Dark moon ritual

Last night I went to the Amsterdamse Bos (woods) to perform a dark moon ritual with the inner circle of the Witchy Girls. There will still be Witchy Girls Nights, but part of the group wanted to do rituals together: the inner circle was born. To make a good start as a group we decided to do two rituals: one with dark moon for banishing and letting go and one with full moon for cleansing and to welcome.
Yesterday the weather was great: sunny, dry and not cold. We found a beautiful spot, a natural circle in the woods with water in the west. I had volunteered to do the North or earth element. A first for me, but it felt good. I also took part in the libation ceremony. We all brought a stone. Sorcha led us into a guided meditation to let all the negative energy, problems etc. inside us flow into the stone, with some time to ourselves to complete that process. Afterwards we each buried our stone in the woods. One of the girls had made special incense: for the dark moon to put on the altar, and for each of us personally to help with the banishing. A snail decided to keep us company in the circle. That's a good sign, because a snail stands for cleaning and letting go! All in all it was a wonderful ritual and I'm looking forward to the one with full moon!