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The Moon and You

SUNDAY JANUARY 24, 2010

  

The air is like a big layer of insulation keeping away two things; the heat of the sun and the cold of space.  Either and both of these, depending on season, would rush to earth and either burn up or freeze all earth - life to instant death,  but the thickness of the air-layer keeps them at bay and keeps the temperature on the planet to an average 15degC.  The height of the air changes and is sometimes higher and at other times lower.  This lets in more heat or cold and this alters weather.  At the poles, for instance, the height of the atmosphere is only a couple of miles, compared with about 20 miles at the equator due to the lateral positions of sun and moon.  The result is that the cold of space comes down closer to earth at the poles, freezing everything at ground level, and which is why despite all the scare talk about global warming, the polar ice caps will never melt completely.

The moon changes the height of the air as it transits each day.  This causes an air “tide”, air-in when the moon is in the sky and air-out when the moon sets.  The air-tide is known about in other countries but is ignored by our meteorologists.  At new and full moons the air-tide is at greatest height, and weather balloons float higher, proving that king tides exist in the air at the same time as in the ocean.  This has an effect on weather, for during a full moon night the air is lifted to a greater height which tends to clear the sky and enables you to see the full moon in all its glory.  Earlier in the full moon day when the moon was not yet risen, clouds may have been about, but as the full moon rises the clouds can generally  been seen to move away, especially towards midnight. Airline pilots say that there are so few storms or clouds on full moon nights, it is with confidence that they utilise autopilot.

 

The moon pulls the water, the air and even the land by gravitational force.  All atomic clocks have been advanced by a leap-second this year, to counteract the slowing of the earth by the moon.  What happens is that when the moon pulls the water there is a friction effect on the ocean floor, and this tends to minutely over time counter earth's daily rotation.  Earth does the same thing to the moon, which used to rotate but stopped doing so millions of years ago due to the gravitational pull on it by our planet.  Little known is the Land or Earth Tide in which the ground moves upwards about 8 inches per day to meet the transiting moon, only to recede again when the moon goes below the horizon.

 

Actually the moon pulls on everything, and whatever will move does so, whether it is land, air or water.  One might say our bodies also are just piles of solid, gas and liquid and as such would also be susceptible to gravitational forces acting on them.  The full moon is often said to be influential on our psyches, and some who may be susceptible to these forces and influences more than others claim to be unable to sleep on full moon nights whilst others have different stories.  Taxi drivers often claim that behaviour of drunks is worst on full moon nights and best around the new moon.  It was a full moon when someone threw a rock off the motorway bridge that killed a motorist, a full moon when the pilot of a light plane threatened to hit the Sky Tower, and a full moon when a Christchurch prostitute was fatally rammed by a car.  it was a full moon when George Speight tried to take over Fiji.  Doctors claim more people die and are born around full moon, and that patients bleed more in operations on this day.

 

The endocrinal system known as the menstrual cycle is an example of the way humans are influenced by lunar rhythms.  We are part of our environment, and are influenced by outside changes.  We are in the weather, but there is also a weather within.  The moods of an external environment find parallels inside us.  We also, at different times can feel stormy, bright, wind-swept and unable to settle, cold and pleasantly glowing just like the weather forecast.

 

As a long range forecaster I use the moon to work out weather way into the future.  I do this by measuring the various orbits the moon makes and by plotting when in the past the moon was in a similar orbit point and noting the weather then, suggest that the weather will repeat when the moon is again in that point of its orbit.  As there are about 12 orbits and sub-orbits, being speed, distance from earth, angle of rising, time of rising, phase, and a host of others, I am looking for combinations that fit formulae I have devised over 25-years of study.  A storm is like an engine and any weather event does not happen at random.  It is a very organised process.  If an engine was put together ad hoc it would not work.  If weather was random it would, like a runaway engine, have long ago shot off by itself into space.  It is not the weather that is fickle - it knows exactly what it is doing.  It is forecasters who are fickle who find it hard to admit to their own ignorance about what the weather will do.

Out in the wild there is much communication happening.  The weather talks to the trees, which talk to the insects and birds.  The sea currents talk to the fish and the air currents communicate to the birds.  A tiger moth pilot once told me that he had seen birds scanning the tops of clouds looking for thermals.  Anyone who lives out doors for a long time very quickly gets into synch with natures rhythms.

 

Because the moon and its gravitational pull is the most influential force, many creatures have aligned themselves with moon phases or other lunar cycles.  For example the old Maori Fishing Calendar dictates that you do not fish on perigee, which is the day the moon is closest to earth, which it is every 27 days, because perigee brings more turbulence to the waves, the sand near the high water mark gets churned up more, and the fish would find sand in their gills if they came in close.  They therefore come in to feed two days before perigee and then two days afterwards, and that is the best time to go fishing.

 

In a way we are all like the fish.  There are ebbs and flows we find alignments with even if we don't yet recognise them.  Most of what we do is part of a cycle and what we repeat every day, month or corresponding period is what we incorporate into our daily living routines as being healthy or dangerous for our wellbeing.  Children are very sensitive to changes in routines and find great security in them because they are trying to come to grips with a largely alien world.  We are not much advanced on that and need the security of rhythm and routine, the working knowledge of cycle within cycle for all or most of our time here on earth.

 

Mostly our similarities to each other are greater than our differences.  We all prefer warmth, shelter, love, health and a full belly, to cold, sickness, indifference and discomfort.  A two year old is a definite personality, as is a 5-yr old, also an 80 and 90 year old.  In a way what we think and do is as much a part of the decade of our age as any conditioning of culture.  And just like the animals, if we really looked at it we might find that the cycles we make ourselves part of probably have a lunar-influenced element.  Some of what older cultures than ours have put down as rules and tendencies do affect most of us in the same way and arguably in the old ways as described by the old astrologers.

 

The phases that can guide through the month are like a person’s life, like the weather cycle, like any project that begins and ends, and any season or process has a beginning and end, or you might say it seems this time to have no visible beginning or end, that it is part of a bigger cycle.  As such it will come up again to be dealt with again, and so like the seasons we can wait if things are going too fast, we can let things pass, and just like the weather we can decide to be affected by it or not.  We do have that choice.  Rain can be nuggets of gold to a farmer, a real curse to a housewife who wants to hang up washing, it can mean something else to a tourist who wants to go sightseeing, or it can just be water falling that will soon stop.  We drink it, we bathe in it, we swim and play in it but if we are going to a ball we just don’t like it getting on our clothes.  Yet we don’t even mind that if we are swimming.  There must be as many reactions to rain as there are people.

 

The parallel is that in the cycles of life we can decide to be affected more or less or not.  And so it’s quite a useful exercise to look at the moon over a month, the phases, and imagine the metaphor for how they act as a kind of emotional map for any stage of our own life.  The ancient teaching, astrologically, was that the phase you were born under is the most comfortable one for you and the one that best describes your personality.  For instance I happen to be a 1st Q moon baby, and that interpretation would apply to among other things someone always on the go, questioning mind, argumentative and demanding, a builder.  Well, maybe - when I was a child my Meccano construction set was virtually my only toy.  Even today I like more than anything else to find and make new connections.

 

It is said that whatever phase you were born under was your first view of your new world.  There are 4 common phases and 4 more that are smaller divisions, making 8 in all.  Look up the date you were born in a calendar and find out what phase the moon was in.  Then look below at the old astrological descriptions of the phases. Some believe it, some don't. For what it is worth I list them here. You may wish to see if it matches who you are. Not for one moment am I saying they hold true, but if the cap fits you may wish to wear it.

 

 

New moon: meant new beginnings.

Characteristics: childlike wonder, excitement about life, spontaneity, openness , demonstrative, bright, bubbly, enthusiasm, at best when generating new ideas and fresh projects, your month starts calm, good time to plant, eager to work fast and furious, the moon is actually traveling the fastest during new moon.

Best time for you: most productive during early years, very clever child.

Negatives: can burn out too quickly, see life subjectively, can peak too young.

Moon time: moon still coasting but soon to slow down and allow things to take root without being pushed and pulled by other forces, rains that have built up will fall and empty out, good clean out, it is like a baby born and after all the being heaved around by other forces for now is just resting temporarily.

 

1st Cres Moon: meant the clarification of new focus.

Characteristics: joyous curiosity, adventurous, creative, torn between convention and breaking new ground,

Best time for you: 20s and 30s especially productive.

Moon time: At this time the brakes take effect on moon’s speed, if it has been raining or blowing the weather will noticeably clear, think of a small squirrel poking its head out of a hole to see if the coast is clear, it’s like falling in love, or the time you first bring home the new baby, and all that new hope and excitement and joyous change to the household.

 

1st Q Moon: meant to act, get moving.

Characteristics: positive, strong willed, physical, mental, expressive, always on the go, questioning mind, argumentative and demanding, a builder, problem solver, improver,

Best time for you: 30s and 40s more productive.

Negatives: as moon slows even more you can visualise that suppressed parts of its personality can start to speedup, there isn’t a strong monitoring influence, we can sometimes get out on a limb and lose balance, can do something that seemed right at the time and then live to regret it and have to go into recovery and damage control.

Moon time: At this time the Moon in the sky is where the earth was 3.5hrs ago, so in a sense the driver is lagging behind and strange energies are taking over, and this is like a young child trying to take first awkward steps and a lot of well-intentioned stumbling.

 

Gibbous Moon: receive support, nurture.

Characteristics: Calming, caring, constructive, help others, improve world, missions.

Best time for you: middle age

Projects begin to gain life of their own, find own two feet, stand alone unaided, like a baby taking first steps, best time to plant seeds because they will receive support and nurturing,

 

Full Moon: represented high energy, power time.

Characteristics: bring things to fruition, marries logic with intuition

Negatives: may have guilt and irrational fears, need to express and take control of own feelings.

Best time for you: early 50s

Moon time: moon slowest, it’s at a standstill, there’s a sense that things have arrived, like you’re sitting astride a big horse and wondering what it’s going to do next, things are imminent, you must take control, the growth has taken over and can go to seed quickly unless guided, it’s like a child coming into an awareness of him/herself and really thriving, bouncy, happy, full of life and living, kids you never see because they’re running around exploring the countryside, the six year old with frogs in his pocket or the ponytailed madam giving her very own fashion show to all and sundry complete with music, fruit picked at this time, a glowing of the coming to fruition, being in the prime.

 

Disseminating Moon: indicated fruition, manifestation.

Characteristics: ‘scattering seeds’, communicator and teacher, ideals, want to reform world.

Negatives: this is kids getting a bit serious and losing that lovely spontaneity and toning down their colours now.

Best time for you: early 50s

Moon time: now the moon is starting to gather speed, a sense of waking up to the fact that things are moving, changing, there’s work to be done, an awareness of change needs to be spread to others, sort of Johnny Appleseed mentality.

 

3rd (or Last) Q Moon: meant letting go, release.

Characteristics: Understanding, sympathy, maturity, poise, counselling, advisory, help others to marshalling thoughts, organise your life.

Negatives: inflexibility, nostalgia and melancholy, need to put aside past and concentrate on future.

Best time for you: Later 50s

Moon time: Moon continues speeding up and pulling energies toward it, and you start to feel electrical disturbances, there’s a sense of great magnetism and people may be drawn to you or you to them, either way this can sap you and you must have a letting go mechanism.  In last Q phase when you see the moon in the sky it is where earth will be in 3.5hrs time, so something big is leaping ahead, leading the way, like a beacon, kids will be looking for mentors, starting to follow or hang around people they want to learn things from, hopefully for your children it’ll be you and not their peer group.

 

Balsamic Moon: meant to look ahead, plan.

Characteristics: Transition, contemplation, tie up loose ends, meditative, intuitive, farsighted, wisdom patience and understanding, spiritual and intellectual rather than physical.

Best time for you: best years in later life

Moon time: Now the Moon has done its work, the acceleration eases off, there’s the feeling of enjoying the fruits of its or one’s labour, everything seems imbued with some sense of momentum, a sort of coasting with confidence, this is a kind of evening time, pleasant old age, contentment, the child is fully grown and is getting ready to have its own family.

 

 

And then we’re back to the New moon where small things may take root again and the cycle may repeat.  Not everyone feels the same way in that every time the full moon comes they feel guilty and every time it is new moon they feel creative, anymore than everyone reacts in the same way to a fine day or seeing a truck go past.  But I think everyone would have a semblance of this cycle and it might be on a different orbit to someone else, just like a menstrual cycle is.  The important thing is some would be more aware of this cycle within them than others, some would be more affected by it and some would respond more to particular parts of it each time the cycle came around. On the other hand a skepticism is healthy too, but we should bear in mind that things have popular fashions, and this astrological way of viewing life was the vogue for many thousands of years, and still is in eastern and indigenous cultures..

 

This cycle is mirrored in summer through to winter and back to summer again, where the spring would be the new moon - 1st Q and the winter would be full moon – last Q.  The autumn is just like a Balsamic moon, everything 'feels' a bit weary, a bit like we’ve done all we can and now it’s up to the gods, and there’s a sense that we may watch and see where something is going to take us.

 

There is a southern to northern declination cycle of the moon and a perigee to apogee cycle, which are different astrological ways the planets move around each other, coming closer and moving at angles relative to each other, and these three cycles interweave and come together making a good or bad spring, summer or winter.  These three make up the main moon cycles, a kind of holy trinity, and they also may be plotted as your internal mood swings, your inside weather and they may describe an event, the course of a day, or even the span of a special relationship.  Everything, even just a new day, begins in youthful joyous excitement and ends in weary decline.  What stage do you feel you are at and is it a preferred stage?  Can you change it?

 

This astrology was written down for those who would wish to use the guidelines of others.  Whether the moon is on the rise or on the wane it was supposed to dictate what we do for the best.  For example when it comes to deep skin cleansing, the best time to do this was said to be when the moon is on the wane, particularly when minor operations are required on lumps, pimples and the like.  Scars are supposed to almost never arise when the moon is on the wane.  You are supposed to care for the hair when the moon is in Leo.  Leo causes things to be hot, dry and still so hair was supposed to be more manageable in some way.  On a simpler basis, sell a house before a full moon - people are said to be more impulsive then and typically don't quite know what they are doing.  But don't buy one then because chances are you may be too impulsive.  Conversely buying a house after a full moon is better as you are likely to be more rational and level headed.  So if a decision is to be made, watch the moon, act or wait.  It has always been like that anyway, proving that after all the millennia of human development and sophistication of intellect along with the rise in civilization, perhaps there is really nothing new under the sun!

 

© Ken Ring

 


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