Sturgeon Moon: The Awesome Full Moon of August 2025
August’s full Sturgeon Moon rises into a sky softened by late summer light. The sun’s power and strength are beginning to fade. Nature is full and heavy; fruit bends branches low. Bees drift lazily between flowers, savoring the last sweetness of the season.
August is one of my favorite months because for me it means peaches…lots of peaches. Ripe and warm from the sun, juices running down your wrist, savoring the sweet taste on your tongue, and for a moment, nothing but the summer season exists. There’s something truly spiritual in that moment. A reminder to be present. To notice. To enjoy this moment before it fades away.
As the days grow shorter, the sunlight softens to a muted golden hue. Use the Full Moon of August for a sacred pause in your witchcraft practice. Honor this moment with a ritual, meditation, or simply sit beneath the night sky. Moon magic can always be found by those who seek it.
Please note that I make every effort to ensure this information is correct and accurate through my own experiences and referencing sources throughout AND at the bottom of this article.
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Table of Contents
When is the Sturgeon Moon 2025?
In 2025, August’s Full Moon is called the Sturgeon Moon. It takes place on August 9th, 3:55 AM Eastern Standard Time.
The Full Moon phase corresponds to the season and time of year. Moon phases have names that come from many beliefs around the world, including Native American, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and more modern Neo-Pagan traditions.
What is a Sturgeon Moon?
The Full Moon of August is named the Sturgeon Moon to symbolize and represent the freshwater fish that were easily caught during this hot summer month in North America. These impressive, archaic-looking fish are a gray-green color, and their existence can be traced back over 200 million years!
Sturgeons can grow to be quite large and often live to be over 100 years old. Sturgeons are the biggest freshwater fish in North America. According to Sea History, some of the largest ever recorded are over 14 feet long and can weigh over 1500 pounds! However, it’s not uncommon to find them over 6 feet in length.
Due to overfishing for their meat and eggs, their numbers are dwindling. However, many conservation efforts have succeeded, and their population numbers have increased.
[Ron] Clark, [a volunteer with the nonprofit Kalamazoo River Sturgeons for Tomorrow] who has found the fish docile and easy to handle, said they seem to have individual personalities … they’re more like a [mammal] than a fish.”
Fisheries biologist Smith added that he likes the look of the prehistoric fish and its weird adaptations. For example, sturgeons have spiracles, which are holes in the side of the fish that allow them to breathe along with their gills.
He added that bringing the sturgeon back would give the public a chance to learn about a fish that had to survive during the dinosaur era.
National Geographic
Sturgeon Moon Spiritual Meaning
Sturgeon move like shadows beneath the water. These fish have lived through ice ages and shifting continents. They’ve survived millions of years by adapting and persevering through many different challenges. You are just as powerful and resilient, whether you realize it or not!
August’s Moon honors sturgeon and the spiritual meaning held deep in their bones: strength, wisdom, and the ability to survive.
You are not fragile! Witches endure and move through change. You will always outlast the storm; you laugh in its face, allowing self-love and confidence to fill you up. Challenges help shape us, making us more powerful with every season. Find some ways to quietly self-reflect this month; it’s a great time to fill yourself with love.
How I Celebrate August’s Sturgeon Moon
The August 2025 New Moon Is Actually a Black Moon
On August 23, 2025, a Black Moon will rise (metaphorically, you won’t be able to visually see it). This year’s seasonal Black Moon is the third New Moon in a season of four.
Black moons are rare lunar events. They’re similar to a Blue Moon, but instead of two Full Moons, it marks two New Moons in a specified period of time (seasonal or calendar).
Black Moons bring rare chances for success, fresh beginnings, and unexpected good luck. In this moment, the air hums with limitless potential and quiet confidence as the unseen begins to take shape. You can cast intentions like skipping stones because you know they’ll ripple into something greater.
Now is the time to begin. A sacred moment to begin again, begin small, begin bravely. This is renewal in its purest form. The unknown is not empty, but full of possibility. Every ending curves gently into a beginning, and your magic is always ready to meet you there.
August Sturgeon Moon Alternative Names
Many cultures around the world have beautiful names for August’s Full Moon, and I did my best to include the ones I could find sources for. These names beautifully reflect the connection between humans, Nature, folklore, communities, and historical influences throughout time.
Remember, most of these names applied to the entire month, not just during the Full Moon!
- Hot Moon (guuteyai-mea’) Shoshone Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming
- Peace Moon (South African origins symbolizing National Women’s Day) (source: Centre for Astronomical Heritage)
- Dry Moon (Yiraha Nuti (pronounced yihrah-hah(q) noong-tee) Catawba Native American origins
- Lightning Moon (English)
- Heyannir (Norse) means haymaking and refers to the drying and harvesting of hay (source: Nordic Culture – Skjalden)
- Grain Moon (Anglo-Saxon)
- Dispute Moon or Lynx Moon (Celtic) (Source: Time and Date)
- End of Fruit Month (galoni) Cherokee Native American origins
- Hungry Ghost Moon (Chinese) The Hungry Ghost Festival usually occurs during the Western calendar month of August. Many people worship their ancestors and make offerings to the roaming spirits of the earth. (similar to Samhain) (source: CBC)
This full Moon corresponds to the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival. The seventh month of the Chinese calendar is the Ghost Month and the fifteenth day of this month (a full Moon day) is called Ghost Day, on which ghosts and spirits, including those of deceased ancestors, come out to visit the living.
NASA – The Next Full Moon is the Corn, Fruit, Barley, and Hungry Ghost Moon
For a list of even more Native American Moon names, check out American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association’s article here or Western Washington University’s article here.
Sturgeon Moon Spiritual Correspondences
The spiritual meaning of August’s Full Sturgeon Moon is a powerful time for gratitude and resilience. To get you started, here are some spiritual correspondences and intentions!
Sturgeon Moon Spiritual Intentions
- Gumption
- Perseverance
- Wisdom
- Renewal
- Confidence
- Strength
- Empowerment
Sturgeon Moon Colors
- Gold
- Dark Green
- Orange
Full Moon August 2025 Ritual Ideas
The Sturgeon Moon is a lovely time to reflect on your life and what you’re grateful for. Here are a few celebration ideas to get you started. If you’re looking for even more ideas, check out Full Moon Rituals You Need To Know!
Sturgeon Moon Journal Prompts
Honoring the Sturgeon Moon: A Ritual of Dual Energies
This candle magic ritual honors the Full Sturgeon Moon and the sun’s late summer glow. This ritual will connect you to the natural rhythms of August’s spiritual season.
Supplies Needed
- One silver candle (to represent the moon’s energy and your own intuition)
- One orange or yellow candle (to honor the sun, creativity, and the harvest season)
- Several small green candles (to symbolize the earth’s abundance and growth)
- Matches or a lighter
- A fireproof holder or plate for the candles
- Your Sturgeon Moon altar or a quiet, sacred space
Prepare Your Sacred Space
Choose a quiet location where you will not be disturbed during the ritual. Prepare your altar or sacred space with items that have meaning to you.
This could include images of the moon, sun, and earth, or the color meanings associated with August’s full moon: Gold, Dark Green, and Orange. It’s your spiritual practice! As long as it resonates with you, then it belongs in this ritual.
Cleansing and Centering
Find your center by taking a few deep breaths. Clear your mind of all distractions and concentrate on the intention of this ritual. If you have a favorite cleansing process, use it now to get rid of any negativity.
Arranging the Candles
Place the silver candle in the fireproof holder and center it on your altar or sacred space. This candle represents the moon’s glowing lunar energy and its powerful spiritual meaning.
Place the orange or yellow candle beside the silver one to represent the sun’s warmth and harvest season.
Surround these main candles with the smaller green candles to form a circle (as best as you can). These candles reflect the earth’s abundance and growth.
State Your Intention
Light the silver candle and visualize the moon’s peaceful, shimmering lunar energy filling your sacred space.
Light the orange or yellow candles, feeling the sun’s warmth and fierce energy blend with the moon’s sacred glow.
Light the green candles in a clockwise circle. As you light each one, state your intentions for the final days of summer. Think about the joys of summer and the harmony of growth and reflection.
Meditation and Reflection
Feel this energy flowing into you as you sit quietly, watching the candles burn. Practice your scrying abilities and look for meanings in the candle flames.
As you relax and meditate, visualize this energy flowing out of you and into your sacred space. I like to visualize it as a shimmering, beautiful golden yellow. However, feel free to do whatever resonates with you!
Closing
Allow the candles to burn down completely to infuse this lunar and solar energy completely into you and your home. When you feel ready, express your gratitude as you honor the season’s transition.
Connect With Water
Water is the perfect way to cool down during the warm August days and nights. Spend time by a lake, ocean, river, or your favorite watering hole!
Fully submerge in the cool water. Let it flow around you, and relax. Allow any anxiety or worries to slip away with the current or tide. Imagine yourself as the water, trusting and flowing freely. Let go of your fears and know that whatever may happen, you will find a way to make the best of it.
Spend some time focused on these thoughts. If you feel comfortable, float on the water’s surface and meditate. Don’t forget to create some Sturgeon Moon Water!
Camp Beneath The Sturgeon Moon
What an amazing time to soak up those moonlight beams! Plan a camping trip to enjoy the summer season and optimal Sturgeon Moon views!
You can also keep it local in your backyard! Laying out beneath the moon is a beautiful way to embrace nostalgia and childlike fun. It brings back memories of sleepovers with friends and stargazing while lying on trampolines.
Bake Bread
Embrace August’s Full Moon’s spiritual meaning of reaping and harvesting and bake some bread. Use plants, herbs, and flowers that are currently in season to incorporate a few magical intentions into your delicious bread.
You could also carve a few Elder Futhark Runes, sigils, or other pagan or witch symbols that have meaning to you into your baked goods. If you’re busy, keep it simple and pick up some bread from a local market. Remember, we’re still in the season of Lughnasadh!
Start Preparing for Autumn and Winter
August is a wonderful time to begin harvesting, canning, drying, or saving seeds for next year. You can do this from your own garden, on local farms, or at a farmer’s market. Create herbal infusions you can use later for salves, tinctures, balms, etc.
You can also start planning and preparing your home for the Autumn Equinox and the cold Winter months ahead by making sure you have warm blankets and candles. Try checking your heater, caulking drafty doors or windows, changing your air filter, cleaning out the fireplace, or de-cluttering and donating items that no longer serve their purpose.
Full Moon Schedule 2025
Is the Full Moon of August 2024 a Supermoon?
No, the Full Moon of August will NOT be a supermoon.
However, there will be TWO Supermoons in November and December this year!
The astronomical term for this [supermoon] phenomenon is perigee-syzygy Moon. The alignment of the Sun, the Moon, and Earth that occurs at both new and full moon is known as syzygy.
Britannica – Supermoon
Will August’s Sturgeon Moon Have A Lunar Eclipse?
No, August’s Sturgeon Moon will not have a Lunar Eclipse this year. However, there will be two Lunar Eclipses AND two Solar Eclipses in 2025! (see chart below)
2025 Lunar and Solar Eclipses
penumbra, (from Latin paene, “almost”; umbra, “shadow”), in astronomy, the outer part of a conical shadow, cast by a celestial body, where the light from the Sun [or other light source like the moon] is partially blocked—as compared to the umbra (q.v.), the shadow’s darkest, central part, where the light is totally excluded.
Britannica – Penumbra Eclipse
I hope you enjoy the Sturgeon Moon of August! Lots of love to you, and remember, as always…
