The Moon

Bird&Bee’s Moon

The Moon has an immense force on us, animals, the seas & oceans of Earth, it fires the imagination and gives light to us in the dark of the night.
At a distance of 240,000 miles, the Moon is our nearest heavenly neighbour. Her radius is 1,080 miles compared to our Earth’s radius at 3,960 (a ratio of 3:11).
The Moon is not perfectly spherical & consequently the same face is always looking at us. This gives her a ‘Dark Side’ unseen from Earth. The orbital plain of the Moon is tilted from Earth’s by 5.15o enabling periodical eclipses to occur and a fluctuation of altitude, moonrises and moonsets.

Something in the Water

We are all 78% water at birth and Earth is 75% covered in water - a coincidence you might say - not so. The gravitational pull of the Moon has a considerable effect on us as it does with the ebb and flow of the oceans & tides. Heed it’s movements well and you will be in step with the wax and wane of nature throughout the year.

Using the Moon Cycle

Different folk use the Moon cycles for all manner of uses. From checking there own cycles, looking for the next full moon, finding the next eclipse, astrological divining, planting and gardening by the moon, determining the rising or setting of the sun, or as an astronomical waymarker in the passing of time. We hope you find it both useful and a joy to look at ­­­throughout the wax and wane of the year.

A Day in the Life of the Moon

If you live by the sea you are made instantly aware of the power of the Moon, whose invisible hold draws the waters in & out twice daily. Our atmosphere & even the Earths crust are also susceptible to the grip the Moon has on Earth.
The Lunar Day is the time between two moon rises. The moon rises roughly 52 minutes later each day. There are two, synchronized tides each lunar day, so each high tide is 26 minutes later every 12 hours. High tides always occur at the same two opposite positions of the moon in the sky at any given location (one being below the horizon). There are 28.5 lunar days therefore 57 tides in each lunar cycle.

Lunar & Solar Eclipses

A strange coincidence that the Sun & the Moon appear the same size to us earthlings. The Suns diameter, 400 times larger than the moon, is 400 times further away. Solar eclipses occur when the New Moon passes directly between the Sun & the Earth and can only be seen in daytime and casts a narrow corridor of shadow across the Earth. Totality, lasting only a few minutes instilling a sense of elemental wonder in all who are lucky enough to witness this astronomical event. A Lunar Eclipse simulates a whole lunar cycle within hours when the Full Moon passes through the shadow of Earth, visible to all on the night side of the Earth.

The two places in a month where the Moon crosses the Ecliptic are lunar nodes. If this happens during a new moon a solar eclipse occurs, during a full moon a lunar eclipse is visible. Eclipses can only occur at this time. This was the way the ancients could trace the ecliptic along the sky; they marked the places where eclipses could occur.

Solstices and Equinoxes

Longest & shortest days of the year (usually 21st June & 22nd December) are the Summer & Winter Solstices. Equinoxes lie between the solstices balancing daytime& nightime all over the earth. The sun rises exactly in the East & sets exactly in the West (usually on 21st March & 23rd September) on a straight horizon.These events naturally divide the year into quarters, giving four seasons of 91 days.

Lunar & Solar Ingress

When a planet moves exactly into the first degree (00°00’00”) of a particular zodiacal sign, a chart is then calculated for a particular location. If you do an astrometeorological forecast for London then the ingress chart is coordinated and set for London.

Pagan Festivals

The mid-points within these quarters are marked as festival days by the ancients, Imbolc (or Oimelc, two names which refer to the lactation of the ewes, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life-giving forces  of spring), Beltane (derived from ‘biltene’or “lucky fire” because to jump between two Beltane fires was sure to bring good fortune, health to your livestock, and prosperity), Lughnasadh (The Celtic harvest festival takes its name from the  Irish god Lugh, one of the chief gods of the Tuatha De Danann) & Samhain (marking the beginning of a whole new Celtic cycle known today as Halloween).

Pagan Moons

To each Lunar month a name in was assigned in accordance with the nature of the activity that took place at that time.The Moon of deepest Winter is the Wolf Moon, and its name recalls a time when our ancestors gathered close around the hearth fire as the silence of the falling snow was pierced by the howling of wolves. The Storm Moon comes in silence. Storms blanket the world in coldness, but beneath the blanket of cold & silent snow, Mother Nature sleeps.

The Chaste Moon an antiquated word for pure, reflects the custom of greeting the new year with clarity. All of Nature at the waxing of the Seed Moon is pure potential waiting to be fulfilled. As the Hare Moon waxes full, observe the rabbits leaping and the hares sprinting, carefree in their mating and joyful in their games. The Dryad Moon refers to the twin constellations of Castor & Pollux. A time when all things meet their opposites in balance and harmony.A time to gather in the herbs and give thanks to Natures abundance and give an offering under the Blessing Moon.

As the Corn Moon progresses the days are hot and late afternoon thunderstorms that bring the cooler air also bring about the ripening of the crop. The Harvest Moon nearest the Autumnal Equinox brings a feast from the yearly harvest to the table. Blood Moon marks the season when domestic animals were sacrificed for winter provisions. As the Winter Sun wanes and the Birch Moon waxes full, the birch-like white of winter sets in. Under Oak Moon the sacred tree of the Druids is most noble as it withstands winter’s blasts.