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Cashford, Jules. “The Moon: Myth and Image”. Casell, London. 2003. 400pp, illus (some colour), bibliography, index. Hbk £25.00. ISBN 1-84403103-9

This is a large book, and one that nobody is going to whiz through as there is so much information gathered in here. Cashford has attempted a comprehensive analysis of the place of the Moon in human culture, in particular in mythology / religion and literature. That said she does have her preferences and the dominant religion / mythology are those of the eastern Mediterranean / middle east, whereas amongst the writers Yeats and Shakespeare loom large. 

The first two thirds of the book deal with a range of themes, covering such topics as the relationship between the moon and the sun (usually a gendered pair, sometimes with the Moon male, sometimes female (depending on which culture and at what point in its history); the moon and fertility; the Moon and time; the Moon and weather; faces of the Moon and so on. The last third looks at the different phases of the Moon and how different cultures and at different times have interpreted what the full and new Moon, and the waxing and waning Moon have meant.

Cashford does an excellent job in assembling the information from the various sources she has drawn upon, but in some respects one detects the shadow of previous writers such as the oft quoted Sir James Frazer, inasmuch as by drawing her net so wide she creates a feeling of an ahistorical approach, i.e. everything on a topic is grist to the mill, which runs the risk of totally decontextualising the elements she writes about from their specific culture and time. For example when discussing the relationship between the Moon and fertility on one page (210) she writes “Breton women would go to the megalithic dolmen of Cruz-Moquen in the town of Carnac and lift their skirts” in the hope of becoming fertile. Whilst on the opposite page “Women in Brittany would cover their bodies so the Moon’s rays could not reach them” (page 211). Now both these statements may well be true, but there is no context given for during what era these activities took place, are these Stone Age rituals or from the nineteenth century – we are not told. Equally there is the use of vague terminology. Note that we are not told which women, or how many women did these things, or for how long. 

This is not an isolated problem within the book but endemic. Now this isn’t, I suspect, down to sloppy scholarship, but rather due to the ideological context within which the book has been framed. Now I’m not a Jungian psychoanalyst, but Jules writes from a Jungian perspective and this tends to flatten out differences, in the effort to understand human relationships with the Moon (amongst other relationships). In short the text assumes a singular humanity with an unchanging psychological make-up, in which the world’s myths and religions (the words are practically interchangeable) represent at some deep level, universal statements about how people actually think, albeit not necessarily at a conscious level. Consequently the text does not require, for it’s own purposes, too much attention to historical detail.

This is exemplified by her approach to European (and possibly world) “pre-history”, i.e. that time in human existence prior to the invention of writing (or at least any surviving examples thereof.) Jules has obviously read most of the feminist standards in this area, right back to the nineteenth century writers such as J.J. Bachofen, through writers such as Robert Graves, Erich Neumann, Henri Briffault, through to more recent writers such as Marija Gimbutas. As she accepts as a historical fact that there was a Matriarch cal society which worshipped “The Great Goddess”. Small problem, whilst the archaeological evidence is suggestive of such a society, this is only one of many possible interpretations of it. Quite simply, the jury is still out on this one and it’s quite possible that may never know. In short, Cashford not only writes about Moon myths, she also helps perpetuate historical myths herself. 

That said, one has to admire the effort the author has put into assembling such a vast amount of information on the Moon and all related subjects. It doesn’t pretend to be an encyclopaedic volume, rather a dense interweave of related themes. Her book actually partakes of the characteristics that are attributed to the Moon:

“It emerges from this pattern of connectedness that we might call the “lunar mind” – which we attribute to early people but which, like all mythic images, never completely dies out – gains confidence with each new relationship that can be established. Indeed, once this idea is in place it is almost impossible to disprove it rationally for it composes a worldview, a paradigm that includes all evidence, and the criteria for the truth of evidence, within it. Everything then works to confirm it, for the more disparate the phenomena related the more the world discloses itself as a unity – if only in its extraordinary capacity to reveal relationships between elements so apparently unlike each other.” (p.117)

Sadly one can’t help but compare this way of thinking with that espoused by the proponents of all-encompassing conspiracy theories and those of disturbed mentalities.

One plus point for the book is the inclusion of a comprehensive selection of black and white illustrations that are tied into the text. That said, the publishers have rather let the author down by the colour plates that are gathered at the centre of the book. Now, I realise that their position is due to the economics of colour printing, but the plates (which are colour versions of a selection of the black and white illustrations) are divorced from the rest of the book apart from the figure numbers which are given to them. I did not find any list of the plates and neither is there any reference to them in the text. You’ll just have to locate the plates and make a note on the relevant b&w illustrations that there is also a colour version.

I suspect that this book will receive many widely differing reviews, as so much will depend on the intellectual baggage that readers bring to it. Those who can go with the grain of the text and work with Cashford’s logic, her Jungian analyses and Matriarchal myths will probably find this a delightful book to have and one they will refer to often. Others, if they anything like me, will find it a struggle to read, as one is constantly tripping over the text and wanting to argue with it. Again for many people that will be a plus point, as they will enjoy the intellectual stimulation.

As for whether you should out and buy the book, my only advise can be that you borrow a copy first to see how you get on with it. If you’re interested in mythology and belief systems and want some interesting speculation as to how the Moon features in them then you’ll probably want this book.

6/10

Richard Alexander