The Moon - female or male ?

[Genna]

In swedish folk tradition the sun is feminine. We said; The sun, she..."

[archimedes]

I think if there needs to be gender in the reading for some reason, I'd go with feminine - Luna, Artemis, Selene - but otherwise, it's neutral. Maybe it's time to stop gendering things. Symbolism doesn't need to be gendered.

[SilverLining]

I always considered the moon to be feminine. Not too sure why now that this thought is being brought up. I think it might have to do with my interest in astrology too. The Moon dealing with associations with the mother. I also consider the sun to be more masculine for the same reason. I think of lions when it comes to the sun. It reminds me of their manes. Not that thats a vary valid reason.

[Lucifall]

Luna oh Luna.. What to do with the man in the Moon?

From The Painted Caravan (Basil Ivan Rakoczi)
Describing various depictions of the Moon Card in the opening sentenses of the description of the card:
Above is the moon in her fullness among the stars, or in her wane, or her increase. Some artists suggest all three aspects and place the Old man in the Moon within her disc, complete with dog and lantern; by others the hare in the moon is represented. Fertilizing dew sayin 'peace, be still' falls from her beams upon the earth. Where two towers stand, on on either side of the path leading to the far off mountains. A Wolf and a dog, or two dogs bay at her silver light, and there is a lake or a tank of water at the foot of the card in which a crayfish, alligator or serpent is swimming. Some place a scarabacus beetle or a crab here, the claws upraised to the lunar disc'

Fullness, or in her wane, or her increase - (All cycles - all mansions) - the woman cycle
The man in the Moon - The Male aspect
The Dew drops .. - out of the sky from her beams upon earth; Upon earth but also in the lake... - Sperm
The lake: The lady of the lake - the great mother (XVII) - The womb
Is the Crayfish swimming in this very same lake... Cancer? The Snake? The perfect matrimony?
Two towers - Two - Male Female
Do we see conception here?

XVII The Star - lady of the lake
XVIII The Moon - Dew - Conception
XVIIII the Child - the newborn (Child-or Self)

https://i.imgur.com/Ztkrm6d.jpg

From The Painted Caravan (Basil Ivan Rakoczi) - last sentenses description card:
The threefold nature of the Moon has become dramatised in the simple mime of the Harlequinade played by strolling players of the Gipsy fairs.
Colombine is the Lady Moon herself; Pierrot the Moon youth of heaven; and Harlequin, the earth powers which compete with the upper air for the attention of the Moon. The succes of the sensuous Harlequin brings about an eclipse, but the spiritual love of Pierrot calls the young and Virgin Moon to be reborn. These mime characters appear on quite a few packs of Fortune telling cards.
Does someone know a set with a Moon Card depicting Colombine, Pierlot and Harlequin?

[Diana]

I think of lions when it comes to the sun. It reminds me of their manes. Not that thats a vary valid reason.

Hugely valid I would think.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_and_Sun

The article is long. The part that may interest us the most is the section called "Zodiacal and Semitic roots". But the whole article is fascinating.

I'll copy it here :

According to Krappe, the astrological combination of the sun above a lion has become the coat of arms of Iran. In Islamic astrology the zodiacal Lion was the 'house' of the sun. This notion has "unquestionably" an ancient Mesopotamian origin. Since ancient times there was a close connection between the sun gods and the lion in the lore of the zodiac. It is known that, the sun, at its maximum strength between July 20 and August 20 was in the 'house' of the Lion.

Krappe reviews the ancient Near Eastern tradition and how sun gods and divinities were closely connected to each other, and concludes that "the Persian solar lion, to this day the coat-of-arms of Iran, is evidently derived from the same ancient [Near Eastern] sun god". As an example, he notes that in Syria the lion was the symbol of the sun. In Canaan, a lion slayer hero was the son of Baa'l (i.e. Lord) Shamash, the great Semitic god of the sun. This lion slayer was originally a lion. Another example is the great Semitic solar divinity Shamash, who could be portrayed as a lion. The same symbolism is observed in Ancient Egypt where in the temple of Dendera, Ahi the Great is called "the Lion of the Sun, and the lion who rises in the northern sky, the brilliant god who bears the sun".

According to Kindermann the Iranian Imperial coat of arms had its predecessor in numismatics, which itself is based largely on astronomical and astrological configurations.The constellation of Leo contains 27 stars and 8 shapeless ones. Leo is "a fiction of grammarians ignorant of the skies, which owes its existence to false interpretations and arbitrary changes of the older star-names." It is impossible to determine exactly what was the origin of such interpretation from stars.The Babylonians observed a heavenly hierarchy of kings in the zodiacal sign of Leo. They put the lion, as the king of their animal kingdom, into the place in the zodiac in which the summer solstice occurs. In the Babylonian zodiac, it became the symbol of the victory of the sun. Just as Jesus is called the Lion of Judah, and in Islamic traditions Ali Ibn Abu Talib is called the "Lion of God" (Asadullah) by Shiite Muslims, Hamzah, the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, was also called Lion of God.

I don't understand why the word unquestionably in the first paragraph is in inverted commas.

Also a few pictures :
https://www.pinterest.ch/saritevrani/lion-sun/

[Amoroso]

Can't help but think of the moon as a woman. Maybe it's from all those familiar stories - the maiden, mother and crone representing various phases of the moon; its deep affinity to the sea which is also traditionally feminine, sundry lunar goddesses, etc.

[AstralPasta]

In my country, the sun and moon are feminine, the stars/comets are either masculine or gender neutral, and the sky is masculine I think....or neutral
I think the earth is also feminine
trees are masculine....rocks might be too, not sure. water might be neutral?? hm.

I remember getting into a slight argument with a western occultist. He said the sun was inherently masculine, and me growing up with it being feminine in my language said that wasn't universal and it depended on the culture you're from, and he just kept insisting that whatever the sun did was masculine. I was so annoyed. At the time I tended to be more of a doormat but I dug my heels more than usual and said it was cultural and gave some examples. I remember naming Shamash and Amaterasu as examples since he wasn't listening to my own cultural experience and he kinda scoffed and hand waved. He didn't get it and I kinda gave up and listened to him, mulled it over, and decided (mentally) that he was just wrong I don't understand how people can be so close-minded about these things, especially occultists. The sun can be seen as feminine so easily if you try. Nurturing and giving life with her heat, loving all her children equally (the sun shines on both sinners and saints), always protecting and always watching, generous, a creative force, a sister to the moon. Not saying do that if you don't want to, I just mean having flexible thinking is ...good? For the Moon for example, I can think of Sin and Thoth as lunar gods.

I think generally anyway I see the Sun as some sort of burning gender so maybe gender-ful and on fire, and the Moon as cool or neutral gendered, hahaha.

I try to not see these forces, astrologically, tarot-wise, etc, as gendered, unless it's serving me in that moment. They're kinda primordial forces in a way. They can be any gender, or contain genders, or be fluid, whatever. Reminds me of this sleep paralysis-esque or influenced night...terror thing I had where the Reaper was hovering over my bed and stabbed me a bunch with a kris (had a sapphire blue stone at the end I remember seeing, as I was being stabbed ). Anyway, if I had to describe their gender it would be dense and feminine and masculine and waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy beyond all that, and somehow also containing it and probably also somehow containing it's negation. It was an archetype and very intense. So I figure something like the Moon would be similar.