"The Moon was created for the counting of days." – Hebrew Midrash
Of all the cycles of the natural world that influence us, few are as regular or as plainly visible as the phases of the moon. Many of the first calendars were lunar – many still are – and the moon’s waxing and waning were important events in the lives of our ancestors - even the non-werewolves.
For the modern Pagan, that’s little changed. For us, the phases of the moon are a break from a world of artificial clocks and calendars. The rituals (esbats) we hold to mark the full moon (and for some, the new moon) are one of the ways we keep ourselves attuned to the rhythms of the natural world.
But one moon isn't just like another. A key aspect of lunar calendars was the association of a given moon with the changes and events unfolding in the world beneath it – when the crops were ready in September, they were reaped under the Harvest Moon; when hungry wolf packs ventured close to villages in January, desperate for food, they howled to the Wolf Moon. Each one has its own special character, and each one teaches its own lessons.
The names vary. Browse around, and you can find dozens of lists of names for this moon, that moon – Chinese, the various Native American tribes, Medieval Europe, Colonial America, etc. I (and my coven) go by our own names for each moon (more than one, for some), based on a mix of some of the older calendars, some more modern Pagan calendars, and some good old-fashioned "feels right" instinct.
For us, this April 17th is the Egg Moon. Ku-ku-kachu.
Sorry. Couldn't help that. Anyway . . . the Egg Moon . . .
Read on. . .
The egg is a fundamental symbol of life and fertility. Self-contained, laying dormant until new life breaks out of the shell, it's a clear and simple metaphor of creation, and it pops up in belief systems around the world.
The ancient Great Serpent Mound in Ohio holds an egg in its mouth, and shards of decorated ostrich eggs as old as 60,000 years have been found in Africa. Sanskrit scriptures speak of the Brahmanda, or "Cosmic Egg", and that theme continues in the Hindu Upanishads. The Chinese myth of P’an Ku says the universe began as an egg. The Finnish Kalevala has the world created from a duck’s egg. The Yoruba people of Africa believed the world was shaped in part by the spirits of the orishas, which escaped when the Sacred Egg was cracked. A story among the Chinook says they came from Thunderbird eggs. These examples barely scratch the surface.
Its association with new life (and rebirth) made it a natural symbol of Spring. Zoroastrians decorated eggs for their new year (the Vernal Equinox) over two millennia ago. Greeks and Romans also decorated eggs for Spring. Hebrews included the egg as one of the foods for the Passover Seder. Christians adopted the egg as a symbol of the Resurrection of Jesus at Easter (linked, of course, to the Vernal Equinox). This is particularly true in Eastern Christianity, where decorating eggs – often still using pre-Christian symbols of Spring – is a high art form.
At our esbats, I usually try to write a "ritual essay" for each moon, talking about the symbolism of the current moon and applying its messages to daily life. The messages of the Egg Moon are creation and rebirth. Winter has passed, the sun has returned, life abounds, and the world is renewed. As we recover from the doldrums of Winter, it is time to prepare for the work of the new year.
What projects do you have planned this year? How are you improving, growing, reinventing yourself? Starting a new job? Going back to school? Taking up a new hobby? Pursuing a new cause? The Egg Moon is the time to focus on that new beginning, and any other plans you intend on "hatching" in the months ahead.
But an egg isn't just a funny white ball that spits out life automatically. It's a set of simple, yet vital, parts. It has a shell to protect it, a lining to waterproof it, albumen to cushion it, chalazae to secure it and a yolk to nourish it. And it doesn't just hatch anywhere, anyhow. It usually takes particular conditions and some degree of care to get an egg to hatch successfully. At the very least, it takes a proper nest.
In the same way, our new beginnings are not automatic. Do you have what you need? Are you getting all the parts in place? Are you tending to it as you should? Making the conditions right? Just as healthy components and the right conditions are the difference between an egg hatching or not hatching, they are the difference between your new endeavor being a next step or a next stumble.
For my coven, I also try to include activities or magickal work that invokes the symbolism of the current moon. One of my favorite things to do for the Egg Moon is a guided meditation, using the symbol of the egg to work magick toward our growth and new beginnings. I use this one, based loosely on an original source I can no longer find, variations of which can be found all over:
Picture an egg inside you, right about the solar plexus. It can be any color – a color that has meaning to you, or a color that suits what you want from it. It can be plain, or decorated with symbols or words. Whatever suits you for the meditation.
Imagine it cracking open. Within it is a ball of warm, golden light, a magickal yolk. Feel the heat of it inside you.
If the egg has represented something internal to you – love, faith, joy, courage – picture that filling you, along with that golden light, moving into every part of you. If it has represented something external – a job opportunity, a financial boon – picture the golden light rising through you – rising out through the top of your head, gathering at a point above you, then moving away, flying off to manifest as the object of your focus.
My coven has also used this "egg meditation" for spiritual visions. Imagine the golden light rising, but this time imagine your consciousness binds to it as it moves. It carries you up, out the top of your head, and then . . . to whatever you see. You return when the vision or journey completes. In this variation, the golden light returns with you, and the egg is restored. When we do this meditation, we visualize the egg coming down to us from the sky before entering the solar plexus, and the restored egg returning at the end.
Beyond meditation, there are simple activities that can help someone get into the spirit of the esbat. Try decorating eggs, using store-bought dyes and wax crayons (or alternatives for color and design, if you're feeling crafty) to put words and symbols of Spring on them. Good words to use:
Beginnings, courage, compassion, confidence, effort, faith, intuition, inspiration, life, patience, peace, vitality, wisdom.
And some ideas for symbols:
Butterfly, crow, dragonfly, earthworm, ferns, flowers, hare, honeybee, sun
If you prefer, you can put these words and symbols on slips of paper and insert them randomly (and preferably blindly) into plastic eggs.
Then let everyone pick a certain number of eggs (blindly). They can then take a moment to write out what the symbols/words they’ve gotten mean to them, and what significance they see in the "message" of their eggs. You can share these thoughts as a coven (if you have one), or keep them to yourselves, however you like.
Note: at this point, I cannot stress enough the value of a “ritual journal” for each person, to write out things like this, record experiences from meditation, insights they have during ritual, etc.
An alternate approach is to have an actual "egg hunt", with everyone instructed to find a specific number of eggs. The ones they find are the ones meant for them. Then, as before, interpret what’s come to you. Admittedly, this method might be tough (and comical) at a moon ritual which is, by definition, at night. My coven did this for Ostara, during the day in a less formal celebration in a nearby public park. Yes, we had baskets and all. Yes, we got funny looks.
You can come up with other ideas for your rituals, if you wish. A symbol of fertility, the egg is also a
fertile symbol, and it’s easy enough to come up with your own activities, and your own lessons, that draw from it.
The Egg Moon is, in short, a time to focus on your new beginnings and how you will make them work. It is a time to think about tending your "nest" to get the results you want in the coming year. And if you like dying eggs (and who doesn't?), it's also a time to have a little fun.
Merry
esbat, everyone.