Long before the passing of the year was marked by calendars and the hurried turning of their pages, people looked towards the night sky, watching the moon rise above their fields and woodlands, following its changing shape through the seasons and giving names to the familiar brightness that accompanied their lives. Beneath that same moon, generations have gathered their harvests, celebrated the coming of spring, remembered those who have gone before them and watched the last light of evening disappear beyond the hills.
Some of those old stories have travelled down through the centuries, finding their way into folklore, seasonal traditions and the little rituals that still connect us to the natural world.
Within the beautifully illustrated pages of The Full Moon Yearbook:A Year of Ritual and Healing Under the Light of the Full Moon, Julie Peters gathers together many of these threads, inviting readers to wander through the lunar year and discover the stories, customs and seasonal reflections associated with each passing month.
Beginning with January’s Wolf Moon and travelling through the year towards December’s Long Night Moon, the book explores the different names given to the full moons, drawing upon traditions from cultures across the world. Alongside these stories are gentle invitations to pause, with journal prompts, seasonal wellbeing reflections, yoga poses, tarot associations and rituals that offer a way of marking the changing months.
The seasonal chapters are especially lovely, carrying the reader from the first tentative signs of spring, when the earth begins to stir beneath the winter soil, through the warmth and abundance of summer, towards the fading colours of autumn and the quieter days that follow.
October’s pages turn towards ancestors, remembrance and the old customs surrounding the darker half of the year, while November brings thoughts of rest, preparation and the wisdom of allowing life to follow a slower rhythm. These are themes that feel at home amongst the falling leaves and shortening afternoons, when the countryside itself seems to be drawing its energies inward.
Lauren Spooner’s illustrations are a beautiful part of the book’s charm. Delicate flowers, woodland creatures, stars and richly coloured botanical details surround the pages, giving each chapter a character of its own. The changing colours and imagery make turning through the months feel rather like wandering through a little illustrated almanac, discovering something new with every season.
What lingers after closing its pages is the thought of how easily the small markers of the year can pass unnoticed, the first blossom opening along a sheltered lane, the warmth of a midsummer evening, the scent of fallen leaves beneath an October moon.
The Full Moon Yearbook, published by Verbena Books is a lovely companion for those who enjoy folklore, seasonal living and finding little moments of reflection amongst the ordinary days, a book to return to as the months unfold, perhaps with a warm drink beside the window and the evening sky growing dark beyond the glass.
And somewhere above the rooftops, the fields and the old woodland paths, the moon will be making its familiar journey, just as it has for countless generations, carrying with it the stories of all those who have looked upwards and wondered.
