The Tao of Astrology
Free Chart Interpretation Zone

The Soulful Moon

 

            The strongest energy field influencing earth besides the Sun’s is lurking right above as the soulful Moon.  Throughout the perennial ages of history the Moon has captured our imaginations, inspiring us and influencing us through its constant tug on the tides.  Astrologically the Moon symbolizes your ability to respond to life emotionally.  Without feeling, life would seem alien and barren.  Our feelings are always changing and adapting in synch with the Moon.  While the Sun dominates awareness with brilliance and light, the Moon merely reacts and responds, sensitive to the life it nourishes.  She is the mysterious Mother of the Night, and her position in the chart reflects the essence and shape of your soul.  Your Moon sign defines the archetype of your soul, one of the most powerful factors in the whole chart.  The gravitational force of the Moon lifts entire oceans sending them crashing into rocky shores.  It also moves the inner ocean of emotion within, changing your instinctual daily urges and needs as it transits through the signs and houses of your birth chart forming every aspect to each planet once per month.

            In astrology, the Moon reveals how you attain emotional contentment by its sign, house, and aspects.  The Moon illuminates the soul’s desires and urges us to express emotion, trust in the life of the imagination, and listen to the voice of our deepest yearnings through cultivating sensitivity to the sea of psychic impressions flowing over us everyday.  If you’re ever feeling depressed, it’s a signal that your soul is starving and in need of the kind of nourishment described by the Moon’s message in your chart.  Sometimes we get into emotional ruts where we need to focus on the sign and house opposite our Moon’s position in order to get the jump-start for our souls.  The Moon asks us to feel the full range of emotion, and not just the pleasant ones.  When the soul gazes at the menu of life I imagine that it longs to experience the anguish and adversity as well as the inspiration and love.  The woman’s menstruation cycle is based on the lunar transits.  Menstruation comes from the root word “mensis”, which means month.  Once per moonth a new egg is released and with it the new possibility of a soul filled human life.  

            Interpreting a chart poetically requires that you pay special attention to the Moon.  A poet is a mover and shaker of souls.  How will you move another’s soul if you do not know its essence through the primary symbol of soul in the birth chart?  The astrological Moon governs the instinctual nature reflected in the wisdom of the body.  How does a woman know how to form a child in her womb?  How does an athlete know how to move with grace and react spontaneously on the field?  How does a musician channel his soul into an instrument to produce harmonic sounds?  The Moon represents a kind of intelligence that the Western world has shunned.  Our yang-oriented minds could never write equations for emotion or control and dominate the realm of feeling impressions.  We try through the use of drugs to our own detriment, but the fact remains that the Moon will always affect the tides of our souls.

            In the realm of the soul our ancestors live.  Through some mysterious process their memories are passed to us.  They live in us or through us.  Somewhere in those watery depths we remember living in caves and discovering fire.  We remember the struggles and triumphs of being human in a very dangerous world.  The Moon in your chart stores your portion of that primal past along with the South Node and the Nadir.  We’ll explore the imagery and meanings behind the South Node and Nadir later in this chapter.  For now, think of them as refinements and modifiers to the basic Moon configuration.  The Moon is the core image of the human soul and the dimension of feeling.  Emotion is the language of the soul.  If we ignore our feelings, we ignore our souls, and take the road to irritability and moodiness. 

            The Moon describes a doorway to the collective past, the ancestral racial memory.  Think of the Moon field that bathes the earth as a kind of emotional hard-drive.  It stores everything we experience and our reactions to life.  Long after we’re gone the memory of our lives continues, passed on to our progeny through our cellular fluids and humanity through the akashic impressions of space-time.  When a soul is born it gets a dose of biological karma (good and bad) from the parents along with a scoop of spiritual karma recycled in from this ancestral pool of memories.  As such, the Moon defines your habitual patterns showing how you react to changing circumstances based on instincts.  Meditation, relaxation, contemplation, and simple being are important activities that help you connect with your soul and establish a daily ritual in line with your rhythm.

            If the Sun describes how you are yang (creative purpose), the Moon shows how you are yin (soul wisdom).  Where the Sun symbolizes your heart center and vitality, the Moon describes your heart soul and your imagination.  The Sun grants life and charisma, but the Moon allows you to feel alive and makes you human.  The Moon shows your nurturing style and your nesting instinct.  We are born from our mothers; therefore, our source is feminine (yin).  Life doesn’t work so well unless we’ve navigated through infancy, a state of total dependency on the unconditional love of those who care for us.  What a wise lesson for our lives.  If our souls aren’t nourished and provided for we are left barking at the wind, no matter how lofty our ambitions.  This principle works in daily life too.  The most vibrant days begin with a morning period of soul nourishment.  Feed your soul based on the Moon imagery in your chart first thing each new day and watch how life flows effortlessly. 

            The phase relationship between the Sun and Moon at birth shows how your creative core is connected to your emotional essence, how the Moon reflects the rays of the Sun.  The Sun might govern creative power, but the Moon governs the fertile life of the imagination that acts as the fabric for all creativity.  The Moon is the soul juice that drives us on and feeds us.  The phase relationship between the Sun and Moon is called the Lunation Cycle.  The eight Moon phases indicate the evolutionary journey of the soul.  After we analyze the Moon by sign and house we’ll describe the eight different lunation character types.  For now, it’s enough to simply be aware that a piece of your character is derived from the phase of the Moon you were born under.

            The Moon describes your soul and its path to emotional contentment by its sign, house influences, and aspects.  The Moon shows how you express emotion and create images in the plane of the soul.  It also shows what kinds of lessons and principles you’ve already mastered just by virtue of being born.  We all come with software installed.  Look into the eyes of a baby.  There’s a unique, talented human being already looking through those eyes waiting patiently to spout.  The stuff that’s mysteriously deposited in your soul at birth defines your instincts.  Consider the spiritual principle of the sign your Moon occupies your soul’s Master Degree.  If your Moon is in Gemini you come in knowing communication and conversation.  If your Moon is Capricorn, you are already proficient in accomplishing ambitions and organization.  Your responsibility is to use that mastery in the field of life experience described by the house position of the Moon.  This will lead to the deepest soul fulfillment.  Naturally the Moon’s influence will flow into the house with Cancer on the cusp too.  The aspects will add subplots, refinements, and modifiers to the equation.  Think of them as college minor degrees that support your lunar master thesis. 

            The basic house matrix of any planet in the chart involves three houses.  Every planet occupies a house, governs a house or two, and is also disposited (governed) by the planet that’s normally associated with the sign it occupies.  If the Moon is in Gemini, then that Moon has to report to Mercury.  The house that contains Mercury will also receive a lunar influence.  Of course, lunar influences flow through the aspect angles too, but we’ll save that for later.  These house rules can be confusing for a beginner.  For now, just realize that your Moon occupies a sign of the zodiac and a house.  Whenever you engage in activities akin to the sign and house of your Moon, you’ll feel good.  The Moon’s imagery is the key to feeding your soul.  In fact, you’ll probably be emotionally attached to your particular brand of soul food without realizing it.  Activities that feed the Moon’s symbolism conjure up the natal attachment you experienced as a baby being nursed or nurtured by mom.

            The phases of the Moon from new, to waxing quarter, to full, to waning quarter reflect the natural rhythm of life, the four seasons, the four parts of the day, the growth of plants and life forms, and the evolution of consciousness.  They have always been associated with ritual, as the Moon governs the flow of our daily lives.  The Moon blends the radiant creative power of the Sun with the seed wisdom of the source-conscious.  The Moon spins out the eternal rhythm of change.  Its motion through the signs and houses and the aspects it forms to other planets establishes a base emotional tone.  When children are born, the first celestial body they respond to is the Moon.  They are creatures of instinct.  If parents learn to track this cycle they would be in tune with the tides of emotion the child will display hour by hour.  Sometimes the Moon’s sensitivity cycle reaches unbearable heights even for adults.  For example, when the Moon is in the Balsamic phase (3 ½ days before the New Moon) and transiting through a watery house in your chart (4^th, 8^th, or 12^th) the tendency is to get overwhelmed by tidal waves of feeling that can send you into a retreat of moody solitude and quiet introspection.  However, the same emotional force will lift you up a few days later and fill you with high elation and utter inspiration, days when you can shed tears of joy as you behold the beauty of the cosmos.  Some people are yin folk in that their Moon’s are more dominant than their Sun’s in the chart.  For these people the Moons’ power is multiplied.  Living in a yang-oriented, fast paced competitive culture can make them crazy or sick if they don’t take lots of time to relax and get centered.    

            The Sun needs Mercury (perception) to filter its experience while the Moon bathes life with archetypal images from the source of consciousness, allowing the planetary centers of Uranian Intuition, Neptunian Imagination, and Plutonian Shamanistic Vision to swim into consciousness.  Like a shrewd black market, the Moon allows you to taste the mysteries of darkness and the unknown before the Sun and its rational servant Mercury have a chance to burn them away with logic.  Equally, everything you experience is funneled back into the collective unconscious through the soulful Moon.  The Moon is the gateway to the cosmic memory pool.  Like a stealthy spy, she is the only celestial sphere in the interior court of the Sun who has direct access to the secret realm of the Underworld.  She is the Yin seed in the Yang wave, the wisdom at the heart of creative light.

            The element and mode of the Moon in the chart describes how you react or adapt to experience.  Fiery Moons react with anger and frustration or motivation, inspiration, and action.  They feel good when expressing courage, charisma, and truth.  Earthy Moons react to change with realism and interrogation or patience and endurance, feeling their best when engaging in productive activity like practical service, crossing off lists, and climbing the mountains of accomplishment.  Airy Moons react mentally with curiosity and brilliant ideas or rationalizations and aloofness.  They enjoy life when engaging their intellects in stimulating conversations, aesthetically pleasing social events, and creative or interesting ideas.  Watery Moons react with emotional angst and worry or sensitive compassion and vivid imagination.  They smile when displaying nurturing qualities, deep mysterious feelings, or mystical transcendence.

            Outward Mode Moons need action for happiness and emotional fulfillment.  The type of activity varies with the element.  In Aries the need is competition and adventure, to always be first and courageous.  They feel secure when they are actively pursuing challenges or fighting for daring leadership roles.  They have the soul essence of the Warrior, the Pioneer, and the Daredevil.  They have mastered the principle of Action.  In Cancer the need is to actively heal and care for others, to find and create emotional security.  Cancer Moons feel best when nurturing and spreading their love into the world like butter on bread.  They have the soul essence of the Mother, the Nurturer, and Healer.  They have mastered the principle of compassion.  In Libra the need is to socialize, accommodate, please others, and relate.  Libra Moons find emotional safety when they surround themselves with patterns of intricate beauty, grace, and balance.  They need to love in order to feel content.  It’s the soul of the Artist, Lover, and Diplomat.  They have mastered the principle of intimate balance.  In Capricorn the need is to attain, structure, and accomplish.  Capricorn Moons feel best when they are organizing projects or managing people, using their talents of discipline wisely.  It’s the soul of the Hermit, Elder, and Architect.  They have mastered the principle of integrity.

            Inward Mode Moons need stability and power to feel safe.  Taurus Moons need to stabilize their lives through attachment to nature and the things they value.  They yearn for peace and serenity as well as sensual pleasures.  It’s the soul of the Druid, Builder, and Nature-Lover.  They have mastered the principle of presence.  Leo Moons feel secure when their grand performances are applauded.  They need to express high drama, to bring others to the brink of tears and laughter.  If attention eludes them, depression could set in.  It’s the soul essence of the Performer, Magical Child, or Ruler.  They have mastered the principle of creativity.  Scorpio Moons need to attain emotional stability, becoming comfortable with their own intensity through directing the passion into channels of transformation.  They are attached to penetration into the hidden layers of life locked into a battle with the collective tide of emotional pain.  They act as alchemists and shamans for the human tribe.  They have the soul essence of the Hypnotist, the Detective, and the Sorcerer.  They have mastered the principle of surrender.  Aquarian Moons need social or intellectual stability through attachment to everything bizarre and fascinating.  They aim to revolutionize culture and consciousness through the power of their futuristic ideas.  They simply and utterly need to be different, to take the road less traveled, or never traversed at all.  It’s the soul essence of the Genius, the Sage, and the Revolutionary.  They have mastered the principle of freedom through individuation. 

            Spiral Mode Moons feel like they are at high tide as long as they are advancing their learning and growth through reflection and distribution.  Gemini Moons need to constantly renew and update their knowledge through engaging their minds in a variety of mental stimuli.  They need to penetrate ideas and evolve concepts.  They have the soul essence of the Messenger, Writer, and Scribe.  They have mastered the principle of conversation about cyclic change.  Virgo Moons need to serve others through dutiful analyzing of faults and shortcomings in the practice of being alive.  Through their service and humility, they find a sense of perfection and Zen-like moment-to-moment awareness.  They are the witnesses of the zodiac.  Their soul essences are that of the Mentor, the Sacred Servant, and the Craftsman.  They have mastered the principle of process through devotion.  Sagittarian Moons feel secure when they are zooming up the spiral of life releasing their restlessness on the quest for truth and meaning.  They enjoy physical and mental stimulation and the journey of life.  They need educational experiences so they can develop intricate belief systems that will help advance the tide of culture and civilization.  It’s the soul of the Gypsy, Explorer, and Philosopher.  They have mastered the principle of faith.  Piscean Moons feel content when they are escaping reality through the life of the imagination, growing through their universal desire for union with eternal being.  They are the dream weavers of the zodiac with soul essences of Mystics, Poets, and Visionaries.  They have mastered the principle of unified consciousness.

            After that introduction to the twelve basic Moon types we are ready to trek off into a deeper discovery of their natures.  Take your time.  The Moon is waiting… 

Go to the Moon Portal

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