Because I was curious as to if your books had a better answer. Thus far, no one I have ever seen has had an answer as to why the moon phase really matters when the moon is there 24/7.
Also, symbols have power because we give them power. In and of itself a squiggle means nothing, but if you attach to it this or that, then it gets meaning, and through that meaning we use it as a base of power.
Doesn't make the squiggle powerful in and of itself. ;)
OK. Just had another thought though. The moon effects the tides. We are mainly water, so I wonder if the moon has a physical effect on us, which can be tied into the metaphysical.
Could be...but that being said, is it the phases that effect us or the movement of the moon that does it then?
And did the people of old know about the tides when they came up with this stuff? Or did they honestly believe that the moon disappeared every 28 days? ;)
The movement of the moon may be in relation to it's phase.
Good point about people of the past. The 'disappearing phase' is called 'The Dark of the Moon'. My books say many traditions won't cast spells during this period.
Maybe they knew about the phases by instinct, or somebody had a vision about it.
This is about moon phases and tides. Yes there is a correlation between the two.
That being said, it doesn't mean the tides were the reason for it. Lol. Darkness is considered evil and bad in many traditions, so a dark moon is evil or bad. On unlucky days no one would do anything out of fear of something bad happening, so it may have been a simple luck precaution built out of superstition. Someone may have had some idea outside of it like you said though. Lol. But I think for most it would be nothing more than superstition.
The way I understand it is that the moon has been the center of many magic traditions for centuries, a representation of the balance between the positive and negetive aspects of magic, Light and Darkness. As the moon is waxing the positive energies used to enhance spells and ritual increase, being strongest on the full moon, and as the moon starts to wane, the negative energies used to enhance spells and rituals increase, being strongest on the new moon. This is simply my understanding of it of course
While I am no expert I would suggest anther reason for the phase of the moon effecting magick even if it is always there 24/7 is there is diffrence in the energy given out by the moon during diffrent phase. This could explain why the waining tends to work best with spells harming or pushing somthing away and the waxing moon works best with helping and pulling somthing to you.
This is only a theory but I think this would be a interesting thing to study
