"Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own"
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own"
With a blue moon almost upon us at the end
of this month, I am blogging about myths and folklore to do with the moon.
For thousands of years, people have
looked up at the moon and wondered about its divine significance. No surprise
many cultures had lunar deities - that is, gods or goddesses associated with
the power and energy of the moon. If you're doing a moon-related ritual, in
some traditions of Wicca and Paganism you may choose to call upon one of these
deities for assistance.
Alignak is the god of both the moon
and weather. He controls the tides, besides also earthquakes and eclipses. In some stories, it is told that he is also responsible
for returning the souls of the dead to earth so that they may be reborn.
Alignak may appear in harbors to protect fishermen from Sedna, the wrathful sea
goddess.
Artemis is the Greek goddess of the
hunt. As her twin brother, Apollo, was associated with the Sun, Artemis
became connected to the moon in the post-Classical world. During the
ancient Greek period, although Artemis was represented as a lunar goddess, she
never gotten portrayed as the moon itself. In post-Classical artwork,
she is depicted beside a crescent moon and is often associated with the Roman
Diana as well. Like Artemis, Diana began as a goddess of the hunt who later evolved into a lunar goddess.
Cerridwen is the keeper of the cauldron of knowledge in Celtic mythology. Besides the giver of wisdom and
inspiration, she is often associated with the moon and the intuitive process. As a goddess of the
Underworld, Cerridwen is often symbolized by a white sow, which represents both
her fecundity and fertility and her strength as a mother. She is both Mother and Crone; many modern
Pagans honor Cerridwen for her close association to the full moon.
Chang'e of Chinese mythology was
married to the king Hou Yi. Although he was once known as a great archer, later
Hou Yi became a tyrannical king, spreading death and destruction wherever he
went. People starved and were brutally treated. Hou Yi greatly feared
death, so a healer gave him a special elixir that would allow him to live
forever. Chang'e knew that for Hou Yi to live forever would be a terrible
thing, so while he slept, one night she stole the potion. When Hou Yi saw her
and demanded the return of the potion, she immediately drank it and flew
up into the sky as the moon, where she remains to this day. In some Chinese
stories, this is the perfect example of someone making a sacrifice to save others.
In Aztec stories, Coyolxauhqui was
the sister of the god Huitzilopochtli. She died when her brother leapt from
their mother's womb and killed all of his siblings. Huitzilopochtli cut off
Coyolxauhqui's head and threw it up into the sky, where it remains today as the
moon. She is typically depicted as a young and beautiful woman, adorned with
bells and decorated with lunar symbols.
Hecate was venerated as a mother
goddess, During the Ptolemaic period in Alexandria, she was elevated to her position as
goddess of ghosts and the spirit world. Many contemporary Pagans and Wiccans
honor Hecate in her guise as a Dark Goddess, although it would be incorrect to
refer to her as an aspect of the Crone, because of her connection to childbirth
and maidenhood. It's more likely that her role as "dark goddess"
due to her connection to the spirit world, ghosts, the dark moon, and magic.
Thoth was an Egyptian god of magic
and wisdom, and appears in a few legends as the god who weighs the souls of the
dead, although many other stories assign that job to Anubis. Because Thoth is a
lunar deity, he is often portrayed wearing a crescent on his head. He is
closely associated with Seshat, a goddess of writing and wisdom, who is known
as the scribe of the divine.
Sina is one of the best-known
Polynesian deities. She resides within the moon itself, and is the protector of
those who might travel at night. Originally, she lived on earth, but got tired
of the way her husband and family treated her. So, she packed up her belongings
and left to go live in the moon, according to Hawaiian legend. In Tahiti , the story goes that Sina, or Hina, simply got
curious about what it was like on the moon, and so paddled her magical canoe
until she got there. Once she had arrived, she was struck by the moon's
tranquil beauty and decided to stay.
Last, is Selene. She is the sister of
Helios, the Greek sun god. Tribute got paid to her on the days of the full
moon. Like many Greek goddesses, she had a number of different aspects. At one
point she was worshipped as Phoebe, the huntress, and later was identified with Artemis. Her lover was a young
shepherd prince named Endymion, who was granted immortality by Zeus - however, he was also granted eternal
slumber, so all that immortality and eternal youth was wasted on Endymion. The
shepherd was doomed to sleeping in a cave forever, so Selene descended from the
sky every night to sleep beside him. Unlike most other lunar goddesses of Greece , Selene
is the only one who is actually portrayed as the moon incarnate by the early
classical poets.
But the moon has more
to do with superstitions and legends besides as a diety:
The word lunatic comes from the Latin luna. This is because it was
believed that people were more likely to exhibit aberrant behavior during a
full moon. Although studies have been done showing that emergency room visits
and accidents are increased during the full moon period, there has yet to be
conclusive evidence for causation. Of course, with the full moon at some point
being a part of a werewolf ‘s transformation, maybe this is what they thought.
The moon seems to have an effect on animals as well as
people. A Florida
expert on animal behavior reports that hamsters spin in their wheels far more
aggressively during the moon's full phase. Deer and other herbivores in the wild
tend to ovulate at the full moon, and in Australia 's
Great Barrier Reef , the full moon is mating
time for coral. Werecoral?
The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert
Louis Stevenson, was inspired by the strange -- and yet very true -- case of
Charles Hyde, a London
man who committed a series of crimes at the time of the full moon.
A British legend tells that if Christmas falls on the
day of a dark Moon, the following year's harvest would be a bountiful one. In
some parts of the British Isles , it is
believed that a waxing moon on Christmas will insure a good crop the next fall,
but a waning moon indicates a bad one will happen.
When a halo is seen around the moon, in some countries
this means bad weather is coming.
The first time you see a crescent moon for the month,
take all your spare coins out of your pocket, and put them in the other pocket.
This will ensure good luck for the next month.
It is believed that the fifth day after a full moon is
the perfect time to try to conceive a child.
Offerings are made to the ancestors on the night of a
full moon in some Chinese tales.
The moon is held captive by a hostile tribe in some
Native American legends. In the tales, there are a pair of antelope who hope to
rescue the moon and take it the village of a good tribe. But Coyote, the
trickster, interferes. The antelope chase Coyote, but he throws the moon into a
river each night, always out of reach of the antelope.
The night of the full moon is believed to be a good
time for divination and scrying,
so if you want to find some things out, a good time to do so.
5 comments:
I enjoyed reading the legends and myths about the moon. Some I knew and some I didn't. Interesting!
I may have to try changing coins to another pocket... lol
Thank you so much for sharing with us. This was an awesome post :)
Glad you enjoyed them, Karen.
You're welcome, Denise. Glad you enjoyed them.
This was very interesting, Pamela.
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