Does the Moon really Impact my Menstrual Cycle? Lunar Influence, Guidance & Intention

The moon is our reminder to turn inwards. In the very externally-focused world we live in, we are not as likely to turn inward unless reminder to do so. Lunar influence is allowing the phases of the moon to assist you in flowing through your life. It is listening and tuning into the larger external cycles that surround you, and using this insight internally in your healing journey.

The moon is an external influence on our emotions, cyclical nature, and patterns of creation. Harnessing the lunar cycle, whether in conjunction with your menstrual cycle or not, can help you build a sense of grounding within a state of constant flow in life. It can also help you manifest the things you want to work on and create. It’s balancing your internal energy with external anchors.

Our origins are of the earth and its moon. We are connected to the tides and energies of our home. Our bodies of 70% water match the Earth's body made of 70% water. This may be debated much by science, but I can’t help but feel it is clarified individually by our own choice & intuitive knowing of being connected to its influence. We are all a part of an interconnected web of energy that we can learn to tune in to.

Why track the moon alongside your cycle?

I remember a few years ago when I was feeling exhausted and saddened by the unpredictability of my menstrual cycle, the pain, my mood swings and all the rest. I felt a sense of guilt for not paying enough attention to myself and not having the answers, and a bit discouraged by my lack of ability to remember. Yet I would follow the moon’s cycle. One night I realized that the lengths were not so different, and I would bleed around the same moon phase each month. I felt a pulse of connection, a bit of love deep within me, for myself and the outer influences.

Of course the moon is easy to follow because it’s bright and in our line of sight, but our internal cycle and all its symptoms and patterns are only obvious (besides the bleeding and pain of course) if we pay attention closely, listen and notice the subtleties that influence each day of it all.

I realized that even though I hadn’t been tracking my menstrual cycle at the time and I didn’t feel consistent, that the moon helped me even when I was irregular or unsure. It was my anchor, my stable point of reference. I started to track with it in mind and create a space to compare all the symptoms and influences in one place. The year I bled alongside every full moon was the year I began creating Cycles Journal. 

I knew that even though I may never fully be able to predict every single thing, the least I could do is get to know my body better by tracking its patterns, and following how it lined up with the moon. Through this I could prepare for my cycle with what I knew, and continue to learn to ready my body and it’s signs. 

Tracking alongside the moon has helped me to :

• Follow my cycle’s patterns and changes

• Have a pinpoint of stability when my cycle is irregular

• Consider how external influences may affect me emotionally and energetically

• Plan my calendar alongside energy levels

• Feel more in tune with myself

• Feel more connected to nature’s signs and healing influence

• Prepare more & feel more prepared

• Think of my cycle and its phases as a ritual rather than a burden

• Empower myself

• Grow a desire to pay attention to my body and self & make connections

• Delve subconsciously

• Be in ritual with the moon’s phases and significance

• Set intentions & be in reflection with myself more often

We all experience lunar & menstrual phases differently, and I believe one can impact the other as they tend to be similar in length and our connection to subconscious empowerment. 

Tracking lunar influence alongside your menstrual cycle is not about alignment - it’s about synchronicity. To be in sync with the cycles does not mean your menstrual cycle has to line up with the new moon, it just means you are tuned in to whatever each phase’s alignment means for you. However you align is significant and valid.

When I bleed on the full moon, intensity fills and surrounds me. This may not be the case for all, but I need to prepare for this time. I need to give myself space and solitude and extra good meals and baths and all the love. These times are full often of sadness and heavy mood swings for myself, more so than when I bleed on other phases of the moon's cycle. Or sometimes it’s ecstatic joy, creative bursts and usually lack of sleep. 

When I know it’s coming I can prepare myself herbal remedies, take my vitamins, plan calmer activities, make space for this burst, inform my partner, etc. When I don't keep track and forget its coming, chaos often strikes due to my state of distress. Preventative actions go so much further than trying to stop the physical pain or emotional un-wellness once it's already happening.

Tracking all of this in one place has helped me to feel more in tune and connected to myself and the influences that surround me. I may not be able to fully avoid these symptoms, but I can find ways to work with them when I am aware.

Instead of blaming these symptoms and influences, or just feeling plain out of control and unstable, I can now feel more at peace and in ally-ship with myself and the cycles, learning that there are always patterns and that I am capable of harnessing the energy to flow with the tides in my life. 

Setting intentions alongside lunar influence / How do I manifest from working with lunar cycles?

One of my favorite ways to work the lunar cycle is to follow its phases in intention-setting. It’s an empowering process of focus, release and manifestation.

To manifest is to believe and focus energetically on something to an extent of shifting energy to help it align into your reality. It’s half magic, half the law of attraction. You can set an intention to manifest anything from money, to willpower, to opportunity, to a new state of mind. It always requires release in tandem, along with patience and faith. 

But it’s not just about thinking and hoping - it’s about fully embracing, embodying and taking legitimate steps and actions towards this intention while also working your magic. I didn’t fully believe in this power we all possess until I tried it and things started falling into place. It’s all mental power.

When the moon is full I try to find a way to look into it, meditate under it, and see what becomes illuminated by its wholeness. Here I can go within for the answers illuminated externally.

Whether you bleed or not, you can work with lunar influence to follow its cycle of manifestation and release, expansion and contraction. Working with the moon is just as powerful if you don’t have a uterus or aren’t experiencing menses currently or any longer. Our menstrual cycle is just another aligned layer.

There are many ways to work with the lunar cycle, but traditionally you set intentions on the new moon and work in patterns of release and focus throughout the cycle. In Cycles Journal, each new moon you are prompted to set intentions, determine what this cycle is about for you, and reflect on how you are feeling and which cycle phase you are in. Each quarter of the moon’s phase you will refer back to this spread and reflect.

Whether you are someone who likes rituals or not, I believe there is power in writing and reflecting. Journaling and intention-setting is ritual if you want it to be. 

Each intention spread has a space for you to write what phase of your menstrual cycle you’re in per moon phase, so that you can make connections from this information and patterns that may form over time if you consistently line up.

If you do not manifest within one moon cycle, that’s totally fine. Continue it along into the next moon cycle, or if it’s a large goal, break it down into smaller goals to manifest within each cycle.

What does each phase of the moon’s cycle mean?

It can mean anything you want it to, and however you feel about each phase is valid. Most commonly, the new moon represents renewal, a clean slate, an inward turn, and the full moon represents a peak of intensity, a mirror of revelation and a light shining to surface has been kept in the dark.

While there are many different systems and ways of looking at each phase, this is how I recommend working with and through the cycle, and how Cycles Journal prompts you to work with it all;

NEW MOON: RENEW, FOCUS & FEEL. tuning into your body, harnessing your manifesting potential. Internal work. ”What do you want to grow and create in your life right now?” 

WAXING CRESCENT: committing to a practice towards goals, taking steps forward.

FIRST QUARTER: REFLECT & OVERCOME. creating a sacred space for practice, releasing anything in the way. “How can I/am I making steps towards this growth?”

WAXING GIBBOUS: putting it to use, writing, doing, believing, being

FULL MOON: EMBRACING EXPANSION. Creatrix energy, intensity, climax. Harnessing power, giving gratitude, embracing growth.

WANING GIBBOUS: sitting with what has surfaced to understand

LAST QUARTER: CLEANSE & SURRENDER. Releasing anything else that has come up, honoring what else you need. “What does my body or mind need?”

WANING CRESCENT: reflecting on your discoveries/accomplishments. Cleansing, clearing, preparing for new.

Do you follow the moon? Do you notice significant patterns or tendencies during certain times of the lunar cycle? What do you want to discover about your link with lunar energy?