Multicultural Muses

Zarpandit, Shining Silver

By Molly J. Anderson-Childers

Zarpandit, Mesopotamian Creator Goddess, rules the Moon and the Night. When I’m tossing and turning and can’t get to sleep at night because of a big old headlight moon shining in my window, she is the one who won’t let me rest. Known as “Shining Silver” and “Seed-maker” by the ancient peoples who worshipped her, she is truly a force to be reckoned with. Notes on her in my trusty copy of Goddesses in World Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary state that she was worshipped at night, when the moon was rising.

Lately, I have found myself visited by the muses late at night, long after my husband has started to snore in bed beside me. I prowl the house during the deepest watches of the night-shift, making my rounds and writing like mad. With a movie or CD on in the background for a little white noise, I inhabit the house at night in a different way than I do during the day. Instead of busywork and errands and chores, I drift. I sneak. I eat chocolate at midnight and make millions of cups of tea, watching the stove carefully to make sure the kettle doesn’t whistle and wake my hubby.

This has often led me to ponder the mysteries of The Night, the great black, which can transform anything into something you never suspected it could be. When most mortals are getting a good night’s sleep, I’m keeping time with the Midnight Disease. Surely, surely, I am a different person when the sun goes down.

My daylight self is always on the go; busy like a little bee. At night, I muse and drift; I hunt with the goddess of the Moon and fly the night on swift raven’s wings. I catch poetry in my butterfly net and write it down in my notebooks in mad scribbles. They are different from the poems I work on during the day; they seem to appear all of a piece at night, as though I’m receiving them from some holy radio station in my head — the signal is stronger at night, things come through more clearly. Or maybe it’s just that I am not so distracted.

Connect with Zarpandit

To connect with Zarpandit, Seed-Maker, wander in the woods as the moon begins to rise. Plant a garden of inspiration-seeds, and wait patiently to see what grows there. Sing a song with the wild coyotes under the pale pitiless glare of the Moon-Goddess. Wear a silver bracelet or necklace to remind yourself of her shining gifts. Write a poem to honor the Lady in the Moon, and recite it over your garden as a blessing when the full moon begins to rise. Walk barefoot in the night forest and she will come to guide you.

Try a free-write about the moon in your journal. If you can sneak out onto the porch after everyone is sleeping and write by the light of the moon, so much the better! Here is a writing sample from my journal on the subject of the moon:

The moon, a sulky pearl be-lit with midnight radiance. A silver seed in the garden of the Lady of the Sky. An eye, watching and winking amongst the stars. A wanderer in the indigo, returning home…Mother Nyx, her strange face so bold and cunning, howling with the wolves on a Saturday night while a jukebox plays on and on in the background, the same sad old love song. Zarpandit flies through the sky; inconstant, ever-changing, scattering silver seeds and witch-light into your dreams at night. She paints the world all blue and silver with her smile, her lovely light. Zarpandit, o shining silver lady of the last house of the ancient gods, I invoke and cherish thee. Protect my love while he sleeps. Light my way along those lonely nights when I am keeping watch. •

© 2008 Molly J. Anderson-Childers

About the Author | More by Molly Anderson-Childers
Molly Anderson-Childers is a writer, artist, and creativity consultant living in Durango, Colorado. She's published work locally, nationally, and online and welcomes inquiries about freelance writing assignments. Learn more about Molly at her blogs: stealingplums.blogspot.com and addictivefiction.blogspot.com.

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05/27/08