Full Moons of 2023
January 6th - The Wolf Moon - Cancer
"The Unspoken" - feeling a need to express yourself, deep emotions swirling together. This year, falls on a Friday which is ruled by Venus. A full moon on a Friday makes any work relating to love, friendship, reconciliation and beauty stronger. Think about what emotions you left neglected throughout the holiday season. Albeit, they may be dark and cold but there is a need to express and release these feelings if we ever want to grow and move forward. We all know that we can repress feelings or needs in order to "keep the peace". The waning period after this moon is the perfect one to release these pent up emotions.
February 5th - The Snow Moon - Leo
"Yearning" - signifies Hunger and difficulty. This year, it falls on the day of the Sun. Sunday, when the sun receives the most power. A full moon on Sunday enhances any work associated with healing, spirituality, success, strength and protection. Look for illumination this day on what you have been clinging to that may be some type of challenge or "unobtainable desire."
March 7th - The Worm Moon - Virgo
"Enthusiasm" - Arrives on a Tuesday therefore signifies emergence and enthusiasm because of Mars. Moon of revelation and nourishment. A full moon on a Tuesday makes any work relating to passion, courage, aggression and protection more effective. A time to self-examine, look for opportunities for self discovery. Introspection and discovering hidden parts of yourself is the key here. Listening to your deepest emotions and determining how you have been lying to yourself. Have you been feeding others that do not feed you?
April 6th - The Pink Moon - Libra
"Disappointment" - Arrives on Thursday, the day of Jupiter. A full moon on a Thursday should bring special attention matters of expansion, money, prosperity and generosity. Heralds the prospect for many opportunities to come to fruition. Brings hope but with hope, hope's shadows are also dragged along with it: disappointment and despair. This full moon, focus on what disappoints you or triggers you to feel despair, empty or like you're missing something. What has left you feeling betrayed? Focus on identifying and healing all those let-downs. This is a time to become familiar with and work with a grief eater. Write a sentence or two about how any relationship has disappointed you for the three days this full moon is most effective (approx. April 4th-April 7th) and then let it go. If necessary, or if a ritual would make you feel more effective burn the paper with your grief written thereon during the waning moon period.
May 5th - The Flower Moon - Scorpio
"Joy" - Happens of a Friday, the day of Venus bring ecstatic joy along with floral fragrance. A full moon on a Friday offers a chance to enhance any work related to love, friendship, reconciliation and beauty. As color is appearing everywhere, is a great time for self-examination: what causes hold you back from happiness? Do you self-sabotage your own happiness, or defer it ("I'll be happy when...")? You might need to do some digging to uncover yourself under hidden guilt and shame. These are just shadows, and you can counter them by picking small victories and celebrating your own happiness. Do what you love - if you love to dance, put on some music; light a candle and take pleasure in yourself.
June 3rd - The Strong Sun Moon - Scorpio
"Frustration" - Comes on a Saturday, the day dedicated to Saturn so brings a sense of responsibility and structure. Historically, the June moon is known as The Strawberry Moon because it is a time when people harvest, gathering the first fruits of their labor that year. Saturn is known to bring about difficult lessons and tests one's character. It is a good time to plan ahead and gain necessary knowledge through some type of complex work that requires a sense of expertise. That situation may cause some type of frustration, thus giving Saturn an opportunity to provide enlightenment. The Universe cautions to listen to your feelings about any situation you encounter during this moon especially if you're feeling limited and to make the adjustments needed accordingly. Take an account of what you have direct control over and what needs relieved in order to lessen any frustrated feeling. Take note of plans that need changed and work for better, clearer communication. Saturday is the optimal day for banishing of any sort. Identify what you feel needs eliminated, and work intuitively toward that goal during this full-moon period.
July 3rd - The Blessing Moon - Capricorn
"Loss and New Beginnings" - Comes on a Monday, the day of the Moon so recharges and brings a renewal and revitalization of our innermost soul energies. Naturally known as The Buck Moon, a symbol of the July full-moon are a deer's antlers. Oftentimes we grow as a result of loss so during this full-moon we should analyze a situation or time in which we found pride and pleasure but has in some way or another disappeared from our lives. How did that loss allow for new growth? How did we change as a result of that loss? How has the fact of loss contributed to the way our world has developed today? It is important to remember that loss does not always come with new growth but many times we can realize that something may have been holding us back from cultivating our authenticity and thus find beauty in betrayal. Have you seen this manifest in your life? Acknowledge all losses during this full-moon period and take note about how those losses changed your sense of self.
August 1st - The Corn Moon - Aquarius
"Determination" - Falls on a Tuesday, the day dedicated to Mars and therefore brings a redefined sense of motivation in all we encounter during this full-moon period. Typically known as the Sturgeon Moon, was named for the ease of catching fish in the Great Lakes (the largest source of fresh water in the world). Examine your goals, do you have goals? If not, why not? During this full moon, focus on pursuing our needs and desires with determination. Examine the emotions behind and fueling each goal. Take a self-examination, noting all instances of uncomfortable emotions such as inadequacy, lust, fear, guilt and shame and notice where they have been hiding and hindering us reaching our goals. Decide if that feeling belongs there. If it doesn't, how did it get there? Converse or exchange with your emotions and recognize all they have to offer: hear it, answer it, and allow yourself to breathe and then GO! The results and conclusions you can find during this full-moon period has the potential to change your goals, motivations and perceptions for the better making us all the more effective. An increase in potency. Once the necessary changes are made, work on understanding how we got there.
August 30th - The Blue Moon - Aquarius
"Regret" - The blue moon is when the full moon appears for the second time in the same calender month. This one falls on a Wednesday, the day of Mercury and during Mercury retrograde, at that! While Mercury retrograde can create communication barriers, it does not lend itself well to important new conversations, it provides ample opportuni9ties to revisit unresolved situations and explore them from new perspectives. It's a chance to be very revolutionary if you look at it in the right light. While there is an adage that you regret the things you didn't do, the reality is that there are, for all of us, things we hyave done, said, and tried that we would not have gone through with had we the knowledge we currently hold. This full moon, take an inventory of what you regret, especially that which had impacted another person and ask yourself if you can make amends and how you could have acted in a different way. This feeling is to understand karmic regret and gain emotional alignment.
September 29th - The Harvest Moon - Aries
"Grief" - On a Friday, the day of Venus. The Moon lore refers to the time in North America when farmers reap the grains of the field. In European folklore, this also meant a complicated time for the crop spirit, which sometimes represented the harvesting because it meant sacrifice in and of itself represented a deep act of love -- giving the body of the crop so that the people who raised and tended it could survive the winter and then plant the children of the original crop in the spring. Sacrifice comes with complex grief, a love for the self even as we give up a piece of ourselves for the good of our children, our partners, our family, or our country. Take this time to look at the grief behind sacrifices and permit yourself to feel that self-love. Listen to the grief and find a healthy way to express the love behind it.
October 28th - The Hunter's Moon - Taurus
"Lust" - When hunting season begins in much of the North America (call it cuffing season if you wish), falls on a Saturday, the day of Saturn - THE TRUTH! This convergence of energy speaks to lust - a bundle of emotions and drives that, while often pleasurable, can also cause us to veer off course when mismatched with what motivates those closest to us. It can manifest not only as sexual desire but as lust for result. Lust for result happens when you because too eager to see if a goal or work has manifested, and you lose sight of who your desire may impact. Just as a lover loses interest when pursued too avidly, you can also lose what you seek to manifest. Examine what inspires your lust. Where can you move closer? Where do you need to give yourself and your desired breathing room? (or do you wish to be suffrocated? 😉) Allow your body to speak to you, but don't let it make your decisions -- allow it to show you the emotion lying underneath the lust. Often, it's something much more complicated than the primal "want" hidden in the layers.
November 27th - The Beaver Moon - Gemini
"Hurt" - The Beaver Moon is a time in North America when hunters observed the beavers taking shelter for the winter. This year, falls on a Monday, the day of the Moon. An impeccably strong day for a full-moon to fall upon! Strengthens the full-moon. Given the proximity to the holidays, this time of taking shelter also, for many, means a time of stress, forced jollity, and setting emotions aside for the good of social situations. Yet the cold seeps in, and with it, the desire to take shelter, rest, and nurse old wounds. Find some time to wrap yourself in a blanket -- or lay under a weighted blanket -- and identify your wounds. What old stories still hurt you? What current situations also leave you feeling hurt and rejected? You do not need to act on them or resolve them, or even advocate at this time. Use a spot in your datebook to make some notes of those old hurts. Do not judge yourself, but acknowledge the wounds so that when you must go into those socially pressured situations, you are aware that they are there. How can you show those wounds some love?
Leave it to Beaver!
A Canadian Nickle and shown national animal of a beaver!
December 26th - The Long Nights Moon
December's Moon is sometimes called the Cold Moon (reminds me of the Cold War), a time in North America when the temperatures drop and the nights grow long, and this year this moon falls on a Tuesday, the day of Mars. The cold of the Moon and the heat of Mars may call for a time of internal extremes and indecision: you may feel one way very strongly about a certain thing but then also feel with just as much strength the opposite. When ambivalence happens, it usually comes about because of emotions hiding somewhere in the in-between. Are you living in fear and not deliberately missing something from that fear you are giving too much of your energy to? Is there an aspect that you find repulsive, but you feel shame at expressing that disgust? Do you want to please everyone and feel guilty about pleasing yourself? Take a close look at the subject of choice causing you to swing on that pendulum: What is it really about? Assess the possible costs to making a final decision. What are you willing to experience, and how much is fear of the unknown influencing the back-and-forth swing? Make sure you listen to your own voice first.
