Drawing Down the Moon – History and How It’s Done

Drawing down the moon is an ancient ritual of drawing the Goddess or Triple Goddess within. While the practice is ancient, many Neo-Pagan and Revivalist covens practice the ritual.

Margot Adler (Drawing Down the Moon) states:

“Many of the revivalist covens have rituals in which the Goddess, symbolized by the moon, is ‘drawn down’ into a priestess of the coven who, at times, goes into a trance and is ‘possessed by’ or ‘incarnates’ the Goddess force. Similarly, there are rituals where the God force is drawn down into the priest who takes the role of the Goddess in the circle.”

Ancient Practice

Witched and ancient Pagans would draw down the moon to gain spiritual incite and as a form of worship, much to the dismay of early Christians.

According to Barbara G. Walker (The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets):

“Witches invoked their Goddess by ‘drawing down the moon,’ a rite dating back to the moon-worshipping Thessaly, centuries before the Christian era. Thessalian priestesses also prefigured ‘witchcraft’ by laying curses with ‘moon-dew,’ said to be the first menstrual blood of girls gathered during a lunar eclipse. Medieval folk believed such a curse incurable. St. Augustine and other fathers of the church believed what Virgil said about moon-priestesses, that they could draw down the moon, stop rivers in their courses, turn back the wheel of the stars, or bring trees marching downhill. St. Augustine berated women for dancing ‘impudently and filthily all the day long upon the days of the new moon.'”

Do you ever feel that the primary goal of the patriarchal religions was to enslave humankind and take away powers that are only dreamt of in today’s fantasy and science fiction novels?

Wiccan Practice

Although sometimes challenging to locate, Wiccan covens have sprung up across the globe in recent decades. Yet, many Wiccans are solitary practitioners.

For solitary Wiccan, drawing down the moon is a sacred and spiritual experience that the practitioner personalizes.

In other words, there are as many ways to draw down the moon as there are witches and covens.

In Witches and Witchcraft (Mysteries of the Unknown), we learn that:

“Wiccans identify the ever-changing moon – waxing, full, and waning – with their Great Goddess in her varied aspects as Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Thus it is that a ceremony intended to bring the moon’s magical power to earth, called Drawing Down the Moon, is the essence of goddess worship and a key rite in the Wiccan liturgy.”

Why the Moon?

The moon lights up the night sky and gives us her light when we need it most. Since ancient times, she has been associated with the feminine, birth, life, and death.

Manuela Dunn Mascetti (The Song of Eve) explains the correlation between women and the moon:

“The phases of the moon are to be compared to the three ages of woman: the new moon representing the young virgin, the full moon representing woman in her full sexual potential and the waning moon representing the wisdom of old age. The relationship between a strong Goddess and the moon is therefore interchangeable and often one Goddess may represent all three aspects of womanhood. Diana-Artemis, Goddess of the Witches, was the Great Goddess of the legendary Amazons. These were female warriors, wise in healing and midwifery, from ancient Thrace, Macedonia, North and West Africa and Libya.”

Many other goddesses are associated with the moon, including Dae-Soon, Hecate, Cynthia, and Ishtar.

Most Basic Solitary Method

The most important thing is to be in a relaxed and open state of mind and to focus on the goal of drawing down the moon. In addition, you may want to set an intention for your rituals, such as gaining clarity or increasing creativity.

Here is one possible way to perform a moon ritual:

1. Go outside under the full moon. Get into a relaxed state and focus on your goal.
2. Gaze up at the moon in the sky and see yourself drawing it down toward you.
3. Use sound to attune to the lunar energy. For example, you can chant or sing a song or simply say the word “moon” over and over.
4. Use movement to connect with the moon’s energy. You can sway your body back and forth or dance around your space.
5. Allow the energy of the moon to fill you up. Hold the intention in your mind and let the energy work its magic.
6. When you’re finished, thank the moon for her help and release her energy back into the universe.