Full Moon October 2026: The Hunter's Moon, Date, Time and Meaning
The full moon of October 2026 is the Hunter's Moon, and it is full at 00:11 EDT on Monday 26 October. That timing splits the country. On the East Coast the moon turns full just after midnight, so the night to watch is Sunday 25 into Monday 26. Further west it is still Sunday evening: 23:11 CDT, 22:11 MDT and 21:11 PDT on 25 October. Wherever you are, the moon rising on the evening of the 25th is the one to look for.
It is the last full moon before Samhain, which falls five days later, and that is what gives it its weight in witchcraft.
Why it is called the Hunter's Moon
The name comes from the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the September equinox, which in 2026 was the full moon of 26 September. The next full moon after it is the Hunter's Moon. In the old agricultural reading, the crops were in, the fields were bare, and animals fattened on the gleanings were easy to see and hunt by moonlight, so the second autumn moon was the one for filling the winter larder with meat.
Both autumn moons share a physical quirk. Around the equinox the moon's path meets the horizon at a shallow angle, so for several evenings in a row it rises only a little later than the night before. That gives a run of bright, early moonlit evenings, which is exactly what a farmer or a hunter wanted. Our guide to where full moon names come from covers the rest of the calendar, and the Harvest Moon covers September's.
The October 2026 moon calendar
For the lunar year ahead
| Phase | Date | Time (US Eastern) |
|---|---|---|
| New moon | 10 October | 11:50 EDT |
| Full moon (Hunter's Moon) | 26 October | 00:11 EDT |
| Samhain | 31 October | waning gibbous moon |
| Next new moon | 9 November | 02:02 EST |
| Next full moon (Beaver Moon) | 24 November | 09:53 EST |
Note the clock change: US daylight saving time ends on 1 November 2026, so the November times are in standard time. By Samhain night the moon will be five days past full and waning, rising a little before 23:00 in most of the country. That matters if you had planned a moonlit Samhain rite; you will have light, but late.
What the Hunter's Moon is for
In most modern practice the Hunter's Moon is about gathering, storing and letting go. It sits between the last harvest and the start of the dark half of the year, so the work tends to face two ways.
Gather
What did this year actually give you? The Hunter's Moon is a good night for a stock-take in the old sense: money, energy, relationships, projects. Write down what came in.
Store
Choose what you are carrying into winter and protect it. Protection work, household blessings and charms for the home all suit this moon. Our guide to protection spells that work has several that fit a single evening.
Release
Choose what you are not carrying into winter. A full moon release written on paper and burned is traditional; so is simply saying it aloud outside under the moon.
Turn toward the dead
With Samhain five days away, many practitioners use the Hunter's Moon to begin their ancestor work: cleaning photographs, setting the altar, writing names. Our Samhain altar guide starts here.
Other names for the October moon
Hunter's Moon is the name most North American almanacs use, but it is not the only one. Almanacs also list the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon and the Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon for October, all pointing at the same season of bare fields and the first hard frosts. Many of the names attributed to specific Native American nations in popular lists are loose or unsourced, so treat those with care. In Neopagan practice the October moon is often simply the Samhain Moon, since it is the full moon that leads into the festival.
Watching and photographing it
The best moment is moonrise on the evening of 25 October, when the moon clears the eastern horizon around sunset. Near the horizon it looks enormous and orange. The size is the moon illusion, a trick of perception, not a real change; the colour is real and comes from looking through more atmosphere. For a photograph, find something on the horizon to give scale, a tree line or a rooftop, and shoot in the first twenty minutes after it rises. Higher in the sky it shrinks to its usual white and is far harder to make interesting.
Traditional correspondences
Modern practitioners tend to work the Hunter's Moon with deep orange, rust and brown for the harvest, and black for the approach of Samhain. Common stones are carnelian and smoky quartz. Common herbs are rosemary, sage and apple. These are modern conventions rather than ancient lore, but they give a working altar a clear seasonal shape.
A simple Hunter's Moon ritual
On the evening of 25 October, set out a candle and a bowl of something harvested: apples, nuts, a loaf. Light the candle when the moon is up. Name three things this year gave you, aloud. Eat one of the harvested things. Write one thing you are leaving behind on a slip of paper and burn it in the candle flame over a dish. Leave the rest of the food out overnight for whatever comes by. That is all. Our guide to full moon power covers the general shape of full moon work, and making moon water is a good second task for the same night.
Keeping the lunar year in view
The Hunter's Moon is also the natural moment to hang next year's calendar, since the wheel turns at Samhain. Two of the 2027 printable moon calendars suit this moon in particular: The Witch's Lunar Cathedral, with its ravens and gothic arches, and Arcane Lunar Observatory for the sky-minded. Our full list of dates is in moon phases 2027.
One piece for the Hunter's Moon
Frequently Asked Questions About the October 2026 Full Moon
When is the full moon in October 2026?
The full moon is at 00:11 EDT on 26 October 2026. That is 23:11 CDT, 22:11 MDT and 21:11 PDT on 25 October, so across the US the night to watch is the evening of 25 October.
Why is it called the Hunter's Moon?
It is the full moon following the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon nearest the September equinox. Traditionally, with the crops in and fields bare, it was the moon for hunting and laying in meat for winter.
Is the October 2026 full moon a supermoon or a blue moon?
It is neither by the usual definitions. It is a single full moon in October and it is not unusually close to Earth.
What phase is the moon on Samhain 2026?
Waning gibbous. The moon will be five days past full on 31 October 2026, rising late in the evening.
Watch it rise on the 25th, count what the year gave you, and put down one thing before Samhain arrives. The Hunter's Moon asks for very little and gives a clean start to the dark half of the year.
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