|
The Moon has figured in human mythologies, often paired or contrasted with the Sun (see also Solar deity). The influence of the Moon in human affairs remains a feature of Astrology.
The monthly cycle of the moon, in contrast to the annual cycle of the sun's path, has been linked to woman's menstrual cycle across the world, in cultures with no mutual contact. Yet in Celtic mythology the Moon is male. The bull was lunar in the north of Mesopotamia (its horns representing the crescent) and one of the animals associated with the Great Goddess and later with Mithras. But in the south, where the moon was male (compare Hubal), the bull was the Bull of the Sun. See Bull (mythology).
The Moon figures prominently in mythologies and folk beliefs. The numerous lunar deities are often female such as the Greek goddesses Selene and Phoebe and their Olympian successor Artemis, their Roman equivalents Luna and Diana, or the Thracian Bendis. However males are also found, such as Nanna or Sin of the Mesopotamians, Thoth of the Egyptians and the Japanese god Susanowo, and Tecciztecatl of the Aztecs.
The words lunacy, lunatic, and loony are derived from Luna because of the folk belief in the Moon as a cause of periodic insanity. Folklore also stated that shapeshifters such as werewolves and weretigers, mythical creatures capable of changing form between human and beast, drew their power from the Moon and would change into their bestial form during the full Moon.
John Heywood's Proverbes (1546) commented that "The moon is made of a greene cheese", but was probably being sarcastic. [1] (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990723a.html)
Isil and the guidesman Tilion in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth cosmology are based in Tolkien's familiarity with Norse and Gaelic myth.
| 
