Two Moons, One Prayer
At our Way of the Rose meetings we pray the 54-Day Rosary Novena. Hidden within this popular devotion is a prayer tradition as old as humanity itself. For the first 27 days of the novena (one cycle of the moon) we ask that our petition be granted. For the remaining 27 days (the second cycle) we offer thanks—whether our petition has been granted yet or not. Two moons. One prayer.
The preparation for the Novena is always on a Wednesday. This is the day we set our intention. We always begin on a Thursday. The last day of the Novena is always on a Monday. On Tuesday we reflect on how the Novena went and share our stories. Then we step into the next Novena. This is the “walking rhythm” of The Way of the Rose.
We do not align the beginning of the novena or the end of it with a full or new moon. Instead, we let the Moon and Our Lady have an ongoing conversation with us throughout the Novena. There are often surprises and synchronicities connected to dates, moons, forgotten feast days, and our own personal experiences.
Traditionally, we say one circle of mysteries each day. We begin with the Joyous Mysteries on Day 1, proceed to the Sorrowful Mysteries on Day 2, the Glorious Mysteries on Day 3 and then repeat the cycle. On the Facebook page the current Novena guide (there are six for each Novena) will indicated the Day and what mysteries are to be prayed as well as offering personal reflections for the day.
In folk Catholicism there are lots and lots of different kinds of novenas. Our Lady of Woodstock has her own 9-day novena that culminates on Her Feast Day on June 16th. Other saints have their own 9-day prayer periods for special petitions. The 54-Day novena originated with Our Lady of Pompeii who gave it to an incurably ill girl who was cured on the 27th day.
Novena means nine and nine is considered a magical number. Trace most of the world’s religions back and whether its Greece or Iceland or India or Columbia there are usually nine manifestations of the Great Mother at the earliest start of things. Perhaps this is because human mothers are pregnant for nine months. All of the Mystery Cults of the Mediterranean (the Eleusian Mysteries, The Isis Cults, the Mithras devotions) had nine day prayer periods. In praying a novena we are tapping into traditions much, much older than Christianity.
But the most important of all the novena numbers is ONE. One Prayer. “Is there nothing that you want?” Our Lady of Woodstock asked Clark after he had been praying the rosary for nine days. It is like a question out of a fairy tale. What do we want? What is our heart’s desire?
Our Lady is waiting for us to ask and to answer our prayer.