I'd have certainly failed if I had been your student. Huge windows, woodpeckers, leaves and an early moon rising or late moon lingering would have been too much distraction for me. Your voice, soothing as it is, would have been the killer stroke. I would never even remember what you might have said or taught. Unless you switched to teaching literature. Can you imagine?
As to citations, I prefer them over hot links. I never click on a link because I want to finish the article, and if I open in a different tab, by time I get to them, I've forgotten what I wanted to see. But, as a paying subscriber, if you put the citations and notes in the audio version, that is good enough for me. I both read and listen to your Substack.
I have heard it helps to gaze at the moon often (even through a window)—and especially when it is full—if a woman wants to regulate her menses. Whether this works or not, it's a lovely ritual and certainly puts us in touch with the natural lunar cycle.
I absolutely adored this post. I personally walk the edge between mystical and cynical/skeptical/scientific. Living with and understanding the rhythms of nature is where the natural and mystical overlap for me, and the examples given here illustrate why. Your concept of “literally false, metaphorically true” is brilliant - although sometimes I wonder if somehow it loops back around to literally true, insofar as all of the natural world has developed and evolved together in one material plane - and we’ve certainly not plumbed the depths of how interconnected everything might be.
Also, I know some women who (claim to) have intentionally synced their menstruation cycle with the moon. Apparently, according to them, if you get plenty of sunlight in the day, and then restrict/allow light into your bedroom at night while sleeping in a way that mimics the moon’s cycle, over time your period will align to the moon - with ovulation occurring at the full moon and menses at the new moon. I’ve been too lazy to try it, and so I remain skeptical - but now I feel inspired to conduct an N of 1 experiment and see what happens!
A few years ago I moved to a small desert valley surrounded by towering red sandstone cliffs. I built a small house of straw bales, small enough that no matter where you are you can see outside. I like to joke that living with these cliffs has turned me into a druid. I know exactly where the sun rises and sets (in early afternoon) at the winter solstice, and at the summer solstice. I celebrate when the sun starts moving north. It's easy to notice what seasons the sun is moving more quickly, or when it slows to a crawl before changing direction.
Best of all, the climate is mild enough so most of the year one can sit outside and admire the full moon and later in the month admire the Milky Way, thanks to our clear dark skies.
I have grown up near the sea all of my life, and our moon's influence on the tidal cycle and the ocean life within the intertidal zones of the sea always fascinated me and led me to a career as a marine biologist and teacher of marine biology. That's what the moon has done for me. :)
I personally believe that all beings are synchronized with the moon in ways we don’t fully understand. If the moon causes the tides, why couldn’t it impact the growth of crops? In a perhaps similarly superstitious way, I’ve heard some hairdressers say your hair grows faster if cut on the full moon. My own cycles have been aligned with the moon for years now. This took moving to New Mexico and having daily exposure to the moonlight, which is intense and clear here with less light and exhaust pollution. Now, I always know what phase of the moon we’re in and can’t imagine being disconnected from it- it’s such a slow, poetic and beautiful marker of time.
I quite like the hotlinks cause I can jump into them and read them quickly, or book mark it for later. A citation is a bit more cumbersome only cause of the fact that I usually read these during lunch break with limited amount of time while also coordinating other things
Maybe it is upstream of myth and/or hormones, i.e. lunar gravimetrics and/or magneto-sensitive cryptochromes. Some interesting research about lunar cycle effects on mood disorders and physiology:
Unfortunately most of both articles is paywalled, though one of the authors sent me full copies of both, which indicate that dark/light cycles can be manipulated to overcome the postulated
but apparent though less potent lunar gravimetric effects on the vestibule of the ear (or even quite speculatively: "Alternatively, cycles in the moon’s gravimetric force might be detected through the moon’s effects on the Earth’s magnetic field as it passes through the tail of the magnetosphere on the side of the Earth opposite to the sun, and through its interference with the solar wind as it passes between the sun and the Earth. Changes in the geomagnetic field, and their putative effects on the circadian pacemaker might be mediated by cryptochromes, which are magneto-sensitive molecular components of the transcription/translation feedback loops that generate circadian rhythms in humans." !! The partial author, a friend, characterized all this as some of his "more eccentric" research, to which I replied that that is often the best, and these days often riskiest, kind.
Love this idea. I have spent many of my formative years, which at 70 years still seem to be still *forming* and one of the reasons I have found my way here, floating on the sea and riding waves. The influence of the tides on the nuanced context of the swell size, direction, bottom configuration, sometimes even wind direction, and perhaps even my own emotional state(?) was always something the more invested surfers absolutely took stock of. I have often wondered that if in fact the sun in combination with the moon could raise the sea on average twice a day what was it doing to the subtle control function of my own body, being that on average my mass is 60% water? A silly idea perhaps but when most of my mass is supported at my lowest most surface, what is going on in the larger sea that is me? As far as my overall athletic performance I have always been one to have good days, less good days, bad days and once in a great while in the moment be here now magic days. Those are the ones I still live for.
I'm so glad you have a Sub stack Dr. Heying. I've been listening to you and Dr. Weinstein on the Dark Horse podcast since you happened to come up in my You Tube list during the insane summer of 2020.
You both have given me, and many other people, the courage to say what I think and perhaps more important the feeling that I'm not crazy for having serious questions about how our society is working. I've even been able to share some parts of these podcasts with my 13 year old son, which has made it possible to talk about things that I don't know if I would have known quite how to bring up otherwise. Thank you for all of your hard work and reminding us that we can and should do our best to listen to our better angels.
There are significant risks to planting all crops at the same time, too. A killer frost could wipe out everything; whereas with a more staggered planting season, some crops will be mature enough to survive and others will yet to be planted. Same with late-season weather events: if everyone waits too long to harvest, the whole crop could be destroyed by a disease or hail storm. We can make up stories to fit any narrative, which is the ever-present danger with evolutionary "explanations."
It's true that we can make up stories to fit just about any observation, but evolutionary *hypotheses* lead to predictions, which are testable and falsifiable. If it's not testable, it's not a scientific claim.
Well, yes, of course. I guess what I'm asking for is what would constitute the test of your hypothesis that the full-moon harvesting and planting is functional because of predator satiation. The theory that nature favours diversity, because diversity improves robustness, has even broader applicability and is plausible as well. It's a nice theory; it fits a narrative; but that's not sufficient to constitute science.
I'd have certainly failed if I had been your student. Huge windows, woodpeckers, leaves and an early moon rising or late moon lingering would have been too much distraction for me. Your voice, soothing as it is, would have been the killer stroke. I would never even remember what you might have said or taught. Unless you switched to teaching literature. Can you imagine?
As to citations, I prefer them over hot links. I never click on a link because I want to finish the article, and if I open in a different tab, by time I get to them, I've forgotten what I wanted to see. But, as a paying subscriber, if you put the citations and notes in the audio version, that is good enough for me. I both read and listen to your Substack.
I have heard it helps to gaze at the moon often (even through a window)—and especially when it is full—if a woman wants to regulate her menses. Whether this works or not, it's a lovely ritual and certainly puts us in touch with the natural lunar cycle.
Always enjoy the way you make me rethink ideas I had about the world.
I absolutely adored this post. I personally walk the edge between mystical and cynical/skeptical/scientific. Living with and understanding the rhythms of nature is where the natural and mystical overlap for me, and the examples given here illustrate why. Your concept of “literally false, metaphorically true” is brilliant - although sometimes I wonder if somehow it loops back around to literally true, insofar as all of the natural world has developed and evolved together in one material plane - and we’ve certainly not plumbed the depths of how interconnected everything might be.
Also, I know some women who (claim to) have intentionally synced their menstruation cycle with the moon. Apparently, according to them, if you get plenty of sunlight in the day, and then restrict/allow light into your bedroom at night while sleeping in a way that mimics the moon’s cycle, over time your period will align to the moon - with ovulation occurring at the full moon and menses at the new moon. I’ve been too lazy to try it, and so I remain skeptical - but now I feel inspired to conduct an N of 1 experiment and see what happens!
A few years ago I moved to a small desert valley surrounded by towering red sandstone cliffs. I built a small house of straw bales, small enough that no matter where you are you can see outside. I like to joke that living with these cliffs has turned me into a druid. I know exactly where the sun rises and sets (in early afternoon) at the winter solstice, and at the summer solstice. I celebrate when the sun starts moving north. It's easy to notice what seasons the sun is moving more quickly, or when it slows to a crawl before changing direction.
Best of all, the climate is mild enough so most of the year one can sit outside and admire the full moon and later in the month admire the Milky Way, thanks to our clear dark skies.
I have grown up near the sea all of my life, and our moon's influence on the tidal cycle and the ocean life within the intertidal zones of the sea always fascinated me and led me to a career as a marine biologist and teacher of marine biology. That's what the moon has done for me. :)
I personally believe that all beings are synchronized with the moon in ways we don’t fully understand. If the moon causes the tides, why couldn’t it impact the growth of crops? In a perhaps similarly superstitious way, I’ve heard some hairdressers say your hair grows faster if cut on the full moon. My own cycles have been aligned with the moon for years now. This took moving to New Mexico and having daily exposure to the moonlight, which is intense and clear here with less light and exhaust pollution. Now, I always know what phase of the moon we’re in and can’t imagine being disconnected from it- it’s such a slow, poetic and beautiful marker of time.
Awww your writing is good “food for the soul,” in very unsettling times. Thank you Heather!
I also much appreciate the audio versions, so depending on my day I can cook or do other tasks while I listen to your words.
I quite like the hotlinks cause I can jump into them and read them quickly, or book mark it for later. A citation is a bit more cumbersome only cause of the fact that I usually read these during lunch break with limited amount of time while also coordinating other things
Beautiful & always fascinating subject!
Maybe it is upstream of myth and/or hormones, i.e. lunar gravimetrics and/or magneto-sensitive cryptochromes. Some interesting research about lunar cycle effects on mood disorders and physiology:
Synchrony of sleep-wake cycles with lunar tidal cycles in a rapid-cycling bipolar patient https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bdi.12644
https://journals.lww.com/practicalpsychiatry/Abstract/2019/11000/Synchrony_Between_Bipolar_Mood_Cycles_and_Lunar.9.aspx
Unfortunately most of both articles is paywalled, though one of the authors sent me full copies of both, which indicate that dark/light cycles can be manipulated to overcome the postulated
but apparent though less potent lunar gravimetric effects on the vestibule of the ear (or even quite speculatively: "Alternatively, cycles in the moon’s gravimetric force might be detected through the moon’s effects on the Earth’s magnetic field as it passes through the tail of the magnetosphere on the side of the Earth opposite to the sun, and through its interference with the solar wind as it passes between the sun and the Earth. Changes in the geomagnetic field, and their putative effects on the circadian pacemaker might be mediated by cryptochromes, which are magneto-sensitive molecular components of the transcription/translation feedback loops that generate circadian rhythms in humans." !! The partial author, a friend, characterized all this as some of his "more eccentric" research, to which I replied that that is often the best, and these days often riskiest, kind.
Love this idea. I have spent many of my formative years, which at 70 years still seem to be still *forming* and one of the reasons I have found my way here, floating on the sea and riding waves. The influence of the tides on the nuanced context of the swell size, direction, bottom configuration, sometimes even wind direction, and perhaps even my own emotional state(?) was always something the more invested surfers absolutely took stock of. I have often wondered that if in fact the sun in combination with the moon could raise the sea on average twice a day what was it doing to the subtle control function of my own body, being that on average my mass is 60% water? A silly idea perhaps but when most of my mass is supported at my lowest most surface, what is going on in the larger sea that is me? As far as my overall athletic performance I have always been one to have good days, less good days, bad days and once in a great while in the moment be here now magic days. Those are the ones I still live for.
I'm so glad you have a Sub stack Dr. Heying. I've been listening to you and Dr. Weinstein on the Dark Horse podcast since you happened to come up in my You Tube list during the insane summer of 2020.
You both have given me, and many other people, the courage to say what I think and perhaps more important the feeling that I'm not crazy for having serious questions about how our society is working. I've even been able to share some parts of these podcasts with my 13 year old son, which has made it possible to talk about things that I don't know if I would have known quite how to bring up otherwise. Thank you for all of your hard work and reminding us that we can and should do our best to listen to our better angels.
There are significant risks to planting all crops at the same time, too. A killer frost could wipe out everything; whereas with a more staggered planting season, some crops will be mature enough to survive and others will yet to be planted. Same with late-season weather events: if everyone waits too long to harvest, the whole crop could be destroyed by a disease or hail storm. We can make up stories to fit any narrative, which is the ever-present danger with evolutionary "explanations."
It's true that we can make up stories to fit just about any observation, but evolutionary *hypotheses* lead to predictions, which are testable and falsifiable. If it's not testable, it's not a scientific claim.
Well, yes, of course. I guess what I'm asking for is what would constitute the test of your hypothesis that the full-moon harvesting and planting is functional because of predator satiation. The theory that nature favours diversity, because diversity improves robustness, has even broader applicability and is plausible as well. It's a nice theory; it fits a narrative; but that's not sufficient to constitute science.