Origin 500 BCE to 100 BCE
The lunar glyph is simply a crescent, and it has stood for the Moon since antiquity, making it with the solar circle the oldest of the planetary symbols in continuous use. Classical lunar deities wear the crescent on the head or rising behind the shoulders with its horns pointing upward, while the heraldic form, turned so that the horns point to the side, is attested from late Classical times and is the orientation the astrological glyph took. In alchemy the same crescent denotes silver, the lunar metal. Because the crescent is a partial and reflecting shape rather than a whole and radiating one, it carries the Moon's traditional meanings directly: receptivity, reflection, waxing and waning, and the rhythms of need. The glyph is also used as the building block of several later symbols, among them Mercury, the lunar nodes and Black Moon Lilith, in each case marking a lunar or mediating quality.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period Origin PeriodCodified among the seven classical planets of Hellenistic astrology 2 Origin PeriodObserved and deified in Mesopotamia across the second and first millennia BCE 2 Place of OriginMesopotamia (Babylonia), transmitted through the Hellenistic Greek world. 2 Form
Type of SymbolAstral figure: sun, moon or planet 1 Geometric Form Learn More
The Lesser Luminary
The Moon is the second light of astrology and the ruler of Cancer. Its swift motion through the signs made it a primary marker of time and change in both Mesopotamian and Hellenistic practice. The crescent that marks it is correspondingly old: classical deities associated with the Moon, such as Artemis and Selene, are shown wearing a crescent across the brow or shoulders with its points turned upward, the form later heraldry would call a crescent increscent, and the sign is attested in this basic shape from late antiquity onward with little variation.
Unlike several of the other classical planets, whose glyphs were built from initials or emblematic weapons and instruments, the Moon's sign is a direct picture of its own changing appearance in the sky, which may be why it needed no abbreviation or reinterpretation to remain legible across two millennia of astronomical and astrological use. The steady watching of the Moon's motion for calendrical and omen purposes in ancient Mesopotamia is among the best-documented strands of that tradition, recorded on cuneiform tablets centuries before the Hellenistic Greek world adopted the planet, with its sign already essentially fixed, into the horoscopic astrology that shaped medieval and modern practice.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Lilith directly: "the lunar nodes and Black Moon Lilith, in each case marking a lunar or mediating quality."
This source names Mercury directly: "of several later symbols, among them Mercury, the lunar nodes and Black Moon Lilith, in each case marking a lunar or mediating quality."
Symbol Of
Moon, Planets The symbol's own cited description identifies its glyph as that of this planet.
Sources
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