The Wyrt Moon

July’s moon…and the start of supermoon season

July’s full moon will fall on 3rd July at 12.39pm. Look up!

Moon on Arakawa River, Kawase Hasui, 1929

July’s full moon was once known as the Wyrt Moon. Wyrt meant ‘herb’ in Old English and this may reflect the fact that green growth is at its highest and lushest. Gather your herbs.

A second name for it is the Mead Moon. This is the time in the year that beekeepers take their summer crop of honey, and turning it into mead would have been one of the bigger jobs of the agricultural year. The name certainly has a poetry to it. I want to sit under the Mead Moon.

This moon is a ‘super full moon’, the first of four this year. A super moon occurs when the the full moon coincides with the spell when the moon is at its closest to the earth in its gently wobbling orbit. It is up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than a ‘micro moon’, a phenomenon we hear less about, which is when the full moon coincides with the moon at its furthest away in its orbit.

Anyway, it’s all super moons for the next four months. Wishing you clear skies and a big moon!