The Blue Moon offers an opportunity for contemplation, completion, and tapping into divine femininity. Explore the spiritual meaning of this special full moon.

The length of a moon cycle is around 29.5 days, while the average length of a calendar month is 30.5 days. We usually have just one full moon per month, but every two or three years we have 13 moons in a year. This 13th moon is usually a Blue Moon, either the second full moon in a calendar month or the third full moon in a three-month season with four full moons. So what is the spiritual meaning of a blue moon?

And sometimes things don’t shift. Sometimes we’re stuck in a rut for a long long while and nothing seems to change no matter how many full moons pass us by. I’ll be honest—with everything I’ve been dealing with this year, I am in a sort of self-imposed, restorative rut. I’m in day-by-day mode.

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.

Are you on a white moon cycle, red moon cycle, pink moon cycle, or purple moon cycle? Learn more about menstruating with the moon.

Have you ever noticed your menstrual cycle syncing up with the moon? The word “menstruation” comes from the Latin and Greek word mene, which means “moon.” It has long been assumed that menstruation has a relationship with the moon, mainly because a moon cycle lasts about the same amount of time as an average menstrual cycle, 29.5 days.

Energetically, a blood moon is an incredibly powerful time to set intentions, to release negative energy, and to try the practice of making moon water.

March’s full moon is called the Worm Moon, likely referring to the movement under the earth that begins in the early spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s a time when the ground is melting, the frozen earth is beginning to give way, and the worms begin to wriggle and move beneath the ground.

In February we greet the full Snow Moon. It’s a name that comes from various sources, including the Naudowessie band of the Dakota tribe. Because February has typically been the month with the heaviest snowfall of the year, it became the month of the Snow Moon.

The waxing gibbous moon phase begins just after the quarter moon—when the moon is half-illuminated—and ends with the full moon. This waxing gibbous period is a time when energy is growing with the light of the moon; we’ve moved out of the contemplative, dreamlike new-moon phase and are galloping toward the full moon with energy and intention. In this vein, it’s the best time for a more energetic yoga practice. Here is a trio of postures to try.

But Death is not always a harbinger of horror and loss. Other decks show the image a little differently. For example, in Liz Huston’s Dreamkeeper’s Tarot deck, the Death card depicts a skeleton woman shrouded in a thin veil that could be a coffin or an egg. She is growing out of a pond full of lily pads, embracing a skull close to her heart. This image reminds me that death is always a mother: that new birth cannot happen without appropriate death. The coffin is also an egg: endings always come with some kind of new beginning.