Use your moonwater whenever and however you want. Augment your moonwork by adding it to ceremonial baths or anointing candles, poppets, spells bags, talismans, amulets, or holy jewelry. Bless yourself, your home, your beloveds, your belongings, and your animal and plant companions. Anything you love or care about can be blessed with moonwater.

Use it on its own, as a standalone ingredient, or use it in place of essential or magical oils and perhaps even as a substitute for burning herbs or incense. Use it in your moonmists and your sacred baths.

How you work with moonwater depends on the ingredients you use, of course. Moonwater is generally quite safe to be used for anointings. Since it doesn't have a scent, the majority of those who have scent allergies will be able to tolerate it without issue.

Remember: Do not ingest moonwater that is not created with 100 percent drinkable ingredients. Mindfulness about this is essential, especially if you have preserved your moonwater with alcohol. (See tips about drinkable moonwater after this recipe.)

To Gather

• A sterilized glass vessel
• Tap water
• Unbleached organic coffee filters (or a piece of clean muslin or cheesecloth)
• Alcohol for preservation: vodka, gin, brandy, grain alcohol, and so on. You will need 1 ounce of alcohol per cup of moonwater. If you don't want to use alcohol, you could use vinegar (apple cider vinegar is best), but do note that your moonwater will not last for very long.
• A sterilized glass jar or bottle for your final product
• Labels or paper and tape, paint pens, or other such implements

The Process
Step 1: Look at your Moon calendar and choose a lunar transit, phase, or other happening whose energies you would like to save.

Step 2: Energetically cleanse your glass vessel, and then fill it with water from your tap. Alternately, you can use water gathered from an ocean, river, lake, stream, or other natural source, or even from a holy place, such as a sacred well or spring. Remember: Whatever type of water you use possesses its own energy.

Step 3: After filling your container, set it outdoors for the chosen lunar event (perhaps even overnight) to collect the energies. If the happening is of short duration, you may want to stay with your vessel instead of leaving it unattended.

Step 4: After the lunar event is complete, bring your vessel back indoors and strain the water through the coffee filter, muslin, or cheesecloth to remove any debris. To preserve, add about 1 ounce of alcohol for every cup of liquid.

Step 5: After bottling, label your moonwater with the date, Moon sign and phase, and anything else you want to remember. Then store it in a cool, dark place.

Alternative: Enhanced Moonwater
Enhanced moonwater is simply basic moonwater enhanced with herbs. Before creating this version, identify a lunar phase and/or sign that you would like to preserve for future use, and one or more lunar herbs which resonate with those energies.

While under the Moon, add each herb to a sterilized glass vessel, blessing them one by one in her name and stating aloud their names and attributes. Cover the herbs with water from a sacrosanct place (this includes your tap!). Allow the herbs to soak in the water overnight or for the amount of time of the lunar event. Then strain the water through a coffee filter or a piece of muslin or cheesecloth, compost the plant matter, and add an alcohol preservative, bottling and labeling as usual.

Drinking Moonwater
You can use moonwater as a medium for tea, coffee, or other water-based libations. Moonwater can be frozen for later use; try freezing it as ice cubes to use in the drinks at your post-ritual feast! You will be blessed by the lunar energy present in the water.

Moonwater for drinking is created using the same procedure as basic moonwater: by leaving it out under the Moon for the night or throughout a particular lunar happening.

It can also be made far more quickly if needed. Pour some water into a chalice, hold it up to the Moon, and ask for the vibrations of her phase and sign to enter it. Request her blessings upon it. Raise your chalice up to her orb in honor, pour a splash out upon the Earth in appreciation, and then drink it as a sacrament.

Moonwater for drinking should be used rather quickly: within twenty-four hours if unrefrigerated and within six months if stored in the fridge. As with any consumable, if the water smells or looks weird or off, dispose of it immediately.

Remember to only use safely consumable additions when enhancing your drinkable moonwaters!

Excerpted from Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Moon.