How to Hold Your Own Supermoon Ceremony Tonight

The word lunatic is derived from the Late Latin lunaticus, or moonstruck (moon being luna, of course)—a term describing the long-held belief that changes in the lunar cycle can engender temporary insanity, particularly in women. (They do, definitively, in some animals.) The U.S. has just elected a president to whom the term has been applied—mere days before the arrival of the largest and brightest supermoon since 1948, which peaked early this morning in the U.S. and will again be visible tonight. Whether celestially catalyzed or not, millions of women (and men) are electrified with emotion. And the event provides as fitting an opportunity as any for women to get together and do something. Perhaps, at this historic juncture, something primal—shamanistic, even.

“The moon governs the waters, and women are very connected to the moon through the waters in our bodies,” says Deborah Hanekamp, a New York City–based healing practitioner and licensed yoga teacher who calls herself a “seeress.” (“It’s kind of just a gift that I have naturally to see people’s auras, and then I’ve learned to speak a language of what I see in the aura and translate it into English,” she explains.) Hanekamp has studied indigenous spiritual traditions extensively in both Southeast Asia and the Peruvian Amazon, and is an enthusiastic proponent of moon ceremonies—traditional rituals held on the occasions of new and full moons in which women can, she says, “energetically connect” to the earth’s satellite.

Why do this tonight? “On an emotional and mental level, water connects you to your emotions, your intuition. By doing a moon ceremony, you’re coming into a more emotionally intuitive headspace.” And that, Hanekamp explains, is where we need to be to respond appropriately to the new political reality. “As humans, sometimes we need hard lessons,” she continues. “We don’t really listen to the whispers. We need to be having this full supermoon that comes up right now because it fully shows us, pay attention here, look at this, look at this.”

Taking an evening to ceremonialize this moment, she adds, will “give a safe vessel to the wild and more primal sides of our nature, and release the anger in a constructive way so it can move and not stay in our heads and block us.”

Here, Hanekamp details a few practices she says can help harness the energy of the full moon, along with the steps for conducting a ceremony tonight—and every night the moon is full.

 

Full Moon Practices

 

1. Put a glass of water on a windowsill at night, ideally one where the moon is visible, to infuse it with the essence of the moon. Drink it in the morning.

2. If you have crystals, put them on the windowsill overnight as well.

3. Ask for blessings or pray.

4. Pay special attention to dreams or insights this night. Keep a dream journal.

5. If you want your hair to stay the same length, cut it on the full moon.

6. Take a bath.

 

Full Moon Ceremony

 

1. Make an altar.

If the ceremony involves a group, this will go in the center of the circle. You’ll need a source of water—“I like to put mine in a seashell,” Hanekamp says. “If you really want to get special, you can put a crystal in the water.”

Place crystals (she suggests selenite, so named for Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon) radiating in a circle in seven directions. In the center, place the largest crystal, which “represents the heart, the seventh direction,” she says.

Place something to be burned, like Palo Santo or sage, to the east, and matches or a lighter to the south. “I also keep amethyst in the south because it’s like a fire,” Hanekamp says, “or if you’re not afraid of having a candle, you can put it there.”

To the north, you could add a grounding crystal such as ruby or black tourmaline, or a plant. Add anything else to the altar that you want blessed, such as your everyday jewelry or another personal object.

2. Call in the directions.
To begin the ceremony, for each direction, starting with the east (air), have everyone face that direction and ask the spirits for guidance and protection. Repeat for south (fire), water (west), and earth (north), as well as for “the guardians” (upward) and the heart (inward).

3. Take a moment to reflect.

“Go around the circle and have everyone share realizations that they’ve had that day,” Hanekamp says. “If you’re alone, acknowledge them to yourself.”

4. Sing.
Ideally, you’ll sing any song that has to do with the moon. But don’t overthink it: “The thing with starting to access your more spiritual side is to try to keep your ideas out of it and just realize any song that speaks to you is a medicine song,” she says. “There’s so much power in women singing together and for centuries they have been trying to silence us. Now, when we join our voices together, a really powerful energy is cultivated.” If you’re alone and feel like singing or just humming, go for it.

5. Get creative.
“If you have time to create something else besides song, paint a dream, or draw, or craft something, like jewelry,” Hanekamp suggests.

6. Smoke it out.
Smudge each other with the sage or Palo Santo (in other words, move the burning object through the space around another person’s body); if you’re alone, do it to yourself.

7. Drink up.
Each person should drink a sip or drop of the water from the altar. “It could just be a drop going into your glass and that will infuse the prayers and the positivity,” Hanekamp says. “As you drink that water you’re taking in the blessed water into the waters of your body.” If there’s any left over, “give it to your plants and animals. It’s also really powerful to pour some of it into a nearby water source, like a river or ocean.”

8. Create closure.

Take your objects back from the altar. Each woman should say to each other woman, “I’m here for you.” If you’re alone, Hanekamp says, “put both your hands on your heart and say it to yourself.” Then blow out the candle, if you have one.

 

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