The Beaver Moon...
Monday, November 27, 2023.
I admire beavers. They have much to teach us. Beavers populated the Berkshires and beyond for probably thousands of years, until my ancestors helped wiped them out in a matter of decades with their highly profitable fur trade.
The family lore is that the Dashnaw clan took land grants from King Louis, and focused on acquiring prosperity trading furs with indigenous peoples.
A small cohort of beaver escaped detection in Canada, and in the early 1910s, wildlife biologists brought beavers back to New York, and then Massachusetts.
Since then they have made a spectacular comeback in the Berkshires, and once again they are shaping our environment for the benefit of a healthy ecosystem.
I was thinking that tonight, November 27th, 2023, is the night of the full Beaver Moon, according to Indigenous and European traditions in North America.
Dashnaw family lore claims that these land grants came with French wives, who lacked the grit to make it in the new world, and died off quickly. Consequently, many trappers took native wives, creating a large hybrid culture with it’s own city near Montreal.
As I look out my window, I see blotches of snow, the remnants of a heavy first snow which blanketed my gray landscape, rendering it a radiant white in a few hours, two weeks ago.
More snow, is obviously to come.
This is the time of year when the beavers hunker down into their lodges.
Now they built these lodges with a Herculean effort lodges over the spring and summer. They know how to prepare for the frigid cold.
The Cree and Assiniboine humans refer to November’s moon as the Frost Moon, while it’s called the Freezing Moon by the Anishinaabe, referencing the cold shift we often feel so sharply in November. The Mohawk, who some Dashnaws claim affinity with, call it the Poverty Moon.
The Cherokee called it the Trading Moon. The Tlingit call this the Digging Moon for foraging animals.
The November full moon is the perfect time to wrap up projects and turn inward for the winter. Explore the posibility of installing a spiritual meaning to this Beaver Moon…
November is the month of the full Beaver Moon, according to Indigenous and European traditions in North America.
Around this time, beavers settle into the lodges they so diligently built in the spring and summer, preparing for the colder season.
The Energy of November
September and October are cool months, but they hold warm reds, yellows, and oranges in the leaves of their trees.
By November, most of the leaves have fallen and the world turns a muddy gray.
As our outside world becomes less hospitable, the days darken, and it is a time for all noble beavers (and humans) to head inside, slow the fu*k down, and trust in the work we’ve done over the harvest season while we settle in for the coming frost.
However, it’s common in modern society that we do the opposite, ramping up our work and school schedules in preparation for the end of the year.
The Spiritual Power of Beavers (and Frost)
Both the beaver and the frost could be powerful spiritual symbols, if you chose to see them that way.
Beavers are known for feverish industry and an unfettered workaholism. They work dilligently and collaboratively to build lodges and dams. These structures create pools so deep enough that they tend not to freeze in winter.
Although beavers don’t hibernate, they spend more time inside during the winter season.
They typically spend November and December making mad passionate love. This is by design, reserving the coldest part of the year for pregnancy, giving birth, and caring for their kiddos in relative safety, insulated from the unforgiving cold outside..
Like the busy beavers, humans can certainly continue to work during the winter season, but what if we had a reliable knowledge that the work should change?
Is this a time and a place for us to roll up our sleeves and dive headfirst into new projects?
Or should we wrap up what we’ve done as “good enough” for now, and tuck it away like a neddlepoint that will beckon us to industry once more.
What if humans just knew that the threshold of winter is an invitation to practice internal healing work, focus on our intimate and extended family life, and consider renewing a more durable spiritual connection to our communities, and perhaps even to the natural world..
This Beaver Moon, when called the Frost Moon, has lessons for us as well.
Frost is a coating of ice, a covering that embraces everything it touches.
Plants and animals have an innate body wisdom which prepares for winter in September and October, insulating their bodies for the colder climes by growing thicker, denser fur or thicker and more abundant feathers.
When we humans prepare our bodies for the winter by slowing down, spending more time inside, and getting warm and cozy, we are less vulnerable to the colds and flus that tend to circulate around this time.
The Science…
The next full moon will be on Monday, Nov. 27 at 4:16 a.m. EST (0916 GMT), but the moon will still appear full the night before and after its peak to the casual stargazer.
November's full moon, is also known as the Beaver Moon, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, will be one for the history books…
November's full Beaver Moon will see the longest partial lunar eclipse in over 500 years, lasting over six hours, according to my friends at NASA.
A partial lunar eclipse occurs when part of the full moon falls under Earth's shadow (unlike May's total lunar eclipse) — more than 97% of the moon will be covered at the peak of this eclipse, according to NASA.
How to you might want to groove with this 2023 Beaver Moon…
Get intentionally lazy. Take a cue from the zeitgeist and arouse your inner slacker. Look at your schedule with a lazy, jaundiced eye. Wrap up projects and especially beg-off from starting any new ones.
Get intentionally aspirational. Spend time dreaming and coming up with new ideas, but delay action on those ideas until the new year. Let them gestate over the winter rather than trying to birth them immediately.
Warm up with hot tea, warm scarves, insulated boots, hot water bottles, and heating pads, and spend time by a fire.
Sleep a little more than you usually would. Be unapologetically lazier. Slow down. Notice.
Spend more time with your beloved, and other loved ones.
Enjoy sensual experiences, like cooking new recipes, hot baths, massages, making love, etc.
Wintertime is also a good season for making babies (you know, the human experiment requires more babies, LOL), September is the most common month for birthdays, as humans (and beavers) like to get busy copulating when it’s cold outside!
Also, consider directing your energy to intentional spiritual and internal practices, such as meditation, reflection, journaling, getting counseling (I can help with that), or whatever other form of spiritual and emotional connection helps get you through the night.
Happy November Beaver Moon! Be well, stay kind… and Godspeed!
