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Friday 4 September 2009

Moony Masque


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File:Netlancer2006 - Full Moon in Bangalore (by).jpg

















Rising from the trees, the last full moon of summer seems to signal the commencement of a masque. This moon is the soul of dreams and shows. Natural theatre, which takes place in darkness, gathers from its light a phenomenal shape and action. Pepys in his garden with his flageolet also saw this. The silly dusk turns blue then deep black as the glass moon rises lizard green shading into tangerine (Marvell's orange lamp) above the crushed grass spot where the brown cat earlier curled up grooming, in another act of the play, many years ago; and the ground is still warm, and the wide timeless night comes on at walking pace, whispering its lines, almost audible this once from where you are in the cheap seats if you tilt your head just right.





Full moon in Bangalore: photo by netlancer2006, 2007

5 comments:

Delia Psyche said...

And Pepys did esteem this a mighty pretty masque. And so home and to bed.

TC said...

But not before a little night music...

Anonymous said...

If the moon is a natural theatre, then the dark side of the moon is the backstage =)

Wonderful piece!

Mariana Soffer said...

Lovely post, amazing orange full mon, and now We can not forget about the werewolf:

The legend of the werewolf is one of the most ancient and wide spread. Stories of werewolves can be found as far back as history has been written. These shape-shifter myths can be found all over the word from China to Iceland and Brazil to Haiti.

Some of the earliest accounts of werewolves come from Romania and Greek sources. Ovid, in the Metamorphoses, told of King Lycaeon, who was visited by passing gods. Not believing them to be true gods he decided to test them by serving human flesh in one of the many dishes served at a banquet in their honor. Cannibalism being very frowned upon in that part of the world was a major slight indeed. Upon discovering the tainted dish, the gods changed King Lycaeon into a werewolf
The full moon has been linked to werewolves. Conversely, unlike movie werewolves, 'real' werewolves change shape voluntarily. In many myths they are witches who take animal form to travel unnoticed using either a potion made from magic ingredients - the fat of dead children, herbs, human blood - or an animal-skin. A 'real' werewolf changes completely, becoming the animal rather than a hairy human. The full moon business seems to be dramatic license. However it is an interesting notion since the full moon has been associated with creating madness in humans and to be a time during which man and beast have a magical connection.

Take care my friend

TC said...

Lucy and Mariana,

The dark side of the moon is where we find our poetic license.

We may need it for protection when we wander there...