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

Lunar maidens

At night the moon was a crescent and pretty bright. Regarded as the waxing moon phase, associated with maidens and magic. The other phases of the moon, gibbous, full moon, waning moon and new moon, are said to symbolise the three phases of a woman's life, maiden/mother/crone, or be an aspect of the triple goddess.

Animals of the moon's mythology go back centuries. It's said that there are rabbits and hares on the moon. Although such beliefs are recorded throughout the Far East and different other parts of Asia, some have found references to these mythical lunar animals among ancient Europeans and Aztecs. In Chinese mythology, a rabbit that lives on the moon creates herbs for the gods to make them immortal. The Chinese lunar rover is called Jade Rabbit.

 In Europe, there are three rabbits often chasing one another in a circle, linked with the lunar cycle and fertility, again associated with the moon and triple goddess and triskelion. These three rabbits dancing are a lunar symbol and appears on coats of arms and can be found across Europe and Asia.

There is a "moon gazing hare" and it's lunar and fertility and rebirth magical meaning. The hare and three rabbits base heavily in late winter and spring, and the moon becomes the image of an ovum and egg. Maiden goddesses, Artemis, Diana, Kore, Elaine, Parvati, Ostara, and Freya are associated with the spring and flowers. As the first flowers of the year bloom and light grows each day, we can witness the early change of seasons shifting from winter to spring.

There are many lunar deities, gods and goddesses of the moon. There are many lunar divinities in Greek mythology as there are a tapestry of different deities and spirits. There is Selene (Luna), the moon mother, Artemis the maiden of the moon, sister of Apollo, and granddaughter of Phoebe. This is where is becomes confusing because Selene's original name was Mene (that means both "moon" and "man"). Ancient Phrygian's worshiped a male lunar god called Men. The name and lunar god is somewhat similar to Mani of the northern Germanic tribes and Meness of the Latvian myths. There is the female moon  goddess Mano of the Sami myths and moon goddess Anumati of the Hindus. So there was a divine lunar twin brother and sister in European and Asian myths as well as celestial twins, god and goddess sun/moon brother/sister AND triplets!

In Germanic myth, there is Mani and masculine god of the moon. Yet there is evidence Mani has two sisters. One is the bright solar goddess Sunna (or Sol). Their sister is the lunar goddess Sinthgunt of the waxing phase, a moon maiden goddess. Sinthgunt "the night walking one", who has the ability to heal and blend herbs and tend the horses.

I could delve deeper into the moon magical mysteries but I've run out of time. This was merely to highlight some of the myths and names of gods and goddesses, less known and well known. The crescent waxing moon and maiden aspect of the triple goddess have messages and lost answers.  What's left are the fragments, traditions and folklore.


(The picture is by visionary artist Gilbert Williams).