Harvesting the magical energies of sun and moon

Since we just pasted Mabon, the Autumn Equinox and the second Harvest Festival on the Pagan calendar, I thought it might be interesting to talk about a way to harvest and preserve magical energy associated with the solar seasons and the lunar cycles. Many people who are new to magic... and even a lot of people who have been practicing for years... get all hung up on timing, on being able to tap the energies of the proper season, or the proper moon phase. They may need to do a given spell NOW, but don't feel that really can and be successful because it "requires" full moon energy, or the energy of a particular Sabbat or whatever. Well, there is an easy way to collect, or harvest, these energies and keep them around for any time you need them: Magically charged water.

We just as a brief but heavy rain storm and I went outside to set up a glass jar to collect some actual "harvest water:" rain water charged with the fruitful harvest energies of Autumn and the vibrant, waxing energies of the fast approaching Full Harvest Moon. This potent energy can be preserved in the form of ice cubes and stored in the freezer indefinitely (just make sure to put them in a sealed bowl or freezer bag, properly labeled!), and any time you wish to add a little of that special harvest energy to your magic, just thaw out a couple of cubes the day before and add the water to your spellcasting. You can do the same if with snow that falls closest to Yule/Winter Solstice. Collect it, compact it into tight little snowballs and pop them in the freezer. If you live some where that's too warm for snow, collect any rain water that may fall.

You can do this at any time of year to capture the energy of the season, or moon phase if you happen to be lucky enough for it to rain or snow at the appropraite time. Rain water falling from the heavens is very magically potent. Rain is renewing, refreshing, and invigorating. And rain that falls close to the solstices and equinoxes, and at the full and new moons is especially powerful. So why not take advantage of this resource? (Just don't collect the rain water from your downspout as it will pick up any and all contaminants that are lying around on your roof.)

Don't have any rain or snow predicted to coincide with the magical day in question? No problem...

Fill a glass jar with water and set it outside or in a window that receives direct sunlight and/or moonlight. The light streaming into the water through the window will charge the water with corresponding energy, allowing you to harvest the energy of the season or moon phase. Then freeze the water into ice cubes and store for future need. While not quite as potent as rain water, creating this kind of charge water has the advantage of being completely safe to use in magical teas and in cooking, where as rain water may not be exactly potable, especially if you live in dense urban environment. To harvest the maximum amount of energy for a solar holiday/season (meaning one of the 8 Sabbats) set you jar of water out in the sunlight every day for the week preceding the Sabbat, and put it into the refrigerator after sunset.

To collect the energy of the full moon is a little trickier. You want to put the jar of water out where the moonlight can reach it at night, but pull it out of the window before sunlight touches it because the energy of the sunlight will "erase" the lunar energy and overwrite it. So you'll have to make sure to set your alarm clock and put you jar of lunar water in the fridge before sunrise! Magically, speaking you have 3 days to harvest full moon energy: the day before, the day of, and the day immediately following the astronomical full moon. It's up to you how many times you want to get up before dawn, but if you can harvest lunar energy for all three days, so much the better!

Now, after harvesting and freezing the energies of sun and moon, any time you need or want to work magic for some purpose or to help along a desired goal you can utilize the magic and power from any season and any moon phase at any time! And if you happen to be lucky enough for a Sabbat to fall on any one of the 3 days of the full moon just think of the magical harvest you could reap! Now go clean out some jars, make room in the freezer, and go harvest yourself some magic!