July’s full moon is most widely known as the Buck Moon. The indigenous peoples of the Algonquin tribe named July’s full moon the Buck Moon due to the fact that the antlers of male deer (called bucks) are fully grown by this time of the year. As with all full moons throughout the year, the Buck Moon is known by many other names as well. The Cree called July’s moon the Feather Moulting Moon and the Salmon Moon. The Anishinaabe people called it the Berry Moon, while the Dakota named it Moon When The Chokeberries Are Ripe. It was called Month of the Ripe Corn Moon by the Cherokee, and the Raspberry Moon by the Ojibwe.

Aside from being a regular, beautiful full moon as it is every year, 2022’s Full Buck Moon will also be a Supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest to the Earth at the exact same time that it is full. You can see this year’s Super Buck Moon on July 13th. 

Symbolism of the Buck Moon

July’s Full Buck Moon is a symbol of fertility. When a buck loses the layer of velvet on its antlers, it has reached maturity and it’s time to mate. By July, the buck’s rack has grown almost to full maturity, and in the next couple of months, will begin to grow points and fully shed its velvet. Mating season will begin soon after.

This month, we channel the masculine energy of the buck to bring ambition and strength into our lives and spellcraft.

Now is not the time to procrastinate. Channel this energy to fuel your intentions, strengthen your manifestations, and achieve your goals. and intentions. Try to stay as focused as possible. Consider what modest ambitions you can let go of in order to prioritize and focus on your larger goals. What smaller goals can you convince yourself to let go, in order to focus on accomplishing larger goals that are more important to your personal growth?

Other spiritual meanings of the Full Buck Moon include self-reflection, abundance, leadership, vigor, strength, passion, honesty, and dream work.

Celebrate this year’s Super Buck Moon by decking yourself and your altar out in shades of gold, blue, gray, and green.

How To Celebrate The Buck Moon

As July’s moon symbolizes self-reflection, a great way to celebrate and honor the Buck Moon is by doing some journaling. If you’re like me and can never quite think of a topic to write about off the top of your head, I’ve provided some journaling prompts to get you started.

What achievements have you had recently? Congratulate yourself on them! Make a list of all of your accomplishments over the past year and take pride in all of the hard work you’ve put in.

Are there any places in your local community that you feel a particular spiritual connection to? Go there. Take a walk through that beautiful piece of nature and then come home and write all about it. What is it that connects you to that place?

How does July’s Super Buck Moon make you feel? How will you celebrate it?

What movie would you like to watch, or book would you like to read before the end of 2022? Why do you want to watch that movie or read that book? 

A Full Buck Moon Ritual

We’re nearing the end of the summer now, and the cold winter months are looming. This ritual will help you store those sunny, positive feelings and energies we get throughout the warm part of the year, so that you may carry them into the cold months ahead.

What you’ll need:

• One gold candle (white or yellow will work as well if you don’t happen to have a gold one).
• Your journal or grimoire.
• A gold pen, colored pencil, or paint and paintbrush.

1. Cast your circle and invite your deities/spirits/elementals into your ritual. 
2. Set your intention by journaling about it. Tell your journal how the beautiful summer sun makes you feel. What power and live-giving strength it gives you. Think about all the things that make you feel sunny, light, and happy. Write about them or paint/draw them in your journal.
3. Hold your journal in your hand open to the page you’ve just written and say: “I call upon the Buck Moon’s power. I call upon the strength and fullness of his antlers. I call upon the antlered forest king and ask him to grant me sustenance and strength. As I will it, so mote it be.”
4. Take a seat somewhere comfortable and ruminate over these simple joys you’ve written or drawn about. Feel those joys lighten your spirit while the sun’s power gives you strength. Take your gold marker, pen, paint, or colored pencil and write the following words in your journal alongside your list or other drawings, “The summer is golden. The sun is golden. I am golden. I am one with the golden light of summer.”
5. Repeat these words aloud and then sit in silence for a few moments. Close your eyes and visualize yourself as a mighty buck, your beautiful, strong antlers backlit against the gorgeous Buck Moon. You are the king of the forest. You carry that strength within you. 
6. When you’re done meditating, add this page to your grimoire, place it on your altar, or even tack it up on the wall somewhere you can see it often.
7. Close your circle and thank your deities/elementals/spirits for joining you in your ritual.

About the author: Coven Cloud

Tell us something about yourself.