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Dark Snow Moon Esbat Ritual

December - Resting
In December, we begin to prepare for the return of the Light at Yule. Even after the days begin to increase in length, the Earth still appears to be asleep.

This period of sleep is not death - even though the world appears to be gray and black and devoid of life except for the evergreens - it is the Earth resting in preparation for the return of the growing season. Like the Earth, people need a period of rest before their "rebirth" in the Spring. It's not that nothing is happening; rather, the work is being done "underground" - in the unconscious mind. This Dark Snow Moon Ritual, while extremely simple, is very effective in attuning the practitioner with this process, allowing him or her to rest in a state of being and attune with these unconscious energies. 

The times of the Waning and Dark Moon are most commonly used for banishing energies. In this ritual we turn our will to the purposeful withdrawing of our energies from the outer, active world; and in so doing be remember to be human "beings," rather than human "doings."

Purpose: To rest. 


Tools 

 White candle 
 An offering 
The Working 

Oh Wise Crone, represented now in the Wheel of the Year by the Dark Snow Moon, you represent rest and our preparation for rebirth. At this time of year, when the weather is cold and the Earth is bleak and we are so often rushing around in a flurry of activity, I come before you to ask you to help me detach from all that I have to do.

Please help me to rest, to be, and allow my unconscious mind the time and space it needs to prepare for the coming Spring.

Light the white candle. Use this as a focus for meditation, and meditate as long as you can in the quiet of your mind. When thoughts come up, refocus your attention on the candle, and let those thoughts go.

When you feel a sense of completion and communion with the inner quiet, gradually return your awareness to the surrounding area.

Jana, Janus, please help me to return to this awareness of my being frequently in preparation for the month named in your honor and the beginning of the calendar year.

I ask for your help with the endings and beginnings that are part of this time of the year, and I offer you this ___, that it may strengthen my relationship with you and this phase of the Wheel of the Year.

Blessed be!

Sending the Energy

She changes everything she touches; everything she touches changes.
My will be done - this or something better - for my Highest Good and the Highest Good of all concerned.

Release the energy into the Light of the white candle.

After the Ritual 

Bury the offering in the Earth.

Extinguish the white candle, and re-light it and meditate on it as often as possible through the rest of December and January.

When it is spent, bury the remaining wax in the Earth.