Moon Phases

[Horizon]

Hello everyone. I have been giving this a fair bit of thought lately and to me it makes sense. I know as prob do lots of you guys do about planting seeds and harvesting my plants in tune with the phases of the moon. But what I have been wondering is, is there also maybe a cycle connected to the moon with using my plants. Like is is best to use some kinds of plants and will they work better during certain phases of the moon, and visa versa. Cant wait to hear from anyone

[Horizon]

Hello everyone. I have been giving this a fair bit of thought lately and to me it makes sense. I know as prob do lots of you guys do about planting seeds and harvesting my plants in tune with the phases of the moon. But what I have been wondering is, is there also maybe a cycle connected to the moon with using my plants. Like is is best to use some kinds of plants and will they work better during certain phases of the moon, and visa versa. Cant wait to hear from anyone

Am I even on the right track?????? has anybody heard about planting and gardening during certain phases of the moon?

[shruman]

Ive heard of cannabis growers planting and harvesting on full moons, but other than this nothing & I dont see why it would realy make a difference.

[Hagakure]

i saw a bit of one of those dime a dozen trendy cooking shows with surfer chefs.

the show wasnt that flash but they visited some vineyard that only does certain things according to the moon cycles cause they thought it correlated with goodies in the soill etc.

they didnt go into it in much detail.

does water in the soil move like the water in the ocean due to the gravitational pull of the moon?

[XipeTotec]

popular psilocybe (and related species) literature points to native use during the new moon. This may be more ritual than potency related though.

[XipeTotec]

Am I even on the right track?????? has anybody heard about planting and gardening during certain phases of the moon?

A moon planting calendar is released each year

[puck]

If you look into bio-dynamics, I believe there is an emphasis on lunar phases there.

But the main point of any lunar emphasis is always going to be ritual. This doesn't mean it won't affect the experience, of course (quite the opposite). After looking into esablished traditions, remember it's always most important to follow your gut on these things. If you don't feel any significance, there's no point inventing it. If you do feel it (and it sounds like you do) then go with it. No one's going to tell you how it is for you, but you might read something that resonates.

I'd suggest that using anything at any lunar phase is going to be valuable, but the character of the trip may be affected somewhat. It might just add an extra dimension to the experience - if only by your own expectations, but more likely by synergy with them and the larger ritual sphere. Do you feel any relationship to the phases of the Moon now?

For example, I was reading about phases on a website once, and there they called the Last Quarter the 'Quarter of Transformation'. Nothing special about that until I watched the sunrise one morning, and there was the cresent Moon heralding the dawn, an arc of white in the aqua-pink sky above the rising Sun. I can tell you, if I wanted to focus a trip on the experience of change, I'd be doing it in the Last Quarter.

[liftyourskinnyfists]

Planting by the phases of the moon is actually quite common. Though it's not practiced as widely as say 50 years ago, many farmers in the US still do it and I imagine that it’s practiced some in Oz. In fact, the farmers almanac, which is widely read, is an annual publication that predicts seasonal characteristics (hot, cold, drought, wet), uses astrology to help form its predictions.

Biodynamic Agriculture is a horse of a different color. Both use the phases of the moon, but BA is more involved. I admit that I've never read any Rudolf Steiner but from what I've heard it's very complex, confusing, and intriguing all at once. I took a permaculture course a few years ago and I remember our teacher, Scott Pittman, saying that he didn't understand how or why it worked, but only that it did work. He had read Steiner, but when it came down to implementing it in his projects, he always hired someone who had a better understanding of it.

What we see of the moon is actually reflected light from the sun, so it's conceivable that planting during times of greater moonlight might give your plants a bit of a boost.

http://www.garudabd.org/Agriccourse/contents.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture

http://www.biodynamics.com/

[Ace]

Ive heard of cannabis growers planting and harvesting on full moons, but other than this nothing & I dont see why it would realy make a difference.

There is no doubt that Lunar planting/harvesting etc has been practiced for millenia - I'm sure it would have originated around the time that argriculture first came to be, some many thousands of years ago.

Regarding the pot growing by moonlight (perticularly full moons) - this could very well be similar to moonshine, in the way that its all done at night time to avoid suspicious onlookers. That, or a very medieval approach to gardening

I really dont think there is any real need to bother with Lunar/astral planting/harvesting - it all seems pretty far fetched to me. But then again, a lot of people swear by it...

[Jesus On Peyote]

Iv heard someware that the moon thing can with germination of the seeds due to extra gravitational pull or somthing,no idea if its tru tho

[komodo]

moon phases are a subtle effect. people have parties at the full moon because these are times of greater activity in the local biosphere, which means a higher energy vibration in the local area. its not obvious, but is measurable -- check out hospital emergency department admissions or talk to a police and you can get data.

something as subtle as the early life of a seed could easily be affected by the local activity boost, or dearth, driven by the moon cycle.

[Hagakure]

been some discussion on those matters here

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...mp;hl=full+moon

[puck]

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/phase/phases2001.html

[ThunderIdeal]

heh, i just made a reasonably large post about this topic here http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry163845 where i talked about the genius/silliness that is bio-dynamics. that nasa resource would be a handy way to use the moon without having to purchase or use a BD calender.

[Vertmorpheus]

Puts down my book on handrearing organic angora goats long enough to put Sebastian and Felicity in the Volvo,put on two grands worth of tibetan silver and handmade felt clothes, and runs over Thunder repeatedly on the way to Kindermusic for daring to take the name of Saint Rudolph in vane

Some Steiner stuff makes good sense... most of the good sense bits are things taht will occur to anyone with good sense anyway... and BD has worked wonders in some farming areas (whodathunk it, stop raping your soil to adepth of 6 feet and work OM and microorgs back into the topsoil... wow!) but ya right, a lot of it is faith based fluff and its adherents tend towards being closeminded about being openminded... watch tv and youre going to hell, feed your kid a bigmac and you're setting em up for failure in life. All thin people are prone to depression and bla bla... some of the brightest and nicest ppl I know did the steiner school thing... on the other hand, I know 30 year olds that can barely write their own name but can speak in fluent sanskrit, cant convert degrees F to C but can quote most of the epic of gilgamesh, thanks again to doc steiner. These are people that feign getting all lfeeble and intoxicated off a piece of chocolate (I know theyre faking as theyre fine when they think ya not watching, wankers) but will then eat two entire blocks of carob choc with more sugar and overall shit than the original option, etc. Where I used to live in Samford, Q, is absolutely lousey with these posers, and they give the "genuine" steiner parents and practitioners a very bad name locally indeed. In between feeds of spirulina and soymilk, that is.

It has made a lovely market boom for anything with a vaguely teutonic name aimed at kids or families though! Whod take the brats to learning thru music when Kindermusik sounds SO much more advanced Fuckin superhippies

if you want a lunar table, go to www.ga.gov.au , thats the aussie dept of geoscience (NASA are lovely, but they have this habit of blowing people up and raining burning crap all over the planet)... you can enter your location anywhere on earth and it can calculate full planetary, solar and lunar data, handy stuff! Also have other great things like an earthquake monitor and a lightning strike monitor. Planet data can give u every last bit of info from apogee and azimuth times, rise and set, time of transit, three kinds of twilight...handy stuff esp for anyone growing photoperiod sensitive crops ;)

I don't go over the top, lunar wise, but i do tend to feed and water leading up to full moons and try and chop sappy stuff when its at its dryest. This theory is used a lot in forestry around the world even now, with some nations taking "dry" low moon wood as its a lot ..well...drier, and others take it when its fulla water as they believe it ups the density and hardness etc. Purely a matter of tidal hydraulics etc, bugger all to do with what goddess is devouring what god and bla bla... but thems purty thoughts for those that want em! Either way, I find things taken just as the moon drops into sleep, harvest wise, dry a lot quicker and less tendency to rot etc than those cut at the opposite end of the spectrum.

People say a lot of things about the moon, some of them are even true. But a lot of it is strictly hearsay, with the EMD's from Afcom in Brisbane reporting zero increase in "nutter related calls" around full moons,and on call paramedic I know very well reports zero incraese and frequently a decrease of generall calls, etc... though there are some nutters that tend to crop up more at that time than any other, theyre more likely to be those that have read somewhere that the full moon is for crazies, so they tap into it. Likewise any medical workers asked about this have personally disagreed with the common notion that "people go nuts at full moons"... but ask someone who has asked someone who asked someone, and youll get a different answer indeed. Have a think about that before you mail me some abuse for calling your uncle a bullshit artist, or something...I'm sure he's lovely, just repeats things that aren't really true. A quick look at magistrates court records also don't show an odd grouping of offence dates around full moon periods, I have personally never had a harder than usual time getting in to see a doctor around that time, and the handful of genuinely slightly cracked people I know, whilst they dig a nice full moon, certainly don't "peak" their cycles in time with it.

Check out - http://skepdic.com/fullmoon.html

Having said that theres a lady in Brissie that calls Afcom EVERY full moon to say that her vagina is disappearing, shrinking, talking to her, won't stop bleeding, etc. but theres plenty of people that don't

Dr Karl reckons there is more gravitational pull being exerted by a single doctor at 2m from you then you will ever personally feel from the moon... but then with shirts like his you can say what you like I spose.

VM

[ThunderIdeal]

heheh nice stab at the steiner disciples and good link too. obviously some of steiners ideas simply reflect organic farming, but at the same time it can be said to work on the homeopathic principle that an amount to small to have an effect still works because it influences the vibrations or whatever?? basically they don't spread enough 500 formula on their land to have the effect which they claim it has. maybe 500 really does have some very nifty organisms in it? in any case most of their other formulas sound like pure snake oil to me, i just can't shrug the notion and being a vego i don't want to play around in any goat stomach or whatever.

i know the principles of good composting and it requires enough thought and labour without their CRAZY notions (i can't seem to hold my tongue lol), particularly how many whirlpools and reverse whirlpools you have to make to mix up one formula.

regarding crazies, i don't have much of an opinion. the full moon is bright. sometimes i have trouble looking at anything else. i know somebody who was required to visit, i think, a nursing home or similar, and the staff claimed they administered extra drugs for the full moon, to keep the peace?

[Sparkster]

My old flatmate was from Hamburg were alot of his friends went to the Waldorf School there, was very popular as it encouraged free thinking & increasing perspective e.t.c...

I think when it comes to philosophy (especially myticism / esoteric) group education is to be avoided where possible, when Philosophical schools of thoughts are based upon someone whose been as prolific an author as Steiner,OSHO,Gurdjieff.... you'd want to source the books first for understanding, rather than have someone preaching to you from the same book you have at home. (as charming as incence and sitting on pursian rug can be)

If you're dealing with something more "Theurgic" in nature, fair enough though.

[ThunderIdeal]

after looking that word up, i don't really disagree.

[Vertmorpheus]

Incidentally the geoscience australia site will give you apogee and perigee data, more important when calculating tidal cycles etc than what "phase" it happens to be in... a basketball has much the same effect on its surroundings whether it is fully lit, or half in the shade.

People can educate their kids anywaythey choose, as long as its not "harmful" by reasonable standards and its done for positive rather than detractive motivations... don't get me wrong on that one. Just seems theres an awful lot of thought police and pocket nazis among the rank n file (sometimes more rank, than file) of the "freethinking" people out there. Bummer really... We can all get used to arseholes being arseholes but when people seem groovy enough til you mention that once in a while you use roundup, or believe that once in a while a more-sound-than-sting smack on the bum isn't an entirely terrible thing, or think that you can leave a child in a room with a TV for an hour without them being set on the road to becoming accountants and mass murderers, kinda makes me wonder what long term hope there is of people ever basically leaving each other the fuck alone.

Live how you see fit, and expect the same of others,

VM

[XipeTotec]

Dr Karl reckons there is more gravitational pull being exerted by a single doctor at 2m from you then you will ever personally feel from the moon... but then with shirts like his you can say what you like I spose.

VM

dr. karl doesnt really know much.... he is just a know all, whom actually, cannot answer anything when people ring him up on the radio (and apparently is not even smart enough to use an internet connection to find out the answers on the spot). Unless ofcourse, your talking about dr. karl from neighbours, he probally does know shit.

Edited January 3, 2008 by XipeTotec

[XipeTotec]

People can educate their kids anywaythey choose, as long as its not "harmful" by reasonable standards and its done for positive rather than detractive motivations...

you mean like that guy from the bouncer documentary, who told his young son that, "hurting people is good"?

[Vertmorpheus]

Yep thats the bloke! That guy should be director of health n phys ed , or something... they reckon kids these days are undermotivated and dont get outdoors enough... he'd soon have em running around in packs nutting nanas and glassing people... anything to get kids out of the house has to be good!

It might've been both doctor karls, from their spoken word LP entitled "we are die karlsbad"... praised for its rootsy industrial backbeats but much derided for its actual content, mainly on the basis of a 15 minute monologue delivered my Dr.Karl Kennedy on the topic of hiding out your physically abusive sons on jobsites in Queensland.

see, Xipe pays attention. why can't the rest of you?

VM

Edited January 3, 2008 by Vertmorpheus

[komodo]

my sister and cousin are both doctors who worked in emergency wards for some time and had told me about increases in admissions on full moon nights, but i followed up on your scepticism VM, browsing some research papers from different countries, and it does seem fairly conclusive there is no major statistical spike of full moon related medical 'drama'. however i suspect even something as simple as more lumens, and more drug fueled doofs, might increase the activity on the night, and subsequent risk of carnage/psychosis. will ask around more when i get the chance to.

interestingly, amongst the research concluding the moon phase does not increase crisis, i did come across two odd conditions that may have moon related triggers...

In a prospective study, we included 447 consecutive patients with gastrointestinal haemorrhage admitted to our bleeding unit during a period of two years. The number of admissions was allocated to the corresponding day of the lunar cycle, and full moon and non-full moon days were compared. A wide variation in the number of admissions throughout the lunar cycle was observed. There were 26 admissions on the 25 days of full moon and 421 admissions in the remaining 713 days of non-full moon. This difference was mainly related to a higher incidence of haemorrhage in men and variceal haemorrhage at full moon. The results of this study suggest an increase in the number of admissions related to gastrointestinal haemorrhage in our bleeding unit during the full moon, especially in men and in patients experiencing variceal haemorrhage.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/1...journalCode=ijn

To investigate a possible relationship between seizure frequency and the lunar cycle, we reviewed the occurrence of seizures recorded in our epilepsy monitoring unit over a 3-year period. Analysis of the total number of seizures (epileptic plus nonepileptic) showed no significant association. A separate analysis revealed that for nonepileptic seizures, there was an increase at the full moon, and for epileptic seizures, an increase in the last quarter. We conclude that there is no “full moon” effect on seizures as a whole, although there is a possible effect on nonepileptic seizures.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=A...b7a226e15fe0b8b

[komodo]

..getting off topic i know but still, here's some more oddness to check out:

Chanchall Bhattacharjee and colleagues at the Bradford Royal Infirmary in Bradford, England, reviewed 1,621 patients admitted to the infirmary's emergency room between 1997 and 1999 for animal bites and found that the chances of being bitten were twice as high on or around full-moon days.

But Simon Chapman at the University of Sydney in Australia compared dates of admission for dog bites to public hospitals in Australia with dates of the full moon over a 12-month period and found no positive relation between the full moon and dog bites.

In fact, Chapman found that full-moon days were associated with slightly lower admissions—4.6 compared with 4.8 per day. Of the 18 days with more than 10 admissions, the maximum peak centered on the New Year holiday. Full moons coincided with none of the peaks.

Chapman, who said the study was a "one-off curiosity driven exercise," has no idea why the full moon appears to cause animals in England to bite more humans but has no bearing on when dogs in Australia bite.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...21218_moon.html

[Vertmorpheus]

haha yeah thats it, there's plenty of things that we all just know are true, til we actually stop and take a good long look at em.

If BS in general did increase over FM's then coppers, doctors, ambos, all of em would be put on extra shifts or have extra staff added once a month to take up the slack, but it doesn't happen, and if they all "knew it was true" then they'd be saying as such.

All I can really think of is that with higher light levels it simply means that you have a harder time going to sleep, and all it takes is one glimpse to remind u its full and you get the whole mental package of "full moon-crazy-magic" and whammo, now you're standing at the window wondering why your tooth/leg/whatever is still hurting... so you make a trip to hospital where the night before youd have probably takena n extra blue pill and gone off to sleep. And docs on their way to work would see the big disc hanging over town and think "full moon crazy magic" themselves and so be on the lookout even at an underlying level for anything that "backs it up".

Bit like when you havent heard a word before then you hear it twenty times the next week.. merely noticing that something is happening, doesn't mean it is happening any more often than it was when you weren't paying attention. Like paying attn to the radio playing certain songs... more likely when you feel really up or down or right or wrong... just jumping in the car to go get some bread on a fairly neutral day doesn't seem to bring it on quite as nicely

The articles that were posted about bleeding out and epilepsy etc were interesting.. there might be some link in terms of tidal flow vs hydraulic ability, etc... I don't water tomatos with fruits on em for a few days before full moons as they tend to split a lot more readily than doing it at the slack time of the cycle. I don't know much about epilepsy so can't comment, but if the fluids in the head and body start shifting where they usually dont it might fuck with concentrations of salts etc causing an electrical crisis.Maybe. Talking out of my arse, really. (helluva party trick, that).

still, it is a stunning sight to behold and it's something that just about anyone regardless of culture, BG, faith, education etc will stop and be in awe of for a moment at least.. nature is a good leveller.

I'd be more worried about the long lasting effects of prime time tv stocked with little but child molestors and rapists has on people that are already juuuust a lil wobbly...hey, did yez know Holly Valance ex neighbours and tryhard singer has been a corpse on CSI no less tha nthree times? Always nice to see aussies make something of themselves, haha. Bout time other countries worked out that she has almost supernatural talent for lifelessness.

VM