Phases of the Moon

 

The half moon shows a face of plaintive sweetness
    Ready and poised to wax or wane;
A fire of pale desire in incompleteness,
    Tending to pleasure or to pain:-
Lo, while we gaze she rolleth on in fleetness
    To perfect loss or perfect gain.
Half bitterness we know, we know half sweetness;
    This world is all on wax, on wane:
When shall completeness round time's incompleteness,
    Fulfilling joy, fulfilling pain?-
Lo, while we ask, life rolleth on in fleetness
    To finished loss or finished gain.

--By Christina Rossetti--

The Moon has been worshiped for centuries. Its powerful effect on the natural world is seen as proof of its magical powers.  Therefore, the Moon was, and still is the focus of many people in various cultures across the globe, but in particular among poets and writers, who looked at it and wrote about what they saw, what they felt and what they imagined.

Think for a moment about the changes of the moon.  In the beginning of its cycle, we see just a sliver in the darkness, and  night it grows larger and larger until it reaches its full size.  When it is full and rising, its orange glow seems to fill the sky, and its gentle light brightens everything it touches.

But this fullness is only part of the life of the moon.  For it also then grows smaller eventually  its dark side toward us before reappearing as a sliver and growing again to fullness.

There  is so much more about the effects of the moon on us as human beings.As children of the earth, we, too have different moods and phases. We will all face those periods of darkness when we try to find our way by the light of the stars, and yet, the moon shows us that again and again, the darkness will end, and,  just like the moon,  we will grow to full size, only to fade and grow again in a new way. Learning to work with the moon and how she affects us can result in a much deeper understanding of ourselves and how much more power we have in our lives...more than perhaps we've realized. 

We too the children of the earth, have our moon phases all through any year; the darkness, the delivery from darkness, the waxing and waning--Faith Baldwin