Lady She-Wolf Moon

Hello and welcome to February 2014. As we approach the full moon, there is something to keep in mind also: It's Valentine's Day during the full moon. Some of you may already know the true pagan origins of Valentine's Day and it's supernatural links with Lupercalia (an ancient festival in honour of the wolves, mainly of goddess Lupa, mother she-wolf who reared boys that were later to become the founding fathers of Rome). Lupa is another name for a female wolf. Depicted as a giant wolf, this matriarch she-wolf nurses human infants as she stands proud, represented in bronze, the Capitolina Lupa statue. Some myths claim that Lupa is really a beautiful Etruscan goddess of fertility, named Acca Larentia, wife of Faunus. In ancient times before Rome, the nickname given to prostitutes was "she-wolf" and this goddess prostituted herself to gain vast fortunes, so the name Lupa and She-Wolf was stuck with prostitute, lover, sweetheart and mother.

The full moon of Lupa festival can be regarded as another time of the wolf lady: Vanadis. This is another alternative name for Freya and scattered references show that She had many different other names. In Vanadis the goddess was able to transform into a wolf. Her special animal companions are cats and a boar, and it is said in early Scandinavian myths that the cats pull Her golden blazing chariot across the sky. Her special flower is a rose and Her symbols are the pentagram and heart. The favourite symbol of Valentine's Day is a love heart, which is a type of triquetra.

The Turkik, Ainu, Mongolian and Chechen people believe that they are descended from wolves. All those people view the She-Wolf as a mother figure. Modern people use wolf talismans to protect against damage, diseases and evil spirits. Wolf symbols have been used as good luck charms. Ancient people such as warriors respected wolves as fellow hunters. Although many feared them, wolves came to be respected and used by farmers as protectors of their livestock from pests and thieves. Early humans developed a relationship with wolves, and domestication of the Grey Wolf began many thousands of years ago when we were hunter-gatherers.

IMHO myths were born from historical tales and oral traditions passed down. Some myths talk in riddles and use code, such as "monsters" to describe the fear that ancestors had when they really encountered dangerous mega fauna. Extinct animals, i.e. mammoths, may have been the source of where the monsters and beasts started. Classical and medieval period myths of dragons, ogres, cyclops, unicorns ect stem from a lost age of primitive hereditary memories. The myth of werewolves and the wolf ancestors have a link to that past too.There is a supernatural and mystery to it though and WE DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING. I know that there is more to it than this. The moon has a fundamental pull on the earth, blood and psyche and influences the earth. Full moon's alter brain patterns and can change sleeping. It's assumed magic doesn't exist but it does. 

She Wolf Night

Picture:
"Protector" by Anne Stokes