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. As often happens 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.
Spencer is accustomed to his mum's lunar studies; he leaned comfortably against me and looked up at the sky, contented and certain that whatever we were doing out in the garden after nightfall, it was something worth doing.
November's moon is about loss and remembrance, but it is about community and 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. Standing in the darkness last evening, we remembered the gnarled box elder tree that once honored the garden with its presence. The dear old tree held the rising full moon in its arms for well over a century, but it has gone to its leafy reward now and is flourishing somewhere else, perhaps even as a tree again. We thought too of darling Cassie, of the friends and journeying companions who departed this life and have gone on ahead.
We also know this moon as the: Beaver Moon, 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 Shaken 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. It was in November that my friend passed beyond the fields we know.
4 comments:
I love how Spencer loves and trusts you and doesn't question what you're doing. That's a nice feeling, isn't it? Happy moon!
Niffy {marrow and meadow}
We go out to see the full moon rise over a local wetlands/marsh every month, and I always enjoy reading your entry the following day. In our area, it was warm enough to shed our coats, and the moon chose to rise behind the only grove of trees on the horizon - it was shy, but eventually came into its glory. Thank you, as usual, for recounting your experience.
A most wonderful full moon post. Comforting thought proving words.
The face of our mother Full Moon...is compellingly drawing. A must see.....
The photo is stellar Cate.
Out in the dark of night, you two wonders, gathering up the moon of November, for us. I can hardly contain my joy.
I think of your Friend Christel. And Cassie's own sweet self.
Blessings.
I call it a compelling moon because it gets me up at 5:00 a.m. while filling my bedroom with silver light.
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