Over the Moon

Susan here, bringing images and thoughts about the moon in honor of the recent full moon and lunar eclipse. Maybe you were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it.

The moon has always fascinated humankind -- luminous, mystical, reliable in its phases, associated with myth and legends, attributed with magical properties, studied by science, its dust now holds our footprints. The moon will be there for as long as the earth exists, and its stories and magic will last forever. And what uncommon magic it is, accessible to anyone – we have the privilege of being able to step outside to gaze up at it whenever the clouds part of an evening.

By long, old tradition, the moon is most often associated with goddesses and women, including the Greeks with Artemis and Selene, the Romans with Diana and Luna, and many others in many cultures. Some ancient societies connected male deities to the moon—the Egyptian Khonsu and Set, for instance, while the Hindu culture with some prophetic PC thinking gave the moon a dual male/female association. And of course, there is the man in the moon who gazes whimsically down at us in its fullest aspect. But overall, women and the moon are so closely connected in our cyclical natures that ancient cultures recognized its powerful and mysterious feminine energy, and that has stuck in most mythologies.

We can wish on the moon, too, so it is claimed. Its mysterious power gathers, say some astrologers, at the time of the full moon and the new moon. Wishes and dreams can come true at those times, if our wishes have clarity and purpose, and the moon is in a listening mood. So wherever you are, take a moment to wish on the full moon tonight – and may your fondest desires come true!

Scroll through the moon gallery below and enjoy! 

Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.  -- W. Clement Stone

 

Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun. 

-- John Lennon

O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon . . . 

-- Shakespeare

Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.

— J.R.R. Tolkien

 

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas. 

-- Alfred Noyes

Tell us your thoughts about the moon. Does it have a special meaning for you?

Would you wish upon the moon, and if you have, did that wish come true?