Before the moon is made new on April 22 at 10:25pm ET in the USA, it returns to the place on the astrological Wheel where it began its moonthly journey. The energy gathered through the moonth now flows away into moonless nights. What will you send with this energy to be transformed in the dark?

The moonth we are concluding began and now ends in Aries which corresponds to the Tarot’s Emperor card. In the Dark Goddess Tarot The Emperor is The Morrigan, the Celtic Goddess of the Blood. Ellen Lorenzi-Prince, creator of the Dark Goddess Tarot, description of Her includes:

The Morrigan is the Celts’ Great Queen, the supreme goddess of a vigorous and successful tribe. She provides for the needs of her people through her powers of fertility, magic, and warfare. Fond of the battlefield, she wears the shape of a crow or raven as she picks over the fallen and prophecies their doom.

Ellen’s suggestion for action when The Morrigan appears in your life is: Find the power in your own person. Know yourself as the ultimate authority of your life. Make the tough decisions that need to be made to both protect yourself and manifest your passion.

We began the moonth meeting our unique power-from-within and seeking out the ways to bring it forth. As we moved with our power-from-within, we welcomed the opportunity to join with others to create power-with as an antidote to the authoritarianism of power-over.

The end of this moonth offers an opportunity to reflect on what we have learned about power. We can first note and celebrate where we have grown our power personally and collectively to serve the greater good. And we can, as fearlessly as The Morrigan, take stock of how we have neglected, abused, or belittled our power. Then we can call upon Her to help us release what we do not need to carry into the next moonth. The 48 hours leading up to the April 22 new moon’s arrival is the optimal time for engaging in reflection and ritual to make this release.

Reflection – Mandala of the Moonth

Mandala is the Sanskrit word for circle, and in the Hindu and Buddhist tradition represents the universe. Creating mandalas through drawing, coloring, or sand painting has been undertaken by seekers as a spiritual or artistic practice.

To begin your reflection on the moonth passing, you are invited to create a mandala.

If you have been pulling cards throughout the moonth (the reading of the moonth, full moon cards, weekly pulls, your fun cards, your challenging cards, ect.) gather all those cards and spread them out before you. Spend a few moments just gazing on them. Do any centering practices that help you to step away from the demands of your everyday life. Then let your fingers start reaching out and arranging the cards in a pattern that includes a circular shape. There might be a center and an outer edge. There might be open space and clusters of cards. Let go of the conscious mind and let a pattern emerge.

If you haven’t been working with cards or are just inspired to create a fresh image, you can get a paper plate to use or draw a circle on paper and let your fingers guide the creation of an image from which a pattern emerges.

Once you have a pattern, you are invited to read the whole of your mandala as you would a single sacred image. You are invited to journal about the whole of what you see. These two questions might be particularly fruitful to address:

• What part of the mandala mirrors back to you how you grew your power-from-within this moonth? What do you know now about your power-from-within?
• What part of the mandala mirrors back to you challenges – internal and/or external – to you manifesting your power-from-within?

First, let yourself sit with and really take in your growth. Second, note the challenges that you are ready to release. You are invited to write each one down on a piece of paper for burning (safely!) in the ritual below.

Dark Moon Ritual

You are invited to work (safely!) with fire to release what you want to release.

You may want to invite The Morrigan to support you in letting these challenges to your power be taken away. Or you could call more generally on the element of fire to support you in burning up your challenges.

Take the little slips of paper that you have written down the challenges you are ready to release and light them on fire in a fireplace, cauldron, large candle holder (i.e. something designed to handle fire!).

Watch the fire burn and as you do let yourself trust fully that the challenges to your personal power are being burned away.

You may want to release the ash by scattering it on the earth, the element of our next moon in Taurus.

When the new moon arrives, you may want to make wishes for how the ash of your released challenges can become the compost of new expressions of power and your ability to manifest it on earth for the greater good. Be sure to write them down to revisit at the end of the moonth.

Want to know more about the next moon coming? Be sure to be on the list the receive my new moon news.