What better time to think of Diana, than a full hunter's moon.
The moon was full October 13, 5:08 pm
from the Commons: While Diana is a triple goddess with many aspects, her connection to the moon is possibly more important to her identity than her huntress aspect. In Latin, her name means “goddess of light and of the moon.” It stems from the words for “shining,” “divine,” “the open sky,” and dies or “daylight.” This may seem contradictive for a goddess of the night and the underworld, but as Cicero explains, “she was called Diana because she made it like day during the night” 1. Diana was not only a moon goddess; she was worshipped as the moon 2. She was the moon. Ovid portrays her as such in his Metamorphoses, often using the word “moon” in place of her name.
Diana’s identity as the Moon plays a crucial role in connecting her other aspects as huntress and underworld goddess. The moon was an essential element of a successful hunt. The ancients believed that the moon provided the earth with dew at night, and this dew, or moisture, is what allows the scent of woodland animals to be picked up by hunting dogs. The moisture had to be just right; too much or too little and the scent would be too hard to track 4.
The ancients saw the monthly phases of the moon as a metaphorical death; a time when Diana, the Moon, would journey to the underworld 5. Because of the effect the moon’s waxing and waning had on the ocean’s tide, it was thought that she was who gave life and took it away 6.
“The shield of the god reddens at early morning, reddens at evening, but is white at noonday in purer air, farther from earth’s contagion. And the Moon-goddess changes in the nighttime, lesser today than yesterday, if waning, greater tomorrow than today, when crescent.” 7
The phases of the moon as it changes from new to full each month are representative of Diana’s transitory nature at the core of her identity. She transitioned the light to darkness and life to death.
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