The Quiet Moon: Pathways to an Ancient Way of Being

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Oswald creates dynamic shifts of scale in other ways too, moving between linguistic registers, from the close domestic familiarity of the candle and its faint whisper, to the exotic names of faraway stars, those stars that rise “and give themselves airs”: The Celtic people used the cycles of the moon to guide various aspects of daily life, from planting crops to marking religious ceremonies. How did the full moon names in Celtic tradition reflect the natural and social environment of the Celts? The May full moon is known as the Flower Moon. As spring blossoms more fully in May, now is a good time to look at tending to your own life, including relationships, your career and your self care. Take action to make sure the seeds you planted continue to grow and thrive.

Nature approaches her peak during a summer of short nights and bright days – this was when the ancient Celts claimed their wives and celebrated Lugnasad.The moon is 384,402 kilometres away, so getting there is no easy feat. The Soviet Union first sent an uncrewed spacecraft there in 1959, and the United States followed with the only crewed moon missions. NASA’s Apollo space programme included six missions that landed on the moon, and the ill-fated Apollo 13 that orbited the moon but couldn’t touch down on the surface due to an explosion that crippled the spacecraft. March’s full moon name is the Seed Moon, Wind Moon, Storm Moon, or Worm Moon. It’s the season of Ostara, celebrating the start of spring and new beginnings. Nature approaches her peak during a summer of short nights and bright days – a time when the ancient Celts claimed their wives and celebrated Lughnasadh. With the descent into winter comes the sadness of December’s Cold Moon. Trees stand bare and creatures shiver their way to shelter as the Dark Days creep in once more and the cycle restarts. In each chapter, we join Parr on his walks in his part of West Dorset. It is partly a history book and partly a natural history book and interwoven with these two main threads is a dusting of folklore, travel, memoir and musings on modern life. At times it feels like a confessional as he opens up about personal matters and other things that have been troubling his mind. As he immerses himself in research about the Celts way of life he realises that there is no clear definition of them and he fills in the gaps in a way that makes sense to him. The August full moon was known to the ancient Celts as the Grain Moon or the Dispute Moon. August was the time of the first harvest of the year, the Celtic and to celebrate the occasion with feasts and festivals. It was also a time to resolve disputes between neighbors. This tradition of summertime legalese continued well into the 19th Century in different parts of Britain, where August 1st (aka Lughnasadh & Lammas) was a traditional time to collect rent and pay workers. Today the August Full Moon is a time to celebrate all your work and progress during the year, knowing that you are also prepared for the months ahead.

Coleridge invites us to listen and to think, and think again, about the music of quiet, and the words we use to describe it. Peaceful. Calm. Still. Hush. Dim. Secret. That word “secret” in the very first line of the poem would have suggested quiet to Coleridge’s first readers, since “secret” carried the sense, no longer current, of reticence, of quiet and closeness (keeping something close, keeping it secret). A secret is unsounded. Silent. The frost “performs a secret ministry”. We do not hear the icy patterns forming on the windowpane. Nor do we hear the poem’s first rhyme, between “ministry” and “cry”, it is an eye rhyme, silent. Celtic Full Moons – FAQ’s What are the Celtic Full Moon Names, and how do they vary across different tribes? The April full moon is the Growing Moon or Pink Moon, representing the growth of love and the harvest season.One of our favorite Celtic full moon names is Flower Moon, which is May’s full moon. It is a time to tend to your own life and ensure that the seeds you’ve planted continue to grow. And it’s this impossible listening, for a sound that we can never hear, which stirs imagination. A great poet, Coleridge explained, in a letter to his friend William Sotheby, should be able to listen with “the ear of a wild Arab listening in the silent Desart”. Listening. But for what? It is the state of listening itself, this hearkening that Coleridge is describing. Listening at night in his cottage in Nether Stowey, under a quiet moon, he invites us to listen too.

In January, the full moon is known as the Quiet Moon, Wolf Moon, or Cold Moon, depending on the Celtic tribe. The July full moon was known to the ancient Celts as the Claiming Moon or Horse Moon. Claiming Moon is likely derived from some sort of early legal system, similar to August’s Dispute Moon. July is traditionally the warmest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and as such is a good time to relax, meditate and reflect on your life. It is also a good time to think about how you can bring more positive things into your life.The "far side" of the Moon looks very different than the near side (see the first photo in this article). Notice how few dark areas the far side has. This image is based on data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Wordsworth, remembering his own listening. In these lines from ‘There Was a Boy’, which Wordsworth returned to and recast in The Prelude, the boy of Winander is listening. Suspended in the silence, he hears a voice. Not hears, but receives. It is the voice not of owls, but of mountain-torrents. And he receives this sound, this voice, not in his ears, but in his heart. Not in his heart, but far into his heart. Those short words far and into open up great distances: a voice travelling over the hills, across the valleys. Then the surprise intimacy of heart. At once far off and near. The listening heart. The heart transformed, expanded, opened up by listening. By the voice of mountain waters. A voice which disembodies. Which opens up great distances, transforms the heart’s dimensions. January’s Quiet Moon reflects an air of melancholy, illuminating a midwinter of quiet menace; it was the time of the Dark Days for the ancient Celts, when the natural world balances on a knife edge. By May, the Bright Moon brings happiness as time slows, mayflies cloud and elderflowers cascade. Can you provide more information about the connection between the Celtic people and celestial bodies like stars? According to Celtic tradition, the January full moon is known as the Quiet Moon. The name Quiet Moon is likely in reference to the quiet season of rest before the beginning of the harvest season. The January full moon is also known as the Wolf Moon or the Cold Moon in other cultures. The Quiet Moon is a good time for connecting with your higher spiritual power and reflecting inward. Now is the time to rest and save your energy for the busy seasons ahead.While modern, digital life is often at odds with nature - rubbing against it rather than working in harmony with it - is there something to be said for embracing this ancient way of being and reconnecting to the moon's natural calendar?*January's Quiet Moon reflects an air of melancholy, illuminating a midwinter of quiet menace; it was the time of the Dark Days for the ancient Celts, when the natural world balanced on a knife edge. These lines, this listening, is from Oswald’s sonnet ‘Wood not yet out’. The line break after “listening down” invites the reader to listen down to the next line, “to the releasing branches”. That word “down” in “listening down” gives direction to an act which is not usually directed downwards: we don’t usually “listen down the lane” as we might “look down the lane”, more usually we listen to or for something, sometimes listen up, or, perhaps, we might just listen. November’s Celtic full moon names are the Dark Moon or Oak Moon, a time to cultivate healthy habits and let go of negativity.