When the moon stands full and unhurried in the glass of the sky, set a bowl of clear water where her light can pool within it. Let her look at the water a long while before you begin.
This cup is not brewed to bend another’s will but to unbank the low fire in your own breast. A heart kept guarded and cold gives off no light; warmed and willing, it becomes a beacon that the beloved, wherever they wander, cannot help but steer toward.
The Working
- Under the full moon, fill a bowl with fresh water and set it upon a sill or stone where the moonlight gathers in it.
- Scatter in a handful of dried hibiscus and rosehip and a few leaves of damiana, and let them steep as the moon climbs.
- Lay a rose quartz at the bowl’s edge, so its blush drinks the same light.
- When the water has gone the colour of a deep sunset, warm it gently over a low flame and pour it into your fairest cup.
- Bend close, breathe three slow breaths across its surface, and name the warmth you wish both to feel and to send out into the world.
- Drink in unhurried sips, following the heat as it travels from throat to heart, and pour the last mouthful at your doorstep as an open invitation.
The Incantation
Moon in the bowl and fire in the cup,
red as the dusk and warm as skin,
unbank the coal I banked too long
and let the wanting kindle in.
Let my heart burn a steady light,
come, beloved, and warm you here.
Rinse the cup in cool water and leave it upturned to dry, and let the glow you have kindled go quietly before you into the days ahead.