Chapter X

THE CYCLES OF DISEASE AND SEX
S STATED in a previous paragraph, the laws and principles set forth in this book have naught to do with the art and prac- tice of the system called astrology, and whether one believes that the planets have any effect upon life or not, is immaterial in considera- tion and appHcation of the system set forth in these chapters.
The influence of the moon upon the tides and upon plant and animal life has been in considerable dispute and I beHeve that most of us have read many books arguing for and against such a claim. However, there are many observations which in- dicate that by noting the limar cycles and the rhythm of the periods of the moon, we cannot help coming to the conclusion that there is some in- fluence at least measured by the periods of the moon, which does affect animal and plant life.
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Certain it is, we are able to notice a rhythmic periodicity in connection with diseases, fevers, and some normal functionings of the human body re" lated to the psychic side of our beings, and which are coincident with the rhythmic periods of the moon. Whether this relationship is merely inci' dental, and of no importance, or whether it estabhshes and proves a great universal law, I will leave to my readers to determine. I must call attention first of all to the fact that the psychic and emotional sides of our beings are closely related to the origin, developments, con' tinuation, and final ending of all diseases, abnop mal, mental, and psychological conditions, and other so'called involuntary activities of the human body. I need not call attention to the interesting fact that has always pu2;2;led psychologists, psy- chiatrists, and others, that those who are suffering from a temporary or prolonged abnormal mental condition seem to have periods of stress, quiet, action, and reaction, in keeping with the periods of the lunar rhythm. The ancients noticed this so long ago that the term "lunatic" was brought into use under the false belief that the moon, or luna,
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was responsible for the abnormal mental state of human beings. Many of the more subtle and vital activities of the inner or secret organs of the human body are unquestionably associated with the psychic nature of humans, and also associated in some way with the lunar system.
So true is the association of the lunar rhythm with the manifestations of many of the psychic and more subtle effects and conditions of the human body that the periods of these conditions are measured by the moon periods of approxi' mately twentyeight days each.
While all this is generally admitted by the masses and by medical authorities, and undoubt' edly seriously considered by the student of na" ture's laws, the relation of such rhythm to the phases of the moon is not generally known. Re' cent discoveries by science, however, have con' firmed many of the principles known to the Rosicrucians and used by them in many ways.
The moon, as a planet, has a very definite cycle of phases, the cycle covering a period of approxi' mately twentyeight days and known as a lunar month or a lunar cycle. We will use the term
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cycle. Because this cycle is divisible, we will proceed to divide the cycle into units, each unit being a rhythmic one, as we shall see.
Onc'half of the moon's cycle is fourteen days; one-half of this (or one-fourth of the cycle) is seven days; one-half of this is three and one-half days. This three and one-half days equals eighty four hours.
The full cycle of the moon, constituting one complete revolution from perigee to apogee and back again to perigee, is the lunar month referred to above and this complete cycle is often referred to as the long cycle of the moon; while a short cycle would be the ordinary tide cycle correspond- ing to the upper and lower transit of the moon. This short cycle is, on the average, twelve hours. Hence, we have two moon cycles to refer to; the short one of twelve hours, known as the moon's tide cycle, and the long one of twenty-eight days on the average. We can deal only with averages because of shght variations in time.
Because there is a long and a short cycle we will also have long and short units of these cycles. Not as an arbitrary matter, but because of fun-
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damental laws you will recognizie, we will call the three and one-half days, arrived at above, as the unit of the long cycle, or a long unit.
Taking the short cycle of twelve hours and di' viding it we will have three hours as a short unit.
First let us note that a long unit of three and a half days equals seven short cycles, or seven times twelve hours.
The two units, arrived at above, one of three hours, and one of three and a half days, manifest themselves in the rhythmic actions of mind and body like waves or undulations of a rhythmic wave. Here is where we make important dis' coveries and can go beyond the findings of sci- ence, even, through our other knowledge of cer- tain laws of nature.
In the case of diseases we find some very inter- esting and helpful facts by analy2;ing average cases and using the averages of units of the moon's cycle. The averages betray the effect of anabolic and ketabolic lunar phases or units of the cycle as follows:
The incubation period of typhoid fever is from seven to twenty-one days, or two to six long units.
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The incubation period of varicella is fourteen days, or four long units; of smallpox, seven to fourteen days, or two to four long units; of scarlet fever, three and a half days, or one long unit; of whooping cough, ten and a half days, or three long units; of dengue, three and a half days, or one long unit; and of diphtheria, three and a half days to ten and a half days or one to three long units.
In all acute fever cases of any name or na' ture the rhythmic period of these units is very pronounced and definite. Regular changes occur every seven days (as has been noted for years) or, in other words, after every two long units (one positive and one negative, as we shall see). The longer the disease continues the more definite are the changes every seven days, and even the single unit, three and a half days, is well marked and important.
These units of rhythm also manifest in the process of germination and gestation of life, and have the efi^ect also of determining sex. The av erage time in hatching eggs of many species is three and a half days or one long unit. In many
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insects it is one and a half weeks or three long units. The hen lays eggs for three weeks (six long units) and sets on them for an equal period.
The ovum possesses structurally, the elements of both sexes, but by sHght functional change is one time actively female and at another actively male. The periods of change agree with the units of rhythm referred to above. Fertilization of the ovum arrests these periodic changes in one of its active sex conditions, and this determines the sex of the embryo.
We have spoken of the negative and positive units or periods. It is this difference in poten' tiahty that determines the sex of the unit and also the strengthening or weakening influence of the units during disease. These different potentials can be detennined easily.
Returning again to the short cycle of twelve hours, called the moon's tide cycle, we find that the action of the tides gives us the key to the potentials. The six hours of time preceding the maximum point of high tide are strengthening and the six hours immediately following the hour of high tide are weakening in their effect on the
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psychological and psychic or emotional processes of hfe. The first three hours before high tide point are positive hours, or constitute a Positive Short Unit (or wave) of the rhythmic cycle; while the first three hours after the point of high tide are negative and constitute the Negative Short Unit. Each positive unit is preceded by a nega' tive and followed by a negative; hence in every twelve hours, or tide cycle, there are two positive and two negative units; in each day of twenty four hours there are four of each of these units. But, to be able to determine when they are nega' tive or positive we must take the hour of high tide as the key — taking the hour of high tide as it is known for each locaHty on the face of the earth, regardless of whether the locality is near a body of water or not.
Taking the long cycle or lunar month cycle of an average of twentyeight days, we have the long unit of three and a half days. There are eight of these long units in each long cycle. We find that the first of these units immediately preceding the hour of full moon is a positive long unit and the unit following a full moon is a negative unit.
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Hence we have three and a half days before full moon as positive in nature and three and a half days immediately following full moon as negative in nature. There are four such positive and four such negative units of three and a half days in each lunar cycle of twenty-eight days.
It is easy to see that in addition to the cycles explained in previous chapters we are living under the influences of a very systematic, though strange, series of alternating psychic units of positive and negative rhythmic waves, some three hours long and others three and a half days long. Therefore, while one of the long positive units of three and a half days is in effect there will be twentyeight short units of three hours each alternately nega- tive and positive in effect also. A positive short unit in effect during a positive long unit will give a very positive effect; a negative short unit in effect during a positive long unit will give a neutral condition; a negative short unit in effect during a negative long unit will give a decidedly negative condition.
The long units of three and a half days have their greatest influence on purely psychic func
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tioning of the organs or psychic processes during disease or abnormal conditions of the body as a whole. The short units have their greatest effect on the mental, nervous, and biological function' ings and processes of the body in either health or disease.
It is for this reason that the long periods have an important effect on such diseases (fevers) as we have mentioned, and many others; while in such conditions as fertilization, fecundation, con' tagion, and similar processes the shorter units have a greater effect. A purely positive unit or period of time produces a strong, life-giving masculine condition, while a purely negative unit or period produces only a weaker, feminine condition. The one is active, the other restful. The neutral period, as mentioned above, produces a passive condition.
We find the short units exerting their influence very strongly in the conditions relating to child' birth. Here the nervous system, the sympathetic processes, and the organic functionings, are very sensitive to the influences we have been describing. During the negative long unit of time, especially the first three hours after high tide maximum
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point, the body is at rest and the contractions are weaker and less helpful during labor, while the positive long unit, especially the first three hours immediately preceding the high tide point, produces an active condition so far as the con' traction and other process conditions are con' cerned, and less wilful effort is needed by the patient, with no external or artificial assistance given by the physician. If the birth does not occur during the first two units (six hours) preceding high tide, it will not occur without forced and painful conditions during the next three hours (the first unit after high tide) or without unnecessary suffering and weakness during the next three hours (the second unit after high tide). The patient should be permitted to rest during the negative units and become active and helpful only during the first unit before high tide. It will be noted that the contractions through labor are rhythmic and become stronger during the positive units of time and passive or weak during the negative units. By taking advantage of such influences on the rhythm the patient retains much strength, the use of drugs becomes unnecessary and artificial assist'
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ance is entirely avoided. Of one hundred tests made by this method, ninety-eight confirmed each principle involved and the other two were affected by other causes and conditions of abnormality.
In thinking or planning, in talking or doing any mental or functional act that requires strength of the nervous system, impressiveness or personal magnetism and good vitaHty, take advantage of the positive units of time. In the treatment of disease administer all help possible during the long positive units and the short positive units, but permit the patient to rest during the negative periods. If a crisis is due during a long negative period keep the patient as quiet as possible until a positive unit is at hand, especially a long one, then if the patient has not succumbed, the posi' tive unit will assist in passing over it successfully.
To properly determine the units of time one should secure from an authentic source the daily or weekly schedule of tides for the city or lo' cahty where one lives; likewise a moon table, such as is pubhshed in most almanacs, giving the revolutions or phases and cycles of the moon for each month.
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All that has been learned or revealed by experiment rC' garding the moon's cycles is contained in the foregoing pages of this chapter. Neither the author of the book nor the publishers can attempt to give to individual readers any information regarding the moon's periods and in- fluence upon tides for various localities, nor the moon's probable cycle of influence in connection with various dis' eases and illnesses. Whatever indefiniteness or incomplete- ness there may be regarding the moon and its influence in such matters is a problem that awaits further study and investigation at the hands of the new scientific age. Let us hope that the rising generation, becoming free of the bias and prejudices of the past, will undertake this great work.
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