In an effort to include my two and three year old children in the excitement of their new sibling’s arrival, I took them with me to my prenatal OB visits. Waiting to hear their baby brother or sister’s heartbeat, my children were sitting, coloring calmly at the small table in the waiting room. Suddenly, my tiny daughter ran up to me and bit my pregnant belly really hard. Seconds later the furniture began moving all over the room, it was an earthquake.
Children can be very sensitive. Researchers theorize that children sense subtle changes in the earth’s magnetic field. This is evident during phases of the moon. Considering that we humans are made up of 70% water, it only makes sense that the Moon would have an impact on us. The Moon exerts a strong gravitational pull that causes the changing of tides in our oceans and seas. This gravitational pull is strongest at the New Moon and Full Moon. It is thought that at the New Moon and Full Moon, like the tides, our emotions are pulled to the surface and feelings are heightened. Mental Health professionals say that their patients have more violent episodes around a Full Moon. The Middle English word, lunatic, comes from lunar or moon, from the belief that changes in the moon caused intermittent insanity.
Several studies have shown that people experience 30% less deep sleep during the Full Moon as compared to the rest of the month. It has been concluded that because of the bright light that comes with a Full Moon, our bodies want to be awake instead of asleep. Changes in sleep can have dramatic effects on your overall mood – causing irritability, decreased concentration and focus, and elevated levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.
As a school teacher, I have witnessed children becoming emotional basket cases during the Full Moon. As adults, we can recognize and handle our emotions and aggression. Children haven’t developed the ability to understand the “Lunar Effect.” Children might cry over something that normally would not affect them, they have a difficult time coping when they are tired. While science has not directly linked emotions to the moon phases, it’s easy to connect the two based on personal experiences.
All this being said, school starts this week and the second Full Moon in August is Wednesday. Venus is in retrograde until September 3, which is thought to be a period of growth, not a time to start anything new. Are students and teachers being set up to fail this first week of school? In the future, it might be wise to check with the Moon and astrologists when making the school calendar.
I plan to spend as much time outside with my class this first week “earthing.” Earthing (also known as grounding) is believed to offer many health benefits, including improved sleep. We will remove our shoes during this Full Moon week to connect with the earth and absorb its grounding energy. Due to this August 30 Supermoon, we’re getting more sunlight filtered off of the surface of the Moon, so everything on Earth has more energy.
A powerful way of managing the overwhelm that happens during a Full Moon is to connect to our five senses: see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Our class theme for the first week of school is apples, which we’ll taste, see, smell, and touch.
If you hear howling, that will be my class on Wednesday, we might pretend to be wolves, outside, barefoot, eating apples on the Full Moon, making the best of our first week of school.
“A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere”. -Joyce Meyer
Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner that was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband , Matt are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End where they enjoy swimming and bicycling.
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