void of course & War Water

I'm not an astrology person.

But I really love using planners, and one of my dearest friends gave me a Llewellyn Witches' Datebook for 2023. I've used these before and full disclosure: I love them, but I've never paid attention to the astrology notes (beyond noting the full and new moons, or the quarter- and cross-quarter holidays).

I started a jar of moon water under the most recent new moon (Feb 20). That's not a typo. It was... just something that felt right for my circumstances. New moon water. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I knew that whatever it would become, it would become it by the next new moon. 

I made a note over the weekend (Feb 25 or 26) in my datebook that says only "have a plan by then" with an arrow to the datebook's note about the moon entering the second quarter on Tuesday (Feb 28, today). I had no idea what said plan would be, and only a vague understanding of what I wanted to achieve. 

Last night I read about "war water," an Appalachian folk magic practice* that was described in a facebook post as "the most offensive protective magic," that could drive away that which you did not want in your sphere. Now I had a goal, and the outline of a plan. Details pending. 

So now I'm fully immersed in this New Moon War Water idea and obviously I had to look up what the little "v/c" note in my datebook meant: void of course. The moon will be void of course tonight, beginning at 1807h in my time zone. Well, what the heck does that mean? So I had to look that up, which led to the realization that I'm just coming into the astrology discussion from the backdoor, so to speak. I'm still not particulary interested in zodiac (it's interesting, sure, but my brain just refuses to focus on it, which is why I've never learned it, and since I'm not into Greek paganism, it's not worth the enormous amount of energy it would require to force my brain to focus on it), but doing moon magic requires a bit of astrology knowledge, apparently. 

Anyway, my understanding is that 'void of course' means that the body in question (the moon, in my case) is not aligned in any influential way with any other astrological body. It's free from influence, so to speak. And, less able to influence other bodies, which seems to lead many people to say that the void of course body has less influence over human activities as well. But freedom from influence is what I'm looking for, and the moon is the only body I'm trying to work with here, and now my plan is coalescing. 

This evening, around 1800h, I'll add the War to my jar of New Moon War Water.

I'd say I'll keep you updated but honestly I might forget to do that. So if it's been a while and you don't see an update, remind me. Drop a comment or contact me through my main site (theferalbones.com)

*If you're concerned about appropriation of Appalachian practices by this desert dweller, don't worry: I'm originally from Appalachia.