nov/dec 2026
Hello All,
Welcome to the new moon in Scorpio — a deeply intensifying and transformative reset that finds us just as the darker days are settling more firmly into place.
I had hoped to include a link to the live order page for the 2027 calendar in this newsletter, but life’s unexpected turns have delayed me. I will send a separate email as soon as it is ready. I’m quite happy with this year’s design, so I think it will be worth the wait.
☽O☾
American History – I am coming soon
For the Kiowa people of the Great Plains, this is Ägâ´nti, the moon whose name means “I am coming soon.”
James Mooney, recording the calendar from Anko and other informants, explains the folklore attached to it: “According to Kiowa folklore, this moon says to his predecessor, "You went, but did nothing… wait, and I'll go, and I'll show what I can do in the way of storms and cold weather."
It covers parts of October and November and carries the character of a moon that announces, rather than merely arrives. After the first sharp cold of the previous moon, this one promises to deliver the fuller force of winter.
The “I Am Coming Soon” Moon asks us: What force or change has already announced itself in your life? What are you bracing yourself for, and are you ready for it?
☽O☾
British History – Winter Full Moon
The Anglo-Saxons called this lunar month Blōtmōnaþ, or Sacrifice Month.
Although the month is sometimes popularly called “Blood Month,” that translation is misleading. The Old English word blōt means “sacrifice” or “offering,” not “blood.” (The word for blood is the separate blōd.) Bede himself translates Blōtmōnaþ as the “month of immolations” — the month of sacrifices — because the cattle destined for slaughter were dedicated to the gods.
A later Old English source expands on this, explaining that the month was so named because the ancestors, when they were still heathen, sacrificed in this month — dedicating to their gods the cattle they intended to offer.
Practically, this was the season when the grass stopped growing and the number of animals that could be kept through the winter had to be reduced. The surplus livestock were slaughtered, the meat preserved, and the act of killing itself was made sacred by dedication to the gods. It was both a necessary economic measure and a religious observance: gratitude, survival, and offering bound together.
The Sacrifice Moon asks us: What must we give up so that we can be sustained through the dark months? What offering — of time, habit, or attachment — would make the coming season more workable?
☽O☾
Lunar Astronomy
Earlier this year, Chinese scientists announced the discovery of two new minerals in samples returned by the Chang’e-5 mission in December 2020: Magnesiochangesite-(Y) and Changesite-(Ce).
These are the seventh and eighth lunar-specific minerals that have been identified in material brought back from the Moon. Like the six that came before them, these are not ordinary minerals we already know from Earth. They are entirely new to science — substances whose atomic arrangements have never been found in any rock on our own planet.
Their crystal structures are unique, their atoms stacked and bonded in a pattern never been seen before. Nature on the Moon arranged the same basic building blocks into a shape that Earth has never produced. The combination of a bone-dry environment, extreme rare-earth enrichment, and low sodium forced the atoms into an architectural design that Earth’s wetter, chemically different rocks have never managed to build. These tiny crystals, only a few micrometers across, belong solely to the Moon.
These new pieces of the Moon’s mineralogical story underline something that is easy to forget: the Moon is not merely a piece of rock formed from Earth’s leftover crumbs. It is its own world, with a distinct geological make-up. In that sense, this neighboring body truly is precious and irreplaceable, and it is worthy of our careful attention and protection as we enter into a new era of utilizing its resources.
☽O☾
Lunar Astrology
This new moon is exact at approximately 16°53' Scorpio — a penetrating, transformative, and emotionally honest energy. Scorpio favors depth over surface, truth over comfort, and the courage to look at what has been hidden or avoided. It is a strong moment for setting intentions around shared resources, intimacy, psychological clarity, or the deliberate release (or obliteration) of what no longer serves.
The full moon arrives on November 24 at about 2°20' Gemini. Gemini brings curiosity, communication, and the movement of information and ideas. This polarity (Scorpio–Gemini) highlights the tension between going deep and staying light, between emotional intensity and mental agility, between holding a secret and speaking it aloud.
What needs to be transformed under the Scorpio’s new moon so that, by the Gemini full moon, something truer can be named and shared?
☽O☾
All my best, and until next lunar month,
Claire
