May 5th Moon Paddle

May full moon paddle

two friends, myriad bat rays,

coyote, osprey.

The Moon and Venus in Switzerland

Click to enlarge. Photo taken this past Sunday © by David Kaplan

Sometimes a morning sky can be serene and surreal. This past Sunday a sublime sky appeared above a snowy slope in eastern Switzerland. Quiet clouds blanket the scene, lit from beneath by lights from the village of Trubbach.  Mittlerspitz, the snow covered mountain, posing dramatically on the upper left, hovers over the small town of Balzers, Liechtenstein. The Alps can be seen across the far right, just below the rising sun. Visible on the upper right are the crescent Moon and the bright planet Venus. Venus will remain in the morning sky all month. Text (adapted) and photo are from Astronomy Picture of the Day LINK.

April's New "Sprouting Grass" Moon

Today is the new moon of April, the Sprouting Grass Moon. It won't be visible for a little while, but in two weeks it will move across the circle of our sky and be full.

I've been thinking about moons, circles, and hearts....

The Enzo- which looks like a moon,

And what Black Elk said:

You have noticed that everything as Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round.

The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.

Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.


And I've been thinking that we try too hard to know things with our heads. What we can get in our heads isn't all that important. I think there's more payoff in learning things by heart, for heart. Heart "knowing" is sweeter, deeper, warmer.

Full Wolf Moon

The Full Wolf Moon sails overhead as I write. This full moon is at perigee, meaning it is now closer to Earth than it usually is because the moon's orbit is not a circle, but an ellipse. It's not all that often that the moon is at perigee when it is full, but it is tonight. So we are treated to a full moon that's a little bit closer (30,000 miles closer) appearing a little bit bigger and a shining bit brighter than most full moons. It also produces higher and lower tides than usual. If you want a little bit more information, go here to the Space article.

Go out and enjoy the view if you're lucky enough to have clear skies. And look for Mars that red "star" not too far away.

Leaning alone in the close bamboos,
I am playing my lute and humming a song
Too softly for anyone to hear --
Except my comrade, the bright moon.


Wang Wei

Wolf Moon and The Mountainous Land

January Waxing Crescent Moon  

by Frank McCabe

Weather forecasters are predicting high winds and several days of rain—up to 5 inches—to arrive here on the Northern California Coast. Clouds have obscured the first moon of the 2010, the crescent Wolf Moon, which won't be full till January 30. In Northern California it's a wintry moon, but not quite as deeply wintry as our last one. Looking around, I can already see the earliest signs of spring.

I went to the bookstore yesterday and came home with a three books from my queue. I look forward to the coziness of reading by the fire as the rain falls.

My coziness, however will be troubled some.


A media hermit, with the exception of blogs, I'm aware of the earthquake in Haiti. I've spared myself from seeing actual images. But I've read descriptions. I hold deep sadness about the many thousands who have lost their lives and their homes. The immediate suffering in Haiti is only the most recent calamity to befall the people who've lived there.

Haiti means "Mountainous Land" in the language of its original people, the Taino. Haiti seems to have been something of a paradise in its pre-Columbian days. Columbus dramatically increased suffering there. I've read horrifying accounts of his torturous activities there. Spanish conquerors renamed Haiti Hispaniola. Columbus wrote first of many sad chapters of a tome that is still being written today.

It's very difficult for me to understand why a former paradise, the Mountainous Island, has been transformed into a center of so much suffering. Why?

I cannot know.  I hold their suffering in my heart, seek to find some peace here, and send that peace prayerfully to the Mountainous Land and all the people and all the life it holds.

May the Wolf Moon bring better fortune to all the world, especially to Haiti, the Mountainous Land.

Waxing winter moon,
Haiti earthquake—thousands die

May soft love-light shine

Cold, Long Night Moon

Cold, Long Night Moon

Since I began wearing necklaces to remind me of the moon's phases [Moon Time], I am more aware of, interested in, and thankful for the moon in particular——and our natural world in general.

In their wisdom, Native Americans named the full moons. Here, pinched from the Farmer's Almanac website and lightly edited by me, is an East Coast view of Native American Moon names.


Full Moon Names and Their Meanings

Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. There was some variation in the Moon names, but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. European settlers followed that custom and created some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long on the average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year. Here is the Farmers Almanac's list of the full Moon names.

• Full Wolf Moon - January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January's full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.

• Full Snow Moon - February Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February's full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.

• Full Robin Moon - March As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon of winter.

• Full Egg Moon - April Other names for this month's celestial body include the the Sprouting Grass Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.

• Full Flower Moon - May In most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time. Thus, the name of this Moon. Other names include the Full Corn Planting Moon, or the Milk Moon.

• Full Strawberry Moon - June This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Also because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June . . . so the full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!

• The Full Buck Moon - July July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during this time. Another name for this month's Moon was the Full Hay Moon.

• Full Sturgeon Moon - August The fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this Moon, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze. It was also called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

• Full Corn Moon - September This full moon's name is attributed to Native Americans because it marked when corn was supposed to be harvested. Most often, the September full moon is actually the Harvest Moon.

• Full Harvest Moon - October This is the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. In two years out of three, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but in some years it occurs in October. At the peak of harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of this Moon. Usually the full Moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the Moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice the chief Indian staples are now ready for gathering.

• Full Beaver Moon - November This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon.

• The Full Cold Moon; or the Full Long Nights Moon - December During this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun.