“The association of the moon with prophecy derives from the fact that throughout primitive culture the moon is the only measure of time.  The solar year is a relatively late discovery, made possible only by ingenious astronomical observations. ..Throughout the greater part of human development the moon, whose name in our language is from the root ‘mas,’ measure, ‘mensura,’ has been the sole marker of time.  Even in cultures so advanced as Islam the sun is never thought of as affording a measure of time.  That function belongs to the moon. ‘God created the moon and appointed its houses,’ says the Koran, ‘in order that men might know the number of the years and the measure of time.’ But in the primitive mind the function of the moon is not simply to measure time but to create it…Hence the moon stands for the conception of fate or destiny…”  Robert Briffault

“…The moon stands in primitive thought for perpetual renewal, immortality, eternity.  The Siouan tribes in America, for example, called her ‘the Old Woman who never dies.’  Her name, Aataentsic, among the Iroquois tribes means ‘the Eternal One.’  In Polynesia, the moon was regarded as possessing the secret of immortality…Among the ancient Egyptians the moon was ‘the maker of eternity and creator of everlastingness.  In Latin inscriptions her epithet is ‘the eternal.’  In Russia she is the ‘deathless one.” Robert Briffault

“The worship of the moon is the worship of the creative and fecund powers of nature and of the wisdom that lies inherent in instinct and in the at-one-ness with natural law.  But the worship of the sun is the worship of that which overcomes nature, which orders her chaotic fullness and harnesses her powers to the fulfilling man’s ends.”  Esther Harding

“The Moon Goddess…is not only Goddess of storms and of fertility, that is of disturbances and creations in the outer world, she is also goddess of disturbances and of creative activity which take place in the inner world.  She is…Giver of Vision…Initiation to the (moon) goddess, then, requires that the man must explore the depths of emotional intensity within himself and be able to stand that revelation…By facing her own emotion, love, fear, hate, whatever it may be, in stark reality, no longer camouflaged by the assumption of indulgence (of her child or others) and maternal concern, she becomes once more one-in-herself…truly a Daughter of the Moon.“ Esther Harding

“”The wisdom (of the moon) is not the outcome of wide knowledge, of great erudition, or of worldly experience, but is rather the wisdom of nature.  It is the wisdom that knows without knowing how….which we humans have so largely bartered for our conscious rationale and exact information.  Our information is a priceless achievement, but it is after all only a tool of the mind and not the real content of wisdom…Thus the moon stands for that strange kind of thinking which comes and goes apparently with complete autonomy…To quote from one of the sacred books of India, in the Mahabharata, it is said, “The Supreme Lord creates all creatures…his mind is in the moon, his understanding dwells always in knowledge…When the understanding, of its own motion, forms ideas within itself, it then comes to be called Mind.’”  Esther Harding

“The moon is universally symbolic of the rhythm of cyclic time; universal becoming.  The birth, death and resurrection phases of the moon symbolize immortality and eternity, perpetual renewal, enlightenment.  It represent the spiritual aspect of light in darkness, inner knowledge, the irrational, intuitional and subjective.” From An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols by J. C. Cooper

“In Alchemia, Luna, silver, represents the affections purified.”    From An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols by J. C. Cooper

“In Buddhism, the full and new moon are times of strength and spiritual power.  The crescent moon is an emblem of Kwan-Yin (symbol of wisdom, peace and compassion), also a symbol of unity, the Self…The moon and waters together represent the unobstructed nature of the Dharma.” From An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols by J. C. Cooper

“In Sumero-Semetic religions, Sinn, the moon deity, is the masculine god of wisdom and the measurer of time.  The night of the full moon was a time of prayer, rejoicing and sacrifice.”  From An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols by J. C. Cooper