Drawing down the Moon

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.

I am a firm believer in an outline for a ritual/casting/magical working at most. Detailed specifics tend to transform the spiritual into the theatrical. You never know what is going to happen as you cast and one needs to be able to handle changes in the plans. The blurr one might feel during a ritual/casting/magical working is due to the amount of energy present. Drawing down the moon is a specific ritual and is not done by accident. Casting a circle in the name of a goddess is a way to honor not a way to draw down the moon. Since you did not provide details of the ritual you did I can not say for sure, but I believe with the information you provided that it was your higher self using the energy you gathered to cast your magical working.

I always have a complete outline of my rituals, but I write them myself. I never use other people's spells, I only read grimoires to observe their outline and technique.

This happened to me at least 3-4 times within the past two years, always during my rituals on a full moon. I am in no way saying I drew down the moon. What I am saying is, if it is possible for the goddess to possess these priestesses, that it may be possible that the blurred memory with continuation of my ritual in a changed but successful way, could very well be divine influencement that I was not previously aware of. Its something I didn't consider. I originally assumed it was just my higher self, but then I always wondered why I couldn't remember what happened if that were so. It's the only time it ever happens. By casting the circle in the name of the Goddess, I am accepting her as a part of my circle and work. Therefore she's automatically invited in.

From now on when I do a full moon ritual I will have another person with me, so if this happens again, they can see if my personality changes or if it's still me, so I can better determine what is going on.

Brysing said "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. "

Interestingly enough the first mention of a ritual which sounds like what we call Drawing Down the Moon comes from Thessaly where it was said that the women there could perform something of that sort. There is also a vase dated to approximately the second century BC that shows a group of women performing a ritual to connect with the moon. So it seems likely that the earliest rituals of this sort were group rituals such as we conduct today.

Could well be! Nevertheless, that as well as being a group ritual, it was also a solitary one. Which is really what I was getting at! That it can be solitary, and by groups. And, although it was based on old traditions, it was "modernised" by Gardner and others.

That's very interesting. When done with a solitairy witch, how would he/she be able to take from the experience? What I mean is, what is the fundamental purpose? I would guess that it would be to bond or gain insight. But I don't like assuming.

When I have drawn down the moon by myself it is for very personal reasons. I always have paper and a writing instrument in the circle so that I can be left any written messages.

Thank you for your answer. Does anyone else have a different reason?