Full Moon Madness

All my life, I had heard stories of full moon madness. I classified them along with folktales and legends which contain a measure of truth but cannot be taken literally. Does a full moon really affect the emotional state of people? I needed to be convinced. Never having experienced a reaction to a full moon myself, I found it difficult to imagine that other people might suffer emotional upheaval during any particular phase. My mother introduced me to German folktales in my early childhood, but she was careful to avoid those which would have frightened a child who was already exposed to far too much wartime violence. My favorite moon story was that of "The Man in the Moon (Der Mann im Mond)." The poor fellow tried to gather firewood in a forbidden area. He is forever condemned to carry his bundle of wood on his back and can be clearly seen in profile in the full moon. I love the full moon. Every time I see it, I am reminded of the poor man who was punished for trying to provide warmth for his family in cold tough times. I can identify with him. In the chaos of postwar Germany, we too had to scrounge whatever we could in order to survive. I clearly remember the time when a Russian occupation soldier pretended not to see the little girl who was stealing a bag of poppy seeds from a burnt warehouse. Maybe he had a hungry child at home somewhere in the Soviet Union. Seeing the man in the moon reminds me that there is no shame in stealing to survive.

Full Moon Madness

Almost half a century later, my aged mother-in-law had just been taken to a nursing home after a lengthy stay in the hospital. The experience was traumatic for her, because no one had prepared her for the move. She was simply shoved into an ambulance and driven to what she thought would be an open grave in a cemetery. Not even my husband and I were informed until after the move. To calm her troubled soul, we spent time with her every evening for several weeks. We got to know most of the residents of the home during our daily visits, and all of them were happy so see us. One evening, we noticed a marked change in the atmosphere of the home. My mother-in-law was as agitated as she had been the first evening there. The other seniors also were highly irritable. Nothing we did or said made any difference. The nurse on duty was rushing from room to room trying to calm down seniors who were noisy at a time when they would normally be asleep. She administered sedative injections to some of them. I asked her what had transpired during the day to cause such turmoil. Her reply: "Nothing. This happens every full moon."
The copyright of the article Full Moon Madness in Natural Health is owned by Traute Klein, biogardener. Permission to republish Full Moon Madness in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic