IN TUNE WITH THE MOON

As plotting goals and timetabling self-care around the moon’s movements is set to hit mainstream wellness in 2020, WH asks whether basking in its beam could be the new answer to self-development that sticks

Why lunar living is creeping into the mainstream

Giselle Boxer’s boyfriend knows better than to disturb her as she sits cross-legged in the spare room of the North London flat they share – after all, it’s a Wednesday night and the new moon is in Scorpio. While healing music plays, incense burns and candles flicker, the 27-year-old social media director journals what she’d like to achieve over the next four weeks as the moon completes its full cycle. Her big intention is to leave the corporate world and become selfemployed. She says it out loud – repeating the words for several minutes until they start to lose all meaning – to strengthen the intention’s potency. One 15-minute meditation later and her personalised moon ritual is complete.

If you’d suggested to Giselle 18 months ago that she’d be looking to the moon for life guidance, she’d have likely laughed in your face. But that was before she’d been diagnosed with Me/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), an incurable condition that causes her to suffer chronic low mood and exhaustion, and began desperately searching for alternative healing methods and advice. She quickly came across information online on lunar living and the former cynic who earns her crust in a corporate job is now an unabashed convert to structuring her life around the earth’s singular satellite.

Niche? Nowhere near as much as you’d think. Colleagues bemoan the full moon’s sleep-sabotaging nature as they would noisy thunder, mainstream publishing houses include moonology manuals within their health and fitness imprints, while Cartier recently relaunched a watch that not only tells the time, but updates owners on the current phase of the moon. #Fullmoon has been used more than 7 million times on Instagram; #newmoon over a million, and there are dedicated accounts, such as @themoon_ journal, which boasts over 350,000 followers.SPACE EMBRACE

One woman eyeing this evolution keenly is Kirsty Gallagher, author of Lunar Living: Working With The Magic Of The Moon Cycles (£14.99, Yellow Kite, out in April). ‘I think we’ve evolved to a place where this practice is more widespread than the image of hippies in moon circles, as sections of society become generally more conscious of spirituality,’ she tells Women’s Health. ‘People are realising that being disconnected from spirituality isn’t working, they’re seeking a different way to live and turning to the moon.’ Partly, she offers, because, unlike astrology (where an astrologer would create your birth chart, recording where the planets were at the exact time you were born to make predictions about your life trajectory), the moon is actually pretty simple. ‘The moon is bigger than us and, no matter what’s going on, it’s always waxing and waning, clearly in view,’ she adds. ‘You don’t need to know anything about where “your” planets are, and following the moon doesn’t even require you to have a significant amount of belief – you just need to look up at the sky. It’s a more simple and consistent pathway to spiritual wellness.’

While Gallagher’s frank about there being no exact science to lunar living, she explains the fundamental theory: ‘The moon’s gravitational pull is so strong that it pulls the oceans’ tides towards it,’ she says. ‘And when you consider that humans are made of approximately 60% water, that same gravitational pull of the moon can be felt on your inner world.’ The idea, she explains, is that the moon’s pull brings your inner emotions and dreams to the surface, forcing you to become aware of them. It sounds terribly unproductive, and yet… ‘Emotions are essential when it comes to self-improvement and achieving goals,’ she says. ‘Unless you acknowledge the doubts and fears that might hold you back – and work on them – they’ll always hinder you from achieving your dreams.’

Underpinning devotees’ thinking is the idea that, since they see the lunar cycle as linked to emotions, tying feelings-based ambitions around its movements imbues them with larger-than-life potency. So, the new moon (when it’s hardly even

‘People are seeking a different way to live and turning to the moon’

a sliver) is for setting intentions and manifesting what you want, and the next two weeks, while it grows bigger (waxing), are for taking steps to put these goals into action. The full moon? That’s when it’s time to surrender anything that’s holding you back, including things you need to forgive yourself for. Spend the next two weeks, while the moon gets smaller (waning), clearing out emotional junk in order to be clear-minded enough to set authentic intentions again at the new moon.

SKY-HIGH SUCCESS

For Yasmin Boland, author of Moonology: Working With The Magic Of Lunar Cycles, lunar living functions as self-care. ‘It’s a chance to check in with yourself at least twice a month,’ she says. Indeed, remove the mystical stuff and lunar-led manifesting resembles work done in therapy or spelled out in selfhelp books. Echoes of straight-down-the-line selfimprovement make clinical psychologist Janice Hiller believe doubters shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss lunar living. ‘In my practice, I work with scientific, evidence-based therapy, but if working with the moon helps people organise their thinking and work on self-development, then it’s worthwhile,’ she tells WH. ‘Anything that helps you to be more reflective and proactive in motivating yourself to achieve your goal is positive.’

Although, Hiller caveats this with a precaution that the moon isn’t a magical entity, nor can it deliver positives out of nothing. ‘That’s a false belief,’ she says, flatly. ‘People need to be wary of magical thinking [an inaccurate thought pattern, where individuals believe that their thoughts will directly produce a specific outcome], as it’s not healthy and it can be disempowering. If things are working out, it’s because of action an individual’s taken themselves – it’s not the power of the moon.’ Giselle, however, is entirely unconcerned that anyone might sniff at the legitimacy of lunar living. ‘As a spiritual person, I believe there are some things out there that are bigger than current science can prove,’ she says. ‘When

I was diagnosed with ME/CFS, all I got from medical experts was negativity. I was told there was no cure and my condition wouldn’t improve. It’s only through seeking alternative ways to improve my condition that I’ve begun to feel in control of my life again.’

POWER PLAY

As with any goal-setting, your moon intention requires reinforcement. Boland believes that visualisation and repetition are key. ‘Imagine your goal has already come true and focus on how you feel,’ she suggests. ‘I get clients to repeat their new moon wish aloud as a positive affirmation for a minimum of 17 seconds, too, so they really feel it in their body.’ Boland suggests involving a clear quartz crystal to strengthen new moon manifestations, while Gallagher prefers a paredback approach. ‘Overcomplicating your moon rituals with crystals and so on risks putting unnecessary barriers between you and setting those intentions,’ she says. ‘All you need is the moon, so keep it simple.’ Quartz or no quartz, the most important thing is to keep your ritual consistent, as Hiller explains: ‘Doing the same thing, in the same way, at the same time each month helps you achieve a goal because it centres on the power of belief and positive thinking. These thought patterns trigger energising brain chemicals that help focus your mind on your objective.’

UP, UP AND AWAY

As the full moon moves into Taurus, Giselle updates WH on the progress of her new moon intention. Top-line: she’s not self-employed yet – but she’s feeling positive. ‘I don’t expect to get there overnight,’ she explains – adding that lunar living is helping her become more mindful, more attuned to the small victories. ‘I’ve been developing partnerships with brands on my Instagram account @chronic_fatigue_ and_me, which is a step towards following my passions and becoming self-employed. Things like this show me that my life is moving in the right direction.’ What’s more, following the cycles of the moon is helping her look upon her body’s own peaks and troughs with increased compassion. ‘The moon grows smaller and retreats, and sometimes I do, too,’ she adds. ‘I’m understanding that it’s okay to have low-energy weeks and down days, because soon I’ll be feeling highenergy again. Lunar living has taught me – more effectively than any self-help book or tough-love conversation with a friend – that change is constant. I don’t think I’ll ever stop.’

See Kirsty Gallagher at WH Live – 3-5 April. Go to page 25 for details and to find out how to book your tickets.

Remove the mystical stuff and lunar-led manifesting resembles work done in therapy