The Moon In A Living Culture

The Moon is the Earth’s attendant and a body revolving about it, to transmit experiences into the instinctive functions of human nature by forming habitual pattern that become predictable behavioural reactions and responses in a living culture.

The Moon represents the mother and any strong matriarchal or family influence that has left a deep impression on the psyche. It often reveals itself in patriotism and vivid awareness of traditional values and ancestral worth.

The Moon governs conception, pregnancy, birth and animal instinct. It rules the infant, the most impressionable stage of a person.

The moon is the regulator on the pendulum of time; representing the weight of the past, and acts like a brake on the progressive towards cosmic consciousness. In so doing, it protects, nourishes and lovingly, nurtures the spark of life whenever it appears.

“The moon stop over Aijalon valley. The sun stood still and the Moon did not move until the nation had conquered its enemies. This is written in the book of Joshua. The sun stood still in the middle of the sky and did not go down on the day that God gave the men of Israel victory over the Amorites” Joshua 10: 12-13.

The ancient association of the Moon phases with fertility, growth and decay has been confirmed by science. The female menstrual circle correspondent to the sidereal lunar Month.

In mythology, the Moon is personified as the goddess Luna, selene or Diana, who is the queen of the night, the twin sister of Apollo - the sun god. She is a huntress, the mistress of animals and goddess of the chaste. She governs chastity as well as fertility.

The Moon as a sister of the sun god, shares many of his characteristics. (Owen ghai we ne a ghe ghe ireon, a ya ghe uki ne ovbiyee) she carries a bow and arrows and has the power to send plague and sudden death; but she is also the protectress of children and young animals, and a maiden goddess who severely punishes sexual lapses.

The poets and lyricists throughout the ages have sung praises to her beauty and have been worshipped by the priests of all races. She shines at her fullest as the glorious virgin wisdom of the sun, inspiring people with fantastic dreams of attaining the un-attainable. She wanes with a wan, sad smile that luringly invites the person to try again and waxes childlike, innocent, passive and receptive.
All Moon light is a reflection of sunlight. On the Earth we see the Moon changes from crescent shape to full and back again in 291/2 days. From out in space, we would see that about half the Moon is always lit up by the sun and half is always in darkness, except during an eclipse, when the Moon is in a direct line between the earth and the sun.

When the Moon is a quarter of the way around its orbit, we still see half of its surface, but half of this half is dark and half is illuminated, giving us a quarter Moon. When the Sun and the Moon both pull in line of new and full Moon, the tides are higher. Time table can be prepared years ahead on the basis of the Moon predicted movement.

The appearance of the New Moon for the year 2009 are January 26, February 25, March 26, April 25, May 24, June 22, July 22, August 20, September 19, October 18, November 16, and December 16 new Moon. The Moon appearance is a period of twelve Lunar months or 354 days while 31st December is the last full Moon. Hence the Ancient people did not find it easy of finding out when a year had passed so they had the calendar on the lunar months which is twelve or thirteen as it was necessary.

The Church traditional system of Easter is calculated in terms of interplay between the sun and the Moon so that Easter Sunday always fall on the first Sunday of March after the full moon which is the standard date of the spring equinox, which was the beginning of Ancient year.

When the New Moon appear on March 26, 2009, the full Moon is April 9, 2009 and Easter Sunday is April 12, 2009.

The menstrual circle of most women corresponds to the Moon - Lunar month, and the period of pregnancy is equal to nine lunar month or 273 days; hence also the church had calculated the birth of Jesus Christ from March 25, the apperance of Gabriel the Archangel to December 25, nine months from the Annunciation. It is a common knowledge that plant growth is influenced by the Moon, that tidal rhythms depend upon the Moon movements; that the Moon is a powerful indicator that competent astrologers often use the sign it occupied at birth as the birth sign of the person. This is done particularly when the sun and Moon signs confirming from one to the personalized analysis.
The Moon exercises an influence over the children of men which varies with monthly age in like manner as that of progress. The Moon phase is completed in about thirty days and twelve or thirteen times annually.

The probable of each person through life is gathered from the aspect of the day on which a person is born, and the issue of any particular event or undertaking from the day of its occurrence, transaction and commencement, counting in both instances from the New Moon.

The Moon has power over dreams and visions and exercises it more particularly on certain days. A child born within twenty four hours after the new Moon, will be fortunate and live to a good old age. Whatever is dreamed on that day will be pleasing to the dreamer. The child born on the second day of the New Moon will thrive. The second day is very lucky for discovering things lost or hidden treasures. A person born on the eight day, whatever business the person undertakes will prosper on this day. On the twenty-sixth day, the child born will be rich and greatly esteemed and the child that is born on the thirtieth day will be fortunate and happy, well skilled in arts and science.

Tradition as well as the scripture recognized the Moon and the Woman standing on the Moon Rev. 12: 1 and on sighting the New Moon Edo children would rushed out to take pinch of sand from the earth, throw it up to the New Moon saying take this soap to wash your child of teeming race - Ogbeide. To dream of the Moon foretell unexpected joy and success in love. A new Moon is good dream for tradesman, farmers, and lover. The full Moon denotes marriage - a honey Moon.

The moon’s feeling nature is dual, but not erratic. It is changeable in that the rhythms is measured and predictable, so the individual will fluctuate between pain and pleasurable emotions according to the pressure of time and circumstance hence the origin of the term “Lunacy” describe severe emotional believed to have come with the changes of the Moon.

The Moon in a living culture provides the raw and simple forms of life. It governs the public, the faceless masses and their combined emotional response, as distinct from the individual and the social orders