You have a blank sheet of paper in front of you—no lines, no distractions—and a graphite pencil in hand. On this new moon night in June, the sky holds no visible light, the lunar dark rendered complete. This is the moment Laylä Föz, a Brazilian spiritual guide and witch, invites you to set the intentions that will shape the next month of your life. Not distant dreams, but concrete goals written in present tense, as if they're already true. I am organized in my daily duties. I allow myself to have fun and experience pleasure. I love my work. This is not wishful thinking disguised as ritual—it's structured manifestation grounded in lunar astronomy and centuries of magical practice.
The new moon holds particular power in astrology and witchcraft for a reason rooted in both science and symbol. "The moon represents the feminine, the home, and motherhood," Föz explains in her video series on moon phase rituals. "In a birth chart, [it represents] a person's emotional drives." But the moon's influence extends far beyond individual psychology. In astrology, the moon's current phase and zodiac sign create a backdrop of energetic conditions that shift throughout the month—conditions we can either ignore or intentionally work with.
These lunar cycles don't merely influence astrology textbooks. "The Moon's cycles interfere with our daily lives, causing us to have different internal or external processes, according to the transit," Föz notes. The gravitational and electromagnetic effects of our moon have long been documented by science; many cultures have organized their calendars, agricultural practices, and spiritual work around its cycles for millennia. Modern practitioners view the new moon specifically as a phase of beginning, initiation, and blank-slate potential. Where the full moon brings culmination and revelation, the new moon whispers: start here.
But here's the crucial framework: the moon's influence operates at multiple levels simultaneously. There's the general energy of the moon's phase—new, waxing (growing), full, or waning (decreasing)—which creates a universal backdrop. Then there's the specific zodiac sign the moon currently transits, which adds a layer of thematic focus. And finally, there's the moon's position in your birth chart, which determines where and how lunar transits personally affect you. This is layered astrology, and it can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. "If you're not really into these things about transits, stars, and blah blah blah, no problem. Focus on your intentions, your goals, your projects, and everything will work out fine," Föz reassures newcomers. The ritual's power lies not in mastering astrology but in clarity of intention.
For those who do want to work with moon sign energy, Föz provides guidance. "If it's in Libra, you'll probably deal with interpersonal relationships, partnerships, and things like that." Libra's diplomatic, relational energy means new moon intentions set during a Libra lunar transit might focus on healing a partnership, starting a collaboration, or clarifying your role in someone's life. "If it's in Scorpio, you'll probably deal with your shadows, with more internal, deeper things." Scorpio invites excavation, the surfacing of what's been hidden. "If it's in Capricorn, you'll probably deal with yourself versus money energy, material and professional energy." Capricorn's governing planet is Saturn, the planet of structure, discipline, and material reality—ideal for launching a business, restructuring finances, or building professional momentum. "If it's in Pisces, spirituality, creativity, and things like that." Pisces opens channels to imagination, intuition, and the invisible worlds. The framework is simple: work with the moon's current energy signature rather than against it.
Yet working with cosmic conditions requires working on yourself. This is where the ritual's emphasis on personal accountability becomes clear. Föz is explicit about this ethical dimension: "It's no use doing things talking about others, about the world. I want world peace, I want to marry so-and-so. That doesn't work. This depends exclusively on me, on my mind and what I am projecting. The moment you start interfering with other people's free will, things get a bit more complex." This is witchcraft stripped of ego projection. You cannot manifest someone else's love through ritual. You cannot will world peace into existence through candle work. You can, however, clarify what you want, what serves your growth, and commit that intention to the universe—or to your own subconscious, depending on your metaphysical framework. The distinction is critical: magic operates on the magician first, rippling outward. "If you want world peace, I will do my best to contribute to world peace, but focus on you, okay?" Föz concludes.
This framework reframes the new moon ritual from passive wish-making to active co-creation. You're not petitioning the moon to give you something. You're using the moon's symbolic and energetic window to clarify, crystallize, and commit to your own intentions. The moon becomes a mirror, a rhythm-keeper, a witness to your declaration.
The ritual itself unfolds in clear, sequential steps—a structure that matters. In witchcraft and ceremonial magic, the container (the structure, the materials, the timing, the words) shapes the energy. Föz creates a container of both form and flexibility.
You begin with a blank sheet of paper—no lines, no distractions—and a graphite pencil. Föz is emphatic about the pencil: "Don't you dare use a pen, wait, go buy a graphite pencil and come back. Just because this channels more energy, although it's all about our intention, it's good to have a pencil." The material choice isn't superstition; graphite, a form of carbon, has historically been used in writing magic and ritual work. Its erasability—you can erase and revise—also carries symbolic weight: graphite allows for correction and refinement, mirroring the flexibility of intention-setting. A pen's permanence is unnecessary here. You're not signing a contract; you're sketching possibility.
On your paper, you write down your goals for the coming month. These should be specific to that lunar cycle, not vague aspirations six months hence. They should be written in present tense, as affirmations of already-achieved reality. Not "I am going to start doing sports" but "I have a healthy body and routine." The linguistic shift is subtle but neurologically powerful—it closes the gap between where you are and where you want to be, collapsing future intention into present state. You're not describing what you'll become; you're affirming what you are.
Föz models this with her own list: "I have a healthy body and routine. I am aligned with my essence and I meditate daily. I accept and transmute my difficulties in personal and professional relationships. I am organized in my daily duties and I allow myself to have fun and experience pleasure. I love my work and I wake up willing to improve every day." Notice the specificity and self-direction. Each statement is authored by and for her own transformation. There's no appeal to external forces, no magical thinking that bypasses personal responsibility. The statements are declarative and possible—not fantasy, but aspiration grounded in what's within her agency.
With intentions committed to paper, the ritual deepens through mineral support. Föz recommends selecting two "action" stones—crystals associated with initiation, power, beginning, and doing. She suggests citrine and tiger's eye, both traditionally linked with Aries energy (the zodiac sign most connected to action, courage, and new starts). Tiger's eye is believed to strengthen willpower and protect action; citrine is associated with abundance and manifestation energy.
Yet Föz immediately opens the door to intuition: if another stone calls to you, honor that call. "If you felt drawn to it? Go with that. After all, maybe the goal you want to reach is linked to your love life, and then rose quartz comes in here. Very well." This is craft respecting individual resonance over dogma. The stones aren't magical objects demanding obedience; they're tools that amplify and channel your intention through material and symbolic connection. A rose quartz might be perfect if your intentions center on self-love or romantic partnership. A black tourmaline might support grounding and protection work. The practitioner's intuition, informed by her own goals, guides the selection.
You place your selected stones on top of your written intentions and close your eyes. Now comes visualization—the active imagining of your goals as present reality, as already accomplished fact. This is where somatic practice enters the ritual.
"For me, a healthy routine and body involves a very well-regulated diet with lots of greens, it involves me riding my bike, which is my thing, and doing yoga every day," Föz walks through her own practice. "So I'll close my eyes here and imagine all of this. I'll imagine myself doing yoga a month from now, eating leafy greens, riding my bike, or all the things that constitute a healthy universe for me." You hold this visualization for about five minutes, breathing into the felt sense of your intention already manifest. The key is specificity and sensation—not vague positive thinking, but concrete imagining: what does the healthy version of you see, feel, taste, experience? What does your workspace look like when you're organized? What rhythm do you move through when you're aligned?
This isn't daydreaming; it's sensory rehearsal, a practice supported by neuroscience. Visualization primes your brain and nervous system to recognize and move toward opportunities aligned with your stated goals. Athletes have long used this technique. The body doesn't distinguish between vividly imagined experience and lived experience—both train the nervous system toward the goal state.
The ritual doesn't end with visualization. The paper becomes a talisman—a physical anchor of your intention. "You will take this paper and keep it somewhere you see often, where it's in close contact with your energy. You can put it by your bedside. If you... asked for or projected many things linked to your professional or financial life, put it in your wallet, put it in your office; if it's related to your studies, put it in your notebook." The paper travels with you, held close, activating your intention through proximity and repetition.
Throughout the new moon phase (roughly the three days surrounding the astronomical new moon), you can repeat this ritual as many times as feels resonant. Take the paper out, read your words, hold your stones, visualize again. Föz frames this not as obsessive repetition but as tending: "As many times as you can do this during the new moon period, the better. Pause for a bit, take your paper, take a deep breath, and focus on that intention." Each return to the ritual deepens the groove in your consciousness, strengthens the signal you're sending to yourself and the universe. This is how intention becomes behavior, how affirmation becomes reality.
The new moon ritual is both complete and a gateway into deeper lunar practice. Having set intentions with the new moon, you'll move into the waxing moon phase, when the moon grows larger night by night and your goals take form. This is when you take concrete actions aligned with your intentions—the yoga practice, the creative project, the difficult conversation. Föz's series explores rituals for each lunar phase, recognizing that magic is cyclical. Your work doesn't end with the new moon; it evolves through the month.
For deeper study, astrology offers rich resources for understanding moon signs and transits. But literacy isn't necessary to begin. Start with a blank page, graphite pencil, and honest commitment to your own becoming. The practice invites you to restore cyclical awareness to modern life, a recognition that you're embedded within, not separate from, natural systems. Watch what shifts over the month. This becomes your own proof that these practices work.
