Deck Review - Spirit de la Lune

This deck arrived yesterday. After pondering over whether I should get it or not, I went ahead and ordered it. Definitely worthwhile. The site listed 2-4 weeks as processing time; I got my deck in about 2 weeks. Well packaged. Padded envelope contained Easter basket grass and silver stars for decoration; what a nice touch!

The box: I have the 2nd edition so the box is completely square. The 1st edition cards came in a round tin. Around the box in silver are the phases of the moon. Opening the box was just a tad difficult. The width of it is just a little too big for my hand span. The lid is a snug fit so I had to shake the box a bit to it off. The guide book is perfectly square; 1st edition book was rectangular.

The deck: My first round deck! How fitting that it is a moon oracle. 56 (+ 2 reference) cards which contain 28 moon phases (as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere), 12 zodiac cards, 12 full moon cards, and 4 special moons. The artists call them moondalas (moon + mandalas). Cute! I haven't worked with the deck yet but as soon as I opened the pack just to scan them, I felt calmness. Maybe it's the roundness or the muted colors or the abstract art. I knew I'd made a wise choice. In fact, it has inspired me to make my own moon oracle but I'll tell you about it some other time.

Oracle decks are different from tarot decks. Oracles can be any amount of cards and the creators will need to provide a guidebook. Tarot is (usually) 78 cards with a major and minor arcana; the meanings are pretty much universal. The artists of Spirit de la Lune make comparisons of their oracle to tarot - full moon cards are major arcana, moon phases are minor arcana, and zodiacs are the courts.

The deck is packaged with the full moon and special moon cards first. Next come the phases/zodiacs broken up by suits. The guidebook explains each cards and includes spreads for each full moon. I love the little mantra / poem for each phase card! Cursive on the intro pages is a little hard to read but that just means you have to take your time to read it.

I rate this oracle 4.75 / 5 moons. Since the synodic month is 29.5 days, I wish 2 or more space or void cards was included so that we could follow the moonth with a phase card a day. I'll probably just make some placeholders out of black construction paper. The borders that indicate the elements could stand to be more different. I'm having a hard time telling the purples, blues, and greens apart.

Deck website: http://www.spiritdelalune.com/

Durin's Day 2014

According to the dwarves in The Hobbit, Durin's Day occurs when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky at the same time. The secret door will only open with the last light of Durin's Day, or right at sunset.

First let's define the seasons. Contrary to popular belief, what we think of as the seasons are actually the midpoints. Spring equinox is mid-spring, summer solstice is mid-summer (Shakespeare had this right!), fall equinox is mid-fall, and winter solstice is mid-winter. The cross-quarter days are very minor holidays in our modern times: Groundhog's Day is beginning of spring, May Day is beginning of summer, Aug 1 is beginning of fall, and Halloween is beginning of winter. I'm pretty anal about this so I use the astronomical cross-quarter days which are Feb 3/4, May 6/7, Aug 6/7, and Nov 6/7 depending on leap year. This year fall began on Aug 7 and will end on 11/7 (in the North Hemisphere).

I use this site from NASA to get the exact time of the seasons and cross-quarter days:

Next, head on over to one of my favorite sites, Time and Date. Look up the moon phases to find the last new moon before 11/7 which is 10/23. The moon is not visible in the sky during new moon. While you're here, take note of the 1st quarter which is 10/30; we'll come back to that.

From The Hobbit:

Soon, [Bilbo] saw the orange ball of the sun sinking towards the level of his eyes. He went to the opening and there pale and faint was a thin new moon above the rim of Earth...The sun sank lower and lower...The little moon was dipping to the horizon.

We need to find out when the moon is first visible after the new moon. This will vary from area to area. So we need a more universal way of setting this day. The best I can do is narrow it down. New moon is too soon and 1st quarter moon is too late. Split the difference and I come up with the day when the moon is exactly waxing crescent*, when the sun and moon is at a 45 deg angle. This puts Durin's Day at 10/27 this year. Purists may want to celebrate 2 days after the new moon on 10/25. At least this gives us a window.


*Since there are 8 points to the solar year, there should be 8 points to the lunar month.

Apostle's Moon

Isis' Day
LuniSol - Moonth 8, Day 2
Metonic - Year 17, Lunation 205, Day 18
Dreamspell - Blue Cosmic Storm (13 Cauac) - Kin 39
Mayan Tzolk'in - 5 Eb (Yellow Overtone Human) - Kin 252
Mayan Ha'ab - 15 Zec

Waning Gibbous in sidereal Aquarius

On the Apostle's Moon, we think about what gives us hope. We wish on stars. If we have no hope, we go in search of it. - Moon Phase Astrology by Raven Kaldera.

Mother's Son Moon

Thoth's Day
LuniSol - Moonth 7, Day 17
Metonic - Year 17, Lunation 205, Day 5
Dreamspell - White Cosmic World-Bridger (13 Cimi) - Kin 26
Mayan Tzolk'in - 5 Cauac (Blue Overtone Storm) - Kin 239
Mayan Ha'ab - 2 Zec


Waxing crescent in sidereal Cancer


On the Mother's Son moon, we continue to examine our early nurturing relationships, but this time we need to pay closer attention to what didn't work out... If we didn't "fit" with members of our family for some reason, we probably got the message that parts of our basic natures were unacceptable and should be repressed or changed....How did we change ourselves to please the people we were dependent on? - Moon Phase Astrology by Raven Kaldera.


I remember my mother told me this story about my father, how she would get an idea but let him think that he came up with it. My father didn't go to high school; he only finished junior high (9th grade). My mother finished high school. She took a college prep course. My 1st husband was not bright. I hated having to dumb myself down. This was a recurring theme in all my relationships. Now, I don't profess to be a genius or anything. But there is  nothing like conversing with someone on your level.


My mother also told me that as a child she told I was standoffish. She and my sister are closer to being extroverts, while I'm an introvert. As a Jehovah's Witness, I was not allowed to be friends with people that I connected with if they were not JW as well. So Mother picked my friends for me. When I didn't like them, I was "standoffish". Today, I find it difficult to make friends (in person). Very hard for me to become more outgoing. The social aspect of my personality has been repressed and is hard to develop as an adult.


Did you have to change yourself to fit in with your family?

Pagan Blog Project - M is for Moon

I love the moon. As a woman, I feel especially drawn to Mother Earth's only satellite. The word month is derived from the word moon. However, months today are no longer associated with the moon.

Astronomical Facts

• A sidereal month is about 27 1/3 days. This is how long it takes for the moon to appear in the sky against the same starry background, i.e., 0 degs on the ecliptic.
• A synodic month is the time between the same phase (new moon to new moon) and is about 29 1/2 days.
• The moon is slowly getting further away from the earth.
• The 8 phases of the moon are new, waxing crescent, 1st quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, 3rd quarter, and waning crescent.
• Earth's moon does not have an official name like the moons of the other planets.
• Eclipses occur when the moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic. These intersections are called lunar nodes.

Moon and Paganism

• The moon has both day and night rulership of Cancer in astrology.
• Esbat is a gathering occurring on a moon phase.
• Many pagans celebrate at least 1 or 2 esbats (new and full moons); others add the 1st and 3rd quarter. I recognize all 8 phases. Each esbat corresponds to a sabbat in the Wheel of the Year.
• Some Buddhist sects celebrate uposatha which occurs weekly on the main phases of the moon.

Other Stuff

• Monday is of course the day of the Moon.
• Islam uses a complete lunar calendar. This is why their holy days drift during the solar year.
• One way to merge the lunar month with the solar year is to have 13 months of 28 days. This leaves 1 or 2 extra days. I believe this is the true meaning of "a year and a day" that you hear many witches talking about.

What interesting trivia do you have about the moon?

Damn you Daylight Saving Time!

My schedule has been seriously off kilter since DST. I've decided that my spiritual practice has no place for DST since it is not a natural occurrence. Just as I am adjusting to the month (moon), I will need to adjust to the day (sun).

Miscellaneous Monday

Lunar 9 - 1st quarter Moon in sidereal Aries
Dreamspell - White Crystal Wind - Kin 142
Long Count - 3 Ix - Kin 94

I got my severance papers from work. Makes it all real *sigh*. I'll look at the paperwork tomorrow and plan out my next few months. I want to concentrate on doing things around the house and getting back into a productive routine which includes doing my rituals and exercising. I'm looking forward to taking my Tai Chi class on Saturdays. Wonder if I will need a special outfit?

I want to do a Tarot spread, thinking of using the Mystic Goddess deck.

Feb 4 is astronomical Imbolc aka first day of spring. This has been a really mild winter.

Moonth 2 - Lunar Moon of Challenge

Geb's Day
Lunar 1
New moon = new beginning.

The company I work for decided that they no longer needed my team. Looks like I have a mandatory vacation for a minute so I have time to work on my spirituals studies. I looked into this Dreamspell calendar. It's very interesting but I will adapt it for my needs. It's based on the traditional Mayan calendar. There is an affirmation for each day which I find helpful for meditating.  However I don't agree with the Dreamspell year beginning on July 26; it doesn't make sense to me. Dreamspell also skips leap day. While I will use the daily spells, I will reset the months according to the winter solstice. This is the 2nd new moon since the solstice.

Dreamspell - White Self-Existing Wizard (4 Ix) - Kin 134
Mayan - 8 Cimi (White Galactic Worldbridger) - Kin 86

Triple Goddess

Since my posts have been about Buddhism, I decided that it was time for a Pagan post. The Triple Goddess – Maiden, Mother, Crone - typically refers to the Moon and Her phases.  I like to think of the Triple Goddess during solar occults* and lunar eclipses as consisting of the Moon Goddess, the Earth Goddess, and the Sun Goddess. The symbol for Triple Goddess in type is )O( or in picture form a waxing crescent moon, a full moon, and a waning crescent moon.

Triple Goddess also refers to different periods during a woman's lifetime. Maiden is from birth to 21, Mother is from 21 to menopause, and Crone is from menopause onward. Now, these are just my arbitrary values. Another Solitary or coven may a totally different setup. Maiden could be from birth to puberty and Mother from puberty to menopause but with puberty starting earlier and earlier, I would have a hard time seeing a 9 yr old as Mother. Usually there is a special ceremony for the beginning of each stage.

Note that in Paganism, Crone does not have a negative connotation. Maybe someone to post a comment about the background for this.

*Technically, solar occult is the proper name for the event that we call solar eclipse. The moon blocks, hides, or occults the sun.