Exploring the Full Moon in Gemini & Lunar Eclipse

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Welcome to the Full Moon in Gemini this November 2020. Not only is it a Full Moon, but it’s also a lunar eclipse. If that means absolutely nothing to you, here’s a brief description of what a lunar eclipse is and what it means for us.

A lunar eclipse is when the light of a full moon is partially or fully obscured by the earth’s shadow. For those in North and South America, as well as parts of Asia and Australasia, will be able to see this shadow pass over the face of the moon. For the rest of us, we’ll be able to catch a small glimpse of this as a small shadow passes over the very top part of the Full Moon. Energy-wise, this time is often one to be aware of. It’s not a time for action as our thinking can be clouded or shadowed, so instead, it’s time for some powerful reflection or planning for the future.

As you’ll know, every month over on Instagram I film a little Full & New Moon tarot reading for you all. I wanted to share this month’s reading with you here, so you can refer back to the key messages and lessons whenever you need them.

Full Moon in Gemini Tarot Reading

 

Featured deck: Pagan Otherworlds Tarot

 

As to be expected there’s not a lot of action happening, all the wands cards are either in the past or the conscious positions, showing us that although we may be wondering what to do next, we shouldn’t act on those thoughts and ideas. Instead, we’re using them to inform our strategies and create plans of action for the next few weeks.

Grounding ourselves in the present

We’re coming out of this fiery, chaotic energy of the Five of Wands and moving straight into the Three of Swords. We’ve been through a lot in the past year and we’ve still got a long way to go. We’re starting to feel the impact of this in that Three of Swords, especially in the isolation of the Five of Coins which is preventing us from being able to heal fully and move forwards.

For us here in the UK, we’re just about to come out of lockdown 2.0 and we’ve had to deal with some pretty conflicting rules around what we can and can’t do. We’ve now been thrown a lifeline with this offer of relaxing the rules for Christmas, giving a lot of people hope that they can finally spend some quality time with their family. However, this new situation is a double-edged sword. We’ve been given the opportunity to make our own decision regarding mixing and how much freedom we let ourselves enjoy. There are pros and cons on both sides, so how do we find clarity in this confusing time?

The Page of Coins and the Three of Coins suggests that we try and find new ways to practice our annual traditions. They tell us that it might be a good idea to look at different ways we can experience this time of year and to be flexible and open to doing things in a new way. We have to ground ourselves in the present, look at the facts, the figures and then start to question what our own personal opinions are about this situation.

How do YOU feel about things?

The Queen of Swords is what we’re working towards, we need to reach a place where we can make plans and communicate our feelings with clarity and self-assurance. We need to be comfortable with our own feelings and opinions and be able to use them in order to make the decisions that need to be made.

With the Two of Swords pushing in from the external position, there may be a lot of conflicting views or opinions coming in from those closest to you that may confuse you or throw you off. Remember we’re working with a Full Moon in Gemini energy right now, so we have to be compassionate and open to hear ideas and opinions that may differ from our own. We need to hear both sides of an argument before we make that all-important final decision and allow the thoughts of others to inform our own.

If you can be open and honest about how you feel and view on the matter and be able to listen as much as you talk, then being able to make finalised plans will be much easier. The root of this reading is the Ten of Pentacles, so what we want is to be able to feel some semblance of normalcy, connectedness and stability and the way we achieve that is by channelling the Queen of Swords. We allow everyone to have their say and we make plans from a compassionate and emotionally intelligent place. This applies to all areas of your life, so it may be referring to making Christmas plans with your family, or it could be hinting at the path you need to take with your business throughout December.

Remember that you’re just planning and feeling things out right now. Don’t take action or finalise anything just yet. Make sure you know how you feel about things, as well as how others involved feel and make decisions as a group or a team. Two heads are much better than one after all!

September Full Moon: The Full Corn Moon

 

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We now enter September, time flies when you’ve been in lockdown I guess! As we start to slowly wind down, I thought we could take a look at September’s full moon, the Corn Moon.

We all know how much I love a bit of moon magic and after the last few weeks of trying to get Tarot For Beginners up and running, I’m in need of a serious full moon ritual to boost my energy.

What is the Corn Moon?

I tend to follow the Native American names of the moons, as they’re the most well known here in the Northern Hemisphere and the Corn Moon reflects the period of time where indigenous people would start to collect their first full harvest.

We’re coming up to Mabon which is the autumn equinox, so this full moon marks the point where the earth is getting ready to sleep for a few months and humans need to stock up on essentials ready for the winter. It’s also the perfect time to give thanks to the earth for all it’s provided up to now, and that it has provided enough to get us through the harsher months.

With all this in mind, the Corn Moon is a great time to feel grateful for all that you have and everything that you feel blessed to have in your life. This doesn’t just have to be food, it can be friends, family or even a particular mindset you now have.

How to celebrate the Corn Moon?

Gratitude, that’s the main theme of the Corn Moon. When planning your full moon ritual this month, make gratitude the pivot point of all that you choose to do.

It may be that you write down all you feel grateful for or things that make you feel blessed in life. You can also be grateful for how you’ve turned up for yourself or others. Remember, that when we do any sort of full moon ritual, everything we do during the ritual needs to be done with intention. Make your intention this full moon to be grateful for every little thing, especially the things you overlook day to day.

The Corn Moon is best for…

Like I mentioned above, the Full Corn Moon is for gratitude, so gratitude lists and anything that helps you to feel grateful is an ideal way to celebrate the energy of this full moon. Some activities you could do are:

  • Gratitude lists

  • Gratitude mood boards – Creating a collage of your favourite pictures from this year

  • Gratitude bath – Listing all the things you’re grateful for when it comes to your bath. These will be things like warm water, bubble bath or bath salts etc. Really think about all the things that go into your bath and be grateful that you have them

  • Cook a harvest meal – Using corn, beans, wheat or bread, squashes, basically anything that you can harvest at this time of the year

  • Banishing negativity – We’re entering a new stage in the wheel of the year, so now is a great time to shed any unwanted, or stagnant energy before moving into the next few months.


 

 

July Full Moon: The Buck Moon

 

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July Is nearly here and that means one very important thing, it’s nearly time for the Buck Moon!

On the 5th July GMT, we will welcome the full energy of July’s full moon and a chance to do some serious soul searching, and shedding some old, stale energy. This is one of my favourite moons of the year, as it is the perfect time to really cleanse and renew yourself.

Why is it called the Buck Moon?

It’s around this time of year that the young bucks start to shed their antlers and settle down into the summer months. For us Witches and spirit junkies, we can collect these antlers to remind us that we can shed the old to make way for the new. If you have an altar, this is a great way to decorate for the full moon!

We take this natural occurrence and apply it symbolically to our own lives. As humans, we don’t have antlers to shed, but we can shed other parts of ourselves.

Think about all the bad habits or patterns you’ve developed, whether that’s over a few months or a few years. How have they impacted you? This is a time to recognise these things, so we can finally do something about them.

Activities for the Buck Moon

One of the best things you can do for this Buck Moon is a cleansing ritual. For this, you can use a bath or sage smoke as a cleansing tool. The idea is to get rid of all the negativity and the unnecessary weight holding you back from moving forward. This might be things like procrastination, boredom eating, self-destructive behaviour in love (cough, me, cough). Whatever it is that stops you from taking that all-important step forwards, address it and let it go.

This is also an amazing time to give yourself a full tarot reading, or to get a reading done for you. You can use the energy of the full moon to identify what it is that’s holding you back and start to put things in place to shed them and become a more enlightened person. I’ve put together a little Buck Moon tarot spread for you to try below!

 

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Head on over and work through my FREE online full moon ritual course.

 

 


Ritual bath for the Buck Moon

 

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Like I said, the Buck Moon is an amazing time for a cleansing ritual bath, or you can do this in the shower if you’re not a bath person or simply don’t have one. What you’ll need is:

  • Sage or Sage incense

  • Epsom salts

  • Small Bowl

  • Dried Lavender

  • Dried Rosemary

  • 3 Bay Leaves

  • An organza or muslin bag*

  • 2 White candles

Instructions for your bath ritual

  1. Start by lighting the candles, opening a window and running your bath.

  2. In your bowl, add 3 cups of Epsom Salts, 2 tbsps of dried lavender, 2 tbsps of dried rosemary and 2 tbsps of dried basil, mix it all together.

  3. You can then burn your sage or sage incense and imagine the smoke mingling with the steam and escaping through an open window. We are cleansing the room of any negativity and ensuring we can be completely cleansed once we get out.

  4. Add your Epsom Salt mixture to your bath and let it dissolve and the herbs sit for a few minutes. If you don’t want to deal with the mess of the herbs after, put the herbs into an organza or muslin bag and place in the water, adding the Epsom Salts straight into the bath. If you’re having a shower, halve the amount and use the Epsom Salt mixture as a light body scrub.

  5. Once your bath is run and your incense is burning, place your crystals as close to the bath or shower as possible and immerse yourself in the water. I like to play meditation music to relax me and centre my thoughts.

  6. Think about what you want to be rid of, what is no longer serving you and what you want to let go of in order to move forward.

  7. Once you’ve finished in your bath, let the water out and imagine that thing you want to be rid of, going down the drain with the bathwater.

  8. Make sure to blow out your candles and take a moment once you’ve got out the bath, to just assess how you feel. Then, continue with the rest of your full moon ritual!


May’s Full Moon: The Flower Moon

 

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We’re coming up to May’s full moon, also known as the Flower Moon and a Full Moon in Scorpio. May’s full moon is known as the flower moon because we tend to see flowers and trees start to blossom at this time of the year. We can see the bright colours of petals everywhere and we are reminded how beautiful and magical nature can be.

Astrologically, May’s full moon falls into Scorpio, making it a powerful time for deep and meaningful inner work. At this time, we can focus on coming face to face with the parts of ourselves we’ve been running from, whether that’s an obsession, an anxiety or a fear.

Full moons are always a powerful energy filled time, but each full moon is different, meaning we can use its powerful energy to work on different areas of ourselves each month.

Using the flower moon for better mental wellbeing

This full moon is the perfect opportunity to really get your hands dirty with your shadow self. The parts of yourself that you don’t like all that much and that stop you from being the person you really want to be.

Think about yourself as a flower, what’s going on below the ground and what’s going on above the surface.

 

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The roots of the flower are your subconscious, they inform how the conscious acts and thinks, it is also our anchor and can keep is in the same spot, even if we try really hard to move forward. The stem, leaves and flowers are your conscious, these are the things we are aware of and that we can see in ourselves day today. To be able to have a happy and healthy conscious mind, we need to take care of our hidden and secretive subconscious mind.

Now is the time to do the hard, inner work none of us really wants to do, so that you can transform yourself over the coming months. You can also apply this to practical tasks, for example if there’s something you’ve been putting off because you don’t want to do it or it is too difficult, now is the time to dive in headfirst and get it done. Once it’s out of the way, you’ll feel a sense of lightness and clarity that you didn’t before!

Rituals to practice during the full moon in Scorpio

Something I like to do every full moon is a deep meditation and that is especially important during the full moon in Scorpio. I set the scene, lighting candles, choosing essential oils to burn or incense, getting comfortable and choosing my crystals based on what I want to attract into my life.

For this full moon, we want to be able to tap into parts of our subconscious that aren’t easily accessed. This might require tools such as oracle or tarot cards, to help us receive the messages we’ve been running away from.

Another thing that I find helpful when trying to get serious with my subconscious, is a writing exercise based on my anxieties or fears. I like to start with fear or anxiety and then constantly ask the question ‘Why?’ until I find a natural and rational answer to why I feel the way I do. For example:

I fear that I’m not as good as my competitors.

Why?

Because I don’t have as much experience as them and they have more followers and more engaged customers than I do.

Why?

Because they’ve been doing it for longer than I have and they’ve had time to build everything up to the size and success it is now.

Depending on your statement, you could end up with a long flowing list, or maybe just one or two things like I have above. Once you’ve got to the end, you’ll then be able to put a bulleted list together on how you can go about moving past your fear or anxiety. You’ve discovered the reason you feel the way you do, so all there is left to do is figure out how to solve it.

You can either end things here, or you can go on to do another meditation, allowing that answer and reason to sink in and become a part of your conscious mind.

Key takeaways from the flower moon

The main things to remember as we celebrate the flower moon is that:

  • We are all growing and changing

  • We can only become who we want to be if we work on our foundations and grounding

  • The reasons for our obstacles and challenges are frequently found in our subconscious (our roots)

  • We need to take care of our subconscious mind just as much as our subconscious

Looking for help with uncovering the secrets hidden by your subconscious? Why not get in touch to book an online career or business tarot reading with me?


Beginners Guide to a Full Moon Ritual

 

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What is the significance of a full moon?

As we all know, the moon has many different phases and each one holds its own magic and meaning. The two that are most celebrated are the new moon and full moon.

The full moon shines brighter than any other phase, radiating all of its power and potential down onto us mere mortals.

In many spiritual cultures, the sun represents our outer world, the external things that make us happy, bring us joy and the actions that we take. The moon however, is all about what is happening inside. It refers to aspects such as our intuition, emotions and deep subconscious thoughts. 

With this in mind, it makes perfect sense that the time when the moon appears brightest and the most powerful, is the best time for inner work. The full moon is also a great time for practising gratitude, self love and manifestation, because we are taking the time to look inward and really tap into our own power and energy.     

Setting your intentions for your ritual

Before any ritual, whether a full moon ritual or any other type, it’s important that we have a clear idea of what we are trying to get out of it. Especially if we are preparing to take a deep dive into our subconscious, that place can be vast and confusing. 

Think about what you want to achieve from this time with yourself. Is it that you want to boost self love? Invite luck or romance into your life? Maybe you want to manifest something special?

To get the most out of your full moon ritual, make this time about yourself. It’s great if you want to do a spell or meditate to help someone else, but this one day in the month is solely for you, so make the most of it. Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup, so now is your time to fill that baby to the brim.  

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Pre-ritual: Cleansing

How you prepare for your ritual is just as important as doing the ritual itself. Depending on how much time and freedom you have, try and perform a cleansing before getting started. This could be a cleansing of yourself e.g. a bath or shower, or even a smoke cleansing of your space using sage or other corresponding herbs and incense. 

This time before starting your ritual, helps to create the right head space and energy for your practice. Full moon rituals are done in the evening when you can actually see the moon shining over head, so you need to get rid of all the static from the day gone by.  

Ritual: Using tools and looking inwards

The tools you choose to use depends on a number of factors: 

  • How much time you have

  • What you are trying to achieve 

  • What tools you feel most comfortable with 

  • The space you have available 

For beginners, the most common tools are crystals, candles and incense. These are the holy trinity of ritual tools and usually form the base of all ritual practices. 

If you live somewhere where burning stuff is not an option, then candles and incense may be out of the question, so you might choose to use crystals and some essential oils instead. 

My advice is to not use tools you don’t feel comfortable using. You’ve got a whole month to experiment and learn about different tools, but during your full moon ritual, you want to be 100% comfortable and confident. 

When it comes to actually doing your ritual, as a beginner, you’ll want to start with a meditation. I always like to meditate on my ritual intentions for about 10-20 minutes before doing anything else. For some of you, this in itself might be your entire full-moon ritual, if you want to take things a bit further, you may follow up your meditation with the following: 

  • Knot spell

  • Tarot session

  • Spell jars

  • Burning ritual 

  • Journalling

  • Affirmation chanting 

Post-ritual: Carrying the energy with you

Once you’ve completed your full moon ritual, try and do as little as possible. You want to try and carry that amazing calm energy with you for as long as possible. With these rituals done in the evening, I always crawl straight into bed when I’m done and it ensures I have a great night’s sleep and I’m able to soak up all those good full moon vibes.

If you have made yourself a spell jar, keep it in a sacred space or on a windowsill, so it can be charged. Keep it there until the next full moon to get the most out of it. If it’s pocket size, you can also carry it around or sleep with it under your pillow. 

The same applies for crystals that you’ve charged and used in your ritual. Sleep with them under your pillow or next to your bed and carry them around to remind you of the intention you set for yourself.  

The benefits of full-moon rituals

Whether you believe in the power of moon phases or not, there is no way you can’t benefit from a full moon ritual. Any time spent reflecting inwards and giving yourself some care and attention is time well spent.

Plus, the full moon comes around every 29 days, so following the phases is a great way of ensuring you are creating a consistent self care schedule. You’ll start to notice how you start looking forward to the full moon so you get to take a break and spend some time with yourself.