I have heard it said that one's energy is greater near the full moon and less so near a new moon. I had not noticed it in my own life, though I knew of practices following the moon, such as planting with the moon and doing or not doing yoga (or, at least certain postures), for example, at different phases of the moon. I've even heard of women's bleeding cycles coinciding with the moon. The tides, of course. I heard as a teacher that more 'pink slips' are written up in schools near the full moon (due, I'm sure, not only to the wildness of the children, but of their caretakers, as well!). And, more recently, have heard it said - by midwife and OBGYN alike! - that more births happen on/near a full moon. They say that there is no scientific evidence to back this up. But my OBGYN friend insists that she'd rather not work on a full moon. (I can't help but wonder whether or not there have ever been studies done as to the quality of what goes down at the hospital on full moon nights, rather than simply keeping a tally. A tougher study? Yes. Potentially WAY more enlightening? Possibly.) Even a certain little folksinger refers - in one [or more!?] of her songs - to how she feels a little differently at the full moon and notices other people noticing her in a different way.
"Yeah it took me a few years to catch on that those days I catch everyone's eye
Correspond with those nights of the month when the moon gleams like an egg in the sky
And men are using a sense they don't even know they have just to watch me walk by..."
~Ani Difranco, "Reprieve"
Though I had heard of all of these things, I had not necessarily noticed any pattern in my own life (though, admittedly, I can be pretty thick about self-observation - particularly anything having to do with time!).
In fact, I still cannot say that I figured out a pattern, because it was a friend of mine who brought it to my attention. And -even then- it was only apparent to me because of my son.
Said friend would text me almost every month: Are we to the full moon, yet? My kids won't take naps!
I even denied this full moon effect one day with a story about my son having slept for 3 hours in a shopping cart in a department store (I took the opportunity to grab myself a delicious beverage and relax in a big cushy chair in the coffee shop). However, I realized later that probably the reason that he had totally passed out in a shopping cart and slept there for hours was because he had missed his nap the day before! (Don't ask me how long it took for me to figure that out. It was way too long! I told you I can be a little thick.) So, though I had denied it at first - it was totally true!
With this new insight into the ways of my child (I had noticed before that 'every now and then' he wouldn't nap, but had never put it together with the moon cycle before my friend pointed it out!), I began to pay attention. Sure enough, those days when he just couldn't settle down were the days when the moon shone the most brightly (or, at least it would have -if I didn't live in one of the cities in the US most prone to cloud cover...).
The children have made me a believer! I have even noticed in myself a little bit more verve on those full moon nights and a little less get-up-and-go on those new moon days. Perhaps this could be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Perhaps... But still... I posed the question to my full-moon-no-napping-kiddos-texting-friend: I wonder what secrets our ancestors knew that we know nothing of? I count this restlessness of the full moon as an insight worthy of wonder. I wonder if they (the ancient mothers) just knew that the kids wouldn't nap near a full moon and just didn't worry about it?! It's ok. They'll nap again when the big moon wanes... What a less stressful way to go! I so appreciate that sense of rhythm and harmony, rather than a structured, rigid way of life. One that bows only to a clock or a calendar and not even to one's own constitution. Not even to the natural way of the world!
Now, I know that our calendar IS based on these natural ways of the world and that even our clocks are (aren't they? I feel like I should know that!). I know that we have such good internal clocks that our stomachs can tell us when it is lunchtime before the clock can, so my comment about a 'rigid' way of life may seem to fly in the face of my own postulation! But, I think you see what I am saying, yes? If not, let me go on to say that I am very much in favor of systems of organization. VERY MUCH (I'm a virgo)! However, I find more and more that such systems (public schools, for example, and all kinds of bureaucracy and systems of 'red tape' included!), in the hands of most humans, lose their fluidity. This tells me that it is not the system's fault, but the humans'! Let us all try to be more in touch with our own humanity and our own cycles and fluidity. Perhaps then our systems will serve us all the more.
So, I guess the moon teaches me to relax. To allow for flux, for ebb and flow. To pay attention [to myself, to my body, to nature, to children!].
What does she teach you?
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