The new full moon has healing powers – use them or, if it helps, howl at it

Our ancestors understood the importance of lunar cycles for planting and harvesting crops. In these difficult times, perhaps we should pay it more attention, suggests Christine Manby

Illustration by Tom Ford

As you read this, life in the United Kingdom may look very different to what we’re used to but if there’s one thing I’m sure we’ll all be able to do no matter what transpires over the coming weeks, it’s open a window and howl at the moon. There’s a full moon in Libra coming on 8 April. Start warming up those vocal chords now.

For most of us, the moon is just a thing in the sky that occasionally catches the eye when it’s particularly big and beautiful. But our ancestors knew that the moon was more than just a decorative feature. They understood how to work with the moon, using its cycles to predict the best time to plant and the best time to harvest their crops. It wasn’t just superstition. The moon circles the Earth as the Earth circles the sun. The moon doesn’t emit any light itself but at times of the month when the earth isn’t blocking the sun’s rays, the moon reflects that light with astonishing efficacy.

The moon also influences the Earth’s gravitational field. When the sun and moon are both in line with the Earth, at the times we call the “new” and the “full” moon (at the new moon, the Earth is between the two, casting the shadow that makes the moon look like a crescent), the gravitational influence is greatest. This causes the highest tides of each month. But it’s not just the oceans that are affected. The gravitational pull of the moon works on much smaller bodies of water too, bringing moisture trapped deep in the earth closer to the surface, for example.

At the new moon, and in the days immediately afterwards, that extra moisture encourages seed burst, making it a good time to plant leafy vegetables that have most of their growth above ground, like lettuce and spinach and herbs. Leaf growth is encouraged by the light of the waxing moon. The full moon has a different energy, heralding as it does the beginning of a phase of attenuating or waning night light. It’s a time for harvest. It’s also a good time for planting root crops, like onions, carrots and radishes.

But it’s not just your garden or window box that might benefit from your playing closer attention to moon cycles. We may not take much time to look at the moon in our modern lives (or sometimes even be able to see it thanks to urban light pollution) but the moon hasn’t forgotten about us. Yoga teacher, meditation teacher and “soul alignment and transformation coach” Kirsty Gallagher thinks it’s time for us to reconnect with the “magic of the moon cycles”.

It was during a yoga teacher training course in India that Gallagher first became aware of what she calls the “profound effects of the moon”. Traditionally, yoga isn’t practised at the time of the new or full moons – moon days, as they are called. Instead, Gallagher writes: “Moon days were for self-care, self-reflection and deep inner work… These twice monthly check-ins showed me areas in my life that needed work or attention, what was coming to the surface for me and, most of all, the power I had over the direction of my own life.”

Seriously, what else are you doing at the moment? Why not give it a whirl? You could even take a ‘moon bath’

Gallagher subsequently set up an online community of women interested in using lunar knowledge in their everyday life. In her new book, Lunar Living (Yellow Kite, £14.99), Gallagher expands on the idea of using moon days for self-care, by exploring how by combining moon cycles with astrology, you can use the year’s moon days to focus on specific issues in your life. For example, a Libra full moon, such as we’ll see in a couple of days, calls us to “remain true to you, not giving away too much to your own detriment and practising self-care”. In these tricky times, that probably means not giving away your second-to-last toilet roll.

Gallagher also suggests that you use the Libra full moon to “take stock of the relationships in your life”. If you’ve been in self-isolation with your partner for the past few weeks, then you’ve probably had time to take quite an accurate inventory of your relationship’s pluses and minuses. To harness the Libra moon’s power in that regard, Gallagher writes you should “speak your truth” and “do the inner healing of relationship wounds, triggers or outdated beliefs”.

It might be hard to imagine risking “speaking your truth” when you’re on lock down and you can’t just pack a bag, jump on the tube and head for the airport if that truth isn’t well received, but maybe that’s a good thing. If you have to stay and own that pesky truth once you’ve blurted it out, maybe, just maybe, you and your loved one (or irritating flat mate) will finally have to talk things through in a way that leads to useful, lasting change.

The full moon in Libra will be followed by a new moon in Taurus on 23 April. New moons in Taurus are all about assessing where we are in life. Here’s hoping we’re not all still hiding in our bedrooms but if that is the case, Gallagher suggests a digital detox. Turn off all communication with the outside world “so that you can travel inwards”. Not quite so much fun as travelling to Ibiza but it’s something.

Gallagher has several ideas for making the most of any moon day. If you’ve got crystals about the house, you can “cleanse” them beneath the light of a full moon and then use them to amplify your good intentions when you’re making plans for life post-Covid 19. At a new moon, you might write yourself a few affirmations, that you can repeat three times a day until they stick. Seriously, what else are you doing at the moment? Why not give it a whirl? You could even take a “moon bath”, surrounding the tub with candles and crystals and using the last of the Sanex handwash for bubbles. Gallagher says: “Ask the waters to cleanse away anything that no longer serves you and to wash away any fears.”

If your beloved other / irritating flatmate / children are hogging the actual bath in the name of their own self-care, you can just stand outside and feel the moon’s energy cascading down, filling you with “wisdom, light, guidance and power”. Then turn your face towards the moon and howl… Actually, Gallagher didn’t suggest that, though I do think a good howl is underrated as far as self-care rituals go.

Whether you believe that the full moon has healing power or just use it as an excuse for lolling in the bath, the moon reminds us of the eternal nature of the universe. No matter what trials we’re dealing with now, the moon sails serenely on through the spring sky. And it will still be there to smile down on us as we meander home from the pub again at the end of happier nights ahead.