Body, Heart & Spirit — the Healing Power of the Moon

moonchild

Connie Hernandez, ND

Poets, mystics, and astrologers have long recognized the moon’s power to influence our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Farmers, fishermen, and ocean-going explorers have always been aware of the moon’s control over the tides and agricultural planting cycles.

It’s no coincidence that crime rates rise at the time of the full moon, reflecting the moon’s powerful effects on our emotions.

Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND
Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND

Primitive cultures – not surprisingly – have been more sensitively attuned to these lunar effects. And, starting roughly fifty years ago in the U.S., the Women’s Health Movement began to bring this ancient lore to the conscious awareness of modern women.

I remember how, in the early 1970ss, we passed around well-worn copies of Our Bodies, Ourselves, published by the Boston Women’s Health Cooperative.

I also remember how many women’s gatherings sprang up, centered on learning about self-care, and the body’s inner workings and natural rhythms.

Women began studying and meditating on the moon’s symbolic, emotional, spiritual, and physical meaning. We learned countless interesting facts about how the moon’s passage through the sky affects our bodies.

We were fascinated to learn about the extremely unusual effects of the moon – for example, how female Macaque monkeys ovulate together at the full moon, and how they menstruate together at the new moon.

Louise Lacey’s Lunaception A Feminine Odyssey into Fertility and Conception informed us that the moon’s cycle stimulates the pineal gland deep in our brains, affecting the secretion of melatonin, an important sleep-related hormone that also regulates our ovulatory cycles.

In spiritual teachings, the pineal gland is widely associated with a subtle center of intuition in the brain, and considered a counterpart to the pituitary gland, the subtle seat of the mind.

The conjoining of solar and lunar energies in these glands is said to aid in opening the third eye, just behind the forehead, at the point between the eyebrows.

11048715_10208086026814953_7947402579189629114_nParamhansa Yogananda said that the third eye is the “broadcasting station” where we can talk with God, and that the center of subtle energy in the spine at the level of the heart is where we can hear God’s answers.

By calm meditative concentration at the spiritual eye and heart centers, we can experience the presence of divinity in our lives as a radiant, spreading joy. Talk about well-being!

Melatonin, the hormone secreted by the pineal gland in synchrony with the lunar and solar cycles, is now considered to be not just a promoter of sleep, but fundamental to an optimal aging process, and integral in the control of reproductive cancers, as well as an anti-inflammatory aid.

The city lights that never dim may interfere with the health-giving effects of these solar and lunar cycles. Living and working under artificial lighting may affect the normal functioning of the pineal gland, resulting in disturbed energy, sleep, and immunity.

In a previous article, I suggested the wisdom of “moon bathing.” It’s a most enjoyable practice. Simply walk barefoot on grass while absorbing the pale rays of the moon. I think you’ll enjoy the healing effects on your spirit, body, and mind.

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Find out more about Dr. Connie’s work HERE.