The Hunter’s Moon 2026 is full in the early hours of Monday the twenty sixth of October, which means the evenings either side of it, Sunday and Monday, are the ones to look up. It is the full moon after the Harvest Moon, it rises big and low and often a little amber in the east around sunset, and it is one of the best full moons of the year for actually seeing, because it comes up early enough that you do not have to stay up for it.
Here is when it happens where you are, why it has the name it has, and one small thing to do under it that is not cheesy.
When is the Hunter’s Moon in 2026?
The moon is exactly full at 04:12 UTC on Monday the twenty sixth of October. In local time that is:
- 9:12 in the evening on Sunday the 25th on the Pacific coast of America
- 12:12 just after midnight, Monday the 26th, on the East Coast
- 4:12 in the morning on Monday in the UK, where the clocks will have gone back the day before
- 5:12 in the morning on Monday across most of western Europe
- 3:12 in the afternoon on Monday in Sydney and Melbourne
The moment of fullness is a technicality. To the eye the moon looks full for about a day either side, so Sunday evening and Monday evening are both lovely, and whichever one has the clearer sky is the right one. The moon phase page shows how it looks tonight, and the whole year is in the full moon calendar.
Why it is called the Hunter’s Moon
The name comes from the old farming year in Europe and North America. By late October the fields had been cleared, the leaves were down and animals were easier to see, and the bright moonlight after sunset gave hunters a few extra hours to track and gather meat before winter. The Harvest Moon a month earlier was for bringing crops in; the Hunter’s Moon was for stocking up on everything else.
It has other names too, depending on who is naming it. Different Native American peoples have called the October moon the Falling Leaves Moon, the Freezing Moon or the Drying Rice Moon, each one describing what that month looked like where they lived. I like the plainness of the Hunter’s Moon. It is a practical moon for a practical time of year.
A full moon in Taurus
This year the Hunter’s Moon falls in Taurus, opposite the sun in Scorpio. If you follow astrology, Taurus is the sign most often linked with the body, comfort, money, patience and a certain lovable stubbornness. Put simply, it is a full moon that points at the question of what makes you feel secure, and whether you are building that or only worrying about it.
You do not have to take the astrology literally to use the question. Late October is when most of us start to feel the dark evenings coming, and asking what would make this winter feel steadier is useful in any belief system.
How to see it at its best
Go outside about twenty minutes after sunset and look east. Near the horizon the moon looks enormous, partly because of the moon illusion, a trick of the eye that makes it seem larger next to trees and rooftops than it does high in the sky. The warm colour comes from looking through more of the atmosphere at a low angle, the same reason sunsets are orange.
If you can, give it five minutes without your phone. The whole point of this moon, historically, was that it gave people light to work by. It is nice to let it give you light to think by.
A small Hunter’s Moon ritual
This is a gathering ritual rather than a wishing one. Before the evening of the moon, take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left, write what you need to have in place before the dark months: a routine that holds you, a person you want to see more of, the doctor’s appointment you keep postponing, a warm coat that actually fits. On the right, write what you are already carrying that you do not need: a commitment you said yes to out of guilt, a worry you have been feeding for weeks.
Then, under the moon or at a window, read both lists once and choose one thing from each side. One thing to gather this week, one thing to set down. That is the whole ritual. It works because it is small enough to do.
A three card Hunter’s Moon spread
If you would like to ask the cards, lay out three:
- What I am tracking, the thing that has my attention this autumn whether I like it or not
- What I need to gather before winter
- What I can let the season take
Read the middle card most closely. Pentacles here usually mean something practical and material; Cups point to people and feelings; Wands to drive for a project; Swords to a conversation or a decision. For a fuller reading, the full moon reading draws the cards for you and writes them out.
What else is happening that week
Mercury turns retrograde two days before this full moon, on the twenty fourth, and I have written honestly about what Mercury retrograde does and does not do. Five nights later comes Samhain, the old Celtic new year, and the Samhain tarot spread picks up exactly where this moon leaves off, with the question of what to keep and what to leave in the field.
That is a lot of sky for one week, and none of it needs you to be anxious. The moon is going to rise whether or not you have your life in order. It is simply nicer to be outside when it does.
Clara
