Astrology, Emotions, and the Soul: The Messages of the Moon: Part 1
The placement and sign in which the Moon is found in the chart is often of equal or even greater importance than that of the Sun. This is because here you will see the instinctive, intuitive reactions of this individual, and not just what they consciously believe that they are. It can be fun too, in that when we understand the lunar messages that the person is giving out, we are actually understanding them better than they do themselves.
In some ways it would be accurate to call the Moon the ‘soul’ of the horoscope. Within this energy is contained the pre-verbal memories of the individual, the experiences that most directly molded their responses to the world, and most importantly, how they really feel.
Depending on the aspects between the Sun and Moon, we will see how well the individual connects their feeling nature with what they consider their ‘true self’ to be. We must remember however that the Moon is only partly conscious, and that even with the best lunar aspects, the person may try to disown their own nature here. This is partly due to the fact that the necessary lunar requirements for living are no longer popular or even available in today’s modern world. Some of the lunar requirements include a strong, supportive family unit, preferably an extended family, a full-time nurturing parent, nourishing foods and a sense of connectedness to a family home. Instead we typically have single parent families or one with multiple ‘steps’, fast food meals and moving from one home to another many times in one life. Is it any wonder that modern society is plagued with a sense of alienation, insecurity and obesity?
It is within the context of the Moon that we will lament the passing of ‘the good old days’. The good old days are actually whatever gave us a sense of security in childhood. If those factors are absent in our current, adult lives, we mourn their absence. Mourning and lamenting, weeping and wailing, these are classic emotive elements of the displaced lunar energy and what some of us may equate with ‘mother’. The “Weeping Madonna” is a powerful archetypal symbol for this.
The lunar experience is what we contacted at birth, and with our primary caretaker, most often, mother. Our infantile experience included smells, tastes, tactile responses and hearing. Visual acuity is actually of least importance. We immediately began our learning experience of planet earth, the rituals, behaviors and activities which as adults, we can call ‘conditioning’. We were hyper-attuned to mother, to her emotions and attitudes and were greatly affected by them. Mother can be defined in the chart by the placement of the Moon.
Memory is lunar. Past life memories are lunar. We will tend to store in the Moon’s repository those past experiences with which we connected the most directly. This would be the heavily sensory material, or that which evoked powerful emotions within us. Many psychologists today will define emotion as “energy in motion”, an experience of feeling that is a higher wave length than that of matter, but lower or denser than that of thought. Emotion can build up and become congested in the body if it isn’t allowed to move, as many energy workers will attest to.
The nurturing aspect of the moon describes how we experienced mother’s care and how we express nurturing to our loved ones. We must keep in mind though, that this is not necessarily what mother did, but what we wanted her to do.
What may be most important to keep in mind is that the Moon is reflective. It has no real light of its own, being a reflective object for the Sun. This works out in life as being ‘responsiveness’ or ‘reactions’. Basically the Moon is passive, and only acts according to stimuli from the environment. Or, with some Moons, with a lack of stimuli. The absence of emotional stimulation can cause its own lunar reaction.
As you can see, this is a complicated energy, one which has baffled mankind for centuries. That’s a pretty literal statement, since mankind and womenkind have traditionally different experiences of this energy. Lunar phenomenon are often associated with females due the similarity in cycles, the 29 1/2 day lunar cycle and the woman’s monthly fertile cycles. There has been scientific speculation regarding a masculine periodic cycle as well, but that hasn’t been fully investigated as yet.
The connection between mother and daughter is considered to be quite different from that of mother and son. A mother is ‘supposed to’ pass along woman’s mysteries to her daughter and a son is ‘supposed to’ break away from this feminine influence as quickly as possible. Historically in astrology we have expected men to project their lunar energy onto the women in their lives, rather than express it themselves. Some men are gradually learning to own their own emotions, nutritional requirements and household care, but this is a slow process of accumulating numbers. It is still safe for an astrologer to assume that the majority of men’s lunar energy is repressed and being projected. My experience is that those men who have an interest in astrology are more open to this than those who aren’t, but still tend to be uninformed of their own needs and lacking role models.
Currently it seems that the sexes are more balanced than perhaps they’ve ever been in rejecting and repressing the lunar requirements of existence. This emotional and nurturing lack could be a significant factor in the steadily increasing incidences of cancer, uncontrolled growth. The Moon rules fertility in the chart, and what is cancer but uncontrolled fertility? In my work with cancer patients, I’ve often seen reductions and even remissions with emotional therapy. Although there are astrologers who might dispute this, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that the sign which is ruled by the Moon is Cancer. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Continue to Messages of the Moon – Part 2
