The Wolf Moon Comes

I came across an article proclaiming ‘A Special Wolf Blood Moon’ to watch out for. A nice piece of lingering cultural heritage I thought, always nice to see. Of course they were referring to the coming full moon and what makes it special. It is a super moon because it appears larger as it is closest to the earth at the moment, the blood moon bit comes because the sun earth and moon are all lined up nicely, the earth shadow giving the moon a nice red hue. The wolf moon because common to most tribes who lived in or near
the wilderness the sound of the ravenous wolves howling as they hunted in the forest and mountains for a winter meal filled their nights. Sitting in their small cabin or tepee huddling around the fire listening to the howling would have left a serious impact on the psyche of those people. Hence a winter month would get the name Wolf Moon.

So today the headline Super Wolf Blood Moon still awakens something in our subconscious. The current January Blood Moon comes I believe from the North American tribal culture. I was reminded of the Wolf Moon that had just passed, I was taught by my mentors who are now long gone that the wolf moon was the one that contained the winter solstice around December 21. To them this was the most profound festival of the year, the solstice representing the death and rebirth of the earth also represented the spiritual death and rebirth of Odin as he hung on the windy tree and learned the knowledge of the runes (a classic shamanistic initiation story). The Wolf Moon because it is Fenrir (Fenris) the monstrous wolf who brings about the death of Odin at Ragnarok, not to mention the howling in the hills.

There is a tradition that the closer the full moon is to the winter solstice the more profound any workings done at that time will be. A tradition that has proved to be spectacularly true in my life.