Moon and Shadow: About Paganism

For many ages, the Moon symbolized the Feminine in many cultures for many reasons.

• Women’s menstrual cycles match the moon. If not for artificial light, that is, we’d match that of the moon.
• Women generally ovulate during the Full Moon
• The word menstruate comes from the Greek word for moon (mene)
• Many cultures also perceive the moon as a women’s symbol (i.e. goddess) though I read in India there is a God moon who travels the heavens to visit a number of wives (constellations).
• Each phase is also seen as a phase of a woman’s life; maiden (White Goddess and birth), Mother (love and battle) and Crone (death and divination)- but there are other symbolism and other triple faced Goddess(es)

The God in pagan religions is often that of Harvest and the sun. The masculine is perceived as being the solar year where he is born, dies, and is reborn. Its a very ancient story that crosses over many different cultures. He’s represented as not only the sun, but sacrificial harvest ‘king’, or that of the stag. In some pagan cultures, the horned animals were seen as sacred and life giving (so you wouldn’t starve in the winter).

Interesting, don’t you think?