Moon Time; Lunaception and the Effects of Artificial LightingVictoria King

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

The purpose of this paper is to explain the process of moon time, or lunaception, and the effects of artificial lighting on the menstrual cycle. Moon time is a Native American concept, though it is not limited to Native American communities. The varying shades of lightness experienced from the moon helps trigger biological mechanisms that support menstrual cycles. Artificial light may be the source of a problem which finds that many women are no longer experiencing regular periods, in that it allows us to experience more light and different than that which is natural. Night masks can help remedy this issue, as well as sleeping in spaces without electronics and other sources of artificial light.

Contraception vs. Lunaception Problems with Artificial Lighting

Various Cultural Perceptions of Menstruation

Syncing Cycles with Moon Phases

Every culture has its collective perception regarding menstruation. Although sects following the religions of Abraham tended to see menstruation as a negative phenomenon in which women are being punished for the sins of Eve, Native American traditions tended to view menstruation, or moon time, as a powerful, positive thing. Women are even considered to have more oracle-like qualities about them during their moon times in certain Native communities. Women from a variety of cultural backgrounds have also been known to sync their natural blood cycles with the moon phases for a long time, including the pagan-considered ancestor traditions of the religions of Abraham. My primary focus in this paper is to explore the Native American perception of moon time and conceptions regarding how it works.

I have been testing the idea that women can sync their periods with the moon. A few months before being hired at a night job in the college library café, where plenty of artificial light would supposedly set me back, I began sitting outside during full moons. It was recommended to be as fully exposed as possible, and since it was winter time and because I have close neighbors, I did the best that was possible for the situation. For the next two months, I did this, and it did appear to work. I kept having an onset of menstruation every month from within a day prior to the day of each new moon. An interesting factor to note is that I have never had regular blood cycles prior to those couple of months. I would stay up late during the nights before this and my body would consume artificial light. Another interesting factor is that, after beginning the night job, my flow has resumed its normal, shifting, irregular pattern. It is possible that this is coincidental; however, ample documentation proving that women from almost, if not all, cultural backgrounds have been syncing their ovulation and menstrual patterns with the moon phases for millennia, leads me to believe that moon time is plausible.

Disadvantages of: Intra Uterine Device:

x Can cause bleeding and cramping for weeks after insertion.

x Can cause heavier periods.

x Uterus can be injured when IUD is put inside.

x Rarely, pelvic infections and infertility may occur after insertion.

Condoms:

Some people are allergic to latex.

Women using the patch are more likely to get dangerous blood clots in the legs and lungs.

Pill:

x The most popular form of birth control. As of 2008-2009, a survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics found that 28% of women under 50 who used contraception claimed to rely on the Pill.

x May delay return of normal cycles

x Must be taken daily

x Increases the risk of dying from a heart attack, having a stroke, and developing high blood pressure.

x Women who take these are more likely to develop blood clots in the deep veins; develop a symptom similar to diabetes; suffer from glucose intolerance; and contract gallbladder disease, breast cancer and liver cancer.

x Women who become pregnant while taking the pill risk having a child with birth defects.

Shot:

x Makes diabetes more likely if you have had gestational diabetes.

x Causes more irregular periods or spotting between periods.

x Causes bone mineral loss.

The Lakota tradition teaches that women bleed during the new moon: “when Grand-mother Moon covers her face, women go into a quiet, dark place and bleed,” (Cohen, 95).

Victoria Gay Tepley writes her experience with learning about moon time. She was given the vision of moon time while being guided by a raven to search for a heart stone and power stone, which she combined into one, calling it the “heart of power,” (Tepley, 7). She explained that the moon blood gives rise to a powerful web of energy, stating that she slipped into an alternate awareness, experiencing vivid dreams, full of lessons to learn..

In the late 1970s, Thomas Buckley explained the falsity of the perception of the tradi-tional notion that women were sent to isolation lodges because menstruating women were polluted, as propagated by earlier anthropologists. Buckley spoke of his interac-tion with a woman of the Yurok tradition who clarified his misunderstanding. She told him that her foster parents of non-Indian homes told her that menstruation was negative, while her grandmother and aunts explained it as positive. The reason that women should isolate themselves during moon time is because this is when a woman is at the “height of her powers” and time should not be spent on mundane tasks for this is a time of meditation of the mind and body. She explained that, during this time, “you should feel all of your body exactly as it is, and pay attention,” (Buckley, 49). The blood purified the woman.

Buckley wrote of the woman he spoke to from Lakota tradition told him that traditionally, all fertile women in one village had synchronized with one-another to bleed together. Furthermore, the moon was responsible for this synchronization “by sitting in the moonlight and talking to the moon, asking it to balance [her],” (Buckley, 49).

These ideas coincide with the notion of reproduction insurance as a funda-mental survival goal. Things have changed since then. Human reproduction is not such an issue for us to worry about any more, being that we have an overpopulation problem. That being said, a woman may choose to sync her menstrual flow with the full moon instead of the new moon nowadays in order to decrease the likelihood of conception. Upon the desire to con-ceive, a woman can plan to sync her body again with the new moon in order to reinstate the probability of fertilization.

According to research conducted during the past few decades, it is thought that the varying shades of lightness and darkness that women experience from the moon over the course of each cycle helps trigger our pineal glands, influencing the pineal gland to send melatonin through our bodies, which helps induce our periods, (Cohen, 94). Melatonin also works with the release of prolactin, which triggers female hormones. We can use this knowledge of what is known as lunaception to inhibit conception probability or induce it, depending on how we choose to harmo-nize our bodies with the phases of the moon. Lunaception is a term which broadly refers to the effect of the moon on reproduction, (Lacey).

Besides stress, artificial lighting seems to be the source of the problem causing women to no longer be in sync with the moon. With the onset of artificial lighting, our bodies experience more than what is a natural amount of light. Since we experience artificial lighting during the naturally dark hours, and since we are experiencing more light than what is natural, our bodies begin to lack the same reliable harmonization of menstruating with the new or full moon that it was once able to rely upon so easily. Supposedly this can have adverse effects such as increased suscepti-bility to breast cancer, lower melatonin and MAO secretions, and decreased fertility, to name a few adverse results of artificial lighting on the menstruation and ovulation cycle, (Cohen, 95). Lower melatonin and MAO secretions can lead to increased depression. To counter this problem, just make sure all sources of artificial light are diminished from sight. It should also be beneficial to invest in a night mask especially for those who live in the city, (Wood, 3).