Werewolves

Tomorrow is the full moon and we are in the midst of exploring Halloween lore so its only fitting this week’s topic is the werewolf.

Lycanthropy a fancy Greek word that unites Lykos, wolf (Canis lupus) with Anthropos, man (Homo sapien). The wolfman, or werewolf as it's popularly known. This classic character of Halloween and horror lore adapted from folk traditions to old-timey black and white talkies to a Michael Jackson video, to the Twilight movies. Why does this creature thrive in so many ecological niches of our collective imagination?

It's easy for skeptics to point out there no correlation between full moons and our moods. They rightly point out there is not really any increase in arrests or hospitalizations during full moons. Is lycanthropic beliefs just the byproduct of people being superstitious, which is usually just an euphemism for stupid, for hundreds maybe thousands of years? Now that we been en(light)ened can we put such childish stories away? Of course, this is a superficial argument. Most people's mood fluctuations do not result in arrests, hospitalizations or being detained in any way. Even when these effects were stronger (which we are about to get into) I suspect lycanthropy would not incite carnal rampages. Rather I feel it would give us space to fully express our humanity, which includes our animal nature.

Werewolves live humdrum lives 352 days a year. Only once every 29 days does a full moon expose their inner beast to the world. What about a full moon would awaken our animalistic side? To truly understand werewolves we need to come to terms with how much we all have deviated from our natural nocturnal light diet since the invention of the light bulb. Less than 150 years ago the only light available to us past sunset would be the moon, stars and the amber light of a fire. Traditional fires and candles do not burn hot enough to create blue light which naturally suppresses our melanin. Blue light is highest in the morning as anyone who watches a sunrise can attest to. When exposed to this light we curb our melanin production as to be more alert for the coming day. Over the course of the daylight turns more orange and red which our bodies adapted a relaxation response to as it is the best time to sleep. We have had no time to evolve our biology to the mass amount of blue light that now pours out of streetlights, computers, phones, light bulbs, and televisions. In addition to this change in our lightscape, we now look directly into our light sources effectively becoming the screen. I had my share of moments becoming hypnotized by a fire, but I never binge-watched a fire for hours and days at a time. When is the last time any of us experienced a complete lunar cycle without this invasive light? I Know I never experienced a natural lunar cycle. So the werewolf-like many creatures have been negatively impacted by technology.

How would we be influenced, if we like our ancestors who conjured this creature from imagination, spent our nights immersed in these natural light fluctuations? The contrast in brightness between a full and new moon absent synthetic light is viscerally noticeable. Under a bright moon, people would have the ability to travel farther without getting lost in the darkness. This would provide greater opportunity to hunt, to forage, to sneak away to find romance. We would also be more visible to hostile neighbors and predator who would also likely take advantage of this cycle light. With this greater opportunity and peril, would our senses and instincts not be heightened? Under these circumstances would we not loosen our grip on the rationale, the civil, and routine and become grow more animalistic?

As well as bringing out our animal nature a full moon can expose our emotional side. The moon mirrors sunlight to make whats in the night that much more visible to us. I would argue a certain introspection develops as the moon waxes, shining light on parts of ourselves that are in darker less accessible parts of our psyche. Feelings of nostalgia, romance, regret, wild abandon, chaos and a peace with the chaos can all become heightened under the lunar light.

So what does all this have to do with bodywork and massage? Massage among other things connects us to body. It's a time we can accept our self, all of our self. We all have parts of our self that we hide in the daylight, perhaps that are not welcome in the more civilized world of the day. When these facets of our selves go neglected our consciousness ruminates in our heads causing all sorts of stress and exhaustion. We can certainly indulge in our addiction of choice to drown out our body's need to move, to feel. Of course, massage is just one of many ways to meet these need. Dancing, sports, and massage are all great ways to allow our bodies to be fully themselves. No matter how we choose to care for our werewolves we should take the effort to learn its rhythms, and to understand it’s cravings. It's this effort, this care, that separates being able to harness our innate wisdom from being tormented with cyclical madness.

Anthony Bruni