The Quiet Moon: Pathways to an Ancient Way of Being

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The December full moon is known as the Cold Moon, Singing Moon or Wolf Moon by ancient Celts. It is a time to celebrate Yule or the Winter Solstice and the return of longer days. Spend time with family and friends and celebrate the beginning of winter.

In his great poem ‘Frost at Midnight’, written in February 1798, under a new moon, Coleridge is listening. And inviting us to listen with him. To the silence of frost on a windless night. Broken by the call of an owlet. His ear notices that it’s an owlet, rather than an owl. A young owl. Inside the cottage, it is calm. His baby son Hartley slumbers in his arms. The poem that emerges is a listening meditation. Listen. The Celtic people used the cycles of the moon to guide various aspects of daily life, from planting crops to marking religious ceremonies. The sunset in the south-west is impressive, yet the moonrise has brought layers of lavender, rose and saffron that are soft like watercolour and yet dazzle like acrylic. And near the top sits the moon, a neat circle of clotted cream topping a slice of rainbow sponge.

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. Coleridge invites us to listen and to think, and think again, about the music of quiet, and the words we use to describe it. Peaceful. Calm. Still. Hush. Dim. Secret. That word “secret” in the very first line of the poem would have suggested quiet to Coleridge’s first readers, since “secret” carried the sense, no longer current, of reticence, of quiet and closeness (keeping something close, keeping it secret). A secret is unsounded. Silent. The frost “performs a secret ministry”. We do not hear the icy patterns forming on the windowpane. Nor do we hear the poem’s first rhyme, between “ministry” and “cry”, it is an eye rhyme, silent.

The ancient Celts lived by and worshipped the moon. While 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?*

Nature approaches her peak during a summer of short nights and bright days – a time when the ancient Celts claimed their wives and celebrated Lughnasadh. 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.

The ancient Celts lived by and worshipped the moon. While 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?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.In The Quiet Moon, Kevin Parr discovers that a year of moons has much to teach us about how to live in the world that surrounds us – and how being more in tune to the rhythms of nature, even in the cold and dark, can help ease the suffering mind. The Quiet Moon: Pathways to an Ancient Way of Being by Kevin Parr – eBook Details The ancient Celts referred to the September full moon as the Singing Moon, Harvest Moon, or Wine Moon. Singing moon may refer to celtic rituals that included singing, along with other celebrations of the autumn equinox. It is a time to celebrate Mabon and the balance of light and dark. As the Wheel of the Year comes to an end it is also a good time to give thanks for all the blessings in your life. 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. 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.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. Reflecting on listening in her essay ‘The Universe in time of rain makes the world alive with noise’ (2000), Oswald describes it as