Sun Moon

(Image from http://www.scottmcd.net/artanalysis/?p=32)

Sun Moon, Dyad Moon, are names for the Full Moon that falls in Gemini. (Incidentally, the "moon falling in Gemini" is a different matter from the Moon being "in Gemini" in an astrological chart. When I talk about the Full Moon that falls in Gemini, I mean the Full Moon that falls sometime from May 21 to June 21.) The Dyad Moon will be full on Thursday, June 12 on the west coast of the U.S., Friday the 13th on the east coast.

At this time of year, chances are good of seeing the full moon and the setting sun in the sky at the same time.

The Dyad moon a time when opposites attract; magically good for working on relationships. 

It's a time when differences can turn from a liability to an asset. 

Beltane to Midsummer: The Growing Time

Beltane is one of the two hinges of the year that herald dramatic changes in energy and conditions.

The crops are sown, and now the fragile seedlings must take root and grow. The fields must be weeded and watered, relatively light work if diligently done. But now, the outcome of the past season's sowing depends on the vagaries of chance; the weather, the whims of marauding birds, forest creatures, otherworld spirits.

The veils between the worlds that opened at Beltane still remain thin. Connections are loose. All things are possible. The Lady and Lord, wholly absorbed with each other, leave their children to shift for themselves.

The time is more auspicious for divining than for sorcery. The lot-casting methods--the runes, Tarot, geomancy, the I Ching--will be the most effective ones.

The Fire Tide Ebbs

The ebbing Fire Tide, from the Spring Equinox to Beltane, brings the Time of Planting.

It is a busy time, requiring community effort, planning, and hope.

The Lady at this season is the the mature Maiden, guiding the work of the hands and the laying of strategies and plans.The Young God, still unmated and untamed, rules the Green Wood. His energy rushes through the homestead now and again, without warning, bringing both joyful laughter and lapses of judgement.

It is a powerful time for magic, ever more so as May Eve draws nearer. Work to awaken creative powers, and to lay the groundwork for life changes.

At Candlemas the Fire Tide flows, and this season until the Spring Equinox is called the Time of Change. In this time the God born at Yule grows to manhood, and that mystery of change informs all others. It is a time of great creative power, when all projects of art and making, will and change, are carried forth on their most auspicious tide.

The Cold Moon

Some call the full moon that falls in Capricorn the Cold Moon. It is time for hand work, for knotting and weaving magic, for working to protect and preserve through the winter.

This chant "Weave and Mend" is good for raising power.

After the Spell is Over

When the work is finished, if the goal is something you can work for on the physical as well as spiritual planes, so so immediately in order to help your spell take effect. 

If you were casting a spell for a job new apartment, for example, get onto Craigslist. 

If, on the other hand, the matter is one in which your only control is magical (a far healing, for example), it is best to let go of the spell and refrain from thinking about it for awhile, giving it time to take effect.

If the spell involved a concrete magical image like a picture or a poppet, that should be kept on your altar or in some other safe place until the need for it has passed. 

In some cases, the image is a talisman which is given as a present to the person for whom the spell was cast. 

If you eventually want to dispose of a magical image or talisman, it can be burned, buried, or thrown into water. Take pains to avoid littering.

In some cases, you may want to deactivate an image or talisman by cleansing it with one or more of the elements, and then use it for another purpose. A poppet, for example, can be packed away in rock salt and rosemary for a time, and then used to represent another person in another spell. 

Similarly, a crystal can be washed with salt water and then charged again for another purpose.

I find that in spite of all I can do, the regular habit of spell-casting inevitably results in an accumulation of ritual rubbish. 

Ultimately, when something has been lying around so long that you no longer remember what it was for, it is safe to assume that its magical charge has worn off and that it can just be deposited in the trash.

Grounding

When the spell has been bound, give attention to grounding the energy. 

This is necessary because magic is not an exact science; you rarely use exactly the same amount of energy that you raised for a spell, although you get better at this with practice.

If the spell has “taken,” there is probably at least a little loose energy knocking around in you and in your work space which needs to be grounded before you are done.

When you neglect to ground after magical work you are likely to feel the results throughout the next 24 hours or so; depending on how much surplus is zapping around, these can include restlessness, insomnia, fatigue, headaches, absent-mindedness, irritability, and proneness to accidents. 

Fortunately, there are some very easy ways to ground:

Eating: protein and complex carbohydrates, not sugar.

Physical connection with others: hugging, massage, sex.

Talking, laughing and joking.

Visualizations that root you in the earth, or centers you in the middle of the four elements. 

You can say, visualizing the elements around you, 

EARTH AND FIRE, WIND AND SEA, 

I AM THE CENTER OF YOUR CROSS, 

LIVE EQUALLY IN ME. 

You can ground yourself by paying attention to the four elements in your body--your breathing, your heartbeat which is your inner fire, your fluids and the weigh of your body on the earth. 

You can also use a grounding-cord meditation for this, feeling how the life energy of your spine connects you to the Earth.

Ground energy with a staff, wand or broom: place the tool upside-down on the ground and grasp it firmly, letting excess energy run through your hands and into the stick, and then down into the earth.