As you may have guessed from previous posts, I am in a metric fuckton fair number of witchcraft-related Facebook groups. Most of them are fun and informative, but I always brace myself right around the Full Moon, because somebody inevitably asks, “Who’s making MOON WATER tonight???” and then everyone loses their damn minds.
I had honestly never heard of moon water until about a year ago, but oh, ye Gods, people stress out about it. How long does moon water stay fresh? Can I put crystals in my moon water? Why does my moon water taste almost exactly but not quite like regular water? I tried to make moon water, but it was overcast last night; have I brought a curse down upon myself? I live in Saskatchewan and it’s the middle of winter and my moon water froze; what does this mean?!?
On a surface level, I understand the allure of “making” moon water: It’s an easy thing to do, and it feels witchy to talk about. But, as I’ve said before, Witchcraft is a craft above anything else, and if we want to see practical results from our work, we need to a) understand why we’re doing whatever it is we’re doing; and b) put some actual effort into it.
The following is not the Wisdom of the Ancients or anything — it’s just what I learned from practicing Witches when I was a newbie myself. But what I was taught was this:
On the night of the Full Moon, take a bowl of water outside and try to capture the reflection of the Moon in it (which is tricky but doable). Once accomplished, use the water to scry, or to commune with the Moon Goddess. Or, you can take it to your ritual space, consecrate it with a pinch of sea salt, and use it during an Esbat. Astrologically, the Moon stays full for three days — that is, if the Full Moon falls on a Saturday, you can still do Full Moon work on Friday or Sunday — so that gives us some extra breathing room to pull this off.
Now, there will be nights when the Full Moon is just not visible (overcast skies, inclement weather, volcanic ash clouds, etc.), but fortunately, there’s a nifty workaround. Before going outside, drop a dime in your bowl of water. Silver coins have a storied history of magical use in connection with the Moon, so even if you can’t catch the Moon’s direct reflection, the coin in the filtered moonlight will create a sympathetic effect. Then just head on and use the water as you normally would.
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