Symbol Dictionary Med-Mes
Medicine Wheel: See Directions.
Medicine Bundle/Pouch: Used by Native Americans, the Medicine Pouch contains sacred and spiritual objects such as herbs, ceremonial tools, and objects special to the owner. Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), state, “It may be made by an individual for personal use, by a healer, a shaman or a medicine man, or as a collective representation of the spiritual power and cohesiveness of a tribe or a society.”
Menorah: See Candelabrum.
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Menstrual Calendar: Also called Lunar Calendar and the Mayan Calendar. This system divides the year in 13 months, of 28 days, each containing four 7-day weeks and is based on the waxing and waning of the moon in which the Sabbath falls on the new, waxing, full, and waning moons. This system created 364 days accumulated from the lunar months, so it was necessary to also add a day every year to make 365 days, which created the saying “a year and a day” which simply refers to a full 365 day year. |
Barbara Walker, author of The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), states, “It has been shown that calendar consciousness developed first in women, because of their natural menstrual body calendar, correlated with observations of the moon’s phases.” In this system, a normal gestation of pregnancy lasts a perfect 10 months (280 days). By 1000 B.C.E Chinese women had developed a lunar calendar, dividing the phase of the moon into 28 stellar “mansions.” A variation of this same myth calls the mansions Hsiu, “Houses” and states that the Moon Mother each nigh rests in a different house. In ancient Latium it was believed that the Goddess transitioned on the 7th day of the week and so it became unlucky to do activity on this day and the custom of “resting” on the seventh day was created, a custom that even the biblical God followed. Romans, Greeks, northern Europeans, Mayans, and Egyptians all have similar beliefs and customs of tracking time based on the moon’s development. The Gregorian calendar based on the sun, the calendar used today, was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII to correct the Julian calendar (also based on the sun) and became the dominant calendar in the next three decades. When the switch from lunar to sun calendar occurred, there was a great deal of confusion surrounding the dates of festivals (those that consistently fall on a particular day of the week, like the first Sunday of the month, are based on the lunar calendar) and the timeline of myths and legends.
Mercury: See Planets.
Meriah: See Trees.
Merlin: Merlin is a character of myth and legend that has changed over time and with the re-writing of the myths by Christians. In all the myths he is otherworldly, with exceptional connection with nature, prophecy, and wisdom, whether that be as a Druidic wizard, Welsh “wild man of the woods,” a prophet or shaman, magician or bard to the Fairy Queen, the Christian wise-man, or the Christianized son of a virgin mother and the devil who’s good nature always prevailed; and he consistently appears as a servant of the Goddess. He has been called Ambrosius (from the ambrosia of the Goddess), Lailoken, and Myrrdin. Merlin’s connection to the Goddess is evident in his myths. Barbara Walker, author of The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), asserts, “Merlin learned all his magic from the Goddess, in the guise of Morgan le Fay, or Vivian (She Who Lives), or the Lady of the Lake. At the end of his life she took him back into her magic cave and wrapped him in deathless sleep until his Second Coming... Pagan Britons believed Merlin would return from his enchanted sleep to announce the coming of a new age of peace and fertility.” The Goddess was also called the Fairy Queen, Nimue, Muirgen (Celtic Water-goddess) in his legends. Although Christian writers tried to hide this connection, it was evident that he was connected to Goddess worship and in the 16th century, the Council of Trent prohibited the Book of Merlin’s Predictions. See UMS Wizards, Magical Creatures and Adepts course.
Mermaid: The mythic half human, half fish creature of the sea was a symbol of the goddess as Aphrodite (the lover) or Ran (the death bringer) for northern Europe. In her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), Barbara Walker asserts, “Literally ‘Virgin of the Sea,’ the mermaid was an image of fish-tailed Aphrodite, the medieval Minne, Maerin, Mari, Marina, mereminne, mare-mynd, mareminde, marraminde, or maraeman. The Mermaid was the creature that received the bodies and souls of men when they were sent out on funeral boats and she was the cause of drowned fishermen, entrapping them in her nets. See UMS Wizards, Magical Creatures and Adepts course.
Messiah: See Savior, this section