​Continuing with our series of short practices for connecting to each of the traditional planets on each of the days that they rule, today, Monday, we will focus on the Moon.
 
The Moon is the nocturnal luminary. The Moon receives and reflects the light of the Sun. It signifies the body, emotions, feelings, and our basic instinctual needs for safety and security. The Moon is also associated with change and fluctuation as the light of the Moon changes throughout the lunation cycle, and as the ocean tides rise and fall and change in relation to the gravity of the Moon. The Moon is also associated with the mother or maternal figures. It rules the sign of Cancer and is exalted in the sign of Taurus.
 
For today—or any Monday—you might make a small altar for the Moon with the things you have available. You can look to the list of correspondences below for the kinds of colors, stones, numbers, and tarot cards you might incorporate. Add things that you associate with the Moon—maybe white candles or white flowers, things that calm and soothe and make you feel safe, or objects that come to you from your matrilineal line. Once you build your altar, take some time to be with it as an aesthetic experience. Notice how being with this altar makes you feel. Drop your attention down into your body and observe what sensations arise as you sit with the objects that you’ve gathered for the Moon.
 
If it’s nighttime and the skies are clear, depending on the Moon phase when you’re reading this, you might go outside and take a walk in the moonlight. See the Moon in the sky and feel that there’s actually nothing between you and the Moon other than open space.

Whether you’re working with or without an altar, whether you are walking or sitting in the moonlight or whether you are indoors, I invite you to take some time to meditate with the Moon. It could be five minutes, ten minutes, or longer. Visualize the Moon in your mind’s eye, or visualize the glyph of the Moon. Notice what your body feels like sitting beneath the Moon or imagining the Moon. Remember or call up experiences in which you have felt safe and secure, where you felt your emotions were validated and supported. Consider visualizing or imagining moonlight filling your body—cool, luminous, glowing, and soft.

In meditations like this, I also work with mantras coming from the yoga tradition. For working with the Moon, I use the mantra: “Om Sri Chandraya Namaha.” I use a mala and repeat the mantra 108 times. I also sometimes use mudra, described below.
 
However you spend your time meditating on the Moon—repeating a mantra, visualizing or imagining moonlight throughout your body, recalling experiences that you associate with the Moon’s significations—tune in to the sensations that begin to accumulate. These could be physical, emotional, or they could be more subtle energetic shifts in your awareness. The practice here is for the Moon to become more than just an abstract symbol or something that you think of as “out there” in space. As you begin to notice what the Moon feels like within your body, this becomes a state that you can return to and work with in your magic, and how you understand the Moon astrologically—in your birth chart or in its transits—will begin to take on more embodied significance as well.
 
Moon
Day: Monday
Number: 9
Colors: White, grey, and silver
Metals: “silver and silver marcasite” (Picatrix)
Stones: “seed pearls and part of crystal and blue stones and onyx and quartz” (Picatrix); I also strongly associate moonstone and selenite with the Moon
Chakra: Ajña, the Third Eye Chakra
Mantra: Om Sri Chandraya Namaha
Mudra: I use Padma Mudra (Lotus Seal) in association with the Moon because it brings the lunar mount of both hands together at the base, and all ten fingers radiate out from that root. There is also a joint-hand Chandra Mudra that comes from Indian dance traditions. Both are pictured below.
Tarot: The Moon (In the Golden Dawn tradition, the Moon was associated with the High Priestess card.)

If you missed the post on planetary magic practices for the Sun, you can find it here.

Over the last year, I have begun to explore more astrological and planetary magic. Witchcraft and astrology have both been part of my life for a long time, but coming from primarily Wiccan and earth-centered pagan traditions, for the most part, the lunation phase and sometimes the sign of the Moon have been the extent of astrological influences on my rituals and spellcraft. Sometimes I would pay attention to planetary days and hours—which I had read about in medieval grimoires like The Key of Solomon the King in high school and college—and I learned about planetary correspondences to chakras, mudras, and mantras in my yoga training, but these rarely shaped my witchcraft. However, the deeper I have come in my study and practice of astrology, the more I’ve come to appreciate the meaningfulness that can emerge from working with astrology as a system of timing and an assemblage of temporalities. Most of all, exploring planetary magic has given me more of a felt experience of astrology, tuning into the subtle sensations and felt sense of each planet and sign.
 
This week, I’m going to post a series of short practices for connecting to each of the traditional planets on each of the days that they rule. Rather than complex or elaborate operations for working with planetary magic to make things happen, I’m approaching these practices more from the definition of magic that comes to us from Dion Fortune: “Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will.” For each day, I will offer a brief table of correspondences and a few suggested practices for shifting awareness to the sensations of each planet, for tuning into how each planet feels to your body. We’ll start today, Sunday, with the Sun.
 
The Sun is one of the two luminaries, along with the Moon. It is the life-giving star at the center of our solar system. The Sun emits, it illuminates, and thus is associated with our faculties of perception, with seeing and being seen. It is often associated with the ego or identity, that which persists—because of its steady, continuous motion and because in comparison to the Moon, its shape remains constant. It can also be associated with recognition and honors, achievements, and the father or paternal figures. It rules the sign of Leo and is exalted in the sign of Aries.
 
For today—or on any Sunday—you might make a small altar for the Sun with the things you have available. You can look to the list of correspondences below for the kinds of colors, stones, numbers, and tarot cards you might incorporate. Add things that you associate with the Sun—maybe sunflowers or photos from the beach or bright lights or candles. Once you build your altar, take some time to take it in as an aesthetic experience. Notice how being with your altar makes you feel. Drop your attention down into your body and observe what sensations arise as you observe the objects you’ve gathered for the Sun.
 
You might go for a walk in the Sun and feel its light on your skin. This is a wonderful way to experience directly how the Sun feels within your body.

Whether you are working with or without an altar, whether you’re walking or sitting in the Sun or whether you’re indoors, I invite you to take some time to meditate with the Sun. It could be five minutes, ten minutes, or longer. Visualize the Sun in your mind’s eye, or visualize the glyph of the Sun. Notice what your body feels like sitting in the sunlight or imagining the Sun. Remember or call up experiences in which you have felt seen and recognized for who you are; notice what that feels like in your body. Consider visualizing or imagining that sunlight is filling your body—bright, glittering, golden, and warm.

In meditations like this, I also work with mantras coming from the yoga tradition. For working with the Sun, I use the mantra: “Om Sri Suryaya Namaha.” I use a mala and repeat the mantra 108 times. I also sometimes use mudra, described below.
 
However you spend your time meditating on the Sun—repeating a mantra, visualizing or imagining sunlight throughout your body, recalling experiences that you associated with the Sun’s significations—tune in to the sensations that begin to accumulate. These could be physical or they could be more subtle energetic shifts in your awareness. The practice here is for the Sun to become more than just an abstract symbol or something that we think of as “out there” in space. As you begin to notice what the Sun feels like within your body, this becomes a state that you can return to and work with in your magic, and how you understand the Sun astrologically—in your chart or in its transits—will begin to take on more embodied significance as well.
 
I will be posting similar practices for each of the planets for the rest of the week, so please follow along as much as you like!
 
Sun
Day: Sunday
Number: 6
Colors: Yellow and gold
Metals: “Egyptian glass and azernec (cupric oxide)” (Picatrix)
Stones: “albezedi and diamond and red pearls and stones that are sparkling and clear and part of hematite and azumbedich and ruby and the balassus ruby and gold marcasite” (Picatrix); I also strongly associate citrine and other yellow, golden stones with the Sun
Chakra: Ajña, the Third Eye Chakra
Mantra: Om Sri Suryaya Namaha 
Mudra: The ring finger is associated with the Sun, so I use Surya Mudra (seal of Sun/life)—bringing the tip of the thumb and ring finger together, with other fingers extended
Tarot: The Sun

Kaitlin Coppock of Sphere + Sundry also has a beautiful series of Sol in Leo talismanic offerings for supporting you in nourishing the light of the Sun in your life: https://sphereandsundry.com/product-category/series/golden-sol-in-leo/
I love Kaitlin's work, which has been a huge support to me as I have developed my own astrological magic practices.

​Sources:
 
Kaitlin Coppock, “Planetary Magic: A Beginner’s Guide,” WellBeing Astrology 2020, editor Kelly Surtees, Universal Media Co, 2019: 92-95.
 
Austin Coppock, “Intro to Planetary Magic,” https://austincoppock.com/shop/intro-to-planetary-magic-course/ [online course].
 
Richard Fish and Ryan Kurczak, The Art and Science of Vedic Astrology: The Foundation Course (Asheville Vedic Astrology, 2012).
 
Cain Carroll and Revital Carroll, Mudras of India (London: Singing Dragon, 2013).
 
Gertrud Hirschi, Mudras: Yoga in your Hands (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 2000).
 
Thomas Ashley-Farrand, Healing Mantras: Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power, Creativity, and Healing (New York: Ballantine Books, 1999).
 
Richard Palmer, “Delving Into Tarot and Astrology in the Golden Dawn Tradition,” Biddy Tarot, https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-astrology-golden-dawn/.
 
Joe Rao, “When, Where and How to See the Planets in the 2019 Night Sky,” December 27, 2018, https://www.space.com/39240-when-to-see-planets-in-the-sky.html.

​With the Full Moon in Pisces reaching its climax at 12:32am Friday night, we’re coming into Saturday carried on the deep waves of sensitivity, empathy, and compassion. Seeds that were planted at the New Moon in Virgo on August 30 may be coming to full bloom and fruition. As a mutable water sign, Pisces asks us to be emotionally adaptable to changing conditions, devoted to connections that dissolve the distinctions between self and other. Reciprocity and responsibility will be themes of the day. “Responsible” is not a word often associated with Pisces or its ruler Jupiter, but this Full Moon invites us to remain open and emotionally responsive, exercising our ability to respond (response-ability) as we feel into the world around us. Similar themes will be taken up by Venus and Mercury as both cross the threshold into harmonious, balanced, judicious Libra. A cardinal air sign, Libra seeks out many different perspectives and is ready to take action in a way that holds difference and multiplicity in a careful commons. Venus is in its domicile in Libra, emphasizing cooperation and collaboration in love and union. Mercury in Libra thrives on diplomacy, communicating, translating, and carrying messages between different points of view.

Through this all, however, Mars in Virgo is standing in opposition to Neptune in Pisces, just a few degrees off of the Full Moon. Mars in Virgo is the practical warrior, challenging our fantasies, determined to cut through the fog of altered states to bring us back to earth. The force of disillusionment may slash through our dreams, demanding clarity about what is and is not possible. You have to decide which dreams and fantasies you are willing to surrender, and in what ways you are committing to imaginary realities that your circumstances are denying.
 
Finally, the Moon enters Aries and moves right into oppositions with Venus and Mercury in Libra. Aries introduces the charge of individualism, the impulse to pursue your own needs and desires. This may feel in tension with the deep collective feelings lingering from the Full Moon, as well as Venus and Mercury’s Libran tendency to hear all sides and work together to begin something new. As Mars, the ruler of the Moon in Aries, separates from its opposition to Neptune, the Moon’s ingress into this cardinal fire sign can give us the fuel and spark to act on our fresh revelations, deciding for ourselves: what are the risks we are willing to take?

​The drive and determination of Mars trine Saturn carries us into the week, just as the Moon in Capricorn makes a trine to Venus in Virgo. These are not easy signs for either of them—Venus in its fall or depression, the Moon in its detriment or exile—but as the day and night rulers of the earth triplicity, this trine could bring up opportunities for solidarity in struggle. As Black feminists like Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis, the Combahee River Collective, and others have taught us, our movements must not be driven solely by the struggles of a single identity position or social category. Rather, we must affirm our differences as a vital resource, learn from those who experience oppression, displacement, or marginalization differently, and move together in ways that respond to our different needs together across our affinities. Venus and the Moon find affirmation and support across this trine even if both also faces challenges in different ways. In the evening, the Moon enters Aquarius and its waxing gibbous phase. In aversion to both malefics, the Moon can use this time to clarify and perfect what we are learning in this lunation cycle as we approach the full moon in Pisces.

My dear friends at WitchLab here in Columbus, OH, just posted this interview we did about Co. WitchLab has been a generous host to this work for all of my in-person consultations, and I am so grateful to be in community and reciprocity with them. I am sharing the text of the interview here as well:

Hello Michael! Before we get started talking about your services, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Sure! I’m originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’ve been a practicing witch for almost 20 years; I was born and raised in a conservative Christian family, and I took refuge in Wicca and Goddess spiritualties at the end of high school and beginning of college. I moved to Ohio in 2008 to pursue graduate studies at OSU. I now hold a PhD in Dance Studies, and I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in Dance, Queer Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Environmental Studies at Denison University. Throughout these years, I’ve continued to develop my practice of witchcraft, studying with different teachers and traditions, incorporating critical feminist and queer perspectives into how I think about and practice the craft, and finding more and more connections between my witchcraft, my art, my scholarly research, and my activism.

People can learn more about me and my practice on my website: http://www.michaeljmorris.co

What is Co witchcraft?

“Co” is the name I gave my consultation practice in which I bring together different traditions and techniques that I’ve studied and practiced over many years—including astrology, tarot, Wiccan ritual practices, breathing and meditation techniques that come from the yoga tradition, and other embodied practices. Co stands for: connect, collaborate, cooperate, commune, conjure, combine, compose, co-create, corporeal, continuity, contradictions, contentment, co-presence, companionship, compassion, configure, contact, conjoin, courage, and collective liberation. It’s a list that could go on and on. These are the words, ideas, values, and practices that shape the work I’m doing with people. The prefix “co-” means “together, mutually, in common,” and these sentiments are at the heart of what I believe about magic, healing, and justice: these are practices that we do together, in connection with others, including both the human and the more-than-human—the earth, the elements, the stars and planets, the ancestors, and so on. Our collective liberation is never separate from our personal healing, and doing this work together is one of the ways that we can begin to repair the disconnections that are the source of so much of our suffering.

For me, witchcraft has become a kind of “carrier bag” of practices, traditions, and techniques that I use for making magic. Wiccan High Priestess Dion Fortune famously said that “magic is the art of changing consciousness at will,” and for me, witchcraft is a whole array of practices with which we practice shifting and expanding consciousness. Through Co Witchcraft Offerings, I provide resources and support for people in shifting their own consciousness and creating magic in their own lives.

What inspired you to bring this service to the table?

We are living in relentlessly troubled times. Between climate crisis, racism and white supremacist nationalism, the ongoing assault against women and femmes, constant violence and harassment of queer and gender-nonconforming people, the crippling weight of capitalism, and what feels like unprecedented experiences of loneliness, isolation, and despair, it seems like we need to be offering and developing more strategies for surviving and flourishing. These practices have sustained and inspired my living again and again. It’s time to share them with other people, offer them as resources for others trying to find meaning and purpose as they navigate the complexity of our world.

Who would this service benefit?

I think these consultations are for anyone looking for a collaborator or companion in their journeys of healing, of working to know and understand their place in the world, or of trying to make sense of big or challenging questions. I’ve worked with people who consider themselves to be witches and simply wanted an ally in examining their natal chart or reading tarot cards as they faced major life decisions. I’ve worked with people who had some familiarity with astrology but wanted help synthesizing and making sense of their natal charts. I’ve worked with people who had no experience with astrology, tarot, or witchcraft, but had an abiding sense that there was more they could know. I’ve worked with queer and trans folks who were trying to find their places in a world that regularly tells us that there is no place for us. I’ve worked with people in ongoing practices of healing particular traumas, and astrology gave them another perspective and set of tools with which to support their healing. I think something all of these folks have in common is that they weren’t looking to me to be an authority on their lives or to give them some kind of prophecy about their future; rather, they were all engaged in processes of making meaning of their lives, they were committed to expanding their own view of their situations, and they invited me into those processes to use the tools I can offer to support them in the work they were doing.

Can you please tell me why you think people should try it out?

Honestly, the first thing I thought when you asked this question was that I hope people try it out if they feel alone. If they feel like they’re waking up day after day to a world in crisis and struggling to experience connection in ways that support them. If they’re exhausted with living in ways that are habitually depleting, unfulfilling, or disconnecting. I hope people choose to work with me because they want support in making meaning and finding healing in their own lives, and they’re open to astrology, tarot, ritual, and meditation practices being useful tools in these processes. 

What should someone expect the sign-up process to look like? What will they need to provide?

People can sign up for sessions through the contact form on the bookings page on my website: http://www.michaeljmorris.co/bookings.html
There are two main decisions they need to make before booking a session:
1. Do they want to meet in person at WitchLab or would they prefer to do the consult over Zoom video call?
2. Would they prefer to work with astrology or tarot as the center of our work together? In each session, I begin and end with simple ritual and meditation practices that support us in integrating what we learn together, but at the heart of the consultation is either reading their natal chart or reading tarot cards. These are two distinct traditions, and each offer different approaches to making meaning. If people are unfamiliar with astrology and tarot, they can read my description of these practices on my website: astrologyand tarot.
If people want to work with astrology, the information I need at the time of booking is:
-Their date of birth
-Their exact time of birth (usually found on the birth certificate)
-The city where they were born

How long should a client expect to be in session?

Sessions are between 60-90 minutes. This work takes time, and a lot of our time is spent in discussion. Sessions usually go a full hour, then we have some flexibility in the last 30 minutes to talk more or work through things that have come up. It’s not uncommon to use the whole 90 minutes, but the length can be tailored to what people need.

What sort of fees are associated with the service?

The majority of sessions are available at a sliding scale ($100-$150) in recognition of income inequality in order to make these services available to more people. What that means is: if you make more money, please give commensurate compensation in order to support those who cannot afford to pay as much; if you make less money, please pay what you can within the sliding scale.

As a participant in reparative justice, I also hold sessions each month free of charge for people of color and Indigenous/First-Nations people. These sessions are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. If these are communities to which someone belongs, they can let me know at the time of booking, and I can work with them at the next available time free of charge or for whatever amount they feel comfortable offering as compensation.
 
Thank you!

​The morning begins with the Moon in Scorpio making a sextile to Pluto in Capricorn. In its fall, the Moon may still be feeling unrecognized, and our feelings may not feel validated by those around us. Pluto invites us to examine and transform the shadow. Notice what you’re feeling, then don’t be afraid to look beneath those feelings for the deeper needs or wounds that might be covered over. Almost simultaneous to the perfection of the Moon sextile Pluto, Venus in Virgo moves into an opposition to Neptune in Pisces. Venus in Virgo is practical and realistic, which may feel in conflict with the fantastic dream-world of Neptune in Pisces. Neptune in Pisces knows no limits, and may pull us into expansive feelings of possibility and union. Venus in Virgo will ask us to face our fantasies and our ideals for love and partnership, then get to work putting the practical details in place that can actually facilitate connection and union—organizing our planners, setting dates, and being realistic about what we have available to give. This could be transformative and grounding, if we let it, because if we set sail on the seas of unbounded fantasy, we may be asking for the fall of disappointment. Allow your fantasies to teach you about what you want and desire, then focus on taking the actual steps needed to make any of that possible. In the last minutes of the day (eastern time), the Moon slips into Sagittarius: a breath of hope.

The Moon in Libra may be seeking social connections and gathering different perspectives in order to make sense of processes that are just beginning to unfold. As the Moon makes a square to Pluto in Capricorn, we may find ourselves at odds with positions of power with deep roots in the underworld of our daily reality. Look around you: as you learn to see from more and more points of view other than your own, do you find that deep injustices and abuses of power—such as centuries of colonization, enslavement, displacement, and dispossession—are becoming increasingly undeniable as the foundations of towering institutions that structure our contemporary global world? What are you being asked to confront? As the Sun makes a conjunction to Mars, we may experience uncommon clarity or understanding about the actions we are taking, a purity of focus that brings new vitality and visibility to the work that we’re doing. Whatever confrontation the Moon square Pluto is asking us to face, Mars cazimi in the heart of the Sun brings bold courage to separate from whatever is not serving life. 

Venus in Virgo makes a square to Jupiter in Sagittarius midday eastern time. As one benefic overcomes the other, there is considerable support and affirmation for the changes with which we’re moving. Venus offers the meticulous clarity of Virgo to Jupiter’s expansive vision for all that’s possible at the horizons of where we are standing. 

In the evening, the Moon will enter Scorpio, the sign of its fall, in the first few degrees of its waxing crescent phase. Even as the work at hand begins to become focused and clear, the Moon in its fall may feel unrecognized or even depreciated. It does, however, have reception from Mars through a sextile aspect, and Mars is still within 1º of an exact conjunction to the Sun. So even if you feel as if the work you’re doing—on yourself or toward the future—is not being seen, receive the resources that are available to you to sustain whatever you are doing.