Moon/menses.

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_interzone.ucc.ie>
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 16:13:14 +0100 (BST)


Various people suggest that Gloranthan women ought to be "tide-locked" to assorted celestological bodies and/or calendar features, and beat each other over the head as to which it should be.

I think there's merit to all of the suggested associations, but I'm somewhat skeptical of the premise. For me, it seems overwhelmingly intuitively likely that: the G. menstrual cycle is roughly as long as the earthly one; and that it isn't the same, nor in synch, for all Gloranthan women.

However, I think the Theyalans _do_ associate the menses with the seasons, the Pelandans with Entekos, and the Trowjangi with the Tolat planet, etc, even though though most of them aren't actually in synch with them. The exceptions would be women particularly "in tune with the cosmos", and flunkies of fertility deities. As someone else noted, women living together will often end up "in phase" with each other -- then add to that all that howling at the moon/high-powered magical rituals/aura of mythic resonance/etc.

So among the Ernaldans, I think there's a notionally biseasonal cycle, with the Fertility Week half-season being regarded as Good, and the Death Week one having Malign connotations. (Crass remarks about Babs Gor cultists and PMT suppressed vigorously.) Whether Fertility (and therefore also Death) week ought to coincide with the time of maximum fertility, or menstruation itself is arguable. Probably the latter, I'd guess.

Slight problem with this scheme is that Sacred Time would tend to throw it 180 degress out of phase each year. If one were to stay exactly in synch, one'd have to either "skip" a period, or have one twice as fast as normal, both of which seem mildly hokey. Weird stuff happening during ST to even out the cycle wouldn't be entirely surprising, though.

BTW, there was also some comment about the Redness, or lack thereof, of various planetary candidates for this association. While red :: menstrual blood :: fertility seems reasonable, I'm not terribly convinced of a strong association. If I recall my Graves correctly, it's the _White_ moon that's associated with fertility in earth lore (or at least ole Bob's take thereon), rather the Red. Can't recall the precise associations for Red and Black, though I do remember thinking they weren't a million miles from the connotations of a certain Red and Black Gloranthan celestial body (which as per observation and a notorious Staffordite remark, doesn't overtly have much to do with fertility).

[To wit, the obscurantism about "a moon cycle, not a mother cycle".]

Slainte,
Alex.


End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #112


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