Ultimately, people need a calendar to know what kind of weather to expect, and what kind of crops will be available next. Anything else is largely a complication of this.
In essence a seasonal lunar calendar simply consists of noticing an important harvest that occurs during a particular Moon. Reference to any other calendar is not really necessary. One only needs to be cognizant of the Moon's new growth, and match that with the growth and harvesting of a personally important local plant.
Throughout the seasons, this personally important growth of vegetation can be the bareness of a branch, budding and leafing boughs, sweetly scented blossoms, or the luscious ripe fruits hanging from a vine.
Whether it be the ongoing transformations of one beloved type of tree, or the progression of many different types local crops throughout the year, all can be a poignant connection to the transformations within the year.
This connection to the seasons can be had in any region of the Earth. Desert, Savanna, Temperate, Tropical, Mediterranean. All climates within regions have their own seasonal harvests.
The most simple, and almost intuitive, way of participating is to harvest the boughs when the Moon is first seen waxing as a thin bow, rounded toward horizon, low in the evening sky. She is always seen there as a bow, a recurring vision marking the repeating lunar cycles.
One traditional way of displaying the seasonal boughs of a Lunation is to weave them into a circular wreath and display that wreath on your outer-door. Placing the newly gathered boughs on your altar makes a different, but equally meaningful and spiritual display. One can even discretely represent the harvest by placing the bough of that Moon's harvest in a vase.
During the ongoing Lunation, the boughs of that Moon are a constant reminder and reassurance of that harvest.
When the Moon eventually attenuates to a thin sickle or plow, that is the time the wreath should come down and be disposed-of, signifying the Lunation has ended. The thin sickle Moon could be said to slice the old month away, or, as the Plow, could be said to slide through the sky, points-first, turning the old month over into the new. The old Moon ends just as the invisible three dark new-Moons begin.
In this way, there is a resting time, a rest-beat, within the continuing cycles. For that time there is no harvest displayed, in anticipation of the next harvest. It is a perfect time to clean the house and to introspect. This resting time is probably precisely why many of the harvest displays, brought into the house, had to be removed by a certain time in order to prevent bad luck.
When the slender bow Moon comes delicately into the low evening sky again, then the next harvest can be celebrated. The new harvest boughs are then gathered and woven into the next seasonal wreath of that Lunation.
Copyright © J. G. Jones