Full Snow Moon

I hope everyone had a fabulous Esbat! This is called the Snow Moon by many native tribes from the North and East. This is because the heaviest snowfalls tend to occur around this time. Tribes from regions that receive less snow call it the Hunger Moon, for the scarcity of food in the winter months.

I took two days during the three-day reign of the full moon to complete my spell work. In anticipation of closing on a new dwelling next month, I created a charm bag that will serve as an amulet for protection, peace, and a little bit of prosperity.

Sometimes, it's strange how things work out. I couldn't find the material I wanted to use to craft the bag and, from what I did have, I picked the wrong color. This bag will find a prominent place in my new dwelling, so I did not worry about natural fiber. Like the one I made for my coworker, I wanted a brown bag (the color for homes) with blue thread (a color of tranquility). I ended up picking not the brown deer suede, but the burgundy deer suede. This was simply due to the dim lights in the room. I also managed to not get blue thread, but a light gray thread, also probably from the lighting. Halfway through my sewing, I realized the colors I was working with and, right away, I also realize how perfect they were. The siding on my new home is gray, and the shutters are a shade of burgundy. Completely by accident, I chose material that was even more perfect than what I had intended. I used a brown hemp cord for the drawstring and a heavy brown glass bead to keep it tight. I began sewing just as the eclipse was starting on the 20th.

When my bag was complete, I added my stones. There is: a snowflake obsidian for peace and protection; a yellow tiger eye for protection, prosperity, and a little bit of courage (the courage is needed because so much of this change in living arrangements is something very new for me); an amethyst point for peace and calming fears; a carnelian for protection and calm; a green aventurine for prosperity; a citrine for calming fears and promoting peaceful sleep; a hematite to keep me grounded; a clear quartz to keep all the energies clean and strong; and one special stone that I knew I wanted to add before I knew why, a lovely piece of sodalite that's good for inner peace.

After the stones, I added the herbs: red rose petals for protection and to fill my home with love; rosemary for protection, purification, and peaceful sleep; sage for protection and cleansing; and a very special pinch of nepeta. The last herb, while good for it's calming energies, is also known as catnip, and I added it to try to encourage some calm and peace between my two cats.

I also had some special things to add to this bag for my new home. The first was ash from my Yule log to bring the happiness from my previous home to my new one. I then added the candle stubs from the success and prosperity spell I had finished with the previous esbat. After all, that entire working was with this new change in abode in mind. Like my coworker's bag, I added a pinch of ash from the anti-fire charm that my brother and I crafted years ago. The last piece was something I had never before had occasion to use. Several years ago, a friend of mine sent me some small branches from her tree outside. This tree was some kind of pine on the side of her driveway that had been struck by lightening some years before. The strike left half of the tree dead, and the other half still thriving as if nothing happened. She had respectfully taken some branches from the dead side; wood that has been struck by lightening is very magickal. For one thing, it serves as a protection from lightening. I added a few bits of this wood to my bag for its protective qualities.

The bag was completed and filled as the moon entered totality. I hung it from my bedroom window, where the shrouded light of the eclipsed moon cleansed it and its contents from any energies they might have picked up (and everything picks up energies). I then placed the bag in an altar box, safe and clean, to wait for the following night.

Last night, with the moon still considered full, I performed the actual working. Casting my circle and calling the quarters, I asked the Lord and Lady to bless my dwelling (wherever it may be) and I dedicated my charm to protecting it. At the conclusion, I hung it back in the window to charge with the light of the full, un-eclipsed moon. This morning, I removed the charm and put it back in the altar box where it will stay until I move next month. And I already have a plan for my first Esbat in my new home.