March Seed Moon

Seed Moon


Also known as: Bulb Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon, Flower Moon, Hare Moon, Lenten Moon, Moon of Winds, Plow Moon, Sap Moon, Sprouting Moon, Storm Moon, Virgin Moon, Willow Moon, Worm Moon.
* Colors: pale green, purple, pinks, yellow, pastels
* Scents: floral scents
* Gemstones: aquamarine, bloodstone
Trees: alder, dogwood, ash
* Gods: Black Isis, the Morrigan, Hecate, Cybele, Astarte, Athena, Minerva, Artemis, Luna, Eostre, Juno Lucina, Demeter, Artemis, Mars for which the month of March is named.
* Herbs: Broom, High John root, yellow dock, wood betony, Irish moss, jonquil, daffodil, violet, crocus, bulbed plants
* Foods: Hot Cross buns, seed buns, foods made with eggs, quiche, strata, and egg drop soup, strawberries, salad,
* Animals: cougar, hedgehog, boar sea crow, sea eagle, robin, crow, magpie, honey bees, hares, butterflies
* Element: Water and Air


Now, we come upon the month of March and what is known as the Seed Moon, Worm Moon, Plow Moon, Sap Moon, Bulb Moon, Egg Moon, Sprouting Moon, Crow Moon, Storm Moon, Crust Moon, Moon of Winds, Lenten Moon and many more. Each Moon name tells exactly what is going on in nature and in man. We are awake, alive, and active. New live is bursting from every seed and bulb buried, every herb in the garden is showing itself, tiny, fragile, small but there just the same. The trees are filled with buds not yet ready to burst forth. Now, truly is the time of new beginnings and unbridled potential. Now, is the time to start new projects, to learn a new skill and get out in nature and explore and enjoy the warmer weather and increased light and the effects it has on your whole being. Now, is also the perfect time to get the yard and gardens ready and to possible begin planting cool weather flowers, herbs and vegetables. If weather is too cold and does not permit planting it is good to plan ahead and decide what kind of garden you would like to plant. Consider what your wants and needs are, do you want an herb garden for cooking, healing or magick? Would you like a veggie garden with fresh produce or perhaps an orchard or grove of magickal trees? Would you like a flower cutting garden so you may make your own arrangements? Would you like a crafters garden with flowers you can dry to make arrangements with? Do you have a particular deity you would like to honor and grow plants that are associated with it? When you are planning your garden consider all four seasons and plant, herbs and trees with all seasons in mind. Stagger plants blooming times so you always have something in bloom, something in color, or something always to eat, plant trees and scrubs with berries, feathery leaves, and large seed pods for Winter interest. It is also a good time to think about creating an outdoor shrine, or circle that you may use to celebrate the Lunar and Solar festivals.

The Seed Moon is also to learn about and commit yourself to organic forms of gardening, to start a compost pile and to learn about gardening by the Moon. The month of March is also a good time to trim bushes and trees and to save these scraps for the Beltane fire, for making brooms, wands or Ogham sticks, Runes, or for making wreathes .Make sure you learn how to trim properly and that your instruments are clean and sharp. If the weather does not permit planting or clearing yet, it is a good time to bless the land in which will eventually be planted and/or your tools. In the Norse tradition, when the first signs of Spring were present a plow is ritualistically cleansed, sharpened, decorated and blessed, paraded through the streets with much fan fare then finally drawn across the ground.. You can also bless instruments of modern usage like your laptop, cars, business ledgers etc



The most popular names for the March Moon are the Seed Moon and Egg Moon, these are perfect names for this Moon because contained within each seed, and each egg is all that is necessary to nurture a young plant or animal until it is ready to burst forth from their hard, stone like enclosure and be born. Within the seed and egg is unbridled hope and potential. It is a scary and harsh world and one may feel that keeping inside your warm, shell protected would be better than bursting forth and having to worry about all the unknown conditions and issues you may be faced with. But the seed and egg grows small, claustrophobic and uncomfortable as you grow and sometimes you must just let go of your fear and burst forth ready for a change and challenge; ready to embrace whatever life brings. Now, is the time to burst forth to be new to come out of Winter’s hibernation and shell. Get out and enjoy the weather, wear new clothes purchased for Spring, feel good about yourself, know that nothing is permanent and that you, your health, your looks, your intelligence; your whole being is in a constant state of change. Take this time to think about what you want to grow this year, think also about what you want to leave behind. Schedule a haircut, a manicure and a pedicure treat yourself, pamper yourself. Start an exercise program change you’re eating habits. Use the cleansing energy of Spring to clear away any bad habits or addictions.

The constantly changing weather of March can be harsh on your immune system, bringing forth colds and flues. A good thing to do this time of year is to make a Spring cleanse or tonic. A Spring cleanse, cleans out your system removing toxins from the body. A Spring tonic is meant to wake up your sleepy Winter self, to invigorate and bring back a Spring in your step. This usually contains liver detoxifying herbs such as dandelion root, yellow dock and burdock root, immune strengthening herbs such as Echinacea and Ginger, and nutritious herbs such as Nettles, Red Clover, Motherwort or Alfalfa. Many books and websites will have recipe for these tonics, but be sure to research the herbs and ingredients well before taking any. Speaking of herbs now is a good time to take stock of your herbal supplies and decide what needs to be restocked or replaced, what can be grown by your own hands and what you must purchase.

With the Spring Equinox in this month now is a perfect time to work towards balance in your life, the balance of your light and dark selves, the balance of work and home, of the mundane and the spiritual. It is also a good time for Spring Cleaning, clean the house from top to bottom, open up all the windows and doors and let the Winter out and Spring in. use fresh floral and citrus scents to cleanse the air. Use your broom to sweep away all negativity. Bring Spring indoors, decorate with Springs symbols: eggs, hares, and flowers. Do something fun and frivolous, honor your inner child and let the season make your feel young again.

The Seed Moon is a particularly good time to buy, bless and plant garden seeds. To think about herb lore and medicine, about food and sustainability and decided what you want to grow this year. It is a great time to plan a new layout for your garden and to transplant, purchase, or grow new houseplants. Since house plants are not outside plants, they do not get the benefits of both the life giving, natural rains and their connection to the seasons and to the world wide water systems or the nitrogen that they shed down upon the Earth, it is a good idea to gather rain water and give it to your house plants and new plant starts for added vitality.

A simple spell for the Seed Moon is to buy herbs, flowers that correspond with some goal or something you would like to bring into your life, bless them and then plant them in your house and finally your garden. Nurture this seed and nurture your goal. Some new age and garden center stores also carry beans that have been made to grow with certain words on their leaves, such as: peace, love, prosperity , hope etc. these would be great plants to grow for your goals and make great gifts and ritual favors. Another spell is to gather a bunch of herb, veggie and flower seeds together and place on the back of the seed package the meaning of the seed, then as part of your Seed Moon ritual have each participant, blindly draw a seed from a basket and read the meaning of the seed. This acts as a divination telling the participant what may be coming into their lives or what they may need to work on. You can also host a seed and garden party have people bring extra or their seeds, starts, bulbs and tools and trade for ones you want and need.

The Seed Moon is also an excellent time to start a creating your own Herbal or a garden scrapbook. This will help you connect more to the Earth, your garden, and to the flowers, vegetables and herbs within. Begin with taking pics of your sleeping garden, then your garden once it has been cleared, then after it has been planted. Then every few weeks, or season or when you notice something significant or use the lunar cycles as your guide taking pics at each Dark, New, Quarters and Full Moons. This will give you an accurate account of your gardens growth. Do this also with herbs, vegetables, flowers and trees. Take pics of their seeds, seedlings, new growth, flower and fruit. This will help you learn their life cycle and how to identify them. This can also be used with native plants, weeds and wildflowers, you may learn what medicinal plants grow in your area, or what plants may be used as foraged food. Include these photos and information you have gathered throughout the year in your Herbal.



The Egg Moon brings with it an important food source, through Spring may be here, it is still cold and though we may have planted our crops they have not yet yielded any harvest. At the Egg Moon domesticated chickens and native birds are beginning to lay their eggs. Eggs are a nearly perfect nutritional food source, as they contain everything the growing chick needs to survive. The white of the egg contains high quality protein. While the egg yolk is filled with vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, D, E, B12, riboflavin, folic acid, iron, zinc and phosphorus. The nutrients in eggs help with healthy vision, hair and skin, as well as improving immunity and maintaining the central nervous system and the production of red blood cells.

On old fashioned farms this was the time of year when hens would be laying more eggs. Egg production was low or no-existent in Winter; it was only through the advent of modern farming techniques that we now have eggs all year round. This is done by cruel methods, exposing the chickens to constant light, giving chickens rounds after rounds of antibiotics and starving the hens. In nature hens start producing more eggs in response to increased sunlight. Sunlight stimulates their pituitary gland, which produces a hormone that stimulates their ovaries to produce eggs. What chickens eat also effects what nutrients are in their egg, hens fed better, more natural and nutritious fed will pass in the benefits to you. If there are natural, local farms in your area get your eggs from them and support a cruelty free environment, or you can even try rising some on your own if you have the space and if your area allows it.

The Egg Moon is special because eggs symbolize wholeness, completeness, perfection and totality and often serve as metaphors for the Universe. In many mythologies creation is contained in and hatches from an egg. Among them are Babylonian, Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, Japanese and Chinese. The modern big bang theory that the whole Universe existed in a very dense, compact and hot state, eternal, unchanging and that an explosion of sorts, sent all matter, expanding outwards, cooling as it went mirrors this concept of the Cosmic Egg.

The Ibis headed Egyptian God Thoth hatches the world egg and brings forth creation. In Greece creation came out of Nyx or night, darkness, when the silvery egg of the cosmos was formed. The upper shell formed Ouranos, the heavens and from the lower shell Gaia the earth. Drawn together by love they married and had many children among them: Okeanos, Hyperion, Rhea, Tethys and Kronos. Kronos married Rhea and their children were: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.

In Chinese mythology the great God Pan Ku, a horned God with protruding tusks bursting forth from his jaw grew within an egg floating in the chaos of nothingness, of space. Finally feeling suffocated and restless he broke the egg with his mighty axe. The light clear part of the egg, floated to the sky and formed the heavens, The yolk; heavy and cold part of the egg sank below to form the Earth. As Pan Ku grew he pushed the heavens and the Earth farther and farther apart. Pan Ku’s life was spent creating something out of the vast nothingness, he hewed bases for tall mountains, he scooped out basins for the seas, he dug the courses for the rivers and hallowed out the valleys. When Pan Ku’s long life ended his last lingering breath became the wind and the clouds, his voice the roll of thunder, his sweat the rain that poured. His blood became the oceans, his veins the canals and roads. His limbs split and formed the four corners of the world. The marrow from his bones transformed into rocks metals and precious stones. His flesh became the fertile soil, his hair the trees and plants. His long coarse beard became the stars and his eyes became the Sun and Moon. The tiniest of creatures the insects that lived upon his flesh became the first animals and humans

As the Egg Moon rises remember that we are all interconnected, one, we are a single life force. We all come from the same matter that forms the Universe itself

The Egg Moon is also an excellent time to prepare nutritious egg dishes, and to decorate egg crafts. You may wish to try your hand at Ukraine Pysanky egg decorating. You could do this as a spell starting you’re decorating at the New Moon and concluding at the Full Egg Moon. This way you would have lots of wonderful eggs ready for Ostara. It is quite a magickal and time consuming process, but the results are wonderful and worth the effort. You can buy your dyes and supplies at: http://www.ukrainiangiftshop.com/pages/art.htm

The Supplies you will need is: Eggs, Kistkas of varying sizes, wax brick, taper candle and holder, newspapers to cover your working area, paper towels, Fantastic, Windex or 409, Q-tips, dyes, vinegars, design sheets and info, gloves, eggs blower, and a hair dryer.

The first steps to making these elaborate and beautiful eggs is to buy the biggest eggs you can find, and to wash them in a light bleach solution and set them to dry and sweat at least 24 hours before dying. These eggs must be raw and afterwards the eggs are not to be eaten. Handle the eggs only with gloves on as the natural oils in your hands will resist the dye. With a pencil lightly draw your design, traditional designs such as wheat, flowers, fish and even the different varieties of lines all have meanings so keep this in mind as you create your design. The creation of the design is a spell itself. If you make a mistake never use the pencil’s eraser instead use a Q-tip covered in 409, Fantastic or Windex to remove the mistake. Make your dyes a day or at least a few hours before so they have time to cool, you wouldn’t want to cook your egg.

If you want any part white cover it with wax from your kistkas. Test your kistkas out first on a paper plate before you begin to draw on the egg. To use your kistkas heat in the candles flame for about 10 seconds, until dark and sooty then drip it while it is still hot in the wax brick and pool some in the kistka. Dab on your power plate and start drawing, repeat the heating and dipping process as necessary. Dye your egg its first and lightest color. Dying the egg will typically take five to 20 minutes. Pat your egg dry gently so you do not rub off the dye. Let air dye until workable then go on to your next color. Progressively dye the egg from lightest to darkest

When you are done dying the egg and the egg has dried place it between several sheets of paper towels and have a friend help you blow dry the egg with a hair dryer. When the wax gets liquidy, wipe vigorously, removing all wax from the egg. Every egg is a colorful and beautiful surprise!

When all the wax has been removed go outside and shellac the egg, this will prevent the colors from rubbing off or fading and will help the egg not break when you empty the egg. Let the egg dry then gently poke a small hole in the bottom of your egg. Do not just stab the egg! Work slowly as to not create cracks. Scramble the eggs contents and very slowly and gently blow air inside the egg. When clean, gently fill the egg with water, shake and blow out until clean. Let the egg dry and drain.

Keep the eggs out of direct sunlight or heat store in Styrofoam egg cartons. The eggs dye will keep for years just brighten it with vinegar after each year and remove any scum that may have formed.

You can also decorate eggs with traditional dyes, tie dying them, using crayons as your kistkas, draw magickal symbols, keep or eat the symbols to take in their properties. You can use glitter and string and plant leaves to make cool designs you can use natural dyes to dye eggs that you’d like to keep or hard boil and eat.

Natural Egg Dyes
Yellow: carrots, turmeric, fenugreek, white grape juice
Orange: onion skins, paprika
Red: red onion skins, madder root, cayenne, raspberries, cranberries, beets, green tea, cochineal
Red-violet: purple grape juice, raspberries, blackberries, red onion skins
Green: carrot tops, bracken, colts-foot, spinach, sage, broccoli
Blue: blueberries, red cabbage, blackberries
Blue-violet: blackberries, beet juice, mulberries
Pink: heather, madder root, cochineal
Gray: Elderberries
Brown: coffee, walnut hulls, tea

Hard boil the eggs. Boil a handful of dye material until the water is colored. Place a small amount of vinegar in each dye and turn the dye on warm. Place the eggs in the dye until it is the desired colors. You can rub the shells with vegetable oil to make them shiny.

You can also dye your eggs and poke a hole big enough for a cork to be used and fill them herbs, stones, potpourri and paper with wishes written on them. Use this as a charm or talisman, or as an offering. Eggs can also be filled with wildflower and garden seeds, you can and glitter. You can have people make a wish and throw the egg on the ground or crack it over someone’s head to bless them. You can also make egg votives by cutting off the top part of an egg, draining and cleaning the shell and filling it with a wick and wax. Egg shells discarded from eating can be used to created mosaics or added to the compost pile or garden as a way to add calcium, a vital nutrient for root growth that is often depleted from the soil. Rough eggshells will deter slugs and snails from your garden, their sharp edges are not nice to crawl on. Powdered egg shells can also be used as a protection powder; you can sprinkle this around your garden or the edges of your property. An egg shell is surprisingly strong and keeps the baby chick protected from harm while still letting in heat and light. An eggshell sprinkled around your property will protect you while still letting the good in.
This Full Moon in March is also called the Crust Moon because the snow becomes crusted over from all the freezing’s and thawing. It was also known as the Lenten Moon because of its close proximately to Lent, a 40 period before Easter, that starts on Ash Wednesday and ends the day before Easter, where Catholics fast, pray and prepare themselves for Easter and the resurrection of their savior, Jesus Christ. It was also considered the last full Moon of the Winter season. The March Moon goes by the Name Worm Moon because it is now that the grounds begin to thaw and worms can make their way, feasting on last year’s compost, all the while aerating and enriching the soil and enticing the Robins, Magpies and Crows back to the land to feast and this is why this Moon is called the Crow Moon. The chirping of the birds and the cawing of the crows meant that Spring had returned to the land. Now is a good time to start bird watching. The March moon is also called the Storm Moon and the Moon of Winds and is a good time to harness the storms energy for spells by collecting rain water, by knowing that storms are the union and balance of the Goddess and God and is a good time to perform protection spells for your house and self from storms and their sometimes harmful effects, winds, lightning and floods.

If you look upon Spring’s sky you will find that Ursa Major the Great Bear is very visible and bright at this time of year. There is a rich and vivid story behind this constellation. It starts of like many Greek tales of love and lust of the God Zeus. One day Zeus spied Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, a king of Arcadia hunting along the train of Artemis and fell in, love and seduced her. Callisto bore him a son Arcas, who grew to be a great hunter like his mother.

Then for reasons unknown and varied Callisto was changed into a bear by one of the Gods. Some tales say that it was Artemis who was enraged by Callisto’s loss of her sworn virginity, some saw Zeus may have done it to protect her from the jealous wrath of his wife Hera, and some say Hera herself changed Callsito after Arcas was born.When Arcas grew to be a man Hera tricked Arcas into hunting his Mother, but before the kill was made Zeus intervened and placed her high in the heavens and out of Hera’s reach. Arcas was placed in the sky as well and became Ursa Minor, the lesser Bear. Furious that her rival was given such an honor Hera convinced Poseidon to never let Callisto and Arcas to enter his waters at the same time.

The rising of Ursa Major is a sign of Spring itself, as the greet bear rises so does the sleeping bears awaken from their long hibernation. Artemis herself is sometimes represented by the great she bear.

Rising also in the Spring sky is the constellation of Virgo the Maiden of the harvest. Second only to Hydra, the celestial water snake, Virgo is the second largest constellation. She is often associated with Eostre and or Persephone and Demeter, and the harvest, with Spica her brightest star representing a sheaf of wheat.

Grandmother Moon, ZSuzsanna E. Budapest
Wheel of the Year, Pauline Campanelli
Moon Magic, DJ Conway
Everyday Moon Magic, Dorothy Morrison
Full Moon Feast , Jessica Prentice
Hedge Witch, Silver Ravenwolf
Wiccan Spell a Night, Strona Knight
Ostara Edain Mccoy
Exploring the Northern Tradition, Galina Krasskova
Celebrating the Seasons of Life,: Samhain to Ostara ashleen O’Gaea
A Year of Esbats Shannon Reilly
A Year of Rituals: Sabbats and Esbats for Solitaries and Covens Sandra Kynes
The Wiccan Year Judy Ann Nock

http://www.examiner.com/sitemaps/x-35413-Bangor-Paganism-Examiner~y2010m3d1-March-Almanac
http://www.crystalcavern.com/moonphase/MoonPhaseCalendar.html
http://www.wiccacraft.com/Esbats/March.htm
http://archaeosophia.blogspot.com/2009/03/storm-moon-some-acorns-and-great-great.html
http://www.unc.edu/~reddeer/index/00_fmr.faq.frameset.html
http://www.midnightmoonchild.com/moonchild5thmoonpage.html
http://www.angelfire.com/on/wicca/MoonMagick.html
http://thewheelandthedisk.blogspot.com/2009/03/seed-moon-is-new.html
http://wintergrove.net/2010/01/the-folklore-of-the-moon/#more-16
http://www.peacewind.org/moons/mar2005.htm
http://www.www.elftown.com/_Chaste%20Moon
http://www.daykeeperjournal.com/aarch08/0804apr/crystal032108.shtml
http://www.waningmoon.com/guide/library/lib0005.shtml#marc
http://www.sotcm.org/march.htm
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moon.htm
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/moonphasemagic/g/Storm_Moon.htm
http://paganpages.org/content/2010/03/o-march-moon-report-o/
http://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/group/moonmagick/forum/topics/crow-moon-by-camilla
http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/spring.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donna-henes/the-vernal-equinox-hatchi_b_493877.html\
http://butterflypromqueen.blogspot.com/2009/01/storm-moon-march.html
http://tarasutphen.com/50.html
http://people.tribe.net/bonnierose/blog/c75f5c7f-065b-420e-9df1-a02e1b81403c
http://pollymoon.com/home.aspx
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names
http://cauldron.wisefoodways.com/2003/m04_egg_moon.php
http://www.frontiercoop.com/learn/herbsavvy4.php