Going through regular monthly cycles, the moon inevitably came to be identified with femininity and the fact that it showered soothing and comforting rays from an eminent position high above in the sky ensured that our venerable ancient forefathers (and mothers), ascribed the status of a goddess to this nocturnal body. This is one reason why the early mainstream religions, with their marked preference for the male of the species, found the veneration towards what was a palpably feminine deity hard to digest and hence came to associate such an inclination with an aberration of the mind and it was not long before the word 'lunatic', with its lunar associations, came to brand such devotion as insanity.

However, notwithstanding the injunctions to the contrary, the moon as a symbol continued to fascinate humans. To observers on the earth, it was the most changeable of all celestial phenomena. In earlier times, the appearance of the new crescent was often greeted with joy as a return of the moon from the dead. In ancient Egypt, the sickle-shaped deity signified the goddess Isis and any jewel fashioned in its likeness was believed to protect infants. The crescent's association with babies derives from the fact that it is itself the small, newborn moon. (It was always the waxing moon, never the waning one.) Specifically, since it appeared to give birth to itself, it was natural for the heavenly body to become the patron deity of childbirth. Even when submerged in the sea of night, the moon possesses the secret of a new, evolving life. Similarly are all babies born into life out of the dark waters of the womb.

To the skeptic the fact that the moon has no light of its own but merely reflects the sun is an indication of the inferior status of the former. It is left to the sacred text Prasna Upanishad to bring things into perspective:

'The sun is the principle of life and the primeval waters are the moon. And these waters are the source of all that is visible or invisible. Hence the waters are the image of all things.' (Tr. >From Sanskrit By Alain Danielou.) Thus does the moon reflect the sun's light. Further, by analogy, it the same archetypal waters which fertilize the male seed floating in its infinite depths.

Sterling Crescent Tops

 

 

It is all the more auspicious to craft the crescent out in silver as it is considered the moon's metal much as gold is associated with the sun.

 

 

 

Iconic and Aniconic Shiva

 

 

 

 

 

Then there is Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, who adorns his crest with the crescent, which both softens and sensualises his appearance at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Flag of Malaysia

 

In Islam too, the crescent is considered sacred since it was Prophet Muhammad himself who proclaimed the lunar dating system, replacing the earlier one based on a combination of the solar and lunar calendars. The crescent motif, known as the hilal, has been much used throughout the centuries in Islamic art and appears on the flag of many nations thus inclined.

 

The stand-alone crescent is in a sense incomplete, without the mating male element, represented by the sun. The two heavenly bodies, juxtaposed in a number of imaginative ways, denote the sacred marriage of the two underlying principles, which are the building blocks of the universe. In the world's earliest book, the Rig Veda, there is a hymn glorifying the union of Soma (moon) with Surya (sun).