The Woman Who Howled
Could you imagine standing in your garden with a brutal frost and soaked through slippers, ready to howl at the full moon? Or in my case, on my terrace overlooking the hills – a sky full of stars. I would love to let rip at the full moon, but I am certain my three dogs would join in, and the neighbours would think I was even more barking mad.
But for a moment, imagine that you could and would howl at the full moon.
Not a polite, not even worth it howl but a full-bodied one that lets everything that’s trapped in your throat and throat chakra out.
Can’t do it for real, then do it in your imagination.
Now imagine a wolf howling back. Just because this full moon in January is a wolf moon, and there is something quite beautiful about wolves.
They are not the villains we were taught to fear in fairy tales. They’re fierce protectors of their pack, masters of adaptation, and they represent becoming something wilder than you’ve allowed yourself to be.
The January Full Moon and Wolf Supermoon
This year’s January Full Moon and Wolf Moon arrives on Saturday, 3rd January 2026, at 10:03 GMT.
I feel the real magic happens at moonrise, when she climbs above the horizon during dusk as the sky darkens. That’s when you’ll see her in all her glory – enormous, luminous, and impossibly close.
I am blessed to live in a place where I can just stare at the stars. Though at the moment the weather is dreadful. Fingers crossed for Saturday.
This is the final supermoon in a sequence of four that began last October. A supermoon occurs when the full moon coincides with perigee – the nearest point in the moon’s slightly elliptical orbit around Earth. This always fills me with wonder.
She is named for the wolves that howled hungrily outside Indigenous American villages during the deep cold of mid-winter. The Wolf Moon has always been associated with survival, pack mentality, and the fierce determination required to make it through the darkest season.
A Full Moon in Cancer: Coming Home to Yourself
This full moon happens during Capricorn season (the sun is in Capricorn), but it’s actually a full moon in Cancer. That’s because each full moon occurs in the opposite zodiac sign from where the sun currently sits.
Think of it as a cosmic conversation between opposites. Capricorn is all ambition, structure, achievement, and climbing that mountain. Cancer is all intuition, emotion, nurturing, and creating a home that feels like a sanctuary. The full moon illuminates the space between these two energies, asking: How can I achieve my goals whilst honouring my emotional needs? How can I build something meaningful without betraying my heart?
January on the Wheel of the Year
We’re in that liminal space between Yule (winter solstice) and Imbolc (early February), when the light is returning, but winter still has us firmly in her grasp. The earth seems dormant, but deep beneath the surface, seeds are dreaming of spring.
This is not the time for action. I know the calendar year begins in January and everyone’s making resolutions and starting diets and joining gyms, but that’s calendar thinking, not seasonal wisdom.
January is a time for your vision, but not to act on it. It’s time to dream, to plan, to let your desires take shape in the darkness. It’s time to rest deeply and allow yourself to be held by winter’s quiet wisdom.
The Wolf Moon honours this paradox: fierce enough to survive, wise enough to rest. Hungry for what’s coming, patient enough to wait for the right moment.
The Spiritual Significance of This Full Moon
Working with the Third Eye & Solar Plexus Chakras
As Deng Ming-Dao reminds us: “The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences.”
The Full Moon is the climax of your lunar hero’s journey. Everything becomes visible – your progress, your shadows, your truth and your power. This particular full moon activates two important energy centres:
The Third Eye: Seeing Truth
The Third Eye chakra (Ajna) is your centre of intuition, insight, and inner vision. It sits between your eyebrows and governs your ability to see beyond the obvious, to trust what you know even when you can’t prove it.
At this Full Moon, your Third Eye asks:
- What truth is being illuminated for me right now?
- What patterns can I now see clearly that were hidden before?
- What is my intuition telling me about this journey?
- What shadows am I ready to acknowledge and integrate?
The Third Eye often reveals uncomfortable truths: the marriage that’s been over for years, the career that’s draining your soul, the friendships that only take, and the ways you’ve made yourself small. The Wolf Moon doesn’t judge these revelations. She simply says: Now you see. What will you do with this seeing?
The Solar Plexus: Claiming Power
The Solar Plexus chakra (Manipura) is your seat of personal power, will, and self-esteem. It sits above your navel and governs your ability to claim your space, speak your truth, and stand in your authentic authority.
At this Full Moon, your Solar Plexus asks:
- What power am I ready to claim?
- How can I step more boldly into my authentic expression?
- Where have I been giving my power away?
- What am I ready to let go of that no longer serves me?
The Third Eye shows you the truth, but the Solar Plexus gives you the courage to act on it. They work together. You see clearly (Third Eye), then you claim your power to respond (Solar Plexus).
And the Cancer magic: whilst you’re claiming this fierce power, you’re also learning to nurture yourself through the process. You’re discovering that real strength includes tenderness, kindness and compassion. And the wolf protects her pack and knows when to rest in the den. Cancer moons always feel like coming home to myself, probably because my moon is in Cancer.
January Full Moon Journal Prompts
Grab your journal, a cup of something warm, and give yourself at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted time. You don’t have to answer all of these – choose the ones that make your stomach flip a bit. That’s usually where the gold is.
Third Eye Clarity Prompts:
1. What truth about my life have I been avoiding? What would happen if I finally looked at it squarely?
2. When I’m completely honest with myself, what do I already know about what needs to change?
3. What patterns keep repeating in my life? What is this pattern trying to teach me? Have you taken the Self-betrayal quiz?
4. If my intuition could speak freely without fear of consequences, what would it tell me right now?
5. What shadow aspect of myself am I ready to acknowledge and integrate with compassion?
Solar Plexus Power Prompts:
6. Where in my life have I been making myself small or invisible to make others comfortable?
7. What would I do differently if I truly believed I deserved to take up space?
8. Who or what am I giving my power away to? Why? What would reclaiming it look like?
9. Complete this sentence: “If I were brave enough, I would…”
10. What boundaries do I need to set or reinforce to protect my emerging authentic self?
Cancer Nurturing Prompts:
11. When was the last time I felt truly ’at home’ in my own life? What created that feeling?
12. How can I be a better mother to myself? What does my inner child need from me right now?
13. What would change if I prioritised my emotional needs with the same dedication I give to others?
14. What does ‘sanctuary’ mean to me now, at this stage of life? How can I create more of it?
15. Where in my life do I need to stop achieving and start receiving?
Wolf Medicine Prompts:
16. What does it mean to me to be ‘fierce’ at this stage of life? How is that different from earlier decades?
17. Who is ‘my pack’ – the people who truly see and support the real me? Am I spending enough time in their company?
18. What am I ‘hungry’ for in this new chapter of life? What feeds my soul?
19. Where do I need to be more ‘wolf-like’ – protecting my territory, trusting my instincts, not apologising for my needs?
20. If I could howl my truth to the moon right now, what would I howl?
A Final Note
This is the first of thirteen full moons in 2026 – a year that promises two lunar eclipses, a blue moon, and the closest supermoon since 2019. We’ll walk through each one together, month by month, moon by moon, as you continue your journey of becoming.
But for now, we begin here with the Wolf Moon. The wolf is howling. Can you hear her? She’s calling you home to yourself.
With love and lunar blessings,
Dale
If this Wolf Moon work resonated with you, and you’re ready to go deeper, join me for the Alchemy of Becoming community.
For the January Full Moon visualisation and Write From The Wild activation, please join The Alchemy Of Becoming.
