I am now with Paulo’s ‘BY THE RIVER PIEDRA I SAT DOWN AND WEPT’. And few things in the book just made me to think very hard. The words….
“And we (women) came to understand the cycle of creation, because our bodies repeat the rhythm of the moon……that the moon was a reflection of my womanhood”
That night when I read these words, I went out to see the moon. Can I see the woman in the moon? I tried to find me in the moon – the woman I am! This was the first time when I was visualizing moon as feminine. And really it feels great to know about moon as symbol of feminism. Moon is Me!
When I surfed, most of the sites talked about the mysteries of moon and womanhood in menstruation. This, in turn lead our ancestors to associate the event of mensuration with the symbolism of the Womb of Tomb. This supported what the ancients saw occuring in the sky; the ability of the Moon to transform, change, and disappear for three days and then suddenly reappear to live again – having correspondence with Menstrual Cycle. And I have read about the ‘three faces of woman’ and now I found another face of woman, making it as ‘Four Faces of Woman’.
- Dark Moon/New Moon – Rising moon not yet visible. At the end of this stage a very small crescent can be seen. Face of Woman – Hag. Both at the end and the beginning of the moon cycle’s, indicates turning inward, future potentials, concentration of essential energies, spiritual emphasis for the greater whole.
- Waxing Moon/First Quarter – Can be seen in the west during the first part of the night. Appear to be getting fatter. Face of Woman – Maiden: indicative of developing personality, self absorption, drawing things toward her. Moon shows fast flowing incoming energies, things put in motion with effort, face facts, overcome obstacles.
- Full Moon – Night of full moon on the 3rd day is when this stage ends. Face of Woman – Young Mother: product of involvement, has a developed and mature personality.
- Waning Moon/Last Wuarter – The moon appears to be thinner and is reducing to a thin narrow crescent again. Face of Woman: Grandmother: concerned with entire family and community, giving one’s own experience of self development, teaching others of what she has learned. Moon shows outgoing energies, letting go of what is no longer needed or required, resolution of situations, finalizing conditions, rid of troubles and unwanted conditions.
I know next time when I will be looking at the moon, I will surely see the woman hiding inside her. But don’t know why till at this point, I never bothered myself or never tried to look into the feminine side of nature. Nature must be a woman!!
very nice post….
for sure nature is a women (though also little men). she nurtures us, she forgive us even when we harm her. she is a great womb, waiting for us to give our potential inside so beauty can arise. sometimes she is very angry, but if we really look we can see and feel the love behind this anger.
And i think most of the religions think of the moon as a woman. Most of the language that have different of feminine and masculine in words think of the moon as a female (though I don’t know enough languages and know many exceptions)
And about that i am not sure… but some say in older days, before all the chemicals came to play, most the women used to get their period around full moon.
Also because i can see so much beauty and teaching in the nature i find it a bit hard to understand how the Christian new year is now, make not much sense for me (but maybe it is only my upbringing)
women since ages have been compared to moon, in terms of beauty. Even though hindu mythology considers moon to be male, he has always been known for his beauty.
The phases of moon, have been always a symbol of metamorphosis, from something non existent to something which is full or a “whole”. even though as you said menstruation could be looked at as the changing phases, I think this would be just looking at one facet of women, I mean why should one measure her wholeness in terms of ability to reproduce, may be the wholeness of an individual has a lot more than her ability to reproduce.
I think moon as a symbol of calmness, and relentlessness, in a way it keeps rotating around the planets, so yeah these I would associate with a women.
Whoa, something I’ve not read. I wish I could leave a very smart comment, you will have to make do with this. 😉
Happy New Year.
Funnily, coming from the same culture as you, I have always thought the moon to be feminine. I had friends from school, girls who were Named, Chandra, Chandrika, Poornima, Shashi, Chandini, Chanda, Poonam. So, the moon always was Feminine to me.
To me the Moon represents, mystery, Firmness, nurture, Quiet, Receptiveness, Changing yet Constant(phases being the same every month), introspection, Soothing. I look at those qualities as something that a Woman cultivates, for in these are her greatest strengths.
Love the way you came to that understanding. 🙂 May you journey into this more deeply and may it help your groundedness.
my soul – what mean Shashi?
Shashi is Moon.
@ utopianfragments – Moon as woman is true. May be christian new year also holds also some secrets and I am not rich in my knowledge on this.
@ Rambler – We can’t take mensuration as one facet of woman, I agree….but I just wanted to make an attempt on similarity of human body and moon, how the phases of moon reflects womanhood.
@ writingforcrows – Happy New Year to you too!
@ Mysoul – wow! Now this is really intersting. I always thought of moon as masculinine even when I also do have friends named poonam, chandni. But for these names I always felt to see the beauty of moonlight, rather than the reflection of feminine characteristics in these names. Thanks mysoul, your words are always encouraging 🙂
wooh!!
i dint know you would come up with this my dear!
i just remembered the discussion we had….and i had said it sounds very filmi!
well done gurl…great going…nice thoughts n research there…
I have always been intrigued by the moon. But, like yourself, I had never given much thought to the moon’s femine side. I always thought of the man in the moon. Now, thanks to your wonderful enlightment, I shall search for the woman in the moon. Perhaps I will learn something with my new exploration – – I feel good energies here. Thanks for sharing!
Peace, Light and Love. . .
CordieB.