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There is so much written about the moon and the lunar cycles that it's hard to know where to begin. If you're struck with unrequited love ... you tend to moon about. If she loves you back ... and you get married ... why ... you're off on your honeymoon. And best of all ... if you're mentally off center ... you might be called by some a lunatic ... which is
--of course--total lunacy.
How about a touch of etymology. Man, mania, memory, menstruation (a lunar cyclical event), menopause, and mental all owe their derivative to the moon.
The moon has been worshipped from prehistory onward. Dominating the night sky ... mother to her son the sun ... she affects the tides of the oceans as well as the tides of our bodies ... so it is said and so it is written. And though she governs the motion of the seas as well as the timing of a woman's ovulation ... she is not always a she.
In Iran some 4500 years ago the moon was venerated as the Great Man ... able to take human form on Earth as a powerful king. Genghis Khan traced his origins to a king whose mother was impregnated by a moonbeam. The Maori of New Zealand held that the moon was husband to all women ... fertilizing and protecting them each and every one.
At one point in time the moon began to be seen as both a goddess and as her own son and lover who died and was reborn every month. This may seem to some to be a rather complex view ... but then so is the big bang theory which I'm still trying to come to terms with. (Out of nothingness there was?) Still ... to those who have trouble coming to grips with these complexities ... to you I say ... just cuz you don't understand it that don't mean it ain't true.
In many folk tales girls are warned not to lay about in the moonlight or they will become impregnated by the moon and give birth to some sort of monsters. I have given some thought to this last supposition ... and I have looked at the world around me ... especially since 9/11 ... and I have concluded--after having looked at those who were surely once children--that the moon must have had many a busy night with young and feckless maidens.
And so ... if the moon is male ... and if he shows his face upon its surface ... perhaps it is to entice those hapless ladies into the magic of his embrace. Who knows these things? Not I.
However ... I do know this: I have an image of a cameo carved onyx stickpin carved as a crescent man-in-the-moon looking at a star ... framed in 14 karat gold. It dates back to a time between the 1800's to the early 1900's and is worth around $1900.00.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I direct you to my home page at
And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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