It’s 53 years since man took his first step on the moon on July 20, 1969. And since 1971, the date has been commemorated as National Moon Landing Day. Mans' curiosity to travel to the Moon is showing no sign of letting up. So it's little wonder that Luna also intrigued our ancestors — but there's little doubt, it's impact and affect was well known by our forefathers.
Perhaps peeps unaware of Luna's multiple influences won't be so quick to dismiss Moon affects after reading NASA's recent announcement relating to the regular wobble in the Moon's orbit. 'The combination of the Moon's gravitational pull, rising sea levels, and climate change will continue to exacerbate coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world would have on tides in about 15 years' time.' It’s time to scratch the surface and learn how the celestial satellite of the night sky shapes the world we live in.
☽⃝ Moon Phases
Let’s start with Phases. Luna’s craters are virtually visible with the naked eye from Earth - but we always see the same face of the moon - with the far side of the moon invisible from Earth. The phases of the moon are many, but normally broken into eight increments. On the day of the Moon landing, Luna appeared in a Waxing Crescent Phase to viewers from Earth. It’s the first Phase after the New Moon and ideal to see the features of the moon's surface.
Phases occur because we see different amounts of Luna’s sunlit face, as she orbits Earth. The Earth’s gravitational pull slows the moon’s rotation so that it’s exactly synchronized with it’s orbit. The dark side of the moon, also known as the New Moon, happens when Luna is in total shadow. Then as the lunar lady orbits the Earth, the crescent moon shows her face and waxes from crescent to gibbous to Full Moon. At its brightest, Sol illuminates Luna’s fullest face to us Earthlings - note ‘moon beams’ are in fact ‘reflections’ on the moon - luna has no light to beam. As the Lunar lady continues to orbit, the moon phases wane from Waning Gibbous to Last Quarter to Waning Crescent and back to New Noon phase. Moon phases take 29.5days while the moon orbits earth in 27.5 days.
In summary as the moon orbits the Earth, its position relative to the Earth and Sun changes. When the Earth sits between the Moon and Sun, folks on Earth see a full moon at night. While a new moon occurs when the moon sits between the Sun and the Earth. New moons occur during the day - so we can't see them because of the sun's brightness.
YOU SEE 'D' - I SEE 'C'
No matter where you're domicile Luna is currently (July 20, 2022) in a waning crescent phase, on her way to vanishing, ready to reappear as New. But from my patch of paradise down here, in the Southern Hemisphere in Goat Month, Luna's last quarter face illuminates to reveal a ‘D’ ☽ shape as she D-ecreases and D-isappears on 28 July 2022. When I first moved to Australia from Europe, this phenomena was rather discombobulating. I was familiar with seeing the waxing phase as a 'C' ☾ shape. When I initially shared this experience, I was surprised how few Luna loving souls actually knew of this little known phenomena (even among some professional Astrologers).
So depending on which hemisphere you reside in, Luna’s face is lit up from a different angle. For anyone relocating Hemispheres this can initially be perturbing as most moon phase illustrations are drawn from a N. Hemisphere perspective. An easy way to know which phase we’re in is to use the mnemonic C - O - D for S.H viewers and its D - O - C for N.H viewers.
Calendar Systems - Lunar and Solar
Moon has always been instrumental in influencing calendar makers since time immemorial with Mayan astrological architecture using lunar orientations. Even today’s Universal calendar (Gregorian) calculating Easter, as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon (lunar) occurring on or after the vernal equinox (solar influence). Moon even lends its name in part to ‘Monday’, derived from Middle English Monenday, originally a translation of Latin, meaning ‘day of the Moon’. In addition to being cognate with month and moon.
Prior to the Republic of China adopting the Universal calendar system in January 1912 - but, it wasn’t formally decreed until January 1929 - the Chinese culture used many different calendar cycles. Changing planetary movement creates energy patterns, which to the Chinese repeat in a 60year cycle. Both a solar and lunar calendar are combined and called the soli-lunar (Hsia) - more commonly known as the Farmer’s Almanac or Tong Shu - and it’s common place in China. Lunisolar Calendars combine lunar months (luni) and also measure the sun’s position (solar) on the celestial eclipse. Hsia calenders are in use today; mainly written in Chinese, and a highly referenced bible of sorts for serious Feng Shui practitioners and the keen agricultural almanac users.
In ancient times, only the ruling Emperor produced calendars and lunar calendar measured months and years according to lunar cycles while phases of the moon determined public festivals. Such as the Chinese New Year, marked by the second new moon after the Winter Solstice. A lunar year can have 12 or 13 months, the latter happens to ensure the Winter Solstice occurs in the 11th lunar month.
When your vantage point on the Earth is tilted toward the sun, it denotes Spring and Summer seasons, and when your hemisphere is tilted away from the sun it’s Autumn and Winter. This is what differentiates seasons - the Earth's axis tilt on the ecliptic. Which in turn the Tong Shu applies to define 24 increments of seasonal nodes or more commonly known as the 24 Solar terms. Read about the current seasonal solar term here.
MOON PLANTING
Luna’s influence isn’t just confined to calendars and astrology, it also plays a role in gardening. But if you think Moon planting is gardening at midnight, then think again. It refers to Luna’s phases and astrological pairings to influence the successful growth outcome of plants. We know Luna is devoid of air or liquid water, which therefore means no weather, with an average temp. of minus 18degrees, yet it still affects weather lore in various indirect ways. As noted above, Luna effects the ebb and flow of ocean tides which in turn influences the atmosphere and effects weather. When the moon is full or indeed new, it creates a "bulge" in the ocean, which is why we have tides. According to Sciencing, ‘tides affect the movement of ocean currents, which affect the weather through the amount of warming or cooling water moving through a given area. . . . . . water temperature combines with wind strength and direction to define the duration and strength of weather events like the El Niño.’
Tidal forces also affect solid land, albeit less than they affect water, so Luna affects the height of the land. And the moons gravitational pull influences the moisture in the soil - it’s at its strongest pull when Luna is in a Waxing phase and growing in reflective moonlight, from New to 2nd Quarter.
When Moon phases are paired with Zodiac signs a very specific gardening guide can be adhered to with predictable results. For example, it’s considered best to plant crops which produce produce above ground by a waxing Moon or below ground crops by a waning moon. Coupled with the astrological sign these dictate various tasks like when luna is transiting through the sign of Aries, seeds will be quick to germinate and go to seed. The zodiacal sign of Cancer is governed by the moon and a host of plants are also aligned with moon energies. The lunar ways of planting by the moon resulted in the trusty Farmer’s Almanac and the Chinese also have a version that combines Lunisolar terms called the Tong Shu (Chinese Almanac/ Farmer’s Almanac).
MOON GROOMING
Our bodies are also influenced by the Moon. Women menstruate according to Luna’s cycle length and everyone’s bodily fluids are also influenced. Some folk also use electional astrology for scheduling Medical procedures as - the phase and astrological sign union, influence certain surgeries, thus rendering unsuccessful outcome and best avoided or better for other procedures. Cutting, washing, colouring, perming, waxing and shaving one’s bodily hair also falls under the remit of Luna.
LUNAR Birthday
And finally, Luna offer us a chance to celebrate our birthday twice! In astro speak, our more common birthday is celebrated on your Solar Return - i.e. where the sun was positioned when you were born. But we also have a 'Lunar' birthday. Great news for folks that love extending their birthday's into week long festivals! So the chance for a double birthday opportunity - your Lunar and Solar Birthdays has gotta be worth knowing. Think of your Lunar birthday as a warm up as it generally falls before your Solar return birthday. Sign up to our newsletter and the first five people to do so, we'll let you know when the 'Festival of You' will commence - http://bit.ly/lunarbirthday.