"When cleansing we must first empty. When manifesting we must stand open." - ML

On August 18, 2018, the moon is half full. It is waxing and growing brighter in illumination. When the moon is waxing into fullness we are most aware of our desires and needs to grow. We see the future just as we begin to receive open doors on how to get there. The First Quarter Moon phase is the most fertile time of the lunar cycle. It is the moment where we work in our budding gardens to reap the abundance of last quarter moon's harvest. 

The First Quarter Moon occurs in misty Scorpio. This FQM is deep, intense, and sensual. It tickles our most sensitive soft spots so that we can peacefully move through them to build a sturdy foundation on solid ground. Relationships and shared resources are highlighted under this waxing moon. It foreshadows sporadic group ventures, testy joint investments, and outlandish community healing. 

Creative projects that involve shared resources, community facilities, water, mysticism, occult knowledge, and deep spiritual practice will be highlighted and favored. Scorpio is often symbolized as a grieving or over-attached mother. Mother related issues or experiences may surface during this time. 

During this period it is best to connect with your emotional and spiritual body. Mediation, yoga, acupuncture, massage, blood cleansing, detox, and foot baths are very useful and received well at this time. 

If possible be near the ocean or the sea. Scorpio is governed by Pluto, the planet of death and transformation. This period is excellent for baptism and healing ceremonies.  

Avoid leaving little children unattended near water. Drowning is symbolic of this sign.

Water Ceremony for The First Quarter Moon in Scorpio:

In ceremony, we charge our water because it is innately neutral. Water serves as a carrier. The binding agent that reacts with our own personal energies, intentions, thoughts, and feelings. It is the substance of what we are and what we come from. Water is our blood. Water is our purity. It is our peace. In metaphysics, water symbolizes all that is feminine, yin, and divine. It represents our feelings, emotions, and sensuality, the inner complexes that create our external realities.

In this ceremony, the water cleanses your skin and removes all impurities, negativity, and destructive thought patterns. It breaks down and decomposes what is already dead and ill-serving. It purifies us and leaves us new. 

To add more intensity to your ceremony imagine that all negativity and deadweight is draining from your body and consciousness as you watch the healing water empty into the drain.

To begin: go into your higher state and ground your center. Take a charged bath or shower with the intention of washing all impurities. If possible, use anatural oil based soapor salt. Imagine that you are being cleansed and renewed for illumination on next week's full moon in Pisces. Becuase Scorpio is a sign of depth and eroticism, it may be helpful to set the mood with candles, incense, crystals, ancestral artifacts, lights, and darkness. **** if you plan on drinking this potion please store in refrigerator or cooler. 

Once you have taken your bath, charge a mason jar or glass pitcher of balanced water with blood cleansing herbs, roots, and oils. For this ceremony herbs such as nettle leaf, burdock root, dandelion root, spirulina, and raspberry leaf work well. You will charge this water now for ingestion next week. Place all your hopes, intentions, wishes, dreams, manifestations, fantasies, and desires into the water. Unleash all you tell yourself is impossible. Let it wash its way to the surface. Once you are done label and seal the container. Store in dark resting place until next week. Do not open.

If you would like, here is an affirmation poem charged specifically for this cleansing moon:
(saying this aloud 3x with confidence is extremely powerful -- let your voice hear you)

I am open.
I accept all that waves, flows, and ebbs.
I dance in the wind of the Seas.
I amlove.
I am free. 
My life is eternally and effortlessly peace.
In all transgressions I am.
In all moments I will.
In all experiences I be. 
I accept the Mother within.
I nurture myself.
I Mother myself.
I heal all traumas of the womb attached to me. 
I am one with Water.
Water is in me.

I surrender to the Waves.
I am in flow.
Flow is in Me. 
I release the Old.
I am eternally free.

Planetary Aspects: 

Mercury Retrograde in Leo Sextiles Venus in Libra at 11 degrees. 

Communication is harmonious and polite. A period of peace and insight. Directness or beating around the bush may create rifts but nothing to be taken too heart. A time of great conversation and companionship. A warm loving social environment. Business ventures and creative projectes surrounding the arts, home, and design get a much deserved boost. A great time to take advantage of small talk and bright minds. 

Moon in Scorpio Sextiles Mars Retrograde in Capricorn at 29 degrees. 

A time of deep passion and self-expression. A tendency to desire control and possesion over external measures and emotions. Deep displays of maturity, love, and affection are shown during this time. Capricorn's earthly sensuality is deepened by Scorpio's desire for erotica and stimulation. Physical energy may be necessary to relieve deep rooted stress. A time for patience, pracitlaity and revelational feelings.