“Our great symbol for the Goddess is the moon, whose three aspects reflect the three stages in women's lives and whose cycles of waxing and waning coincide with women's menstrual cycles." ~ Carol P. Christ

The wonder of a full moon reflects the solar light when the world would otherwise be dark has been linked to unseen powers. The myths surrounding the full moon included increased birthrates, fertility, vampires and werewolves. Some farmers plant by the moon phase; some brokers even buy and sell stocks according to the moon. We are stardust and interlinked components of a great universe.

Full Moons are sometimes associated with temporal insomnia, insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various "magical phenomena" such as lycanthropy. Psychologists, however, have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a full moon. But then again, what do psychologists know?

Lunar Calendar 2010

The Hindu, Thai, Hebrew, Islamic, Tibetan, Mayan, Neo-pagan, Germanic, Celtic, and the traditional Chinese calendars are all based on the phases of the Moon. None of these calendars, however, begins its months with the full moon. In the Chinese, Jewish, Thai and some Hindu calendars, the full moon always occurs in the middle of a month.

July 25	8:37 P.M.
August 24	12:05 P.M.
September 23	4:18 A.M.
October 22	8:38 P.M.
November 21	11:29 A.M.
December 21	2:15 A.M.

 

Moon Names "By the light of the silvery moon..."

Early Winter	January	Old Moon	Wolf Moon	Moon After Yule, Ice Moon
Mid Winter	February	Wolf Moon	Snow Moon	Hunger Moon, Storm Moon, Candles Moon
Late Winter	March	Lenten Moon	Worm Moon	Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sugar Moon, Sap Moon, Chaste Moon, Death Moon
VERNAL EQUINOX
Early Spring	April	Egg Moon	Pink Moon	Sprouting Grass Moon, Fish Moon, Seed Moon, Waking Moon
Mid Spring	May	Milk Moon	Flower Moon	Corn Planting Moon, Corn Moon, Hare's Moon
Late Spring	June	Flower Moon	Strawberry Moon	Honey Moon, Rose Moon, Hot Moon, Planting Moon
SUMMER SOLSTICE
Early Summer	July	Hay Moon	Buck Moon	Thunder Moon, Mead Moon
Mid Summer	August	Grain Moon	Sturgeon Moon	Red Moon, Green Corn Moon, Lightning Moon, Dog Moon
Late Summer	September	Corn Moon	Harvest Moon	Corn Moon, Barley Moon
AUTUMNAL EQUINOX
Early Fall	October	Harvest Moon	Hunter's Moon	Travel Moon, Dying Grass Moon, Blood Moon
Mid Fall	November	Hunter's Moon	Beaver Moon	Frost Moon, Snow Moon
Late Fall	December	Oak Moon	Cold Moon	Frost Moon, Long Night's Moon, Moon Before Yule
WINTER SOLSTICE

 

Blue Moon

The term "blue moon" traditionally referred to an extra moon in a season: if a season had four full moons (rather than the more common three), then the third of the four moons was known as a blue moon.

A mistaken definition, that the second full moon in a calendar month is known as a blue moon, became common in parts of the U.S. during the second half of the twentieth century due to a misinterpretation of the Maine Farmers' Almanac in the March 1946 Sky & Telescope magazine; this was corrected in 1999.

Since there are on the average 12.37 full moons in a year, a "blue moon" must occur on the average every 2.7 years (7 times in the 19 years of the Metonic cycle), by either definition.

All materials copyright 2010.