Shamanic No Moon Ritual

In January of 2023, I journeyed on the new moon to work with my shamanic family and found myself participating in a ritual to protect our tribe. This No Moon ritual is the first ritual in our tradition that I was taught (which is what I get for journeying on the Lunar New Year! 😄).

After my journey, I modified this ritual and performed it to protect my household. I’ll share the modified ritual in a future post.

From my journal:

1/21/23 New Moon, Lunar New Year
…One thing I became aware of quickly was that we were under a new moon sky – what they called the No Moon. I felt the significance of that monthly event in a landscape that doesn’t see the full sun for months at a time. Unless the Aurora Borealis is in the sky, at times there is no illumination for days in the winter save the stars.

The difference between ‘new’ and ‘no’ moon becomes slightly more ominous, then. My shamanic ancestors believed that this lack of illumination in the winter left people more vulnerable to dark or destructive forces. This ritual was done to protect the tribe from dark energies. They believe calling and transforming these energies kept them from harming people.

We turned to invoke Reindeer, and in the invocation, we spoke of a sacrifice in his name. A reindeer was then sacrificed, (though not by me) its blood important to the No Moon ritual. 

We turned to face the center of the circle where a large (stone?) cauldron-like pot sat over a fire to keep it from freezing, its surface still and calm. The moonless starry sky was reflected on its surface and was captured by the still water, which took in its darkness.

I held something in my hand and approached the water. Tilting my loosely closed fist, I poured reindeer blood into the water where it dissolved like ink. I rubbed my hands together and used the remaining blood on them to consecrate my drum and beater.

We drummed, sang, and danced around the cauldron, slowly at first. Eventually, strange noises and energy surrounded us and my Grandfather was directing and forcing them into the cauldron. They were the dark energies that are strongest when the sky remains unlighted by the sun during the winter no moon.

Calling them forth was done by the darkness of the sky contained in the water combined with blood. It drew them as the shamans called to them. Once in the water Reindeer’s blood (given in his name it takes on his power) helps transform and neutralize the destructive energy.

This article is part of an ongoing series that follows the path I’m traveling of Reindeer Shamanism, and how I’m building my skills and practice. If you’d like to read more articles in the series or follow along from the beginning, they are collected under the blog category of ‘My Shamanic Path‘.

Header image by Marcus Dall Col on Unsplash