoming eclipse. Honestly - I’m going to have a bath. This seems to be a somewhat popular eclipse option and I think there’s good reason why. The moon, the ocean and the element of water are all linked. This eclipse will be very fiery. Not only because of the fiery color but also because this particular eclipse will happen in Sagittarius, a fire sign. A bath - and having that connection to water - may help me feel more harmony and balance.
In particular, I’m going to take a blood-orange and sea salt bath. Blood oranges have that sympathetic magic thing going on - they look like the blood moon. That element will help me actually link the bath to the eclipse (especially since I may not actually do the bath ritual at the totality of the eclipse).
This has been quite a long newsletter. Hopefully it provides some useful information!
I will see you next moooooooooon—
G.B.
P.S. Should I use a different name? I sign this as Grimoire Babylon but maybe it would make more sense to call myself by a different name. I will think about it!