THE TRUE NATURE OF THE MOON

An integrated ego structure is essential to a healthy life as well as of primary importance to our spiritual growth. It is this, the ego, lower self or personality (whichever name you wish to give it) that is the anchor upon which the rest of our being is grounded. The soul is that essential, intelligent and inclusive Love Principle which, when joined and fused with the lower self, manifests as a whole person, one who is definitely greater than the sum of his or her parts. It is the nature of this relationship between the soul and the personality that is at the core of Soul-centered astrology.

A.O.

There are four primary areas in traditional, personality-centered astrology that are most important for us to discuss in relationship to the Moon. These are: the area of instinctive response to events (especially in regards to one’s basic physical and emotional survival); the psychological roots and subjective patterns upon which we build out life (the "psychological foundation stone"); what we have inherited through our family genes in a personal sense and through our racial or ethnic background in a more general sense (our "biological karma"); and finally, our relationship with our mother, the female aspect of ourselves and with women in general (the "anima" principle). To this we add another factor, one that is applicable more to soul-centered astrology. The position by sign and house in the natal chart reveals to the esoteric astrologer that area in life from which we need to detach. What’s more, through the power of the will-to-good of the higher self, transform the lunar position into a powerful vehicle for compassion, consciousness and healing. Not too simple a task when we consider that most of us are still trying to manipulate life so that all of our perceived personal emotional needs are being fulfilled all of the time!

Instinct: The Moon rules the stomach and all things that have to do with the intake of food. Most specifically, the Moon rules the navel and thus the umbilical cord, our primary tie to our first food source, our mother. Thus our eating habits and the way we deal with food in general is lunar in origin. A careful assessment of the Moon’s position in the natal chart will reveal a person’s eating habits as well as his relationship to his primary survival instincts. If the Moon is well placed by sign and house, it will in most cases show that the early relationship to the mother was a good one and be an indicator that "food issues" will not be a prominent psychological life challenge. In terms of esoteric psychology, the Moon is rules the solar plexus chakra and is thus a major controlling factor in terms of a person’s natural emotional state. The solar plexus is our link to the "astral plane," that facet of our being that regulates and defines our emotional nature as well as the condition of our desire nature. A disturbed solar plexus or in astrological terms, an afflicted or poorly aspected Moon will indicate that there is a tendency to problems relative to the expression and fulfillment of our needs and desires.

Examples: Saturn/Moon difficulties always indicate a person who has an instinctive sense that their needs and desires will not be fulfilled by life, no matter what they do. Neptune/Moon difficulties reveals a person who is overly sensitive to negative emotional fields of energy in the environment (as well as within oneself), leading to a state of emotional imbalance, often manifesting as fear and insecurity.

Psychological roots: The Moon’s natural sign is Cancer and her house is the Fourth. This sign and house combination are equivalent to the roots of a tree. If the tree’s seed is a strong one and the roots are well nurtured and well nourished then the fruits (Capricorn and the Tenth House) will be abundant, plentiful and of a high quality. The position of the Moon (especially in its relationship by aspect to the natal ruler of the Fourth House) tells the astrologer a great deal about one’s "psychological nutrients." Please keep in mind that the natal horoscope is by definition "a view of the hour," coming from the Latin word "hora/hour" and the Greek word "scopos/to view." Thus your birth map is also a transit chart. It will also reveal the emotional conditions of your mother when you were born—just compare the two maps!

Examples: If the Moon is both the natal and the natural ruler of the Fourth House (Cancer on the cusp), then the lunar position is a most important key to the psychological roots of the individual in question—more so if the Moon is also in the Fourth or in Cancer and even more so if the Moon were in Cancer and also in the Fourth. The key to correct astrological delineations is an understanding of the relative strength and weakness of each and every planetary position.

Biological karma: The Moon reveals what we have inherited from our specific family line in the most personal sense and from our racial or ethnic background in general. Once we reorient our relationship to the instinctive and biological level of the Moon’s expression (this is accomplished through our spiritual work), we are then freed from our subjective and instinctual attachments to many of these karmic patterns. We cannot change our skin color but we can change or definition of ourselves from being white or black or brown or yellow, to being a Human Being with a rainbow-colored consciousness and thus free of all prejudices. This is a nice gift that comes from the soul! Biological karma also the tendency to certain inherited diseases and disorders. A mutation of consciousness, thus raising the level of the Moon’s operation in our lives, can go a long way to cure family illnesses (mental, emotional or physical) before they manifest. Some of us are blessed with great biological karma and have inherited many things "warm and wonderful" from our family/lunar contacts. The natal position and condition of the Moon can reveal these family gifts to us as well.

Examples: Jupiter in Taurus in the Fourth trine to the Moon in Capricorn can indicate that we come from a wealthy or well-placed family. What we do with this inheritance, well that is another matter. Saturn in the Fourth square to the Moon as ruler of the Sixth House of health (Cancer on the cusp)—a tendency to inherit debilitating family illnesses.

Mother and the anima: If you are a Man, the Moon will reveal not only your primary relationship with your mother (and often describe her appearance and character), it will also define the way you deal not only with the women in your life but the female side of your own nature. If the Moon is well placed in the chart, then the tendency is that you will greatly benefit from your relationships with the opposite sex. You may also find that you are emotional self-sufficient rather than co-dependant in your relationships. It may also reveal that you have a comfortable relationship with your own anima, indicating that you are sensitive to your environment and seek to nurture others, not just be nurtured (and supplied!) by them. A well-placed Moon in a woman’s chart reveals that she is comfortable (and not excessively vulnerable) in her female body and in the qualities of being that are associated with her gender. In both cases, the tendency would be to have had a good relationship with one’s mother and if the condition of the Fourth House also supports this, a good family foundation as well.

Examples: Woman with Moon in Taurus in the Second House sextile Venus in Cancer and trine Saturn in Capricorn—the individual was taught at an early age (and by good example from mother and grandmother) to use her psychical and emotional resources wisely. There are certain family traditions that the individual keeps and observes in order to bring continuity and pleasure into her own life and into the life of her own children and family. Man with Moon conjunct Mars and square to Uranus—the mother was emotionally unreliable and prone to unreasonable outbursts of anger. The individual tends to get involved with women who are psychologically incapable of emotional intimacy. There is mistrust or antagonism towards women in general and the individual is also not at all gentle with himself, disordered and irrationally moody.

Esoteric considerations: When a person is operating on the level of the soul, "mommy" has become "The Mother." In essence, the person is free from those personalized emotional habit patterns that still binds him or her to the psychic umbilical cord of the past. Attachment and identification with the Moon on the level of the personality is such that one is still the child of one’s parent, possessing and continuing all the biological karma that this status indicates. The person is subjectively and to some extent (more in some cases, less in others), unconsciously attached to his or her psychological root patterns. In the words of the Tibetan Master, D.K., the individual is then a "prisoner of the planet," the heart chakra is closed and the person is still swimming in the waters of the collective astral plane—emotion is often commotion and feelings are primarily selfish in orientation and expression. The spiritual path eventually allows us to reorient our (un)consciousness from attachment to our biological parent(s) to a conscious awakening within the bosom of the Mother. Once this state is reached, we are freed from the narrow perspective of life that leads to religious and tribal warfare. We no longer have any enemies—all of humanity is perceived as One Family and we are a brother or a sister within that entity. We know longer celebrate or suffer through a sense of separateness. We have opened the heart center (the one directly above the solar plexus) and as a consequence are moving towards the Crown center—that facet of our being that allows us to glimpse the true nature of Spirit. We have graduated from the never-ending thirst for the nourishment of the flesh and are instead being consciously nourished by and nurturing others through the true nature of the illuminated heart. This is freedom.

Example: The Moon is the esoteric ruler of the sign Virgo. Virgo represents the Virgin Mother. Her acts of purification and her road to perfection are undertaken so that she may birth the Christ Child within Her. If you count nine signs (nine months) backwards from Virgo along the Precessional Equinox, you will come to Capricorn. In soul-centered astrology we say, "Virgo culminates in Capricorn." But the Virgin is also the Christ herself! We should not and cannot forget this. Each one of us has this potential of perfection evolving within us. The sign opposite to Virgo is Pisces. The mark of the Fish was two thousand years ago and still is now, the mark of the Christ. The ocean in which the Fish swim is in Latin, "mare" and the names Mary and Maria come from this root. It is this same root word that means "mother" in the Latin languages: madre (Spanish and Italian) mere (French), mae (Portuguese). In these languages the word for "sea" is respectively: mar, mare, mer, mar! "Mare" is also connected to the word "mater," from which we get our word "matter" as well as "material, maternal, matriarchy, etc." Is not the sea the mother of all forms of nature and is not nature in astrology ruled by Virgo and the Moon? The "matter" of Virgo is closely connected to the Mother of the Ocean, Mary. The origins of the Mary are even older than Latin. It is "maya" in Sanskrit (meaning "ocean" but taking on the connotation in esoteric philosophy of "illusion") and "mayim" in Hebrew (meaning "water") from which we get the name, Miriam. Indeed, I would venture to say that the word for "mother" was probably the first word ever spoken by the first human beings.

The Moon, the Divine Feminine is omnipresent, thank god(dess)! In all of history and mythology she is almost always the Sun’s (Spirit/Father) consort, daughter or sister. The Moon is the Great Mother who has nurtured and given form to the seed of life implanted in her womb. This is the significance of the New Moon in astrology. The Sun and Moon meet and conjoin. The Moon is dark at this time for her womb is empty but then at New Moon the Sun implants the seed of creation for the new month/moon. This seed is symbolized by the degree of the zodiac in which this conjunction takes place. As the Moon travels from New to Full the seed matures and at Full Moon the form of the seed comes forth. It is then distributed into the collective consciousness where it is gradually absorbed (the Moon’s phases from Full back to New) until at New Moon, Luna is once again impregnated by Sol. The cycle is never ending.

In Egypt as in India she is frequently depicted as the Cow Goddess (is not the Moon exalted in Taurus?). Among the Hebrews, the male and female aspects of Divinity are merged into One Supreme Being—Jehovah. But this Sacred Word for God is a combination of "Jeh" (meaning male) and "Eva" (meaning female). "Eve" finds her way to Turkey, where the word for "house" (Cancer, the Moon, the mother) is "ev." (And in English, do we not have "eaves" around our houses?). Many churches call their places of worship a "house of God," for it is the place (soul) in which the Spirit dwells. Even the Vatican itself was built on Mount Vaticanus, an ancient mother goddess shrine.