FULL AND NEW MOON ESBATS AND HOW WE CELEBRATE THEM
Our Esbats – Full Moons, New Moons, Dark Moons, Sidhe or Black Moons… what they represent to us.
Esbats are the Full Moons, New Moons, Blood Moons, Blue Moons, Black Moons and Sidhe Moons which we as Witches of the NYC Wiccan Family Temple celebrate for each year.
Special moon events
Ritual Significance – Sidhe Moon
What are Black Moons?
Black Moons hold special significance to people who practice certain forms of Pagan religions and who believe certain actions become more potent when performed on the night of a Black Moon.
There is No Single Definition
There is no single accepted definition of a Black Moon. The term has been commonly used to refer to any of the following phenomena associated with the New Moon:
- Second New Moon in a calendar month: These Black Moons occur relatively often – once every 2.5 years.
- Third new moon in a season of four New Moons: Astronomers divide a year into four seasons – spring, summer, fall (autumn), and winter. Usually, each season has 3 months and 3 New Moons. When a season has 4 New Moons, the 3rd New Moon is called a Black Moon.
- A calendar month without a New Moon: This can only happen in the month of February. When this occurs, January and March will have two New Moons, instead of the usual one New Moon.
- A calendar month without a Full Moon: About once every 19 years, the month of February does not have a Full Moon. Instead, January and March have two Full Moons each. The next Black Moon by this definition will occur in February 2018.
