excerpt from Gemma Gary's Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways
The time of the full moon brings increased potency to the generative and vision inducing virtues of the serpentine flow, and so, it is for the witch a time that lends itself to a variety of useful work.
After the rites of the Compass have been done, in either simple or grand form, there is no one rite of the full moon to be observed within Cornish witchcraft. What takes place during a full moon rite depends entirely on the work to be done at the time.
If much work has been done since the last full moon, practitioners may feel themselves to be at low ebb and lacking in sprowl, and so the witch may seck to imbibe this vital force through dancing the Round to conjure and draw deeply upon the serpentine flow, and via the rite of the Troyl; taking full advantage of the time of increased potency that the full moon brings. Useful lunar force and sprowl will also be stored at this time for later use by means of the moon cord, which is made from three nine foot white cords plaited together and bound at the ends with red thread. The witch, after having danced the round to gather and raise sprowl within the circle, will raise their cord to the face of the moon and conjure its force, and the raised sprowl, into nine knots tied along the cord's length. Each is tied with only the left eye open so that the face of the moon may be visible within each knot before it is pulled tight. Each of the nine knots may be untied at later times to lend extra strength to magical workings.
This potent time is also highly useful, not only for gathering herbs, but for mixing and charging magical powders and other substances, as well as the ritual charging of magical items and charms. It is also a time for generative magic and conjurations around the hood-fire.
It is known by the Cornish Wise folk that heightened generative potency and life force' is not the only thing to be drawn upon from the serpentine flow during the full moon, from the serpent there is another force that may, at places, issue forth in abundance and that is the force known as the serpent's breath. To draw upon this force, the Pellar will take their full moon rites down into the damp sea caves, haunted fogous or potent holy wells; places where this hypnotic, chthonic force may more easily be encountered and in a more concentrated form. There they commune with this force, drowsing deeply within it, receiving visions, answers and life. Drawing upon the serpent's breath will aid greatly the visionary abilities of the witch.
One full moon rite for visionary and divinatory purposes is that known down here as "Calling Down the Moon".
This name is obviously related to the elaborate Wiccan rite of 'Drawing Down the Moon' but the Cornish version is, in essence, a quite different and seemingly simple rite. For this the good old copper basin is filled partly with water, and it is better for this rite if it can be drawn from a holy well.
The witch will stand looking intensely at the moon, working to achieve a trance state, with the basin before them on the ground. They will then take this up gently and raise it to the moon; drawing its virtue into the water before lowering it gently back to the ground. The witch will then kneel before this basin on one knee and gaze at the moon again for a while, and then down to the dancing reflection of the moon in the water. The witch will look to the moon for one last time, then, after a while draw their gaze slowly downward to the reflection of the moon within the copper vessel, and there seek visions in answer to their questions. This water will also prove useful within the rite for anointing the self and magical objects that might benefit from a little extra lunar virtue.
Within all full moon rites, the witch will make sure that they have quartz stone with them; for this will serve to enhance the flow of the serpentine force during the proceedings, and thus aid greatly any work done. Rites of the full moon are of course always concluded with a joyous Troyl rite.
the new moon 🌑
When the moon is dark, a quite different, yet still highly useful situation arises, with other opportunities to get work done.
Whilst it is true that traditional witch rites in general can be fairly quiet affairs, with declamations and spoken charms often being muttered rather than spoken aloud, rites of the new moon are mostly silent, with any ritual declamations being muttered, or whispered, very quietly indeed. The new moon is a time for rites of inward journeying, looking deeply into the self for answers, and delving for anything buried that may otherwise throw up inconvenient surprises at later times, for the Traditional Cornish witch, that universal occult maxim 'Know Thyself' tells of an important magical prerequisite that is always striven for.
Journeys will not only be made into our own inner-underworlds, but to the underworld of the beloved dead, for the new moon is also a time for ancestor communion, and acts of atavistic 'seeing' and divination will be made to seek ancestral wisdom and guidance. In such rites the black mirror is an ideal tool.
Making use of the inward and consumptive virtues of the serpentine flow, magical workings at the time of the new moon will largely consist of 'get-rid-of' magic as well as magic of the toad, to influence the mind and emotions of others for either good or for bad if need be. It is also a time for acts of 'Owl Blasting' when such is necessary.
The stone of choice for rites of the new moon is the black obsidian, for it is a stone that aids inward focus, and the revealing of things held deep. It is also of protective quality, which will be found by many to be a useful virtue during such work.
A sphere of obsidian called a 'moon crystal' or 'moon stone' is sometimes kept, useful both in the rites of inner visioning during the dark of the moon but also in 'sceing' work under a full moon, where her hypnotic image may be shown on the sphere's black surface.
I think what people misunderstand about Gemma's works is that much of her writing shouldn't be taken as a how-to manual and is better understood as a pretension of her theory of traditional witchcraft through the lens of her Cornwall based practice. Some of her work is clearly meant for anyone to pick up and try, but a lot of it is based in theory that she sets up in Cornish Book of Ways and then expands on later in other works. She is encouraging you to build your own localized practices inspired by her own work with the Bucca.
