There’s a lot going on with the moon, tonight. But what does it mean? Let’s break it down. “Supermoon” was first used by Richard Nolle in 1979 to describe a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in its orbit.” Nolle is an astrologer, but the technical term for a Supermoon is Perigee. (For contrast, a Micromoon or Minimoon is what we call it when the moon is Apogee, or near its furthest point from the Earth). The whole technical term is “perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system” (where syzygy means alignment of the three celestial bodies in a straight line) so, it’s probably best we shorten that.

The Wolf part of this moon refers to the Native American name for the moon, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which has kept track of Native American full moon names since 1792. Each name described what would happen around the time of the moon – wolves would howl outside villages, as they were hungry. Of course, the names used depended on the people involved (some called it the Snow Moon) but the Full Wolf Moon was used by the majority, according to the Almanac.

Now, for the BLOOD part of it all – it’s a lunar eclipse. That means the moon crosses the Earth’s shadow. Because the Earth causes the sunlight that hits the moon to be refracted, it causes the moon to appear red. There’s no astronomical or astrological source for that. It’s part of Christian apocalypse prophecy lore, and sort of ignores the fact that a lunar eclipse happens about every 2 1/2 years, whether you can see it or not.

Regardless of the provenance of each component of the name, there’s so much going on with this moon at once that it’s irresistible to refer to it as the SUPER WOLF BLOOD MOON. It just doesn’t get more metal than that.

So, if you’re in the Americas, or parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, you should be able to see this eclipse. There’s a partial eclipse tonight at 10:33 PM EST (Jan 20th) and then the full eclipse begins at about 11:41 PM EST and will last for about an hour.

So, this is a great time to charge up some eclipse water, or finish off any workings you have on the brew, and astrologically speaking, rid yourself of unwanted habits, people, recurring thoughts, anything holding you back. If there’s anything you want to remove from your house to reset your mental state, this is a great time to do so.

If you feel pulled around by the water in your body when there’s a full moon, you’re going to feel it heavily tonight. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but be ready for some weirdness in your water, which needn’t be scary – see what happens when you lean into it. You may get some inspiration for the next phase of this year. And of course, eclipses tend to push the fast-forward button for most of us, so don’t be surprised if lots of new opportunities and beginnings start hurtling toward you after tonight.

It’s also Aquarius season, so we’re not here for anyone’s BS, we’re supporting each other, and we’re living out loud. Say what you need to say, but employ the call-in as much as or more than the call-out to keep it cuter. Uncross those crossed wires, change the channel from the dramathon, and shore up your network of allies.

All love. ❤︎

Johnny