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Today’s Cosmic Self-Care explores the crucial difference between dark moon and new moon energy for effective lunar magic. I'll share why timing matters for spell work, ritual, and manifestation, and invite you to reflect on what needs to be released before you can call in something new.
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chapters
00:35 Understanding the Dark Moon vs. New Moon
02:08 The Dark Moon: Letting Go and Cleansing
05:49 The New Moon: Setting Intentions and Manifesting
06:47 Combining Dark Moon and New Moon Practices
08:38 Practical Tips for Rituals and Spell Work
09:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
transcript
Understanding the Dark Moon vs. New Moon
Hey everyone. Welcome back to Cosmic Self-Care. I almost said Self Help Witch. Same, same. It's Dana, and we're here today to talk about understanding the Dark Moon vs. New Moon.
The Dark Moon versus the New Moon. The New Moon in Leo is perfecting today, but as we have a New Moon once a month, every 28 days, there is a difference in the energy between a Dark Moon and a New Moon.
So I wanna clarify the difference between the two, specifically for magical spell work, ritual purposes. So I think actually the first thing we should talk about is the difference between those three things, because they're not exactly all the same. When we're talking about spell work, we're talking about energy workings. We're talking about energetic actions that create an outcome.
It's manifesting, but with action behind it. It's obviously a witchcraft practice. Ritual doesn't necessarily have to involve spell work, but it can. Ritual, to me, is like spiritual self-care. So it's taking a routine—something that you would do on a regular basis—and turning it into a spiritual practice by simply having the intention that it is. So that's what it is.
And when we're working with "the lunar cycles," we are often doing so from one of those vantage points. We might be practicing some kind of ritual. We might be doing spell work. We might be trying to manifest. We can get into the distinctions of all of that maybe in a different episode.
But the energy of the Dark Moon versus the New Moon is quite different. So let's get into it.
The Dark Moon: Letting Go and Cleansing
The Dark Moon is the period of time the Moon is not reflecting the light of the Sun before the New Moon is exact. So it's gonna be the day or two before the New Moon is exact. So in this case, the New Moon in Leo is happening at 2:11 PM Central Time on Thursday the 24th.
Today. So currently, right now, if you're listening to this before then, we are in a Dark Moon period. The Dark Moon is excellent for letting go, shedding, cleansing. And generally speaking, the waning Moon—from the Full Moon to the New Moon—is really good for this too. But the Dark Moon is like an amplifier.
If you think about the concept of creativity, there is this notion of the void—that everything that's created comes from this void, this creative void. And honestly, that's a lot like Pisces energy too. But I digress. We need to release, to let go, to cleanse. In order to bring in new things, we need to go into the darkness of the void to connect with creative consciousness. And that does involve, frequently, letting go, releasing, clearing, purging.
So the Dark Moon is incredible for those things—for making space so that you can connect with divine consciousness, your inner wisdom. Either one or both, honestly. If you want to create a ritual with the Dark Moon, it's gonna sound really basic, but I highly recommend literal cleaning. This is something I do frequently as part of my Dark Moon/New Moon ritual practice. This space that I record in, I'll sweep it up, I'll light incense—so I'll literally clean, and then I'll energetically clean with smoke.
You don't have to use smoke. You can use sound—like clapping or using a bell are good options.
Definitely also recommend rest. Sitting in silence. Meditating. If you can do any kind of journeying in your meditation practice—any kind of pathworking, which is a visualization technique where you essentially place yourself either in the past or in the future or in the liminal space.
I teach a concept in Homecoming, which is a program I offer, called the Inner Temple. I'm probably—I'm certainly—I would guess not the first person to come up with this. But your Inner Temple is like the waiting room, the holding room, the safe space in the liminal space where, if I'm going to, for example, do spell work and I want to work with spirit, I will go to my Inner Temple. It's my safe space in the liminal that allows me to feel safe, feel grounded, and then invite in my guides or whoever or whatever I'm trying to work with in that moment.
The Dark Moon is a great time to just go there and receive.
I think that's like the great—I think that's the best word for what to do with the Dark Moon: receive. To not force. To not do. To not exert a whole lot. And so even cleaning might be doing too much, but it's that idea of preparing the space by clearing out what doesn't need to be here. Getting rid of the excess. Throwing things away. So that there's more space.
So that's the Dark Moon.
The New Moon: Setting Intentions and Manifesting
Then we have the New Moon, or the Magical New Moon. So this is the time from when the New Moon is perfect or perfected (which is when the Moon and the Sun are in the same exact place in the sky) to where the Moon starts waxing until it leaves the next zodiac sign—or the zodiac sign that it's in.
So in this case, when the Moon leaves Leo, we are no longer in that New Moon territory. The New Moon is quite different from the Dark Moon energetically, because now the energy is building. The light is building. So now is the time where we wanna set our intentions. Now is the time where we want to think about and start planning for and take ritual action to support whatever we're trying to manifest, accomplish, bring into material being over this next 28 days.
Combining Dark Moon and New Moon Practices
I think a lot of people don't realize that distinction. And a lot of people also don't understand that you can actually bring these two practices together to have a really beautiful, complete practice.
When we talk about manifesting and New Moon intentions, we don't really ever talk about the Dark Moon and how going into the creative void is step one in figuring out what the intention even needs to be. We need to get silent. We need to get quiet. We need to go inward before we just jump into action and manifesting and, "Hey universe, gimme all this shit."
So I offer that to you as a way to kinda work with the New Moon today and moving forward. Now, if you're listening to this in the morning, it is currently the Dark Moon. So what you could do is consider what you wanna release. You don't need to do a huge, long, involved ritual. You can if you want, but you might not have time to. And it would be good enough—plenty. It would be more than enough, I think, to sit with yourself for five minutes, ten minutes, and say, "What do I wanna release? What do I wanna let go of?" Or literally just sitting in silence and seeing what comes to you with no expectation that anything will, with maybe just the intention that you're energetically clearing out.
I like the idea of doing a body scan visualization during that five, ten minutes. And in that body scan, you're imagining like a magic energetic wand is just cleansing you from head to toe and releasing any energy that's stagnant and needs to be let go of before we move into the New Moon.
Then, when we get to the New Moon later today—this evening, for example—you could sit and think of what's one, two, no more than three (I would suggest) intentions that I wanna work with over this lunar cycle.
Practical Tips for Rituals and Spell Work
So that is what I suggest for working with the Dark and the New Moon and really just having a complete New Moon practice. You can also do this with the New Moon today—or anytime. Take symbolic action that supports you energetically.
I'm talking about magic. I'm talking about spell work. You could use sigils. You could create a sigil with your intention. That's a really simple, fast, and effective way to—yeah, a way to bring your intention to life and to put your energy behind it.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
If you are still looking for a ritual creation guide, I do have that for free in the show notes.
If you have any questions or any comments, share 'em on Substack. Share 'em on YouTube. You can find me on Instagram at @selfhelpwitch. And remember, the most important thing is trust and gratitude. Know that when you set your intention—like know in your bones—that it is done. And know the universe has your back.
I'll see you guys tomorrow. Until then, happy New Moon. Bye.
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