How often do you think about the moon? For one Milwaukee woman, it’s a regular occasion. She visits the lakefront every time there’s a full moon and she’s been doing it for more than a decade, making a point to catch eventful occasions like a supermoon, a blood moon or a blue moon.
What’s the difference? You might ask. Well, a supermoon is full moon that’s at its closest point in its orbit around Earth. There are supermoons three to four times a year. A blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse and gives the moon a reddish glow. A blue moon is an extra full moon in one calendar month. This happens about once every two-and-a-half years.
This past September, the supermoon was also known as a Harvest moon. It was blood orange, luminous and shiny. It started out unusually close to the horizon and looked magical, as if it was coming out of the lake.
NASA describes a Harvest moon as: “The full, bright Moon that occurs closest to the start of autumn. The name dates from the time before electricity, when farmers depended on the Moon's light to harvest their crops late into the night. The Moon's light was particularly important during fall, when harvests are the largest.”
There will be another supermoon on Thursday October 17, 2024. This one is known as the Hunter’s moon.
WUWM’s Maayan Silver was on a walk on Milwaukee's lakefront during the Harvest moon. It was pleasantly warm outside. Lake Michigan waves were slowly lapping up against the shore. Maayan felt this magnetic pull to get closer and closer to the lakefront where the moon was rising. That’s where she met Ebony Javan, who seemed to have all the answers.
“I don't know if you ever saw Mortal Kombat,” said Ebony. “[The Harvest moon] kind of reminds you of that Mortal Kombat symbol. It looks like it's dripping and glistening. But the moonlight was actually red, which is an illusion because of the atmosphere. Now [that the moon is] rising higher, it's getting lighter and lighter. But when it initially came out [of the horizon], it was like blood red.”
Ebony remarked on the sense of calm she was feeling and attributed it to the moon. “The moon is a stabilizer. You gotta realize, even though the Earth is spinning and the moon revolves around the Earth, without the moon, the Earth would be unstable. If the Earth didn’t have the moon, it would like literally just be like, imagine drinking too much coffee. You just jittery. What the moon does is pulls back it like it gives tension. So now it stabilizes everything.”
Ebony works in property management. Her days are pretty stressful. That makes her cherish these monthly moon outings even more. “Sometimes you get to a point where you come home, you don't even want to talk. But being here, it just kind of allow you to just like — it's no way to describe it, like you just got to feel like you're just a part of, like everything that's going on. You have Earth, water, moon, you just have everything you need and it's free, so why not utilize it?"
"Obviously you need money to provide shelter, but your essentials are free," she said.
Even so, it’s kind of unusual to visit the lakefront every month to witness the full moon, or the even rarer supermoon. How did Ebony get so tuned in?
“I just kind of keep up with it," she said. "Eventually you're gonna have a full moon every 28 to 31 days. But it's just like paying attention. Sometimes you just got to come down here, you know, kick your shoes off, no socks, no sandals. Just plant your feet in the grass and get grounded. Just rejuvenate. It's kind of like charging your phone."
She said she uses a phone app to keep track of moon’s cycles. And she has her eye on some gear to help with moon watching.
“That's going to be my next gift to myself. I'm going to invest in a nice telescope that I can attach my camera to and then just stare at the sky, get lost.”
She said doing things like this gives you perspective. “It makes you realize how small you are, in a bigger scheme of things like, you're not really even a grain of salt. Like, don't get caught up in everything. The things that you can't change, you gotta accept it and keep it moving. Cause time not gonna stop for that.”
Ebony got to thinking about the space beyond the moon, beyond what we can see — what she calls “universes within universes.” “Even if your mind ponder on that for too long, you will start to get a headache because it's beyond your understanding as a human being. It's just bigger than us. That's why I said you just got to, you know, show love and chop it up. Like how we met, just strangers just vibing out like, just the vibe, like it's just the vibe.”
If you want to vibe on this month’s full moon — it’s again a supermoon! The Hunter’s moon is happening Thursday, October 17. This is your notice to head out to the great outdoors, look up and unplug. It’ll be bright, bold, illuminating and beautiful.
