Sun and Moon

The astrological symbols for the Sun and the Moon.

The Sun (太陽, Taiyō^?) and the Moon (月, Tsuki^?) are the two most prominent celestial bodies visible from planet Earth, the star at the center of the Solar System which the Earth orbits and the Earth's largest natural satellite respectively, which illuminate its sky during the day and night respectively.

Given their influence on the planet, the Sun and the Moon have long played a key role in forms of both science and magic, as well as everyday life on the planet.

Principles

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The Sun and Moon play key roles in affecting conditions on Earth over the passage of time, and from these and their changing visual appearance, how humans have measured time and kept calendars. They have also been used in navigation.

At various points during their respective orbits, the Sun, Earth and Moon may align in such a way that a shadow is cast on either the Earth or the Moon from the other, an event known as an eclipse - a solar eclipse when the Moon's shadow is cast on the Earth and a lunar eclipse when the Earth's shadow is cast on the Moon. As with other celestial bodies, there are a number of Lagrange points between them where the gravitational forces from them are in equilibrium.

Given their nature and influence on Earth, the Sun and Moon are both involved in various myths, stories, beliefs, and forms of magic, and for many of them, the two are involved together. There are deities in many mythologies associated with the Sun and the Moon, with many solar and lunar deities and their stories being connected with their counterparts in the same mythology.

Aleister Crowley utilizing symbolic weapons representing the Sun and Moon.

Two symbolic weapons utilized together by Aleister Crowley that represent the Sun and Moon are, respectively, a golden staff with a spherical head and a large silver scythe. The Karma-bearing chains he utilized also have sun and moon symbolism, with the gear representing the Sun, the male and acceleration, and the handcuff-like part, seen as a ring, representing the Moon, the female and stagnation.

The forms of these celestial bodies are evoked in the shape of magic circles. Both 'lights' or 'luminaries' are considered among the seven classical planets, with the group playing a key role in Astrology. Like the rest of the seven planets, they are associated with the seven metals (gold for the Sun and silver for the Moon), spheres on the Sephiroth, and points on a hexagram (with the Sun at the center).

Sun

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The Sun's astrological symbol.

The Sun (太陽, Taiyō^?) is the G-type main-sequence star which the Earth orbits, at the center of the Solar System (太陽系, Taiyōkei^?) (with stars at the center of similar systems also being called suns based on this).

As with many stars, the Sun is an incandescent ball of plasma with nuclear fusion reactions occur in its core, releasing immense amounts of energy that is eventually radiated out into space, along with streams of charged particles known as the solar winds. This energy is critical to life on Earth, illuminating and heating the Earth's surface to habitable levels, as well as being used by plants for photosynthesis. The Sun also greatly affects the Earth's climate, with the received energy influencing the atmosphere and driving the weather, and the variations caused by the Earth's orbit around the Sun and its axial tilt causing the seasons.

The Earth completes one orbit of the Sun and receiving its light is in day and the side facing away and in darkness being in night, with the Sun moving across the sky as the Earth rotates, marking the passage of the day. The plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun and its apparent path across the celestial sphere over the course of a year from an observer on Earth, is known as the ecliptic, and the Zodiac are the twelve constellations that follow the ecliptic belt.

An illustration of an Aztec human sacrifice, meant to sustain the Sun

The Sun plays a major role in Aztec mythology, which holds the beliefs that it needs to be sustained through human sacrifice and that there have been five suns overall, with different deities serving as the Sun (Tetzcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl first among them) and the world being destroyed by calamities accompanying the loss of the Sun (four previously, with a fifth to come). The Xiuhcoatl was originally built and launched following these beliefs in order to keep the Sun alight. The Sun also plays a focal role in the Aztec Calendar Stone.

Among other things in magic, the Sun is associated with gold, the masculine, the active, and fire. Power connected to the tattva flows from the Sun and alters in elements by rotating around the Earth.

Similar to how plants use the Sun's light as an energy source for photosynthesis, the photovoltaic effect is used in solar panels to generate electricity from the Sun's light.

Moon

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The Moon's astrological symbol.

The Moon (月, Tsuki^?) is the Earth's natural satellite (with other natural satellites also being called moons based on this).

The Moon's illumination by the Sun, and its relative size and distance in relation to the Earth, mean that it can be the brighest celestial object in the night sky at its peak. The amount of the Moon's illuminated surface visible the Earth changes during its orbit, with its appearance from Earth following a cycle of lunar phases. From a new moon where the surface seen from Earth is fully in darkness, the visible amount illuminated gradually increases - with the Moon said to be waxing, until the full moon where the visible surface is completely illuminated, with the visible amount illuminated subsequently decreasing - the Moon waning, until the new moon and the start of the next cycle. The intermediatory phases are the crescent moon (1/4 illuminated, from which its astrological symbol is derived), half-moon (1/2 illuminated, also known as the first and last quarter), and gibous moon (3/4 illuminated).

The Moon's surface is covered with numerous impact craters from asteroids and other similar objects (with the Moon itself being hypothesized to have been created from a collision between the early Earth and another planet). The gravitational influence of the Moon plays a major role in the Earth's tides. The Moon completes one orbit of the Earth, with the accompanying cycles of tides and lunar phases, in a period roughly a month long. It rotates on its axis in similar time, being tidally locked to the Earth, meaning that the one side of the Moon (the near side) is always facing the Earth, while the other side (the far side) always faces away from it.

Among other things in magic, the Moon is associated with silver, the feminine, the passive, and water. Certain entities associated with water and thus the Moon, such as Archangel Gabriel and Acqua of the Back aligned to her, can draw power from the Moon in the sky. Witch goddess Aradia is also said to be a goddess of the Moon, and Coronzon's hair, with a connection to witch traditions, could also gather power from moonlight (with Mina Mathers associating silver, female, earth, and the light of the waxing moon to it while sensing its attack). The grimoire Moon Rabbit is based on the story of the fifth sun's creation, in which the Moon that was created at the time was equally bright and a rabbit was thrown at it to weaken its glow.

Given that it is the closest major celestial body to Earth, the Moon has been the subject of space exploration programmes and is currently the only one that humans have set foot on, becoming the target of the Space Race of the mid-20th century. Quite recently (around half a year before events in December of the current year), a Lunar Development Forum (月面開発フォーラム, Getsumen Kaihatsu Fōramu^?) was held in Academy City, with a major actor present to promote a movie set on a space station and a mascot called Lunar Zit-kun.

External Links

• Sun (Wikipedia article)
• Moon (Wikipedia article)