Gathered in a field in rural Cheshire, under the glow of a full moon, a group of women dressed in white stand in a circle holding hands.
There is drumming and chanting, then silence as each woman engraves her hopes and ambitions for the coming month on a white or silver candle.
‘This is to bring in the energy of the Moon,’ explains Claire Stone, 40, who lives in Hale and owns a property business with her husband John, 41.
Moon meditators: (from left) Leah Stone, Sarah Twist, Victoria Twist, Claire Stone, Claire Rimmer, Anthea McClay and Joanne Edge
‘We light black candles when we want to let something go.
‘At the same time you visualise exactly what it is that you are attracting into your life.
We ‘see’ it coming true in our minds. The intent is amplified by the energy of the Moon and those in the circle.
‘A fire is lit and if there is anything women want to let go of, they write it down and burn it.’
So much hocus-pocus, you might think. Yet Claire, who in every other regard is a typical hard-working businesswoman and mother, is one of a growing number of mostly female devotees drawn to harnessing the power of the Moon in this way.
As children, we may be told to ‘wish upon a star’ to make our dreams come true.
But for women like Claire, it is wishing upon the Moon that actually makes things happen. Or so she believes.
She is adamant, for example, that the only reason she now lives where she does — home for Claire, her husband and daughters Leah, 17, and Lexi, nine, is a £1.4 million 17th-century thatched farmhouse which has four acres of land, two open fireplaces, a converted barn, separate office and another spare barn — is because she wished for her dream home in a full moon circle ceremony.
Pictured from left to right: Leah Stone, Sarah Twist, Victoria Twist, Claire Stone, Claire Rimmer, Anthea McClay and Joanne Edge
While there is no doubt the couple’s hard work went some considerable way to enabling them to buy such a beautiful property, Claire is adamant that it was thanks to the power of the Moon that she was able to let go of destructive thought patterns and set new intentions for her life.
The collective positive energy of the other women present, she insists, served only to make these intentions more powerful — and she adds that thousands of women across the UK attend such ceremonies, whether online or in person.
Claire was first attracted to alternative sources of healing as a teenager.
‘I suffered with agoraphobia and dreadful anxiety,’ she says.
‘It’s why I started looking for something to help make me happier. I first joined a couple of local groups where women would meet up once a month on the full moon when I was in my 20s.
‘Even though I was the youngest there, it didn’t matter, I was made to feel incredibly welcome. It seemed like a natural and magical thing to do.’
Claire, who drives a black Mercedes GLE coupe, was so inspired by her early experiences of moon circles that she decided to hold her own monthly ceremonies outside her home.
Claire Stone (pictured), who in every other regard is a typical hard-working businesswoman and mother, is one of a growing number of mostly female devotees drawn to harnessing the power of the Moon in this way
They have been an astonishing success: at various times more than 3,000 women have come along, and her circles — priced at £22 for a two-hour session — cater for up to 100 women at a time online, and 50 at a time in person.
She says the moon-worshippers can be broadly split into two groups: some are women from the hippy-ish spiritual community, while a sizeable and growing number are successful, wealthy and often self-made business owners. But what does Claire do in her Moon-circle ceremonies?
Having positioned an altar in the circle, she invites those attending to take a personal item of theirs, such as a crystal, to positively ‘charge’ under the Moon.
‘We then use big white or silver candles to bring in the energy of the Moon and black candles when we want to let something go,’ she says.
‘Each person engraves on their candle their intention — what they wish to manifest — and doing this under the energy of the Moon with other like-minded individuals only intensifies the magic around the intent.
‘If the intent is love, then it’s a generic request and never about a specific person — that’s black magic when you try to draw in someone specific to you, and not something I will work with.
‘We then use big white or silver candles to bring in the energy of the Moon and black candles when we want to let something go,’ says Claire Stone, 40 (stock photo used)
As Lady Bamford explains on her website, the theory is that because the Moon controls the tides, it can have a powerful impact on us. Pictured, the moon seen from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in November 2020
‘If it is for healing, then you inscribe ‘I am healed’.
‘If it’s for money, it’s the same principle, you engrave the amount you want to draw in.’
Claire links the boom in modern‑day moon followers to the changing political landscape which emphasises the empowerment of women.
‘I like the fact that women are reclaiming their voice with their Moon manifestations.
‘Our world is a crazy place right now; that’s why women want to be empowered and have control over their lives.
‘Women of all ages, from 16 to 60 come. The young ones particularly love how it makes them feel, the difference it makes to their lives.’
Claire is not alone in believing that women need to live their lives more in tune with the lunar cycle.
High-profile proponents of this idea include the entrepreneur Carole Bamford, wife of JCB boss Anthony Bamford and famed for her Daylesford Organic range of foods.
Sarah Twist (pictured), 29, a company director, says harnessing the Moon’s powers has helped her in all sorts of ways, from getting her dream house to conceiving her first child
A fierce advocate of changing your behaviour in accordance with the Moon’s cycle, Lady Bamford regularly instructs her 54,000 Instagram followers on how matching goals, hobbies and even their self-care regimen to the changes in the Moon can reap rewards.
‘Understanding the lunar cycle and how it impacts our lives may sound strange to some, but to me it makes perfect sense and feels very natural,’ she says.
Holly Willoughby’s new well-being website, named Wylde Moon — modelled on Gwyneth Paltrow’s influential Goop empire — also makes a selling-point of using the Moon as a guide.
Holly, who claims to spend more time on her holiday sun-lounger at night staring at the Moon than during the day, calls the Moon her ‘trusted constant’ and ‘a goddess with incredible feminine energy and cycles just like women have’.
It has also been reported that Jennifer Aniston has turned to full Moon meditation circles, thanks to her friend, the actress, mindfulness coach and ‘circle facilitator’ Andrea Bendewald.
Bendewald explains the regime Aniston has embraced by saying: ‘Once a month, under the power of the full Moon, we will sit in a sacred circle and share what’s stirring in our lives and urging to be made manifest…meditation, ritual and intuitive guidance explored. Magical happenings guaranteed.’
It is easy to be cynical about why interest in the Moon is trending. In this Instagram era, anything that can be thought to promote ‘well-being’ or ‘getting back to Mother Nature’ instantly finds legions of middle-class female fans, all too eager to spend their money to find happiness.
As Lady Bamford explains on her website, the theory is that because the Moon controls the tides, so it can have a powerful impact on us — the adult human body is up to 60 per cent water, after all — affecting us in different ways as it passes through its eight phases, with the full Moon ‘the peak of the cycle’.
As it gets brighter in the night sky, she says, ‘there is a feeling of heightened energy in the air’.
Another key stage is when exactly half the Moon is visible. That, she says, is the optimal time for making decisions.
This is not a new fad. For centuries the Moon has been said to influence us here on Earth — some gardeners, for instance, swear by growing root vegetables when the Moon is waning.
But why is there such a resurgence now? And why are so many ardent believers women?
Yasmin Boland, author of the bestselling book Moonology, believes it is because many women feel in need of a guiding light in their lives — and this is what the Moon can offer.
‘More and more women are waking up to the power of the Moon,’ she says. ‘Without wanting to blow my own trumpet, there is a reason my book stays on the Amazon bestseller list, and it is very simply because Moon manifestation works.
‘Women from all walks of life are recognising that they have more power than they realise and are open to showing themselves just how capable they really are at manifesting the life they want, all through embracing the power of the Moon.
‘I firmly believe that harnessing the power of the Moon can give you the boost to achieve whatever you want in life.
‘Hundreds of years ago, women were burned at the stake for these sorts of circles and rituals, yet back in the mid-90s there was talk in the spiritual community of the re-emergence of the “divine feminine” and that women would start openly using their feminine power again.
‘We are seeing it everywhere, even in the success of the MeToo movement.
‘In astrology, women are completely aligned with the Moon — it’s the way we as women reconnect with our selves.’
Besides being the author of Moonology, Yasmin produces the Moonology diaries: each year these lay out the lunar calendar month by month and show readers how to work with the energy of that year.
Her diaries regularly sell out and her 2022 diary reached number seven in the book charts when it was released last summer.
Another key stage is when exactly half the Moon is visible. That, Lady Bamford says, is the optimal time for making decisions (stock photo used)
Sarah Twist, 29, a company director, says harnessing the Moon’s powers has helped her in all sorts of ways, from getting her dream house to conceiving her first child.
Sarah, who lives with her partner in St Helens, Merseyside, and runs a company that supplies marquees for weddings, festivals and other special occasions, has been attending regular Moon circles for the past four years.
Her first big target was to use the Moon’s power to achieve the purchase of her three-bedroom dream home.
‘I’d driven by it every day for a year. Then, out of the blue, it came on the market after I’d channelled the Moon’s energy to it.
‘Within 24 hours we had signed up to buy it. It’s everything I had Moon-manifested, with a rolltop bath, a log-burner and a big range cooker.’
Perhaps even more extraordinary is her claim that the Moon brought about her current pregnancy.
‘My partner had wanted to be a father for a while but I preferred to wait,’ she says. ‘It was only recently I decided I wanted us to become a family. I manifested my pregnancy while at a Moon circle.’
Many women believe the lunar calendar can be used to find their peak fertile days, claiming that changes in the Moon coincide with their desire for sex.
Extraordinarily, in 2014, after examining data from 8,000 women, the American infertility specialist Philip Chenette found a clear link between the timing of their monthly cycles and the phases of the Moon.
Specifically, most women’s periods started in the fortnight that ranged from 11 days before the full Moon to two days after it.
In almost a fifth of cases, they began on the day of the full Moon itself or in the two days before or after it — a statistic explained by experts as possibly having an evolutionary link to the cover of darkness.
If a woman’s period starts with the full Moon, she will be at her most fertile a fortnight earlier, when the sky is darkest at night — and it’s this lack of light that would have shielded amorous cave-dwelling couples from hungry predators.
Veterinary nurse Victoria Twist, 29, credits the Moon for her return to full health after spinal surgery. And she is convinced that, thanks to attending Moon circles, she, too, was able to manifest her dream home.
‘At each Moon gathering I’d set my intention about the home I wanted — I was obsessed with barn conversions,’ says Victoria.
‘I would visualise the old wooden beams inside, and outside I would picture a horse in a field.
‘Then, last year my partner and I found the exact barn conversion I had been wishing for, right down to the horse in the field. It absolutely proved to me you really do have control over your life.’
However, Victoria, who lives in Frodsham, Cheshire, says she has a bigger perspective on what the power of the Moon can bring: ‘For me, harnessing the Moon is more than just for materialistic gain.
‘My main focus is health and happiness because without them, what’s the point?
‘When I was 24 I needed spinal surgery. During my recovery, at the Moon circles I would visualise myself doing all the things I love again — climbing mountains, veterinary nursing and travelling.
‘Now I’m back doing all those things, thanks to the Moon.’
