Yesterday morning as I was letting the dogs outside at 6am, I saw the spookiest moonset. On the horizon over the sea, (in the direction of the usual summer sunset) in total darkness was a vividly orange moon peeking out of darkcloud. It was like a nightime sun or an eclipse.
Then tonight, the full moon rose in the east over the hills, large and quiet, just rising into the pastel sky in it’s friendly way like it does. There was definitely a promise of spring in it’s colour.
Seeing it made me think of the Harvest Moon but I read on the Horizon site that a Harvest Moon is later in September.
I love the old names for the moon, but I still struggle with the southern hemisphere dilemma. I found following the seasons was natural in the UK – you could almost feel each solstice- Yule is so Decemberish that even the most disconnected person can remember that, but here I seem to be having trouble staying in touch.
Anyway, all this has made me realise that I need to refresh my southern hemisphere knowledge and perspective . Handily this week on Sunday, I planted a load of sunflower seeds just before the full moon which according to permaculture and biodynamic theory is pretty good timing for seed planting.
I can’t find out much about the correlation of old moon names with the southern hemisphere and I’m not sure if our winter moon at this time should be the February equivalent (Old Moon)…or whether it really is the grain moon, but if we do swap, here are the Southern equivalents:
Old names for the monthly moon
January: Old Moon, or Moon After Yule (july)
February: Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, or Wolf Moon (august)
March: Sap Moon, Crow Moon or Lenten Moon (september)
April: Grass Moon, or Egg Moon (october)
May: Planting Moon, or Milk Moon (november)
June: Rose Moon, Flower Moon, or Strawberry Moon (december)
July: Thunder Moon, or Hay Moon (january)
August: Green Corn Moon, or Grain Moon (february)
September: Fruit Moon, or Harvest Moon (march)
October: Harvest Moon, or Hunter’s Moon (april)
November: Hunter’s Moon, Frosty Moon, or Beaver Moon (may)
December: Moon Before Yule, or Long Night Moon (june)