Drowning Ceremony

Burning Ceremonies around the dark moon are really great, powerful and popular! They help us to shed the old, work through blocks, shadow work and releasing things that hinder our progress. As a Watery person you may not feel very connected with fire and its energy. However there is another way for us watery people!

In Folklore and Mythology Mermaids are not usually full of love and light, they represent the darker aspects of ourselves and are often known for drowning men. So for us watery people sometimes channeling our own inner Mermaid and just drowning the paper in water till it becomes mush and returning it to the earth is just as effective. If you work with Mermaid spirits you can also call on their aid to help banish and drown your sorrows.

How to do this...

• You will need a sacred vessel dedicated to dark moon work, pen and paper, dark moon water
• Take your vessel that is dedicated to nocturnal and banishment work and set it in your work space. You will want to have a different vessel for this type of work to keep the energies different that your full moon. healing, manifesting type work. 
• Pour your dark moon water in the bowl. Dark moon water can be made the same way as full moon water, just during the dark moon cycle
• Charge your water with intent by speaking to it and telling it what you need
• Write what you want to banish on the paper and charge it as well
• Now focus your intent and drown the paper in the water, crumple it up, tear it apart and let it turn into mush
• Take your vessel outside and pour it onto the ground and bury the paper mush, if it is personal work, emotions and healing work with your local land spirits and let them recycle the energy. If you are taking this a step further and working banishing or cursing magic, be very sure to take the water away, dispose of it at a crossroads or in a location away from your home in the west (endings) or north (underworld and death). 
• Walk away and let the magic work

Persephone Dark Moon Bath

"To she who glides the silver crescent moon boat through the dark still waters of our becoming"
~Demetrius George"

 

I recently attended the Waking Persephone Dance Festival in Seattle. It was a wonderful weekend full of dance, spirituality and change. You can read all about my experience here. I am thrilled to have Persephone’s presence back in my life. I have worked with her before, but she had been silent for several years. She first began to whisper to me again when my friend first told me about the Waking Persephone festival during lunch about a year ago. I had looked at the website, but realized that there was little chance that I would make it all the way to the Pacific North West. I thought,  “perhaps I will apply to teach next year too and then I will end up there.” I dismissed this first call back into her embrace. Weeks later I began reading Village Witch by Cassandra Latham. I absolutely love Cassandra Latham! I love how she is grumpy, real and strong. I love how she has been through so much, yet has so much to offer! I loved every page of her book; it really helped me see that all the trials, abuses and traumas of my life were for a reason. In her book she speaks of Persephone’s Children, which she referenced came from the book “Mysteries of the Dark Moon” This was the second call and I ignored it again. Well the Spirits do have mysterious ways about them and when they want you to go in a direction they open doors! Time went on and in a strange turn of events we suddenly moved from Arizona to Portland Oregon, just 3 hours away from the Waking Persephone festival. I waited and procrastinated until I couldn’t anymore! I broke down, I registered for 4 witchy based dance classes. Then in an even stranger turn of events I was revisiting the Village Witch book and I decided to finally break down and get Mysteries of the Dark Moon. No coincidence it arrived right around the time of Waking Persephone! 

I opened the book and, like I always do, I flipped around devouring the information I craved before starting at the beginning and reading the whole book. I got to the section on Persephone and I began to read, it spoke of her sexual trauma which I know all too well and as I read through the book. I began to see patterns and key words appear on the page. I then slipped into trance through bibliomancy. I saw myself naked, being cleansed with water, rose and the blood red juice of the pomegranate. The scene changed as if I was now getting instructions. I saw myself in my sacred bath, filled with black salts, roses and juicy pomegranate seeds and red blood like juice covering my body. I understood that this was the healing I had been asking for. She was back in my life and that this was the dedication to her and to heal through her ways. I did not hesitate, I grabbed the pomegranate in my fridge and went to the bathroom, I cleansed myself in warm waters and rose and then without care for my hair or where the seeds popped and sprayed I covered myself in blood red juice covering the walls of the shower with red and the floor with pulp…

This is just the beginning. During the Dark Moons she has asked that I worship her in this way; with her sacred fruit and a journey to the underworld. So just in time for Samhain and of course on each dark moon I look forward to spending time in her death like embrace… 

Here is my recipe, feel free to tweak it how you feel fit. Working with Persephone can be incredibly rewarding and powerful for those that have suffered through traumatic events in their lives. Will you join me in by honoring this powerful Goddess with a healing bath in honor of the dark goddess Persephone?

You will need...

·         ½ cup pomegranate juice

·         1 apple sliced so the pentagram shows

·         1 pomegranate cut into quarters

·         1 cup Epsom or black lava salt

·         Red Rose petals