Many ancient cultures honored a woman’s menstrual cycle with rituals and ceremonies intended to link their bodies with nature. It is long believed, and researched, that the female body resonates with the waxing and waning of the moon – some even ovulate at the full moon and bleed with the new moon. Not every woman is in tune with this cycle anymore and some natural health practitioners are helping their clients find balance with irregular cycles by mimicking the phases of the moon.

Regulating Your Cycle

Imitating the moon at your mid-cycle can influence when you ovulate and help to regulate your menstrual cycle. Try using a nightlight or other soft light for the three to four days around your mid-cycle, typically days 13-16 of a 26 to 32 day cycle. The light will mimic moonlight and affect the hormones produced by the brain during this time of your cycle. If your bedroom window has good exposure to the full moon try sleeping with your curtains open to benefit from the moon herself.

Your Lunar Fertile Time

In the 1950s Dr. Eugene Jonas, a Czech psychiatrist, gynecologist and astrologer unveiled his theory of the moon’s effects on a woman’s cycle specific to conception. A Roman Catholic, Dr. Jonas was most concerned about the recent legalization of abortion in nearby Hungary and saw many of his own patients falling pregnant using the Rhythm Method to avoid pregnancy. His interest was piqued when he stumbled upon an ancient Babylonian-Assyrian text stating “Woman is only fertile during a certain phase of the moon.” Combining his astrology background with research on thousands of women’s charts led him to his theory – that the phase of the moon at the time of birth is the fertile time of that woman’s cycle when she is grown. This theory has been called the Lunar Fertile Cycle, the Moon Phase Method and the Jonas Method. For those trying to conceive having sex on not only the typical “fertile” period of the cycle is recommended but also during this secondary lunar period, even if it falls on the bleeding part of your cycle. Anyone avoiding a pregnancy, or specific sex of a child, would want to use a form of contraception or avoid intercourse for both fertile windows of the cycle.

Influencing the Sex of the Baby

In Traditional Chinese Medicine the first half a woman’s menstrual cycle, what we call the Follicular Phase here in the West, is considered primarily Yin qi. You’ve no doubt heard of Yin and Yang – the two opposing forces in Chinese philosophy that make up the harmony of everything in nature. Yin is the more inward, deeper, colder and feminine energy, which is associated with the bleeding portion of the cycle and just prior to ovulation. Yang is the dominant force in the ovulation portion of the cycle and through what is known as the Luteal Phase of the cycle. This force is more masculine and governs movement and heat.

Since our bodies mimic the moon phases during our cycles you can see how the New Moon reflects a similar, inward and dark feeling as the bleeding part of menstruation does. Then with the full moon the creativity shines through to ovulation – the ovary ripe with an egg ready to be released looks like a full moon.

Dr. Jonas’ theory also included the sex of the baby. The moon’s phases and Yin and Yang change every couple of days or so. Dr. Jonas believed that if a woman conceived during a Yin time of the moon that she would conceive a girl, and if during a Yang time of the moon, a boy.

Determining Your Lunar Fertile Cycle

Many websites will compile your chart for a fee or you can ask your astrologer to compile your lunar cycle. They will need your date of birth and exact time of birth (it won’t work if you don’t know your birth time), and the time zone you were born in.