June Full Moon

First my apologies for the late post, real life hasn't been accommodating. This is the second full moon post that has had to be posted late.

Actually called "The Horse Moon" This is also the time for lovers. Before the height of summer use this time to strengthen your weaknesses.

Like the Sabbats, this is less about writing the ritual and more about what sets the ritual apart. For the Esbat title the page.

This is June, we enjoy the longest days, especially before the Summer Solstice. This is a time to be active, to feel sensuous and to be aware of our bodies and the life-force energy that flows through us. As the Wheel of the Year moves into summer, we raise the heat of this new season with both a drumming circle and a circle dance are both traditional favorites.

This is a primal time, a good time for magick, and working with all the elements, as psychic energy flows freely under this moon. It also is a time for maintaining and enhancing what we already have, such as our jobs, education, camping, relationships with friends and family, and our gardens.

The Cunning
Herbs have been part of the Craft going back forever. Midsummer's heightened energies are often mentioned in the ceremonial harvesting, at the full moon the energies are at there height and at night the dews and essential oils are most intact. The harvesting procedures have been formulated over hundreds of years. You can read biology texts to confirm that the varying magnetic effects of the moon on living things actually does draw active chemistry into upper and lower parts of plants. Our ancestors knew much without the scientific research we have used to verify these truths. There ceremonial harvest is referred to as Cunning.

The Moon waxes and wanes, pulling with her the seas of the Earth and producing its tides. So, too, does this influence manifest in all living things, including herbs.
During the waxing of the Moon, vital energies flow upward into the leaves and stalks and flowers of the plant.

As the Moon wanes these energies flow like a receding tide- down to the roots. To obtain herbs that are highly energized, pick them according to the Moon’s phases. Leaves, flowers, and seeds should be picked during a waxing Moon, when has grown from well past Dark, to Full. All root crops should be picked during a waning Moon, from well past Full, to Dark. Night is the Moon’s domain. Most herbs are picked after sunset on a clear and dry night.

You need:
Bolline
Pitcher of Water
A white cloth bag (white pillow cases work well)
An Offering for the Garden, Tree or Plant. (a piece of bread home-made if possible, beer, if you are harvesting roots, bring seeds of the same ilk).

Wear a white robe or fresh clean clothes, take your tools to where your will harvest. Before you approach to harvest the plant, bare hands are appropriate, beware of thorns when it applies. You are stepping into nature and should be in touch with the earth when handling living herbs. When you find your plant use the tip of your knife to draw a circle clockwise in the earth around the plant, this is a supplication to nature. Your actions are the intercession between you and nature when taking something for your use. Stand, and touch the blade of the knife to the herb, then recite a few words of thanks.

Now you can gently cut a few sprigs, a few branches, or whatever amount you need. Never cut more than 25% of the growth (avoid cutting a very young plant), or the plant might not recover. After removing the leaves, blooms, or stalks, bury a small piece of the bread near the base of the plant. This is in payment to the Earth for what is taken in a traditional approach to encourage new growth. Then walk the circle around the plant again and gently distribute the water around the plant.