Another interpretation of an "allied spirit" is "awakened animal". Often an animal ally is simply a real animal made aware by the deity, and tied to the worshipper by spiritual means. Thus the Shadow cat's spirit remains, it is just elevated to a higher, more communicative level. THis is MGF for all us animal lovers, as we the allies still retain all their previous loveable habits. (ie, stealing chickens, marking territory, begging for food and finding lost kids. Noe they are just more effective at it.
Paul H. says:
> In the RW menses are effected by the moon. A woman on earth doesn't have
one period a month she has one every 28 days (approx.) more or less because
of the RW moon. We don't know and can never know whether women six thousand
years ago all had their periods within a week of a full moon.
Wow, am I missing what you're trying to say here? It CAN"T be that the RW moon has any effect on human fertility cycles. (Other, perhaps, than the full moon makes it easier for humans to see at night.) Earth's animals have a wide variety of fertility cycles, all of them influenced by the animals' metabolisms, seasonal reproduction strategies, and the structure of the uterus and the hormone cycle. None of this has anything to do with the relative positions of the earth, the sun, and a large chunk of rock that orbits the earth.
If the moon did have any real effect, why should only some animals be influenced by the lunar cycle? What about all those animals with an annual cycle? A biannual cycle? A six week cycle, or (in the case a many rodents), a four day cycle?
I'm afraid the 28 day fertility cycle of humans and the 28 day lunar cycle is simply a great coincidence. (Besides, 28 days is only a mean. The range for women's cycles is between 26 and 30 days.) This coincidence has became the foundation of many myths, but that's about it.
THis has never come up in any of our campaigns. We simply assume that women cycle ever 28 days or so (4 weeks), and leave it at that. I suppose one could design a heroquest to change that, but it would be powerful stuff.
Pam
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #116
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