Welcome to January's "Wolf Moon"

So folklore has it, "amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the howling of wolves could be heard in the cold winter nights outside Native American villages. Thus, the name for this, January’s full moon, the Full Wolf Moon".

We have not discerned any howling as yet (other than from Her Majesty the Baby to let us know she was ready to rise at 4am), but the phenomena of full moons is one that is debated among certain religious, spiiritual and even scientific sectors.

Leaving the religious aspects aside for now for the sole purpose of focusing on stressbusting™, the spiritual and scientific considerations revolve around whether the cycle of full moons can effect our moods, emotions and wellbeing.

In a nutshell, the idea appears to be that the cycle of moon phases, culminating in full moons about once a month (to which different names such as the "Full Wolf Moon" of January are attributed) create a change in atmospheric pressure and gravity that may unbalance us or bring out different characteristics.

But we have only recently started to look out for full moons, predominately because we like the sight of them and are generally up with Her Majesty early enough to get a good sight of them.

For now, we cannot say that we have noticed any major mood, emotion or physical changes to coincide with full moon phases, though that is not to say that subtle changes have not occurred without us knowing it.

We are open minded and tend not to dismiss any science out of hand, so as a stressbusting™ family this is something we will look out for and continually review.

For now however, we will mainly just continue to enjoy the magnificence of full moon events as they remind us what a marvellous cyclical universe we form a very minute part of, a regular timely reminder that can be both humbling and reassuring to our broader daily picture in equal measure.

And as the nights upon which monthly full moons will occur are predictable and listed here online for the year ahead (the next being the "Full Snow Moon" on 5 February), it is perhaps definitely worth setting an early alarm one morning to "Engage “your Inner Sherlock” to Stressbust™" by simply bathing their universal brilliance.