The Wolf Moon: January's Lunar Magick
by Spencer Katherine
Here a young woman is honoring Gaia during a full moon ritual under the Wolf Moon. The wolves symbolize community, unity, and earthly wisdom. Winter correlates with Death and the Crone stage of the life cycle, so I included a path that travels through the cemetery just as we should not fear Death but live in a way that you may welcome it as an old friend. Death, just as winter, is not an ending but a transition. The flowers on the tombstone signify the importance of remembering those before us and honoring them through our life on Earth. The second wolf is in the background to remind us we are stronger as a community, especially during transitions. I used a gray-purple inspired by the Mountains of Southern California. As the sun is setting outside my apartment window, the sky's pink and orange make the mountains appear purple.
History of The Wolf Moon
Before we used the sun to keep track of time, known as the solar year, communities used the lunar cycles to track the year. Twelve full moons make up the calendar year, with an occasional thirteenth, also known as the Blue Moon. Today, the common names for the full moons of North America are a combination of Native, Anglo-Saxon, and Germanic contributions from colonial America.
The Wolf Moon gets her name from the time of year wolves are at their most vocal, just before the breeding season, which falls in February. The Wolf Moon is also known as Old Moon, Ice Moon, Snow Moon, or The Moon after Yule, but the Snow Moon is typically affiliated with February's moon.
The Wolf Moon and The New Year
Wolves howl as a form of communication to both neighbor and enemy. Nature is showcasing attract and repel. Although I am glazing over complexities that wolf experts would not, a wolf hypothetically could attract a mate and repel an environmental competitor in the same action. How does that relate to the modern human?
When we observe nature and build symbolic significance to each moon, we are also mindful. Each moon is a reminder to re-ground ourselves in different, complex areas of our day to day lives. What are the words we are using? Words are powerful and impactful. Be selective. Here are a few shadow work prompts for this month’s Wolf Moon.
How do I speak to people?
How do I speak to myself?
What am I trying to repel from my life?
What am I trying to attract into my life?
What do my beliefs say about the way I live?
Are my beliefs, words, and actions effective for what I desire to attract or repel?
How do my actions affect others?
Is the way we live our life attracting the type of people we want to be surrounded by and repelling those who do not serve our health and wellbeing? Toxic family-ties cannot be oversimplified, but healthy boundaries are part of self-care.
In an achievement-driven society, we can over-analyze how to approach a goal, dream, or desire to attain it rather than attracting positive experiences into our lives. January can bring inspiration for a new year and new page or bring floods of anxiety about what we "must complete" this year by such-n-such age at the such-n-such year to complete this bullet-point of life.
Rather than overloading ourselves with tasks for the new year, we can re-evaluate how to live in a way that inevitably brings abundance in our own shade of interests, relationships, and experiences. Abundance in love, quality of life, inspiration, and connection. Sometimes wealth can come along with it, but valuing the dollar over impact and community usually leads to some lessons from the Universe, mkay. So don't get greedy. *cough cough Jeff Bezos*
The Wolf Moon brings in the new year as a reminder to focus on what kind of experiences and influences you want for the next 12 months and to live in such a way to attract an abundant life!
Wolf Moon Magick
Instructions: Chant this spell over a flame during full moon ritual if desired. Use in times
of community conflict by chanting over the target’s cup of water or wine.
May the words I speak,
May the words I bite,
Push home the vagabonds-
Bring moths to light.
If I shall live to love,
Not to blindly fight,
Milk n’ Honey runneth o’er,
As our flock takes flight.