Timothy Harley

“When three traditions among peoples so far apart geographically so essentially agree in one, the lessons to be learned from comparative mythology ought not to be lost upon the philosophical student of human history.””

“We have reached three general conclusions. First when the moon is occulted by the earth, it is believed to be devoured by some evil demon, or by wolves or dogs. This is the superstitious vagary found in a number of cultures throughout the world. Secondly, a lunar eclipse is the precursor of some dreadful calamity to the inhabitants of the earth. This notion is also traceable in every quarter of the globe. And thirdly, during the obscuration the light of the moon is reddened and at last extinguished by the blood which flows from its wounds, which belief originates with the Edda and obtains in the Western world.””

“Of the beating kettles, basons, and other brazen vessels used by the ancients when the moone was eclipsed (which they did to drown the charms of witches, that the moon might not hear them, and so be drawne from her sphere as they suppos’d), I shall not need to speake, being a thing so generally knowne…””