A New Moon Ritual for Intention Setting and Manifestation

A new moon ritual is one of my favorite ways to set new intentions for the month and manifest magic with the universe.

In this blog post, I'll be sharing a simple yet transformative new moon ritual that you can do every month.

The energy of the moon

The rhythms of the moon has long been known to have an affect on not only our planet (the ocean tides respond to the moon twice a day) but also on us as well, especially women.

We're mostly made of water so it's no surprise that we are also affected by the gravitational pull of the moon. Before technology and artificial lighting, the new moon was the time when women would have their monthly bleed. They would focus their energy inwards as it was a time of reflection and rest. It was also the time when women were considered most in touch with their intuition and the spirit realm.

Today, in our fast paced world that caters to the energy of men, women are expected to keep the same tempo all month long. But our bodies don't; they still follow a cycle just like the moon does.

Did you know that every woman's cycle follows a pattern with the moon? Even if you're "irregular". I found that I will bleed on the full moon, skip the next one, and bleed next on the following new moon. I just think it's amazing the way we women are especially connected with the moon.

Sister, your blood is sacred. Your blood is righteous. Your blood is magic. The choice is yours to honor and revere the embodiment of the sacred feminine that lives within you. - Wild Woman Sisterhood

What do you do during a new moon ritual?

When the sky is dark and the moon cannot be seen, this is a natural and perfect time to rest, reflect, and plan. It is not a time of action. I LOVE doing self-care and mindset work with the moon phases, because it touches on all aspects of self-care and manifestation. Rest, reflection, planning, following your intuition, inspired action, celebrating, releasing, and returning to a state of rest once again.

The moon's energy is our constant reminder to stay in touch with ourselves. To remember to step out of this busy world and reflect as well as listen to our true gut feelings. Constant action is not productive or healthy.

As women, one of our unique powers lies within connecting with our intuition, putting feeling into our intentions, and then taking inspired, joyful action towards it.

Women are magical in my opinion. And the moon is your reminder of that. You're connected to the moon and I invite you to flow with her feminine energy to keep your own body and soul in balance.

Here is my favorite new moon ritual–a ceremony for clarity, connection with self and intention setting.

1. Prepare sacred space

To begin, I always like to make sure my sacred space/altar is clean and inviting. I dust it, clear it off, throw away anything in the drawers.

I gather anything I'll be using. Usually that means a pen and the moon ritual sheets, or you can use a journal or notebook.

2. Take a ritual bath

Water symbolically washes away the old. I love to run a bath and fill it with detoxifying bath salts. Plain epsom salt is what I use (I put around 2 cups in my bath water). The epsom salt pulls the impurities from your body and helps to clear your energetic field. 

I like to dim the lights and relax there for around 20 minutes. I love playing beautiful music to just really help myself step from this world into the quiet world of the new moon.

Envision the water taking away any negative energy you've been holding onto. Submerge yourself and be still. Clean your slate mentally and energetically for the new month.

3. Ground yourself

Next I go to my sacred space and ground myself. An easy way to ground yourself is by having all four of nature's elements present in your space.

Crystals represent earth, candle represents fire, incense smoke represents wind and a bowl of water with sea salt in it can represent the ocean. Having these elements around me is instantly grounding and brings about a very spiritual feel. 

You can place crystals out that you're drawn to (moonstone is an excellent crystal for new beginnings, as is labradorite and amazonite), and light a candle and some incense if you'd like. I love using selenite for pretty much all of my moon rituals.

Close your eyes and just start with taking some deep, recentering breaths. Let your breath go all the way down into your womb area. Feel the ground beneath your feet and know that you're connected to mother earth. Feel yourself coming into alignment.

Visualize a warm, white light around yourself or your space if you'd like.

4. Energetically clear yourself and your space

Once I've done this, I will energetically clear my space. I love palo santo sticks to clear the energy surrounding myself and my items. You can also use sage if you prefer. I just love the woodsy, earthy scent of palo santo.

So I will light a palo santo stick and wave the stick around myself in circular motions and then around my space and any items I want to energetically clear, like my oracle cards.

5. Journal

Once you feel grounded and connected, a great way to continue the cleanse and create a fresh slate is to journal. Release what's been on your mind. Don't worry about what you're writing, just write and let it flow out of you. You're clearing your heart and mind so that you have a truly fresh start for the next four weeks.

How have you been feeling? What's been on your mind? Write about what you'd love to experience next. What sort of intentions, desires or visions do you have for your life?

Moon Ritual Bundle

6. Write down your intentions

Once you've cleared your mind and thought about what you want to create/manifest, write down your intentions. You can do this for the next 4 week lunar cycle or for longer.

Be specific when writing down your intentions of what you want to manifest. The clearer you are, the easier it is for the Universe/your subconscious mind to begin creating it. The easier you can conjure up how you want to feel around this intention, the better you'll be able to energetically attract it to you.

7. Receive divine guidance

This is probably one of my favorite parts of any moon ritual. After I set my intentions, I pull oracle cards for spiritual guidance. You can check out my favorite decks here.

Whether you believe in a higher power, spirit guides, angels, or simply your subconscious mind, oracle and tarot cards are a beautiful way to receive divine guidance. You ask for guidance, general or specific, and allow your intuition to shuffle the cards until you feel done, and then pull a card/cards that you're drawn to.

I always write down the messages I receive from my cards because it's really helpful and interesting to look back on. This is the spread I use from the moon ritual sheets:

1. Where am I presently?
2. Let go of this
3. What energy is abundant for me during this new moon cycle?
4. Focus on this regarding my intentions
5. Message from the Universe

8. Visualize

Next, lay down on your bed and close your eyes. Listen to music or a meditation if it helps you concentrate. Visualize in your mind's eye your intentions already manifested.

Let yourself go and really allow your imagination to see this picture crystal clear. It should be so clear that you actually begin feeling the emotions of your intentions already completed.

For example, this coming new moon I'm going to set an intention for my husband to have a successful season at work (he wants this as well so we are co-creating it together). I want to experience him coming home excited and not stressed.

I'm going to visualize him and I giddy over the phone talking about exciting news, about us going out to dinner to celebrate, of us practically jumping up and down because everything is going so well.

Whatever it is, see and feel it in its end state. And then I'll finish it by thinking "This or something better."

"Today is a great day to manifest the shit out of some abundance." - Unknown

Closing

Fold your paper with your intentions up and place it somewhere safe. Take it out and read over it every night, visualizing your intentions and feeling them completed.

The main point of a new moon ritual is rest, reflection, planning, and getting in touch with yourself. Know that our whole universe is made up of energy and that you have the power to create beautiful things in your life. You're more magical than you've been led to believe and you have unseen forces waiting at your beck and call.

I hope you enjoyed reading this new moon ritual; you can check out my other moon rituals here:

• Waxing Moon Ritual for Clarity & Inspiration
• Full Moon Ritual for Releasing & Celebration
• Waning Moon Ritual for Letting Go & Making Space

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With love,

Jessica

Jessica Dimas is the creator of Manifesting Magic with the Moon, a holistic self-care ritual bundle.

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Jessica Dimas

Jessica is the founder of the site Dwell in Magic, where she shares how to practically apply everyday self-care for a more magical, joy-filled life. Her writing has been featured on Today, HuffPost, Scary Mommy, Redbook Magazine, Motherly, and many more. She is passionate about metaphysical studies, transformation and personal growth.

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