Post by bluefedish on Apr 9, 2008 23:35:35 GMT -5
Familiar as we are with the idea that sun is drawn in his chariot on his daily round by horses, perhaps few of us have thought that the moon used the same means of progression. At least in the good days of old, when she was properly honored on earth and so able to reveal her mode of travel to mortals, this seems to have been the case, if legends may be believed.
According to the myths prevailing among the Norsemen, the car of the moon was drawn by a single horse named Alsvider (the All-swift) and driven by the goddess (Mani, the Moon) herself – the beautiful daughter of the gaint Mundilfari.
Every night Mani fulfilled her mission to mankind by guiding her steed along the heavenly way, although the terrible wolves Skoll (Repulsion) and Hati (Hatred) incessantly pursued and sought to devour both horse and goddess, so that the world might again be abandoned to the horrible darkness which formerly enveloped it. Occasionally the wolves were almost successful in their chase. They overtook the chariot and all but devoured their prey. This was the reason of an eclipse.
But Mani would be aided by the terrified shouting of the people of earth, which so frightened the wolves as to cause them to loose their hold again, so allowing her to escape once more. Then she would flee with increased rapidity whilst the horrid monsters hastened after her, longing for that day when at last they would prevail and the world would cease to be. By day they would prevail and the world would cease to be. By day they chased the sun, by night the moon, never weary in their deathly purpose.
One of Mr. J.C. Dollman’s beautiful pictures represents these weird wolves pursuing the radiant chariots of the sun and moon across the pathless sky.
According to Roman mythology, Diana or Jana (the feminine corresponding to Janus) was the Goddess of the Moon, and like the Sun-God she had her horses and chariot. Only her steeds were milk-white in hue. (To this day a white horse is called among the Arabians a moon-colored horse.) Every evening when the sun had finished his course, Diana mounted her moon-car and drove across the heavens amid the watching stars.
As Shelley, in his verses “To the Moon,” sings:
And having yoked to her immortal car
The beam-invested steeds, whose necks on high
Curve back, she drives to a remoter sky
A western Crescent, borne impetuously.
According to other writers, the chariot of the moon is drawn by a white and black horse, because it’s only at night that she sends forth her rays, and sometimes, says Festus, a mule is added to her team, because she is barren, and shines by the barrowed light of the sun.
Diana isn’t merely a charioteer of horses. In one aspect she is herself a horse. She’s known as Triformsis and Tergemina because, according to the poets, she has 3 heads – the head of a horse on the right, of a dog on the left, and a human head in the midst.
Behold far off the goddess Hecate
In threefold shape advance.
Hecate or Proserpine is the title by which Diana is known in Hell for her kingdom, like her form, is threefold and comprises Heaven, Earth, and Hell.
Milton sings:
The Moon
With borrow’d light her countenance triform
Hence fills and empties.
And Lowell Says:
Goddess triform, I own thy triple sway.
Selected Source:
The Horse in Magic and Myth By: M. Oldfield Howey
According to the myths prevailing among the Norsemen, the car of the moon was drawn by a single horse named Alsvider (the All-swift) and driven by the goddess (Mani, the Moon) herself – the beautiful daughter of the gaint Mundilfari.
Every night Mani fulfilled her mission to mankind by guiding her steed along the heavenly way, although the terrible wolves Skoll (Repulsion) and Hati (Hatred) incessantly pursued and sought to devour both horse and goddess, so that the world might again be abandoned to the horrible darkness which formerly enveloped it. Occasionally the wolves were almost successful in their chase. They overtook the chariot and all but devoured their prey. This was the reason of an eclipse.
But Mani would be aided by the terrified shouting of the people of earth, which so frightened the wolves as to cause them to loose their hold again, so allowing her to escape once more. Then she would flee with increased rapidity whilst the horrid monsters hastened after her, longing for that day when at last they would prevail and the world would cease to be. By day they would prevail and the world would cease to be. By day they chased the sun, by night the moon, never weary in their deathly purpose.
One of Mr. J.C. Dollman’s beautiful pictures represents these weird wolves pursuing the radiant chariots of the sun and moon across the pathless sky.
According to Roman mythology, Diana or Jana (the feminine corresponding to Janus) was the Goddess of the Moon, and like the Sun-God she had her horses and chariot. Only her steeds were milk-white in hue. (To this day a white horse is called among the Arabians a moon-colored horse.) Every evening when the sun had finished his course, Diana mounted her moon-car and drove across the heavens amid the watching stars.
As Shelley, in his verses “To the Moon,” sings:
And having yoked to her immortal car
The beam-invested steeds, whose necks on high
Curve back, she drives to a remoter sky
A western Crescent, borne impetuously.
According to other writers, the chariot of the moon is drawn by a white and black horse, because it’s only at night that she sends forth her rays, and sometimes, says Festus, a mule is added to her team, because she is barren, and shines by the barrowed light of the sun.
Diana isn’t merely a charioteer of horses. In one aspect she is herself a horse. She’s known as Triformsis and Tergemina because, according to the poets, she has 3 heads – the head of a horse on the right, of a dog on the left, and a human head in the midst.
Behold far off the goddess Hecate
In threefold shape advance.
Hecate or Proserpine is the title by which Diana is known in Hell for her kingdom, like her form, is threefold and comprises Heaven, Earth, and Hell.
Milton sings:
The Moon
With borrow’d light her countenance triform
Hence fills and empties.
And Lowell Says:
Goddess triform, I own thy triple sway.
Selected Source:
The Horse in Magic and Myth By: M. Oldfield Howey
