At midnight there is a special kind of quiet in our being; this is both the time of greatest absence of the solar energy and the time at which it begins, unseen, to return. This is also the time when Sun energy flows right through Earthmother to us, strengthening our connection with her. Our physical energies are naturally at their lowest ebb, often allowing us to be more aware of our mental and spiritual energies. An introspective time, we usually sleep and turn inward to the world of the mind and spirit—perhaps we dream, perhaps we wander away from our bodies during sleep, exploring, learning, visiting others, doing whatever we do when we don’t have to carry a physical body slowly and laboriously through space. Sometimes we wake up in the night with Great Ideas. Sometimes they even still seem like great ideas in the morning.

To sleep soundly and rest well is a good intention for this time, but there are also other things to do. For example, you might want to do some work on a particular subject in your dreams, to solve a special problem in your sleep so that you wake up knowing the solution in the morning, to find the answer to a question, to learn something or gain insight about yourself, to work on healing yourself. Be careful what intention you set for yourself at this time, and set it in such a way that you don’t wake up exhausted in the morning, having worked too hard on some level during the night.

Winter, especially the midwinter solstice, is the time when this phase of the cycle is most powerful.

All of the daily phases of the sun are also influenced by the cycle of the moon so the energy moves monthly from waxing moon, strengthening sunrise, through full moon, strengthening sunhigh, waning moon, strengthening sunset, dark moon, strengthening midnight. From this we see, that, for example, the time of the full moon nearest the summer solstice must be the most powerful for the phase of sunhigh. Becoming aware of the swings and fluctuations of energy helps us to work with the energy flow more fluently and productively - and that energy is the power of the God within us.

Sun Ritual
Sunrise &, Spring Equinox
Sunhigh & Summer Solstice
Sunset & Autumn Equinox

Moon Ritual
Dark Lady, Dark Moon
The Maiden, First Night Waxing
The Maiden, Last Night Waxing
Bright Mother, Full Moon
The Crone, First Night Waning
The Crone, Last Night Waning

Sun Magic, Moon Magic

References & Links

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© Copyright 1986, 2005 by Jessica Macbeth. All rights reserved.
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without the written permission of the author.

First Edition 1986, First printed by An lios na bean bhochd 1993
Reprinted 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993