Wild Rice Moon / Grain Moon
Jul 24th 14:11 CDT / 20:11 BST
Hello All,
In my 2025 lunations calendars this lunar month is the Wild Rice Moon in the North American version and the Grain Moon the UK version. You may also have heard it called the Sturgeon Moon, the Green Corn Moon, and the Barley Moon; all summoning images of the abundance in the northern hemisphere at this time of year.
American History
The Anishinaabeg name for wild rice is “manoomin”, meaning ‘the good grain”. According to oral tradition, the Anishinaabeg were guided to the Great Lakes region from the Atlantic coast by a prophecy to find "the food that grows on water." By the 1600s, they had settled in areas of the Great Lakes Region that were rich with wild rice, such as northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Wild rice is more than a food source; it is integral to Anishinaabeg ceremonies, feasts, and offerings. It is used in funerals, powwows, and other gatherings, often as a "spirit dish" set aside for ancestors or spirits. The Wild Rice Moon is a time of communal gratitude, with ceremonies like the Mi-gwech Mahnohmen Days ("Thank you Manoomin" Powwow), honoring the rice and its role in community.
Wild Rice Harvesters work in pairs (often husband and wife), typically in a canoe, with one person (the "poler") propelling the canoe through rice beds using a long pole, and the other (the "knocker") gently tapping rice stalks with wooden sticks to release mature grains into the canoe. This careful process ensures that some grains fall into the water to reseed for the following year. A skilled pair can harvest up to 250 kilos in a day.
The harvest during the Wild Rice Moon is a joyous social occasion, bringing together families and communities. People who have moved to urban areas often return to rice camps to participate, reconnecting with relatives and traditions. Elders, known as Rice Chiefs, oversee the process to ensure sustainable practices, such as leaving some grains for reseeding.
The Anishinaabeg oppose the genetic modification and commercialization of wild rice, viewing it as a violation of their sacred spiritual relationship with manoomin.
Today, Wild Rice Camps teach younger generations traditional harvesting and processing techniques, blending them with modern tools like sensors to monitor rice bed health.
British History
The Grain Moon reflects the deep agricultural heritage of European societies. Rooted in the grain harvest of late summer, it symbolizes abundance, communal effort, gratitude, and highlights the moon’s significance as both a practical and spiritual presence.
While the Harvest Moon is still two moon months away, grain harvesting is already beginning at this time of year. Historically, the bright full moons throughout the summer and into early autumn were a great aid to nighttime harvesting, providing illumination at a time when the work was so great it had to continue into the darkest hours.
It was the Romans who introduced advanced agricultural techniques to Britain, including grain cultivation. Roman agricultural writers like Columella emphasized planting and harvesting by lunar phases in their texts. This belief persisted and folklore from the ensuing ages suggests that some farmers believed harvesting under a full moon enhanced crop quality or storage life, possibly due to lower moisture content at night or mystical beliefs about lunar energy.
The industrial revolution saw this belief largely fall out of fashion, but it has lately been having a renaissance, along with a new name, in the practice of biodynamic planting.
Lunar Science
There is a common misconception that the full moon in August is always a supermoon. While this is the case sometimes it is not a rule, and this year is testament to that. This year’s full supermoons are scheduled for October, November, and December. The August full moon does not meet the criteria (more on that in October!)
What will accompany the full moon this August, is the Perseids meteor shower. This yearly event is caused by Earth passing through the debris trail of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. As the comet nears the Sun, it releases dust and particles that form a debris stream. When Earth crosses this stream in mid-August, these particles enter the atmosphere at 37 miles per second (59 km/s), vaporizing to create bright streaks of light. The shower is named after the constellation Perseus, as meteors appear to radiate from a point near this constellation.
The full moon on August 9th will act as natural light pollution, washing out the fainter Perseids, which are typically the size of sand grains, making 2025 a challenging year for Perseid viewing at the peak, cutting the observable meteor rate by 75% or more with only 10–20 meteors per hour visible under dark skies compared to the usual 100 or more. The moon’s position in Pisces during the peak (astronomically speaking, not astrologically - they are different) will further complicate observations, as it remains in the sky all night.
The best Perseid viewing window is late July through the first week of August, as well as after the peak from August 14–16, offering better conditions as the moon’s illumination drops, rising later each night.
Lunar Astrology
This new moon hits us right in the thick of mercury retrograde, and the planet of communication won’t be getting back on its merry way until after the full moon. A new moon represents new beginnings, intention-setting, and fresh starts, while Mercury retrograde is associated with anything but. It is a time for reflection, revisiting past issues, and communication challenges due to the planet’s apparent backward motion. Definitely not the time to start anything new. So what is to be done when these two events overlap? This period may encourage setting intentions that involve revisiting or refining past plans, relationships, or creative projects rather than launching entirely new ventures.
The new moon will be in Leo and will reach its full phase in Aquarius. The Leo/Aquarius axis is all about balancing the individual with the collective. Leo is the sign of self-expression, creativity, leadership, and personal authenticity. Ruling the fifth house, it governs romance, art, play, and individuality. Aquarius is the sign of collective goals, innovation, social change, and intellectual freedom. Aquarius, ruling the eleventh house, governs friendships, communities, and humanitarian ideals.
The new moon in Leo sets intentions for personal growth. It plants the seeds of creative self-expression. The Aquarius full moon illuminates how these efforts fit into larger social or innovative frameworks, harvesting what was sown to share with the community. This moon highlights the balance between Leo’s individualism and Aquarius’s collectivism, revealing how personal talents serve the greater good. It’s a time to balance personal authenticity with collective responsibility, to release the ego and embrace progressive, group-oriented visions. In short, this period fosters Leo’s dynamic growth, tempered by the reflection of mercury in retrograde and the responsibility of society-minded Aquarius.
And getting back to the Perseids: astrologically, meteor showers are often seen as harbingers of change or inspiration. The Perseids, linked to Perseus (a heroic, Leonine archetype), resonate with Leo’s bold energy, while their collective spectacle aligns with Aquarius’s communal focus.
All my best, and until the next lunar month,
Claire
