WILLOW MOON ~ April 15 – May 12

Healing is in the air during the Celtic Month of Willow, inviting you to open your heart and express your emotions.

During this time of April showers, the watery month of the Willow Moon teaches you to release pent-up emotions and experience your grief.  Tears are linked to healing, and as you express difficult and painful feelings, you are able to purge yourself of subconscious fears.  The Willow Moon offered a healing month to the Celts, who literally spring-cleaned themselves in steamy saunas, known as sweat lodges, in readiness for the Beltane festival at the start of May.

Watery Tree

This month is the perfect time to perform lunar magic and to let go of the past.  Cast spells to restore and nurture during the waxing Moon and to release problems during the waning Moon. Drinking more water will help you attune to the Willow Moon and so enable you to connect to the tree’s water magic.

HEALING AND BLESSING

The willow is imbued with the power of the Moon, and so it has always been particularly linked with witchcraft.  The traditional witches’ broom is bound with a willow branch, and lunar wands used specifically for Moon magic are made of willow wood.

A lovely handmade willow wand that can be purchased from the Eire Crescent shop on Etsy.

Broken Hearts

The willow’s close ties to the Moon and tides also connect it to affairs of the heart.  An old English tradition involved jilted lovers wearing a sprig of willow in their hats, which originated from an ancient willow charm to heal a broken heart.

Lucky Tree

It was also believed that knocking on willow wood would help to banish bad luck, and that the tree’s leaves and bark could be added to healing incense and sachets to further promote health.

Focus on bringing someone round to your way of thinking.  Attract love or a new job, or aim to make a good first impression.

WILLOW MOON MAGIC

The Willow Moon provides the perfect time to harness lunar power and energy for wishing spells, divination, healing and protection.

Willow Divination

Willow is a good tree for boosting your intuition because of its watery association with the Moon.  Try these traditional “willow ways” of using your extrasensory perception!

• Throw your shoe into a willow tree on the new Moon.  If it gets stuck you will be married in the next 12 months, but if it falls you will remain single.  you can try this eight times, if you do not get the desired result the first time!

• Sleep with willow leaves under your pillow on the night of the full Moon to have a psychic dream.

• Burning the bark and leaves of willow with sandalwood, outside during the waning Moon, will help you see spirits.

Protection Spell

Planting a willow tree in your yard will banish bad luck from your home.

You Will Need:

• Willow branch
• Spring water
• A clear quartz crystal
• A lock of your hair

1. On the new Moon, dig a hole and place the quartz crystal inside it.

2. Call upon the blessing of the Earth Mother with the following incantation: “Earth to earth, in power and love grow.”

3. Add the lock of your hair, to bring your own energies to the spell, and say, “I welcome you.”

4. Place the willow branch in the hold and refill the earth around it.

5. Shower the covered earth with the spring water while saying this chant: “Water to water, in power and love grow.”

6. Water the buried branch each day until it is strong.

Moon Water Spell

This willow tree ritual should be performed outside and can be used to make a wish, or heart’s desire, some true.

1. At the time of the full Moon go to a shallow river or stream where willow trees grow.

2. Stand with your feet in the water and hold your arms up to the Moon.

3. Visualize  moonlight flooding your aura, filling your body with each breath.

4. Recite this incantation: “Lady Moon of wax and wane, bring my wish and take my pain.”

5. Perform an act of ritual purification by washing your hands in the water by the roots of the tree.

6. Focus on your wish and tie a knot with a string around a willow branch to seal it.  When your wish comes true, untie the knot.

“Esbat” by NinfeAde

Healing Sachet

Use this charm during the Willow Moon to support your recovery from past bereavement or heartbreak.

You Will Need:

• White spell bag
• Willow leaves
• Willow bark
• Moonstone crystal

1. Harvest the bark and the leaves on the full Moon, leaving a strand of hair as an offering of thanks.

2. Hold up the moonstone and say “Mother Moon, Fair thou art, may your radiance heal my heart.”

3. Place all the ingredients in the bag, tying three knots to seal it, saying, “By the power of three so let it be.”

 

 

Source:
“Enhancing Your Body, Mind and Spirit”, 21 Nature Magic, CARD  9.

 

 

Suggested Links:

The Blue Roebuck, “Willow“.

Celtic Radio, “Celtic Zodiac: The Willow“.

The Goddess Tree, “Willow“.

Goddess Luna

"Luna" by CocoMaroon

“Luna’s themes are  all lunar attributes – instinct, creativity, luck, femininity, water element, miracles (on a Blue Moon) – also safety in travel.  Her symbols are silver or white Items, water, moon images and the number 13.

The Roman Goddess personifying the moon, Luna had the additional unique quality of being a protectress of charioteers, which in modern times could make Her a patroness of automobiles!

While March came in like a lion, Luna escorts it out lambishly, with Her soft, shimmering light. She is the full moon, which symbolizes the growing awareness developed this month, the fullness of loving emotions, and charms and enchantments empowered by the silvery light of the moon.

Go moon gazing (okay, if it’s a dark moon, meaning the moon can’t be seen, you’ll have to wait for another day). To encourage any of Luna’s attributes, recite this invocation to the moon:

‘Moon, moon, Lady moon, shine your light on me
Moon, moon, Lady moon, bring <…..> to me’
(Fill in the <…..> with your heart’s desire)

If possible, gear your request to match the energy in today’s moon phase. A waxing moon augments spells for any type of growth or development. A full moon emphasizes maturity, fertility, abundance and ‘ful’-fillment. Waning moons help banish unwanted characteristics or shrink problems, and dark moons emphasize rest and introspection.”

(Patricia Telesco, “365 Goddess: a daily guide to the magic and inspiration of the goddess”.)

"Space - The Moon" by InertiaK

“In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia.  In Roman mythology, the moon Goddess is called Luna, Latin for ‘moon’.  She is generally depicted as a beautiful woman with a pale face and long, lustrous, black hair; riding a silver chariot pulled by either a yoke of oxen, a pair of horses, or a pair of serpentine dragons.  Often, She has been shown riding a horse or bull, wearing robes and a half-moon on Her head and carrying a torch.” [1]

Luna’s temple was on Aventine Hill and was built in the sixth century BCE, but was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome during Nero‘s reign. There was also a temple dedicated to Luna Noctiluca (“Luna that shines by night”) on the Palatine Hill. There were festivals in honor of Luna on March 31, August 24 and August 29.  [2]

In later years, Selene became associated with Artemis as Her counterpart Luna became associated with Diana, and the aspect of the virgin moon Goddess assumed the powers of the moon Goddess Selene.

"Birth of the Moon" by korwynn

In ancient times the moon was most often depicted as a Goddess because the moon appeared to become pregnant and give birth to the new moon each month.  As the Goddess of the moon, Luna was the patron of the feminine.  She was believed to have power to ease childbirth and inspire love.  Luna was also believed to have the power to mask reality and conversely, to pierce illusion.

Luna, together with Diana and Hekate, form a triad with Luna as the Goddess in Heaven, Diana as the Goddess on Earth, and Hekate as the Goddess in the Underworld.  The Moon’s phases reflect these forms. As the new Moon She is the maiden-Goddess Diana, always new and virginal, reborn and ready for the hunt. As the waxing Moon, increasing in fullness, She is the fertile mother-Goddess, pregnant with life. And as She wanes to darkness, She is the wise crone or witch Hekate, knowing the magical arts, with the power to heal or transform.

Among the other powers of the moon Goddess Luna is to awaken intuition and spark psychic visions. This most likely stems from the association of night and the moon with dreams.  The association may also be why Luna is often considered patron of solutions, which often come to people in dreams when the subconscious mind has a chance to process information that has been consciously acknowledged.  [3][4]

ASSOCIATIONS:

Pantheon: Olympian/Roman

Element: Water

Sphere of Influence: Birth and death, agriculture, domestic, long life, medicine, travels, visions, theft (new moon)

Associated Symbol: The Moon

Animals Associated With: Owl, Raven

Best day to work with: Monday

Best Moon Phase: 1st day after the Full Moon

Best time to work with: Night

Strongest around March 31st

Suitable Offerings: Pomegranate

Associated Planet: Moon

Perfume: White poppy, white rose, wallflower

Incense: Myrtle

Color: Silver, grey-white

Candle: White  [5] [6]

"Selene" by Rickbw1

Sources:

Bee Charmers Cottage, “The Roman Goddess Luna“.

MyAstrologyBook.com, “Selene – Greek Goddess of the Moon: Artemis – Diana – Luna – Phoebe – Cynthia – Hecate“.

Pagan Magic, “Luna/Selene“.

Sabrina. Goddess A Day, “Luna“.

Wikipedia, “Selene“.

Suggested Links:

Love of the Goddess, “Selene, Goddess of the Moon“.

Roman Colosseum, “Myths about the Roman Goddess Diana“.

Theoi Greek Mythology, “Selene“.

Took, Thalia. A-Musing-ing Grace Gallery, “Selene“.

Took, Thalia. The Obscure Goddess Online Dictionary, “Losna“.

The White Goddess, “Selene – Goddess of the Moon“.