Last Friday I looked down at my calendar and was surprised to see that the full moon was that coming Sunday. Given my recent track record, I wasn’t particularly surprised to be unaware of the moon’s phase – I was more shocked that I’d caught myself in time.
By Sunday, Aradia and I planned a dinner but no ritual and had gotten the house just barely clean enough to cook and host … but hadn’t quite planned the ritual. We ended up playing it by ear, which worked out fantastically.
After working together off and on for the last year and a half, we’ve found that our synergy is such that we do not use traditional quarter-calls. Instead, each of us takes a turn leading as we attune to each of the elements.
The Circle came together with a potency the likes of which I haven’t seen in some time. After years of performing such rituals, our space is … accustomed to it. Attuned. Generally, we conjure a Circle to the perimeter of the office/temple area then push it out to the edges of the household. That night it sprang up in two layers simultaneously: one around the temple, one at the edge of the property.
We had a bowl of water that we blessed, and which I used to consecrate a goddess-image I’ve been working with and which we (later) used to top off our latest batch of kobucha. We charged a jar of tomato juice that Aradia used as a basis for a round of get-well potion. Each of us took the opportunity to do a bit of candle-magic.
The chief purpose for the ritual was to provide a jump-start for our magical lives. Though such things are traditionally reserved for the Dark Moon, the centerpiece of our ritual was a journey to the Underworld. Specifically, we visited the Realm of Fire, using a meditative aide by Christopher Penczak from the Outer Temple book.
Finally, we concluded our rite with divination. My own spread, I have already shared. The others, of course, did their own.