Spirituality and Self Help
Craft Haven
Selenology
Tthe branch of astronomy dealing with
the moon in general, the name comes from the Greek Goddess Selene,
Goddess of the moon and love.
There are a number of scientific theories about where the moon came
from. That the earth and moon were once one planet and split apart,
another that the moon was a wandering planet that earth's gravity
captured, and there are others. Which of course all means that no
one has any real idea. So we will skip over those theories and get
on to the things that are known about the moon.
We know that it is 2,160 miles in diameter. In relationship to the
earth, that means that it would be a tennis ball to the earth being
a basketball. It weighs about 81 quintillion tons. Whatever that
means! It has about the same surface area of Africa and it's gravity
is only one-sixth of earth's. It's temperature ranges from a pretty
cool, -280 F to pretty warm, 260 F on a hot day. A "lunar month" is
about 29 days, 12 hours and 44.1 minutes long. The lunar month is
also called a synodic month as opposed to the sidereal month. If you
need to know more about that one, please feel free to look it up
yourself.
The new moon is generally considered the start of the lunar month.
The full moon is then the half way point. The progression is from
new moon, to waxing crescent, the first quarter is next, with waxing
gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last or third quarter, and last
of all waning crescent. Most of us just know about and use the four
‘main' quarters, new moon, first and last quarters and full moon.
And of course we all know about the tides. This is one of the "most
visible, least debated and best understood influences" of the moon,
as one book puts it.
These are all facts that you may have picked up in grade school. The
ones that follow you almost definitely did not.
- Water tides ruled by the moon are well accepted. But did you know
that the moon also causes atmospheric tides and terrestrial tides as
well? While atmospheric tides are usually very small they are enough
to influence the weather. And earth tides are nothing short of
amazing. The moon actually pulls solid earth, stretching the ground
to form tidal bulges. This effect is enough to make the city of
Moscow rise and fall an estimated 20 inches twice a day or make the
Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower as much as 63 feet closer
or farther apart!
- Earthquakes are twice as likely to occur when the moon is exerting
its greatest pull, either during the full or new moon or during the
two daily high terrestrial tides. Not so unusual when you realize
the great pull the moon exerts on our earth.
- A study conducted over 50 years from 1900 to 1049, totaling over
16,000 heavy rainfalls, reported by 1,544 weather stations across
North America found that the heaviest rainfalls occur "near the
middle of the first and third weeks of the synodical month,
especially on the third to fifth days after the configurations of
both new and full moon." Other studies support this. One found that
the average amount of precipitation was over 20% higher whenever a
full or new moon occurred.
- Many animals from crabs, marine worms, sea urchins, eels, and
oysters, to lemurs, buffalos from India, rats and hamsters, to
grouse, bats and mayflies all time things from mating, amount of
activity to travel by the full moon. One theory for this is that
moonlight, terrestrial tides, oceanic tides, atmospheric tides and
tides in the animals own body, perhaps even tides in the earth's
magnetic field all have an effect.
- One study found that things such as tomatoes, sweet peas, carrots,
cosmos, turnips, sunflowers, beets, calendula and veronica grew
better when planted at certain times of the lunar month. During the
waxing moon all of these plants grew quickly and sturdy. The same
plants planted during the waning moon did not do as well. Many did
not germinate at all and those that did were said to be abnormally
small and weak. Out of ten plants that are ‘supposed' to be planted
during the waxing moon and were transplanted during a waning moon,
all ten died. Many scientific studies back this up. One found that
potatoes' average metabolic rate peaked at about 20% higher at the
third quarter of the moon and was at it's lowest during the new
moon. This test was later done with several other plants and the
results were all the same. Another study found that pinto beans
absorb water fastest during one of the four quarters of the moon.
One study kept seeds in total darkness and at a constant
temperature. The results stayed the same. About one study Bernard
Dixon in Omni magazine said, "uptake of oxygen was significantly
greater on mornings...coinciding with the new and full moon. We now
have to accept that heat, light and nutrients are by no means the
only factors regulating plant behaviour." We must consider the moon
too.
- You may know that the moon regulates the menstrual cycle of women
(an average of 29.53 days, the same as the lunar month), and that
the length of human gestation is exactly nine lunar months, but did
you know that most births are around the time of the full moon?
- One study on women the ages of 21 to 37 found that women are more
turned on and more often engage in sex during ovulation which is
during the full moon.
- Men have ‘periods' too. Many studies have found that men are
subject to the same kinds of mood swings and irritability that are
associated with women's menstrual cycles. In both daily behaviour,
performance tests and psychological tests men have been found to
indeed have monthly ‘periods'. With the exception of actually
menstruating, men have the same biological functions and emotions as
women. Like women, men have greater sexual appetites once a month.
Studies found that men experience a wide range of emotional changes
which affect everything from hobbies to job performance and that
these changes follow a lunar month! Being of course at their maximum
strength during the full moon. The truth is out guys, you are no
more unaffected by the moon than women are.
- Firefighters, police officers, emergency room workers, social
workers and bartenders all say that crime and violence follow the
full moon. There are more murders done at the full or new moon than
at other times, and more violence in sports such as hockey or
soccer. Studies have also found that in addition to the monthly
cycle there is also another cycle that follows the lunar day. One
study done in Miami found that there are statistically significant
clusters of murders during the lunar noon and midnight (when the
moon is highest in the sky and lowest beneath the horizon), which
are the times of maximum daily gravitational attraction. The fewest
homicides occur at moon rise and moon set. Another study done in
Ohio, found that in eight categories, rape, robbery and assault,
burglary, larceny and theft, auto theft, offenses against family and
children, drunkenness, and disorderly conduct occurred significantly
more frequently during the full moon.
- Many studies have found a significantly larger number of patients
admitted to psychiatric hospitals. As much as 35.6% higher during
the full moon, and 32.3% during the new moon. I guess that's why
it's called lunacy!
- A whopping 43% more people kill themselves during the full moon
than at other times.
- Migraines, periodic asthma, ulcer flair ups, rheumatism, epilepsy,
and sleep walking have all been found to follow lunar rhythms.
- People die more often during the full and new moons than at other
times.
- Our bodily fluids seem to respond to the moon's tidal pull. A Dr.
Edson J. Andrews kept track of over one thousand tonsillectomy
patients and defined ‘bleeders' as those patients who had to be
returned to surgery because of bleeding. It was found that this type
of bleeding happened an overwhelming 82% during a period of time
that straddled the full moon. One outstanding point about this was
the fact that admissions for surgery actually declined during this
same period of time, so the increase relative to the actual number
of patients was actually even higher than the 82%.
So does the moon affect us? Beyond a doubt. "Old wives tales" about
planting at certain times of the month, gathering herbs when they
are most potent at certain times of the moon's cycle, sayings about
the weather, and more, are now being found to be not so much "tales"
as truth. When a witch plants a herb to be used for a special spell
during the full moon, she's not being superstitious, she's being
scientific. When someone casts a spell at a certain time for a
certain effect, how can we still doubt that natural forces are not
better aligned at some times than others? Like it or not, believe it
or not, every person, animal and plant on this planet is in some way
affected by that silver glowing orb that lights our night sky.
