The Phases
Full Moon - cleanse your tools, restore your energy, give thanks, love magicks, beginnings, enhance psychic ability, power, healing, divination, enlightenment, banishing
Blue Moon - divination, focus, achieving goals, wishes
Waning Gibbous - expel negativity, releasing, undo bindings and curses
Third Quarter - Forgiveness, letting go, releasing, reaking bad habits
Waning Crescent - rest, cleansing, balance, success, wisdom, atonement
Dark Moon - banishing, retreat, self reflection, justice, rest, stillness, observation
New Moon - fresh starts, new beginnings, banishing, divination, healing, hope, openness
Black Moon - manifestation, power, wishes
Waxing Crescent - attraction, spells of intention or hope, luck, friendship, growth, wealth
First Quarter - overcoming challenges, action, making decisions, balance
Waxing Gibbous - making adjustments, refining, prosperity, motivation, good health, positivity, success
What are the Blue, Dark, and Black Moons?
A Blue Moon is an “extra” full moon that occurs in the same month. Or, it is what occurs when you get four full moons in one season. A Black Moon is just the opposite, an extra new moon to occur within the same month as another, or when four new moons happen in the same season. It can also refer to a month in which there is no full moon, which can only occur in February, as the lunar cycles run over 29.5 days.
A Dark Moon is what you call the waning crescent just before the new moon and the start of the waxing phase. The duration ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 days.
Full Moons
January - Wolf Moon/Cold Moon/Spirit Moon
February - Snow Moon/Hunger Moon
March - Worm Moon/Sap Moon
April - Pink Moon/Fish Moon/Egg Moon/Sprouting Grass Moon
May - Flower Moon/Milk Moon/Corn Planting Moon
June - Strawberry Moon/Rose Moon/Hot Moon
July - Buck Moon/Thunder Moon
August - Sturgeon Moon/Green Corn Moon
September - Corn Moon/Harvest Moon/Barley Moon
October - Hunter’s Moon/Travel Moon/Dying Moon
November - Beaver Moon/Frost Moon
December - Cold Moon/Long Nights Moon
Why are they named?
They are essentially nicknames that were traditionally used by Native Americans to track the seasons. Used as timing for growing and harvesting crops, keeping track of when certain animals would be around for hunting, and so on. Not all tribes used the same names at for these moons, or even count the same number of seasons. The names for the moons are largely localized to what grows, what animals are around, and how the mild or harsh the weather is in that area.
Some tribes may only use a few names, where others may use the same name at a different time of year. Each tribe had their preferences.
Colonial Americans later adopted some of the Full Moon names from the Native Americans and applied it to their own calendar.
Where is the Harvest Moon???
Well, the Harvest Moon can occur in one of two months, September or October. It is the Full Moon that occurs the closest to the Autumn Equinox. It is named so, because the closer to the equinox, the later the sun sets, thus giving farmers more time to harvest their crops.
What about the Supermoon?
This occurs when the (New or Full) Moon is at it’s closest point in orbit to Earth, when it’s at it’s perigee. The Moon appears much larger than normal, and moreso when it’s lower in the horizon when it has just started to rise. This can happen at any point in the year.
(NOTE) - we have 3 full supermoons occuring in a row in 2020… March, April, and May.
image credit thebohomystic.tumblr.com