When the sun light is reflected and diffracted in fine water droplets in the air, a rainbow arises. So what happens if the same occurs in the moon light, is there also going to be a rainbow? Well, we find the idea of a moon rainbow quite fascinating …
Let’s take a short detour into physics. What we recognise in a rainbow as an arched bow made of colourful light, are the spectral colours that develop when the “white” sunlight fans out in its different wavelenghts, which we perceive in different colours. This decomposition does also take place, when the light is sent through a glass prism.
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Astrology, the teaching of the interpretation and meaning of star constellations for human life, shows once again the sun’s dominance in our society and the insignificant role the Moon plays. Everyone knows »his/her« sign of the zodiac, meaning the position of the Sun at the time of their birth. If you say, for example, »I am an Aquarius«, you refer to the fact that the Sun was positioned in the astrological sign Aquarius when you were born. Also, some people are still aware of the ascendant, being the sign, which was on the eastern horizon at the time of birth (lat. ascendere = to rise). But which sign the Moon is in their birth horoscope, only very few people know.
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When taking a look at the Inuit [*] in the far north, you will find astonishing myths about the full moon. The Inuit live along the Arctic Ocean from the north east of Russia to Greenland and Canada, where coldness reigns. The culture is imprinted by an archaic consciousness, life is interwoven with legends that were never written down, due to harsh living conditions, but only passed down by word of mouth.
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“Full Moon Silhouettes” is an almost 4 minute real time video by the Australian photographer and visual effect artist Mark Gee, where the rise of the full moon is shown, above Mount Victoria lookout in Wellington (New Zealand). You can see an uncut sequence where the Moon rises from the lower right corner above the horizon, and ascends to the left upper side (because this takes place on the southern hemisphere!). The visitors on the lookout are visible as black silhouettes in front of the yellow Moon and its luna maria.
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The lunar probe »LADEE« (short for: Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) of the American space agency NASA, launched successfully into space, for further exploration of the Moon. A probe is an unmanned flying object, which can fly through space or circle orbs and thereby sends data to Earth via radio.
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The new moon is the opposite pole to the full moon, being the time when the Moon is not visible in the sky to us people. Maybe this is why we pay less attention to it, because what you don’t see is less prevalent in our awareness.
However, there is one aspect, which continues to lend significance and fascination to the new moon. It is the word »new« and the described moment of renewal and of a new beginning. This word can be found in different languages:
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The Moon circles the Earth. But indeed, it is no circle, but an ellipse, which portrays itself in space like a kind of spiral, because the Earth, together with the Moon, circles the Sun. And thus, the distance between the Earth and the Moon does not remain the same, but continuously changes. The distance varies between approx. 357,000 km/222,000 mi (called perigee) to approx. 406,000 km/252,000 mi (called apogee).
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Let us still stay with the music for a little while and let us bring our attention to a grand musical genre of theatre, the opera. We recently saw TOSCA (from Puccini) in Madrid and lo and behold! In the first act, we suddenly heard »luna piena«, which is Italian for full moon. A real highlight!
Then we had the idea to rummage through some libretti (opera lyrics) to find out if the full moon motif may also play a part in other operas. For this purpose, one can view the libretti online. We were interested in particular in the actual mentioning of it, as these were created by the composers themselves, whereas the appearance of the full moon on stage was usually the part of the stage designer.
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Fitting into the Christmas period, we are hanging up a virtual mistletoe and calling upon all lovers out there to kiss each other! The custom has a long tradition in many countries. The symbolism of fertility and vitality play as much a part as the search for the possibility of making the kiss in public socially acceptable. The mistletoe helps to overcome the inhibition, which can stand especially between two people before their first kiss. And incidentally, for every kiss one berry of the bush is plucked – until no berries are left.
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The German painter Lovis Corinth (1858–1925) is considered one of the most important representatives of German Impressionism, in his late work also Expressionism. In 1919, his wife built a house for him at the Lake Walchen, south of Munich in the Bavarian Alps. The following years, he spent a lot of time there and derived his inspiration from the landscape and lighting atmosphere for numerous paintings, which often show Lake Walchen.
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