Ceremony, Tools, and Tips for January’s Full Blood Moon Eclipse

Eclipse season is here, and this full, total lunar eclipse invites you to do act as the planets do — since the moon and the sun line up and create a shadow, your shadow or subconscious get brought to the surface. What is in the darkest part of your subconscious can be brought to light, and what you truly need can be revealed. Sounds scary, but it’s truly profound and an excellent place for self-discovery!

This lunar eclipse is in lion-hearted Leo, the fire sign that loves to be seen, making the focus be on how we show up and come off to others. This lunar eclipse also has a tight relationship with Uranus, the planet of sudden, unexpected change. Something may come up for you that strikes a chord, impacts you, and maybe causes a little bit of anxiety. Eclipses usually tend to bring up old wounds so they can be healed.

This particular set of eclipses, happening in Leo and Aquarius, have been taking place since 2016. This is a closing of a cycle. What has been going on for you since 2016? How have you grown? What have you learned? How do you want to use it? This is a time of release, giving thanks, celebrating, and connecting with something higher than yourself. If you are feeling overwhelmed by anything, give it a place to go. Write it out and place it in a box to put it in divine order. Celebrate your growth. Forgive. Release.

Tonight, get ready to honor yourself, invite in joy, give thanks for graceful growth and wisdom, and rebirth yourself into this present moment. Are you ready?

Here are some tools you can use tonight:

Tarot Card: Seven of Pentacles

“The 7 of pentacles is that deep breath we take when we realize it is time to step back and assess. It represents a pause and reflect. It is time to think about our past couple years and what we have worked through, enjoyed, endured, created, and handled.

The man in this card is a very hard worker, with his eye on the prize every step of the way. He is pictured next to his garden work, looking on with deep thought and with satisfaction. Tonight marks the time to take stock in ourselves. How do we create a beautiful relationship with our past in order to move forward with gusto and a strong heart?

The 7 of pentacles wants us to stop and honor ourselves fully before continuing on our path. This is also the time to ponder options. Pry yourself open for a second and see what’s going on. Check all the gears. Make sure you’re running smoothly and efficiently. This is such an important pit stop for you — enjoy it! Revel in the fruits of your labor and give yourself a hug and a pat on the back!” — Tate Eknaian

Stone: Amethyst

Let amethyst’s gentle yet powerful energy help create clarity in a time of beautiful cosmic chaos. A lot of energy is conjured up during eclipses, and so our minds might be feeling a little more frantic than usual. Breathe, if you’re feeling nervous or uncomfortable, you’re right on schedule, and it will pass. Amethyst can help create clarity and see through what is illusion or fear, and what is your truest life that is happening. It can also help guide you on your path, and is a protectress and gatekeeper who has your back super hard. Enjoy her presence on this eclipse blood moon!

Essential Oil: Spikenard

This is the oil that Mary Magdalene anointed Christ’s feet with in honor, and this is the oil that you can use to honor yourself with tonight. You’ve come so far. You’ve learned and experienced so much. You’ve made it here, now. Honor yourself for the work that you don’t even realize you do on a daily basis. The self work, the work in showing up in society, the work you do for money, or because you love it, or because you want to do and be better. Place this oil on your feet with a carrier oil, or simply put it in a diffuser or smell the oil from the bottle. Check in with your own intuition or a doctor before applying any oil.

Herb: Chamomile

Chamomile is a protective, soothing force that is eager to show up for you. The flowers look like little suns, yellow and brilliant, much like your solar plexus chakra. This embodies Leo energy to me, letting our own inner suns and identity beam out of us. It is about showing up in the world, letting ourselves be seen, all while being protected, strong, soft, and soothing at the same time.

Sit with this herb, carry it around, drink it in some tea, or burn it on this fiery full moon. Let yourself commune with the energy Chamomile has to offer. Check in with your own intuition or a doctor before drinking any herb.

Song: My Girls by Animal Collective

Wow. This song. Not only is it so celebratory, it is a true honoring of authenticity and finding the magic in the mundane, regardless of what else is happening around you. Celebrating the radical concept of showing up in the world, as you are, and seeing what is truly important. Perfect as we break ground tonight in who we truly are, and honoring the close connection this eclipse has with the North node in home and family loving Cancer. This song shows me you can be wild and authentic while also being grounded and landed and freaking ecstatic to be alive! Get wild to this song! Dance out any excess energy that would turn to frantic thoughts! Celebrate growth and celebrate the joy that you experience ever day.

“There isn't much

That I feel I need

A solid soul

And the blood I bleed”

Color —  Yellow and Orange

These two colors are bright, bold, hopeful, and exciting — just like you. It activates the solar plexus and sacral chakras, the ones about being able to receive and experience joy and pleasure, and having a healthy ego by showing up. Stimulate your sense of sight with these magical colors. Let your paper, candle, cloth, clothes, or even the food you eat tonight embody these colors.

Environment and Pose

If you are able to, sit up straight, on the ground, feeling the floor support you and having your spine be aligned. Feel your roots going into the earth and your spirit reaching the heavens. Make yourself and your space comfortable, safe, and as undisturbed as possible.

Here’s my ritual for tonight:

Tonight’s ritual is all about honor, joy, and rebirth. Are you ready?

Step one:

Make your space beautiful, unplug, and go in for a minute. Come home to you. Tonight, since it is a fiery eclipse and blood moon, light some candles if you can. Commune with the fire. Feel into your senses. Smell all the aromas, taste all the herbs and flowers, feel the warmth of the flames from the candles or the blanket you’re sitting with. Close your eyes or start a soft gaze on the flame of the candle.

Step Two:

Start to think about who you were in 2016, when this series of eclipses first started. Think of where you were emotionally, physically, mentally, in your growth, in your wisdom, and start to piece the puzzles from then until this very moment. Can you see how far you’ve come? What faded away for you? What came in?

Eclipse energy, or maybe it’s simply life itself, has a way of guiding us to our deepest truths. Sometimes, when we’re on the wrong path, or we get caught in illusion, ignorance, and fear, our path comes to a screeching halt so we can back up and go a different way. Sounds great, right? But how absolutely disorienting can that be! Tonight if you feel called, grieve the death of the person you once were. Grieve the lost belief, or the changing body, or the failed relationship, or the role you played. Release it.

Step Three:

Time to commune with the elements. Light your herb of choice, like rosemary, chamomile, copal resin, or cedar, and let the smoke cleanse you. Cleanse everything you feel has energy you don’t jive with. Put your candles around for fire and to embrace the energy of this moon.

Next, pour some water in a clean glass and put your favorite essential oil in it. Anoint yourself three times. I like to do so by making the shape of a crescent moon and sun at the top of my forehead. The first time you do it, release anything from your past that holds you back today. Let it go, and let it out. Then light a cleansing herb like copal, rosemary, or palo santo, and let the smoke cleanse it. Sit with that feeling, taking deep cleansing breaths. Next, anoint yourself again, this time releasing yourself from any attachments you have for the future. Let go of any expectations you have. Light the same cleansing tool, and let the smoke go, and take your breaths. Do it one final time, this time birthing yourself into the present moment, completely and wholly and holy as you are. Not living in the past, not living in the future, but living here, now, whole, not perfect, and absolutely powerfully and authentically you.

Step Four:

Play your favorite songs of celebration that make you come alive and move your body and emotions. Laugh. Sing. Cry. Dance. Breathe. Scream. Be.

You, my beloved, are alive. Life is hard. Life is easy. Life is confusing yet oh-so-simple. We fuck up. We make it up. We are dark, and we are light. We are angels, we are assholes. We are unique, and yet all so the same. Come alive. Feel into it all. Your life is a cosmic symphony and every high and low note is being orchestrated perfectly into a masterpiece. You’re the conductor.  Give yourself some credit, honey. Give yourself a break. Give yourself a sweet release that will bring you to your knees and come right back up again. I love you. I am proud of you. And I am far, sooooo far, from the only one. What you do in this life matters, you matter, and thank you for showing up and enjoying the ride.

Make tonight beautiful, make it yours. This is your night. Rewrite, reclaim, be ready to be reborn. There’s a reason the word lunatic has the word “luna” in it. The history is tied to the full moon. Legend says that the full moon makes us all “crazy.” I say it sheds light on our fears and desires — which I guess is its own form of craziness. Release, and be ready to step into your power and truth.

Moon cycles are opportunities. Harness this power to do the work that you’d need to do anyway, but now you are held and supported and turning it into ritual and magic. I love using this energy to gain self-awareness, strength, and sheer determination and clarity.

Happy full moon my loves — make it magical. If you’d like to go deeper, you can follow me on Instagram for daily astro insights, and spiritual information @kozmicryder.