Drawing down the Moon

Would there be a point to doing this solitary? I have tried it and i remembered some of what i said but not all. Would there be a wayof remembering more by incorporating writing into it?

Drawing Down the Moon is really something for coven practice rather than for a solitary. This is as I said before, because one's personality is not present while the Goddess is "wearing" or "riding" your physical form.

I have been able immediately following a Draw Down to recall a few words that the Goddess spoke to others in the circle...but only for others. One does not hear the Goddess speak to oneself during the Draw Down...that is better achieved through meditation or dream work.

I was taught that when one draws down the moon that a person is dawning down the moon's energy and taking it into themselves. Some high magic rituals have the high priestess be the only one to draw down/in the moons energies so that she would become possessed by the moon goddess. Other high magic rituals have all the members draw energy down/into themselves until the coven has been possessed by the moon goddess. Then there are rituals that involve a solitary state of drawing down the moon, where a solitary individual working by them self becomes possessed by the moon goddess. Each one is preformed for a different reason but all are an act of drawing down the moon.

I think that the one we're talking about specifically here is the one regarding possession of the priestess by a Goddess. The problem is that in a true possession the priestess' mind is elsewhere while under the control of the Goddess. So words spoken by the Goddess are never heard by the priestess. For that reason it isn't a particularly useful practice for someone who is working solitary. Certainly it can sometimes happen that a solitary does Draw Down the Goddess into themselves...this usually results in a trance state where the individual cannot remember what has occurred for a brief period of time.

A true possession is any possession that has taken place whether the person who is being possessed remembers the details or not. Many do not remember all the details of being possessed but others do remember some details . One who does not remember anything during a possession is no more possessed nor are they the only ones who have experienced a true possession. The gods possess people in different ways and for different reasons.

I would have some serious doubts about the effectiveness of a possession if the person claiming it has full recall of the events that took place during that possession. In my personal experience and in the experience of those I know who regularly work with trance possession full recall is very unlikely.

I agreee that those who recall every detail of a possession are probably not being truthful about their experience, however that does not mean that one who does remeber some details was not truely possessed. Drawing down the moon is a serious ritual whether you are a highpriestess, a coven member or a solitary. It is sad that we have those who use this ritual in ways that are selfish.

Ah, I will fully agree that someone who remembers parts of a Draw Down may very well have nonetheless had a true possession. I found that when I first began doing them it was hard to release the control and fully let the possession happen. As a result I remembered a fair amount at that time. Later, as I became more comfortable with possession, I found that I remembered less and less until it got to the point that I remember little at all.

You're also correct, it is sad that some will claim possession as a way to manipulate others to their selfish ends.

I am not Wiccan nor do I practice very much European based magick. I have taken from European magickal practice and learned from it, but I don't use other people's grimoires if you understand what I'm trying to say.

I am very interested in this topic not because I want to draw down the moon (I never had the desire to) but because there have been several times that I have performed rituals on a full moon and half my ritual became a blurr. I always cast my circle in the name of the Goddess. I have my own original ritual all planned out, I begin it, then realize that the ritual proceeded in a good way but not the way I had planned it and I can't remember what I said or did. Mind you I always sit during rituals on my balcony. (Standing might bring unwanted attention to me with the neighbors) It isn't a blackout of memory more like a blurr. I have a very sharp memory so this always perplexed me. It's not like I forget what I did at any other time in my life. I always thought to myself, if it was a trance how would I know what to do? The ritual is always successful when this happens. And I'm starving afterward. Then after eating, wide awake and feeling great.

Now this has me thinking...lol
I don't know if I like it or not! I was kind of hoping it was just my soul fully taking over.

Thanks for the info about this pheonomenon.

KTS has got it right,as usual. Drawing Down The Moon is a very old ritual, revised and "modernised" by Gardner,Valiente,and Alex Sanders, among others. This was, and is, part of Wicca teaching. But this was a ritual long before Gardner! And very, very few of the ancient wiseones were in a coven! Most often there would have been one witch in a village; and not another for miles around! This was always a "solitary" ritual until Wicca came along.