Mooning Over The Moon

Tomorrow will be a full moon and I did a little searching on full moon names and found out that there are just as many names for the full moon as there are peoples that have named them. The following is a bit explaining just how they were named and where the name came from....

Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. There was some variation in the Moon names  but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. European settlers followed that custom and created some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long on the average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year.

~ Colonial American- Trapper's Moon 

~ American Indian (Choctaw)- Little Famine Moon

~ Chinese- Budding Moon                           

~ Celtic- Moon of Ice

~ American Indian (Dakotah Sioux)-  Moon of the Raccoon, Moon When Trees Pop          

~ English Medieval- Storm Moon

~ American Indian (Cherokee)- Bony Moon     

 ~ Neo Pagan-   Snow Moon

                      

This is a time when the Moon is at its most powerful, and the magic most potent. Performing any positive spell at this time will achieve good results. Since the full moon only truly occurs for one night out of the entire lunar cycle, it can be hard to fit it into your schedule. You can harness the energy of the full moon for about 2 days before or after the night the moon is truly full.

Spells: Artistic projects, love, romance, fertility, psychic abilities or making decisions. Also healing, guidance, and completion spells.

The Irish Goddess Of Personal Power

Today  I want to introduce to you, Maeve... a Celtic goddess.  Maeve is the goddess that defies convention and is "The queen of the moment"... She has a strong personality and often flies in the face of the norm. She is proud  and controlling, caring yet productive and intelligent...she is the very model of the power and hidden potential that lies within each and every person.

She is a goddess to be reckoned with. Her name translates to "she who intoxicates". Indeed, she was reknown for her prodigious appetites for sex, power, and drink. Honey wine, or mead, is named for her. A great warrior queen, she coveted the famous brown bull of Ulster. She schemed and wreaked havoc until he was hers, not to be denied her desires. She embodies obsession, addiction, bloodlust and battle. She is thought to be the progenitor of Maab, the English Queen of the Fairies.

What hidden potential do you have? What are some of your hopes and dreams....goals that you want to see come to fruition in your life? We often have issue with maintaining focus when setting our goals and when we wander off track it can be somewhat disheartening. Here is an activity that I found in the book "Goddess Alive" by Michelle Skye to help focus and encourage us.

Supplies Needed:

* Stylish paper (can be parchment paper or some other fancy paper)
* Colored pens, ( colored pencils and markers can be used too)
* Post-it notes
* Some old magazines or newspapers

When you have your supplies needed, pull a fresh sheet of paper out and write your goal at the top using your markers, pencils or pens. Your goal can be anything like I want to own a bookstore or I want to make and sell tarot bags. No goal is too small or insignificant and worthy so remember, this is you directing your life. After you have your goal written down, take different colors and start writing all the things that you can think of that have to do with this goal. You can write upside down, sideways and even in the margins if your paper is lined. Write it down even if it seems outlandish or silly. When you are done with that turn the paper over and clip out magazine pictures or anything else and make a collage representing your goal.

Now, keep doing this for a week and watch your dream grow...meditate on your goal that week and focus your wishes....is this goal right for me? Take some post-it notes and write down some steps that you can take to make your goal real, like checking out buildings for lease or what types of inventory you would like to order. Each time you accomplish something on your list, tear off the post-it sheet and start on the next thing to do. Continue creating goals and before long they will all be a reality!

Ah, The Gibbous Moon...

I never really put too much thought into various lunar terminology other than whether it is full, half, quarter or dark but for some reason the term Gibbous Moon came up between my room mate and I and the lightbulb went off in my head that this would be a great blog topic. The following information was found on "Universe Today" and I hope you find it as interesting as I have.

Eight Phases of the Moon
Although the lunar phases actually transition smoothly from one phase to another, we have developed different terms for the 8 moon phases that look distinct. The Moon's appearance moves through each of these moon phases as the amount of sunlight falling on it changes from our perspective. this is a cycle that always moves in the same direction. The Moon will always go from new moon to first quarter then full moon, then last quarter and back to new moon again.

Here are the eight phases of the moon:

• New Moon ( I call it the Dark Moon )– When the illuminated side of the Moon is away from the Earth. The Moon and the Sun are lined up on the same side of the Earth, so we can only see the shadowed side. This is also the time that you can experience solar eclipses, when the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun and casts a shadow onto the surface of the Earth. During a new moon, we can also see the reflected light from the Earth, since no sunlight is falling on the Moon – this is known as earthshine.

• Crescent ( or New Moon as I call it) – The crescent moon is the first sliver of the Moon that we can see. From the northern hemisphere, the crescent moon has the illuminated edge of the Moon on the right. This situation is reversed for the southern hemisphere.

• First Quarter – Although it's called a quarter moon, we actually see this phase when the Moon is half illuminated. This means that the Sun and the Moon make a 90-degree angle compared to the Earth.

• Waxing Gibbous – This phase of the Moon occurs when the Moon is more illuminated that half, but it's not yet a full Moon.

• Full Moon – This is the phase when the Moon is brightest in the sky. From our perspective here on Earth, the Moon is fully illuminated by the light of the Sun. This is also the time of the lunar month when you can see lunar eclipses – these occur when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth.

• Waning Gibbous – In this lunar phase, the Moon is less than fully illuminated, but more than half.

• Last Quarter – At this point of the lunar cycle, the Moon has reached half illumination. Now it's the left-hand side of the Moon that's illuminated, and the right-hand side in darkness (from a northern hemisphere perspective).

• Crescent – This is the final sliver of illuminated moon we can see before the Moon goes into darkness again

Moon Phases, July 2009

Full Moon – July 7, 09:21
Last Quarter – July 15, 09:53
New Moon – July 22, 02:35
First Quarter – July 28, 22:00

Moon Phases, August 2009

Full Moon – August 6, 00:55
Last Quarter – August 13, 18:55
New Moon – August 20, 10:02
First Quarter – August 27, 11:42

Serenity Sunday

The Full Moon tonight generally goes by the epithet of the "Rose Moon," or the "Flower Moon," while people in certain areas blessed with berries prefer to call it the "Strawberry Moon." But even in a month with that many Moon monikers to go around, only the first Full Moon gets granted a formal name. Following the Rose/Flower/Strawberry Full Moon of Saturday, June 1, the Sunday June 30 return, like all second comers, will be hailed simply as the "Blue Moon"

There are in fact two definitions for a blue moon. According to the more recent definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. For a blue moon to occur, the first of the full moons must appear at or near the beginning of the month so that the second will fall within the same month (the average span between two moons is 29.5 days).

My List:

1.) My children

2.) My cats

3.) Dreams

4.) Herbs

5.) Laughter

6.) Periwinkles

7.) Green eyes

8.) Memories

9.) Warm nights

10.) African Violets

Flower Moon

This Friday is the full cycle of the moon and is often referred to as the Flower, Planting or Hare Moon. Energies around this moon are ones of health, romance, love and wisdom.

We need to be encouraged to begin to take action on the things we’ve recently been planning whether it be one of the heart, meditation or taking care of one's self.

This full moon is a time when we begin to really notice more light in our lives.... the days are longer... the grass is green (and must be cut more often) and the flowers are starting to bloom. This is a time of playful , light and buoyant energy. Some ways to really celebrate this moon and the energy it brings, is do a fun thing like host a pot-luck with a spring theme or visit your local elementary school and volunteer during art class. If you are looking for something more “magickal”try lighting a green candle and meditate on being thankful for the feeling of renewal and rejuvenation you can feel at this time.

Gems to enhance this moon’s energy include ones like Malachite, Jade, Emerald, Peridot or any other green-hued stones. These gems help enhance the energy of the heart chakra, which governs our compassion, generosity, love and harmony. When I need a boost in any of these areas, I simply slip a green stone into my pocket ( I like a small piece of Jade) or I wear a necklace of green-gemmed jewelry.

Whatever you feel that moves you this Friday full moon, enjoy and rejoice at the energy of mother earth and the goddess!

The Moon By Any Other Name....

There's just something about the moon...folklore abound with legends and tales of the moon, poetry is written about it and not too far back in our history, farmers still planted and harvested their crops by it. All down through time the moon has played an important role in the lives of many peoples and this coming Tuesday, the 10th, it will be a full Snow Moon. I was intrigued by the naming of the moon each month so I went on a search to find out just how these names came to be. I was actually suprised to find that if I had just thought about it, the names are actually quite common sense. In February, the heaviest snow usually falls and the native tribes of the north and east most often called it the Full Snow Moon or referred to as the Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult and on the wiccan calendar I have on my wall, it's called the Quickening Moon. The moon has always been mysterious and beautiful to me and learning about the different names has only increased my affection.

Snow

fresh white

beautiful soft

Snow

there it is - look

it wasn't there before

it is new - it just appeared

in minutes - now

soft - white - fluffy

immaculate

Snow

sparkling on rooftops

in branches & twigs

on the dry brown

autumn lawn

Snow

it is snow

don't you see it - - -

Moonlight of the full moon!

(Magic of the Full Moon ,Ingeborg Carsten-Miller)