What Is a “Dripping Wet Moon?”

8 May 2014

THE SHORT ANSWER (TSA)

The Bowl-Shaped Moon was Believed to Fill with Water

There’s no water involved in a “wet moon.” The moon has phases – it grows from new to full and, then, back to new every 29 days (+ a few hours). In the first and last “quarter” (seven or eight days) of one cycle of the moon’s phases, the bright, visible part of the moon looks like a crescent.

Because the earth is slightly tilted, the angle of the crescent moon changes and sometimes the crescent seems to be lying on its side with the two ends pointing up like horns. At these times, the moon looks a bit like a “bowl” or a “smile.”

In Hawaiian mythology, the “bowl” image inspired the name “Wet Moon.” Appearing at the “bowl” angle from late January to late February, the bowl-shaped moon was called the wet moon because it was said to be filling with water. In Hawaiian Astrology, the period from January 20 – February 18, is associated with “Kaelo the Water Bearer.”  During that time, the “Wet Moon” became the “Dripping Wet Moon” – the bowl is full of water.

With the approach of summer, the rains increase as the crescent moon gradually tilts back out of its “bowl” position and into an upright crescent — looking like it’s pouring out its collected water with the summer rains. The “upright” crescent moon has it own name. Logically, it’s called the “Dry Moon.”

Because of the tilt of the earth, bowl-shaped “Wet Moons” happen often in the tropics near the equator. As you go farther north, wet moons become rarer, and never appear in the Arctic Circle.

Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville, Illinois

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