Hello my friend!
Over the last 12 months I have noticed the moon phases and how they effect me.
Three days before and after the full moon I have a slight trouble sleeping.
Many creative ideas flow through my thoughts coming up to the full moon and peak on the full moon. After the full moon my creative thoughts tend to settle down a little.
Three days before the new moon I feel generally feel a bit blocked and sometimes frustrated.
In essence I feel my mind is more open coming up to the full moon and then becomes more blocked after wards.
Do I plan my events around the moon, no.
I have to accept that I have a self-loathing part of my personality that has a tendency to try and sabotage my life.
I can not give my thoughts permission to predict how I will feel on certain days. I have to live and feel in the moment.
My main point is although I feel more inspired certain times of the month it does not have to mean that I feel more or less anxious during certain times. I believe the moon effects my thoughts but I have to be responsible for how I feel.
Just like the moon we are ever changing but remaining the same. Are thoughts are forever going through phases but we can remain the same. I find comfort and acceptance in the fact that this is reality. The moon is always the moon. Forever changing and forever staying the same.
As for star signs, I believe in them on some level but I do not appreciate the ones found in magazines and such. You could read anyone and they would fit your life. So yes I believe in the Barnum effect (Thanks for that! Just looked it up, appreciate the new knowledge!)
Would love to hear everyone else's views!

@George...I went to google.com, and looked up Astrology and Anxiety, and they have a wealth of info on the subject...It just might be something to this to help us all. Check it out.

The cycle of the seasons, the tides, the days and nights, and the changes in pressure follow the moon.

When I'm not able to figure out what's happening, I go outside, and take time to notice the moon. Just doing that relaxes the tension.

The one thing that stays the same is that it changes. So, if something does not work one day, it might work another day that way.

Best wishes to finding what works for you!

There's probably a fair amount of truth to good days and bad day's, associated with our astrological sign, ocean tides, moon phases and the rest.

I created a simple chart yesterday, where I'm going to chart moon phases and see how this correlates with my mood that day. I think I'm the perfect candidate for this test. Because I'm a life long anxiety sufferer who takes no medication, or uses any other drugs or alcohol.

It can somewhat depend on your star chart, but many people with anxiety feel a spike in attacks as well as GAD when Mercury goes retrograde.

Mercury is characteristically a joker, a trickster. Things go wrong, communication is bungled and people just feel "off." For folks with anxiety that be translated as anxiety.

That being said, knowing this about Mercury and knowing when it goes retro can help a great deal. If you're feeling "off" you can say, Mercury is retro instead of thinking something is more seriously wrong.

It's my personal opinion that belief in anything you cannot see, touch or smell is total bunkum. This includes religion of any kind, fear of monsters of any kind, belief in anything supernatural (ghosts, demons, etc) or of course astrology, which unlike astronomy, is totally made up.

I understand the primitive need to latch onto crutches, to assuage fear and night terrors. I just don't think they work. I think belief in these things increases fear, not reduces it. So many invisible monsters. So many invisible rules.

Someone mentioned Occam's razor on here on another thread. Occam's razor. The simplest answer is probably the right one. And the simplest answer is that things happen in your life due to what is in your life, not planets millions of miles away being somehow adjacent or not to another planet millions of miles away. The level of effect such a thing could have is so far past negligible it's not funny. Unless you believe in juju, in which case you can believe it does all sorts of things.

So yeah, adding my tuppence worth! :) You don't have to buy into all that stuff. You can just chuck it and go read a really good murder mystery.

If the moon can control the oceans, why can't it control emotions?

Interesting question!

I had a 94 year old Great aunt who used to live in Bronx NY. She was completely convinced that her neighborhood would get a little crazy on Full Moon nights...haha!

I myself have no knowledge in astrology or astronomy but I do have to say that the human body is made up anywhere between 50 to 75 percent of water at any given time. I just have to agree with George that if the Moon can move a body of water as large as the ocean...lit has to have at least some effect on the human body...right?

It would be very interesting to pay attention to this. When is the next full moon?

If you've ever worked in an ER, you know that the planetary stuff isn't bunk. When there's a full moon, the ER is full of the craziest cases.

I truly believe we are impacted by everything in our environment. We can't see or feel or touch radon, yet it can make us very sick. Barometric pressure can't been seen our touched or felt, yet we know it can cause people to have more migraines when it changes.

If it is helpful to understand how you feel in relation to what the moon and planets are doing, more power to you.

Moon maybe. Certainly, in fact. It's where even the word 'lunatic' comes from. But that's not astrology.

Astrology are sun signs. They're planets thousands and thousands of light years away. :) And that stuff is total bunk.

The additional gravitational pull of a full moon on the earth may have a dramatic effects on our physiology.

In that the increased gravity is pulling the critical neurotransmitters Serotonin, Norepinephrine & Dopamine down in our bodies by the increased pull of the moon. Thereby not allowing enough of these three neurotransmitters to reach our brain. Most are produced in the area of the lower spins so they must travel upward.

This is not medical fact, because no ones worked on it. Its my opinion.

The next full moon is May 4th.

With regard to barometric pressure drops.

I can most certainly feel drastic changes in pressure, occasionally several hours before a major storm, and so can birds. Have you ever noticed birds sitting in large groups on a power-line before a pending storm?

Well this is caused by the fact that lower barometric pressure makes it much more difficult for birds to fly. Because there is less air pressure for them to generate the needed lift. So they must work extra hard to fly.

The increased pressure will certainly cause headaches in some.

As someone who practices Astrology for a living it all honestly depends on your personal chart. Because of the planetary positions in your Natal Chart different full moons and new moons will affect you differently depending on what sign the moon is in and the aspect to your planets. Also there is a special kind of chart used for medical astrology that I used as a Massage therapist to identify specific muscle pains and health patterns with clients.
It is called a south nodal chart, and I am hoping to research the best ways to correlate mental health with Natal Charts or South Nodal charts, or any other kind of charts I discover as I explore the subject.
But really you need to have an entire wealth of knowledge of the inner workings of astrology and transiting planets compared to a Natal chart to make an accurate judgement.

also to Bridgie101, you would be surprised if you ever actually tried predictive astrology. I have been practicing Astrology for a long time and as soon as I got into predictive astrology I was pretty much sold. The fact that Predictions I have made are accurate and completely on time and happen exactly when I predicted is something that really blew my mind.
Also electromagnetic fields on earth are directly affected by planetary movements. The Electromagnetic waves coming from your brain and heart differ depending on earth's electromagnetic frequencies. And it is proven that planetary movements affect this change. You can research the subject yourself. Asteroseismology is a great place to start, and then researching changes in electromagnetic frequencies. As humans there is so much to our world that we can't perceive due to lack of evolution. so much of the light and color spectrum that we can't see or hear. We are limited by our physical perceptions, it doesn't mean that things happening around us isn't real.
Also for those of you who notice that every sign can apply to everyone, consider this: Your natal chart is made up of every single sign, and depending what house each sign is in, is the area of your life where you express that sign's energy. Like if you have Leo is your house of Communication, you will communicate like a Leo and Work like a Scorpio (assuming you don't have intercepted signs or planets), and present yourself like a Gemini to the world, and Desire a career fit for a Pisces, etc.
Planets represent What is being Expressed. Houses are where the energy is being expressed. And Signs are How the energy is expressed.

There is a healing art called Acutonics which is based on using planetary energies on acupuncture points to provide healing. When you go to see an acutonics practitioner (at least some of them) they'll pull up your chart at each appointment to see what's going on. But it's not a normal medical chart. It's your star chart!

There are events that happen repeatedly - full moon, planets in retrograde, etc. Then there are astrological happenings based on your age and astrological events. We call it quarter-life crisis, mid-life crisis, menopause and so forth.

Depending on who you are, what your chart says and what's going on in the universe, you will have various responses. Some people have a great deal of anxiety during Mercury retrograde. Just knowing there's a reason and what to expect can actually help.

It may sound ridiculous to some people, but it's simply science. We respond to our environment. You may feel more sad in the winter, happier when the sun is shining. Your period may be connected to the moon cycles. Some feel nourished by the sea or in the forest or uncomfortable in the desert. We're connected to our immediate environment but also the universe.

So...my answer is yes. We are influenced by astrological events.