HUNTER’S MOON IN ARIES
The first full moon of the fall season will reach its peak at 4:54PM EST on Sunday, October 9th. Known as the Hunter’s Moon, this moon has a similar unique quality to the Harvest Moon in that they are both influenced by the autumn equinox.
The Harvest Moon is the full moon that appears closest to the autumn equinox - whether before or after in September or October- and the Hunter’s Moon is always the full moon after the Harvest Moon. This means that the Hunter’s Moon can appear in October one year, and November the next.
The earliest reference to “Hunter’s Moon” dates back to 1710 in the Oxford English Dictionary. The moon is named for the fall hunting season, and can also be referred to as Sanguine or Blood Moon, also associated with the hunt and preparation for the long winter months ahead.
This year the Hunter’s Moon appears in Aries and things could get a little heated. Aries energy can be rather volatile and intense, but with the balance that Libra season brings, that energy can be focused and incredibly productive.
Ambition is also a key feature of Aries, but acting without a plan could result in chaos. Be mindful to take the time to strategize before spurring yourself forward. Be open to sharing your thoughts and ideas, and you will find that the next steps will start to come into sharp focus as you obtain feedback.
Keep your ego in check and your eye on the goal, and you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish. This is an excellent time to focus on a work project and achieve fantastic results with the right plan.
INCENSE & INSIGHTS - FULL MOON FLOW
Any good plan starts as just an idea or collection of ideas that you expand on, change and challenge as you work things through. At the beginning phase, there are no wrong ideas, what is important is to get them out and not be afraid of judgment - first foremost your own judgment.
With the fiery ambition of Aries fueling this full moon, it is the perfect time for a flow state brainstorm session using incense. It’s a different type of meditation of sorts, much more active both psychologically and physically, but about achieving a state of insight all the same. As we say here at Floré, do what you do and burn incense too, so we think using incense as a means to spark thought is a great way to stimulate the senses and get the ideas flowing.
For the full Hunter’s Moon we are burning sage incense sticks, a very familiar and powerful scent. Sage has a long history of being used ceremonially, specifically by many Indigenous tribes across North America. White sage is typically the variety of sage used by those communities, and we ask that if you are seeking sage and are not part of an Indigenous culture, try to avoid using White Sage. While not endangered, it is being depleted and the tribes who harvest it for their purposes do so with the utmost respect for the environment and know how to maintain it. We use Clary Sage as the base oil for our sage incense sticks, which is widely available and grown in many parts of the world.
To begin your full moon brainstorm session, make sure you have your favourite writing implement ready, and a notebook or piece of paper. Select your preferred incense burner, perhaps a homemade one that you created out of a tea cup with a little sand, or one that you purchased. It’s ok to have many incense burners, they are all unique and offer different incense burning experiences. We have a bit of a problem collecting incense burners to be quite honest.
Make sure your space is free of what you may find distracting. You may want to put a little music on, or perhaps you prefer silence to think. Take your sage incense stick, light the tip, and gently blow out the flame when you see a glowing red ember. Sometimes the incense stick will go out. This just happens, but is likely because you did not allow the flame to reach the interior bamboo core. A little patience may be required.
Let the sage incense stick burn for a bit to permeate the air with fragrance. And start thinking about the goals you want to achieve over the course of the rest of this year. What do you really want to get done? What do you want to experience? Write those thoughts down as they come to you, there are no wrong answers.
When you reach a point where you feel you have covered what is most top of mind, take a minute and relax with a deep breath. Focus on the incense smoke for a moment, watch it rise and think about all of the ideas you have written down. Ask yourself which one do you really feel motivated to act on most. What gets you the most excited - even if it seems daunting.
You may wish to switch up incense fragrances for the next phase of this exercise, or continue with sage incense. The choice is yours, but we like the idea of burning Guidance incense sticks during the planning phase of this practice. Take the idea you have focused on, and then write down all the questions and resources you can think of to help you formulate a plan on how to make your idea a reality. Who do you need to talk to? What might you have to source? What research needs to be done? Who can help you?
As the Guidance incense stick burns, do not become discouraged by what might feel like a lot of questions and concerns about how you are going to achieve the goal. Brainstorming, and all the ideas that come with it, is supposed to look a little messy and jumbled. Your next step will be taking this jumble, priotizing, and then making a list.
Here’s the hardest part: put a deadline against the first item on the list, the thing you must do to get it all started. Starting is the hardest part, but remember, it’s the full moon in Aries, keep yourself grounded with a solid plan and let your ambition do the rest!
Fragrantly Yours,
Kayte & Kristi
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