Hunter's Moon: What is the spiritual significance of the first Full Moon since Mercury retrograde ended?

The Hunter's Moon is the name given to the Full Moon which falls in the tenth calendar month of the year - well, this year anyway.

In Western astrology, each month's Full Moon gets its name from a combination of Native American, European, and Colonial American sources. The Hunter's Moon follows September's Harvest Moon, August's Sturgeon Moon, July's Buck Moon, and other notable dates in the Moon Calendar 2022 which included the Wolf Moon, the Snow Moon, the Worm Moon, the Pink Moon, and the Strawberry Moon.

This year, the October Full Moon 2022 is called the Hunter's Moon - but that's not always the case. Wondering why? Well, before you ready yourself for your Full Moon rituals and strike off another date in the Moon Calendar 2022, why not learn an interesting bit of astrological trivia to add to your expertise?

Hunter's Moon meaning

Ordinarily, every Full Moon name is given to the entire lunar month in which it falls in. This means it usually covers all the Moon's phases but the Hunter's Moon is a bit different as it's ruled by the Fall Equinox.

The Hunter's Moon comes directly after the Harvest Moon, the Full Moon nearest the Fall Equinox. This means that the Harvest Moon can fall in either September or October, calendar date dependent and that the Hunter's Moon can fall in October or November.

As Fall equinox 2022 happened nearest the September Full Moon 2022 - it's known as the Harvest Moon. But where does the name Hunter's Moon come from? According to the Farmer's Almanac, it's all down to the descent into winter and preparing for the harsher months. "It signaled the time to go hunting in preparation for the cold winter ahead," they explain. "Animals are beginning to fatten up ahead of winter, and since the farmers had recently cleaned out their fields under the Harvest Moon, hunters could easily see the deer and other animals that had come out to root through the remaining scraps."