A Lunar Module (i.e. A Post About the Moon...)

The moon is waxing, and will be full on Monday, the 18th. Patriot’s Day. The day of the Boston Marathon. The day Eli and his class head to Washington D.C. for a week. Oooh!

Some give no credence to the moon’s affect on humans. Many scientific studies have been done over the decades, and there appears to be no empirical evidence to prove that there are more accidents, suicides, births or violent crimes at full moon. Instead, conventional wisdom says that we have been conditioned to believe such things occur with more frequency during that time in the lunar cycle. That due to folklore, and our culture’s fascination with movies with werewolves or themes of bewitching, or even due to anecdotal accounts, we simply look for the unusual at this time, where we normally wouldn’t give such things a second glance.

I’ve always believed that the moon had some pull. (Sorry, you know how I love a good pun. Or even a pun like that!) Without a calendar at my disposal and even during a week of overcast skies, I can tell when full moon is approaching. Call me daffy, but you can’t change my mind. I’ll bet there are a lot of emergency personnel out there who agree with me. Ambulance services and hospital emergency rooms are busier, and the medical problems are different than at other times of the month, too. More accidents, more violence. Dispatch and police details are right out straight. And new moon is almost as bad.

One friend told me that I acted like a ‘lunatic’ at full moon because all my ‘juices were pulled to one side’. I snorted and called him an idiot… after I said “What do you mean, I act like a lunatic?” I gave it some thought, though, and found this:

An unscientific work by Arnold L. Lieber entitled How the Moon Affects You introduces the author's "biological tides theory" which explains that the lunar cycles which cause tides in the ocean also cause them in the human body, since the human body is almost 80% water.

However plausible that sounds, scientists have debunked that theory, stating that the moon’s effect is on unenclosed, uncontained water, only--and that in reality, the draw of the moon alone is negligible. That it is due to the alignment of the more powerful sun with the moon that the tides are affected like they are. They claim we individuals are too small to be influenced.

Hmmmph!

Scientifically proven or not, I’m in tune with my own senses. I feel differently at full moon. I’m more tense. Less patient. More excitable. I feel more alive, more sexual. My senses are heightened, and my trigger is ‘hair’.

I’m not totally dippy. Evidence shows that herbivores (that’d be cows and such) and humans ovulate around the full moon. The height of the deer rutting season occurs around two full moons. Coral mates at the full moon. (How in the world do coral mate? Is that where the term ‘getting your rocks off’ comes from? Um… Sorry.) Migratory birds appear to follow the patterns of the moon for timing and finding their path of migration. Game birds (that’d be partridges and such) tend to return to certain locations at the time of the Hunter's Moon. Bears (omnivores), caribou (herbivores), and salmon(ah… fish!) move at the full moon. Even oysters (I want to say these are bicuspids, but that doesn’t sound quite right…) are sensitive to the cycle of the moon and not simply the movement of the tide.

And vets and dog trainers note that animals are more restless and unruly during a full moon.

Nope, I’m not completely daffy or dippy. What’s good enough for coral is good enough for me. And chances are good…no coral has ever watched An American Werewolf in London.

So, if I ever seem to be a bit of a lunatic, a little hyper or over-sensitive, please lay it to the Man in the Moon. He does it to me every time.

And that, my friends, reminded me of one of my favorite Conway Twitty songs. In closing--and just because I love the moon--here’s a bit of it, if I remember correctly:

“I talked to the Man in the Moon. I said, ‘Sir, is she coming back soon?’ He smiled and he stated, ‘Son, I’m over-rated. I get too much credit in those old love tunes. I don’t know a thing about love. I just kinda hang here, above. I just watch from the sky. Will love grow, will it die? I don’t know a thing about love.

“You know I can move oceans, when I take the notion… or make mountains tremble, or rivers run dry. But in all matters human, remember there’s Someone in charge of those things, way above you and I. I don’t know a thing about love. I just kinda hang here above. I just watch from the sky. Will love grow, will it die? I don’t know a thing about love.’ ”

A 'Luney' Tune, huh? :o)


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Top photo: Moon setting behind Mt. Abram, taken from my bedroom window.
2nd photo: Ali g's full moon, NSW, Australia
3rd photo: Dozy's full moon, NSW, Australia
4th photo: Waxing (4 days from full) moon behind grey birch in my field.
5th photo: 1st quarter moon at the Hill Place in Elliotsville Twp., July 2010 while Larry (from QLD, Australia) was visiting.