By Syma Kharal
Full moons have forever been a mystical time of connecting with our spiritual, sacred feminine selves. Many Goddess and earth-based traditions honored all phases of the moon, while Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism still celebrate special holidays according to the lunar calendar.
While new moons are associated with new beginnings, full moons represent the culmination of energy: fruition, completion and celebration, as well as releasing and shedding of the old to pave way for a whole new cycle.
Because the full moon increases psychic and emotional sensitivity, many of us feel its effects very palpably—often starting the days leading up to the full moon. While it can feel overwhelming to deal with the intense energies it brings up, learning to harness the gifts of this special time can help us not only better manage everything that comes up, but create powerful shifts in our psyches and our lives.
Here are five magical full moon rituals to embrace the many gifts of this blessed time every month. You can do them all (I recommend progressively), try one or two, or experiment with whatever you feel guided to. It’s a full moon after all, so trust your intuition!
One of the reasons we can feel so emotional during a full moon is because it’s a time of making the unknown known, the unconscious conscious, the hidden seen. Naturally, this includes relationships and patterns that are not in alignment with our truth and highest good.
If we don’t allow ourselves to face and process these insights, we may feel hypersensitive, confused and overwhelmed.
The best thing we can do for ourselves during such a time is actually take some time to express everything we are feeling in a safe and healthy way.
A simple ritual to bring light to any darkness you are facing is to take a sheet of paper and write out everything you are feeling—uncensored. Notice any surprises or insights you gain about issues that are important to you. Have you been ignoring or suppressing your feelings in a certain area? Have you been settling, compromising, or disowning your truth and boundaries? Are you ready to release what’s no longer serving you?
You don’t need to know the answers, but it’s important to ask the questions. In the next steps, you will learn how to awaken your intuition, which will guide you on any action to take and changes to make as you move forward.
For now, once you feel you gave released all that you need to on this sheet of paper, (very safely, perhaps in a pot) burn it.
You can write an intention at the end, such as, “I now release all that no longer serves me for total healing, purification and transmutation, for my best and highest good.”
As the paper burns, wash away any ashes or surrender them to Mother Earth, and feel the lightness of releasing what lurked in the dark before.
If you choose to do the above ritual, smudging is wonderful to perform after, although it can be done independently and any time as well.
Of course, for this, you will need to have a sage wand/bundle handy, which can be bought from most spiritual/new age shops as well as online.
Smudging is a powerful energy clearing ritual used in Native and earth-based traditions during ceremonies. It is said to help release negative, toxic, stagnant energies, and even get rid of earth-bound spirits and attachments.
A full moon night is an especially potent time for a smudging ritual, as after facing and releasing what need to, you can ceremoniously clear it away with the smoke of sacred sage.
To perform the ritual, simply burn the dried sage bundle, keeping a ceramic/fire-safe dish underneath to catch the ashes, and simply waft it around your entire body (at about a two-feet long distance).
As you do so, you can again set an intention such as, “I release all that no longer serves me for my highest good.”
After smudging yourself, you can smudge your home by waving the wand in the corners and centers of each room of your home—or anywhere you feel guided. Trust your intuition, as you may feel the need to smudge some unexpected places or linger somewhere a little longer.
Be sure to perform this very safely, keeping distant from fabrics, pets, children and always a dish underneath. You just need to wave the wand once or twice in each area to get the smoke flowing there as you keep moving along. Keep an eye out for any fallen ashes and put them out immediately.
After the ritual, open all your windows to air out the smoke and let new, fresh energy, and ideally moonlight, into your home.
Bonus step: Since your space is now clear, you can go around the center of each home and “re-program” the energy by setting intentions for what you want to bring into your space and life instead. You can clap three times at the end of each intention to seal it in, or if you have a bell or singing bowl, ring it three times for extra blessings.
Finally, you can also clear your spiritual objects like crystals, oracle decks and malas by waving the sage bundle around each one three times.
The light of the full moon is amplifies everything with magic, so it’s a great time to infuse this energy into our spiritual tools, like crystals, essential oils, malas and incense, etc.
I recommend clearing them with sage as mentioned above first, so that they are pure and clear before absorbing the energy of the moon.
To “charge” them, set your intention with each object and place it somewhere it can get the maximum amount of moonlight throughout the night.
For example, if you are using a crystal for a specific purpose, you can state your intention for that crystal and then add, “I welcome the light and magic of this full moon to bless and empower this crystal, and open me to all its gifts for my highest good.”
Be sure to take all your objects back in the morning, as some crystals and spiritual tools can react to and alter with sunlight.
As you place each object back in your space, thank each one, along with the moon, for their potent new energy, and notice the shift as you work with them.
This step may be a little risque, but since the full moon can bring out the primal animal in each of us, I had to include it! If you can do this safely and privately, it’s a beautiful idea to moon bathe in the nude or with minimal clothing. You don’t have to go outdoors. If you can see the moon from your bedroom, it’s actually advisable to do this there with a locked door!
Simply lie down and let the rays of the moon infuse you with their healing energy. Especially if you have done the clearing rituals above, think of this as a way to replenish, because whenever we release, we create space, and when we create space, we want to fill it consciously.
What better way to replace the darkness that you released than by filling up with magical moonlight?
As the light shines on and over you, imagine your mind, body, heart, and energy field soak up all luminescent silvery rays. While sunlight energizes and uplifts us, moonlight awakens our intuitive, receptive, softer, spiritual side. Absorbing full moonlight is especially healing for us women as it nourishes our sacral chakras—our wombs and menstrual—or moon—cycles.
You by no means need to lay under the moon all night—about 20 to 30 minutes depending on what’s feasible and comfortable for you will work wonders. I also love to play the Kundalini mantra, “Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Se So Hum” -which invokes the healing blessings of all physical and heavenly bodies—when moon bathing. My favorite is Snatam Kaur’s rendition, easily found on YouTube.
It’s also super fun and a sacred bonding experience to do this with a trusted partner or friend. So find a safe spot, peel away those cloths and let Mother Moon shower you with her love!
Because of our monthly cycles, women have always had a very intimate and special connection with the moon. The waxing, full and waning moon are associated with the triple goddess archetypes of Maiden, Mother and Crone, a new menstrual cycle, ovulation and bleeding/shedding, and the universal cycle of birth, life and death/transformation.
Because the full moon corresponds to the Mother (at its fullest) and Crone (just after full/starting to wane), the goddesses associated with it are intuitive Egyptian goddess Isis and Celtic Morrigan, Mayan healing goddess Ixchel, maternal Greek goddesses Demeter and Selene, and Norse Frigg/Freya—to name a few.
As each of these goddesses awaken different sacred feminine aspects within us, you can ask for all their gifts of specific ones, depending on what you want to open to in your life.
To connect with them, simply sit in meditation (you can also do this before lying down in the above moon bathing ritual), and state the name of the goddess you wish to invite and any specific area you wish to work on with her. For example, you can invite Demeter to nourish yourself and be more receptive, Ixchel to heal your menstrual cycle, Frigg for fertility, and Isis and Moriggan for increased intuition.
Remember, these goddesses ultimately represent your own sacred feminine qualities, so when meditating, connect with them in whatever way resonates with you—as goddesses in and of themselves, or as divine feminine aspects within your self.
There’s nothing more to it than inviting them and just sitting in meditation. Pay attention to your intuitive senses*, which are clairaudience (clear healing), clairsentience (clear feeling), claircognizence (clear knowing) and clairvoyance (clear seeing). Depending on which sense is stronger for you, you may hear, feel, know or see their guidance, presence and love.
No matter what, trust that by simply asking for the support of these goddesses, you are opening to connect with your own divine feminine gifts, which reveal themselves subtly and mysteriously within your self and your life.
As you play with these rituals, know that you are harnessing the incredible energies and gifts of a time that can otherwise feel overwhelming and out of control.
All cycles in nature bestow us with their own gifts, and learning how to embrace the magical phases of the moon helps elevate our human existence into sacred experience. So let’s open our arms to Mother Moon, and allow her to take us in hers.
Namaste and full moon blessings!
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