By Jenbunny
Sailor Moon Mythology Tsuki is the Japanese name for the Moon. The crescent is the planetary symbol. Usagi/Princess and Neo-Queen Serenity are based on the goddess Selene. Her main power is to purify (Moon Healing Escalation) since the power of the Moon is purity, also enchantment. Sailor Cosmos' name comes from the Greek kosmos meaning universe. [Side note for fun: In the Japanese Language of Flowers, the cosmos flower means heart of girls.]
Selene:
Her name is from the Greek for light, radiance, and brightness. She was the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister to Eos and Helios. Once her brother finished his journey across the sky, it was Selene's turn to pull her chariot across the heavens. She paused only to kiss her lover Endymion (the setting sun).
Selene was the Greek goddess of the Moon. She has been pictured as a beautiful young girl wearing a long white gown with wings, a golden diadem, and having long white hair. The power associated with the Moon and deity Selene was enchantment. The color white is symbolic of the Moon and Diana, as well as the metal silver. For many cultures, the Moon is a feminine symbol. It also symbolizes the soul, eternity, and immortality.
Princess Serenity is based on Selene. Queen Serenity could possibly be modeled after the Moon queen of the Chinese fairytale who lived alone on the Moon without her husband, seeing him only occasionally. This would explain the absence of the Princess' father from the story, and still fit mythologically. Nevertheless, both names can translate to Selenity, since in Japanese the r and l are interchangeable. The Moon Kingdom is located at the Sea of Serenity (a real place), thus another possible origin for the name. Both queens are drawn according to the physical description of the goddess. In addition, Selene, according to some sources, bore a crescent on her forehead.
Besides the ever-present triad, the double goddess image is prevalent. The cyclical character of the goddess was said to be represented in the double goddess image, such as a mother/daughter or summer/winter metaphor. Note, the mother/daughter image is always found. At first Queen Serenity and her daughter, then once Chibi Usa appears, the motif changes to focus on the mother/daughter relationship of these two. Moreover, in the Stars series, Usagi seems to be a definite mother figure to Chibi Chibi.
Finally, these characters can be seen as the regenerative goddess. This type of goddess is associated with the symbols of the butterfly, hare, and crescent ["energy sign, symbol of becoming, denoting the beginning phase of the lunar cycle" (Gimbutas, 322)].
A popular theme in Japanese poetry is Moon-viewing, and in many instances, the Moon serves as a symbol for love and desire.
Queen:
The queen can possibly symbolize the Mother, which is the archetype feminine, embodying protection, warmth, and all phases of life. Though in the history of symbols, she takes a backstage to the King, when the Queen appears in fairytales and legends she many times is given power and influence, her role taking on more importance than before.
The Moon Kingdom:
"Then they entered the spreading halls. The silver stories of the castle towered one above the other, and its walls and columns were all formed of liquid crystal. In the walls were cages and ponds, where fishes and birds moved as though alive. The whole moon-world seemed made of glass" (Martens, 33-34). This quote is from the tale "The Lady of the Moon." It sounds like Queen Serenity's palace, and reminds me partly of Neo-Queen Serenity's.
Planetary Symbol:
The crescent. Also the symbol for silver in alchemy, its color reminding discoverers of Luna/Selene's sphere.
June 30:
Usagi and Chibi Usa's birthday. Their sign is Cancer, which is ruled by the Moon. Emotions and a nurturing nature are attributes. White and silver are the colors, silver is the metal. The crystal is one of its many stones. Cancer is Latin for crab, and the symbol is the claws of the crab.
Pearl:
This is both Usagi's and Chibi Usa's favorite stone. The pearl is the stone for Cancer and the Moon; it is also the birthstone for June. It was once a symbol for long life, and for a time in history, only the nobility could wear them. Pearls are associated with love and purity.
Moonstone:
Takeuchi gives this stone, along with the Pearl, as their image stones. It is also a birthstone for June and Cancer. It is known as a stone of lovers, having the power to bring reconciliation or foretell the future for them. Some say it is formed from rays of the Moon.
Silver Crystal: Ginzuishou
As far as symbols go, the stone has been considered the goddess' power or to hold her power. The stone symbolic of the Moon is the crystal, and the metal associated with the Moon is silver. Thus, both Serenitys and Small Lady have their power in the Silver Crystal.
When the Ginzuishou becomes a flower, if one sees the flower as a lotus, this can be symbolic. "In cultures shaped primarily by religions at the matriarchal level, it is the womb and breast that are prominent. In India where the lotus as the symbol of the womb is the source of all life, the ascetic sitting on the lotus throne also becomes the symbol of salvation or awakening" (Ross, 44). Though this quote applies specifically to India, the concepts fit here. Both the Silver Millennium and Crystal Tokyo are ruled under a matriarchy, and Usagi has many times been a symbol or figure of salvation, even awakening. In addition, the lotus was the flower of the maiden aspect of the triple goddess.
Rabbit
In China and Japan, the rabbit is connected in myth to the Moon, hence Usagi's name (Rabbit of the Moon), and all the inside jokes concerning rabbits.
"The Moon is also inhabited by a personage who is considered the Moon goddess, Ch'ang-o or Heng-o. She is the wife of I, the Excellent Archer. The gods had given him the drug of immortality, and while he was away, his wife took the opportunity to drink it. When her husband returned he became so angry about this that she fled to the Moon. Her husband went after her, and she asked protection of the Hare, who fought with I and made him give up his intention of punishing his wife, who henceforth has lived in the Moon" (Hamlyn, 395).
The story of Heng-o and Shen I represents the partnership of the Sun and Moon. The story ends with Shen I receiving the Palace of the Sun and a lunar talisman to visit the Moon, thus their union, and the union of yin and yang (male and female).
Tsuki-Yomi is the Japanese name for the god of the Moon. "It is curious to note that the Chinese picture of the hare in the moon preparing the drug of immortality has passed into the iconography of modern Japan with certain modifications. The Japanese represent the white disk of the moon with a rabbit or a hare pounding rice in a mortar. This symbol is based on a pun. In Japanese, Mochi-zuki means to pound rice for cakes, and Mochi-zuki also means the full moon. Although the ideograms with which the two words are written are entirely different, the identity of the consonants was enough to produce the image" (Hamlyn, 422).
In legend, the hare's life is supposed to extend to no less than a thousand years. It is fur, after five hundred years, becomes white.
Usagi has been nicknamed odango-atama (dumpling head) because of her hair, by Mamoru, Haruka, and Seiya. The dumpling referred to is the mochi or rice cakes.
A little last note on mochi, since it concerns a Sun and Moon representation. These cakes are sometimes offered at Shinto shrines, with one side colored red and the other white, possibly representing the Sun and Moon.
Triple Goddess
When worshipped the Moon goddess was honored as a triad, for the three phases: waxing, full, and waning. Or, as pertains to Naoko's story, the maiden, mother, and crone. The obvious symbolism comes with the three generations of the matriarchy, from Queen Serenity to her daughter, Serenity, to Small Lady. Also, the cats can be seen as a triad since they are three and all based on goddesses who one time or another represented the Moon.
The maiden aspect is represented in the new moon and crescent. This phase is youth and adolescence. Her color is white, and she denotes new beginnings and enchantment.
The young princess we are introduced to is pure and innocent. And during the series, she at times represents a new beginning for everyone. After defeating Beryl, for instance, it is the strength of her love for everyone that allows them to be reborn and begin anew. Once Chibi Usa arrives, she becomes the maiden. She is the heir of Neo-Queen Serenity and the charge of a slowly maturing Usagi. In the final chapter of Takeuchi's epic, Chibi Chibi represents the maiden in a triad concerning Usagi alone. She holds the key to everyone's hope and future as a child star seed of Sailor Cosmos.
The mother aspect is represented in the full moon. She represents power, stability, she nurtures, but also fights to the death to protect those she loves.
Both Queen Serenity and Neo-Queen Serenity fit this description. It is Queen Serenity who sacrifices her life in order that her daughter and court maybe reborn. As we watch Usagi grow through the course of the series, we see her lose her klutziness and fear and become a young woman ready to protect her loved ones. Her changing of phases is represented in the gradual maturing she goes through while with Chibi Usa. While many times as immature as her future daughter, through time she becomes both nurturing and protective. Finally, Usagi truly embodying the mother aspect as Neo-Queen Serenity and as nurturer of Chibi Chibi.
The crone aspect is represented in the waning moon. Her phase can represent sleep or death. Her color is black. Yet, she is also wisdom and the guide to rebirth.
In the first season, Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom acts as the dark side of the trilogy, opposite the Queen and Princess. Black Lady is a second incarnation, as the black crescent moon of Nemesis can be representative of the third phase (with the maiden side of Chibi Usa and Usagi/Neo-Queen Serenity rounding out the triad). Neherenia is a third. The Dead Moon Circus deals with dreams, a reference to both the death and sleep aspects. She calls Sailor Moon the reincarnation of the white moon queen, referring to the first Serenity's reign. Then, Neherenia dwelled on the dark side of the Moon (another allusion). Of course, both Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon complete this trilogy. In the manga, in the flashback to the Princess' infancy and Neherenia's entrapment, the triad is completed with Queen Serenity and the baby Princess. The last is seen with Sailor Cosmos (wisdom) who is the final incarnation of Sailor Moon. She completes a triad of herself, with Chibi Chibi and Usagi.
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