That's my theory, in must have been used in traditional witchcraft rather then wicca, and perhaps because Gerald was a well traveled man, correct me if I'm wrong Lark, but didn't he combine a lot of practices and rewrote them to fit the mythology of the practice of wicca which he invented? Which lead me to believe maybe Gerald took Drawing down the moon from this moon paste but just rewrote it to fit the Goddess of the Full Moon concept we see in the Wiccan Ritual of Drawing Down the Moon? If that makes sense.
Hmm... This seems interesting indeed! A bit of internet sleuthing has found me references to several 'source' religions and histories... And varieties of ingredients being mentioned by different people with different assumptions and surmisings. I mean, just about anything is on the table it seems as long as it is vaguely moon-related. From Estrus and Semen to cow milk to coconut oil.
I am wondering at two possibilities; Either the specifics are lost to time and broken master-apprentice lineages, or there are no specific recipes and, like so many other things, it isn't any single thing but a category of things held under one umbrella.
I'm very likely wrong here, as admittedly so far my research has amounted to less time spent than I've even dedicated to writing this. But my instincts pull me towards the latter. Especially because moon paste seems credited with more uses in magic than windex has for cleaning a home. Both beneficial and baneful.
My first impression is that the specific components and even incantations are to be determined by the individual purpose. Seven herbs related to your goal, picked one during each moon phase that best corresponds to the herb chosen and relating both to your goal. For example picking a specific herb during a waxing phase might mean a desire to bring forward some trait or aspect that plant represents. While picking the same herb on the waning side might repell it/send it away.
I wonder how literally we should be reading some parts as well. 'Water from seven wells' might be figurative, or possibly even an euphemism for something else. Same for the clay. Clay from a special place could be any sacred or sanctified place... while clay from 'the' special place could be an allusion to the estrus references I found. ..In a weird, roundabout way.
A consistent source and many others all described moon paste as " Moon paste, perhaps the most mysterious of all magic mediums, is also one of the oldest. The making of it was known and practised in ancient Thessaly; magicians in Morocco and in Brittany knew of it, and except for the language being different, the ideas and forms were the same as were used in Scotland so lately at the end of the seventeenth century. Water from seven wells, herbs gathered at certain phases of the moon, clay taken from a special place, and dried in the fire, and afterwards pounded into fine dust, all played their part in the making of the paste. It required, however, the magic of the full moon, and this could only be got by incantations, sung widdershins, and a most elaborate ritual. This paste could unite sundered lovers; it could cure illness; and if its owner so willed it, it was capable of bringing disaster upon one's enemies; in fact, it was capable of working magic; both black and white."
So very much so, Spirit76, it can be used for very many purposes.
There was a document online that has since been made subscription only ( on scribe, it's an app to the online library about various topics) I've been researching this for a few months now and didn't think to copy the source so I can't really post that as it requires payment now to access) But I do know a reference to moon foam in The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells which is the same way described with the only difference being the name, I also found references to Isabel Gouldie having supposedly used it to help jean Gordon. Granted yes, Isabel may just be another "confessor due to torture" But there appears to be a sort of "Christian version" to this ritual, likely given that a lot of pagan stuff was rewritten to support the mythology of Christianity , take Ritual Baths for example, and many others. It's difficult to find the exact sources as I looked through a lot, some were useful and asisted cross referencing , like how moon paste used as term was prevalent in both Scotland and England. But I can't find the original sources, as I looked through a lot, but in this area this ritual in it's application would have considered "great Paganism", as when you look at the regions offered ( Thessally, ect. ..) they were highly influenced by the R.catholic belief system. So much so that the church seemed to have their own spin of this ritual. The reference of how the female was forbiddin to draw water, was because she was "unclean" and would have to wait 40 days after birth to even touch the container used to draw the water, again the R.C.churchs influence, ascribing to the Jewish laws ect. So the ritual it self could just be lost to time as a lot of cross referencing and theorizing based on the information gathered is required to understand what this ritual might have been. There's kind of a lot of "bits and pieces" over the internet like "Clay was a favoured material for dolls because it is easily available and cheap. Isobel Gowdie, a famous Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft in 1662, claimed to say a chant over the ingredients mixed with a clay medium she called moon paste. A Highland recipe for moon paste says it is made from dried, crumbled clay and water from seven wells and is then kneaded under a full moon in a churchyard while herbs are added. Poppets could be used to bless or curse depending on the desire." from http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/09/nameless-arte-martin-duffy-british.html being one place that describes about the clay, however this was not one of my resources as its a blog and not very "historial" but it does have the line that made me think about the clay bein used could be charged possibly by drawing down the moon ritual since clay would have been easy to get anyway, which then made me think what if "A specical place" could be anywhere where you draw down the moon since clay was easy to get and even if the region the spell was performed was different (Scottland vs America) as an example, the moon phases would have been the same (A full moon in the us is the same power of a full moon in scottland) , let me know if that doesn't make sense I can see if I can explain it better.
Spirit witch, that article segment you copied in is the exact one I kept being led to as well.
Oh! This might just be a side-note but one statement has me scratching my head in there. Particularly about the reference to saying/singing the chant 'widdershins'.
Widdershins means 'against the sun', the opposite of deosil or 'with the sun'. In movement, drawing, and dancing I can see how that applies as it means to do what you are doing in a counter-clockwise fashion. ...How does one speak or sing counter-clockwise? The best I can figure is that it is implying additional details without saying them. Perhaps hinting that the chants would be done to the corners, either repeated for each direction or with each direction having its own calling.
Also... I thought that when beginning, invoking, or otherwise setting things in motion the tradition was to go with the sun. And against the sun was to reverse, release, or end a process.
Heh, it seems there are a lot of puzzle pieces here and the trick might be in fitting them together.
Yes, I believe I quoted the article, but I forgot what the source was as I took notes in my Grimoire. You do have to remember that during this time period, cursing was as common as curing when it came to spells. So perhaps Windershin was used when the moon paste was being used for its baneful purposes as I believe you said earlier. The Segment mentioned it could used for "black and white magic" or some word wording like that, so perhaps it is in fact as you mentioned, different herbs for baneful and then different herbs for benevolent. Or perhaps when you pick them under a certain moon phase is when its a "baneful or benevolent effect" As to the whole how do you sing in windershin, I feel as though it just means , "chant curses (curse spells, not like actual curse words like foul language) But yeah, its not easy to figure out how this ritual would work, I'd love to have a break through on how to make moon paste, but I suppose if it was that easy then someone else would have already done it.
