For much of human history, the Moon has been woven into cultures, beliefs, and myths. The ancient Mayans worshipped Ixchel, a powerful goddess associated with the Moon, fertility, and childbirth, while Greek mythology gave the Moon several divine feminine incarnations, including Selene and Artemis. In Islam, the sighting of the new crescent determines the beginning of months in the Hijri calendar, including Ramadan and Shawwal, while lunar calendars have long helped mark the passage of time across East Asia.
Across the globe, the Moon has been a clock, a calendar, a spiritual symbol – a way of making sense of the world around us. It is perhaps unsurprising that we are now finding new ways to make sense of ourselves through it.
At Amanera on the Dominican Republic’s north coast, the Moon forms the basis of an entire spa program; four ‘Lunar Journeys’, each corresponding to the new, waxing, full, and waning Moons. The treatments draw on traditional Dominican healing practices and local ingredients, beginning with a foot ritual and Palo Santo smudging ceremony before moving into massages, herbal poultices, meditation, and reflexology.
“Wellbeing does not exist separately from nature,” explains Jonathan Ortiz Loyola, Amanera’s wellness specalist. “We are circadian beings: our bodies respond continuously to cycles of light and darkness, and emerging research suggests that aspects of human sleep and rest may also fluctuate across the lunar cycle.”
“Rather than treating every guest in the same way, we look at both the lunar phase and the individual in front of us,” continues Ortiz Loyola. “We begin with a consultation to understand how the guest is feeling physically and emotionally, what they may be carrying at that moment, and what they would like to achieve from the experience.” The lunar phase then becomes “a framework through which we personalize the intention of the treatment”.
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For some, this will sound like the ultimate wellness escape. For others, it’s enough to prompt a raised eyebrow. But in a world of endless notifications, artificial light, and ever-busier schedules, the lunar cycle offers a ready-made rhythm. For nutritionist Mays Al-Ali, rather than viewing the moon as a force that directly changes our physiology, she suggests treating it as a “behavioural cue.” In a culture where, she says, we are constantly overriding our own signals – working when exhausted, staying connected when we need solitude, and pushing through stress – a ritual can create a meaningful interruption.
That may explain the appeal of practices such as Moon bathing, lunar meditation, and journaling. Psychotherapist Cheryl Kennedy MacDonald recommends lunar journaling, meditation, yoga, and breathwork, arguing that “the Moon doesn’t actually have to be magically re-arranging your hormones” for a monthly ritual to be beneficial.
There is some evidence that the Moon can influence human behavior, although considerably less than the wellness industry might suggest. Sleep is probably the most intriguing area of research, with some studies reporting changes in sleep duration, quality, or melatonin around the full Moon, though these findings have struggled to be consistently replicated. Al-Ali argues that, before blaming a restless night on the Moon, we should look at more established influences such as evening light exposure, stress, caffeine, alcohol, temperature, and the sleep environment.
When it comes to hormones, mood, and the oft-repeated connection between lunar and menstrual cycles, the picture is similarly murky. Their comparable approximate length (29.5 days) has helped fuel centuries of association, but MacDonald says the evidence is not strong enough to suggest that the Moon controls women’s reproductive cycles. “Tracking should help women understand their bodies,” she says, “not give us yet another standard we’re supposed to meet.” Nor, she adds, does the evidence support the popular idea that a full Moon makes people more emotionally unstable or erratic.
And then there are the claims that are harder to defend. Amanera’s spa menu describes its waning-Moon treatment as encouraging the body’s ‘detoxification process’ and elimination of toxins, while its full-Moon journey promises “heightened psychic awareness” and the healing of emotional blocks. Al-Ali is clear about where she stands: “I would not tell someone that sitting under a full Moon is going to ‘detox’ their liver or reset their hormones, because we do not have good evidence for those claims.”
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That distinction needn’t drain lunar wellness of all its magic. As Al-Ali summarises it: “The Moon does not necessarily have to be doing something to us for the ritual to do something for us.” The Moon may not be detoxifying our bodies, balancing our hormones, or rearranging our energy fields. But if watching tonight’s total eclipse, taking a moonlit walk, or booking a full-Moon massage gives us a reason to step away from the noise and pay attention to ourselves, there may be something restorative happening after all.
