We like da mooooon - full or new - on Monday

What's this all about, you ask? Click on the picture and find out - after you read this entry, natch ;-)

Well, I was planning to continue my romp through the senses, but the moon has been rising and setting in the back of my mind, and as she disappears into the mystery of Darkness, she has been pulling me to write about her. So. Here we are.

Monday is actually the moon's day, for this was Moon's Day once upon a time, back in the days that are surrounded by mists and memory in the human collective awareness. Fitting, really, since the moon's day follows the sun's day, just as the moon follows the sun in the sky. The rest of the days of the week are shared by various Norse deities, save for old man Saturn, who refused to cede his Day to these younger upstarts! (Saturn is the Roman name for the Greek god Kronos, who came to be associated with matters of chronos, or time itself. No wonder he wanted to stay pat!) Since I'm in danger of wandering very far off topic, I think I'll save this discussion for another time. Help me remember that I've bookmarked this...? (lol)

Anyway, back to the moon: she illustrates the greater mystery of life, in her emergence from the Darkness, only to return to it. Her cycles are constant and unchanging - although the occasional lunar eclipse throws a bit of spicy variety into the mix. Unlike the sun, with his unchanging form, the moon is continually shifting her shape. She speaks of the mysteries of birth, growth, maturing, decline, and death - and the changing one constantly does through all these phases of life. But after she disappears, she doesn't stay "disappeared" forever; no, she returns again, to start a new cycle, whispering of the mystery of re*birth! Same old moon, but a new cycle. More food for deep contemplation...

(Now, back in those misty days of memory, some will recall the moon was more likely to be referred to as "he," and the sun as "she." Over the centuries, the genders have been reassigned. I resonate more with the current assignations, but I respect those who want to kick it old-school, if you will. Just flip-flop it in your mind and you'll be fine. That's what I do quite often.) ;-)

When you look up at the moon, what do you see?
For a long time, I saw a face in the moon - the wo/man of the moon. As I started reading Chinese and Chinese-inspired literature (translated - I don't speak or read it in this lifetime! lol), I came across the idea of the hare in the moon. So I looked again, with new eyes, and there it was! Now I see the hare instead of the face. For those who are interested, you'll need to turn your head sideways to see it. When the moon wanes, the ears of the hare disappear first.

I have found myself aligning more and more with the moon and her cycles of shapeshifting over these last few years, particularly with my studies of (Divine) Feminism. I find myself counting the months more by the moon, rather than the formal, solar-anchored (and much altered!) calendar. Not surprising, since the months used to be meted out by the constant waxing and waning of the moon.
All the other female mammals have solar-based estrus cycles; human females are the only mammal to have lunar menstrual cycles. We freed ourselves from the cycles of the sun to gain a competitive edge, perhaps...or perhaps to enable ourselves to experience pleasure when it comes to procreation! Either way, this was the first shape-shifting of the human species, and the opening of the gate of human evolution. The second shape-shifting has yet to take hold fully - and that will be another topic of discussion.

For now, I will keep an eye on the little lunar advisor I've added to my blog, since the seasons are changing, and the marine layer has returned, thick and gray and dense, obscuring the sky and blocking the view. I feel my energies re-aligning themselves with her gentle, constant waxing and waning...even if my menstrual cycle feels like keeping its own rhythm. Ah, the quirks of being something entirely else in the world! (lol)