The last ‘Blood Moon’ for three years made an appearance last November – and some women were really excited.
What is a blood moon?
Also known as a total lunar eclipse, the rare sight makes the moon turn an ominous red-orange colour, lit up by the Earth’s sunsets and sunrises.
This one was only visible in North America just before dawn, while in Asia, Australia and the rest of the Pacific, people were able to see it just after sunset.
South America was only able to see part of the phenomenon, if the weather is clear, while sadly it wasn’t be visible at all in Africa, the Middle East and most of Europe.
It lasted nearly 90 minutes early on Tuesday morning – although the exact timing depended on your timezone – when the Earth will be directly between the moon and the sun. Everyone was able to see it simultaneously.
It was the second total lunar eclipse this year, after one in May, with the next one not expected until March 2025, according to NASA.
So, why were some women excited?
While it is certainly an exciting astronomical event, some women leant on their witchy side to draw a parallel between their own periods and the moon – especially as the lunar object is so often compared to femininity.
Of course, it might help that this all happened just a week after Halloween...
Nevertheless, people were excitedly tweeting about this connection in the run-up to the big event.
Is there any credibility in this claim?
A lot of history has drawn a connection between between the moon’s 29.5 day-rhythm and the average month-long menstrual cycle, but there’s rarely a proven link.
The period monitoring app Clue found no connection, after analysing more than 7.5 million cycles.
And, as the podcast 28ish Days Later explained, scientific studies mostly have pretty mixed results about whether or not there’s any credibility to the myth between the womb and moon.
It’s also worth pointing out that the moon actually has three different lunar cycles during its journey around the Earth, which are not in sync, only confusing the parallel further.
However, the podcast did point out that there are animals on the Earth which do sync their reproductive cycles to the moon, including corals in the Great Barrier Reef.
So while there may not be a proven connection between the human womb and the lunar satellite just yet, it has definitely become a symbol of femininity.
The cultural relationship between the moon and fertility also goes back many centuries, with the words “menstruation” and “menses” even coming from the Latin word for “month” (mensis) and the Greek word for moon (mene).
28ish Days Later explores the concept of “moon bathing”, where women swim under the light of a full moon to feel more connected to nature.
Host India Rakusen summarised it well at the end of the podcast episode, explaining: “I looked up at the bright face of the huge, ancient, powerful moon, and felt there was no better symbol for the intricacies of our cycle.”