Tonight at 6:17 pm EST is a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse. More than simple astronomical and astrological events, for witches Full Moons are times for spiritual and ritual observance known as Esbats. When we are new to the craft we buy books that teach us how to be a witch and they tell us about Esbats; we accept their importance and we learn rituals to observe them. But how many of us stop to wonder, "What is an Esbat?"

According to Wikipedia:

An esbat is a ritual observance of the full moon within Wicca and other Wiccan-influenced forms of Neopaganism. Some groups extend these celebrations to include the dark moon, or even the first and last quarters. Traditionally, the Sabbats are times of celebration, while magical work is done at the esbats.

There are thirteen canonical full moons each year, although some years will have only twelve, because a synodic lunar month is more than twenty-eight days long (actually about 29½ days). A "blue moon" is popularly defined as the second full moon in a calendar month, although some define it as the second full moon while the sun is in one sign of the Zodiac.

In The Witches' Goddess, Janet and Stewart Farrar note that the Babylonians considered the new moon to be the time when the Goddess was menstruating, and it was bad luck to do work on that day. In Jewish culture, this is the first day of the month, called Rosh Chodesh, and is still observed by some as a holiday for women.

The term esbat is probably a recent adoption, dating to the writings of Margaret Murray. It is derived from French esbat (modern ébat), meaning roughly "frolic, romp", with some sexual connotations. This term was used during the European witch trials to describe the supposed behaviour of witches engaging in Devil worship, and it has been claimed that Murray was misled by the word's coincidental resemblance to the word sabbat.

You learn something new every day.

In an effort to focus on the more spiritual and philosophical aspects of being a witch, rather than analyzing the correspondences of this Full Moon for spell working I wanted to explore the basis for recognizing a Full Moon for its spiritual significance. Turns out I've been right all along to focus on the various ways that Full Moon energy can best be used for magick.

Hare, by Modern Society at deviantART

March's Full Moon is known as the Hare Moon. The hare is sacred to the Goddess, in particular to Eostre, symbolising rebirth and renewal, abundance and good fortune. She is the commonest witch familiar, teaching divination and clairvoyance under the moon's influence. Associated with moon deities, the image of the hare in the moon appears throughout spiritual traditions the world over.

Dancing Hare has a great overview of the hare's role in mythology, her association to various gods and goddesses, and practices around the world that center around the hare.

Because of its fertility (one doe can produce 42 young a year), the Rabbit or Hare is an emblem of fertility, abundance, good fortune, sexuality, lasciviousness, lust, procreation, puberty, renewal, spring, rampant growth, excess, and love gods and goddesses such as Venus, Aphrodite, and Cupid. Philostratus said the most suitable sacrifice to Aphrodite was the Hare as "it possesses her gift of fertility in a superlative degree". Pliny the Elder even prescribed its meat as a cure for female sterility. Hares genitals were carried to avert barrenness. Folk magic says that if anyone eats hare flesh for seven days it will make them beautiful. Pliny reported that people thought that if you ate a hare your body would be sexually attractive for nine days. The Hare is addressed in an Anglo Saxon poem as "shagger"!

The hare, along with the egg, is a traditional symbol associated with Ostara, the Sabbat that celebrates fertility and abundance. This Full Moon would be an excellent time to work spells to bring fertility and abundance into your life; literal fertility if what you want is to have a child in lucky Pig Year, or metaphoric fertility if there is something else you hope to manifest.

In Jungian theory, the Rabbit or Hare can symbolize the mother archetype. Jung's Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious displays a photograph of a window in the Paderborn cathedral in Germany, in which three hares move clockwise within a circle, which Jung says represents consciousness "scenting or intuiting" the unconscious and the center/Self.

A Full Moon is always a good time for performing divination and tapping into the power of this lunation to work on psychic skills. If self-analysis is what you want to work on at this time, use the hare's power and energy to help you.

This is what Cafe Astrology has to say about the effects of this particular Full Moon:

This month's Full Moon is a Lunar Eclipse. Lunar Eclipses are about relationships and polarities. With the Virgo-Pisces service axis involved, this Lunar Eclipse presses us to look more closely at our needs, lacks, and wants in our lives. We are pushed to find a balance between day-to-day functions and routines, physical health, and the need for order (Virgo) and vision, spiritual health, disorder, and the infinite (Pisces). Virgo rules the tools and techniques that we use to deal with day-to-day life, while Pisces rules the tools that we use to deal with our spiritual selves. Some sort of crisis (which can be a crisis of consciousness) or sudden awareness of a lack in our lives provides us with a golden opportunity to explore our emotional needs within the context of the house polarity where the eclipse occurs in our natal charts. Relationships may be challenged, broken, or strengthened dramatically at this time. Our discovery is emotionally charged and dramatic. Epiphanies are likely at this time as we become acutely aware of our lack. This understanding can propel us into positive action. This Full Moon urges us to strike a balance between work and service, practicality and impracticality, criticism and acceptance.

Crises and epiphanies can be useful to overcome challenges and move forward in more positive ways. What were you working on at the New Moon? The Full Moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. A Full Moon is a time when our tendency is to focus on romance, fertilization, and relationships in any case.

Virgo Babydoll Tee ©2003-2007 Novokain at deviantART

For those of us who are working on relationships, this is good information to keep in mind. It's also important to remember that Mercury is still in Retrograde (and will be until late in the evening on March 7). Communication may be challenged but it's also a good time for reflection and to revisit old issues. While we're talking about relationships, sometimes the energy of a Mercury Retrograde brings things back to us. I'm just saying.

When the Moon is in Virgo it is a good time for intellectual pursuits, more so for those requiring critical detail rather than innovative creativity. This is also a good time to take care of any matter that requires painstaking attention. People may become shy and retiring with the Moon in Virgo, but they also tend to be discriminating, fastidious and overly critical. These influences lead to concern about food and health as Virgo rules the intestines and the powers of assimilation. Many people feel the urge to clean their homes at this time, which is a good way to channel Virgo energy.

Spring cleaning anyone? Want to start a diet or health regimen to get ready for swimsuit season? Virgo's influence over the energy of the Full Moon make this an excellent time to concentrate on workings around these goals as well.

Correspondences

Correspondences that can help make your Full Moon in Virgo magick more effective are listed below.

The Full Moon in March, in addition to being called the Hare Moon, also is referred to as Sap Moon, Crow Moon, Lenten Moon, Storm Moon and Chaste Moon. Celtic traditions call it the Moon of Waters, associate it with the Alder Tree, and use its energy for prosperity, protection, healing.

Energy at this time is about breaking illusions, seeing the truth in you life however much it may hurt. It is a time of new beginnings, growing, prospering, exploring. A time for seeking a balance of Light and Dark.

Some common correspondences with the March Full Moon:

Deities: Black Isis, the Morrigan, Hecate, Cybele, Astarte, Athene, Minerva, Artemis, Luna ?
Nature Spirits: Mer-people, Air and Water beings who are connected with spring rains and storms ?
Herbs: broom, High John root, yellow dock, wood betony, Irish Moss ?
Colors: pale green, red-violet ?
Flowers: jonquil, daffodil, violet ?
Scents: honeysuckle, apple blossom ?
Stones: aquamarine, bloodstone ?
Trees: alder, dogwood ?
Animals: cougar, hedgehog, boar ?
Birds: sea crow, eagle ?
Virgo correspondences:

Planet: Mercury

Element: Earth

Incense: narcissus

Colors: pastel blue, peach, yellow, gold, black

Metal: platinum

Crystals: cornelia, jade, jasper

Flowers: rosemary, madonna, lily, valerian

Tree: elder

Birds: magpie, parrot

Body: intestines, bowels, pancreas, gall bladder

Archangel: Hamliel

Mercury is associated with the element of Air, the color orange, and the following gemstones: opal, moss agate, aventurine, sodalite, and flourite. Herbs most commonly associated with Mercury are: almond, anise, clover, dandelion, dill, hyssop, lavender, lemongrass, lilac, mace, peppermint, rosemary, vervain.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:18 AM