Moon from Many Perspectives

Some of the Many Perspectives

There are many perspectives from which we can view the Moon. There is the scientific perspective, there is the romantic, poetic, artistic perspective, there is the cultural perspective, there is the anthropological perspective, there is the perspective from folk lore (who has a special branch devoted to all things lunar called ‘moon lore’) and finally there is the esoteric perspective, which encompasses themes of an esoteric and psychological nature.

Many Moons

There are really many Moons, that is there are as many Moons as there are cultures, as each culture has their particular way of viewing the Moon.

To Study the Moon is in Some Way to Study Ourselves

There is an interesting point developing here, which is to say: that by studying the Moon we are studying ourselves. By studying the moon we are at the same time studying aspects of our cultures, myths, symbology’s, concepts, beliefs, knowledge and science.

A Note on the Esoteric Perspective

The esoteric perspective of the Moon is essentially the view of the Moon from the psychological, astrological, mystical and spiritual point of view.

The esoteric view also studies some of the aspects that are present in the conventional scientific viewpoint of the Moon and agrees with them as it must, according to the principle or axiom: “that was is not physical is not physical”.

Please note, the conventional scientific point of view essentially presents the study of the Moon from a very physical, mathematical and analytical perspective.

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Clarification About the Word ‘Moon’

Moon

In English when the word ‘moon’ is mentioned we commonly and very specifically think about the silvery grey spherical and dimpled body hanging in the sky, Very rarely do we think about the word ‘moon’ being a generic term that is synonymous with the word ‘satellite’.

Satellite

Satellite originally in the 1540’s was used in context to mean a follower or attendant to a superior person. It wasn’t until the 1610’s and as late as the 1660’s that astronomers used the word satellite to describe the moons of Jupiter. Essentially a satellite is an object that orbits another planet.

Planet

The word planet comes from the Latin word ‘planeta’ and the Greek word ‘planes’ which means wanderer. Some stars the ancient Greeks observed moved position from night to night while others stayed fixed. These stars that were given the name wanderers turned out to be mostly planets.

The Moon as a Satellite

In terms of satellites the Moon is the fifth largest in mass in the solar system. The largest satellite is Ganymede. The Moon is a very irregular satellite in the sense that it is greater in size and mass than the satellites of the major planets. The Moon is just under half the mass of Ganymede.

The Moon is the fifth largest satellite in our (Ors) solar system. Note, in some esoteric circles the name for our Solar System is Ors.

Summary

In English the word ‘moon’ has two uses. One use is in reference to the silvery grey heavenly body that orbits the Earth and the other use is to refer to any heavenly body that orbits a planet, for example the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. Even though a moon or the Moon looks very much like a planet from a distance, it is not classed as a planet but rather as a natural satellite.

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Moon in Myth

Luna Incognita

The Moon is the most examined object in the sky, yet it still, even though much has been discovered about it remains a mystery, a luna incognita.

Fertility

The Egyptians had several lunar myths related to fertility. In Greek mythology the moon is associated with the goddess Selene and also with Artemis and Hecate. Selene is Greek for the moon and also the root of the word selenology which means the study of the moon. Luna on the other hand was the Roman Goddess for the Moon.

According to these myths the moon was a goddess responsible for fecundity in the human, vegetable and animal worlds. It seems that a common element in many of the mythologies throughout the world is that the Moon was a Goddess responsible for conception, birth and fertility.

Myths About the Origin of the Moon

There are various myths about the origin of the Moon that unfortunately don’t agree with each other, however they do shed some light onto the role that the Moon has in relation to the Earth and humanity. The Greek myth of Selene (the Moon) is an example.

Greek Myth of Selene

The Greek myth of Selene doesn’t suggest that the moon is the daughter of the earth as the Mayan do, but it suggests something very interesting about the nature of the Moon’s influence over the earth and humanity.

The Greek myth states that there was a Greek youth named Endymion, that as most accounts say was a shepherd. He was very handsome and he happened to catch the eye of Selene or Luna. She fell in love with him and because she didn’t want to share him with anyone else she kissed him, slept with him and placed him into a deep sleep that has no end. Every night since then she visits him and lavishes him with her kisses. Endymion in many other Greek myths represents humanity and some other Greek myths also say that Selene was beloved by Pan the God of nature. This is very suggestive and interesting and in later blogs we will examine this myth in greater detail.

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Origin of the Words: Moon and Luna

Moon

The word ‘Moon’ has its origin in the old English word ‘mona’. There were words similar to the old English ‘mona’ in other archaic languages that were used to refer to the Moon. They were ‘mene’ in Old Frisian (an old Germanic language spoken in 500 to 700AD), ‘mane’ in middle dutch, ‘mano’ in old Saxon, old Icelandic and Danish.

It wasn’t until the 15th century that English speaking people began spelling the word ‘mona’ as moon or occasionally as ‘moone’ with a silent ‘e’ added onto the back of it. The Latin word for moon is Luna, which was the Roman God for the Moon or the Roman version of the Greek Goddess Selene.

Selene

Selene is a Greek word and most likely comes from the Greek root ‘selas’, meaning brightness. Lunar in English is used to refer to the moon, and it is interesting to note that in antiquity lunar was also used to refer to a women’s menstrual cycle and also to insanity.

Moon Masculine or Feminine?

In English, the word Moon was regarded for a while as a masculine word, coming essentially from the “man in the moon” however now, it seems that it has changed and it has now become a feminine word.

Luna

Luna was the Roman Goddess of the Moon and so that is why in Italian, French, Portuguese and Spanish the Moon is feminine. For example in Spanish the Moon is ‘La Luna’ and in French the Moon is ‘La Lune’.

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