Sun and moon symbology
Throughout time we have been telling stories with metaphors and symbols to help explain the mysteries of life or understand our place in the vast cosmos. We use them in storytelling in paintings and literary works. Commonly, we see the great forces of nature - the Sun and the Moon - amongst others, are used as symbols and metaphors throughout our oral and recorded history. No matter where we are on the planet our experience of them as humans are the same.
Still, our viewpoints are coloured and shaped by our environment. So even when we all recognize the Sun and Moon as powerful forces that make life possible on this Earth, we must remember every continent has its own flora and fauna that is beyond our shared biology and unique to it. Because of this diversity, so will its cultures represent and give meaning to and denote these mighty forces in a variety of different forms.
There are lions and bulls, birds and serpents, antelopes, rams, boars and others throughout the world as representations of the Sun and the Moon and the principles they represent.
Joseph Campbell, in one of his numerous interviews with Bill Moyers in the series known as The Power of Myth, not only tells us of the symbology of the Sun and the Moon but its purpose. He reminds us that even though symbols are based on time and place and even when the faces representing these symbols differ, they share one common factor. That is, they help us understand the problem of our existence. These symbols, he says, help us "to read through our temporal experience, the eternal life that we are experiencing through it."
The Cycles of the Sun and the Moon
As days turn into night, we experience the death of day and the birth of night with the sunset. Then only hours later, night becomes the day with the sunrise - endless turnings. As human beings, we experience the tick of time and mark it linearly. Nature's cycles repeat themselves over and over again. Death and rebirth are in continual play bringing both the Sun and the Moon together as symbols of eternity. There is that which is enduring and that which is passing.
The Sun, the Sunbird and Big Cats
The Sun is always radiant even when it isn't in your direct view. Associated with the Sun is the bird — an eagle, a hawk, a sunbird — the Sunbird flies free from the bondage of Earth representing free flight. Like the bird, the Sun is unhindered. It travels through space and is disengaged from the progression of time where its' light never dims symbolizing the power of life and consciousness. It can also symbolize the Self, the soul, in relation to the cosmic whole. It does not have a shadow within itself. But it is eclipsed from time to time. It does not eclipse itself, something has eclipsed it.
The Sun makes life possible on Earth and is so powerful it can extinguish all life as well. Big cats like the lion, tiger and leopard embody this energy and are frequently symbols of the solar energy, the Sun. Hence, its strength resonates with the male energies in most cultures (the warrior).
The Moon and the Serpent
We can only see the Moon because it reflects the Sun's light. Just as we have half of the Earth lit at any one time with the other half in darkness, the Sun is always shining on half the Moon. This means there is no dark side of the Moon, just a side facing away from the Earth. The fancier way to say it is that the Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth, and thus always shows the same side to Earth, the near side.
The Moon is a satellite to Earth; its light dies and is resurrected in a regular cycle. The Moon has numerous deities associated with it and myths abound. The Moon is the feminine energy, the yin principle, the creative force. The serpent including dragon-like creatures is a common visual symbol.
The Moon's shadow is likened to a serpent since the serpent sheds its skin to be born again forming an association with the principle of life. The Moon then becomes involved in the field of time with death and rebirth.
The serpent shedding its skin and the Moon shedding its shadow belong together - death and rebirth in the dimension of time. It's bound to the Earth.
The Bakunawa
The Bakunawa is a serpent-like dragon in Philippine mythology for ancient Filipinos and, its movement was used as a geomantic calendar system. It was also included in the shamanistic rituals of the Babaylan people. The Bakunawa (aka Vakonawa, Baconaua, or Bakonaua) was believed to be the cause of eclipses, earthquakes, rains and wind.
One tradition during the lunar eclipse included the people going out into the fields or streets and ring bells or strike other items to protect the Moon from being eaten or swallowed by a tiger or crocodile.
The Sunbird and the Serpent
The motif of the serpent and the bird is found in our human stories across various cultures - the serpent is pounced on by the Sunbird or other bird representing a central theme of the fire of the Sun drying up the wateriness in the world killing it.
The bird is unbound and free. The Sun doesn't need the Earth, nor does it require the existence of the Moon for itself to exist. The Moon is bound to Earth. The Earth needs both the Sun and the Moon. Thus, the relationship between the eternal order and the temporal order is one that is symbolized in the polarity of these two principles.
Other Solar and Lunar Symbols: The Lion and the Bull
Big Cats, Bulls and Antelopes
Large wild cats as symbols prey on a grazing horned animal such as a gazelle, antelope or a bull. Especially common is the representation of the lion and the bull with the horns of the bull being associated with the crescent moon. Other dominant solar symbols include solar disks and solar wheels with varying numbers of rays or shapes. Examples of solar disks in Christianity include the haloes of angels and the circle of the Celtic cross. There are solar deities spanning time and geography.
Stone monuments like Stonehenge or pyramids mark the spring and winter solstices, casting shadows. The pyramid of El Castillo at Chichén Itzá in Mexico casts shadows that look like snakes climbing the pyramid at the vernal and pre-winter equinoxes.
Eternity: The relationship of the eternal to the temporal
We are involved in the sensory world existing in the dimensions of space and time. Time shuts out eternity. Campbell describes eternity as that dimension of the here and now which thinking and time displace. The flame of the Sun burns away the veil of time so that all things can become. Eternity transcends and is disengaged from the time principle. He tells us that:
- The experience of eternity - of right here and now is the function of life.
- The eternal principle is involved in the field of time in the sense world.
- The death and rebirth at the same moment is the moment of becoming.
So we reflect back and remember that the Sun is free from the bondage of the Earth and the Moon is tied to it representing what's happening in time, in your sensory experience in your life — the temporal nature of reality — the coming and going. Whilst the heat, the energy of the Sun creates our experience of existence.
The Sun is our second symbol of rebirth … When you realize that eternity is right here now, that it is within your possibility to experience the eternity of your own truth and being, then you grasp the following: That which you are was never born and will never die; that is the insight rendered in term of the solar mystery, the solar light.-- Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That (89-90)
Solar Lunar Principle
This mystery and the relationship of the temporal and eternal eternities to each other is reflected in nature - the lion pouncing on the gazelle or the Sunbird pouncing on the serpent. This is more or less the basic symbolism for this - this mystery of our existence and the relationship of the two to each other. These symbols - these associations in all their varying forms are telling the same old story where we find the eternal life in the temporal.
Notes
Released in 1988, The Power of Myth was one of the most popular TV series in the history of public television and continues to inspire new audiences. If you haven't had the opportunity to see this documentary series, it is well worth it or find the audio version.
https://www.iop.org/explore-physics/moon//phases-and-orbits-moon
