I just can't
deny the power the moon has on me.
From the first time I looked up to the night sky, I fell in love with her, and every time I do, it happens over and over again. She is the brightest thing in the sky, the one guiding light. She is more than the planet Earth's natural satellite; she has become a symbol, a constant enigma for human beings.
If you watch the Moon for too long, you will begin to feel that you are getting lost in her shine and you probably will never come back. It feels like your body is floating, and the universe is ready to take you.
People in some cultures have often feared the Moon because of the many myths surrounding it. The most popular one: the werewolves and the vampires, free during the night to kill everything they want, but slaves of the sun. We cannot deny that -She- is the silent witness of everything that happens in the realm of darkness. Another quiet witness of mankind's history. The Moon appears to be the only constant thing in our lives, in the lives of those who walk at night and through time, unchanging, loyal and reliable, the only ones that will keep our secrets safe forever, the one that will let us stare at her.
There is such a fascination with the moon that we can find movies, books and art with the moon as a main character.
Werewolves
are one of the creatures that we often see depicted in films who carry myths
and legends from century to century. These creatures are, of course,
affiliated with the full moon. Typically, it is believed that these are
creatures that have human form but morph into wolf-like (typically violent)
creatures when the full moon is in the sky.
Various
methods for becoming a werewolf have been reported, one of the simplest being
the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of Wolfskin, probably as a
substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin (which is also frequently described). In other cases, the body is rubbed with a magic salve.
To drink rainwater out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink
from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of
accomplishing metamorphosis. The 16th-century Swedish writer Olaus
Magnus says that the Livonian werewolves were initiated by
draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula. Ralston
in his Songs of the Russian People, gives the form of
incantation still familiar in Russia.
In Italy,
France and Germany, it was said that a man or woman could turn into a werewolf
if he or she, on a certain Wednesday or Friday, slept outside on a summer night
with the full moon shining directly on his/her face.
This is only one example of some of the powerful stories that people across time and across the world associate with the moon.
Vampiric Connection (Wikipedia)
In Medieval
Europe, the corpses of some people executed as werewolves were cremated rather
than buried to prevent them from being resurrected as vampires. Before
the end of the 19th century, the Greeks believed that the corpses of
werewolves, if not destroyed, would return to life as vampires in the form of
wolves or hyenas, which prowled battlefields, drinking the blood of dying
soldiers. In some rural areas of Germany, Poland and Northern France, it was
once believed that people who died in mortal sin came back to life as
blood-drinking wolves. This differs from conventional werewolfery, where the
creature is a living being rather than an undead apparition. These vampiric
werewolves would return to their human corpse form at daylight.
The Mayan people have several stories about different moon goddesses. One goddess frequently associated with the moon is Ixchel who is associated with the moon because she is a fertility goddess. However, it is believed that she may actually be the “grandmother of the moon” and represent aging and the drying up of fertility in old age so she is most commonly linked with the waxing of the moon and not the moon at all times.
These are the names of the Moon Goddess in Greek and Roman mythology respectively. In the myths associated with these goddesses, the goddess is paired with the god of the sun. He travels throughout the day and she takes over the journey at night. She is typically considered to be a passionate goddess who takes many lovers and who represents the desire associated with the moon.
Using many
different forms of symbolism, the moon itself has become a symbol for love,
desire, change, passion, fertility, and violence.
.jpg)
.jpg)
