The Story of The Full Strawberry Moon 2024
The First Full Moon of Summer...in wintry Saturnian Capricorn
Once every 20 years or so, the Full Moon in June coincides with the summer solstice on June 20, 21, or 22. This year, June’s full Moon will be Friday evening, June 21, 2024, rising opposite the Sun at 9:08 PM EDT. This will be the first Full Moon of summer in 2024, happening the day after the summer solstice.
In the UK The Full Strawberry Moon will be seen June 22 at 02.08 AM.
The Moon will appear full for three days from Thursday evening through Sunday morning.
Why do we call it a strawberry moon?
The name comes from the Algonquin tribes who used full Moon names as a way of marking the seasons. This and other native American full moon names; Flower Moon, Buck Moon, Worm Moon, Sturgeon Moon, etc; were then adopted for publication and popularized in the Maine Farmers Almanac in the 1930’s.
June is strawberry harvesting time in the northern hemisphere, and before modern agriculture methods this was only a short season in the north-eastern United States.
Meanwhile in Europe we have traditionally nicknamed this full moon the Mead or Honey Moon, when gifts of mead or the first crops of honey were presented to newly-weds. Mead is a drink made by mixing water with fermented honey, sometimes adding fruits, spices, grains, or hops, while the word "honeymoon" traces back to at least the 1500’s in Europe and is likely tied to this full Moon because of the custom of marrying in June, by far the most popular month for weddings (named after the Greco- Roman goddess Juno, the goddess of love and marriage.)
Another European name for this full Moon is the Rose Moon. Some sources indicate "Rose Moon" comes from roses in bloom this time of year, but it could be a reference to the occasional colour of the full moon this time of year.
The Moon orbits the Earth in almost the same plane as the the Earth orbits the Sun (with only about 5 degrees difference). On the summer solstice the Sun appears highest in the sky for the year. But since Full Moons are opposite the Sun, a full Moon near the summer solstice will be low in the sky, and at Europe's higher latitudes, when the full Moon is low it shines through more atmosphere, and it can have a reddish color, just as sunrises and sunsets are sometimes red for the same reason.
According to NASA, for the area of Washington, DC, the full Moon on the night from the evening of June 21 to the morning of June 22 will be the lowest full Moon of the year, reaching a height of only 21.9 degrees above the southern horizon at 1:20 AM EDT.
Summer begins and straight away the daily periods of sunlight start to shorten, having been at their longest on the summer solstice on Thursday, June 20, the day before this full Strawberry Moon. On Friday, June 21, 2024, the day of the full Moon, morning twilight starts at 4:30 AM, sunrise will be at 5:43 AM, solar noon at 1:10 PM, sunset will be at 8:37 PM, and evening twilight will end at 9:49 PM.
The period of daylight June 21 will be 1.2 seconds shorter than on the summer solstice the previous day.
Fun fact: July 8 is called International Light Day when 99% of all humanity will experience daylight at the same time. This date, 8, is the same as the numerology for this year. The number 8 represents the mystery of infinity, but is also the most stable number, associated with industriousness, application, self discipline, material comfort and commercial success and is ruled by…Saturn.
Astrology and Tarot
From The Legacy of The Divine Tarot
This Strawberry Full Moon is the first in a row of two Full Moons in Capricorn and will be happening at 1 degree and 7 minutes in the cardinal earth sign Capricorn. This degree marks the first decan of Capricorn, represented in the Tarot by the Two of Pentacles.
The Full moon next month, July 21, will be at 29 Degrees of Capricorn represented in the Tarot by the prudent Four of Pentacles/Coins. This is a card of guardianship; saving and conserving. Some project or arrangement comes to a closure- or to fruition between these two moons. Something gets banked or invested.
But for now we are dealing with the Two of Pentacles, nicknamed The Juggler. It is the card of balancing and re-balancing with the focus on our material and financial needs and duties. It can literally represent commuting, or working two jobs. Travelling, but not for purely recreation reasons. Moving money between accounts.
In more general terms, this card paints a picture of a sows a time or a juncture when we feel we are forever going to and fro, moving things to and fro, facing two ways at once. Feeling our time, energies and resources and obligations very much divided along the lines of this Cancer-Capricorn axis. There is nothing unusual about feeling a pull between our work and home life balance but it may feel especially acute this coming month, at least until the next full moon in Capricorn July 21 which marks the settling of some matter, account or arrangement.
The first Capricorn decan is a serious, profound and powerfully minded natal sun sign native- and Strawberry Full Moon lunation. Many people want to know this sun sign native, and they are people people. But they are cautious. They have few truly intimate friends. But those friends are true and lasting, while many others come and go. They have a dry, wry, droll sense of humour, a keen sense of the ridiculous, and a sense of fun, but others who are less confident can feel intimidated by their intelligence. They have gravitas with a natural authority which some may find challenging. This decan will not be pushed around, any more than the mountain ibex doing battle on the side of the mountain is ready to give way to its rival without a fierce fight.
This decan dislikes whatever it considers cheap and easy sentiment, but is utterly devoted in a pragmatic, non-demonstrative way, to those they love, and will show it in their deeds, whether or not they say it with words, seemingly so fearless, whether they really are afraid or not, and so sure of foot on the rockiest of mountain slopes.
Famous first decan Capricorns in history: Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Ava Gardner, Woodrow Wilson, Mao Tse-Tung
This Capricorn Strawberry Full Moon is sitting opposite Cancer- ruled by the Moon: connected to our childhood and mother, and how we look after ourselves and others. Capricorn and its ruler Saturn are connected to the father figure and the adult parts of our psyche, which are connected with our relationship with our father or main authority figure of our upbringing, and with how we go out into the world and assert our presence. There is a feeling here of childhood’s end. Time to wake up and smell the coffee, so to speak. Merriam Webster definition - wake up and smell the coffee “to realize the truth about one's situation : to become aware of what is really happening.”
We are facing a situation or andling a problem that will not fix itself. Not every problem can be fixed. But if we don’t fix it, then no-one else can do it for us. We are “the daddy”.
This Full Moon may particularly affect those born with planets or angles in the early degrees of Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) or the late degrees of Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces).
It is an unsettling time in general. The Moon is at home in Cancer, not so in Capricorn, and The Sun and the Full Moon are squaring Neptune at 29º of Pisces. Neptune has been on the last degree of Pisces -and of the Zodiac wheel for several weeks and stations retrograde there on July 2. This Neptune’s placement is connected with a haunting feeling of closure, and confusion. A cycle is ending. We feel it deeply. Something big is shifting but we can’t put our finger on it, to know what to do about it yet, what direction to take. We are standing on some liminal threshold. The person we used to be, or the world we used to know is changing.
But a Full Moon can bring new information to bear, and the Tarot may offer a clue as to where to focus our practical efforts this coming month. 29 degrees of Pisces correlates with the Ten of Cups in the Tarot deck. Home Sweet home. Home life and homeland. This likely touches on our voting decisions too, this coming month. The Full Moon in Capricorn says we are looking for deeds, not words. The Ten of Cups is a modest dream of contentment. Not overly ambitious or demanding. Still, that lovely fire needs making up. That contented cat and the snoozing dog need feeding. Someone bought those cups and glasses. Gesture politics, identity politics, culture wars…this is not the rounded, grassroots world.
Neptune is not being terribly helpful at this juncture. Not when it comes to grasping the nettle on a problem. Neptune facilitates visions and inspiration, yes, but it also promotes procrastination, escapism, and even addiction.
CURIOUS ASTRONOMICAL FACT The planet Neptune was discovered in…wait for it…the constellation of Capricorn. The planet Neptune was discovered in the constellation Capricornus, near Deneb Algedi, the brightest star in the tail of the goat, on September 23, 1846.
This illustrates a powerful mythic connection between earth sign Capricorn ruled by Saturn and the deep water sign of Pisces the Fishes ruled by Mars and now, Neptune. This connection goes back to the Babylonians 21 centuries BC. How did the ancients know? How could they have known of this connection, to have come up with the story of the Capricorn the Sea-Goat? So far as we aware, they could not have known about Neptune to have made any such connection. And yet somehow, they did.
It is time this month, says this Strawberry Moon at 1 degree and 7 minutes of Capricorn, despite all the strawberries (if we are lucky) and cream, for a serious Saturnian stock-taking exercise of our material, financial and family needs, demands and obligations. What needs to be consolidated, reviewed, renegotiated or upgraded? and what needs to go. Saturn is Old Father Time.
On what, or with whom, are we truly wasting our valuable time and efforts to no helpful purpose?
Key astrological dates for the rest of June 2024
June 21 Mercury Squares Neptune. Take it easy, increased risk of fatigue or illness. Take nothing for granted. Double check important info.
June 21/22 Full Moon in Capricorn is challenged by Venus and Neptune bringing uncertainty. Focus on practicalities and workable information.
June 26 Mercury trines Saturn. Sharpness, clarity, great for comms, investments and long term projects
June 27-30 Venus sextile Mars. Energy surges, creative output, pleasure, good for money matters, harmony of masculine and feminine
June 29-30 Saturn stationary in Pisces. Expect or seek closure in home and professional matters. Rather than choose between things, see what can be reorganized and integrated.
June 29 Black Moon in Libra until March 27, 2025. A long visit of the dark side of the moon in Libra can prompt conflicts, lawsuits, separations, divorces, wars, diplomatic problems and scandals. Let us see what this means for Russia and Ukraine- Putin is a Libra native. He may well get more than justice says he should, but less than he is now demanding as the price of a ceasefire. As a general rule closer to home, stay away from gossip, and stay clear of other peoples issues.
Thank you for reading.
Back soon :)
She’s growing fast. I’m going in the other direction. By the time she graduates I’ll probably just come up to her waist.
Sometime time write a book about your life and how you came to know about all this. Never heard of that particular star- name sounds like something I don’t want to step in.
Love to you and yours.
Very unsettling time, locally on up to worldwide it seems. Staying home and playing with the grand baby through this one!