Tomorrow is the full moon, depending on your ancestral tradition it is known as the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon or the Hay Moon. In all traditions, it’s gonna be big and round. But more pertinently, will this rising stone of Artemis effect your dreams?
Studies on this subject are hard to find, but almost everyone has an opinion. So I am asking my readers to chime in with their opinions, perspective and stories on this ancient question.
The expectancy effect is often to blame for the lack of scientific consensus about whether the full moon could cause our dreams to be more memorable, more bizarre, or even downright magical.
Of course, we can quickly turn that around to suggest that it is very easy for us to use the moon’s patterns to incubate and remember our dreams. The great night-light in the sky has a historic association with witchcraft festivities, which are of course watered-down mis-perceptions of ancient shamanic practices which include dream incubation, soul-travel, and animal transformation.
So anyways, what will you dream about tomorrow night?
Image thanks to David Haworth
It’s hard to say. It often seems like my dreams are being affected by the full moon, and then nothing happens the next month. There are so many confounding factors (quality of sleep, stress levels, etc.) that affect my dreams that I’d need to do a real controlled study.
But I like to think it does 🙂
well put, Wogglesplark! here’s the abstract of a recent study that sez “nahh.”
Dream recall and the full moon, by SCHREDL M, FULDA S, REINHARD I. Perceptual Motor Skills 2006;102(1):17-8.
Abstract:
There is ongoing debate on whether the full moon is associated with sleep and dreaming. The analysis of diaries kept by the participants (N = 196) over 28 to 111 nights showed no association of a full moon and dream recall. Psychological factors might explain why some persons associate a full moon with increased dream recall.
I think we need more data.
I agree. I don’t think the moon phase effects my dreams in anyway except psychological. It’s awesome and gorgeous, and I think about the times when the moon held much more significance than it does now. An it inspires me to think of dreaming, darkness, and reflected light. But my dreams aren’t signficantly different.
And when I worked at a mental health clinic people would always say “the crazies” came out with the full moon, but I think that’s a myth. Any research to support that?
Laura, check out this abstract:
The moon and madness reconsidered. Journal of Affect Disorder. 1999 Apr;53(1):99-106.
Belief that the full moon is associated with psychiatric disturbance persists despite 50 years research showing no association. This article traces the historical roots of belief in the power of the moon to cause disorders the mind, especially insanity and epilepsy. Putative mechanisms of lunar action are critiqued. It is proposed that modern findings showing lack of lunar effect can be reconciled with pre-modern beliefs in the moon’s power through a mechanism of sleep deprivation. Prior to the advent of modern lighting the moon was a significant source of nocturnal illumination that affected sleep-wake cycle, tending to cause sleep deprivation around the time of full moon. This partial sleep deprivation would have been sufficient to induce mania/hypomania in susceptible bipolar patients and seizures in patients with seizure disorders. The advent of modern lighting attenuated this lunar effect, especially in modern urban areas, where most 20th century studies of lunar effects on the mind have been conducted. The hypothesis presented in this article is open to empirical validation or falsification. Potential tests for the sleep-deprivation hypothesis of lunar action are discussed.
Reminds me that, without electric light, full moons really can be social events, illuminating that which is usually hidden!
When I worked in a veterinarian’s office, we had clusters of accident victims, or fight victims, etc. which clustered around the full moon. The 4 days before and after the full moon are the active time. Personally, I definitely dream more and have more intense dreams during full moons. Have you had a strange or intriguing dream that you would like answers for? Come try out our free dream interpretation special for this week only.
This Morning i had a Dream I Was Looking at a Giant Full Moon Then Out Of Nowhere It Exploded Then Came Down to Earth Then i woke Up STRANGE
wow — you know what, I had this dream a few weeks ago (the night of the so-called super moon in may). In my dream, the moon exploded ans I ran for cover into a house. we listened to the radio and there was a broadcast from San Francisco on the air. Then I started packing a bag and, upon realizing I was dreaming, woke up.
I’ve had this dream too … Where the moon blew up and there was a great “flash” in the sky … and it was falling to the earth (gravity) … I was driving and was trying to get home to my family (thinking of the supplies that I had and would need to survive the aftermath of such a disaster) … I was forced to drive to a friends house as debris was causing huge explosions everywhere (hell on earth) … I’ve had this (or similar dreams) since I was a little girl. What a nightmare this would be if it ever happened in reality. Strange that others have a similar dream (nightmare) like mine.
Does the Moon affect our dreams? The only reason I found this site is because 2 or 3 nights ago my dreams were becoming more active. I thought, “I wonder if the moon is full?” I stepped outside and it was close. So, today I started looking into it.
It is my belief that dreams are, or at times, can be contact within the actual spirit world. Two years ago, 2 people I didn’t know appeared in my dream. They were known by my roommate, who at the time, I only knew for a couple months. I was able to identify the people through pictures and questions without letting on to why I was probibg. Since then, my spiritual and psychic experiences have varied in intensity and methods.
I believe spirits are more perceivable during the twilight hours, 2 or 3 hours before the sun rises. The full moon provides that twilight during the whole night. You see, I didn’t know where the moon was in it’s cycle this month because sometimes I block these kinds of things out. They get to be a little much at times. So, like the other night, when my dreams become more vivid or I can’t sleep without explanation (i.e. caffine, too much sleep on prior nights) I step outside, look at the moon and ask, “What might I experience this month?”
Don’t ask if the Moon affects dreams or if the psychic world exist. Ask, “What can I experience through these and other medium?” The world is more amazing than our physical eyes can see.
Leprechaun, I like the way you parse what can and cannot be known through the senses. At the end of the day, truly we are left with our own experiences, and it’s up to us to make sense from them. Thanks for stopping by!
I never connected my dreams with the moon, but when i did i found i was having some wierd and freaky dreams when there was a new moon. i have watched closely and i always have them at the same time.
I have never connected my dreams to the full moon, but on the night of the last moon, i was having very vivid dreams, that even when i awoke i thought was real. Then when i was talking to two of my friends we had all had the same dream on the same night. Strange……..
As someone who dreams every night I do notice that particularly a day or two before and after the full moon my dreams are very vivid and prophetic. I did some research 6 months ago to try and establish why. The theory is that it has to do with the effect on the earth’s geomagnetic field. This in turn stimulates the pineal gland which in turn stimulates the thyroid gland and may have effects on serotonin/dopamine levels.
An interesting article to read with respect to research conducted on gambling statistics in Las Vegas and the full and new moons follows:
http://www.bleepingherald.com/aug2007/mctaggart
I have incubus dreams with the new moon phases. Freaky.
My dreams over this past week in particular were becoming so intense – sometimes so detailed and complex as to seem real – that whilst enjoying these ‘trips’ almost, they were beginning to worry me(my brother has schizophrenic hallucinations). I was really quite relieved to realise that friends had had similar dreams and that they coinciding with this month’s full moon – which strikes me as especially prolonged and bright?
These dreams actually felt to me like a different order of experience – I find myself calling them ‘visions’. They seem to relate to my deeper subconcious in a more complex and meaningful way than normal – rather than surface anxieties of the day, the mind seems to be symbolically resolving long-term aims and motivations I wasn’t previously conscious of but that have clearly been on the back-boiler, as it were (needless to say, it hasn’t finished yet…!)
thanks everyone for these stories…. Pauline and kimbirdlee are rocking the new moon, and Andrew and Tam have noticed full moon correlations.
I, for one, have noticed that traffic on this site increases dramatically during full moons, and not just because people are looking for moon/dreaming info…. search for dream info in general is way up.
and thanks for the link, Andrew – I didn’t know about this study by Dean Radin:
“Radin demonstrated a relationship between the earth???s geomagnetic field and the lunar cycle ??? at times of a new moon or a full moon, the earth???s GMF was at its quietest.”
There are times when I don’t even have to look at the calendar to know that the moon is full. I have a horrible time getting to sleep when there is a full moon and when I do finally fall asleep, I dream all night long and usually remember most of them when I wake up. I have been this way since I was a little girl. I love having intense dreams, and I definitely dream more when there is a full moon.
thanks for commenting, Jennifer! Judging from the hundreds that find my site using the search “why are my dreams so intense during the full moon?” I’d say you’re not alone.
ummmm and i usaly have a dream with vampires
creepy!
I wonder, if a moonstone will effect my dream become strong against the full moon. I willing to know about that. I hope it help reduce against the nightmare.
I don’t know much about moonstones – want to clue me in? I do know that having a rite like that is always a good way to reduce nightmares. The safer you feel going to sleep, the better!
I have difficulty sleeping during the full moon. It is a restless sleep, tossing and turning. Dreams are usually intense once I drift off to sleep, I dreamt of rolling huge clouds last night, on my way into work, there were very ominous and black looking clouds, very similiar to my dream. Coincidence? Very odd. I think this has to do with my American Indian heritage, although far removed as I only retain 1/8 of this heritage.
I have found there is a correlation between the context of my dreams and my ability to remember them. It also makes me think about my dreams a bit more, and I have more influence on my dreams whenever there’s a full moon.
i have sleep disorder during full moon, have noticed that even
cloudy days it happens
i came across this page after discussing the possible connection between the full moon and intensity of dreams with a coworker today. we both have been experiencing this the last few nights; sure enough the moon should be full in two nights.
i’m not sure i know the words to describe it, but i seem to remember more of my dreams and they tend to be much more linear.
So glad to find this article. I have been having terrible nightmares on every full moon ever since I was young. The kind of white-knuckle, cold-sweat, pillow-clenching dreams where you call people up the next day to make sure they’re still alive.
Some casual experimentation has shown me pretty conclusively that the dreams happen whether or not I know it’s a full moon. Also when I brought it up at the dinner table I discovered that it was a family thing on my Mother’s side going back at least as far as my grandmother.
I’ve read a few things hinting about possible links to gravitational or light influence on the pituitary gland but nothing solid. If anyone has any leads on the subject I would be ecstatic if you could post them here. Everything I’ve read is either bad science or a little new-age-y for my taste.
nice to know I’m not the only one 🙂
Should we start a support group?
Well, last night the moon was very full and very bright (actual full moon or not, I’m not sure). The light was streaming through my window. As I lay in bed, I thought to myself, “It’s gonna be a weird night tonight.” I had the expectation of having strange, vivid dreams. As it turned out I did have some strange dreams, but moreso, I just tossed nad turned. Even when I was sleeping, I felt half-awake. Also, all night long I kept imagining that bugs were biting (I know for certain there are no actual bugs in my bed). So I guess the question is, did the previous experience with the moon cause my expectation, or perhaps a legacy of belief like old wives’ tales, or did my own suggestion cause my restless night?
Mark – that’s fascinating, especially the link to your mother’s lineage. that’s worth exploring deeper. Ancestral work can really be illuminating. Besides the studies that I listed in previous comments, I don’t know of others from peer-reviewed journals.
and Dekunut – it’s a chicken and the egg situation. Your suggestion could certainly be part of the scenerio, or conversely it could just be aggravating a natural disposition to sleepless nights when the moon is full. You don’t need scientific studies to confirm that psychiatric wards go absolutely bananas on the full moon; psychiatrists have noted it again and again. Maybe the next time the moon calls, rather than wasting a night with terrible sleep, stay up and do some creative work (whatever that means to you – a hobby, music, writing, fixing the carburetor, etc). The moon obviously is no good for sleeping, auto-suggestion or not!
Ive always had really vivid dreams. Rarely is there a time when I don’t dream or can’t remember my dreams. But i think that when there is a full moon or new moon they make more sense. Like one time, I had a dream that my friend from Oxford was going to come down, and that was around the time of the full moon. A couple weeks later, he did. But that’s just one example. I don’t know if it was just a coincidence or anything like that but I find that when there is a new moon my dreams seem more empty, and full moon they seem more real. It could have something to do with my indian heritage or perhaps because I was born on a new moon. But I don’t know if I’m psychic or what.. If anybody could help me by perhaps like quizzing me or whatever I just feel like I’m supposed to do something with it. I know it’s off topic but I’m really stuck and I’m only 16 and I’m too scared to find a local psychic.
Post a comment if you can. x
Larissa, my recommendation is to start keeping a dream journal that also tracks the moon. Over time, you will begin to see patterns in the old dreams, which is more reliable than our selective memories. I have no doubt that you have experienced some premonition dreams — unfortunately it’s hard to “prove.” I say don’t worry about finding proof (because you will never convince a skeptic) and instead focus on your dream recall abilities. You may also want to do some research on the subject – for example, a classic book about scientific psychic dream experimentation is “Dream Telepathy” by Montague Ullman and Stanley Krippner. good luck and keep dreaming!
Hi Larissa,
Hi, my name is Jackie and after reading your story I wanted to write to you. I have been having dreams near the full moon that come to life about 2-3 months out. Mine are mainly prophetic which include people who have died in my dream and have actually passed couple months later. I’ve also had a dream about a car crash only to have it happen about 2-3 months later. I feel it is a gift and have been reading books about lightworkers. I didn’t go searching for them I just fell upon a book, then another and another and thought is someone trying to tell me something? My last dream was about my sister-in-law (Kathy) passing, which freeked me out and caused me to be sick for two days. I think I am hear to help, maybe? For instance, I called Kathy only to find out she has neglected her health by putting off a root canal, which could be serious. She has since had the root canal, thankfully! I’ve learned to ask for information prior to falling asleep “God, is there anything you want to tell me or is there anything I need to know?” I too am 1/5 indian heritage, not sure if that means anything? I think times are changing and that means doors are opening. We will see if I may have been able to change course with my sister-in-law, hopefully. The message did come from her mother (who passed about 5 yrs. ago) in my dream. Funny thing is I have been asking to communicate with her and this was the message I received. Just to let you know, I usually receive dream info. about two days before a full moon. I think I have received bits and pieces along the way (spoon feeding) so I wouldn’t be so shocked. Now I feel it is a gift, in a way to maybe try to give a second chance? Not sure, but I’m using a dream journal and watching dates and logging it all. Hope this helps! Thanks for your time.
Thankyou so much. I will do so, and if anyone has any other books to help me out with, please comment. Thanks x
I don’t know if the moon has any effects on my dreams,but i do notice that at dawn(sometime after 6 A.M. and befor 8 A.M.)my dreams become very vivid and real.I awaken several times during this period in and out between asleep and awake,and sometimes when i’m alseep I think i’m awake until I see something strange.It seems like my conscious and unconscious minds are entwined with each other and the dreams seem very real,not like the remote and distant dreams I have late at night where things seem fuzzy and it’s hard to remember them.These twilight dreams can have strange elements in them or they can be as normal as ordinary reality with me talking with a stranger I’ve never met in a normal place with normal conversation.Sometimes they can be very bizaar,Kind of like the fourth dimensional world in the Harry Potter movies with stange beings and objects that shouldn’t move,moving.And then after 8 A.M., my dreamstate goes back to normal,with stange tings and people going on,but these dreams go back to being remote and fuzzy and seeminy like a very distant memory.I sometimes fear and dread this twilight dream time because of it’s vividness and realness.
I always find that I remember all my dreams during the course of a full moon. I know that everyone that I have talked to all agree that they remember their dreams as well whenever the moon comes up, so I’d say you could add around 20 people to your census.
Great blog
I am with the other ladies on this one. My dreams are much more vivid around the new moon. I have noticed it for about a year now. I seem to sleep deeply during full moons. It feels like a switch is turned off and then I wake up and it is morning. The new moon has the opposite effect. Thanks for posing the question.
Yes, I sure do. On full moons as I’m laying down my body starts to get this weird pulse and as I’m asleep I have multiple Lucid dreams and other strange things happen.
Last night me and my dog were both acting crazy so I was like, I bet it’s a full moon tonight. I googled it and it was.
i’m a guy, and don’t sleep much as is, and never had. i can count the total number of times i’ve taken a nap during my life on one hand. during a full moon i don’t sleep at all! i show up to work the next day with bags under my eyes, but usually my mood is elevated?! i don’t keep track of the moon cycle but i can tell without fail ( give or take a day or two)when the full moon happened.
the amount of sleep i get deteriorates a few days before, and continues a few days after a full moon.
i find moonlight during a full moon irritating, and aggravating.
i’ve only pieced together the moons affect on my sleep pattern a couple years ago.
when i talk about this with others, i’m often ridiculed.
in addition to this i’m told i regularly talk in my dreams, i also experience vivid dreams… whenever i dream.
i realize i sound crazy, but contrary to the bizarre affects of the moon, i am very successful… i contribute my success in part to my lack of sleep. it just have more time on my hands than most, and somehow i’m devilishly lucky 😉
I have read many theories about how the full moon may effect the way people dream. What i have yet to come across is the effects that a new moon might have. When there is a new moon it seems as though i am not dreaming at all. With the first spill of blood I attempt to wake myself…pinching my skin, clawing at my arms, but nothing. When daylight brakes im stuck with a lingering face of a victim torchered by something i could not see. However the scratches on my arms prove i might not have been asleep at all. Is this because of the new moon..or do i simply have a sleeping disorder? Whichever the case, i follow the same pattern and now sleep during the day when the calendar signs for the shadowed moon.
I’ve known for years that full moons have affected my dreams, even on cloudy nights. Like another who posted on here, I don’t need to look at a calender to know when it is a full moon.
I’ve had this conversation with enough people who agree, and experience it often enough to strongly believe that a full moon does affect atleast my dreams and a few others. Perhaps not everyone is affected the same way.
I also feel that it could have something to do with the moons gravitational pull, as this is powerfull enough to move the tides. I’ve read some other interesting speculative comments here as well. Like the rest…I’d love to see some factual research on this subject.
Sean
What’s weird is when theres a full moon,i NEVER remember my dreams.. it’s weird. and i wake up with random bruises,and scratches…is there something up?…sleepwalking?
I think the full moon affect my dreams because I have frequent strange dreams in this period. I think the light of the moon can affect the dreams but I cannot understand how is able to affect the brain.
i still have no idea how to reconcile our perception that the moon effects our dreams with any actual mechanism of action. But that doesn’t mean there’s not a mechanism… it’s a mystery we should still look into rather than dismiss.
then again, the light could reset circadian rhythms, but this assumes that you don’t already have bright light at night from TV or computers, which no doubt have a bigger effect than the light of the moon (unless you sit and stare at it.)
Woah, thanks God I found this site!I was actually looking for people with this problem. First of all, sorry for my bad english, I’m spanish so that’s not my first language.
Since I was a child, a week per month I have extremely lucid dreams. They’re full of colours, sounds, even BGM, little details, complex structures, full of characters and really well scripted. I can even read books or wall posters in them. When It happens, I wake up really tired, like If I didn’t sleep at all. It’s really hard since It happens one full week, and when I was younger and school exams coincided with this days, It was even harder. I didn´t realized that it was caused by Full Moon till twelve years ago or so, when I begin to realize that there was a coincidence between the Moon phases and my dreams. As some people before told, I don’t even know when Full Moon will be, until I start dreaming. Then I look in the night and see the moon glowing rounded in the sky, so I don’t thing that this could be caused by self-sugestion. It could be say that I can “predict” when Full moon will be by the intensity of my dreams. Till now, I had never found other person that shares this rare thing. I’m sure it has nothing to be with ligts, since I can sleep even with all the lights on, It don’t wake me up.
I expect this helps U with your researchs.
I have a 7 year old child that has been affected by the moon since she was a baby. It isn’t so much a full moon but about one week before that she starts to dream. They are pretty vivid and scary dreams to her and she has to crawl in with me for comfort. I have tried to teach her how to get out of a dream or even to change the outcome of her dream but I think she is too young to do it, although she does try. She is like clock work with this and has no idea how her dreams coincide with the moon.
My mother was an operator for Bell Canada years ago and always said people were loonie toons at the time of a full moon. Myself I could stay up the whole night …way to much energy from it!!
I have very vivid dreams during full moons..
I always seem to have end of the world dreams the last two full moons, incoorporated with the moon exploding somehow…it really freaks me out 🙁
Looks like a bit of an old post… but I’ll send a reply anyway. I had the most bizarre dreams I’ve had in a while last night and my girlfriend just told me it was a full moon. Couldn’t tell as I don’t really follow it (the lunar cycle) and it was over-cast & raining. So… this pretty much takes out the “expectancy effect”. I should pay attention to this in future because we both had very strange dreams (my partner and I) last night and mine I can remember in vivid detail. No shamans here.
First Nightmare under full moon at 15 years old while sleeping on the terrace of our apartment building. Very Real. Last 45 years, I fly around like a bird. Recently had worries reduced and now I dream happy stuff. Is it the food, the booze or the Moon????
Funny enough my favorite Nicole Kidman movie, during her time with The Cruise, was “The Others”. Which I found creepy as hell to watch. But I loved it.
I just woke from a very vivid and intense dream and googled ,Full moon dreams and found this site. I am typing on a phone so please excuse the grammar.)
Ever since I was a child, I have had vivid and lucid dreams,obe’s, and night terrors, all more intense during the full moon. I have a period of heavy dreaming and little sleeping, as well as high energy during and three days leading up to the full moon. I ALSO worked as a 911 operator and can tell you that the calls came in much more frequently, in that period, with high incidents in the mentally ill.
I have been having weird vivid dreams lately, this could be result of the moon, I know I found your blog late. Interesting read thank you
Tashima
What i do not understand is why the Moon, which is out there, orbiting our Earth every night, should have an effect on humans especially when the sun fully shines up its surface? The tides are high not because of full moon, so what’s affecting us apart from the light from the moon? Is the ‘effect’ there all those cloudy, starless nights too?
Just because ‘everyone’ claims it is so because it has been said so many times, does not mean it is a fact? And IF the moonshine affects us -what IS it? Instead of lulling it into something magical and fascinating, unexplicable -shouldn’t curiousity trigger us to wonder WHY? We know the full moon has no effect on birth rates although every culture on Earth claims so: children are born under all moon phases evenly. The effect the moon has on tide is minimal, and all research says our bodies show NO changes at the time of tidal waters. But we firmly belive so?
For some reason, I’ve always dreamed more (and more vividly) when I’m near the ocean. Whenever I go on holiday to the beach or stay at a family or friend’s house near the beach, I dream a lot. At first I thought the sound of the ocean might have kept me out of a deep sleep and in ‘dream state’, but it happens even if I can’t hear the sound of the waves. Any ideas?
I have just had a dream where I saw 6 full moons (arranged roughly in the shape of a hexagon) playing hide and seek among very heavy black-grey clouds, that kept floating smoothly in swift wind. The moons were peeping through clouds and casting a bright yellowish-pinkish glow around as the moonlight reflected and bounced around on the clouds. It had a very real, surreal, peaceful, calming effect on me and I woke up smiling and feeling deeply in bliss.