August has two full Moons this year, the full Sturgeon Moon that reached its yesterday, August 1, and then we have a full Blue Moon on Wednesday, August 30, 2023—and it will be the closest supermoon of the year. Each month’s full moon has a special name that represents something about the natural world and the energy of that time. The Sturgeon Moon is the Algonquian name for the full moon in August, when the sturgeon were easiest to catch in the Great Lakes. Other traditions named this month’s moon the Full Red Moon, for the late summery haze that can tinge the moon red, and the Corn or Grain Moon, as this is a time to start gathering the late summer harvest in preparation for the fall.
During the August full moon, we are working with a double light: the intensity of the summer sun and the peak of the moon’s illumination. If our inner sea monsters are coming to the surface now, let’s greet them with kindness and listen for what they may have to teach us, rather than trying to force them back down into the dark. This doesn’t have to be a struggle. We can allow this time of stirring up to be medicinal.
One way to do this is to sit in quiet meditation and focus on the bottom of the exhale, allowing any emotions to arise and be held with gentleness. This may be an excellent time to start counseling or another self-discovery process that is supported by someone who can help you hold yourself compassionately. This can also be a good time to inquire into our past, study our ancestors, and to look at what may have been lurking in our familial or cultural lines that is affecting us today.
Creating rituals around the energy of the Moon has been an ancient tradition across cultures for millennia to help us connect with Spirit, a sense of divinity embodied by the Moon. All around the globe, all beings watch the same Moon brighten our night sky to only to become slowly swallowed again, then miraculously begin to grow back into fullness. Each phase of the Moon describes a different energy or quality, and special spiritual rituals can be performed around every phase to call in those specific energies. Full and New Moons, with their energies of building and receding, respectively, are potent times to honor the great mysteries, the unknowable, the intimacy of our spiritual lives, whatever form that may take.
This is a time to appreciate what you have accomplished, yourself or in a group, or for what the universe has provided for you since the last Full Moon. Celebration and gratitude are the energies that to accentuate during your Full Moon rituals. Honor what you have created.
