Calendar History. Early humans were hunter-gatherers for some time prior to the beginning of agriculture. They left behind many examples of wood or stone that was clearly marked to count the days of a moon (month). Various results were obtained, from about 28 days to about 30 days. Thirty days was perhaps popular because it is three pairs of hands, or I should say the thumbs and fingers thereof. (If we had had seven digits to a hand instead of five, I'm sure the 28 day moon would have won--dare I say "hands down".) Well, the fact is that a moon is very nearly 29 and a half days in length, so 30 days is off by half a day while 28 days is off by a day and a half, an error that was simply three times more obvious as moon followed moon.
The Celestial Calendar. It was also estimated that the seasonal year was about 360 days, not because precise measurements indicated that to be its length but because 30 days to a moon times twelve zodiacal constellations equals 360 days to a year. Our circles all have 360 degrees in them because the sun took 360 days to circle the sky, according to those early estimates of time. Each degree is the distance the sun travels around the sky each day of the year. I call this system the "Celestial Calendar System". It's a very elegant system that divides the sky into twelve constellations of 30 degrees each.
On the vernal equinox of every year, the sun and moon are in union in the 1st degree of Ares (the Ram). The Sun moves one degree each day and in 30 days it has moved to the 1st degree of the next constellation, Taurus. The Moon moves much faster in the same direction (west to east across the stellar background). The Moon moves 13 degrees every day. (That's where 13 gets its magic.) In the same 30 days that the Sun takes to reach the 1st degree of Taurus, the Moon moves 13 x 30 degrees, 390 degrees. It circles the sky completely (360 degrees) and then goes an additional 30 degrees, ending up in perfect union with the Sun in the 1st degree of Taurus. Each 30 day Moon, the Sun and Moon dance around the sky and end up in union in the 1st degree of another constellation. They journey around the zodiac in 360 days and in up back in union in the 1st degree of Ares on the vernal equinox. Is that elegant or what?
Sadly, reality is not so elegant. Twelve Moons mark about 354 days while a seasonal year is much nearer to 365 days. Many efforts have been made to salvage the synchronicity of the month and the year, and none of them are very elegant at all. Every few years require an additional (13th) month to keep the two cycles approximately aligned. When I began working on a lunar calendar, I never even tried to align it with the seasonal calendar of the year. Our measurements of all these periods are so much more precise today than 100,000, or 10,000, or indeed even 1,000 years ago. So designing a lunar calendar system was fairly easy.
The Lunar Calendar. The period of one Moon (a month) is very close to 29 & 1/2 days. To keep it on integer values and not fractions, I created a period of 59 days which I call a Lunar Doublet. A Doublet is two Moons. The first Moon of each Doublet starts at midnight beginning the first day of the Doublet and ends at midday on the 30th day of the Doublet. Since this Moon starts at midnight and ends at midday, I call it the Morning Moon of the Doublet. The second Moon starts at midday on the 30th day of the Doublet and ends at midnight closing the 59th day of the Doublet. Since this final Moon starts at midday and ends at midnight, I call it the Evening Moon of the Doublet.
Each Doublet is divided into two Moons, each Moon has 27 days divided into three Phases per Moon (maiden phase, mother phase, and crone phase), and each phase is divided into three Templets of three days each. There are also two Dark Moon templets in each Doublet. The Dark Moon templet between the Morning and Evening Moons is three days long, but the Dark Moon templet spanning the end of one Doublet and the beginning of the next is only two days long. Thus, three days make a templet, three templets make a phase, and three phases make a Moon. All Moons are separated by two or three day Dark Moon templets during which the Moon is hidden in union with the Sun. Here is the breakdown of a typical Doublet.
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Days_________Moon Templet & Phase
01 & 59_______Dark Moon - Templet of Kore-Persephone (Interlunary Phase)
02-04 & 32-34__Early Waxing Crescent Moon - Templet of Selene-Luna (Maiden Phase)
05-07 & 35-37__Late Waxing Crescent Moon - Templet of Artemis-Diana (Maiden Phase)
08-10 & 38-40__Early Waxing Ovate Moon - Templet of Hanwi (Maiden Phase)
11-13 & 41-43__Late Waxing Ovate Moon - Templet of N'Game' (Mother Phase)
14-16 & 44-46__Full Moon - Templet of Isis-Istar (Mother Phase)
17-19 & 47-49__Early Waning Ovate Moon - Templet of Nana (Mother Phase)
20-22 & 50-52__Late Waning Ovate Moon - Templet of Mawu (Crone Phase)
23-25 & 53-55__Early Waning Crescent Moon - Templet of Cerredwyn-Kali (Crone Phase)
26-28 & 56-58__Late Waning Crescent Moon - Templet of Hecate-Hela (Crone Phase)
29 - 31________Dark Moon - Templet of Kore-Persephone (Interlunary Phase)
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The early waxing crescent and the late waning crescents are the thin fingernail moons, the earliest visible moons commonly seen. Each templet represents a fairly distinctive period of each lunation, one that is more finely attuned to the Moon's changing forms than the four quarter system of most calendars. I should think it easier to identify the best lunar periods for specific magick works with this system.
Long-Term Lunar Periods. A period of sixteen Doublets (that is, 32 Moons) is called a Cynthiad. The last Doublet in every Cynthiad has an additional "Cynthiad Day" (day 60) appended to the two-day Dark Moon Templet. This adjustment keeps the Lunar Calendar accurate for 47 Cynthiads. This period of 47 Cynthiads is called a Lunar Age. The last Cynthiad in every Lunar Age does NOT have the additional day 60 appended to its final Doublet. Every Cynthiad has 945 days, which is precisely 135 weeks, so every Cynthiad within an Age begins on the same day of the week. For example, every Cynthiad in this Lunar Age begins on a Sunday. Because the last Cynthiad of an Age has only 944 days, all the Cynthiads of the next Age will begin one weekday earlier, and over a period of seven Lunar Ages the first days of the Cynthiads in each Age will cycle in reverse order through all the days of the week. This period of seven Lunar Ages is therefore called a Wycke. The grandest scale of Lunar time, a Lunar Epoch, consists of nine Wyckes of seven Lunar Ages each, and each Age contains 47 Cynthiads of 32 Moons (sixteen Doublets) apiece. A Lunar Epoch is about 7,661 years.
As I have my Lunar Calendar set up, we are presently in the Seventh Age of Baldur. (NOTE: Baldur is my Sun God of choice, so it is the Seventh Age of the Sun, meaning that all the Cynthiads in this Age begin on Sundays.) It is the seventh Wycke of the Epoch, and thus the Seventh Age of Baldur. The 1st Day of the 1st Moon in the 43rd Cynthiad of the Seventh Age of Baldur will occur on July 27, 2014.
I would be interested in any comments on this system. I think my ego can withstand a bit of well-intended criticism, and in fact if it can't then the criticism is also well-deserved.
Thanks!Bran th' Blessed
Sorry I had not responded earlier. Sometimes my eyes roll back in my head when I see a bunch of numbers, it's so closely related to math....math and me have been enemies since the dawn of my time. I tried to follow as best I could, but I'm not sure how you arrive at 59 days from dark moon to dark moon. Maybe if you made a different chart, I'm a real visual person. I get the three day thing, as I have had the feeling the energy of a moon full or dark moon lasts a full three day period anyway, would make sense the rest of the phases would follow. I was surprised and pleased to know about the 13 degree movement,...learn something new every day !
...not paying attention in my astrology class? ugh, you know...it's the numbers)
) and tell her I think she is very wise.
But oddly, I started playing with numbers in the fashion of numerology, where you reduce all numbers to their single digit equivalence--I call it a mene. The number 1234 reduces to the mene (1), so do the numbers 10, 37, 64, 127, and 343. Anyway, while just playing with numbers reduced to their one-digit menes, I have had a lot of fun and found some very interesting hidden things.