The Studio Esoterico Cornelio and the Moon
Few images run through the esoteric tradition as constantly as the Moon. That is why the Studio Esoterico Cornelio, active online since 2014, chose to devote a site of its own to it, «The Realm of the Moon», within the network of educational websites on history, symbols and traditions that the Studio curates alongside its official website.
A heavenly body between sky and symbol
The Moon is a singular case: it is an astronomical object that anyone can observe with the naked eye and, at the same time, one of the richest symbols humanity has ever developed. Ancient astrologers gave it rule over moisture and growth, alchemists linked it to silver, Renaissance magicians followed its passage through the twenty-eight mansions. In De occulta philosophia by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), the thinker whose name the Studio recalls as a cultural reference, the Moon holds a prominent place as an intermediary between the higher heavens and the sublunary world.
Telling the story of the esoteric tradition without the Moon would be impossible; telling the story of the Moon only through symbol, however, would be wrong. The structure of the site grows out of this twofold requirement.
Two languages, kept apart
The articles in the sections on moon phases, eclipses and calendars follow astronomy: the values of the synodic and sidereal months, the Saros cycle, the Metonic cycle, libration and the Moon's slow retreat from the Earth are given according to current scientific knowledge. When the subject is symbolic meaning, farmers' beliefs or astrological rules, the text says so openly and presents them as chapters of cultural history. You will not find an invitation to sow, cut your hair or make decisions according to the phases of the Moon: you will find instead the history of these customs and the sources that document them.
The same principle applies to myths. Selene and Endymion, Chang'e's jade rabbit or the wolf that chases Máni are told as stories handed down by different cultures, citing the works in which they appear, from Hesiod's Theogony to the Kojiki, from the Edda to the Aztec codices. Modern expressions, such as the blue moon or the full moon names spread by almanacs, are traced back to their real origin, even when it is less romantic than the legend.
Getting to know the Studio
The Studio Esoterico Cornelio is concerned with esotericism and the esoteric tradition; its name and trademark are registered. To learn more about the Studio and discover the other sites in the network, from ancient oracles to amulets, you can visit the official website studioesotericocornelio.com. Here, meanwhile, the Moon remains available to anyone who wants to look at it with different eyes: those of the astronomer and those of the poet.