Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Moon Made Me Do It

The Moon Made Me Do It: "

Lunacy. Lunatic. The lunar effect. All through human history, the moon has been blamed for some amazing things. Everything from schizophrenia to werewolves; increases in crime rate and increases in emergency room visits. Even epilepsy has been blamed on the effects of the lunar cycle. While I’ve never personally tangled with a werewolf, I know many people believe there is some connection with the full moon and people acting a fool.


NASA Galileo image of the moon December 7,1992


There is something about the moon that draws us. Beautiful, mysterious, changeable; the object of poetry and passion. Sometimes it looks full and bloated; red and bloody; even every once in a while… blue. I can sympathize with our distant ancestors for being moonstruck. After all, our moon goes through some pretty interesting changes over the course of a year.


Diagram of Lunar Phases, donated to WikiPedia, Public Domain image


Some studies seem to suggest there is a connection between the cycles of the moon and human behavior, while more studies say there is no connection. Some surgeons won’t operate during a full moon because they say lunar cycles impact survival rates, and I’ve read more than one psychological study which claims that symptoms of various conditions respond to lunar cycles.


A Harvest Moon - WikiPedia free media


What’s really interesting about the moon is that the more we know about it, the more we recognize that it really does impact our lives. I’m not going to say that it impacts medical conditions, but it certainly has a lot to do with stabilizing the Earth’s wobble so we have a climate with which we can live. It may or may not impact criminal behavior, but it definitely has a whopping impact on our oceans. It even significantly effects the speed at which the Earth rotates.


The first map of the moon, by Johannes Hevelius, 1645


I think our moon is unbelievably beautiful, and I enjoy the rich cultural tradition with which it’s associated. Is the lunar effect real? I dunno, but for me, it doesn’t need to be.

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