Hunter's Moon Ritual 2026: Gather In, Then Keep

The Hunter's Moon has a different feel from the full moons of summer. It rises big and low and amber over bare fields, and it stays bright for long hours in the early evening. For those who lived by the land, that light was precious. It meant more time to gather, to hunt, to finish bringing in what the season had left.

In 2026 the Hunter's Moon is full on 26 October. It is the last full moon before Samhain, and the last before the year turns fully toward winter.

What the Hunter's Moon means

The Harvest Moon, the full moon nearest the equinox, belongs to the reaping. The Hunter's Moon comes after. The fields are already cut. What remains is to gather in everything that is still out there, and then to store it well.

That second half is the one people forget. A good year can still leave you with little if nothing is kept. Money comes in and slips away. Good fortune arrives and is spent before it settles. Opportunities are taken and then not tended. The Hunter's Moon is the moment to notice what the year actually brought you and to make sure it stays.

A simple reckoning before the ritual

Before any working on this moon, I ask the people I cast for to sit down with a piece of paper and write two short lists.

• What came in this year. Not only money. Work, help, a friendship, a lucky break, a skill learned.
• What leaked away. Where money went without a trace, where something good was let slip, where you gave more than you could spare.

There is no judgement in either list. It is simply the old harvest count, done honestly. What you write in the first list is what the working will help you keep. What you write in the second shows where the store needs mending.

The Full Bowl

For the Hunter's Moon I work the Abundance and Prosperity Spell, whose craft is called the Full Bowl. It is one of the oldest household workings there is, and it fits this moon perfectly because it is about keeping rather than grabbing.

1. Rice goes into a plain ceramic bowl. Under a harvest moon it stands for the store that carries a household through the dark months.
2. Your name paper and three coins go in with it, pressed down into the grain.
3. Rosemary crowns it, the herb of remembering and holding on.
4. It stays in sight. On a shelf or a table you pass daily, never tucked away in a cupboard.
5. Nothing is ever taken out. As the level drops, fresh rice is poured over the top, so the store only grows.

That last rule is the seal, and it is the whole teaching of the Hunter's Moon in one gesture. Abundance is not a single windfall. It is a store that is topped up, again and again, and never allowed to run dry.

When a different working fits better

The Full Bowl is steady and slow. It suits the household that wants to feel fed and settled, enough and a little more. If your wish is for a sudden turn of money from an unexpected direction, the Powerful Money Spell works on the flow instead. If your wish is large and you already hold something to grow from, the Extreme Wealth Spell is built for that scale.

A small ritual for your own table

On the evening of 26 October, before the moon is high, take any bowl you use every day and fill it with rice. Press in a coin for each thing on your first list that you most want to keep. Set it on the kitchen table or a windowsill where the moonlight can reach it, and leave it there. Do not empty it when the moon wanes. Add to it when you remember.

People sometimes ask whether they should wait up to see the moon at its fullest. There is no need. The Hunter's Moon works through the whole night and the evening after, and the bowl keeps working long after the moon itself has thinned.

What you receive

When I cast the Full Bowl for you on this moon, I send you a written record by email afterwards: how the bowl was filled, where it was set, what I sensed as the coins went in, and the signs to watch for as the year closes. Read it again at the new moon of 9 November and you will see how the store has held.