New Moons have always held an interest for me.  As Meta and I prepare for the coming month I noticed my calendar indicated two new moons for July.  It is a significant month for us as the first is our eighteenth wedding aniversary.  I have come to understand that traditional notions about marriage are fading in popularity.  Alas all things change in time.  I am also aware that, scientifically speaking my calendar my be incorrect and the two new moons in question may, astronomically, fall on the second of July and the first of August (Lamas by my reckoning).  As much as I would like to watch the moon with my eyes, going outside in my neighborhood at those hours of the night or early morning requires a flack jacket at the very least, by the way one of which I possess, a relic from the early vietnam era.  Its just such a hassle getting into it, the sight scares the neighbors and the jungle camoflauge pattern encourages a rather idiotic feeling within myself.  So however one might disagree, I go by my calendar and its accuracy is only important to me.  I am not suggesting now or at anytime in the future that you or any other person should go by my calender.  I figure if your that interested you can purchase your own time keeping pad.

In my mind there is little doubt that the reality we inhabit is under constant assault by flux.  Change, at times dramatic, is the only true constant in the universe.  Our preception of dramatic, or unpredictable, types of change is dependant on our chronological prespective.  For instance, if a person of eighty years age states that this the worst (plug in disaster of your choice) that they can remember, to a person of twenty or thirty years, it can be preceived with an intense alarm.  If the individual making the statement is five hundred or a thousand years old,  this could mean a living person or a historical account, the forementioned intensity, fear climbs porportionately so.  Simlpy put the greater the distance into the past one must travel to find a comparable disaster the more alarming the event.  Always be aware of such comparisons as the are given more persausive credit than they deserve.  Yes the world is a spastic chaotic place when you watch it from day to day over any given period of time.  An individual must step back before the larger cycles begin to become clear.  These cycles, lunar, solar, seasonal and millenial are far more sedate than the day to day events over any given weekly or monthly period, in no way am I aserting that they are free of flux.  As explained earlier flux is a constant and when taken in larger and larger chunks it just appears calmer.

Cycles are an important concept.  As we human’s find ourselves more and more out of the elements in a smaller world were we appear to exert more control and we are falling out of concious touch with the very planet we are not only physically, but psychologically and emotionally tied to.  Our bodies respond to the change in seasons, the phase of the solar or lunar cycles and we have direct hormonal and digestive cycles that fluctuate with starling regularity.  By breaking our awareness, or tie, with the world we are bound to we allow our bodies to suffer and struggle against the changes it naturally cycles through.  With sheer will we force of bodies to behave in a manner that is destructiuve to its own health.  My father use to insist that all it took to stave off illness, disease or death was simple will power.  I think you know how that came to an end.

So if you or I choose to accept these cycles as a reality then what is so special about a new moon?  Well, it is a good time to consider or start new projects and to assess your progress on continuing and/or ongoing projects.  Its always a great time for quiet introspection and remembering those who went before us.  As far as a double new moon (Two new moons in the same month) It is a good period to clean up old business that has lingered too long and consider long term plans.  By long term I mean years.  Where do you want to be five years from now and how can you begin to work in that direction.  All great undertakings require prespective and this will be a good month to aquire some.  Introspection and reflection never hurt anybody and neither did dreaming.  Now, even if it appears contrary to the prevailing logic, is the time to dream, always dream big with an eye on what direction to choose and what to accomplish first.

Now here’s a little bit of Ole’ Wives Magick:

I first heard of this through my wife Meta, It was a trick used by her mother and possibly her mother before her, although of that I am less certain.  You need a checking account for this.  On the new moon, at a time where you may be expecting an additional expense, a special occassion or holiday, back to school expenses, someone’s birthday or an unexpected expense like a short fall in a paycheck, loss of a job or house or car repairs or even an increase in property taxes.

Step one: Make out a check to yourself and tuck it away somewhere in your billfold or where ever you keep your cash.  This must be done on the new moon.

Step two: Let the check disappear from you mind.

Step three: Keep your eyes open.

Simple Rules: Don’t be greedy, ask only for what you need.  Always remember, Magick is like water, it seeks its own level by the shortest root possible.  The help can come from anywhere so forget your pride and appreciate what you get.  Meta has made this trick wortk three times in the eighteen years we have been married.  Whether you believe or are skeptical, when things are too tight to breath, What can it hurt to try?