Hunter's Moon 2026: The October 26 Full Moon in Taurus

When is the Hunter's Moon in 2026?

The Hunter's Moon of 2026 is the full moon of Monday, October 26, exact at 04:12 UTC. In North America it is full late on the evening of Sunday, October 25 on the West Coast and at 12:12 am on October 26 on the East Coast, so the nights of October 25 and 26 both show a full-looking Moon. It falls at 2 degrees 46 minutes of Taurus.

Why it is called the Hunter's Moon

The Harvest Moon is the full moon nearest the autumn equinox, which in 2026 was the Aries Full Moon on September 26. The Hunter's Moon is the one that follows it, the convention most almanacs use, and in 2026 that is this Taurus Full Moon on October 26. The name is old northern-hemisphere farming language: with the fields cleared, the bright moon lit the hunt. Astrologically it is simply October's full moon, but the name is worth knowing because it is how most people search for it.

The sky · Oct 26, 2026

The sky on October 26, 2026

A zodiac wheel of the ten planets at 8:00 am ET (12:00 UTC) on October 26, 2026, computed from the ephemeris. Sun at 3 degrees 5 minutes Scorpio; Moon at 7 degrees 27 minutes Taurus; Mercury at 20 degrees 39 minutes Scorpio, retrograde; Venus at 29 degrees 19 minutes Libra, retrograde; Mars at 15 degrees 48 minutes Leo; Jupiter at 23 degrees 37 minutes Leo; Saturn at 9 degrees 39 minutes Aries, retrograde; Uranus at 4 degrees 52 minutes Gemini, retrograde; Neptune at 2 degrees 12 minutes Aries, retrograde; Pluto at 3 degrees 6 minutes Aquarius. Tight aspects within 3 degrees: Sun square Pluto, Neptune sextile Pluto, Uranus trine Pluto, Uranus sextile Neptune and Mercury square Jupiter.

The sky on October 26, 2026

Each glyph points to its exact degree on the ring. Lines join planets in a tight aspect: green-grey for trines and sextiles, red for squares and oppositions. Replay to watch the ten days before this moment: the Moon sweeps a third of the wheel while the outer planets hardly move.

• Sun3°05′ Scorpio
• Moon7°27′ Taurus
• MercuryRx20°39′ Scorpio
• VenusRx29°19′ Libra
• Mars15°48′ Leo
• Jupiter23°37′ Leo
• SaturnRx9°39′ Aries
• UranusRx4°52′ Gemini
• NeptuneRx2°12′ Aries
• Pluto3°06′ Aquarius

Tight aspects

• Sun square Pluto · 0°00′
• Neptune sextile Pluto · 0°53′
• Uranus trine Pluto · 1°46′
• Uranus sextile Neptune · 2°40′
• Mercury square Jupiter · 2°59′

›Every planet's position

Planet	Sign	Degree	Motion
Sun	Scorpio	3°05′	direct
Moon	Taurus	7°27′	direct
Mercury	Scorpio	20°39′	retrograde
Venus	Libra	29°19′	retrograde
Mars	Leo	15°48′	direct
Jupiter	Leo	23°37′	direct
Saturn	Aries	9°39′	retrograde
Uranus	Gemini	4°52′	retrograde
Neptune	Aries	2°12′	retrograde
Pluto	Aquarius	3°06′	direct

›Tight aspects (within 3°)

Aspect	Orb
Sun square Pluto	0°00′
Neptune sextile Pluto	0°53′
Uranus trine Pluto	1°46′
Uranus sextile Neptune	2°40′
Mercury square Jupiter	2°59′

Computed from the real sky with the Natal Junction ephemeris (tropical zodiac, geocentric). Dates in US Eastern time.

The exact moment in your time zone

Is the 2026 Hunter's Moon a supermoon?

No. The Moon sits 368,859 kilometres from Earth at the moment of fullness, outside both common supermoon rules: the strict cut of 360,000 kilometres and the looser rule of a full moon within 90 percent of the year's closest approach, which for 2026 works out to 361,618 kilometres. The two supermoons of the season come later, the Beaver Moon on November 24 and the Cold Moon on December 24. The Hunter's Moons of 2024 and 2025 were both supermoons, which is why the question comes up every October.

Hunter's Moon dates, 2024 to 2030

The Hunter's Moon is not always in October. When the Harvest Moon falls in early October, as it did in 2025, the Hunter's Moon moves into November. Every date below was computed with the open-source astronomy-engine ephemeris that powers our charts, with times in UTC:

The Pluto square

Both the Sun at 2 degrees 46 minutes of Scorpio and the Moon at 2 degrees 46 minutes of Taurus square Pluto at 3 degrees 06 minutes of Aquarius, within a third of a degree. The Sun's square to Pluto is exact eight hours after the Full Moon. This is the sharpest aspect of the whole autumn. Pluto in a lunation is about power, ownership, debt and the fear of loss, and Taurus makes it about money and material security in particular. Retrograde Venus at 29 degrees of Libra, opposite the Moon, adds the relationship layer: what you have merged, and on whose terms.

What is happening

A Full Moon is the peak of the lunar cycle, when the Moon stands opposite the Sun and something reaches its brightest, most visible point. This one falls just short of 3 degrees of Taurus, the sign that governs security, money, possessions, comfort and the physical body.

The Moon is exalted in Taurus, which means it is unusually strong and comfortable here. Emotions run steady rather than volatile, and there is a grounded, sensual quality to the whole lunation. Whatever comes to light does so solidly, not chaotically.

What it means now

Taurus Full Moons ask one question with unusual force: what actually makes you feel safe. Not what looks like security from the outside, not what you have been told should be enough, but what genuinely settles your nervous system.

Expect a financial matter to reach its peak, a possession to reveal how much it really means to you or your body to send a signal you have been ignoring. Taurus is the most physical sign in the zodiac, so this Moon often lands in the body first: fatigue, appetite, tension, or the simple realisation that you have been running on empty.

The Taurus and Scorpio axis

This Full Moon lights the Taurus and Scorpio axis, the polarity of what is mine and what is ours. Taurus is your own resources, your own comfort, your own steady ground. Scorpio, where the Sun sits, is shared money, intimacy, debt and everything you have merged with another person.

With the Sun in Scorpio and both Venus and Mercury retrograde there, the shared side of that axis has been under heavy review all month. This Full Moon brings the other half into the light: your own footing. It asks whether, underneath all the joint arrangements and entanglements, you still have ground of your own to stand on. That is a genuinely useful question, and it is worth answering honestly.

The double retrograde context

This lunation is unusual because both planets governing the axis are retrograde. Venus rules Taurus, where the Moon sits, and Venus is backward in Libra. Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio, where the Sun sits. So both ends of this Full Moon are in review mode.

The practical effect: what comes to a head now is almost certainly something old rather than something new. A financial matter you thought was settled, a possession you have outgrown, a comfort that has quietly become a cage. Treat the culmination as information rather than as a deadline. You are seeing the truth of a situation clearly; you do not have to act on it before mid-November.

The two-week arc

This Full Moon completes the story that began at the New Moon in Libra on October 10. That Moon asked you to rebalance a relationship. This one shows you the cost and the foundation underneath it: what you have been giving away, what you have left for yourself and what you genuinely need to feel secure. Both Moons are ruled by Venus, so the whole two-week arc is one long Venusian question about worth, in relationship and then in yourself.

A ritual for this Moon

Taurus wants something physical, so make the ritual tangible. Sit down with your actual numbers, not your anxiety about them. Look at what you own, what you owe and what you earn, plainly. Then name one thing you are carrying that no longer makes you feel safe, whether that is a subscription, a possession, a financial arrangement or a habit, and let it go.

Follow it with something sensory and grounding: eat well, walk outside, put your hands in the earth or on something with real texture. Taurus Full Moons release best through the body, not the head.

The aspects in play

The whole sky is in review this week. Venus is retrograde in Libra after slipping back on October 25, Mercury turned retrograde in Scorpio on October 24, and Scorpio season began on the 23rd. This Full Moon is the bright peak in the middle of that reflective stretch. For the fuller picture of what is being reviewed, read the Venus retrograde and October Mercury retrograde guides.

How to work with it

Do face a financial truth, ground yourself physically, release a comfort that has become a constraint and listen to what your body is telling you. Do not make an irreversible money decision while both Venus and Mercury are retrograde. See clearly now, decide in November. Taurus rewards patience more than any other sign, and this Moon is no exception.