Full Snow Moon – February, 2021

As February tends to be the snowiest month of the year, it’s no shock that this month’s full moon is named the Full Snow Moon (peak time is February twenty seventh, 1:17 AM, MST).  Full moon names come from Native American tradition and most are derived from the state of the world round them on the time.  Some of the opposite names this month’s moon are Bone Moon, which originates from the Cherokee nation, and tells a story of starvation and hunger as individuals gnawed on the bones left from previous meals.  Other comparable names have been the Hunger Moon and Famine Moon.  The Ojibwe name it the Sucker Fish Moon, primarily based on the dependence on any such fish to stave off starvation.

Not all tribes have been situated in chilly areas and people tribes had a a lot completely different method of trying on the February moon.  The Hopi tribe, discovered principally within the American Southwest calls it the Moon of Purification or Moon of Renewal.  Other names embody the Bear Moon, the Bald Eagle Moon, and Groundhog Moon.

Our Full Moon celebrations are targeted on cleaning and clearing that which now not serves us.  We burn away the remnants of yesterday beneath the highly effective vitality of the total moon; banishing these issues from our lives ceaselessly.

In order to carry out this ritual as written, you’ll want the next objects:

Quarter Candles (yellow, red, blue, green)
Large White Goddess Candle – (We desire a 3 wick candle to represent the triple Goddess facet)
Paper and pencil for every participant
Fire pit or cauldron appropriate for safely burning small objects and paper
Altar

This is meant to be carried out open air, beneath the sunshine of the total snow moon – costume appropriately and use correct hearth security.

<Anything within the ritual that’s contained with <> needs to be understood as tutorial for the ritual chief and shouldn’t be spoken aloud>

Ritual Begins

This circle solid fills the area round, to the sky above and under the bottom, this space now a sacred place, neatly wedged between time and area!

Calling the Quarters

We honor the nice teachings from the East – Where Beginnings, Awakening, Ascension, Vision, and Spiritual knowledge reside.  As the solar makes it presence identified originally of every day, the chance to begin anew is current.  The nice air spirits can solely information us thus far.  It is as much as every of us to our inside spark to shine as brightly because the solar and unlock our potential to achieve new heights and discover knowledge and peace from the spirit world.   <gentle yellow candle>

Next we honor the nice teachings from the South – Where Empathy, Trust, Faith, Inclusion, Love, and Emotional knowledge reside.  The nice hearth spirits cost our feelings and convey them to the floor.  Each beat of our coronary heart sends the nice and cozy blood coursing by means of our veins and stirs our inside ardour for relationships and the human connection.  Our inside flames burn endlessly, however we should study management as to keep away from the pitfalls of impatience and self-destruction. <gentle red candle>

Looking to the West, we honor the nice teachings of Stability by setting Goals, establishing stable Foundations, and studying to see worth in Physical knowledge; that which is, shall at all times be.  The water spirits reveal that every one issues can maintain completely different varieties, however by no means really change that which supplies them existence.  We should keep in mind our roots, preserve our our bodies pure and sound, and perform our plans fully and with out taking shortcuts. <gentle blue candle>

Finally we honor the North and the nice spirits of the Earth – If we search, so shall we discover Illumination, new Discovery, Logic, Understanding, and a renewed sense of  Wisdom.  As all issues are collected although training, we should open our selves to that which can be past our attain, however not past it ceaselessly.  Our minds are our biggest software and we should develop them in such a method as they can’t be corrupted with materials pleasures or false prophecies. <gentle green candle>

Great Goddess, she who’s the mom to us all, we humbly search your presence on this circle tonight.  As we search power, information, readability, and steering from the teachings of the 4 instructions, we notice that you’re what binds them collectively.  It is you who open our eyes to that which we’d like and that which we should keep away from.  Bless us in every second we’re given on this earth and bless those that have walked in our path within the generations earlier than.  <gentle Goddess candle>

Musical Interlude

Music is an integral a part of any pagan celebration.  It stirs the passions of the soul and brings individuals collectively.  Normally we spotlight a track by a pagan artist, however tonight we’re going to deviate and as an alternative characteristic a nostalgic piece from 1956 referred to as “Winter Moon” by Hoagy Carmichael.  It’s a candy soulful melody that may actually take you again in time for a bit.

Opening assertion

The theme of our ritual tonight is, From Darkness Comes Light.  As we shift seasons from the dark of winter to the longer days, there’s a feeling of optimism throughout all spectrums of life.  Some of us could also be ready to right away shift gears and bounce proper into spring, however for many of us that isn’t sensible or potential.  We ought to make a plan to place our home so as over the subsequent few months in order that when the sunshine is shining robust, we will focus our consideration on planting and plowing, with out feeling like we’ve left issues unfinished.

From Darkness Comes Light

Throughout time, gentle and darkness have been used as a metaphor for numerous matters.  The darkness is often used as a time of hardship, agony, and despair.  The gentle is often the polar reverse, representing prosperity, peace, love, and concord, simply to call a couple of.  People are afraid of the dark, however discover consolation within the gentle.  The darkness is when evil issues spawn, develop and fester, whereas the sunshine is a time when crops and flowers bloom and nature fills the day with great sights and smells.  I might go on, however I believe all of us get the purpose; the sunshine is the place we need to be.

As we emerge from winter, the identical analogy appears to carry true.  The lengthy darkness of winter is chilly, troublesome, and sometimes occasions results in pointless struggling whereas we wait anxiously for hotter climate and higher days forward.  As spring grows nearer, we really feel a renewed sense of optimism and happiness.  The gentle makes us really feel higher, each bodily and mentally.  As we begin to enterprise our from our winter hibernation, we work together with neighbors and pals extra typically and discover ourselves slowing all the way down to survey the land in preparation for the vital a part of our year.  As the snow melts we search for green shoots breaking by means of and take heed to the sounds of latest life that fill the air.

But what of the darkness?  We nonetheless have evening when summer time comes, albeit a lot shorter, however it’s nonetheless evening and it’s nonetheless dark.  Why does winter evening appear a lot worse than summer time evening?  The chilly actually has quite a bit to do with it, however there’s extra to it.  Winter chilly is related to isolation and repetition.  We get up within the dark, we journey to work within the dark, come residence within the dark, and for some purpose at all times really feel exhausted.  Much of our day appears to be stuffed with mundane duties that occur time and again and over.  We load the hearth up with wooden, shovel the snow after every storm, and prepare dinner many one-pot meals which can be unexciting, however serve to maintain us full and heat.  Even our leisure is repetitious; if the climate isn’t too unhealthy, we will have interaction in outside sports activities, however often we simply sit at residence and skim, watch one thing, or visit cyberspace.  And all of the whereas, our minds develop into stressed and disjointed.

This year, why no strive one thing completely different.  Instead of the mundane ritual that you simply may end up caught up in, deal with a few of these issues you recognize want accomplished.  Clean you home, sweep away the cobwebs and dirt and spruce up your partitions and windowsills.  Paint, patch, and restore the little issues earlier than they develop into one thing unpleasant and ugly.  Likewise, use this time to comb away the cobwebs and muddle in your area.  Make plans and set targets for issues you’ll do, somewhat than stuff you need or want you would do.  Be practical about them, however be sure to do them.  Write issues down, set intentions, and persist with your plans.  Imagine how a lot better you’ll really feel when the primary actual sunny day hits and you may stroll out barefoot within the grass and know that there’s nothing to do inside.

Clearing and Cleansing

Each full moon provides us the chance to mirror on our personal lives, and the occasions that affect us.  We also can consider our selections and our circle of pals and the way they work together and correlate them with our targets, and aims.  Even the very best laid plans can go awry if we’re not vigilant; it’s why reflection is so vital.   For occasion, if we see negativity creeping in, we will check issues or preserve a more in-depth eye on issues to see how that negativity is affecting us.  We also can use the total moon as a possibility to clear the supply of negativity out of our lives for good.  The full snow moon is a time when winter nonetheless holds an icy grip on the panorama.  There are not any fields to plow nor exterior work to be accomplished, so it’s time to focus inward in preparation for the approaching spring.

Many individuals miss out on how devastating negativity might be and miss the chance to nip it within the bud.  Negativity slows our religious progress to a crawl or worse, can put us in a state of decline.  It’s an enormous roadblock to reaching our full potential.  Some varieties that many people see negativity in are anger, impatience, greed, manipulation, jealousy, lust, corruption, and laziness.  None of those are productive traits and if we enable somebody to implant these beliefs inside our thoughts, then we develop into a product of these beliefs.  Our minds develop into polluted and we will simply lose sight of our properly-deliberate targets, and fall right into a dark place.

If you might be shaking your head proper now, there’s an apparent weight hanging over your head and it is advisable to deal with it.  Take a while to essentially pinpoint the supply of this plague upon your physique, thoughts, and spirit, and work on how one can eradicate it,   If you spend time with a poisonous particular person, you may need to think about chopping ties with them.  If you might be in an setting of hostility and anger, then change venues.  If your circle of pals appears extra like a jail, them keep in mind that it’s you who holds the important thing.  It’s not simple to at all times make the clear breaks, however it’s for the very best.  You can’t develop when one thing is attempting to forestall you from doing so.

If you’re ready to shed that weight, even a small portion of it, you’ll be again on the pathway of progress.  Spiritual progress surpasses another type of progress as it’s the guiding pressure that oversees our existence.  It’s essential to maintain transferring ahead.  So tonight, in the identical method our ancestors did, we will wash away the negativity in our lives within the cleaning flames.  We can witness as the bags of the previous is totally consumed and the smoke travels far-off.  What is nice is that by burning the remnants of issues ineffective and with out worth, we free ourselves to seek out new and optimistic issues to fill these empty areas.

<Offer every particular person paper/pencil to put in writing issues down that they need to rid themselves of ceaselessly>

Each of it’s possible you’ll strategy the hearth if you find yourself able to solid the undesirable out of your life and create an open area to fill with issues which have that means. As you burn every merchandise, state the next, “I give up freely that which is no longer serving me”

<Once everybody has burned their objects, have the group be part of arms and say the next>

On this evening, beneath the sunshine of the Full Snow Moon, we select to rid ourselves of that which now not serves us.  We really feel the highly effective lunar vitality and the way it supercharges our thoughts and helps to provide us readability of thought.  The chilly reminds us that winter will stay, however it received’t stay ceaselessly, for as the nice wheel turns, all issues change.  Embrace the problem of being a greater you, tonight and into the long run. As the moon above, so the earth under. So Mote it Be!

Cakes & Ale

Depending on the climate and the make-up of your group, it’s possible you’ll select to have a couple of libations and meals presently.  Talk, share tales, and get to know your fellow residents of the earth.

Closing the Full Snow Moon Circle

Earth spirits, we provide our everlasting thanks for becoming a member of us in our full snow moon circle.  Feed our minds with all issues nice and great in order that we might develop into higher determination makers, higher thinkers, and assist us select the trail that may assist us develop our perception into the world and the universe. We bid you farewell. <extinguish green candle>

Water spirits, our circle wouldn’t be full with out the stable foundations and classes mutability we’re taught every day.  As we depart tonight, information every soul into staying the course, whatever the challenges forward, and always remember that the aim is full understanding and coping with issues; eyes broad open.  We bid you farewell. <extinguish blue candle>

Fire spirits, with out your presence in our circle, none of this could possibly be potential, and we humbly give thanks on your cleaning flames.  We got here tonight searching for renewal and thru our ritual, have seen the best way to clear our negativity and cleanse our spirits.  We bid you farewell. <extinguish red candle>

Air spirits, our gratitude is infinite and we’re ceaselessly indebted for the prospect to begin recent and cleanse ourselves.  The cool evening air reminds us that there are highly effective forces within the universe that we can’t see, however we will really feel.  Each time we really feel the breeze, we’re reminded that we alone maintain the solutions to lots of our personal questions and we alone resolve who we share our time with.  We bid you farewell. <extinguish yellow candle>

Great Goddess, we thanks on your knowledge and love, on your steering and luxury, and on your compassion and forgiveness.  At occasions, we discover ourselves misplaced within the busy world round us, however even in that chaos, we all know you might be at all times there maintaining watch.  Thank you infinitely! <extinguish Goddess candle>

This circle is now open!

Huzzah!

Additional Reading

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