Behind the Scenes: New Moon Ritual

Sometimes we forget that social media is a heavily curated space. You generally see the best take, or the result of hours of editing and mixing. When witches or pagans share their experiences they tend to be the most revelatory or transcendent, or the spells that exceeded all expectations. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, mind you, I just think it can set up unrealistic expectations for others, especially folks new to witchcraft or paganism. And, when their own spells, rituals, or experiences don’t work out it can lead to a sense of defeatism.

To that end, I decided no to just skip this month’s New Moon Dream Ritual, but to share that it was a total flop. Some of that is probably due to some formulaic tweaking which did not have the intended results. Before I can talk about what I changed, however, we have to talk about what the ritual is and how it came to be.

Why a dream ritual?

It’s an open secret in my mom’s side of the family that folks have predictive dreams. My grandparents are devout Catholics, so we don’t talk too much about the idea of magic or psychic powers, but my family is also Cuban so we hold a lot of space for ideas, practices, and beliefs that really test the limits of what the Church would deem “appropriate” dogma. These dreams have run the gamut from predicting not just the sex of a future child to warnings of impending health issues or personal tragedies.

I decided I wanted to expand my skillset around divination to more than just tarot or oracle cards. Given my family’s propensity for glimpsing the future, or receiving insight, through dreams, this seemed like a natural choice to dive deeper. I did some reading about dream incubation techniques across various cultures, herbs and spirits that could serve as allies, and examples of rituals from both ceremonial and folkloric traditions that try to bring about prophetic dreaming. (While the folk necromancer in me is very much intrigued by the examples of sleeping on graves or burial mounds to request guidance from the dead buried within, the laws in these parts would frown upon me camping out in my local cemetery. )

This was also around the time I was exploring Celt-Iberian culture. Both sides of my family originate from Spain, predominantly the north-eastern areas. I’d grown interested in learning more about the pre-Christian religions and cultural practices of the people indigenous to those lands and was able to find a surprising amount of information. One pre-Roman spirit/deity I came across was Endovelicus. He was a chthonic god associated with the underworld, the earth, health, and prophecy.

In southern Portugal you can find the remains of a temple to Endovelicus. Leite do Vasconcelos, a Portuguese ethnographer and archaeologist, in his study of the site suggests it was used similarly to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. He also suggests that visitors to this temple would practice incubatio - the act of sleeping at a specific place hoping for messages to be delivered via dreams.

This piqued my interest, so I decided to really lean into exploring divination via dreaming.

How does the dream ritual work?

I was really enthralled by the lore I was discovering about Endovelicus and the Celt-Iberian culture. Given so much of my family originates from this area, I also thought exploring the practice of incubatio specifically with this regional deity might be a way to connect with my own spiritual ancestors from centuries past.

I can’t necessarily explain why I chose to do this on the new moon. I knew I wanted to tie this to the lunar cycle, and it immediately jumped out to be

After doing a bit of research, and pulling from my own personal experiences, I decided I wanted to incorporate the use of mugwort into this ritual. I’ve worked with mugwort for a while now, especially in facilitating journey work. Generally, I would smoke dried mugwort from a wooden pipe I use specifically for this purpose. That didn’t feel right for this ritual, so after looking at other options I decided to mix this herb into a tea blend that I would drink right before going to bed.

My husband was very clear that I had to use our spare bedroom for this ritual, as he did not want to get caught up in whatever might happen. I used incense to cleanse that space, and created an energetic boundary around the bed. I was very clear that the only things that were allowed to cross that barrier were those things I specifically invited in for the purposes of this ritual.

Making Adjustments

The first ritual was a flop. Endovelicus, if he was listening, was absolutely not interested in working with me. I gave myself some time to be dramatic about it, but then went back to the drawing board. I decided to bring in the spirits I have worked with the longest and have the best relationship with - Santa Muerte and my Queer Ancestors. I set up my small travel altar on the dresser in the spare room to invite them into the space.

The second ritual was a completely different experience. It was a total success, and provided me with a solid foundation on which to build. Has every ritual since then been perfect or provided a clear message? No, I still have an occasional night of “dead air”, or sometimes the message is very indistinct and difficult to make sense of. But I found a ritual formula that worked.

Then came this month. I decided to add something new into the mix. Before COVID I used to get a monthly massage. It was sometimes difficult to budget in, but it was a tremendous help for both my stress and my chronic back pain. I cancelled my subscription when COVID began, and after thinking about renewing it over the last year I finally decided it was time. (Actually, my back pain decided it was time.) I had the great idea to schedule my massage the same evening I was going to perform this ritual.

My thought process was that the massage would help to relax me both mentally and physically. Being in a more relaxed state would, I assumed, help make me more receptive. What ended up happening is I was too relaxed and fell into such a deep sleep that literally nothing was going to get through. Oops.

Additional changes that have been successful

So there you have it. No new moon ritual update this month because I slept like a baby. Sorry, not sorry.

I hope this behind the scenes peak provides a little glimpse into the creation process behind this ritual, though, and how experimentation is at the heart of witchcraft.

So as not to end on a flat note, I do want to provide some other changes I’ve made that were very successful:

• A friend of mine has wild mugwort that grows in her garden. I was able to harvest a bunch and used it to create a tincture. Now, instead of steeping a tea I pour a bit of that tincture into some water (to cut the taste) and drink that before going to bed. I’ve noticed it has more of an impact than steeping the dried herb.

• Last year, for a handful of personal reasons, I began to incorporate Eleguá into some of my rituals, especially those where having someone who can make travel between different spaces a little easier for both me and spirits. In addition to purchasing an effigy when I was in NOLA, I also went hunting for some antique keys to create my own representation for my travel altar. I now include Eleguá as part of the dream divination ritual, and it’s really helped facilitate clearer messages.