Tonight’s Full Stag Moon

A Full Stag (or Buck) Moon rises after sunset tonight, July 3 — the eve of Independence Day here in the U.S. It’s also a supermoon, meaning it will appear bigger and brighter than usual.

NPR’s Joe Hernandez notes that it’s called a supermoon “because it will be both full and located close to Earth on its elliptical orbit around our planet.” He also says that “because they’re both full and proximate to Earth, supermoons appear larger and brighter in the night sky than the average moon, though experts say it’s unlikely you’ll notice a difference with the naked eye.”

In terms of the more mystical significance of tonight’s Stag Moon, The Bewitching Hour Facebook group notes the following. (And I don’t know about you, but I find myself agreeing with my friend McAuley who says that these words are “uncannily accurate and opportune.”)

Tonight is the Full Stag Moon, so called because young male stags will start to grow their antlers at this time. It is also called the Thunder Moon because of the thunder storms brought on through the hot and humid air.

Change or be changed is the message of this Full Moon. Since the Summer Solstice you should have felt a sense of something shifting both within yourself and with the outside world, this is because we have crossed a line. The first half of the year is over. We have now entered the second half of the year. This a good time to look back over the last six months and look at what you have learned, what you have lost and what you have gained. Take lessons from what you have learned good or bad and use them in your future endeavours whether this be in work, relationships or family.

The Full Moon is in the sign of Capricorn. The time is potent to follow our hearts and to create new pathways. We have shed our skin, now is the time to emerge and start turning the visions we have of ourselves into something real. There will be some deep emotional changes happening now, don’t fight them, let them come to the surface we must move with the changes, allow what wants to come forth, and trust our inner knowing and guidance.

Your enthusiasm, idealism and creativity will be at an all time high. You will be bursting with new ideas and energy. You could have sudden insights into the future and where it is you are going. Dreams will be wild and vivid and could even be prophetic. You can move from a breakdown to a breakthrough now. You are experiencing a transformation in consciousness, big changes are coming. Emotions could hit extremes of both highs and lows and everything in between, with quick, inexplicably crazy shifts. We will experience storms in the sky and a few storms in our lives under the influence of the Thunder Moon energy.

Sometimes your growth can feel weird and strange when you are no longer connecting to your past. But truly, the old way of living no longer works for you. You are experiencing new aspects of yourself and life. You are giving birth to the new you and giving birth is painful. This is real work. This is real growth. There is so much to celebrate right now. Realise that to live out new, promising visions there’s a need to restructure and grow. A new vision of the future will be illuminated, it is up to you what you do with it.

Most of all tonight’s Full Moon will be about healing. Let the earth element of Capricorn take away negative thoughts and feelings and take you on a journey of discovery. Let go of the past and welcome in the future. With harvest just around the corner it is time to start reaping what we have sown, your hard work will start paying off. Take the gifts life offers you and make the most of them.

Related Off-site Links:
The First Supermoon of the Year Will Light Up the Night Sky Monday Evening – Joe Hernandez (NPR News, July 3, 2023).
Behold the Full Buck Supermoon! – Catherine Boeckmann (Almanac, June 29, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Skylight View of the Buck Moon (2022)
• Flower Moon Rising
• Moon Over Minneapolis
• Thomas Moore on the Circling of Nature as the Best Way to Find Our Substance
• Ed Simon on Why We Need a Pagan Theology

Image: Photographer unknown.