In 2020 the full moon will fall on a 31st October and a Halloween party can take place in the full moon light. The imagination of people fits this well apparently, because no matter where you look, the full moon can be seen in all portrayals of Halloween. In historical terms, there is no connection, however. Halloween is the evening before All Saints’ Day (originally: »All Hallows’ Eve«). The basic idea of this festival is the remembrance of saints and it is connected to the wish to drive out bad spirits. This is how the gruesome costumes came into play.
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Ian Fleming’s fictitious secret agent 007, of the British Secret Service MI6, has been fighting the villains of this world on screen for over 50 years, accompanied by technical knick-knacks, all sorts of explosions and always beautiful women. There are many night scenes and one should assume that the Moon should be included quite frequently … far from it! We were only able to spot one Bond flic where the full moon can be seen: MOONRAKER from 1979 – and only at the beginning and the end of the movie.
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Are we alone in the universe? Are there other intelligent forms of life in space or are we alone? These questions have been on mankind’s mind, since we consciously reflect our existence and raise our gaze toward the starlit sky.
With the beginning of space travel, there arose the idea, of sending messages to potential extraterrestrial life. The question, which information is suitable, a representative picture of the entire human race and their lives on planet Earth, is particularly exciting.
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There are probably few painters who made use of the full moon in their paintings as often as Marc Chagall (1887–1985), the French artist of Russian-Jewish descent, who was regarded as »le poète« (the poet) amongst painters, due to his symbolic shapes and colors.
Chagall lived for almost a century and if one can classify his style at all, then it would have to be expressionism. He worked in Russia, France (primarily Paris) and in the US (primarily New York) and was on an inner and outer journey throughout his life.
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Other than the moonstone, there are more minerals with the Moon being part of their name: the moonlight topaz. The topaz is a compound of aluminum, fluorine and silicon and has the hardness value of 8, on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness from 1 (= selenite) to 10 (= diamond). Which means it is a very hard mineral. Topazes exist worldwide, but most findings originate in Brazil. When conditions are favorable for the growth of this mineral, their weight can easily reach up to 220 lb and more. The biggest topaz that was ever found, was 3.3 ft long and weighed 2.5 tons (Mozambique, Africa).
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There is a wide spectrum of views and opinions about how the moon may influence human life and it is in the very nature of things, that these opinions lead to discussions. During the course of the years, we got acquainted with many different viewpoints and are trying to give room to these diversities on these pages.
Let’s imagine two people for example, a sceptic, who analyses sensibly and critically, and a mystic who allows his actions to be guided by faith and dedication. Let’s have both people answer the question, whether principally, full moon has an effect on human beings.
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In Australia, the “southern land” (lat. terra australis), full moon has been shining for millennia for its natives, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. According to estimates they inhabit this continent since more than 50,000 years, while Europeans only began to settle there 200 to 400 years ago. We would like to make a connection to the full moon, which is very much part of this fascinating culture, who, like many others, had to endure many wrongs during the course of more recent history.
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When the German author Michael Ende wrote »The Neverending Story« from 1977 to 1979, he created a milestone amongst the fantasy children and youth literature. The story about the shy boy Bastian Balthasar Bux on his adventure trip through the world of Fantastica, fascinated millions of readers of all age groups and has been translated into 40 languages up to date.
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“Lady and the Tramp” made in 1955, belongs to one of the most beautiful and most successful cartoons by Walt Disney. The story of the elegant female dog Lady and the fun-loving vagabond Tramp, shows how love can overcome social boundaries. In reality, this is of course a human issue and not one of our four-legged friends. However – as usual with Disney – it has been staged simply convincingly. And this is how a good acquaintance joins Lady and the Tramp in the nightly scenery: the full moon.
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It was about 100 years ago when a special kind of postcard was fashionable in Europe: the moonshine card. This is a kind of postcard with motifs of cities or landscapes that was to convey the effect of a nightly moonshine scenery. It was supposed to be romantic and this obviously appealed to people in those days. There were printed cards as well as photo-postcards that were »dipped into moonlight« in this way.
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