Death Moon

Death moon is upon us now. The Dark Moon started on Sunday February 10th and the Full Moon is on Monday February 25th. The Awakening Moon will begin its cycle on Monday March 11th.

Nature looks bare. The branches of the trees still hold on to their withered and brown leaves or are empty. Nature is at that point of stasis, frozen in time, conveying the dreadful feeling that life will never return and that the Sun will never warm the Earth again. Many people experience an 'energy dip' around this time of the year.

This time period used to be one of the hardest of the year. The last of the food in storage would be about to be eaten now and the cattle that wasn't essential for reproduction and milk in the light half of the year would need to be slaughtered and eaten now. If the harvest of the previous year had been running low there would not have been enough food to spare for everyone, let alone for the animals. First the animals would have died, followed by the Elderly and sick humans. This is also the time of Lent, which used to be a period when the more luxurious foods were restricted - and unavailable to the average citizen.

Death is a difficult subject for many but it is an essential part of the Craft. The Craft centres around the balance that can be found in nature. The balance between Male and Female, but also the balance between Death and Life. Growth, Life and Reproduction are an essential part of Nature and is usually seen as the 'Creative Force'. But like many things, Growth has a hidden dark side that can easily overlooked. Growth in itself is also a destructive force. Cancer in our bodies is an exponent of unbridled growth: cells multiply without knowing when to stop, destroying everything else in its surrounding. If humans continued to multiply without dying, we would probably destroy ourselves and much of the planet's ecosystem in the process.
To be able to make room for new Life, first there must be Death of the living. As a Priest, it is essential to be familiar with both sides and be able to recognise the importance of Death and Destruction.

One of the ways to familiarise yourself with Death is by planning your own funeral rites. This time of year can be a good time period to start thinking about what you would like your own funeral rites to be like, or to revisit the decisions you have previously made and see if they are still in line with your current wishes.
Would you like to be cremated or buried? Where would you like your ashes to be spread or your body to be laid to rest? Are there viable green burial options in your area? Do you want a shroud or a casket? Would it be important for your family to have a place where they could commemorate you and connect with you? Would you like a service and if so, what kind of music would you like and who would you like to give a speech?

There are many other questions that could be answered, but most importantly you should find a way of capturing your wishes so that it is clear to your loved ones what you would like to happen after you die. It could be a good thing to discuss your wishes with your loved ones now, so that they can ask questions and won't be surprised by your wishes during the already difficult time of your passing. If you have already made a will, you could include your wishes in it.

Associative Meditation

If you want to use a free associative meditation for this Moon, you could do the following exercise.

Sit down comfortably and close your eyes. Focus your thoughts on how your body sits on the chair of floor. Once you feel comfortable, shift your focus to your breathing. Slowly breath in and out, inhaling and exhaling deep, but in a comfortable way.
Clear your mind, and start by picturing a bone. Imagine holding it, feeling the texture and its weight in your hands. Picture it intensely, vividly. Then slowly let go of the image and see what your mind comes up with next. If your mind starts to wander too far off the subject, you can always bring your focus back to the starting point and come back to the image of the bone.

When you feel you have come as far as you would like to go, bring your focus back on your breathing. Slowly breathing in and out, and bring your attention back to your body. Feel how your body is making contact with the chair or ground. Then slowly open your eyes, wiggle your fingers and toes, and stretch out. Have something to drink or eat if you feel you need to.

You could use any of the following associations as a starting point instead of Bones. They are some of my own associations, my train of thought. Your associative meditation could (and probably should!) go in a completely different direction:
Bones, structure, famine, death, fear, white, brittle, fragile, fertile soil, rebirth.

Visualisation

Alternatively, you can also try this visualisation for Death Moon.

Sit down comfortably and close your eyes. Focus your thoughts on how your body sits on the chair of floor. Once you feel comfortable, shift your focus to your breathing. Slowly breath in and out, inhaling and exhaling deep, but in a comfortable way.

Imagine that you see a door in front of you. The door is made of wood. It looks old and when you look at it closely you see that a white circle with a round hole in it has been drawn on the door.

When you decide to open the door, you see a sea shore in front of you. It is a clear night and the Full Moon is high up in the sky. A cold breeze is playing with your hair. You hear the sound of the lapping waves and the salt of the sea spray tickles your nose. Somewhere in the distance you hear the screeching of seagulls.
You decide to step through the door onto the beach and you close the door behind you.

The light of the moon shines along the beach. You realise that the beach you are standing on is surrounded by high cliffs. The sand of the beach is covered by seaweed. Where the beach meets the cliffs, you see a light shining: it looks like the light of a fire. You suddenly realise that you feel quite cold, and you decide to make your way to the fire.
As you walk across the beach to the cliffs, you feel the seaweed crunch under your feet. The smell of the seaweed reaches your nose, and you can smell that the seaweed has been lying here for a while. It smells of rotting fish.

As you come closer to the light of the fire, you can make out the opening of a cave in the cliffs. The fire is right at the edge of the cave and a haunched figure is standing next to the fire. Shadows covers the person's face, but you can see that it is an old woman with black clothes and a dark shawl wrapped around her head. On the fire is a cooking pot, a large cauldron, and the old woman is stirring it with a large wooden spoon. The opening of the cave is covered with the bones of fish. The light of the fire casts strange shadows on the walls of the cave and the fish bones on the floor.

The woman has seen you approach and with her hand she indicates that you should come closer to the fire. When you come close enough to see her face, you can see that the features in her face are hard but not unfriendly.
You stand still just before the opening of the cave, close enough to the fire to give you some warmth. The old woman doesn't look up, she just stares at the cauldron while she stirs in it with her big wooden spoon. You look into the cauldron too, and see a dark, black, bubbling liquid in it. As your eyes follow the movement of the spoon going round and round the cauldron, the old woman starts to sing a hypnotic, wordless song.

While you continue to look at the liquid in the cauldron, images start to form. Maybe they are images from your past, or images of things that are still to come. Whatever they may be, let them come naturally, let them flow in front of your eyes. The song of the old woman leads you, and protects you at the same time. You know that you can look away from the cauldron whenever you want, but that you can gaze into it as long as you feel the need to.

Just you get the feeling that you have looked long enough into the cauldron, the song of the old woman comes to an end. You look in her direction, and she looks you straight in the eyes. She gives you one brief nod with her head, turns around and walks deeper into the cave, disappearing into the shadows.
The only sound that remains is the sound of the waves rushing on the the beach.

You realise that you have spend quite a bit of time in this place and that it is time to go back. You  turn around and you see that the door that you came through is still there. You follow the same path back where you came from. You walk back over the seaweed, until you come to the edge of the sea. You stand there for a moment, taking in the picture of the Full Moon high above the sea, the sounds of the waves and the smell of the salt spray. You thank this place for what you have experienced this night. You open the door, step through it and close it behind you again.

Bring your focus back to your breathing. Slowly breathing in and out, and bring your attention back to your body. Feel how your body is making contact with the chair or ground. Then slowly open your eyes, wiggle your fingers and toes, and stretch out. Have something to drink or eat if you feel you need to.

On visualisations

Visualisations should only be done when you feel stable and well balanced. Sometimes people feel a bit 'spaced out' after doing a meditation or a visualisation. If that is the case, please go for a long walk or take a nice hot shower, followed with a good meal. If there is anything you would like to ask or share with me after doing any of the visualisations on this site, feel free to contact me via email.