The night has her own special light that has had magical significance in all cultures.  Wherever we see the Moon, whether over the rooftops, rising from the sea or illuminating woodlands, her light will transform the scene into a place of enchantment, mystery and beauty.

Each month the Moon is born out of the darkness, grows, becomes full, then decreases until she disappears into the darkness once more.  Three days later she is reborn.  This birth/maturity, death/rebirth cycle gave rise to the belief that the Moon was mother of plants, humans and animals.

The energies of the moon, which are regarded traditionally as female, have many functions in our daily as well as magical life.  Just as the Moon energizes the tides, so she also affects our emotions and bodily fluids.  In women she influences menstruation and fertility.  But in men she can cause mood swings, especially around the full Moon.

By turning into the Moon's ebbs and flows we can become more harmonious.  We can use the waxing and waning energies to bring to the fore different aspects of ourselves, so that we are most outgoing on the increasing tide and rest and reflect more on the ebb.

THE MOON GODDESS

One of the most important symbols in night magic is the goddess of the Moon, whether she represents to you an aspect of the Great Goddess or is regarded as a symbol of the mystery and spirituality of lunar energies.

The Moon goddess has been worshipped in many forms through the ages.  We know that the ancient Egyptians invoked Isis, the Moon mother, her consort Osiris and their son Horus, the sky god, the original Holy Trinity, in their crescent Moon wishes, but we are not sure when the custom began.

Tuscan witches, whose cult to Diana, the Classical Moon goddess, may have started before 500 BC, believe that by dividing herself, Diana created all things.  In popular myths in a number of lands it is told that the Moon took dead souls back to her womb to await fertilization by the Sun and rebirth.

THE TRIPLE GODDESS OF THE THREE PHASES

The Triple Goddess--maiden, mother and crone, reflecting the three main lunar phases of waxing, full and waning--is found in many cultures from India to ancient Greece.  One of her earliest representations is a trinity of huge carved stone goddesses found in a cave at the Abri du Roc aux Sorciers at Angles-sur-l'Anglin in France and dating from between 13,000 and 11,000 BC.

Though the Moon has eight astronomical phases, it is the three phases corresponding to maiden, mother and crone that are the most significant in psychic work and in ritual.  By tuning in to the physical Moon we can understand and harness these distinct energy phases in our daily as well as magical world.

In the maden phase, for example, try to set everything in motion for the month, form planning your work to your finances and put in extra work while you are energetic. 

Around the full Moon is the time you will be the most inspired and also most likely to throw the china.

By the wane, it is clearing the unpaid bills and unfinished business of the month.

Some people work with Diana, the Classical Moon goddess, in all the phases.  However, one of the most popular trinities is made up of the Greek Artemis as the waxing Moon maiden, Selene as the Moon mother and Hecate, crone goddess of the waning and dark Moon.

You might like to find images of these goddesses in books or art galleries (or even download them from the Internet), so that when you work with teh actual Moon in the sky you can visualize the goddesses (though, of course, you can picture the forms in any way you wish or substitute a triple Moon god--son, father and grandfather).

ARTEMIS

Artemis is the goddess of the hunt as well as the Moon and has been known under different names from Neolithic times.  She was described as the twin sister of the young Graeco-Roman Sun god Apollo and traveled the night sky in a silver chariot pulled by white stags, shooting silver shafts of moonlight and subjecting evn the great sea god Poseidon to her sway as she controlled the tides. 

At the new Moon she was worshipped in the form of the Great She Bear by her virgin priestesses and she is also an aspect of the virgin White Goddess immortalized by the poet and historian Robert Graves, who, he believed, inspired men to poetry and women to magic.

Artemis is the challenger who drives us ever onwards, especially at the waxing time, to explore, to challenge old ideas within ourselves and not to compromise our integrity for approval.

SELENE

The phase of the full Moon is attributed to Selene, or Luna to the Romans.  Twin sister of Helios, the older Greek Sun god, she rose from the sea in her chariot drawn by white horses at night and rode high in the sky at Full Moon.

Selene was a prolific mother, producing Pandia, goddess of brightness, Ersa, goddess of the dew and Nemea, the mountain goddess.  By the mortal Endymion she had 50 daughters, each, it is said, symbolizing one of the lunar months (of 29.5 days) between the ancient Olympic Games

A goddess of marriage, married women and mothers, Selene is also mistress of enchantment and magical ritual.  Not surprisingly at the full Moon she is invoked for fertility by women eager to conceive, and is goddess of mothers and all who seek the power of intuition and inspiration.

HECATE

The phase of the waning and dark of the Moon belongs to Hecate, goddess of the side of the Moon that is not visible from Earth.  Hecate is the goddess of the Underworld as well as the Moon and serves as a guide through the darkness with her torch.

Hecate is also goddess of the crossroads, where offerings were left for her at midnight, especially at triple crossroads, the intersection of past, present and future.  In the British Museum in London there is a triple Hecate statuette of three women facing three directions with linked hands.  Hecate was regarded as the goddess of rebirth, secrets and dreams, and of sailors, because of her role as controller of the tides.  She was also Mistress of Enchantment.

Hecate is the wise friend who will never tell you life is easy and the film always ends happily, but will hold your hand if the night seems too long and lonely.