"The moon has been called the Lord of Women, Queen of Heaven, Goddess Fifteen, and Great Mother. As an aspect of the Great Mother she reproduced the sun's light every 28
nights...Ancient peoples thought that the moon was the cause and regulator of menstru-
ation, fertility and childbirth. This numerical cycle of 28 became venerated in the wor-
ship of the moon - the 'Queen of Heaven'. During full moon, on the fifteenth day of the
lunar cycle, she shined bright and her rays illuminated the earth. Her rays also moved the waters of the earth and the tides. The forces of the moon directly affected the earth every night. Priests, who were stargazers, observed the important affects the moon's gravitational pull had on earth. The moon's gravitational pull caused the tides
in earth's bodies of water and this same phenomenon also caused sea creatures to swell.
...In essence, the moon affects water which symbolized emotions, creativity and fertili-
ty on earth.
Egyptian priests style the moon the Mother of the Universe, Plutarch said, because the
moon, 'having the light which makes moist and pregnant, is promotive of the genera-
tions of living beings and the fructification of plants. Upper Egypt used to be called
Khemennu, 'Land of the Moon'. In worship of the heavenly bodies, primacy was always attached to the moon. Babylonians gave the moon precedence over the sun. Or-
iental nations in general worshipped the moon before the sun.. Moses Maimonides said moon worship was the religion of Adam...
...Moon Goddesses were worshipped all over the ancient world. The preeminent ones were Isis-Hathor of ancient Egypt, and Astarte-Ishtar of Babylon. These two goddesses of the ancient east were one and the same. Worshipped as the mother of savior gods
and/or the virgin who conceived a son of God such as Horus and Baal, Moon Goddesses were disguised in Christian holidays that were absorbed from pagan rites. Easter and
Epiphany are holidays related in some way to the lunar cycle. Easter, a western spel-
ling of the Mesopotamian word Ishtar, was originally the spring rite festival of Istar in
Babylon. It is celebrated today on the Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox. Epiphany celebrates the reconciling of the sun and the moon's cycle at the end of the year..."
"Moon Goddess" Safiya Karimah
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