After the debacle of a schedule that was June, I am finally getting back into Ian Corrigan’s Nine Moons. For those of you just joining me, it’s a regime of spiritual retreat days that emphasizes ritual, meditation, and trance as well as strengthening ties to the Three Kindreds. It is supposed to compliment ADF’s Initiate Program, fulfilling the magical and trance-related requirements. While some of my cohorts are on the 5th Moon in July, I’m working on the 4th.
I’ve already gone through the New and 6th Moons. I can’t tell you how good it felt to get back into long rituals again. Not feeling stressed and overwhelmed has really helped. I do feel that I have to make up for the scant offerings of June, though. It’s not that I feel the Nature Spirits or Ancestors are angry – I just feel that we grew apart a bit and I want to make it up to them.
Meditation and visualizations are going well. I haven’t had any intense trances recently but I felt I could have had one during my last ritual. I forgot to turn my phone off and heard it ringing in the other room. Still, the wine I drank before made me feel more inclined to slip into that other state of being. I will have to try that again!
Tonight is the full moon and, while it is technically when I should be doing my retreat, I’ve been doing them on Mondays this month. My schedule just works out that way. I am supposed to focus on the ancestors this moon and create a fetish for them to inhabit. I’ve decided to make myself a little skull with clay. Wish me luck!
Author M. A. Phillips 