O Lady Moon your horns point toward the east;
Shine be increased.
O Lady Moon your horns point toward the west
Wane, be at rest.

Christina Rossetti

EPHEMERIS FOR THE THIRDWEEK OF EARLY FALL
The Monarch Butterfly Moon wanes through the weekend until it becomes the new Robin Migration Moon on the 29th at 3:12 a.m.

DARK MOON TIME
Early fall overwhelmed the Midwest with the violent September 15th cold front, bringing to climax the wildflower season and initiating the eight-week period of leaf turn and leaf fall that completes the year. As the floral cycles come to a close, the Monarch Butterfly Moon wanes through its darkest time, and its “horns point toward the west.”

Beginning with its fourth-quarter phase last week, the moon rose within a few hours of dawn and set within a few hours of sundown, moving overhead during the day and offering only a little nighttime light.
Throughout the remainder of the month, the moon grows even less prominent until it is almost invisible against the morning and evening sun. The last day of the lunar valedictory to monarch butterflies – occurs on the 28th of September when the moon comes up at 6:45 a.m., barely over the horizon before daylight overwhelms it. Setting at 6:50 p.m., half an hour before sundown, it offers nothing to the night.

On September 29, the new Robin Migration Moon rises a little after sunup, at 7:50 a.m. and sets at 7:13 p.m. lost in the sun at both its rising and setting. By October 1, it is visible in the evening, its horns pointing east, but it does not begin to give significant light to the night until its second quarter, when it rises in the afternoon and sets near midnight.

The “light moon” grows in power through the end of its second quarter (when it is overhead around midnight) all the way through its third quarter (when it is overhead throughout the dark of the morning), finally rising later and later in the morning until it no longer provides a meaningful amount of light and the sun overtakes it once again.
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The first copies of Poor Will’s Almanack for 2009 are now available. Order yours (indicating color preference of ribbon marker) by sending $16.00 (includes shipping and handling) to Poor Will’s Almanack, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.