June's Full Rose Moon

June's full moon is a marvel, but then all full moons are marvels are they not? I never tire of full moons and can be found outside in any weather and at any season watching the moon rise above the trees.

This is the full moon of roses, abundance and midsummer, a radiant orb representative of long sunny days, warm balmy nights, ripeness and gathering in, the first of the four harvest moons to shine down on us between now and late September.

At this time of year, one thinks of young birds, rabbits, fawns and cubs, of gardens, haying, fresh produce and flowers, of jubilant frogs singing resonant a cappella songs in summer ponds and young foxes cavorting on the hills at twilight — one thinks of richness and colour and song. A poignant moon is this — in June it seems as though summer has just arrived, but within a few days after this moon of "light at its height", Litha (or Midsummer) and the Summer Solstice will be upon us. The sun will reach its zenith and begin a slow tumble, daylight hours will commence their inexorable waning, and we creatures of the northern hemisphere will be on our blithe way toward the gold and russet season of autumn.

Many and poetic are the names of the full moon which graces the month of June, and we also know it as the:

Big Summer Moon, Blackberry Moon, Bulbs Flowering Moon, Corn Moon, Corn Tassels Moon, Crane Moon, Dyad Moon, Dyan Moon, Egg Hatching Moon, Egg Moon, Eucalyptus Moon, Fatness Moon, Field Poppy Moon, Fish Spoils Easily Moon, Flower Moon, Full Leaf Moon, Gardening Moon, Green Corn Moon, Green Moon, Harvest Moon, Hoer’s Moon, Honey Moon, Hot Weather Begins Moon, Leaf Dark Moon, Litha Moon, Long Rains Moon, Lotus Moon, Lovers' Moon, Making Fat Moon, Mead Moon, Midsummer Brightness Moon, Midsummer Moon, Moon Before Litha, Moon of Dancing Grain, Moon of Horses, Moon of Making Fat, Moon of Planting, Moon of the Turtle, Moon When Green Grass Is Up, Moon When June Berries Are Ripe, Moon When the Leaves Are Dark Green, Moon When the Hot Weather Begins, Moon When Buffalo Bulls Hunt the Cows, Moon When the Leaves Come Out, Moon When They Hill Indian Corn, Oak Moon, Peaches Moon, Peony Moon, Planting Moon, Pomegranate Moon, Raspberry Moon, Ripening Time Moon, Rose Moon, Sixth Moon, Sockeye Moon, Strawberry Moon, Strong Sun Moon, Summer Moon, Summer Solstice Moon, Thumb Moon, Turning Moon, Watermelon Moon, Windy Moon