The New Moon is a potent time for magic of beginnings, renewal and manifestation. The first sliver of silver light in the night sky marks the start of a new lunar cycle, presenting a clean canvas, a time to make a fresh start and set your intentions on what you want to growth and bring to life in the coming weeks, months or years!
If you have a special goal you want to achieve, a new venture in mind, such as a business idea, or a new phase of development and creativity, honour this momentum with a magical New Moon ritual, and pursue your dreams with the patronage of the lunar goddess.
The New Moon brings powerful energy for infusing your rituals with potential, fertility and new growth. Here are ways to harness this energy with spell and ritual:
Intention-Setting Ritual
A simple yet powerful New Moon ritual of setting a goal, but make it magical!
Magical Actions
You commit your goal or desire to paper (on parchment, bay leaf, or birch bark for added enchantment!). Write a note or petition the goddess. It can be just one word, an incantation or a sigil. If expressing yourself cryptically or poetically is your style, then go for it! Just make sure your intention (goal) is crystal clear.
Perform a short meditation to clear your mind and ground your energy. Burn a little incense to sanctify your space and this moment, and to connect with spirit.
Visualise your intention as a seed taking root.
Visualise the waxing moon, as it grows brighter and more radiant in the sky.
Visualise growth, the seed growing taller and stronger, as the moon waxes full over the coming days and weeks.
Keep your intention note at your altar, such as in a wish bottle, or beneath a candle or an amplifying crystal.
Spell Materia for Intention Setting
Light a candle as a symbolic act of illuminating the path for your intentions.
Burn incense to create sacred space, cleanse your energy and connect with the spirit realm.
Anoint with magical oil (your body, and magical tools, such as candles, wands and knives).
Draw sigils (magical images) that represent your intention.
Examples of intentions set at the New Moon
Set intentions for personal growth, home improvement, love, career advancement, health, or friendship, or anything you should wish for.
You might invoke the goddess Selene (Greek lunar deity) or Hecate (goddess of witchcraft) to guide and empower your intentions.
Manifestation Spells
The New Moon, a time of new beginnings, provides the perfect setting for manifesting a desired outcome. A manifestation spell will help you align with this energy.
Magical Actions
Focus on something within your grasp that could change your life for the better, or any idea you want to make a reality.
Use candles, herbs and crystals to infuse your spell with natural energy.
As you perform your spell, entrust your petition with the goddess, and envision your desire manifesting, growing, and becoming more real, as the moon waxes full.
New Moon Spell ideas
Craft a spell jar
Create a talisman
Craft a clay model
Candle manifestation spell
Create vision board
Cleansing & Purification
The New Moon is a powerful time to work on ridding yourself of negative emotion, old attachment and releasing anything that no longer serves you. This can include emotions, bad habits, toxic relationships, or obstacles preventing you from moving forward.
Magical Actions
Burn sage, rosemary, mugwort, lavender or another cleansing herb to clear negative energy.
Cleanse your personal space, such as tables and altar. Wash your doorframes, floors and windows, in preparation for the fresh lunar phase.
Blend a spiritual cleansing salt with essential oils and herbs. This can be used in baths, stirred in with water to cleanse tools and surfaces, and placed in a bowl to protect the energy of your space. You can sprinkle salt around your entranceways and windows in a rite of protection and purification.
Light white candles to evoke the purifying energy of light.
Enjoy a salt bath with cleansing and purifying herbs, to wash away the negative and stagnant energy of the old lunar phase.
Magical Actions
Banish and cleanse that which is old and stagnant to make room for new growth.
Ritualise the act of renewal and new beginnings.
Cleanse your mind and ritual space in preparation for a brand new phase.
Dark Moon Divination
The Dark Moon, just before the first silver crescent appears in the night sky, is a powerful time for divination, symbolising the unconscious realm and hidden aspects of the psyche. It presents an opportunity to search inward and introspect, looking for hidden fears, causes and strengths. You may wish to use divination aids such as tarot cards, oracle decks, runes, and scrying candles to gain insight into what is hidden or unfolding in your life.
Magical Actions
Conduct a New Moon tarot spread to uncover the potential for new beginnings and gain insight into personal development.
Scry using a black mirror, water, or crystal ball, seeking clarity or guidance for the coming cycle.
Invoke the guidance of the lunar goddess, Hecate or Selene, for signs and symbols of a new path or venture.
Consult the I Ching for guidance on personal change and transformation.
Self-Discovery & Shadow Work
The Dark Moon is symbolic of the shadow self. This is the aspect of our psyche that we don’t see or readily acknowledge, yet we may act out unconsciously. The Dark Moon can be a powerful time for self-discovery and shadow work, where you prepare to take an honest look at your hidden fears and strengths, and explore deep rooted emotions, patterns, and traumas in order to heal and grow, as a strong and rounded person.
Magical Actions
Journaling is a key part of New Moon shadow work. Set aside a secret journal where you can divulge and analyse those aspects of yourself that you find difficult to acknowledge or celebrate, but which make you whole and human, and be your own psychologist.
Examples
Explore routes to developing aspects of your character, through truth, awareness, self belief and boundaries, allowing the New Moon’s fresh energy support your journey of self knowledge.
Crystal Magic
Crystals that resonate with lunar energy, such as moonstone, selenite, and clear quartz, are often used in New Moon rituals to amplify the moon’s fresh energy and assist in manifestation.
Magical Actions
Decorate your altar with crystals which resonate with the New Moon, or your specific ritual intentions.
Hold the crystal during meditation, focusing on your intentions.
Charge your crystals by placing them in moonlight during the New Moon and then use them throughout the lunar cycle to empower your spells and rituals.
Use moonstone to sooth the emotions and tap into your intuition, aligning with the lunar energy.
Protection Spells
While full moons are often seen as times of power and completion, the New Moon can be a time to set up protective wards and shields that will strengthen as the moon waxes.
Magical Actions
Create a protective charm or sigil during the New Moon, empowering it to grow in strength with the waxing moon.
Light black or white candles, symbolising protection, while visualising a shield forming around you or your home.
Craft a protection pouch filled with herbs like sage, bay leaves, and black tourmaline. Consecrate the pouch under the New Moon with the intention of growing its protective energy as the moon waxes.
Fertility & Growth Spells
Given its association with new beginnings, the New Moon is an ideal time for spells focused on fertility, both for physical conception and creative projects.
Magical Actions
Light green candles and use fertility-associated herbs such as hawthorn, rose and pomegranate flowers and seeds, to symbolise growth and new life.
Visualise or chant intentions related to fertility—this could be for a child, a creative project, or personal growth.
For women seeking to enhance their fertility, the New Moon offers a time for renewing energy and calling upon the goddess for assistance.
Career & Business
The New Moon is an auspicious time to perform rituals for career advancement or to launch new business ventures.
Magical Actions
Light a green or gold candle to represent abundance and growth, and perform the ritual while visualising success in your chosen venture.
Use a small sigil representing your goal, charge it with your intention, and keep it in your workspace or wallet as the moon waxes.
Write down your goals and create a vision board under the New Moon, bringing to light the steps you should take throughout the month.
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New Moon magic is centred around fresh starts, renewal, and growth. Spells and rituals focused on setting intentions, manifesting desires, and beginning new projects will all benefit from this lunar phase. These magical practices are steeped in ancient traditions and ways of living in sync with divine Nature, will help you to harness the symbolic power and potent energies of the new lunar cycle and manifest meaningful change in your life.