The Moon has figured in many mythologies, often paired or contrasted with the Sun (see also Solar deity).

The monthly cycle of the moon, in contrast to the annual cycle of the sun's path, has been implicitly linked to women's menstrual cycles by many cultures, although rarely explicitly stated. Many of the most well-known mythologies feature female lunar deities, such as the Greek goddesses Selene and Phoebe and their Olympian successor Artemis, their Roman equivalents Luna and Diana, or the Thracian Bendis. A feminine lunar connection is easily overstated, however, for male lunar gods are also frequent, such as Nanna or Sin of the Mesopotamians, Thoth of the Egyptians, the Japanese god Tsuki-yomi , and Tecciztecatl of the Aztecs.

While many Neopagan authors and feminist scholars claim that there was an original Great Goddess in prehistoric cultures that was linked to the moon and formed the basis of later religions, the Great Goddess figure is highly speculative and not a proven concept. It is important to note that most of the oldest civilizations mentioned above had male lunar deities, and it was only later cultures — the classical ones most people are familiar with — that featured strong female moon goddesses.

The bull was lunar in Mesopotamia (its horns representing the crescent). See Bull (mythology) and compare Hubal. In the Hellenistic-Roman rites of Mithras, the bull is prominent, with astral significance, but with no explicit connection to the moon.

The words 'lunacy", "lunatic", and "loony" are derived from Luna because of the folk belief in the moon as a cause of periodic insanity. It is a feature of modern belief that shapeshifters such as werewolves drew their power from the moon and would change into their bestial form during the full moon, but this feature is largely absent from older folklore.

The purported influence of the moon in human affairs remains a feature of astrology.

John Heywood's Proverbes (1546) commented that "The moon is made of a greene cheese", but was probably being sarcastic. [1]

Isil and the guidesman Tilion in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth cosmology are based in Tolkien's familiarity with Norse and Gaelic myth.