The Moon of MayI never knew (before this) that May's full moon is known as a Hare Moon.
Actually, I think that I must have known more than I was conscious of because I had mostly finished designing this piece before I did a bit more browsing and found the full significance of the hare-moon relationship. Of course, as I now understand, anyone with any sort of interest in pagan culture would have been able to tell me right away. An a powerful relationship it seems to be, and not just in pagan culture either. One of the strongest images in many lunar cultures is that of the moon-gazing hare: a real-life phenomenon where hares can be seen staring as a full moon, seemingly transfixed. The stuff of which legends are made. The hare is held to be sacred to the goddess Eostre (after whom we named Easter - yes, it was a pagan festival originally, like several others in the Christian calendar) and eventually became known as the Easter bunny. Pagans believe that seeing a moon-gazing hare would bring growth, rebirth, abundance, new beginnings and good fortune. Rabbit pie is off the menu for a while, just in case |
The more observant will notice that the silhouette of the hare is the same as the hare in this brooch and these pins but the rest of the design is entirely mine.
The main piece is made from a single round of silver, pierced to leave the outline of the grasses, hillside and the moon. The hare is cut from a separate piece of silver and soldered on and the whole piece is gently curved. The grasses and hill side are textured, but the hare, moon and surround are polished. The whole piece is ~ 50mm diameter, so quite eye-catching. The brooch pin runs vertically, so it is perfectly feasible to slip this onto a chain or maybe a silk cord and wear it as a pendant instead. Don't be mislead by the dark patches that you can see in the photos: the whole piece is shiny/textured silver, not coloured or patinated in any way. The dark bits are reflections, and if you knew just how much effort I had put into trying to eliminate them from the photos you would take pity on me and but this piece instantly. I did a short training session in macro photography for jewellers and took this piece as one of my training samples. Even the tutor could not get a photo without some sort of unwanted reflection creeping in. |