Richard Riemerschmid (1868–1957) was a German artist and architect and a major figure in Jugendstil (German form of Art Nouveau). Further, he worked in arts and handcrafts and created furniture, fabrics, wall paper, and dishes, and was the co-founder of the German Association of Craftsmen – an association of artists, architects and business men.
Buzz Aldrin (* 1930) is an American astronaut and the man, who, as part of the Apollo 11 mission on 21st July 1969, stepped onto the Moon as the second person, just after Neil Armstrong. He stood in the shadow of his colleague and one could assume that he may have suffered under these circumstances. But this was not the case, he did not really want to be in the spotlight and was satisfied coming second. After he set his feet into the dust 20 minutes after Armstrong did, he said: »Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation.«
We figured it would be obvious to look for the full moon in the works of England’s most famous poet William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Surprisingly, the »moon« is to be found more often, however the word »full moon« appears in the original text only once, namely in »King Lear«.
The text of the comedy »A Midsummer Night’s Dream« (approx. 1595), contains the moon a whopping 52 times (28 times in the last act alone) and it can be assumed that Shakespeare was thinking of the full moon when he wrote these lines. Although it is not described as the »full moon«.
The word “aggression” derives from the Latin verb “aggredi” which means »approach, attack«. This is interesting, because it does not only contain a destructive energy, but also a proceeding, solution-oriented energy. We also speak of tackling problems or approaching a task. During the course of the centuries, the component of attacking and destroying appears to have become dominant, so much so, that we judge aggression nowadays negatively and see the result to be destruction, violence and war. It is easily understandable now, why people are having such a difficult time to deal naturally with their aggressions that they express or restrain. We have put a negative mark on it. And we neither want to carry something negative inside us, nor do we want to voice it.
We would like to turn our attention to two interesting types of light apparitions around the Moon: halos and coronas. Both are optical phenomena in the atmosphere that, if looked at from a physical point of view, come about in different ways and also look dissimilar.
A halo (left picture) develops through refracting ice crystals and creates a clearly defined light ring around the Sun or the Moon, whereas the surface between the celestial body and the ring, almost appears to be empty. Light spots, light arches and pillars can also emerge.
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:
The Christmas advertising campaigns of the well known English department store John Lewis, have developed into a yearly tradition since their start in 2007 and have become part of pre-Christmas Internet culture. John Lewis has been awarded the “IPA Effectiveness Award” with its 2012 Christmas campaign. This year, the video called “Man On The Moon” was published – parallel to the Christmas full moon on 25th December 2015.
“Koyaanisqatsi” is a film by the American director Godfrey Reggio, which was made between 1975 and 1982. The term “ko-yaa-nis-qatsi” derives from the language of the Hopi tribe and means “life out of balance” or “life in turmoil”. The movie manages without words, conveys its message with powerful images and haunting music by Philip Glass. It is a critical film that serves as eye-opener for the dark side of our civilization through comparing of poetic impressions of nature and images of the consequences of human activity. “Koyaanisqatsi” is the first part of a trilogy, followed by “Powaqqatsi” (1988) and “Naqoyqatsi” (2002).
The Belgium painter René Magritte (1898–1967) was next to Salvador Dalí, one of the most influential painters of surrealism. This denotes a style in art (and in other areas), which has tried to use dreamlike, fantastical and absurd elements as techniques of expression for a new superior reality, since the 1920s.
“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.