The most important thing you need to know about the power of the full moon ritual is that it utilises four essential elements of any transformative spiritual practice: willpower, intention, symbolism, and ritual.
These four elements have a truly electric and intense impact on the unconscious mind. The whole point of a full moon ritual is to generate deep change within the nether regions of your mind, aka your unconscious.
The unconscious mind is the realm of potential, the space in which your soul emerges, and the doorway to Spirit (or the Collective Unconscious). By doing a full moon ritual, you are stepping into your personal power and actively petitioning and preparing your unconscious mind for transformation.
In other words, there is so much more to full moon rituals than pretty candles or crystals – it’s ultimate purpose is genuine spiritual and psychological change.
Now with all that being said, if “creating a Full Moon ritual” feels too much, or you have no interest in doing one. Then don’t.
The world will not come tumbling to an end because you didn’t, nobody is going to knock on your door and ask to see your Moon Journal…….
However, I do encourage you to try working with Moon energy (New and Full) for at least 4 months. What have you got to lose?
As you will often hear me saying – it has to resonate for you and your intention for your ritual is EVERYTHING!
How to Create Your Own Full Moon Ritual.
Okay, you’ve come this far and have decided okay maybe I want to test out this Full Moon thing. After all, if the Moon can move the tides which are water and me being human is composed mainly of water…. Let’s give it a shot.
Fabulous!
Let me give you the nitty gritty basics. A Full Moon Ritual consists of 4 main parts.
Eye of bat, tongue of newt, the tailfeather of a hawk and a glob of spit! (I am so joking here!!)
The best thing about making your own 100% tailored-to-you full moon ritual is that it works around your needs, daily schedule, interests, and the current objects you have on hand.
You don’t need to go out and buy a load of metaphysical paraphernalia to enact a powerful full moon ritual nor do you need to make it Instagram-worthy.
What you do need to do is:
1. Checking when the Full Moon is.
You can use a Full Moon app, Google, or whatever. Ask yourself if you want to work with the Moon astrologically (in otherwords what sign it’s in), seasonally, or just as she comes.
2. Think about what you would like amplified or illuminated within you.
Are there problems that are niggling away at you? What shadows need to come to light? What archetypes would you like to embody? What do you need to let go of? What skills or inner resources do you need to draw on? Reflect on these questions or journal about them. What are your desired outcomes? What is the reason behind your full moon ritual?
3. Shape your Intention
Once you have completed the previous step (which hopefully won’t take too long), it’s time to set an intention which basically means a goal or objective.
What do you want to achieve? What will be the purpose of your full moon ritual? Write out your full moon intention in your journal or a piece of paper that you can keep and reflect on. This is why in the New Moon piece I recommend having a Moon journal. As then you are able to reflect and see the progress and changes you have experienced, that you may have forgotten.
4. Prepare some symbolic objects
Whether on the day/night of the full moon or beforehand, select some symbolic objects that could represent your issue, desire, yourself as a whole, your current place in life, what you need to let go of, your strengths, weaknesses, what needs to be illuminated … you get the picture.
Basically, choose any object currently in your house that represents the part of you or your situation that needs to be amplified or illuminated.
Examples of symbolic objects could include rocks, feathers, flowers, dolls, crystals, cards, figurines, herbs, stamps, old jewellery – literally anything that you feel represents your issue or desire accurately.
And if you don’t have any around you, don’t worry, grab a candle, your favourite crystal or whatever you would like to have with you.
5. Create a Sacred Space for yourself and give it a Cleanse.
Create a space specifically to your ritual that is undisturbed.
You may already have an altar somewhere in your house, and if so, that is perfect. If you don’t find a place in your home, garden, the woods that feels right for you. Remember ritual doesn’t have to go on for hours, it can be 10 – 15 minutes long.
When you have your space give it a nice cleanse. You can use smudge, incense, singing bowls, hand clapping to clear out the energetic debris. Whatever you choose, it’s important that your unconscious mind symbolically registers that the space you’re preparing is sacred and important.
This is time for you and the Moon.
6. Perform your Full Moon ritual
You don’t need to spend hours doing an elaborate ritual. Even just a couple of minutes can be enough to create and evoke a strong message within your unconscious mind.
With your symbolic objects at hand, arrange them in a way that feels powerful to you.
You could arrange them according to your desires, e.g. you could place two symbolic objects together symbolising a union.
You could arrange your objects according to a symbol, e.g. a circle representing wholeness or completing.
You could burn one of the objects or submerge it in a bowl of water representing letting go. (I’m a huge fan of burning things!)
You could place an object on your body and symbolically ‘breathe’ it in.
You could consume one of the objects (if it’s edible and non-toxic) to symbolise empowerment, strength, and renewal. This is your ritual and there are no rules!
7. Symbolically close your ritual
No matter how you choose to design your ritual, always symbolically close/end it.
Your unconscious mind needs to understand that the ritual is over (think of closing your ritual as hitting the “send” button).
Leaving the ritual open without intentionally closing it sends confusing signals to your unconscious mind.
Closing your ritual is simple. Once again, close it however you intuitively feel is the right way. Examples may include ringing a bell, saying a prayer of thanks, chanting, saying a phrase like “so may it be,” and so forth.
The important thing is there is no perfect right way to create a Full Moon ritual (and if anyone tells you that, please run!). Your intention, attention and time are the most important pieces.
Remember where your intention goes, your energy flows and so calling on the Moon energy to amplify and support you is delicious (and most certainly start keeping a Moon journal!)
Let’s see what the Harvest Moon ritual looks like.
