The All Gathered Moon of November

November's full lunar orb is usually the the second last moon of the calender year, and certainly a colder moon than October's golden visitation was. As is often the case at this time of year, I  briefly considered staying indoors but wrapped up anyway, and Spencer and I went out to the garden with tripod and camera. Lady Moon was concealed behind clouds for the most part, and for a while we wondered if she would hide her radiant face completely this time around or part the veil for a while and pour her light over us. At last, there she was in all her radiance...

Spencer is accustomed to his mother's lunar studies now, and he leaned comfortably against me and looked up at the sky last night, content to be there and certain that whatever we were doing out there in the darkness, it was worth doing.

The old tree which has held the rising full moon in its arms every month for so many years was no longer there with us last evening.  Having expired and gone to its leafy reward long ago, it was felled and taken away yesterday, every branch and twig of it. Standing in the darkness, we remembered the old tree, and we thought of the beloved friend and journeying companion who departed this life and "went on ahead" last week.  This November's moon is about loss, but it is about trust too, trust in each other and those we love, trust in the wild and elemental grace of existence and what I like to call "the great round" of our days and nights.

We also know this moon as the: Blood Moon, Buffalo Moon, Cold Begins Moon, Dark Moon, Deer Rutting Moon, Twelfth Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, Fog Moon, Freezing Moon, Frosty Moon, Geese Going Moon, Hunter's Moon, Large Tree Freeze Moon, Little Bear's Moon, Long Moon, Mad Moon, Moon of Cold, Moon of Fledgling Hawk, Moon of Freezing, Moon of Storms, Moon of the Falling Leaves, Moon of the Shaker Leaves, Moon of the Turkey and Feast, Moon the Rivers Begin to Freeze, Moon When All Is Gathered in, Moon When Deer Shed Antlers, Moon When Deer Shed Their Antlers, Moon When Horns Are Broken Off, Moon When the River Freezes, Moon When the Rivers Start to Freeze, Moon When the Water Is Black with Leaves, Mourning Moon, Moon of Much Poverty, Ring Finger Moon, Sacrifice Moon, Samoni Moon, Sassafras Moon, Snow Moon, Snowy Mountains in the Morning Moon, Trading Moon, Trail Moon, Tree Moon, White Frost on Grass & Ground Moon, White Moon, Whitefish Moon, Willow Moon, Winter Divided Moon, Yew Moon.

Among the many names for this month's moon, I am rather fond of Yew Moon and Moon of Falling Leaves, but for me, this will always be Christel's Moon.