The Moon Chamber

This is a domed chamber, twelve paces in diameter, eighteen paces in height. Its domed ceiling is covered by a glowing mosaic of the night sky, upon which the course and phase of the moon is traced. The floor is a complicated mosaic upon which are depicted the decans as individuals. The winter decans are currently at work building a tower. It's form is only beginning to take form, but it is not a simple tower but an amazing one with many spires, more complicated than anything Iernus (or anyone else) has ever seen. There is a storm brewing in the distance. The Summer decans continue their frolicking, though it seems they are now playing games of a quality that can be associated with the Olympics. Some of them (those associated with action) have turned their games into something of martial activity.

From it are three octagonal side chambers. Each chamber is filled with colored dust, the remnants of ruined mosaics. Currently only the western chamber has begun to manifest any decorations at the base level. In the western chamber, there is a rich and detailed mosaic of an ocean scene. After Varvara's fateful night spent here, the mosaic started appearing. It has slowly grown back, till the entire floor is encompassed in it. Over time a tiny ship has appeared in the mosaic, as if sailing towards the viewer. The ship has grown sizable, it is a trireme of fanciful construction. The ship is now 2 feet in size, prow of a three faced woman, pointed as if it planned to sail out of the floor and into the room.

Varvara who spent a night in this chamber awoke to find more than a month gone. Other magi who have spent long periods here, without going to sleep, report disorientation and loss of time sense.

There is a regio in the central chamber. Here, the floors are a mountain scene, from which four rivers flow into the wide ocean below. The mountain rises firmly into the sky, while the four rivers each have distinct character. The decans depicted on the base level here are depicted upon the mountain, involved in some mysterious activity, perhaps a ritual. This ritual involves some labyrinthine procession. Over time the ritual ahs changed so that the labyrinth grows ever mroe complicated. The decans themselves are growing sterner, more solem. There is no indication of play upon their features.

Upon the north wall these words are inscribed:

I call Einodian Hecate, lovely dame,
Of earthly, watery, and celestial frame,
Sepulchral, in a saffron veil arrayed,
Pleased with dark ghosts that wander thro' the shade;
Persian, unconquerable huntress hail!
The world's key-bearer never doomed to fail;
On the rough rock to wander thee delights,
Leader and nurse be present to our rites;
Propitious grant our just desires success,
Accept our homage, and the incense bless.

On the east wall are intricate mosiacs, surrounding the entry-way arch to the western chamber, featuring the moon in all her phases. These words are featured:

Hear, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light,
Bull-horn'd and wand'ring thro' the gloom of Night.
With Stars surrounded, and with circuit wide
Night's torch extending, thro' the heav'ns you ride:
Female and Male with borrow'd rays you shine,
And now full-orb'd, now tending to decline,
Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon,
Whose amber orb makes Night's reflected noon:
Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night,
All-seeing pow'r bedeck'd with starry light.
Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife,
In peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:
Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend,
Who giv'st to Nature's works their destin'd end.
Queen of the stars, all-wise Diana hail!
Deck'd with a graceful robe and shining veil;
Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright,
Come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,
Shine on these sacred rites with prosp'rous rays,
And pleas'd accept thy suppliant's mystic praise.

Above this poem is a depiction of the Moon, personified: From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and great is the beauty that arises from her shining light. The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam clear, whensoever bright Selene having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean, and donned her far-gleaming, shining team, drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month: then her great orbit is full and then her beams shine brightest as she increases. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men.

The regio in the western chamber has a mosaic that forms a chaotic sea scene. The longer you watch it, the more you are sure the scene changes as you watch it. The ship which has appeared on the base level is not depicted here, though in the chaotic water a careful observer occasionally sees a strange shadow plowing through the waves. Upon the west wall (that is, opposite the entry arch) is the following inscription:

Tethys I call, with eyes caerulean bright,
Hid in a veil obscure from human sight;
Great Ocean's empress, wandering thro' the deep,
And pleased with gentle gales, the earth to sweep;
Whose blessed waves in swift succession go,
And lash the rocky shore with endless flow:
Delighting in the Sea serene to play,
In ships exulting and the watery way.
Mother of Venus, and of clouds obscure,
Great nurse of beasts, and source of fountains pure.
O venerable Goddess, hear my prayer,
And make benevolent my life thy care;
Send, blessed queen, to ships a prosperous breeze,
And waft them safely o'er the stormy seas.

The regio of the eastern chamber has mosaics picturing the Nereids in myriads of play. These words are inscribed:

Daughters of Nereus, resident in caves
Merged deep in Ocean, sporting thro' the waves;
fanatic fifty nymphs, who thro' the main
Delight to follow in the Triton's train,
Rejoicing close behind their cars to keep;
Whose forms half wild, are nourished by the deep,
With other nymphs of different degree
Leaping and wandering thro' the liquid sea:
Bright, watery dolphins, sonorous and gay,
Well pleased to sport with bacchanalian play;
Nymphs beauteous-eyed, whom sacrifice delights,
Send rich abundance on our mystic rites;
For you at first disclosed the rites divine,
Of holy Bacchus and of Proserpine,
Of fair Calliope from whom I spring,
And of Apollo bright, the Muse's king.

Sin (Nannar) - moon god, son of Enlil. He has a beard of Lapis Lazuli and rides a winged bull. His consort is Ningal. He is the father of Shamash. He does not answer Gilgamesh's plea to restore Enkidu to life. Symbol: Crescent Sacred number: 30 Sphere of influence: the moon, calendars, vegetation, cattle fertility Sin was invoked as the opener of the doors of heaven. The expressions pitu dalat Anu and pitu dalat same bear reference to this aspect of his cult. An important hymn relates the opening of the doors of heaven to the illumination of Sin: "Sin, as you become visible you open the doors of heaven."

Selene(Greek: "Moon"), Latin: Luna In Greek and Roman religion, the personification of the moon as a goddess. She was worshiped at the new and full moons. Her parents were the Titans Hyperion and Theia; her brother was Helios, the sun god (sometimes called her father); her sister Eos (Dawn); and her husband Zeus. She is most identified with Endymion, whom she loved and whom Zeus cast into eternal sleep in a cave on Mount Latmus; there, Selene visited him and became the mother of 50 daughters. In another story she was loved by Pan. By the 5th century B.C. Selene was sometimes identified with Artemis, or Phoebe, "the bright one." She was usually represented as a woman with the moon (often in crescent form) on her head and driving a two-horse chariot. As Luna, she had temples at Rome on the Aventine and Palatine hills.

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Last modified: Mon Jan 25, 1999 / Jeremiah Genest