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Frost Moon - November 15 2024

Grab your scarves and mittens, witches - it’s time for the Frost Moon!

Frost Moon

The Frost Moon is the name given to the full moon which occurs in the month of November. In temperate zones in the Northern Hemisphere, November is the month during which the first frost or first hard freeze of the season is usually observed.

Like many full moon names, this is an English translation of a traditional name used by one or more North American indigenous groups, in this case the Cree and the Assiniboine. Similarly, the Anishinaabe and the Ojibwe also called this month the Freezing Moon or Freezing Over Moon respectively, as indigenous naming conventions usually refer to the entire lunar month and not just the full moon itself. Other indigenous names include Deer Rutting Moon (Dakota and Lakota), Whitefish Moon (Algonquin), Leaf Fall Moon (Catawba), and Digging (or Scratching) Moon (Tlingit). The latter refers to the habit of deer and other creatures scratching up the ground to find hidden food caches, as well as bears digging their dens for winter hibernation.

Another very common name for this month’s full moon is the Beaver Moon, due to the increased sightings of these busy little creatures shoring up their dams and food stores before the first hard freeze of winter. (Unfortunately, it’s also a reference to the peak days of the North American fur trade, signaling the optimal hunting time for beaver pelts.)

In some modern pagan traditions, particularly those claiming Celtic lineage, the November moon is also called the Mourning Moon. This occurs when the November moon is the final full moon before the winter solstice. In 2024, the November is not a Mourning Moon, as the December full moon falls on the 15th, several days before the winter solstice. (I was not able to find an original source for this claim, but given the celebration of the beloved dead in October, a subsequent period of mourning and remembrance makes sense. It may also be a reference to the Catholic All Souls Day, but that’s just speculation.)

This particular Frost Moon will be at peak fullness in the afternoon hours of November 15th (4:29pm EST). This is the final supermoon in the four-month consecutive series of supermoons for 2024, so make the most of it!

What Does It Mean For Witches?

This is the month when migrations are finishing up, animals are finishing their cold weather preparations, the temperature starts to plummet, and fall descends rapidly into winter. If you haven’t finished your preparations for winter, mundane or magical, this is probably your last chance to do it. (Don’t forget to prioritize and delegate!)

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder, the temptation to hunker down and hibernate is STRONG. But we have to remember that just like the eponymous Beaver, humans have to stay active during the cold months. Start stockpiling ways to keep yourself busy and motivated, since that Seasonal Slump is on the horizon for many of us.

Consider also the beaver’s dam. You’ve spent the whole year working towards all kinds of goals. Is there still something blocking your way? What might it be and how can you best address and remove the obstacle? Or, alternatively, is it time to stop and rest and see if that roadblock will clear itself with a little time and patience?

In keeping with the Mourning Moon moniker, this could be a good time for reflection and remembrance. Think back on what you’ve built this year and take time to be proud of yourself. Remember what is dear to you, take a moment to miss someone who is gone, and consider rekindling bonds that may have lapsed or grown tenuous during the hustle and bustle of daily life. It’s always a good time to tell someone you love them.

On a practical note, if you have pets that regularly stay outdoors overnight, start bringing them inside or make sure they have a shelter that is properly warm, clean, and secure against human or animal intruders. If it’s too chilly for you to be out without a coat, it’s too chilly for the critters, fur or no fur. PLEASE do not leave your furry friends out in the cold!

What Witchy Things Can We Do?

As we prepare for winter, this is an excellent time to shore up those magical protections. Check on your longterm spells to see if they need refreshing, or just go ahead and do a quick cleanse-and-reclaim as a proactive measure. Even if everything is solid, practice your technique by shoring up points of egress or adding a new layer to the existing wards or trying a new visualization or method for personal protections. Create a new charm or talisman to carry you through the winter or make something festive and decorative that could be given as a gift.

On the subject of cleansing, this is a good time to clear out any stale or disruptive energy that might be lingering from the recent change of seasons. Solstices can be times of transformation, but change is rarely a calm or peaceful process and it brings its’ own set of challenges and upheavals. If things have gotten a little more chaotic than you’d like, take a moment to put your house in order, metaphysically speaking.

If you’re partial to jar spells, consider putting one together to help maintain safety and abundance through the winter months. If you’re going to be traveling for the upcoming holidays, a bit of luck and protection for the journey wouldn’t go amiss either.

If you've been working any longterm magic over the past few months to coincide with the abundance of supermoons, this is the time to bring your working to a culmination. Finish setting things in motion, tie up loose ends, close loopholes, and send your magic out into the world. Be sure to document what you've done and when and what methods you used, as well as any indicators of success to look for later if (and hopefully when) tangible results begin to appear.

Try a frost divination. If your area is starting to see overnight frosts, take a moment in the morning to examine the patterns that the frost leaves on the windows of your home or vehicle. Do you see any patterns or images in the ice crystals? Check the weather forecast and whisper a question into the wind when the overnight temps will drop below freezing. Then in the morning, see if there’s an answer waiting for you!

Happy Frost Moon, witches! 🌕❄

Further Reading:

Additional Lunar Calendar posts

Beaver Moon Magic: November’s Vibrant Moon Meaning in 2024, The Peculiar Brunette.

Beaver Moon: Full Moon in November 2024, The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Beaver Full Moon in November - Buckle and Hocken, TimeAndDate.com.

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison, Llewellyn Publications, 2004.

Image Source - ABC News.

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✨️🫙✨️Spells✨️🫙✨️

Beltane Resource Masterpost

A collection of categorized links for your Beltane needs! What is Beltane? [X] Beltane is celebrated between April 30th to May 1st (October 31st to November 1st in the S. Hemisphere) and is also called: May Day, Lá Bealtaine, and Beltaine!

The Basics:

Beltane correspondences

More Beltane correspondences!

Beltane suggestions

Things to do on Beltane / Activities and ideas / Beltane activities list

Celebrate Beltane / How to celebrate

Beltane for secular witches

Midsummer - Spoonie witch friendly

Beltane on a budget

Urban witch on Beltane

Beltane Crafts:

Beltane wreath

How to make a May basket

Beltane Recipes:

Beltane strawberry lemon passion bars

Bealtaine recipe list

Beltane fae tea

Beltane cider

Beltane Spells:

Beltane eve fairy spell

Beltane dew ritual

Bealtaine pet protection prayer

Beltane manifestation spell

Invocation to spring

Self love bath sachet

Beltane spell jar

Beltane Tarot Spreads:

Beltane growth spread (3 card)

Beltane tarot spread (4 card)

The Beltane fire tarot spread (6 card)

Beltane tarot spread (6 card)

Spring tarot spread (16 card)

Other:

Beltane masterpost

Last updated October of 2022, please inform me of broken links via askbox!

Imbolc / Ostara / Beltane / Litha / Lammas / Mabon / Samhain / Yule / Bedridden ideas

Happy Summer Solstice

Elly Fairytale

Just a few . . .

“I Love Who I Am”

I always want to encourage people to get creative with how you use sigils. I leave suggestions in the descriptions here just as ideas, so if you can think of a better way to use this sigil than what I mention here please do it! That being said here are some methods that come to mind for this sigil:

Tape it to the top of your mirror

Write it in your personal journal if you have one

Draw it on yourself 

Burn it to ash and add the ash to some bath salt for a self-care bathing experience

Witchcraft, Wisdom, Death...

How to celebrate the Winter Solstice as a practitioner of Celtic (Irish) Paganism and witchcraft (the irish may not have been celts but our ancient customs are often described as Celtic)

•Collect Holly and make a clay wren to celebrate the defeat of Winter: Irish traditions often have different guardians to symbolise the Summer and Winter seasons. You may be familiar with Caileach and Bríd. But there are also other similar equivalents The mythical dark Holly King who rules the Winter , disguised as a wren, and his twin, the light Oak King who ruled the Summer, disguised as a robin. The Irish would kill a wren and decorate it with holly to represent the death of the Winter king. (This custom has been colonised by catholicism but the tradition remains)

Custom: You can now practice this ethically by making a wren out of biodegradable material and decorate it with wild holly.

•Wear a disguise: Similar to Samhain, in which the people wore masks to be concealed from evil spirits. During the day of the Wren the Irish would often wear masks and disguises. There are also plays that people used to preform around those times. Custom: Similar to halloween. There are plenty or ways to dress up. And theres no right way to do it. However here are some Irish people dressing up on Stephens Day.

•Celebrate the beginning of the sunny seasons: In Old Irish culture the new year began in October on Samhain. So rather than the new year, the solstice was most likely a way of predicting what type of year it would be for the crops. Custom: Do some divination, there is a lot of power in the shift from darkness into light. So its a good time to do tarot cards or divination. Though a lot of old irish divination was done using objects, weather and occurrences.

Collect some mistletoe: The old druids often collected mistletoe as it was known for bringing fertility to animals. Since a lot of this season has to do with the sunny weather and production of crops and food for the year ahead. Mistletoe is ideal for bringing fortune and blessings for the sunny seasons of the year. Custom: Try and find some mistletoe in the tree and cut it down with a golden knife and collect it in a white sheet.

DO NOT EAT MISTLETOE IT IS POISONOUS

Visit a well: there a lot of evidence to suggest that visiting magical wells was a pre-colonial tradition in Ireland. That was later claimed by the catholic church. There are still many beautiful wells that worshippers visit and put rags on the nearby trees. Custom: Find a local “holy” well with an ancient pagan origin and bring some organic rags to decorate a nearby tree.

Happy Winter Solstice!!!!

⚡️How to Enchant Items⚡️

This is a basic guide on how to enchant everyday objects from necklaces and rings to phones and laptops. Whatever you want to enchant, go ahead and charm it! ⚡️This is not the only way to look at enchantment or do enchantments! Practice and explore to find what suits you best.⚡️

To break it down, enchanting is just giving an item purposed energy. All you need is intent + an energy source! The correspondences of that energy source will be transferred to your object. For example, I could take a necklace and leave it in the sunlight so the sun’s energy can be transferred to the necklace to give me energy, warmth, and confidence (those are my correspondences of the sun). Tada! That necklace is now enchanted!  ⚡️Examples of energy sources: the sun, the moon, the weather, yourself, plants, herbs, crystals, electricity, the elements, sigils, etc.⚡️ You can also say a quick chant before or during the charging stage (charging is giving an item energy; the difference between charging and enchanting is that charging is giving an object energy without a specific purpose while enchanting involves giving an object purposed energy) to make that energy have a specific purpose. For example, I could take a ring and leave it on top of a rose quartz crystal and say, “This ring shall be energized with love.” Tada! That ring is now enchanted with the specific purpose of having loving energy! Rather than having all the correspondences of rose quartz transferred to my ring, it is now just the love aspect that has been given to my ring. So, how do you use these items once they’re enchanted? Just keep them close to you! If you want to be confident, for instance, I’d recommend enchanting a necklace and wearing it around your neck so that it’s closer to where you talk and also closer to where you think. You can also leave them in places where you reside in the most since some of your energy will linger there, such as your bedroom, your most frequented restaurant, etc.

⚡️Common energy sources: crystals, the sun, the moon, herbs, the elements, your own energy, a tarot deck, electricity, lit candles, incense, essential oils⚡️