I remember a clear summer night in rural Oregon when I first connected with the moon. I'd been celebrating with a Coven filled with wonderful individuals and our Circle had just ended. We were all hot and panting from an enthusiastic spiral dance and slowly broke into groups, slowly drawn by various topics of conversation. I wandered off alone, sitting in the midst of a nearby field while the rest of the coven talked and milled about. There, in the darkness, I gazed upon the face of Luna and wondered what my ancestors thought and felt when they gazed up at the same sky.
One by one, my Coven-mates came and joined me and we talked about the past, about the legacy our ancestors had left us. Did our ancestors realize that the moon was a satellite that orbits the world we live on? Or was it simply a constant companion whose light ebbed and flowed, setting the lunar month? We talked about what each of us would feel if, unfettered by the words of science, we stared up at the moon with a mystical awe.
It wasn't a book we were learning from, or even a physical teacher. We learned from the moon itself, from the magick that permeated the air from our Circle and spiral dance. It was the whispered voices of our ancestors that spoke to us, as our minds let go of the bonds of time and slipped back through the centuries to earlier rituals. And for the first time, as we lay in the open field, gazing up at the light of the full moon, I didn't just know what the moon meant. I understood.
In Wicca, the moon is associated with the Goddess. The new moon symbolizes new beginnings; an appropriate time to perform magick that begins a new chapter of our lives or blesses a new undertaking. As the moon tiptoes just past new, waxing toward fullness, it represents the Goddess as Maiden. The lunar month is new and fresh, the possibilities it holds are endless. Just as we grow and mature, so the moon waxes and grows full. In the full moon we find a time of bounty and fullness, the perfect time to charge ritual tools and stones with lunar energy. It symbolizes the Goddess as Mother, fertile and full. As the lunar month continues, the moon begins to wane, the time of the Crone. Though the moon's light is fading, we are filled with the wisdom that we have gleaned since the moon was new, the lessons we've learned throughout the lunar month. This is an appropriate time to cleanse ritual tools and stones in moonlight, leaving them on a window sill or under a tree, letting the waning moon take the old energy with it as it fades, leaving the items clean and fresh as the moon becomes new.
The celebrations we hold during the various aspects of the moon are called Esbats. They are more than just a time of lunar magick, but serve other purposes as well. As we raise the energy for our rites, as the magick flows through us, we reconnect with the mystical energy of life that is all around us; in a very real sense we recharge ourselves with the energy we raise.
Esbats also serve to heighten our awareness to seasonal changes. In many cultures (and some pagan Traditions) each moon of the year is named. Sometimes, the naming of the moon takes on a significance connected to the immediate environment. For instance, the "Strawberry Moon" would be the time that the local strawberries ripened; the "Snow Moon" might be the time of year the first snowfall is due. Other names for the lunar months are connected with the Sabbats (our solar festivals) and remind us of the lore that accompanies those celebrations. For instance, many Wiccan Traditions name the moon closest to Yule as the "Oak Moon," as the oak tree is considered to be symbolic of the God and Yule is the Sabbat when the God is born.
For many Traditions, Esbats also serve as a time to take care of Coven business. It's a convenient time to address issues and plan future events as the whole Coven typically gathers for such festivities.
There are no rules to celebrate an Esbat. It can be a time of honoring the Goddess or observing a specific season of the year. An Esbat can be a time for working magick or it can be a time of gathering to address mundane issues. However you choose to observe the occasion, it will mean more to you if you can truly appreciate the experience. On that special night sitting in the field with my Coven-mates, I came upon a technique for connecting with the moon. Feel free to develop your own approach to understanding the Esbat, but this is what worked for me.
Sit outside under the moon (or, if your environment isn't too safe, sit in a window) and clear your mind as you gaze up into the night sky. Take a moment and imagine what your early ancestors must have felt and believed during that phase of the moon. Let your mind wander back to earlier times. Imagine yourself in an early society, one that honored the lunar cycle. How do you feel? What do you think? What does the moon mean to you?
It may seem silly at first, but we honor the same moon that our spiritual ancestors honored. It is no more or no less mystical to us than it was to them. And each Esbat, we set aside a bit of time to reconnect with the energy around us, with the Goddess symbolized in the moon, and with luna's pale light that shines down on us, just as it did so very long ago.