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Full Moon Meetings

The working times of the practicing witch.
What they are and what they mean.

Full Moon Meetings

Postby SifGreyWillow on Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:06 pm

From: SifGreyWillow (Original Message) Sent: 10/10/2007 8:42 PM
Full Moon Meetings

Full Moon Meetings are an integral aspect of Wiccan/Witchcraft practices. In Charles Leland’s Aradia: Gospel of the Witches, we find a reference to Witches gathering for the lunar rites:

Whenever ye have need of anything,
once in the month when the moon
is full, ye shall assemble in some secret
place, or in a forest all together join to
adore the potent spirit of your queen,
my mother, Great Diana. She who fain
would learn all sorcery yet has not won
its deepest secrets, them my mother will
teach her, in truth all things as yet
unknown. And ye shall be freed from
slavery, and so ye shall be free in everything:
and as a sign that ye are truly free,
ye shall be naked in your rites,
both men and woman.

The purpose for gathering at the times of the full moon is related to moon worship in the Neolithic cult of the Great Goddess. It was here that the foundation for the divine and the magickal nature of the moon itself was created. Images of the moon displaying a full a full circle, flanked by these crescent shapes also appears during the same period ( Gimbutas, 1991, p.286). The association of the two crescents flanking the full circle would seem to indicate that the ancients had a type of triformis concept about the moon or the power of the moon. These may be some of the earliest images to suggest a belief in the moon as something more than a mysterious light in the sky.
This early image of the full moon, flanked by the quarter moons, is symbolic of the Great Goddess, and suggests a triformis concept.
Indeed, the presence of a coiled snake as a moon symbol appears to express the idea of movement and change, a primitive attempt to explain the force that caused the moon to change its appearance each month. This ancient connection of the serpent with the moon will continue for several thousand years, appearing in such deities as Proserpina appear on a Witch charm known as the cimaruta.
In addition to the ability of the moon to change shape, the ancients ascribed magickal qualities to its subtle light. Several writers of the classical era wrote that the moon’s light made plants and animals fertile. The morning dew itself was believed to be a magickal water left by the moonlight, and in some folk magick books a woman is said to be made fertile by lying nude in a meadow and rolling around in the morning dew. In the Aegean/Mediterranean region the moon goddess was also known as “All Dewy One” (Harding, M. Easther. Woman’s Mysteries Ancient and Modern. New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1976, p. 110). The priestess of the Moon Goddess possessed knowledge of the magickal practices that could evoke and direct the fertilizing power of the moon.
The goddess of the moon was worshipped in groves where there was a lake or a spring. She was also worshipped in a grotto where water issued forth from between the rocks. Her priestesses had to take special care of the water, and the light of the moon was represented by a sacred fire in the grove or grotto, one that could not be allowed to go out. This was because the moon goddess was the light of the fire itself, and in ancient times it was believed that fire could lie latent in wood (Harding, p. 130).
In early times the security of the Divine fire required an ample supply of sacred wood hat was dried and readily available in her grove or grotto. Later in history the wood became replaced with lamps, and yet liquid symbolism was still intact as the lamp fuel was often olive oil, which again connected the fire back to the wood (olive tree). There is an interesting legend in which the goddess Diana is smuggled out of Greece inside a bundle of branches and delivered to Lake Nemi in Italy. Thus Diana was the latent flame within the wood awaiting rebirth in her new grove. The bundle of branches in which she arrived was the first supply of her torches.
In the grove of the moon goddess torches lighted the sacred woods. The Festival of Diana, celebrated on August 13, was always marked by a multitude of torches that reflected their light off the water of Lake Nemi and filled with her sacred grove with a holy aura. The moon goddess herself belonged to the torch bearing class of deities who themselves were always connected in some manner with the Underworld. The Underworld connection linked the Moon Goddess to the Fates, and thus the power of divination was bestowed upon her worshippers.
This brings us to the reasons why Witches originally gathered beneath the full moon, all of which are related to the moon’s light. Just as flame within the wood could be awakened (the goddess within), so too could the inner light of the worshippers be awakened by the full moon. Tracing a circle on the ground to symbolize the full moon, Witches gathered within and drew her light in ritual ecstasy. Chanting, drumming, dancing, and merriment of all kinds served to create altered states of consciousness.
Gathering beneath the light of the full moon also served to allow the moon’s light to impart fertility. Typically Witches would remove their clothing so as not to obstruct the light. But the fertility they desired was not only of the body, it was also of the mind and spirit. This is reflected in the closing ritual prayer of a full moon ceremony: “…When our bodies lie resting nightly, speak to our inner spirits, teach us all Your Holy Mysteries. I believe Your ancient promise that we who seek Your Holy Presence will receive of Your wisdom. Behold, O Ancient Goddess, we have gathered beneath the Full Moon at this appointed time. Now the Full Moon shines upon us. Hear us. Recall Your ancient promise…” (Grimassi, Raven, Ways of the Strega, Llewellyn Publications, 1995, p. 16)
By Raven Grimassi, Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft, Llewellyn Publications, 2000, pg. 147-149
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