Moon Correspondences

*Information from The Wicca Handbook, Eileen Holland pp.192-195 (2009)

The Moon is the most important heavenly body for witches. We draw on her power for lunar magic; we cast our spells in accordance with her cycles; we commune with the Goddess through her. She inspires and illuminates us. There are Moon gods, but the Moon has always been perceived mainly as female. The Moon is cyclical, like women. We menstruate with her. She mirrors the stages of our lives: maiden, mother and crone. She is Changing Woman, as are we.

One way to honour the Moon is with a Full Moon dinner. Set the table with white, silver and gold. Dress formally, in the same colours. Put night-blooming flowers in a vase, or wear their perfume. Serve Moon food: pale creamy dishes and crisp green salads, with a good white wine. A Full Moon dinner is an excellent prelude to lunar magic or for replenishing after rituals.

Superstitions

Mushrooms were thought to grow as the moon waned. Werewolves were believed to take their wolf form when the Moon was full. In Britain, it was considered unlucky to view the Moon through glass.

Moon Phases

Directions for spells often say they should be cast during the waning or waxing Moon. New witches are always asking me what this means. The simplest explanation is that the Moon wanes (grows smaller) after Full Moon, begins to wax (grow larger) again after New Moon. The easiest way to keep track of this is to be sure every year to get a calendar that has the Moon's phases on it. Many ordinary calendars have this, so it shouldn't be hard to find one.

You can consider the Full Moon as lasting three days, the one marked on the calendar, as well as the day before and the day after. This gives you more than one night every month for Full Moon magic. If a spell should be cast during the dark of the Moon, that means on the days just before New Moon, when it is hard to see the Moon in the sky.

Correspondences

Action: fertilises, intuits, enchants

Day: Monday (Moon Day)

Time: night

Element: water

Metal: silver

Zodiac: Cancer

Number: 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 50, 369

Astral: etheric plane

Jewel: moonstone, mother-of-pearl, pearl, quartz, rock crystal, selenite, sea-green beryl, turquoise

Symbol: spear, hunting horn, cows horns

Incense: coconut, ginseng, jasmine, lotus, sandalwood

Animal: white bull, cat, dog, ibis, hare, horse, elephant, crab, stag, vixen, wolf, rabbit, swine, dolphin, seal, serpent, sparrow, wryneck

Rules: women, birth, death, time, rain, tides, the sea, dew, the waters, semen, fluids, menstruation, cold, moisture, shadow, cycles, intuition, inspiration, poetry, generation, fertility, maternity, femininity, the womb, childbirth, moods, personality, creativity, emotions, psychic powers, growth, sympathy, envy, changeability, enchantment, dreams, secrets, lunacy, merchandise, theft, sloth, evil thoughts, the subconscious, the Goddess aspect, all things of a watery nature, travel (especially by water), the mysteries of time, the inner eye of wisdom, the negative, the feminine, the yin

Body: governs head, brain, belly, left side of men, right side of women, fits, palsy, writhing, mental illness, nervous diseases, female genitals, obstruction of sinews, infirmities caused by cold moisture

Plant: acanthus, adder's tongue, agave, banana, burnet saxifrage, cabbage, chamomile, chickweed, cuckoo flower, cucumber, fluellen, fungi, sea holly, iris, lettuce, loosestrife, lotus, madonna lily, melons, moly, moonwort, mushrooms, myrtle, night-blooming plants, opium poppy, wild pear, poppy, pumpkin, purslane, dog rose, white rose, wild rose, clary sage, St John's flower, seaweed, soma, stonecrop, leafy vegetables, wallflower, watercress, water lily, willow, wintergreen, yucca.

Invocations: Ashima

Goddesses:

Aa, Aine of Knockaine, Alcmene, Alphito, Artemis, Belili, Bendis, Britomartis, Cerridwen, Changing Woman, Ch'ang-O (Queen of the Moon), Circe, Danu, Diana, Dictynna, Eurynome, Hecate (Goddess of the Dark Moon), Hecate Selene (the Far-Shooting Moon), Helene (Bright Moon), Hina the Watchwoman, Inanna (Queen Moon), Io, Iole, Isis, Ix, Chel, Juano Luna, Levanah, Libya, Linda, Lucina, Luna, Luonnotar, Mama Quilla (Mother Moon), Mardoll (Shining One Over the Sea), Ngame, Pasiphaë (She who Shines for All), Phoebe (Moonlight), Phoenissa, Selene (the Radiant, the Bright-Dressed Queen), the White Goddess

Gods:

Ashimbabbar, Candra, Car, El, Gabriel, Ge, Helenus, Khonsu (the Wanderer, He who Traverses the Sky), Nyami-abe (Nocturnal Sun), Osiris, Pah, Phorcys, Porphyrion (the Dark Blue Moon Man), Soma, Thoth, Yarikh

New Moon (white raiser)

Colour: white, silver

Rules: birth, initiation, virginity, beginnings, the hunt

Invocations:

Goddesses:

Aerope, Artemis, Brighid, Caenis, Chrysaor, Clotho, Elate, Elektra, Isis, the Kotharat, Linda, Maiden, Mary,

Nimuë, Prosymna, the White Goddess of Birth and Growth

Gods:

An, As-im-Babbar, Hillel

Crescent Moon

Goddesses:

Stella Maris, Tiamat, Yemaya

Gods:

Aglibol, Hillel, horned gods, Nanna, Sîn, Suen, Yarisk (Lord of the Sickle)

Waxing Moon

Colour: black

Rules: birth, growth, love, beginnings, attraction, ideas, positive change

Invocations:

Goddesses:

Artemis, Diana, Epona, Maiden, Neith, Ri

Full Moon (zenith, red reaper)

Witches' sabbats (esbats) were traditionally held a Full Moon. This was also when sacred kings were traditionally killed.

Colour: red, green

Rules: light, fertility, illumination, growth, transformation, nurturing, fulfillment, sexuality, maturation, love, power, maximum psychic ability

Invocations:

Goddesses:

Artemis Mounykhia, Astarte, Calliope (the Beateous Face), Cameira, Diana, Eur-ope (She of the Broad Face), Iphigenia, Isis, Juno, Larchesis, Mari, Mariamne, Mary Magdalene, Mother, Nemesis, Nymph, Phoebe (Bright Moon), the Red Goddess of Love and Battle, Rhode, Selene, Olymene, Pasiphaë, Praxithea

Gods:

Father Nanna

Waning Moon (dark winnower of grain)

Rules: wisdom, endings, release, banishment, intuition, prophecy, death and resurrection, divination, old age, deep secrets, reversal of fortune, postmenopausal women, the power of healing

Invocations:

Goddesses:

Anna, Annis, Astarte, Atropos, Bentheslcyme, the Black Goddess of Death and Divination, Chrysothemis, Crone, Ebule, Eur-ope, Hecate, the Hesperides, Ialysa, Levanah

Magic Square of the Moon (totals 369 in every direction)

37	78	29	70	21	62	13	54	5
6	38	79	30	71	22	63	14	46
47	7	39	80	31	72	23	55	15
16	48	8	40	81	32	64	24	56
57	17	49	9	41	73	33	65	25
26	58	18	50	1	42	74	34	66
67	27	59	10	51	2	43	75	35
36	68	19	60	11	52	3	44	76
77	28	69	20	61	12	53	4	45