The July full moon was known to the ancient Celts as the Claiming Moon or Horse Moon. Claiming Moon is likely derived from some sort of early legal system, similar to August’s Dispute Moon. July is traditionally the warmest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and as such is a good time to relax, meditate and reflect on your life. It is also a good time to think about how you can bring more positive things into your life. The August full moon is the Grain Moon or Dispute Moon, a time of feasts and festivals and resolving disputes between neighbors. In this short poem ‘(Sound travels so far)’, Hadfield plays with greyscale font of various sizes to suggest a state of heightened listening. The typographic variances also register shifts of volume, amplification and diminuendo. Like Oswald, she plays with graphic codes for volume. If the shrinking font in ‘A Star Here and a Star There’ suggests distance and quiet, in her later long poem, ‘Tithonus’, from Falling Awake (2016), Oswald uses fading coloured font to convey a dimming of sound, a visual language for quietening. In the poem’s final lines, the ink gradually fades, so that the concluding word, “appearing”, is almost invisible, printed in the very lightest shade of grey, as dawn, and light, appear. This fading out produces in visual language an aural effect, the suggestion of diminuendo, in the way that bold or capital letters, larger font size or italics can suggest a louder volume. These lines, this listening, is from Oswald’s sonnet ‘Wood not yet out’. The line break after “listening down” invites the reader to listen down to the next line, “to the releasing branches”. That word “down” in “listening down” gives direction to an act which is not usually directed downwards: we don’t usually “listen down the lane” as we might “look down the lane”, more usually we listen to or for something, sometimes listen up, or, perhaps, we might just listen.

One of our favorite Celtic full moon names is Flower Moon, which is May’s full moon. It is a time to tend to your own life and ensure that the seeds you’ve planted continue to grow. Nature approaches her peak during a summer of short nights and bright days - this was when the ancient Celts claimed their wives and celebrated Lugnasad. The size of the font increases again, and now swans (white) appear, and then a gap in the poem, a pause, white space, creating a sense of quiet suspense as we listen again in anticipation, before the poem shifts into another time. Hadfield plays with white space, indenting lines and adding space between lines instead of conventional punctuation to suggest pauses as well as shifts in sound: The "far side" of the Moon looks very different than the near side (see the first photo in this article). Notice how few dark areas the far side has. This image is based on data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University The June full moon was known to the ancient Celts as the Mead Moon or the Horse Moon. It was believed that a newly married couple should drink mead for one full moon cycle to promote good health, prosperity and fertility. June is a time to celebrate the longest day of the year with Litha and the Summer Equinox. Spend time outside, enjoying the long days and abundant sunshine.Can you provide more information about the connection between the Celtic people and celestial bodies like stars? January’s Quiet Moon reflects an air of melancholy, illuminating a midwinter of quiet menace; it was the time of the Dark Days for the ancient Celts, when the natural world balanced on a knife edge. By May, the Bright Moon brings happiness as time slows, mayflies cloud and elderflowers cascade. Nature approaches her peak during a summer of short nights and bright days – this was when the ancient Celts claimed their wives and celebrated Lugnasad. With the descent into winter comes the sadness of December’s Cold Moon. Trees stand bare and creatures shiver their way to shelter as the Dark Days creep in once more and the cycle restarts.

These practices underline the significant role that the moon and stars played in Celtic culture, both practically and symbolically. The ancient Celts had a rich tradition of associating the cycles of the moon with specific names and meanings. July’s full moon is the Claiming Moon or Horse Moon, a time to reflect on life and bring more positivity into it.Then, through that icy silence, an owlet’s cry. We feel as though we’re standing with Coleridge, listening with him as we shift from past tense “came loud” to the present “hark, again!”, moving from the distance of the past to the immediacy of HARK, give ear, listen! But to what? To the owlet. And then, the quiet. To the calm breathing of a baby. To the “strange and extreme silentness”, inaudible as dreams, to the flutter of soot, to the silence of icicles, and the quiet of the moon. The poem’s last lines imagine sounds beyond the frosted windowpane: The Celtic people used the cycles of the moon to guide various aspects of daily life, from planting crops to marking religious ceremonies. According to Celtic tradition, the April full moon is known as the Growing Moon or the Pink Moon. It is the season of love and conception and is a good time to focus on romantic relationships, conceiving a child, and taking continued actions toward your goals. It would also represent the beginning of growth of the harvest in Ancient Celtic communities.

The ancient Celts lived by and worshipped the moon, but modern, digital life is often at odds with nature, rubbing against it rather than working in harmony with it. Is there something to be said for embracing this ancient way of being and reconnecting to the moon’s natural calendar? This is more than a gentle meander around the Dorset countryside though. Parr uses nature as a crutch to get him through the tough moments in his life. The book is split into twelve chapters each with a title of a moon, with wonderful names such as The Moon of Ice, The Moon of Dispute, The Bright Moon and it begins with the Quiet Moon.Another one of our favorite Celtic full moon names is Harvest moon. It is one of the names of the October full moon.

The Celts also wrote about the moon and stars in their mythology and folklore, as many Celtic stories and legends featured characters who had a close connection with the celestial bodies.

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Halloween is an example of a festival occurring around this pivotal time, reflecting the interconnectedness between the Celtic people’s agricultural practices, spiritual beliefs, and communal celebrations. Other Celtic full moon names for October are the Harvest Moon, Seed Fall Moon, and Hunter’s Moon. It’s a time to honor loved ones who have passed on and do physical and spiritual house cleaning. This is most embodied through the Celtic festival of Halloween. For example, January’s full moon is called the Quiet Moon, Wolf Moon, or Cold Moon, while September’s full moon is named the Singing Moon, Harvest Moon, or Wine Moon. Each month’s full moon has names corresponding to particular themes, rituals, or natural events significant to that time of the year. The November full moon was known by the ancient Celts as the Dark Moon or Oak Moon. In the northern hemisphere, the November full moon falls among the shortest days of the year. The first full moon in the Wheel of the Year, November is a good time to cultivate healthy habits and continue to let go of negative energy. A synchronous rotation keeps one side of the moon shrouded in mystery from our perspective. It takes about as long for the moon to turn on its axis as it does to orbit Earth, so it keeps the same face towards us – the one known in folk tales as the Man In The Moon, a vaguely face-shaped pattern seen in the dark and light of lunar craters.