🌕 Full Moon Rising: The Emotional Pull of Lunar Cycles

By Cheryl O’Connor · 10 June 2025

A Moment with the Strawberry Moon

On June 11, the full moon will rise over Australia — known in the Northern Hemisphere as the Strawberry Moon, named not for its colour, but for the ripening of fruit that traditionally occurs at this time.

While the name may not reflect our Southern seasons, the energy of this moon still speaks. It carries a frequency of ripening, readiness, and sweet release — a time when what’s been quietly growing beneath the surface reaches its moment of fullness.

Astrologically, this full moon rises in Sagittarius — the seeker, the truth-teller, the horizon-walker. It invites us to look honestly at what’s come to completion, what beliefs or burdens are ready to be shed, and where our deeper alignment is calling us next.

This isn’t a moon for force or striving.
It’s a moon for tuning in.
For honouring what is quietly asking to be released.

What truth is ripening in you?
What’s ready to fall from the branch, and nourish something new?

This full moon, I’ll be tending the fire of stillness. Dream-listening. Letting the symbols speak.

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The Moon, the Body, and the Emotional Landscape

Have you ever noticed your emotions rising to the surface, your sleep thinning, or your dreams becoming more vivid as the full moon draws near?

You’re not alone.

The moon governs the tides. And just as the ocean swells under her pull, so too, many of us feel subtle — or not-so-subtle — waves rising within. Our emotional waters stir. Our subconscious speaks more loudly. Our nervous systems become more sensitive.

Across cultures, the moon has long been associated with the Divine Feminine — intuitive, cyclical, nurturing. In some Indigenous traditions, a woman’s menstrual cycle was known as her “moon time,” often syncing with the full moon. During this phase, women would retreat to Moon Lodges to rest, to dream, and to replenish — a space of reverence, not retreat.

Today, many of us have lost that rhythm. We’re encouraged to override our cycles — to push through, to stay productive, to disconnect from the body’s quiet wisdom.

Yet the body, like the Earth, keeps time. And the moon still speaks.

“There is a tide in the affairs of men…”
Shakespeare wrote — and perhaps he was more literal than we’ve realised.

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Science Catches Up with the Moon

Modern studies are beginning to validate what ancient cultures always knew.

A 2021 study in Science Advances found that people — even in urban settings — tend to fall asleep later and sleep less in the days leading up to the full moon, suggesting our circadian rhythms are still sensitive to lunar light and gravitational cycles (Casiraghi et al., 2021).

And in Frontiers in Endocrinology, researchers observed that menstrual cycles longer than 27 days may occasionally sync with lunar phases — particularly in women under 35 and in those less exposed to artificial light at night (Helfrich-Förster et al., 2021).

This may explain why, even in our hyper-lit, hyper-busy modern lives, so many of us feel the tug of the moon. It’s not superstition. It’s biological. Emotional. Rhythmic. Real.

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A Gentle Invitation

If your sleep has been strange…
If your dreams have been louder…
If your heart feels like it’s carrying more than usual…

You’re not broken. You’re in rhythm.

This full moon, I’m choosing rest over resistance. Listening over logic. Letting the wave move through.
If something has been stirring in your sleep or spirit, I’d love to hear what’s rising for you, too.

– Cheryl O’Connor
Author | Artist | Holistic Counsellor | Social Worker
Exploring where structure meets soul — through law, healing, and symbolic art.

🔍 References

Casiraghi, L., Spiousas, I., Dunster, G. P., McGlothlen, K., Fernandez-Duque, E., Valeggia, C., & de la Iglesia, H. O. (2021). Moonstruck sleep: Synchronization of human sleep with the moon cycle under natural conditions. Science Advances, 7(5), eabe1358. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe1358

Helfrich-Förster, C., Monecke, S., Spiousas, I., Hovestadt, T., Mitesser, O., & Wehr, T. A. (2021). Women temporarily synchronize their menstrual cycles with the luminance and gravimetric cycles of the Moon. Science Advances, 7(5), eabe1358. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe1358

Note: These two studies were published under the same issue and DOI grouping in Science Advances due to their related chronobiological focus.

© Cheryl O’Connor, 2025. All rights reserved.
Please do not reproduce without permission. Sharing with credit and a link is welcome.

#FullMoon #StrawberryMoon #Dreaming #LunarEnergy #DivineFeminine #Symbolism #MoonWisdom #MoonCycles #ConsciousLiving #Cheoco