Yesterday I posted an image of my celebration of the New Moon on social media with this text:
‘Whatever inspiration you hatch, make sure it’s the inverse of what is expected.’
This made a student in my Marseille course class and Nonreading program ask: ‘What’s the deal with the New Moon and the setting of intention? I see a lot of divided opinions on the internet about it.’
This question inspired me to make the following remark, as I also see a lot of confusion about this in the social media space, where opinions abound. I have no interest in correcting anyone’s ways, but I do want to make a call for common sense.
What we call the ‘setting of intention’ presupposes action and drive. The New Moon is NOT about that. You know why? Because of astronomy.
Given that the New Moon is dark, like, totally dark, what we’re dealing with is the notion of darkness mirroring the dark territory in your head.
The fact that this New Moon is in Leo ruled by the Sun means nothing in light of the fact that the moon, whenever new, is as dark as hell – according to people’s correlations across dualistic systems and differentiations between light and dark.
That the moon is as dark as hell is significant, hence the warning in most magical traditions to stay away from magical spells, and that includes the time of the new moon until the first crescent.
Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, I’m with the tradition here. Don’t DO magic when the moon is dark, and that includes expressing exuberantly your new plans. Allow for the dark territory in your head to teach you something about the value of darkness at large.
It’s a good idea to check a moon phase calendar on the internet to get the visuals in place.
When the New Moon is dark, it has no light, so it will help you little with the drive behind your intentions. Again, what you can do is contemplate on what you want, if you are not accustomed to the better practice of darkening the mind, à la turning it void, so that you’re completely ready to go with the first ray of moonlight, when the crack is open again.
Here’s my advice: Whatever magic you have just done for your intentions, rethink it. Do it again on the fifth of August, when the first crescent is on. That’s when your intentions will gain momentum, in the first light.
Let me go back to my cards.
I have an interesting set here that you can only see in a book published in 1974. La Tour de Feu is a defunct French literary magazine. But in 1953 the editors had a great idea. They decided to gather a bunch of poets to have a table ronde in Jarnac, the capital of cognac, and talk about what they called, ‘The Experience of the Tarot’s Arcana.’ They were all sworn to the idea that poetry itself is the tarot. As stated on the back cover: ‘La poèsie c’est-à-dire les arcanes.’
Contemplating the Tarot images that were created for the book some 20 years later, that also come with the most fascinating poetry and literary short essays about the tarot, I’m thinking precisely of the function of the dark moon to mirror the darkness in our heads, the kind of darkness that we want to experience on purpose and beyond plans, projects, and prosperity.
That’s the point of darkness: To teach you to shut up, and that includes your mind.
The Late Messiah, The Somnambule, The Inextricable, The Geanthrope
The card of the Moon in the Tarot de Jarnac is called The Somnambule. As I’m playing with a string, I see how the sleepwalker is pushing against the Hanged Man, here depicted as the Late Messiah, looking into a mirror.
The Sun, The Inextricable, is here conjunct a Moon going where it does not know where, as it’s devoid of her basic desires – that’s what the dark moon stands for, astronomically speaking, as she’s not chasing the sun anymore, she’s one with it, yet without knowing it.
On the other side of the inextricable, I find the man of earth, The Geanthrope, the hierophant, creating rituals on the new moon, perhaps without knowing.
When the moon is dark, it can teach you the secrets of the earth you tread on. But you must be free of intentions for that lesson.
Look for the crescent, if you want to get ahead with your plans, and let the dark moon be.
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Cards: Tarot de Jarnac, printed on fine paper by myself, one afternoon when I decided to give the poets from Jarnac a new voice.
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For more such practice with the cards:
- Join the Read like the Devil Club.
- Visit also Aradia Academy and sign up for the newsletter that will keep you informed on upcoming courses and cartomantic activities. Note the Off the Shelf offering that also includes free resources.
- Check out my books on the philosophy and practice of divination at EyeCorner Press.
- Get a reading. When I perform a reading, I also teach, simply because I can’t help myself, so you will be twice served.
TAROFLEXIONS 
Excellent! And……. quite accurate.
Well said! The dark of the moon is no time for spell work. 🙂
I forgot to mention that in Jyotish (Vedic Astrology), the Moon is considered very weak when it is dark. Only when it reaches the stage of crescent Moon does it begin to acquire power. In fact, the weakness of a dark Moon changes the nature of Chandra (the Moon) from benefic to a mild malefic.
Indeed. The same applies to the the full moon. When the moon is in direct opposition to the sun, which it is when full, it has little power. So all those running around doing full moon magic because it’s supposedly powerful, have not read any renaissance astrology. It’s best to do magic when the moon is in applying aspect to the sun, not in full conjunction or full opposition, when it loses its identity or gets burnt.