The rising of June’s lunar cycle is intimately connected with the name of the Moon. Dyad is an archaic word meaning pair.
At this time upon the Earth, more than any other, the effects of the Sun and Moon are equally apparent. The
Moon that has steadfastly been a symbol of hope still makes her nightly passage across the sky. The effects
of the Sun though, are equally apparent with the beginning of the summer months.
In many cultures, the legends of Sun and Moon are also inseparable. Some mythologies consider them to be
husband and wife, maid and suitor, or brother and sister. Many consider them interconnected and
interdependent.
Blackfoot Native American Tribe
The elders tell a tale of the beginnings of all life. The great creator was the Sun. He first created the Moon
and took her as his wife. Together, they had seven sons, which can still be seen as the stars of the
Big Dipper.
The Creator Sun also gave life to snakes upon the Earth. These creatures reproduced so quickly that the
lands were soon overrun with their kind. Sun went to the snakes and asked them to slow down. Certainly,
the Earth could not sustain them if they continued to multiply at such a speedy rate.
The snakes refused to comply with Creator Sun. Failing to gain their cooperation, he decided to destroy
them all and free the Earth of this burden. And so he did, all but for one female snake. This one she-snake
was about to give birth and Creator Sun felt compassion for her. She alone was allowed to survive.
One of the snake’s descendants, upon reaching adulthood, decided to seek revenge for the destruction of his
kind by Creator Sun. To carry out his mission, he assumed a human form. It was in this shape that he came
to be known as Snakeman.
In order to avenge his race of ancestors, Snakeman wanted to make Creator Sun suffer a loss as grievous as
his own race had suffered in the early times. And so, in his human form, he seduced the Moon.
Sun soon discovered the betrayal and killed Snakeman. Then Sun and his seven sons ran from the Moon.
But the Moon had fallen deeply in love with Snakemen. Because Sun had taken the life of her beloved,
Moon chased after him with the intention of destroying him as he had destroyed Snakeman.
Sun, who had created Moon and made her powerful, was fearful for the safety of his sons. He armed his
sons with powers of their own so that they might defend themselves against the angry Moon. He gave one
son a stick that could turn into a forest and another a rock capable of becoming a mountain. He gave his
third son a skin filled with water that could turn into a rainstorm, and his fourth son one that could
transform into an ocean. His fifth son received a beautiful bird that could change into thunder, lightening,
and rain. His sixth son received a pouch of air that could become a mighty windstorm. The last son received
a magic powder that enabled him to create deep canyons by tracing his finger in the dirt.
As the angry Moon closed her distance on her intended victims, each son used his special power to create an
obstacle for her. The Moon overcame each and moved ever closer to her seven sons and their father. When
she was almost upon them, one of her sons poured his skin of water and an ocean appeared between them.
Creator Sun took advantage of this distraction to raise himself and his sons into the sky. The Moon,
however, was not without powers of her own. She lifted herself into the sky and resumed the chase.
Sun divided the night from the day to gain some rest from the endless pursuit. Through the day, he and his
sons can rest from the relentless Moon. At the rise of nightfall she is once again after them, and they seek
refuge in the west.
So has it been since the earliest times. We see Sun in his transit across the sky, trying to keep ahead of his
angered wife. When the sky turns black, Moon is in pursuit, never failing to track his direction and
following nightly the path of his flight. Should this eternal chase ever end, say the elders, it will be a bad
omen and would foretell the ending of life itself.
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