Mansions of the Moon for the Green Witch: A Complete Book of Lunar Magic - Ann Moura 2010
The Mansions of The Moon in Witchcraft
Lunar Magic Through The Zodiac
While the mansion meanings from the medieval grimoires form the foundation of the magical works in this book, the works are based in witchcraft and as such, the mansion energies are approached in conjunction with the lunar phase and zodiac energies. Pulling these correlations together and combining them with additional magical correspondences for aromas, colors, magical alphabets, astrological symbolisms, and the plants and stones of nature provides a powerful boost to the working. This is not a book of nineteenth-century ceremonialism, nor one of medieval magic, but one that incorporates elements of each into a uniquely harmonious practice of modern witchcraft.
The grimoires refer to the passage of the Moon through the zodiac and do not differentiate between the phases of the Moon and their energy influences. This is not the case in witchcraft, where the lunar phase matters for specific types of energy. The four major times for magical works that address the appropriate lunar energy are during the waxing New Moon (first sliver of light after the Dark Moon), the Full Moon, the waning New Moon (last sliver of light before the Dark Moon), and the Dark Moon. The phases of the Moon relate to the Goddess in her aspects of Maiden, Mother, Crone, and veiled, and relevant deities, such as Luna, Isis, Cerridwen, and Hecate, may be addressed in ritual and magical work. These lunar phases provide different energies, which may then be applied to the mansions: the waxing to full energies involve commencement, increase, gain, manifestation, and fulfillment, while the waning to dark energies involve decrease, restriction, banishment, introspection, and divination. In this way, the magical works are tailored to the phase of the Moon within a given mansion.
The lunar mansions mostly have both positive and negative elements. I apply the witchcraft perspective of lunar energies to the mansions in their manner of influence by dividing the meanings of each mansion into an appropriate lunar phase of waxing to full for the positive and attracting, and waning to dark for the negative and repelling. If the mansion has only positive elements, these are initiated or brought to culmination with the waxing or full lunar phases. However, these same elements are diminished or afflicted during the waning or dark phases. Through magical work, the negative energies of a mansion can be contravened, warded against, diminished, or transformed to facilitate a positive and ethical result through focus augmented by additional energy correspondences. The Rede and the rule of sent energy returning as much as threefold are incentives to not use negative energies for unethical purposes. Magical works are generally engaged within an Esbat ritual just before the Cakes and Wine portion so that the simple feast assists with returning to a state of normalcy, and the end of the ritual brings the event to a grounded conclusion.