*Eleditor’s note: Astrology isn’t a religion. We’re not sure it’s a science, either. It’s magic, maybe. But, as with feng shui, say, things affect things. So as long as we don’t go blaming our problems on the stars, as long as we assume responsibility for our own actions…well, hell, a little auspicious coincidence and applicable wisdom can’t hurt. And so, with that grain of salt…enjoy!
Traditionally, each Full Moon carries certain properties with it, and a name—ones that many indigenous tribes believed affected the whole experience of that month, especially around the Full Moon.
Names that when we learn them today, allow us to understand what the larger experience of the universe is calling to us to do.
It is believed that the Native Americans of the current day northern and eastern U.S. named each moon to help them understand what was happening in their world—what was being harvested, how the weather was affecting the earth, what animal was ready to be hunted.
When European settlers came to North America, they learned these names from many of the indigenous communities that were helping them to survive and adapt to life here. The early farmers in this area transferred and adapted this indigenous wisdom and created what many of us now know, as the farmers almanac.
This was an instruction manual to help us understand the connection between the natural world and our self—the moon and sun cycles and weather predictions that we still use.
August Full Moon was named the Sturgeon Moon, as this was the time that these giant creatures were most easily caught—but energetically, the meaning of this name holds more to it then just this. It is the representation of a great power ready to be harnessed and what we need to do to allow it to open and reveal.
The sturgeon is one of the longest living fresh water fish and for that reason is an extremely sacred and wise symbol. It represents an animal that can grow up to 1,500 pounds, 20 feet and live up to 150 years. Having its preferred habitat as one of great depth and primarily fast moving water, sturgeon energy demands respect and asks us to know our grandest potential.
Like the sturgeon, August asks us to dive deep.
To connect to that place in us that is expansive, all knowing and sacred—the one that is perhaps a little more unknown, the depth of our subconscious where things lurk that we may normally wish to ignore.
Sturgeon energy also protects itself very well. These massive fish have bumps on their backs called scutes, with pointy tips, so that when another animal bites them they are repelled with a nasty wound to the mouth. Just like this self-protective quality, we will be drawn to take care of ourselves this Full Moon. To protect what we are waking up to. To acknowledge that as we dive deeper within ourselves and our life experience, we must create an even more adapted self-care plan.
So this Full Moon, take time out to nurture self, extra lovingly. Know that it is the sacred in us that we are honouring by doing this and that we are looking after the old wisdom of the great teachers. By laying a foundation of love for ourselves we are giving this burgeoning power in us—one that may have been latent for months now—the permission and safe space to come out.
It is not that we cut ourselves off from others at this time completely, but it is that we realise the need to take care of this new bubbling wisdom and magic that is arriving for us now. Perhaps, too, we need to enjoy this new depth for a bit, just to ourselves.
As the expansive days of summer come to an end, the Sturgeon Moon is calling us back home. Back to self and to that old, deep wisdom that we all can have access to if we desire. The one that holds the vitality of the entire universe. The very one here to gear us up for the letting go and hibernation of the fall and winter months to come.
Journal, sit quietly and stare. Find a place to be alone with the moon. Let out a howl, and remember the animal self we carry inside. There is something precious being uncovered now. Protect it like a wolf mother would her cub. Get snippy with others if need be to assert our boundaries. Recall the bumps of the sturgeon and know that we are allowed to put our self first.
If we can slip away the night of the Full Moon, do. Maybe take a peaceful bath or a slow walk under that silver glow. Here are some suggestions I wrote in another article for a detox bath that could bring the wisdom of the sturgeon out even more.
The Sturgeon Moon is asking us to honour it with sacred space. It lives deeply, and at this time, so can we.
Let the wisdom reveal itself by making room for you.
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