Full Buck Moon

The full moon for July was named by the Algonquin Indians as the Full Buck Moon. The month when the antlers of buck deer pushed out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. As all full moons do, it has other names that are used as well, July's are Full Thunder Moon for frequent thunder storms and Hay Moon for harvesting.

Astrologically,it is a Full Moon in Aquarius. Known as The Full Moon of the Guru...a night dedicated to thanking all of the teachers in our lives. An Aquarius Full Moon honors those who not only have vision, but those who honor the need for vision with action. There are those in our lives, who have an innate sense of defending others, giving to others, sharing with others that is so strong, that when I simply say that...you know who they are. In a world crazed by negative thoughts, emotions and actions, those who do good and spread goodness stand out like beacons in the darkness. They call to us to touch our own humanity within and share it with the larger global community outside of ourselves.

It is a night to step into our own sense of teaching and of service by breaking down the need and the attraction to only focusing on our own lives, our own needs. In our own little online quilting world, we all know the women who have set the standards for the rest of us. Those who create patterns and websites that they openly and selflessly share with all of us. Women who encourage our smaller voices to speak out and seek our places in this world by reminding us that even orphans have a place in this world and seek out those orphans and love them, nurture, them and find them good homes. Woman who happy to help their communities, their neighbors, the downtrodden, the helpless and the hopeless.

They are the women who encourage us, applaud us, defend us and nurture us. There are many, many bloggers with deep faith who encourage us with that faith, those from belief systems or faiths different than our own, who teach the value in diversity and culture, and remind us the value of understanding and tolerance.

Women who come in from their scrap bags, their rambles, their strawberry patches, their cornfields and lakes. They travel through pieces of time and place, from mega sewing heavens to tiny sewing havens, from a table in the kitchen to quilting magazine delights. They come from Japan, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France. Their share their quilting, their sewing, their needlework, their endlessly beautiful artistry and their lives.

As the buck proudly displays his velvet, we are proud to display our needle pricks, our tendinitis, our rug burned knees. We experience, we share and we learn. Together, we are the global community and together, we are stronger than each of us, ever is, alone.