What makes us weird can also make us wise.
The words wisdom and wit spring from the PIE root word weid -to see, whilst weird evolves from wert -to turn, wind. Many wise and weird myths wind around this month’s Sturgeon Full Moon, illuminating tidal themes of the connection between the individual cup bearer and the collective sea.
Sturgeon - artwork commissioned by Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1970's - Wiki
Tonight’s Full Moon looms low and large in the constellation of Aquarius, the water bearer, in part of the skyscape called The Sea, full of watery constellations - Pisces (The Fish), Piscis Austrinus (The Southern Fish), Cetus (the Whale), Eridanus (the river) and Capricorn (the goat-fish). Named after the abundance of Sturgeon in the Great Lakes of North America, the lunar fish will swim through the Perseids meteor shower before joining a Planetary Parade. Gliding from the left to the right of Saturn (11th-13th August), the Moon will then float past Pleiades and Uranus (15th-17th), line up with Mercury, Venus and Jupiter (18th-19th), triangulate with Venus and Jupiter and ascend over Mercury (21st).
With the same features as their fossilised aspenseriform ancestors from the Early Jurassic Period, 174-201 million years ago, Sturgeons are considered living fossils. Their distinctive bony armour and long snouts enable them to fend off predators and live in a wide range of watery environments. Migrating from salt to fresh water sites, sturgeons are scavengers who comb river and seabeds for prey and help transport nutrients, maintain species balance and stimulate habitat growth. Having survived the great extinction event, which wiped out the Dinosaurs 66 million years ago, and the last Ice Age 34 million years ago, 85% of sturgeon species are currently at risk of extinction as a result of human overfishing.
Since antiquity, cupbearers have fulfilled vital roles, trusted to ensure the safe delivery of life-giving water to deities and humanity. Whilst their individuality is celebrated, their gifts are dedicated to collective wellbeing. Hebe, Greek Goddess of Youth was cupbearer to the Greek Gods in Olympus, before Zeus took a shine to a Trojan youth Ganymede, whilst Rainbow messenger Goddess Iris carried water from the underworld river Styx to Olympus for oath-taking. Ganga, the Indian river Goddess, carries a kumbha/ water pot, in one of her four hands, and Gangajalis contain precious, purified holy water from the Ganges River.
For Babylonians, Aquarius represented Ea, The Great One, God of wisdom, magic, art, cleaning, craft and cunning. Depicted carrying a cup, Ea was believed to live in Abzu, the oceanic source of all water under the earth. In a later Babylonian creation myth, a love match between Abzu, God of freshwater, and Tiamat, Goddess of salt water, brings forth the world and the younger Gods, including Ea. Predictably, the creation of humans results in chaos, so when the Gods decide to wipe them out in a Great Flood, Ea tips off Atrahasis, a predecessor of Noah, and advises him to build an Ark for his family and pairs of animals. Buried in the deeper waters of Abzu, we find Nammu, watery creatrix of the universe, who, like Tiamat, was eclipsed by male Gods. Her son Ea’s influence continues to flow through watery words such as aqua.
The Egyptian God of the Nile, Hapi was associated with Aquarius, and the annual flooding of the Nile in August. The 10th largest constellation in the sky, Arabic astronomers named Aquarius, ad-dalw /well-bucket, and christened two of its brightest stars Sadalmelik - lucky one of the king and Sadalsuud - luckiest of the lucky. In Tarot, the Star Card, associated with Aquarius, promises hope, renewal, illumination and inspiration, often symbolised by a woman communing with flowing water under a starry sky.
By some wonderful, weird and wise turning of the collective tides, we find ourselves alive in this moment. This Sturgeon Moon offers an invitation to consider how we can cup and share our unique gifts - our witty, weird and wise aspects - within the flow of life. Our creative mediums, be they songs, dances, stories or paintings, act as containers for our wisdom, wit and wonderful weirdness. Like bony-armoured sturgeon, our unique features and creative containers help us navigate the challenging terrains of the world. Amidst the hurlyburly, we can fill our cups by pausing to draw inspiration from the vast moonlit sky.
Water-bearer from an Almanac illustrated by Théo van Rysselberghe, 1902 - Wiki Commons
