Moon Reflections

on September 30, 2018

Beyond the Sun-sign and the Moon-sign of modern mainstream astrology, there is an intricate web of energies, drives and currents that is ever-unfolding and colouring our experience. The best way to feel it is to dive in to the energy each planet reflects, its function and its nature. I would suggest starting with the Moon. Here are some of my musings and collected insights to get you started on this journey. Why start with the Moon?

The first form of cosmic awareness each human develops stems from the visible lights: The Sun, the Moon and the Stars. Inspiring many a story and song, the lights or luminaries have sparked our fantasies and curiosity from the beginning of time. In astrology we reflect on celestial bodies and observe local manifestations correlating with various planetary aspects and phases.

And what better place to start when we talk about reflections and phases than the Moon! On the most basic level, her phases are visible with the naked eye, she moves fast and her aspects form and dissolve rapidly. In that sense, the Moon is a great teacher, both, of the natural order of things as well as of…astrology.

The Moon does not produce energy or heat like the Sun does. But she partakes in the exchange between us and the Sun by Reflection.

“It is no secret that the Moon has no light of her own, but is, as it were, a mirror, receiving brightness from the influence of the Sun.”

– Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC)

She revolves around us reminding us that nature is not static. That everything cycles. She inspires us to surf the tides and tend to all our faculties in succession – the order in which they arise. In astrology we track this order by following planetary trajectory around the zodiac and each planet’s contact with current planetary transits as well as their aspect to our personal imprints (our natal chart). The Moon’s speed and properties make it easy to track this process and collect a rapid succession of insights.

Throughout human history the Moon was referred to as a measure of cycles…of time, bringing to light of our awareness the natural order that brings every thought and action from its seed-form to culmination or fruition.

“From moonlit place to place,

The sacred moon overhead

Has taken a new phase.”

― William Butler Yeats (The Cat and the Moon)

Image by: @jakehills

The Moon revolves around us reflecting sunlight, illuminating the night, ever-changing perspective as she waxes and wanes from our point of view on Earth. Her cycle reminds me of a thought that never goes away but unfolds. She is Continuity.

Old, small, battered, cold and lifeless: like a weary soul, ghost or a memory, she is detached, separate from us, but in tune with the currents that guide us. The Moon does not give, nurture or energize like the Sun. But she soothes us after a long busy day. She is Quiescence.

“There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.” (Joseph Conrad)

During the day she recedes as sunlight takes over and daily practical endeavours occupy us and impress their energy on us. Then, when the Moon rises at night, she fuses the impressions of the day that passed with the light of the Sun of the coming day that is shaping up, being birthed. She is the part of us wherein whatever was seeded under the sunlight is now gestating. She is memory, sensing, premonition, deep knowing: Intuition.

The Moon refers to the aspect of us that is…innate Awareness.

“The moon had been observing the earth close-up longer than anyone. It must have witnessed all of the phenomena occurring – and all of the acts carried out – on this earth. But the moon remained silent; it told no stories. All it did was embrace the heavy past with a cool, measured detachment. On the moon there was neither air nor wind. Its vacuum was perfect for preserving memories unscathed. No one could unlock the heart of the moon.”

― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

On a more organic level, in astrological theory, as she crosses the rays of other stars and planets, she reflects these fusions, colouring our inner experience in ever-evolving unique hues. She is Variance.

“The Sun releases the energy potential; the Moon distributes it according to the need of the organism.” (Rudhyar)

If the organism is viewed in light of its natal placements (birth chart) we can begin to follow how Moon, having ‘collected’ impressions or influences of the current celestial configurations, falls on and blends with our natal imprints. This shows how we receive energy and colours how we will tend to react to it based on our unique mechanisms and nature.

“…because the Moon is assimilated to the body of man; whose vertue as well as her light increaseth and diminisheth; for she brings down the vertue of the other Planets to the creatures, and to man as he lives upon the earth.” (Culpeper)

We can dare go a step further in exploring the natal Moon nature based on the first contact she makes after birth.

“It can be shown in a multitude of cases that the first planet which the Moon crosses after birth identifies one of the most basic characteristics of a person’s individuality and destiny. This planet colors, as it were, the manner in which an individual orients himself most naturally at first to the reception of life energies; “ (Dane Rudhyar)

The Moon and her phases are also easy to track backwards to identify important experiential and genetic cycles which shaped our unique expression here.

“If the first planet which the Moon meets after birth represents the focus of future destiny and the most characteristic orientation of the native to the reception of life energy, the last planet which the Moon crossed before the moment of the first breath can be seen to symbolize a past orientation. By “past orientation,” I mean a basic life attitude which the native inherited, either from his parents and his society or (if one believes in “reincarnation”) from a “previous life” (whatever these terms exactly mean!).” (Dane Rudhyar)

There is so much more to the Moon. The inspiration she evokes is tremendous and powerful. Have a look at the passion she generates:

“Her antiquity in preceding and surviving succeeding tellurian generations: her nocturnal predominance: her satellitic dependence: her luminary reflection: her constancy under all her phases, rising and setting by her appointed times, waxing and waning: the forced invariability of her aspect: her indeterminate response to inaffirmative interrogation: her potency over effluent and refluent waters: her power to enamour, to mortify, to invest with beauty, to render insane, to incite to and aid delinquency: the tranquil inscrutability of her visage: the terribility of her isolated dominant resplendent propinquity: her omens of tempest and of calm: the stimulation of her light, her motion and her presence: the admonition of her craters, her arid seas, her silence: her splendour, when visible: her attraction, when invisible.”

― James Joyce, Ulysses

Following the Moon we access a wider field of vision – her reflection of the yet unseen light of tomorrow makes her a trend-setter. Her speedy motion around the zodiac and her revolution around the Earth connects us to the collective and the Moon is often in astrology linked to the Public.

“Draw your attention to the Moon in all works as if she were the chief of all the other planets because she brings about evident manifestations and judgements in all things in the world. She pertains to the power of generation and corruption and she is the mediatrix in the advance of your work, receiving the influences and impressions of the stars and planets and pouring them out to the inferiors of this world.” – Picatrix

In astrology the Moon’s role is pivotal. She is the maternal archetype, subconscious responses stemming from our personal but also collective and ancestral experience. She is our inner resources and our ability to absorb influences and reflect them back into our world. The quality of our reflection depends on the quality of energy we are exposed to. The inner workings of what we identify the Moon with (emotional responses to experiences/moods/soul/cellular memory and heritage) are guiding our outward expressions. These are the depths that show through in things we say and do and how we say and do them as well as the why behind it all. This reflects the importance of nurture received and the quality of experience we are exposed to in relation to manifesting our purest expression. You can only give what you have. Your expression is conditioned by the way you feel inside.

The Moon, I believe, is the best teacher of astrology. The Sun illuminates and activates, but it is with the Moon that we encode our experience. The state of our natal Moon shows our ability to integrate and use planetary energies on a deep level. Explore your Moon: Its sign and relation to the house with Cancer on the cusp; Her phase when you were born; Your prenatal New Moon; Progressed Moon phase. Follow the daily motion of the Moon and journal the sensations that arise as she forms aspects with your natal (and transiting) planets and points. Follow the cycle. See the Universe in action. Once you get a feel of it, stretch…beyond the Moon. Beyond the Sun. The Moon is a conduit that reflects light (energy) back to us. Beyond the Luminaries there is more…a vast space that, if you look carefully, reflects in and through you.

Enjoy exploring!

Sources:

Dane Rudhyar in: http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/astroarticles/planetsb4afternatalmoon.php
Culpeper and Picatrix as quoted in http://www.skyscript.co.uk/moon2.html#12
Other quotes sourced from: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes

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