Unit One
STAR FROST MOON
(December - January)
Moon: Star Frost
Star Frost is the name I use for this moon. Consider the name over the course
of its cycle, feelings it in your belly and fingers and breath. Find our what
other names people and traditions use for this moon. By the end, choose your
own name for it, one that reflects the cycle in your environment and your
own nature.
Festival: Midwinter
This is the moon of Midwinter. The traditional date of Midwinter is three
days after the Winter Solstice, and this may indeed fall within the days of
this lunar cycle; however, more poignantly, this moon is a period during which
we honour the turning of the solar tide. The days have been getting shorter
and the nights longer, but no more. At Midwinter, the sun rises and sets at
its most southerly point on the horizon: witness those moments and make a
note of where they are. From here on, the sun will rise each day a little
closer to the east, setting a little close to the west. During this moon,
the changes are slow but sure. Taking the time each day to watch the sun rise
or set will provide moments of stillness, allowing you to feel connected to
your ancestors who have watched the tide turn before you.
Season: Winter Waning
At Midwinter, we celebrate the birth of a new light. This is poetic, expressing
the first moments in the potential for renewal and regeneration, the beginning
of a new cycle ahead. For many, this is an expression of deity, inspiring
profound reverence and respect; here there is a god of light, a god of regeneration,
of birth. What is the purpose and impact of acknowledging these forces as
deity or divine?
What other gods are present and prominent during this moontide? Which do you
feel most drawn to, in which do you see most beauty, and through which do
you find inspiration? This is midwinter, and the darkness is still powerful.
The worst of the cold is yet to come.
It is a sacred time of stillness, when all life moves slowly; if we try to
speed it up, it will only drag and pull us down. Spending time awake to the
environment, be aware of how nature functions at this time. Does anything
in nature move quickly at this time? How can you too slow down and what value
would there be in doing so?
Perception: Being
Through this moon, erase the word ‘try’ from your vocabulary,
for too often at this time we are trying to achieve something when nature
is instead calling us to be still. Be present, simply being where you are.
Allow yourself to feel the moments as they pass through and around you.
If it is a struggle, remember that it isn’t necessary to be alone; be
with a tree, a stone, an apple, the moonlight, the rain. Hold your attention
gently upon that simple experience of being together.
Allocate a period of time each day to this task of simply being or being together.
Element: Mud
At this time, allow your focus to be earth. Explore the mud of the land where
you live, the soil that feeds you; what is it like and how is it distinct?
What is its pH and what does that mean? How deep is the topsoil, and how much
of that is natural, how much brought in from elsewhere by gardeners and developers?
What of the mud beneath? Put some soil in a bowl on your altar inside, or
craft an altar outside to remind you to honour this essential part of life.
Be with it. Feel how it holds you.
Humanity: Earth
In terms of crafting or deepening a relationship at this time, allow your
focus to be upon the earth beneath your feet. For many in Druidry, the earth
is a deity; is it for you and what does that mean?
Be with this power of nature. Does it feel more male or female to you, god
or goddess, or beyond the symbology of gender? What do you quest from the
relationship? What do you need from the earth, and what does it give you?
What do you give in return? Is the relationship in balance? How conscious
are you of it on a daily basis and how can you extend that awareness?
Spend some time during this cycle considering the issues, but more importantly
then allow your behaviour to change accordingly.
Environment: Sleeping
Some writers have allocated the birch as the tree of this moon; who? Does
this tree call to you? Can you identify it without leaves?
Is there another tree that is more prominent during this moon in the environment
within which you live? Is it vibrant or hibernating? Spend time with different
trees, feeling how they are at this time and with whom you feel most comfortable
and inspired. Who still has green leaves, and how does their spirit feel compared
with those who are ‘sleeping’? What can the bare trees teach you
of the earth beneath you?
What plants are vibrant at this time? Are you aware of the non-human fauna
(the wild creatures, not pets) that share your environment right now? How
are they managing in this depth of winter? Who is hibernating near you, who
is sleeping?
Self: Solitude
This moontide is often one of the hardest and one where we crave the distractions
of food and company. How do you do this? Where is that behaviour healthy and
nurturing, and where is it escapist and distracting? Nature teaches us of
solitude at this time, of learning to be alone, or without human company.
How is this so? What can you do at this time to explore your solitude or deepen
your experience of it, finding the fears it provokes and the gifts it brings?
Creativity: Walking the Tale
During this moontide, in the silence of solitude and simply being in your
environment, now is the time to learn the story you have chosen. You have
heard it many times perhaps; now, as you learn it, explore ways in which you
can more profoundly be within it, experiencing its every turn and tide, feeling
how its energy rises and falls. Move with its every move, breathing in its
every moment. Feel it. Walk its footsteps. Learn it from the inside out.
Ethics: Impact
Finding the stillness of the earth goddess (or god) over the course of this
moon cycle, open your consciousness to what impact your life has on the earth.
Consider the food you eat, what you eat and how much. Think about the earth
where it was grown and nourished; how does the mud there differ from that
beneath your feet? What of fertilizers and pesticides?
Be wakeful to the rubbish you generate that is taken to landfill sites. Where
is your nearest landfill? Go and see it, feel your part in its creation; allow
yourself to be inside its story just as you are doing with the story you are
learning. Feeling the power of the earth deity, how does it accept such sites?
What other gods or forces of nature are present here? How did our ancestors
deal with rubbish?
Responsibility is a word that asks about our ability to respond: only when
we understand and accept a situation can we hope to respond honourably. Similarly,
as you feel the quiet and stillness of nature, be conscious of how much noise
you put into the environment. Be patient, with yourself and others. Consider
the word ‘acceptance’.
Review:
In the last few days of the moontide, when the moon is dark, consider what
you have achieved through the cycle. What have you learned, changed, understood,
and given in exchange?
