Mead Moon

This is from my June 2023 newsletter.

I have to tell you guys a secret. I have to! I have a brand new book coming out this year on the mythology and meanings of the full moons of a calendar year called The Full Moon Yearbook. It’s going to be gorgeous and heavily illustrated and I’m not allowed to share the link yet because it’s not quite ready, so don’t get me in trouble, all right? But I wanted to share an excerpt from my chapter on July, because here we are, and the full moon is coming up on July 3rd (and I promise you’ll be the first to know when I can share more): 

The Wiccans and English Medieval traditions refer to the full moon closest to the summer solstice as the Mead Moon. At this time of year, beehives are heavy with sweet honey that can be fermented into an alcoholic elixir called mead. Traditionally, June was the month to get married, so July would be the honey month, the honey moon, where newlyweds would be given enough mead to last a full month and be sent off to “get to know each other.” If a son was born nine months later, the mead maker would be complimented on the quality of his product. 

While the summer solstice itself lands in June, the midsummer vibe really belongs to July. This is often a hot month with long days and plenty of opportunities to drink mead (or your beverage of choice) late into the evening with friends and neighbors. This is a time to enjoy the natural world, soak up the sun, eat the fresh fruits and vegetables of the land, and rest in sweetness. The summer solstice is a good time to pause on all our goals, and now is the time to observe. When you get to the peak of the mountain, you don’t just head straight back down. You sit down, get out your snacks, and enjoy the view. July is the best time to take a holiday from work, if you can, to rest and enjoy the abundance of the natural world. The metaphor here is a perfectly ripe fruit that has grown from a tiny seed to become a juicy morsel. Eat it now: its very next phase is rot. 

 I’ve been taking this learning seriously and promised myself I would try to take a vacation every July. Those of you following along know that I’ve been having a hell of a year, and there has been a lot of heaviness and sadness around. I’m taking a break from setting intentions, making goals, and pretty much everything else to be outside with the magic of the bright half of the year and enjoy things like going for walks, smelling flowers, eating good food, and spending time with the people I love. I’m hoping I can treat each July as a little bit of a honeymoon—a honeymoon with myself, with the people I love, a time to get to know where I’m at with the joys that are available to me. I hope you can also get a little time for enjoyment and pleasure this July, whether or not it involves mead!