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Sunday, April 13, 2014

L is for: Lesser Moon (and Greater Moon) (#AtoZchallenge)

Quoth the creation mythos: “When the Creator saw what the Evil One had done, he took away the name and office of the Teacher of Pride, but the Evil One would not yet repent. So in his divine wrath, the Creator broke the Evil One in two, and cast both pieces into the night sky, and they chase each other to this day. Thus do those who lay a curse invoke the power of the moon.”

As the Evil One no longer has a name, neither do the moons that represent him. Few people in modern times think of the Evil One shining down upon them at night; if they do, they thank the Creator that he was able to make some good use of the rebellious lesser god. Still, in augury, the Moon rune represents a curse. Usually, the curse becomes the central part of the augury, with the other runes perhaps helping to explain the nature of the curse. An ancient Northern practice placed a Moon rune atop a spear, which was driven into the ground where an enemy could see it. The cursing-post, as they called it, accompanied a spoken or written invocation that named the cursed one(s) and the punishment sought from the Creator and the lesser gods.

For the most part, Termag’s folk have been uninterested in astronomy. Other worlds are known, and sorcerers occasionally travel to them (deliberately or otherwise). In later years, that has begun to change, but the equivalent of Apollo 11 is a long way off.

Next: M is for: (The) Madness

6 comments:

  1. This was a cool bit of history from your story.

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  2. Hey, Larry... From Lunar you know we also get the word lunatics, those driven mad by the sight of the moon. Wonder if it was originally pronounced "Loon-at-ics"? Emphasis being on the syllable "at"? Interesting thought, I believe. Just saying.... Thanks for the interesting read. Ruby aka Blabbin' Grammy. Number 771 on today's challenge list. Ciao!

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  3. Uninterested in astronomy? Heathens! At least a few have been enlightened.

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  4. An interesting explanation for the two moons and why they have no names!

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  5. An interesing reason why the moons have ho name!

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