Full stag moon of July 3, 2023, a spectacular supermoon

The Full Moon of July 2023 is the first full moon of this summer and it is, without a doubt, a very special Full Moon. Although if you looked up at the sky over the weekend you could already see the Moon almost fully illuminated, the full Moon phase occurred exactly yesterday Monday July 3. Tonight, when the Moon rises above the horizon, it will continue to be 97% illuminated, so the decrease in its illumination will be practically imperceptible.

If you are used to looking at the sky when the Moon is full or on the days immediately before or after, you will notice that the Moon in July this year appears larger and brighter than usual. And it is that we are before the first supermoon of the year the popular way in which the full Moon is known when its position with respect to the Earth makes it stand out in this way in the sky.

It is the Full Deer Moon or Super Deer Moon, also known as the Thunder Moon or, in Buddhist tradition, the Guru Moon.

If you want to know what time this full Deer Moon was, what other names this full Moon is traditionally known by, what exactly a supermoon is and what it implies or even what sign the full Moon is in these days, here you will find information about it and much more.

If you want to meditate on a full moon, in this video you will find a suggestive proposal to do so:

Full moon of July 2023: when is it

The full Deer Moon took place yesterday, Monday, July 3, around 1:40 p.m. Spanish peninsular time. Although an exact time is marked, it is considered that the full Moon phase covers up to twelve hours before and twelve hours after that Moon, so in Spain we enjoy the Full moon on the night of Monday the 3rd.

It was also completely illuminated on the night of Sunday 2in which the Moon will have more than 99% of its illuminated surface, and it will still look almost like a full Moon today Tuesday.

In this video from Virtual Telescope Project Live, a project with more than fifteen years of experience that shares astronomical events online from Italy, you can see how this Super Deer Moon rose over the sky of Rome:

The Deer Moon of 2023 is the first Full Moon of this summer, as the June Full Moon occurred before the solstice. From the astrological point of view it is said that we have Full Moon in Capricorn. Throughout today, Tuesday, from an astrological point of view, it is considered that we continue under the influence of the Moon in Capricorn until late afternoon, when we will have the Moon in Aquarius.

The Full Moon in July is also a Full Moon that usually looks a little more orange or pink and that is why in the European tradition it has also been called the “Pink Moon”. Although this name is more widespread for the full Moon in June, this year it takes on all its meaning also applied to the full Moon in July.

According to NASA, the orbit of the Moon around our planet is practically in the same plane – with a difference of no more than five degrees – as the orbit of the Earth in its journey around the Sun. At the summer solstice the Sun reaches its highest height in the firmament. When the full moon occurs, the Moon is opposite the Sun, and therefore at a very low altitude at this time of year.

Especially at high latitudes, when the full Moon shines at low altitude it can take on reddish, orange and pink hues similar to those that tint sunrise or sunset, caused by the scattering of light as it passes through the atmosphere and collides with the particles that float in it. This full Moon in July 2023 is the closest to the summer solstice and, therefore, the full Moon in which this phenomenon may occur with more intensity.

The first supermoon of 2023

The Deer Supermoon is considered the first supermoon of the year. To understand what a supermoon isfirst it is convenient to know some information about the orbit of the Moon.

The Moon’s orbit is elliptical, so there are times when it gets closest to Earth and others in which it is far away. The moment in which our small satellite approaches our planet is known as perigee.

In this month of July the perigee of the Moon takes place today Tuesday 4the day after the astronomical full Moon occurs.

When the full Moon touches near that time of perigee, looks bigger and brighter in the sky. This is not an astronomical technical term, but the popular way these larger-looking Full Moons have been called. In fact, there’s no single criteria for qualifying it as a “supermoon,” a term coined by an astrologer named Richard Nolle in the 1970s.

According to Nolle, we would speak of a supermoon when the full Moon occurs exactly at or near perigee, specifically within 90% of its closest approach to Earth in its orbit.

Another way of establishing it is to consider that a full Moon is a supermoon when, on average, it is seen at least 7% bigger and 15% brighter usual. These percentages increase the closer the Moon is to perigee.

There are other criteria, some more strict, but following these most widespread, the full Deer Moon of 2023 meets the requirements to be considered a supermoon.

Will there be more supermoons in 2023?

Following the criteria chosen by the EarthSky astronomy website to consider when there is a supermoon, it can be stated that In 2023 we will have four supermoons: the July Full Moon or Stag Moon, the two August Full Moons and the September Full Moon. Yes, in August there are two full Moons, something that only happens every two or three years and that has led to the name of the second full Moon that occurs in the same month as “Blue Moon”.

So this year we will not only have four supermoons, but the third we can say will be a blue supermoon.

Which 2023 supermoon will look the biggest?

Although the difference will be minimal, the biggest 2023 supermoon will be August’s superblue moon, which will take place on August 31. This is because this full Moon will be the one closest to Earth of the three that occur in the year.

According to the data provided by EarthSky, these will be the distances of the Moon from the Earth in the full Moon phase during these supermoons:

Full Moon on July 3: 361,934 km Full Moon on August 1: 357,530 km Full Moon on August 31: 357,344 km Full Moon on September 29: 361,552 km

Deer Moon, the Full Moon of July

Many cultures that for centuries have lived in tune with nature, observing its cycles and changes, have given names to the different full moons of the year with denominations that reflected this knowledge of the natural environment.

In the media we usually echo those names when the full moon arrives, but normally they are names that refer to the Moon of the entire month and that allude to some detail of what happens at this time. The most widespread names are those that have come down to us from the North American tradition and collected in The Old Farmer’s Almanacwhich are names coined by the different native peoples of North America.

The full moon in July is known, above all, as Deer Moon or Moose Moon in honor of male deer, who renew their antlers under the light of this moon

Other names for the full moon in June

Other names used for this July Moon are hay moonfor the hay harvest at this time in the Anglo-Saxon tradition; thunder full moondue to the probability of electrical storms at this time of year; salmon moon, for being the time when the salmon returned upstream; either Berries or Raspberry Moon.

Spiritual Significance of the Super Deer Moon

We have already seen that the Deer Moon is nothing more than a full Moon and it is a supermoon due to its proximity to Earth, which allows us to see it larger.

Its influence does not have to be different from that of other full moons in the lunar cycle of the calendar, although from the point of view of astrology and also from the perspective of the biodynamic lunar calendar each year certain energies govern according to their position in the moon. sky with respect to other stars.

astrologically it is considered that there Full Moon in Capricorn. According to Marga Roldán, an agronomist trained in evolutionary astrology, this day is a time to close the cycle that opened with the new Moon in Capricorn on December 23, 2022.

“We have the opportunity to review our mental structure and see if we really do things because we want to or out of obligation”, explains Marga Roldán. “Today you may feel the tension between the opposition that occurs between the feminine and masculine, full moon, and if your mind takes you to a sensation of not feeling your own inner value. Take a deep breath and, if you feel like it, allow yourself to fall into that feeling of emptiness of value that you can feel more active today.”

The influence of this Moon can also make, both according to astrology and according to the biodynamic calendar, that some beauty, garden and home care are more recommended than others on this day. You can check more about this in this weekly lunar calendar that covers from July 3 to 9, 2023.

The Guru Moon for Buddhists

The Full Moon in July is known to Buddhists, Hindus and Jains as the Guru Full Moon, marking the auspicious time for celebrate mental clarity and enlightenment.

In some branches of Buddhism, such as Theravada Buddhism, the day on which this full moon occurs is known as Dharma Day, which celebrates the first sermon that the Buddha delivered after reaching enlightenment. The Buddhist monks of this tradition begin on this day an annual retreat that lasts up to three months during the rainiest season.