Hello all. Have you seen tonight's beautiful big full moon? Earlier it was actually a deep blood orange - but just this second it is behind the cloud so I will have to wait up for a better photo.
The tide is high, the weather is balmy and this mid-year moon finds us (in Ireland anyway) enjoying an unusually warm July with three new 'highest ever temperature' records set during the last week.
The full moon is shrouded in folklore and magic. I love it. It re-sets me every 28 days or so. I've attached a photo sent to me by a friend which shows the moon photographed every night for the last 28 nights from the same place.
July’s full moon is called the “Buck Moon” in accordance with Native American traditions. By this time of the year a buck's antlers are fully grown and he is ready to dominate the other stags and impress the ladies.
Other names for tonight's moon include:
Thunder Moon - due to the summer storms this month
Hay moon - after the July hay harvest
Halfway Summer Moon
Feather Moulting Moon
Salmon Moon (indicating when fish returned to the area and were ready to be harvested)
Raspberry Moon.
Hindus and Buddhists call July's moon 'the Guru Full Moon' (Guru Purnima), and it is celebrated as a time for clearing the mind. July's moon also marks the beginning of a three-month annual Buddhist retreat called Vassa.
In the Chinese calendar this is Lotus Month; while it also corresponds with the Israeli "holiday of love".
From all that, I take the following.... The nights are long and warm, the first hay is in. Young stags are testing their strength and everyone is in their prime for finding or sustaining love. Make the most of the long, warm nights. Visit Ballywatticock. Be open to hugging again and enjoy life.
(This photo by Gerard Gormley Photography, taken from his Facebook page)
Sending you all Full Moon blessings.