The Moon is humanity's first calendar; the words 'moon' and 'month' share a root with measuring (Latin mensis, metiri). In Sumer the Moon god Nanna is the father of the Sun, and greater than him; in Greece Selene crosses the sky in her chariot, Artemis hunts in the forest, Hecate waits at the crossroads. Three faces: full moon, crescent, dark moon.
The map below gathers the branches of the Moon's symbolism: lunar gods and goddesses, the triple goddess, calendar, tide, lunacy, silver. Tap a branch.
The glyph at the centre, the branches of the Moon's symbolism around it: gods (gold), archetypes (blue), traditions (green) and narratives (red). Tap a branch and its explanation opens on the right.
Son of Enlil and Ninlil; lord of Ur, father of the Sun (Utu) and of Inanna. He fixes the months, the calendar and fate; the crescent is his bull's horns. The cult of Sin at Harran lasted into Roman times. For Babylon the Moon matters more than the Sun. Nanna in the Mesopotamian family tree →
Daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios; she crosses the night sky in a two-horse chariot. She falls in love with the shepherd Endymion asleep on Mount Latmos and asks Zeus for eternal sleep and youth for him. The Moon as heavenly body itself. Selene in the Greek family tree →
Daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin of Apollo; the hunt, wild nature, virginity, childbirth and the protection of young girls. When Actaeon sees her naked she turns him into a stag. In the Hellenistic age she is identified with the crescent Moon; the Roman Diana. Artemis in the Greek family tree →
Daughter of Perses and Asteria; the three-faced goddess of crossroads, magic, night and thresholds. She lights Demeter's way with a torch in the search for Persephone. Goddess of the dark Moon, the crone and witchcraft; the dog and the key. Hecate in the Greek family tree →
In Egypt the Moon is male: Khonsu 'the traveller', the Theban god who measures time; Thoth the lunar scribe, lord of the calendar and of reckoning. The Moon is the left eye of Horus wounded by Seth; Thoth heals it (the wedjat). Khonsu in the Egyptian family tree →
Son of Mundilfari; the boy who drives the Moon, chased by the wolf Hati. In the Germanic languages the Moon is male (der Mond), Monday (Montag) is his day. He takes two children, Bil and Hjuki, up with him: the root of the nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill with their pail. Mani in the Norse family tree →
The Moon in Vedic astrology: the graha of mind (manas), mother and feelings; the twenty-seven nakshatras are his wives, and he is cursed to wane for favouring Rohini. Soma is both the Moon and the drink of immortality. Monday (Somavara) is his day.
Moon kami born from Izanagi's right eye; he kills the food goddess Ukemochi for producing food from her mouth, and Amaterasu never meets him again. Thus the separation of day and night is explained. Tsukuyomi in the Japanese family tree →
The crescent Artemis (maiden), the full moon Selene (mother, lover), the dark moon Hecate (crone, witch): the three phases of the Moon are the three ages of a woman's life. The Greeks united three goddesses in one Moon; Robert Graves placed this triad at the centre of modern paganism.
In astrology the Moon is the mother, the body, habit, need. The tides, the menstrual cycle and pregnancy were measured by the Moon's rhythm; the Moon's sign in the chart shows how we are nourished and how we nourish.
The Moon is the first clock and the first calendar; the Babylonian month begins with the new crescent, the Hebrew and Islamic calendars are still lunar. Nanna 'counts the months', Thoth 'reckons time'. The twenty-eight lunar mansions are the backbone of Arabic and Indian astrology.
From Latin luna comes lunaticus: moon-struck. Feelings overflowing at the full moon, sleepwalking, werewolf tales tell of the Moon's link to the unconscious. Endymion's endless sleep and dream belong to the Moon.
The Moon's metal is silver; moonlight is the reflection of the Sun, the Moon a mirror without light of its own. In alchemy Luna is the feminine partner of Sol; the chemical wedding (coniunctio) is the union of the two. In the body the brain, stomach, breast and left eye belong to the Moon.
In the tarot the High Priestess sits between two pillars with a crescent at her feet and a closed book in her lap: hidden knowledge, intuition, turning inward. In the Golden Dawn it is the Moon's card; in Kabbalah Yesod (Foundation), the sphere of imagination and the unconscious. Card XVIII, the Moon, tells of illusion.
Selene sees the shepherd Endymion asleep on Latmos and loves him; Zeus grants the shepherd whatever he wishes, and he asks for eternal youth in eternal sleep. Selene visits him every night and bears fifty daughters. The beloved does not change, the Moon does: the Moon's cycle against the constancy of passion.
Seth tears out Horus' left eye (the Moon); Thoth gathers the pieces, heals the eye and the Moon fills again. The wedjat eye becomes the amulet of wholeness and healing; its parts are the Egyptian fraction signs (1/2, 1/4, ... 1/64). The waning and waxing of the Moon is wound and healing.
The glyph of the Moon is the crescent: the shape of the first (or last) crescent. Half of the Sun's circle, reflected light; not closed but open, a receptive vessel. Tradition reads the crescent as the half state of spirit (the circle), that is spirit embodied, changing, receiving. The same sign marks silver and Monday.
The Moon's sex changes with the culture: male in Sumer, Egypt, the Germanic north and India (Nanna, Khonsu, Mani, Chandra), female in Greece and Rome (Selene, Artemis, Luna, Diana). The feminine Moon of astrology is a Greco-Roman inheritance.
Moon and calendar; father of the Sun. Lord of Ur and Harran, the bull with crescent horns. The god Nabonidus tried to raise above Marduk in Babylon.
In the family treeKhonsu the young Moon god of Thebes, Thoth the lunar scribe and reckoner. The Moon is the healed eye of Horus.
In the family treeHeavenly body, virgin huntress and crossroads sorceress: the three faces of the Moon in three goddesses.
In the family treeLuna the heavenly body worshipped on the Aventine; Diana goddess of forests, childbirth and the lake of Nemi, identified with Artemis. Monday is Lunae dies.
The boy who drives the Moon, brother of Sol; the wolf Hati pursues him. Monday is Mani's day.
In the family treeThe graha of mind and mother; the 27 nakshatras his wives. Pearl, white, Monday.
Moon kami born from Izanagi's right eye; his estrangement from Amaterasu divides night from day.
In the family treeIn the Sumerian hymn Nanna, god of Ur, builds his boat, loads it with trees, animals and grain and sails the canals to Nippur, the temple of his father Enlil. The gatekeeper does not recognise him; Nanna counts out the gifts, Enlil seats his son at the table and grants Ur abundance. Every month the Moon goes to his father's gate and is renewed: the hymn of the lunar calendar.
The hunter Actaeon, wandering Cithaeron with his dogs, sees Artemis bathing in a spring. The goddess throws a handful of water in his face: 'Now go and tell that you saw me naked, if you can.' Horns sprout on Actaeon's head, he turns into a stag; his own fifty dogs fail to know him and tear him apart. The gaze of the virgin Moon cannot be captured; the eye that sees her turns on its own beast.
Horus and Seth fight eighty years for the throne of Osiris. Seth tears out Horus' left eye and breaks it into six parts; the left eye is the Moon and stays in darkness. Thoth gathers the parts, heals the eye with his spittle and makes it whole: the wedjat, 'the sound one'. Horus offers the eye to his father Osiris and Osiris revives. The Moon filling again each month is the repetition of this healing; the Egyptian fraction signs are the pieces of the eye.
| Sign ruled | Cancer |
|---|---|
| Exaltation | Taurus 3° |
| Detriment | Capricorn |
| Fall | Scorpio 3° |
| Sect | Light of the night sect; sect leader in a night chart |
| Joy | 3rd house |
| Nature | Cold and moist; phlegmatic. Moisture increases while waxing, dryness while waning |
| Day and hour | Monday; the hours of the Moon |
| Metal | Silver |
| Speed | Between 12° and 15° a day; the fastest body, round the zodiac in 27.3 days |
In classical interpretation the Moon signifies the body, the mother, the people, habit, journeys and change; in horary astrology the Moon's aspects tell the course of the question and a void-of-course Moon says nothing will come of it. See the family of Selene, the lunar phases and the void of course Moon.
Day, metal, tarot and Kabbalah correspondences follow Agrippa, Lilly and the Golden Dawn; not one system but layers laid over centuries.
| Day | Monday (Lunae dies) |
|---|---|
| Metal | Silver |
| Number (Agrippa) | 9 |
| Tarot | II The High Priestess (and XVIII The Moon) |
| Kabbalah | Yesod (Foundation), the ninth sephira |
| Alchemy | Luna, silver; the feminine principle, partner of Sol |
| Body (Lilly) | Brain, stomach, bowels, breast, left eye (in men), right eye (in women) |
| Colour (Lilly) | White, silver, pale yellow-green |
| Angel (grimoire tradition) | Gabriel |
| Plants (tradition) | Willow, pumpkin, cucumber, white rose, moonflower |
It depends on the culture. In Sumer Nanna, in Egypt Khonsu and Thoth, in the Germanic north Mani, in India Chandra are male; the Greek Selene, Artemis and Hecate and the Roman Luna and Diana are female. The feminine, maternal Moon of astrology is a Greco-Roman inheritance; in Babylon the Moon was the father of the Sun.
The matching of the Moon's three phases with three goddesses: the crescent the maiden Artemis, the full moon the mother and lover Selene, the dark moon the crone Hecate. Scattered in ancient sources, this pairing was systematised in the 20th century by Robert Graves and modern paganism.
The crescent: half of the Sun's circle, reflected light, a receptive vessel. Spirit embodied, changing, always lacking and always filling. The same sign marks silver and Monday.
The body, the mother, the people, habits, feelings, journeys and every kind of change; in the body the brain, stomach and breast. It rules Cancer, is exalted in Taurus, falls in Scorpio and has its joy in the 3rd house; for a night birth it is the sect leader. In horary the question itself is read from the Moon's motion.
The lunar phases are the first regular cycle that can be counted with the naked eye: 29.5 days from new crescent to new crescent. The word 'month' shares a root with measuring (Latin mensis, metiri). The Babylonian, Hebrew and Islamic calendars begin the month with the crescent; the 28 lunar mansions are the basis of Arabic and Indian astrology.
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