By the Light of the Silvery Moon

By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Worshipping the Moon has been practiced since earliest recorded time. It is mentioned in the oldest literatures of Egypt, Africa, Babylonia, India and China, among others. Moon worship is found on the belief that the phases of the Moon and the growth and decline of plant, animal and human life are related. In some societies, food is laid out at night to absorb the rays of the Moon, which are thought to have power to cure disease and prolong life. In some central African tribes it is customary for a mother to bathe her newborn child by the light of the first Full Moon. The Moon is frequently equated with wisdom and justice, as in the worship of the Egyptian god Thoth and the Mesopotamian god Sin. The Moon god Sin is usually depicted as an old man with a long beard. His emblem is the crescent Moon(sometimes represented as a boat or the horns of a bull.) Mount Sinai is named for him.
However, for a time, the Moon was believed to exude evil into the world. One commonly held superstition was that the Full Moon could make a person insane (hence the word lunatic from luna, the Latin word for the Moon). Nights of a Full Moon were supposed to be extremely unlucky because hellish beasts and demons such as werewolves drew their sinister powers from its dark energy. Today, however, she is back in favor, with many Pagans and Wiccans honoring her and asking for her assistance in rituals.
In some cultural traditions, the Moon is considered masculine, which may be where we get our legend of “The Man in the Moon.” In an old Lithuanian legend, when the young maiden is asked about her parents, she replies, “My mother is the beauteous Sun, and my father the bright Moon.” For most Natural Magicians, though the Full Moon is the embodiment of the Goddess; she is Maiden, Mother, and Crone. She is the yin balance of the Source of All.