Summer Guest Series: The Dark Moon Apothecary with Renée Starr

Themes, Mysteries, and Ritual Oils of The Dark Moon

“I am seeker of magic, the mystery, the unknown, the mystic path, and the wise-woman ways. All of life is precious, magical, and enchanted to me. I am a daughter of The Goddess, a priestess of the moon, and a witch upon the mystic path.” – Renée Starr

In today’s article, we will explore the themes, mysteries, and magick of the Dark Moon. We will also learn how to craft ritual oils to support your workings during this potent lunar phase.

The Dark Moon

Feminine, and receptive in nature, the dark moon guides us to be in stillness, meditation, prayer, and inwardness… and she encourages us to trust ourselves, and the natural cycles of nature. This moon phase is intended for reflection, imagination, visioning, and dreaming.  

The veils between realms are thin during a dark moon, and traditionally, no magic or works of manifestation are to be performed during this phase, only stillness, solitude, inwardness, ritual, meditation and prayer. It is from the darkness of this moon, with its liminal, intense, magical power that we are activated by the lunar cycle and initiated into the lunar mysteries. 

The dark moon phase is associated with the darkness of deep, still waters, and helps to bring us deep into the shadow of our psyche for healing, and rest. The element of water, and its ever flowing power and sacred blessing ways, helps us with our emotions to meet with the ending of the lunar cycle more gracefully, and with ease, allowing for an elegant process of cyclical transformation, one that we may come into flowingly, rather than haltingly. This is a time of self-blessing, sacredness, emotions, releasing, flow, harvest, endings, death, decay, transformation, and change. 

This time of stillness, slumber, silence, endings, and transformation is for going deep within to seek your own inner wisdom and to contemplate the moon cycles past, and the ones ahead. It is not a time for action, but rather a time for beholding, visioning, and wondering. Imagining your new moon wishes, preparing to set intentions, working with your intuition, and dreams are best done during this phase, for it is associated with the subconscious, the shadow, and for working with your private, inner, potent magic, bringing it forth from the depths.

When is The Dark Moon?

The dark moon sits upon the threshold of dark and light, and waning and waxing, and is considered neither dark nor light, neither waning nor waxing, but rather a moon of voidness, having released all of the moon’s energy from itself. 

The dark moon completes the waning cycle of the moon, and heralds in the waxing cycle. When the new moon shows its first sliver of light in the night sky (which is often 1-3 days after the dark moon phase), we officially begin the waxing phases, until we reach the full moon, which is a time of releasing, and is similar to the dark moon, but mirrored in essence as it sits upon the threshold of light, and dark, and waxing and waning, and is considered neither light nor dark, neither waxing nor waning, but rather a moon of fullness, having gathered all of the moons energy into itself. The full moon completes the waxing cycle, which are a time of increase, and heralds in the waning cycle, which is a time of decrease.

Magically, and mystically speaking, it is good to note that the dark moon phase is when the moon is at 0% illumination, and the new moon is when it is at 1% illumination. While it is true that you can work with any moon phase for three days; one day prior to the phase as the moon builds in power, the day of the phase as she peaks in power, and the day after the phase as she releases her power, the dark moon often only lasts 1 day, but can in some occasions last up to 3 days.

There is so much confusion around the dark moon, for when the patriarchal rise of religious rule began to eclipse the old ways of worship and devotion, they saw the dark moon as ‘evil’, and so erased it from the Great Mother Moon’s circle of light, referring to it instead as the new moon. The dark moon phase is the moon within the cosmic womb, and when she emerges from this sacred place and shows her very first sliver of moonlight in the sky, that is when she is reborn, anew.

The patriarchal/religious stigma of the dark moon continues on today as modern calendars do not recognize the dark moon, and to this day it is called the new moon.

The Dark Moon & The Zodiac

As the dark moon travels through the 12 signs of the solar Zodiac, this is called the lunar ingress. ‘Ingress’ is a word that means doorway, opening or entrance, and also means access. For mundane, or worldly astrology, which deals with the earthly affairs of the individual, the ingress refers to the moon’s ‘entrance’ into each of the houses that the signs reside in. On an esoteric, more spiritual level, the ingress refers to the doorways, or access that the moon in each particular sign reveals to us—via meditation, stillness, and prayer, so that we may enter into each astrological house to receive the activations of the lunar mysteries. 

The Zodiac signs most associated with the dark moon’s deeply ritualistic, mysterious and dark essence are the water signs of Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio, and so you can work with oils that are associated with these signs, such as:

Pisces Oils: Bergamot, Cedarwood, Frankincense, Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender, Oakmoss, Mellissa, Seaweed Absolute, Verbena.

Cancer Oils: Bergamot, Blue Chamomile, Frankincense, Ginger, Lemon, Mellissa, Thyme, Ylang Ylang, Vetiver. 

Scorpio Oils: Jasmine, Myrrh, Patchouli, Pine, Rose, Sandalwood Wild Rose, White Rose, Ylang Ylang, Vetiver.

As during the dark moon it is a time of decrease, endings, and going within; during the dark moon you may wish to work with oils that are relaxing, restful, and non-stimulating, such as: 

• Bergamot
• Cedarwood
• Chamomile
• Clary Sage
• Fennel
• Frankincense
• Jasmine
• Lavender
• Lemon
• Marjoram
• Patchouli
• Rose
• Sandalwood
• Valerian
• Vanilla
• Vetiver
• YlangYlang

The Dark Moon & The Elements

Additionally aligned with the element of earth, this is a moon of death as transformation, darkness, roots, seeds, leaves, and bones. You may wish to work with oils that are associated with the element of earth, darkness, endings and death, sacredness, ceremony, prayer, and stillness such as: 

• Agar
• Angelica Root
• Balsam of Peru
• Benzoin 
• Black Pepper
• Calamus Root
• Camphor
• Cedar
• Cistus
• Cypress
• Davana
• Elemi
• Frankincense
• Galbanum
• Helichrysum
• Mugwort
• Myrrh
• Orris Root
• Palo Santo
• Patchouli
• Rosewood
• Sage
• Sandalwood
• Spikenard
• Valerian
• Vetiver

The Dark Moon Goddess

The dark moon as the Dark Goddess is a powerful association, as she inhabits caves, grottoes, and the underworld, is often born of volcanic fire, travels during the blackest night, and is felt during the stillness of winter. She is the keeper of the portals between worlds, the mysteries, woman’s wisdom, the blood of the moon that women shed, death, grief, sorrow and loss. There are many personifications of the Dark Goddess, such as Lilith, Neith, Nyx, Isis, Nephtys, Persephone and Hecate…they move about silently, and like shadows they slip into our dreams, and whisper to us; wake up, heal, face your fears, and become whole. 

The oils below are best used for this archetypal connection:

• Calamus Root
• Cardamon
• Cassia
• Cinnamon
• Cypress
• Damiana
• Galbanaum
• Jasmine
• Myrrh
• Neroli
• Orris Root
• Patchouli
• Rose
• Rosewood
• Spikenard
• Ylang Ylang

Working with Essential Oils

Oil, like water, is an excellent conductor of energy, but unlike water, which seems to become imprinted with the plant’s essence, oil seems to become the plant essence—which is a very magical thing indeed.

I have found that if you wish to add in parts of flowers or leaves only using dried plant material is best when making magical oil blends, as oil and water do not mix, and the introduction of fresh plant material—which are filled with water, can cause an oil to grow mold, bacteria and other organisms, or become rancid very quickly. 

Magical oil blends can be made by creating a recipe of several different plants, seeds, roots, woods and then infusing them into the oil, or blending several previously infused oils, and a magical oil can also be made by adding a very specific blend of essential oils, and/or by adding in crystals, shells, powders, and other special items—or all the above. 

Always check for toxicity or irritation before crafting and oil for topical use. Infused oils are not meant for ingestion. 

As with all your magical blends, you can infuse the energies of the moon, sun, stars, and planets, along with infusing it with your intentions, spells, prayers and affirmations. Use your knowledge of the plants, their magical properties, colors rays, planetary timing, etc., to create magical oil blends for special purposes and potent magical workings. 

You will be using a carrier oil when making magical oil blends, so please remember that every carrier oil has a certain ‘shelf life’ to be aware of, which is the length of time that it will stay stable, and that when you introduce plant material, or even essential oils, you change that shelf life a bit. I like to subtract 1/3 of the shelf life after adding plant material or essential oils into a carrier oil, except for jojoba oil, which is not really an oil, but a plant wax that has an almost indefinite shelf life and does not seem to be affected by adding in dry plant material, or essential oils. 

Always put your essential oils into the vial first, then add in other items, then carrier oil. The reason for this is that essential oil will float to the top when you pour in your carrier oil, and if you are not sure how much space the essential oils will need on top of the carrier oils; you can accidentally waste precious essential oil when it overflows by adding in too much. If you put essential oils in first, you can see exactly how much carrier oil you will need to fill up the vial. 

Crafting Oil Blends

• Create a blend of essential oils in a mixing beaker.
• Use a pipette to drop the blend into a clean glass bottle with a spray top. 
• If you are adding in crystals, or other items, do this now, before you add in the carrier oil. Do not use dried or fresh plants with sprays, as the water will cause the plant material to decay, and mold. 
• Pour about 1/3 high proof vodka or Everclear into the vial, filing the rest with distilled water, and then cap with the spray top. While the alcohol acts as an emulsifier, helping to distribute the essential oil into the water, this is not going to completely dissolve the oils into the water, as water and oil do not ever mix, but with a gentle shake before each use, your magical spray will be perfectly blended. 
• Shake gently.
• Enchant, dedicate or charge your magical oil with intention.
• Place the bottle in the sunlight (do not overheat in direct sunlight), under the moonlight, or out under the night sky to call down the planetary energies during the specific times of that planet. 

Get creative—just as you did with your plant infused, and magical oils; infuse your magical spray with the energy of a rainstorm, lightening (use electrical safety), a river, the ocean, a rainbow, a rosebush, a tree, a mountain, the desert, crystals, feathers…the list is endless! 

© 2025 Renée Starr

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