Crescent moon symbol

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Fred
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Crescent moon symbol

Post by Fred »

I am interested in what the crescent moon symbol might mean. It's on the note from Maj Briggs. It's on Deputy Hawk's map. Carrie Page (Laura) wears a necklace shaped like a crescent.

The two horns of the crescent point downwards. This is unusual, as crescent moon symbols usuals point to the left or right, in astronomy and alchemy, etc. Does this mean that Carrie or Diane are "under the moon", in the words of the Log Lady?

I read up a little about the symbol of the crescent moon. It's usually linked to female deities: the virgin goddess Artemis (Greek) or Diana (Roman). The latter name is similar to Diane. The Japanese woman in the forest turns out to be Diane in disguise.

An upturned crescent is a symbol of the Egyptian Isis. Mark Frost is interested in theosophy, so this could be important, since Blavatsky wrote "Isis Unveiled". But if the crescent points downwards, does this mean that Isis has somehow been turned upside down? When Bob is shattered, his magic curse is lifted and the Japanese woman turns back into Diane. Perhaps then, the crescent is turned the right way up again, and some wrongs are righted. It seems that good has prevailed, and we have arrived at a classical "happy ending". All the major characters are assembled in Frank Truman's office, but something is not quite right... This is almost too good to be true... Something slightly contrived about this scene. Is it really happening or is Cooper imagining it? (His face is superimposed...)

When Cooper meets Carrie, her crescent is upside down, and she has forgotten who she really is, so things need to be put right again. An upsidedown horseshoe is bad luck. Will he turn it the right way up?

In Tarot cards, the High Priestess is depicted with her feet on the crescent. This card represents mystery, intuition and the unconscious. What if this card is dealt upside down?

Also, Book of Revelation, chapter 12 describes a woman clothed in the Sun, with the Moon under her feet, and 12 stars around her head. We know that Maj Briggs liked to read Revelation to his wife, (before he departed and entered the Giant's Palace).

Any thoughts on this? I'd love to know people's opinions.
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Jerry Horne
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Re: Crescent moon symbol

Post by Jerry Horne »

Carrie's necklace is a horseshoe. Although you did say shaped, so yes. Interesting stuff.
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Novalis
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Re: Crescent moon symbol

Post by Novalis »

Fred wrote:The two horns of the crescent point downwards. This is unusual, as crescent moon symbols usuals point to the left or right, in astronomy and alchemy, etc. Does this mean that Carrie or Diane are "under the moon", in the words of the Log Lady?
A downturned lunar crescent is sometimes regarded as an inauspicious symbol, but its use can vary considerably. Like a horseshoe with the ends turned downwards it is often regarded as unlucky (a lucky horseshoe in most regions of the UK has the point upwards, in the manner of a vessel; turning the horseshoe upside down is to 'pour out' the stored luck).

Ostensibly the horizontal crescent moon symbol with points downwards is similar to (and can be used interchangeably with) the figure of the North Node of the Moon, caput draconis, or 'head of the dragon'. In that case, it is neither positive nor negative in itself, but simply points the way the soul is travelling; the South Node (cauda draconis) shows where it has been. In astrology, the interpretation of these nodes as good or bad relies on conjunctions or other aspects they make with planets, other celestial objects, and so on. The nodes of the moon are also represented by geomantic figures.

If the north node is conjoint with the black space-hopper symbol, that is a whole lotta trouble: it means a soul destined for... well, whatever Mr. C was looking for.

There are other things about the downward pointing moon that make it bad, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. I'll come back to this thread when I have delved through some notes.

EDIT1: one of the connections I was thinking of turned up wrong; I was thinking the symbol was an old astrological version of a symbol for Lilith, but I can only find versions of Lilith which are rearrangements of Saturn/Jupiter (lunar crescent & cross). Shame: Lilith would have been such an interesting and apposite correspondence. Still, there are other things to check up on.

EDIT2: the Shriners (Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a masonic order) use a downturned crescent in their emblem. I don't have much access to their iconography and it's difficult to look up online since for every reputable source there's a thousand giddy conspiracy buffs ad-libbing. File under: to do. This wasn't the thing I was thinking of either, though.

EDIT3: the downturned lune is used in heraldry, where it is called the 'crescent reversed'. More on this to follow.

EDIT4: Aha! Here's something. Wiccans sometimes use the crescent/lune as a symbol for the 'horn(ed) moon', a symbol of Diana. A horn moon lying on its back is a symbol of growth and fertility. An inverted horn moon would then be particularly troubling for Dianic Wiccans - perhaps for Diane too.

EDIT5: a moon lying on its back with both points up is known as a Cheshire moon (after the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Caroll's Alice stories, which disappears leaving its smile behind -- the shape of this kind of moon resembles a smile). It's also known as a wet moon, and is a documented natural phenomena as opposed to being purely symbolic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_moon However, no corresponding moon with downturned horns occurs in nature. On the level of associations, it would represent the opposite of the Cheshire Cat -- a frown that remains when the cat vanishes. All this reminds me of Sarah's smile in the face-off at the Elk bar, btw.

EDIT6: S. T. Coleridge the romantic poet used a horned moon with a star tucked under its 'nether tip', in his Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The poem claims it rose in the east and was a dreadful portent to sailors, signifying that something evil was about to occur. As the horned moon rose, the crew of the ship in the poem began to fall dead. This was the one I was thinking of. It was all in the wording: 'nether tip'. Sigh. I can sleep tonight now. A final tangent to think about here: the Dutchman; in his poem Coleridge's Mariner encounters a ghost wreck and plays dice with Death. Also the frowning moon symbol we are talking about above was probably deeply unlucky for seafarers as it resembles a capsized / overturned ship.

EDIT7: One last thought before bed. The frowning moon as a natural phenomenon is technically impossible. The only time it could occur is when the moon is close to the sun in the sky during the day, when the sunlight would obliterate the moon's visibility. There's a reasonable explanation of why this is so here: https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/que ... lower-half So it's interesting that a frowning moon, like a blue rose, is something that would have to be artificially made.
As a matter of fact, 'Chalfont' was the name of the people that rented this space before. Two Chalfonts. Weird, huh?
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Fred
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Re: Crescent moon symbol

Post by Fred »

Thank you to the people who replied to this, especially Novalis for such a detailed response.

The matter is much clearer in my mind:

Crescent moon: Diana/Diane. Goddess of hunting and the moon. A woman who appears under the moon, in the form of Naido (who is of course Diane in disguise).

Upsidedown horse shoe: Laura/Carrie. Bad luck. As Laura, she has bad luck with her father, drug abuse and trouble with boyfriends. As Carrie, she has bad luck in Odessa somehow, and she is glad to be leaving town.

Thanks again.
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Fred
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Re: Crescent moon symbol

Post by Fred »

Another thought about this. We know that Lynch is very fond of Stanley Kubrick's films. Ep. 8 is similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey, in some ways. Well, consider this image from near the start of that film:
Still from 2001 film
Still from 2001 film
2001_Space_Odyssey.jpg (38.75 KiB) Viewed 17822 times
The sun and the downturned crescent moon. Similar to the images of Major Briggs' note.

I realise this could just be a coincidence...

Any thoughts on this?
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Jasper
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Re: Crescent moon symbol

Post by Jasper »

I like the crescent moon ideas, though I'd point out that Carrie Page's horseshoe pendant likely relates in some way to the infamous white horse. After all, she has a white horse on her mantle, and the place she works, Judy's, has a white horse outside.

The horse shows up in other places in S3, like in the name of the Silver Mustang Casino, in the Red Room, and in the woodsman poem.

None of this is to say that the horseshoe can't also relate to the crescent moon. I searched crescent moon pendants, and a whole lot of them are upside down (like Carrie's), but it seems that even more of them are oriented right side up, in the good luck position.
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