The Moon

I have always liked astrology and horoscopes, which made me interested in the moon and its magical properties. I also noticed the moon playing a role in a lot of different stories, myths, and legends. I originally wanted to write about what the moon symbolizes in general, but that would be too broad. Then I decided to write about what it means in different cultures. What does the moon symbolizes in different cultures and what are some of the beliefs people believe about it? That is the question I mostly focused on for this paper.

Advice: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. It will just stress you out and you're probably already pretty stressed out with your other classes and homework. Set a bit of time everyday to look through your sources and write a bit. I wish I didn't procrastinate so much because I would always worry about when I would finish this project, but it worked out in the end. Research a topic that you really enjoy because you will be spending a lot of time on this paper. You don't want to torture yourself and write a paper about something you don't like or aren't interested in. Don't be surprised if you have to tweak your research question a little bit. You won't have to start over completely, just keep using the information that you already found and use it for your kind-of-new research question that you changed from your original question. Also, don't worry if you can't find really good sources right away. Just look at the databases, go to the library, look through the internet, and most importantly, be patient. I thought I wasn't going to find any reliable sources for my topic, but I ended up finding some journals and books that were really helpful and I was glad I didn't give up. I found a lot of information and learned a lot and that's important. Just don't give up :)

Here are some of the resources I used that were really helpful:

*I found the Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend (The Facts on File Encyclopedia) and World Mythology from the library near my house. The rest were journals from the JSTOR database.

Colton, Judith. "The Endymion Myth and Poussin's Detroit Painting." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Vol. 30, (1967): Pp. 426-431. Print.

Burton, John W. “"The Moon Is a Sheep" A Feminine Principle in Atuot Cosmology” Man New Series, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Sep., 1981): Pp. 441-450. Print.

Mercatante, Anthony S. Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend (The Facts on File Encyclopedia). New York: Facts on File, 1988. Print.

Raa, Eric Ten. "The Moon as a Symbol of Life and Fertility in Sandawe Thought." Africa: Journal of the International African Institute Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 1969): Pp. 24-53. Print.

Willis, Roy G. World Mythology. New York: H. Holt, 1993. Print.