Since the New Moon is Sunday, this is an excellent time to share my practice for the occasion. Like many Witches, I follow the lunar cycle and flow with the phases of the Moon to explore, create, banish, rest, and power my magick.
My New Moon observance has five elements: cleansing and purification, a personal tarot reading, business tarot reading, the Noumenia for Hekate, and, new in 2023, ancestor work.
New Moon cleansing and purification
The New Moon is about beginnings, and I like to start fresh by physically and energetically cleaning my space. I clean the surfaces, tidy my desk, vacuum, and so forth. My favourite purification methods are asperging and smoking.
Lately, I’ve been using rosemary, which grows abundantly in our garden, to smoke our home and surrounds. I start in the front yard, walk through the front door, smoke every room in the house, and cleanse myself and my husband before I go to the backyard, shed, and around the house. As I move through the property, I sing a purification song I wrote.
New Moon tarot and oracle readings
Once my space and I are cleansed and refreshed, I sit at my table for two tarot readings. The first tarot reading is about my personal life. Every month, Biddy Tarot shares New Moon and Full Moon tarot spreads in her newsletter and social media. I like these because the questions are related to the energy of the sign that the Moon is in. I reflect on the previous month and do the reading. I’ve been using the Anima Mundi Tarot by Megan Wyreweden. It’s a beautiful nature-based tarot deck with the right mood for these New Moon tarot readings.
After the personal reading, I focus on my business. I call the New Moon my CEO Day. I look at my analytics for the previous month, progress on my goals, etc. I reflect on what worked and didn’t, current challenges and opportunities, and what I want to do in the new lunar cycle. This is my work as a Priestess and Tarot Reader, building an end of life doula service, and as a Digital Communications Specialist (so I also look at the metrics of my clients). Then I perform the tarot reading. I ask six questions:
- What worked in the past month?
- What didn’t work in the past month?
- What is the most valuable lesson this month
- What is emerging within me?
- What should I focus on this month?
- How can I bring my intentions and goals to fruition?
I’ve been using the Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans. I like this deck for my New Moon business tarot readings because I find it neutral without being cold and provides clear symbols and messages.
After the two tarot readings, I draw one card from Art Oracles: Creative & Life Inspiration from the Great Artists Cards by Katya Tylevich and Mikkel Sommer. This one is just for fun, art history, and creative inspiration.
Hekate's Noumenia
My adaptation of Hekate’s monthly rituals combines the Deipnon and Noumenia. The Deipnon is the evening meal on the last day before the first slice of the visible Moon (Dark Moon). The Noumenia is the observance on the first day of the lunar month, marked when the first sliver of the Moon is visible. I perform my New Moon observances at the start of the phase, although the lunar disk is not yet visible to the naked eye. My monthly ritual to Hekate is more of a devotional act than a rite of purification or an offering to appease the restless dead.
During the cleansing and purification stage, I collect the ritual leftovers of the month and discard them. Before approaching Hekate’s shrine, I wash my hands and rinse my mouth. I make khernips and cleanse myself and the space again, light a black pillar candle, recite my adaptation of the Orphic hymn, and make offerings. Food and drink offerings include raw eggs, garlic, onion, barley, figs, olives, olive oil, honey, and red wine. I meditate for a little while and draw one card from the Mythic Tarot, which I have dedicated to Hekate, and contemplate its meaning. I recite a prayer for Hekate by Mandala Priestess Yeshe Matthews that we use in the Mt Shasta Goddess Temple. I thank the goddess, snuff the candle out, and leave the offerings for the rest of the day or the night. I dispose of them in a fire, compost, or waste bin.
In 2023, ancestors
The final piece of my observance occurs with the Mt Shasta Goddess Temple. In 2022, the Temple dedicated its New Moons to Hekate, which flowed perfectly with my existing devotional practice. The Temple has dedicated 2023 New Moons to ancestors. I am still determining what that will look like; we are meeting for the first time this weekend. But I’m adding time to my New Moons for ancestral work.
I make offerings to my ancestors every Monday, but everything else happens haphazardly. The work is primarily task-based–checking for updates on Ancestry.com and 23andMe, searching documents, following leads, confirming stories with relatives, and documenting. I knew little about my family when I began my genealogy studies years ago. I’ve learned a lot, but the information isn’t adequately captured. Setting aside a specific time each month for this work will help me get organised and give me direction.
The journal
One more thing I do on the New Moon is journal. “Journal” is generous; I log what I’ve done in a Word document. Here’s what it contains:
- Date
- Moon phase with the sign (e.g., New Moon in Aquarius)
- Weather conditions (e.g., 77°F/25°C Sunny)
- Emotions (how I feel emotionally)
- Physical conditions (how I feel physically)
- Rituals performed (usually this says “New Moon cleansings, personal tarot reading, business tarot reading, Noumenia”)
- A mobile snapshot of each tarot reading
- The questions from the spread and my interpretation (a sentence or two)
- Bullet points from my business observations
- Notes from the Noumenia, including the tarot card (just a few sentences)
- Conclusion/New Moon Intentions (a few bullet points)
There’s a screenshot above of my December log so you can see what it looks like. I like to refer to my logs and track my readings and progress.
Renewal
If you’re wondering how long this all takes, it takes hours. Whenever possible, I avoid scheduling meetings and other appointments on the New Moon and doing work other than analytics and planning.
My New Moon observance is part of my self-care, renewing my resources and creating the sustainable lifestyle I want. It helps me stay balanced, organised, productive, and on track.
