I was thinking about protection sigils recently and realized there is one very simple symbol I have used in different ways without really stopping to look at it by itself: the upturned crescent moon. 
(And just in the course of making this post I realized it’s become one of my favorite symbols ever!)
I had posted about magical symbols for protection and amulets, and in that post I mentioned horns as a protective symbol against evil and the evil eye.
Then in this article about magical symbols we have both the Horned God 
and the Triple Moon, 
which again contain that same basic shape.
So I started wondering if maybe there is a connection between the horns, the crescent moon and powerful spiritual protection… Let’s explore!
Upturned Crescent Moon Meaning
When the crescent is turned so that its two points face upward, it looks almost exactly like a pair of horns. It can also look like a bowl or cup.
The real Moon can naturally appear this way depending on the season, latitude and its position in the sky. Astronomers sometimes call this a wet moon or Cheshire moon, it looks like this:
Credit: Dominic Gentilcore/Shutterstock from The Old Farmer’s Almanac
The Moon and the Horns
One of the oldest connections I found comes from Mesopotamia: The Moon god Nanna, later called Sin, was represented by the crescent moon. He was also closely associated with the bull.
Image from Sumerian Gods and Their Representations by Mark Geller
There is something similar in Egyptian imagery too. Hathor can be shown with cow horns surrounding a solar disk. Isis later inherited much of this imagery.
Image from The Theology of Hathor of Dendera by Barbara A. Richter
Horns as Protection Against the Evil Eye 
Where I grew up, we inherited the Italian the gesture of the horns against mal de ojo, or malocchio, the evil eye. The cornicello is a little Italian horn amulet, traditionally worn for luck and protection against the evil eye. There is also the mano cornuta, the hand forming two horns.
In 1895, Frederick Thomas Elworthy published a huge study of evil eye beliefs called The Evil Eye: An Account of this Ancient and Widespread Superstition.
Elworthy describes horns as some of the most widespread traditional protections against the evil eye, particularly in southern Italy. But he also connects this tradition with the horned moon and lunar goddesses such as Diana.
And there are actual surviving crescent moon amulets that were used for protection.
The Crescent Moon as a Protective Amulet
In ancient Rome there was an amulet called a lunula, literally a little moon. It was shaped like a crescent and was especially associated with girls and women. Roman sources describe girls wearing these crescent ornaments, and researchers studying Roman amulets place them within the wider tradition of protection against harmful supernatural forces and the evil eye.
So the crescent was quite literally being used as a protective symbol. That was the part that convinced me that using this shape as a protection sigil is not much of a stretch at all.
Crescent Moon Spiritual Meaning
For me, the crescent moon spiritual meaning changes when the points face upward. Instead of seeing only a lunar phase, I see horns and a vessel.
The horns suggest strength and defense, while the bowl shape suggests holding and protecting what is inside.
Diana’s lunar crescent diadem
One interpretation can be:
“Receive what nourishes you. Protect what is yours. Deflect what should stay outside.”
That makes the upturned crescent a natural symbol for boundaries and magical protection.
Using the Upturned Crescent as a Protection Sigil
I’ve shared other posts about sigils, but I think I am going to start using this one as my protection symbol of choice, mainly because of its simplicity and history.
My take of a circle of protection and the upward crescent.
You can carve the upturned crescent into a protection candle, visualizing the horns pushing harmful energy away as the candle burns. Or a crescent necklace can be charged as a protective amulet, continuing the old tradition of wearing crescent shaped charms for protection.
Does anyone here already use the lunar crescent this way? Or does this symbol have a completely different meaning in your practice?
