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For our current level of consciousness, the Moon is probably the most important planet in our horoscope because it symbolises our unconscious karmic conditioning from past lives that we are carrying forward (and acting out) in this life. Many astrologers believe that the Moon indicates our most recent past life. Indeed we can often see our Moon patterns in our early childhood behavior, as though we 'woke up' in this lifetime carrying the momentum of energetic and character traits from our previous incarnation. In this sense the patterns of our Moon sign can be thought of as a 'karmic hangover'!

Probably the most important thing you can do in this lifetime is to heal the energy dynamics of your Moon sign before your next reincarnation. This will not only purify your own energy field, so you will not be carrying karmic traces over to your next life, but it will benefit humanity greatly by cleansing the polluted ocean of collective consciousness.

Although we think we have free will, most of us (until we have fully spiritually awakened) are driven predominantly by desire and avoidance. When we move into action, it is usually striving for something we want, or to avoid something we don't want. The desire to obtain what we want can include food, sustenance, material possessions, emotional security, safety, relationships, warmth, love, acceptance, wealth, power, authority, knowledge, status, good health etc. (the list is endless). The desire to avoid that which we don't want can include pain, infirmity, poverty, homelessness, rejection, ostracisation, isolation, loneliness, sickness etc. (this list is also endless).

Although human beings are considered to be 'higher order' intelligent mammals (and there's no denying our lives are immeasurably complex), at the mundane level all of our behavior can really be boiled down to these two simple drives: to gravitate towards pleasure (the wish for happiness) and avoid pain (the wish to avoid suffering). This means that, in spite of all our complexity, until we awaken to our spiritual nature we are no different from any other sentient being. Even a simple amoeba will gravitate towards pleasure and withdraw from pain. In spite of our social complexity, this simple animal drive still resides within each of us, (attachment) (aversion) and astrologically, the specific form it will take in our life is indicated by the Moon. We are lunar creatures indeed.


The Dark of The Moon - Unconscious Reacting

It is always challenging to work with our lunar patterns precisely because they are largely unconscious until we start doing some personal development work to cultivate self-awareness around our own habits of acting and reacting and begin to awaken to our spiritual nature.

For most people the unconscious reactions of their Moon sign will be a mystery to them their whole lives, known only by their family, friends and co-workers, as the unconscious behavior that 'slips out' when they are under pressure (and which they may vehemently deny when anyone tries to point it out).

If we take a review of our lives, we might notice a pattern where our personality is more in the nature of our Moon sign when we are children. As we grow older we are said to blossom more into our Sun Sign, and then in mid-life (35 to 40) it has been said that we 'grow' into our Rising Sign. (Maybe because we awaken to the call of our Soul Sign as we get older, but that's a conversation for another day!)

Of the two sides of our personality, the yin and yang, the Sun is in the light (yang), that which we are conscious of, while the Moon is in the shade (yin), that which we are unconscious of. At least at first. It is through our interactions with others that our Moon Sign qualities 'come to light', and not through a conscious, considered, response on our part, but more often through our unconscious reacting.

The reactive patterns of the Moon are thought to originate from our last lives. In a sense the Moon is a repository of past-life energy that we are ready to release. The physical Moon itself is a symbol of this. The Moon itself has no life-force energy of it's own. It does not emanate light, but reflects the light of the Sun. So it can be considered to symbolise a 'dead weight' that we are carrying around in our energy field. But it has a powerful effect. Just like the physical Moon affects the earth's tides and weather, so our astrological Moon indicates our instinctive tides and emotional weather.

Even though it is 'dead' (relating to the past) The Moon is creating ripples in your energy field that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Just like a dead rock in the middle of a river will cause the river, the fish and all life associated with the river to flow around it, so your Moon sign dynamics will create a tidal pull on your life, and be a constant drain on your energy field, until you make those dynamics conscious (by cultivating self-awareness), and move towards healing and integration.

Your Enemies Are Your Best Teachers

For those on a committed spiritual path it is often said that your enemies are your best teachers. That is because the people who bring out the worst in you, are giving you an opportunity to see what karmic traces you are carrying, so that you can change them. You can't change what you can't see, and it is only when other people bring your reactions out into the open that you have a precious opportunity for self-awareness.

Your Moon Sign will indicate your conditioned emotional reflexes and show you how you unconsciously react when you feel hurt. Do you lash out (verbally or physically)? Do you brood and sulk? Do you withdraw, plot revenge, and/or lick your wounds? Part of your journey of becoming conscious is to bring loving awareness to these unconscious reactions. Understanding the characteristics of your Moon sign can be helpful because you can start to watch out for them.

When you are in the grip of a full-blown emotional meltdown is not the best time or place to get to know and understand your Moon sign attributes! Often when you have been in the grip of a strong emotion you aren't always able to remember what you said or did. A better way is to observe yourself as you go through the rhythms of the day. Who are you in the morning? Then around lunchtime? At dinner? In the evening? And especially who are you late at night? Or if you are awake at night, who are you then?

We are often very different at 3am than we are at 3pm in the afternoon. Spend some time this month observing the different versions of 'you', and see if you can notice when your Moon creeps in!


Who You Become Under Stress

It is important to know that when you feel hurt, it doesn’t mean anybody intended to hurt you! It can be part of your conditioned reaction to the world around you. Also the way you react to a perceived threat, can be a clue to deeper emotional healing that you can work towards. For example, the dramatic emotional reaction of someone with Moon in Leo can indicate a deeper need for acknowledgement and/or being valued. When you work on meeting this need for yourself you are doing your own deeper emotional healing.

The Sun and Moon are the basic 'drivers' in our life. Everything else in the chart can be thought of as a modifier to the Sun and Moon. If we were talking about a car the Sun and Moon would tell us the basic make and model, while the other planets, aspects etc. would tell us additional features and details: the color, the upholstery, the engine size, whether there is air conditioning or not etc.! So to begin with keep it simple and start by going deeper in your understanding of your own Sun and Moon sign.

Next, practice mindfulness. Be present in any and every moment. Notice your speech, your reactions, your responses. Notice your emotions. Watch yourself with great attentiveness as you go through your day. Notice how you react and/or respond to others. Notice what motivates you. Notice how you think and feel. What catches your interest and what turns you off? Especially notice what pushes your buttons and what those buttons are!

As we saw in the previous newsletter, your vitality will be connected to your Sun sign. Watch for that. Can you see where and if that is true for you? Then, your emotional responses, instinctive needs, and who you become in relationship will be indicated by your Moon sign. Look at how you react and respond to others, and when under stress. Your Moon sign can indicate both your positive and so-called ‘negative’ emotional responses to others.

When stressed you may default to the instinctive reactions of your Moon sign. Observe yourself closely without judgement and see if you can see the dynamics playing out in your life. Remember the energy dynamics are already there, astrology is simply a way of putting language to your experience. Don't worry if you don't seem to be a 'pure' example of your Sun or Moon sign. No-one is a pure type in any psychological system because each of us is a unique blend of the energies involved.

On a day to day basis it will be the personality expressions of your Sun and Moon signs that you notice first.Your Soul Sign (Ascendant or Rising Sign) will show up as an essence, more of a 'perfume' that permeates your personality expression. Your Soul's Purpose is carried out through the activities of your Sun and Moon Signs but to keep it simple at first it's better to only focus on the energy dynamics of your Sun and Moon signs until you become familiar with them.

Rather than looking for yourself in one sign, begin looking where the energy of the signs shows up in different areas of your life, and how they interact with each other. Using astrological language, you will be able to recognize energetic patterns more quickly and take action to change where needed. Then you have a practical tool that can support your ongoing spiritual development.


Emotional Intelligence, Instinct and Feelings

In an earlier newsletter we discussed how the evolution of human consciousness AND your individual path of spiritual awakening are one and the same, and that (from our current perspective) there appear to be 'stages' on the path, as follows:

instinct > intellect > intuition > illumination > emptiness

The Moon in your chart symbolizes the energy of your emotional world and is very much associated with he first of these 'stages', instinct. It can show how you react and respond to others and what you need in order to feel emotionally safe and secure.

The Moon is associated with the past and it is possible that the reactive patterns of our Moon sign were created in past lives. We therefore need to be gentle and compassionate with ourselves, if we are take an honest look at the energy of how we react to others. If we are courageous, and willing to walk the path of our Moon sign, there is a treasure of healing, deep wisdom, and compassion to be gained.

The Moon probably has more influence over us on a day to day basis than even the Sun. In astrology she represents our instincts, feelings, and emotions. We all know that the Moon affects the ocean and influences the tides, and modern science is coming to understand that the Moon might be so much more important than we ever realized.

Karmic Conditioning: The Magnetic Pull of The Moon

If the Rising Sign (Ascendant) indicates our Soul, and the Sun indicates our prana or life-force energy, the Moon represents our conditioning, both individually and collectively. So let's take a look at that because that doesn't sound like much... 'conditioning'. Yet, like the pull of the Moon on the Earth's tides, conditioning probably has the most power over us until we start to awaken to our spiritual nature and soul purpose. The whole of humanity is driven by conditioning, and therefore falls under the magnetic 'pull of the Moon'.

So what do we mean by conditioning? Simply put it is learned behavior. Yet, most of what we think and do, most of our behavior, including our identity is actually conditioning. It has been given to you by the society into which you were born. Conditioning is what we learn from those around us, and then we identify with it and it becomes habit. The name you were given, the language you speak, the food you eat, and even your sense of 'right' and 'wrong'. This is all conditioning. Even if it seems innate, like someone has a natural talent for computers while another is a born athlete, this has likely been 'conditioned' in a past life.

To really understand the power of conditioning think about a time when you had to go against the majority. If you have ever experienced what is known as 'peer-pressure', that is when you would have felt the pull of the Moon at it's strongest. It is the pressure we feel to conform to the group, the tribe, the community, the club, the gang, the mob and/or the family. The Moon represents the consciousness of the masses because it is the energy of emotional attachment. When we are 'swept away' on a tide of emotion, and/or when we feel pressure to conform that is the influence of the Moon.

We all like to think we could and would act independently from the group but time and again studies, (such as the classic Asch and Milgram psychology experiments) show how the majority of people succumb to the power of peer-pressure and/or authority. In other words we conform to what is expected of us by the group or society. This magnetic pull to conform to mass consciousness is lunar in nature and is part of what we learn to release and transcend as we evolve in consciousness. This is why the process of individuation is so important for the evolution of human consciousness. Individuation leads to awakening. (Read more about karma and conditioning in Chapter 1 of Soul Astrology: "Your Healing Journey: Duality, Polarity, and Wholeness")

The Full Moon and Dreaming

Why do we dream more vividly at the Full Moon? While we are asleep our psyche is processing our unconscious or 'karmic' mind. The Full Moon therefore represents an important time for karmic clearing and becoming more aware of our Moon Sign dynamics.

Often around the time of a Full Moon we notice our dreams. Either someone who doesn’t usually dream much will have a significant dream, or someone who dreams often will have a clearer dream, or a more meaningful dream. Whatever the case it seems that around the time of the Full Moon, our dreams can get our attention.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition dreams are divided into three categories:

• karmic dreams
• clear light dreams
• lucid dreams

Karmic dreams are ‘ordinary’ dreams. The kind that western psychologists and dream researchers speak of when they say our mind is processing the events of the day, or of our everyday lives. We might dream about our family, or a problem, what we saw on TV, a celebrity, or memories and people from our past. These are all ‘karmic’ because they pertain to our ‘karma’, in other words they arise out of our present condition and circumstances, and the conditioning of our everyday mind. These dreams can be very ‘foggy’ - we may not remember much about them yet we can be left with a ‘hangover’ where we either feel dull when we awaken, or we are experience an emotional ‘charge’ that begins in the dream and remains with us when we awake.

Clear light dreams can be prophetic in nature. As the name suggests they are characterized by a quality of light and clarity that supersedes our everyday existence. In these dreams we may experience visions, premonitions, meet our teachers and guides, and receive teaching and instruction. When we awake we invariably feel at peace, joyful, loving and we usually have a very clear sense that we just experienced something special.

Lucid dreaming is where we are aware within the dream state, that we are dreaming. In the Tibetan tradition of dream yoga lucid dreaming is cultivated so that one’s spiritual practice can continue through the night as the dream state is used to further one’s spiritual development.

yet they are often overlooked as a vehicle for exploring reality”

Love/Hate Relationship

Have you ever noticed that you have a love-hate relationship with your Moon sign? It’s an interesting dynamic to watch in your life. To understand this more deeply, it can't be emphasised enough, how important it is to observe your own dynamics when you are relating with others. This means watch yourself, take your attention off what the other person is saying and doing, and notice your own thoughts, words and reactions to them. In particular notice how you are with people who have the Sun in the same sign as your Moon. They are openly living out your Moon sign qualities, bringing them into the light for all to see (how dare they when maybe you’ve spent a lifetime trying not to be like that)!

People whose Sun is in the same sign as your Moon may be challenging for you at some times, while at others, you may adore them. Especially if you don’t yet recognize those qualities in yourself. When they are displaying the highest octave, love-based, so-called positive qualities of that sign, you may admire them greatly and wish you could be like that. When they display the fear-based, so-called negative, qualities of that sign you may think “I would NEVER be like that”. Whereas the truth is, you really are like that in the sense that you are carrying the same energy, although it expresses itself differently through the Moon (sometimes - but not always - more sensitively and low-key than the Sun's expression).

The Moon is associated with our instincts and emotions. When we feel hurt, and/or when others ‘push our buttons’ we are likely to react in a manner according to the qualities and temperament of our Moon sign. For example you could be a gentle, sensitive, kind and compassionate Sun in Pisces yet you have Moon in Sagittarius. When hurt you may be scathing in your sarcasm, leaving your shocked and stunned friends wondering where that came from because “It’s not like you”.

The qualities of your Sun sign are in the light, easily recognized (usually), and you can often relate to them. When it comes to your Moon sign, you may be either unaware of those qualities, don’t recognize them in yourself or you’ve spent a lifetime trying ‘not to be like that’! Our example of a Pisces friend (with Sagittarius Moon) may be thinking “I try not to be like that but when people push my buttons it just comes out”.

With your Sun sign, you can usually embrace both the positive and so-called negative qualities more easily. So you may be able to openly say to a friend with Sun in Sagittarius, “You know I admire your honesty, and the fact you speak your mind, but you can be tactless at times”, and they may well shrug their shoulders and say “I know I can be like that sometimes, I’m working on it”. They are more likely to already be aware of it and to embrace the characteristic objectively, without too much of an emotional charge. That would be the Sun.

Not so with the Moon. Try saying that to our Pisces friend with Moon in Sagittarius! If they don’t break down in tears saying “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, or get sarcastic with you and not realize they’re doing it, they may get defensive and accuse you of being mean and pointing out their faults. In other words there is likely to be unconscious reacting and/or an emotional charge. That would be the Moon.

The reason is that the Moon is a very sensitive point for all of us. As we continue our own journey of self-exploration through Soul Astrology, we need to approach the dynamics of our Moon sign very gently, with loving awareness and great compassion for ourselves. If we have reacted to someone in an unconscious, reactive way, that is a great opportunity for healing and awakening for us both. If we look at what happened, and what got triggered in us, we can see where we need to do some healing work.

When you can embrace people whose Sun is in the same sign as your Moon, and think “I am that, and that am I” then you will be well on your way to healing your Moon sign. Remember what you really want is to be flowing the clear light of your Soul Sign into the world, but before you can do that you need to ‘clean’ the lens of your personality signs (which is what focuses your Soul’s light into the world). Healing your Moon-sign is one of the ways your clear your lens and let your Soul-light shine!

Most likely the dynamics of your Moon sign were created in a past life, and then something happened in this life during your early childhood to re-awaken that pain and reinforce your impulse to hide it away. So whenever you look at healing the dynamics of your Moon sign (and you usually don't even want to look), you are doing important inner child work. The reason it is such a sensitive area for you, is that when it comes to your Moon sign work you are dealing with a vulnerable, hurt, and very young inner child that needs your loving attention.


The Catch 22 of The Moon: The Tidal Push-Pull of Fear vs Need

As we have seen The Moon in your chart can tell you so much about your inner world. It indicates your fears, vulnerabilities, insecurities, instincts, irrational reactions and your emotional world. Much of this is as a result of past life wounding. Our Moon can be very helpful in pointing to where we have important personal needs, and it can also be indicating the ways in which we can get them met, but there is often fear around the Moon too. So although we may be able to recognize where we have a personal need, and we might also be able to see various ways that we can get it met, at the same time we may experience an irrational fear that we can’t quite put our finger on!

First let's get clear on what personal needs actually are. We all have needs, which humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow described in terms of his famous Hierarchy of Human Need. At the bottom of the hierarchy we have those basic needs that are common to all our human family, for example warmth, food, shelter, love etc. It is important to note that needs differ from 'wants' in that they are essential for our health, well-being and continued growth. We won't die if we don't get what we want, but we can 'die' or live a compromised/ impoverished life, if we don't get our needs met.

Our own journey of personal growth moves us up the hierarchy towards self-actualization, and our needs then become more unique to us, as individuals. They then become more personal (hence the term personal needs). There is a wide variety of personal needs which can include a need for creative expression, a need for nature, a need for solitude, a need to express our truth, a need for community, a need for artistic expression, a need for beauty, a need for financial security, a need for independence etc. (This list is also endless). These are also common throughout humanity but for individuals some will take priority over others.

So now let's look at an example of how personal needs can be indicated by your Moon sign, AND what I mean by this 'Catch 22' that often comes with the Moon. For example if you have Moon in Leo you might have identified a need for appreciation (which is just one expression of a need for love) that wasn’t met in childhood. You might even know how you can go about getting your need for appreciation met for yourself (perhaps through self-appreciation, or by being involved in groups where others verbalize their appreciation for you and your work). ... BUT there may also be this niggling doubt/ fear accompanying it. As though if you really did just go for it, something ‘bad’ might happen. This is what I mean by the 'catch 22' of the Moon.

Let's look at the difference between the Sun and Moon in the same sign. Sun in Leo might get their needs for appreciation met by performing on stage, very much in the spotlight, and then without reservation basking in the accolades and curtain-calls from an appreciative audience! The need is getting met cleanly and clearly, without any shadowy undercurrent of fear, because it forms part of one's identity. (that would be The Sun)

When the Moon is in Leo, you might still perform well on stage. You might see how this could get your need for appreciation met, but you somehow have a niggling feeling that something might go wrong, something bad could happen, or that you shouldn't be 'showing off' in this way. There will be some undercurrent in your psyche that is making you feel wrong for needing attention, or light. This is the hidden side - the dark of the Moon.


Inner Child Healing with The Mother of Compassion

When we work with the energy of our Moon sign, we begin healing our wounded inner child. This is very delicate work, because we may be dealing with emotional blocks and traumas, that were created when we were very young. When we move into the 'unconscious reacting' that we spoke of earlier, we are actually acting out a former version of ourselves, with the emotional age of that time.

For example I once worked with a Chief Surgeon who, when he didn't get his own way, would have a tantrum worthy of any three-year old and throw his instruments all over the operating theatre. Most people passed this off as stress, but not all surgeons react this way to stress! What was happening for him is that his stress was landing on prior childhood trauma, and when triggered he was reverting at least emotionally (if not mentally) to that age.

We all have a similar wounded 'inner child' - an emotional age at which some childhood event marked our emotional development in such a way that it became our default way of reacting to stress. Our emotional age may be 5 or 15 but either way, we will see the dynamics in the horoscope, indicated by the condition of the Moon.

For most of us our first experiences of compassion and nurturing, start with our Mother. How we were nurtured (or not) and how we will develop the nurturing (Mother) principle in ourselves (or not) will be indicated in our horoscope by the placement and condition of the Moon by sign, house and aspect.

If we are to develop compassion for self, for our own inner child, for the one that hurts, for our own vulnerability, for the terrified animal instinct that we all have inside, we need to access and cultivate the higher qualities of The Moon in ourselves.

On a personality level the Moon rules Cancer: associated with Mothering, birth, breastfeeding and nourishment. On a Soul level the Moon is the Ruler of Virgo: the Divine Mother and sacred feminine. Just as necessity is the mother of invention, then the circumstances of our own Moon Sign, our particular Moon challenges, and the path to our own inner child healing, becomes the Mother of Compassion in our own lives. As we heal our Moon Sign challenges, we become more empathic and compassionate, towards ourselves and others.

If we ignore the call of the Moon we are ignoring our own inner child's cries for healing. By fully embracing and acknowledging the needs of our Moon sign, we set course on our own path to integration and healing. We shift from worldly mother to Sacred Mother and the Divine Feminine. We embody compassion and, just like Mother Mary, Quan Yin, and Avelokiteshvara we may become a manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion.


The Moon as Destiny

So far The Moon dynamics have sounded a bit deterministic: as though we are trapped in destiny, controlled by the movements of the Moon, and powerless to exercise free will or break out of the clutches of this 'evil Moon'. In fact this is how the Moon, and indeed all the planets, were thought of in earlier periods throughout the history of astrology. In medieval times for example it was thought that everything was predetermined, destiny or 'the fates' dealt their hand and we were pretty much powerless to intervene. They were very suspicious, and fearful, of the Moon. There is still a residue of this belief in our modern culture, as many people still believe that most of life is predetermined and we don't really have much choice or free will.

However this belief is very limiting and dis-empowering. It denies your own power. The reality is that while we cannot always exercise control over external circumstances, we do have total control over how we react or respond to them, once we develop more conscious awareness. When we are unconscious we allow ourselves to be driven by our instincts, urges, desires and compulsions and fail to recognize our own power. We are motivated not by choice and free will, but more from unconscious reacting and conditioned reflexes. This can be our experience of the Moon at personality level and, as long as we continue reacting impulsively, and not exercising our free will, our lives may as well be predetermined. The Moon at this level doesn't seem to be our friend!

Once we begin our spiritual journey of awakening, the Moon becomes our best friend and ally. On the path of awakening, the Moon illuminates: bringing to our conscious awareness, those previously unconscious compulsions, desires, habits and reactions that would keep us stuck in lower consciousness. The Moon illuminates our emotional attachments and, through our relationship with others, shows us where much of our spiritual healing is to be done. On our spiritual journey, the Moon becomes our best friend.

Ways To Study The Moon in Your Horoscope

There are many ways to study The Moon in your horoscope, including:

• Your Moon's Sign
• The House placement of your Moon
• The Aspects to The Moon
• The Lunation Cycle
• The Nodal Axis


The Moon Through The Signs

Below are some very brief ideas of how to interpret each Moon sign, bear in mind there is so much more to your Moon sign than we have space for here!

Start with the brief description below and then make a note of your observations about how you experience your own Moon sign energy. If you have never done this before you might need to take some time in observation and reflection, before you can really see how you react and respond to others. Contemplating the element might also be helpful in attuning to the energy of the sign, but remember where the Moon is involved there is always an emotional component.


When your Moon is in:

Aries (Fire) you may respond to others intuitively and with enthusiasm. When you feel hurt your temper may flare and have an impulsive, possibly explosive quality to it, but it burns out just as quickly. Your key to healing is through recognizing that YOU exist, and because you exist, you matter. Start by listening to your intuition and trusting your own inner guidance.

Taurus (Earth) you may respond to others quietly and considerately. When you feel hurt you may tend to ‘dig your heels in’ and become stubborn. You like to arrive at decisions in your own time and not feel pushed. Your key to healing is through recognizing your inherent value, and trusting your own inner resources.

Gemini (Air) you may respond to others communicatively with a desire to share information. When you feel hurt you may change the subject, side step the issue and/or use your skill with words to avoid a direct confrontation. Your key to healing is through letting go of mental 'stories' and connecting with the deeper wisdom of your heart.

Cancer (Water) you may respond to others in ways that are caring and nurturing. When you feel hurt, you may feel it more than you show. You may withdraw into your shell completely although sometimes the ‘crab’s claws’ can be upfront and you can give another person a sharp ‘nip’ as a warning! Your key to healing is through overcoming fear by compassionate nurturing of yourself and recognizing your innate emotional intelligence.

Leo (Fire) you may respond to others with warmth and generosity. When you feel hurt you may be prone to sulking or brooding, but you may also over-react very dramatically to make your point if you feel you are not being paid enough attention! Your key to healing is honoring your creativity, your individuality, and by having the courage to follow your unique heart's passion.

Virgo (Earth) you may respond to others in ways that are generally helpful and dependable. When you feel hurt you may be prone to anxiety and worry, as you try to find practical ways out of your predicament. Your key to healing is through cultivating somatic (body) awareness and then recognizing how you flow love tangibly into your world.

Libra (Air) you respond to others in ways that are congenial and companionable. When you feel hurt you may try to manipulate the situation to keep the peace and avoid confrontation. Your key to healing is through finely balancing your own needs and those of others in all your relationships. Each is as important as the other.

Scorpio (Water) you may respond to others with an air of mysticism as you keep your private life to yourself. When you feel hurt you may tend to brood and withdraw into a private world of silence, however, if pushed you may equally face a perceived ‘enemy’ head-on, with claws and ‘sting’ at the ready. Others may know the ‘sting’ in the Scorpion’s tail if they don’t back off! Your key to healing is through allowing yourself to feel your own feelings and express them in ways that feel safe for you. Only by allowing your emotional energy to move and flow, will your personal healing journey begin.

Sagittarius (Fire) you may respond to others in a friendly gregarious manner. When you feel hurt you may have a tendency to sarcasm, and/or shoot out a barrage of ‘arrows’ in the form of ‘facts’ or ‘evidence’ that you have gathered to support your ‘case’. Your key to healing is through quietening your mind and resting in inner silence where you will access your own higher truth, spiritual power and the deepest wisdom that is beyond words.

Capricorn (Earth) you may respond to others in practical and responsible ways. When you feel hurt you may withdraw emotionally, becoming cold, and /or you may withdraw physical resources and/or practical support. Your key to healing is through recognizing your inherent connection to the Divine, accessing your deepest inner resources and shining your light in the world.

Aquarius (Air) you may respond to others with intelligence yet in impersonal and objective ways. When you feel hurt you may distance yourself from others, cutting them off completely. Your key to healing is through releasing mental ideals and accepting this present reality just as it is. Then you will start recognizing a real, tangible, flow of Divine love through your own heart-center.

Pisces (Water) you may respond to others with sensitivity and imagination. When you feel hurt you may tend to withdraw from the world completely, and may feel a deep sense of hurt and sadness. Your key to healing is through recognizing and cultivating the power of your own heart's radiant energy to transform suffering in both yourself, and others.


The Moon Through The Houses

1st House
With your Moon in the 1st house of self you probably feel most emotionally safe and secure when you can anchor yourself deeply in your own path of self awareness. Having the space in your life for self discovery and self exploration is more than just a pastime for you, it fulfils a deep emotional need. The more time you can spend in your own rich self discovery, where you can honor and acknowledge your own experience and intuition, the more emotionally nurtured and nourished you will feel.

2nd House
With your Moon in the second house of personal resources and values you may get a great deal of emotional satisfaction from those activities which increase your sense of self-value of self-worth. You may find that generating your own income, or being self-employed, brings you a great deal of emotional safety and a feeling of security.

3rd House
With your Moon in the third house of communication, language and learning, you may get a great deal of emotional satisfaction in situations where you are able to communicate your feelings. You may have a gift for talking about feelings and emotions, and feel nurtured and nourished when you are able to do so. You may also be a passionate speaker and be able to convey the power of emotions through your speech. Since the third house also involves teaching and learning you may also have a talent for emotional intelligence and/or teaching others how to talk about emotions.

4th House
With your Moon in the 4th house of home, family, and ancestry you may get a great deal of emotional satisfaction from your home and family. This may be your family of origin or it could be through building and creating a sense of family for yourself in your current situation. You may feel emotionally nurtured and nourished when you feel a sense of family around you.

5th House
With your Moon in the 5th house of children and creative self-expression you probably get a great deal of emotional satisfaction from your children (if you have any) or from any projects that you are creating. You may find that you feel emotionally nourished and nurtured by your own creative self-expression. Even if you are a male, children may see you as quite a ‘motherly’, nurturing figure.

6th House
With your Moon in the 6th house of service you possibly have an emotional need or urge to be of service, and feel most emotionally secure (as though all is well in your world) when you have opportunities to be of service in general, and in particular to be of service to those who depend on you - perhaps by using your creativity to develop tools, techniques and technologies for improving/ restoring health, well being and personal development in some way.

7th House
With your Moon in the 7th house of relationships and partnerships, all your relationships whether they be close family, friends, co-workers, professional or business associates, are very important to you. You feel nurtured and nourished by good relationships and you also love to nurture and nourish others through high quality connections.

8th House
With your Moon in the 8th house of transformation you probably experience your emotions very deeply, and feel a great deal of emotional safety and security when you are able to create time and space to fully experience and process your feelings in private. With the Moon in this position your personal journey of healing and transformation is experienced through your emotional world, whereby you are learning about how to navigate through different emotional frequencies, and how the power of your own self-awareness can transform fear-based emotions into higher spiritual energies such as love.

9th House
With your Moon in the 9th house of higher wisdom, you probably feel a great deal of emotional satisfaction when you are pursuing your own search for higher knowledge and deeper meaning. Understanding the meaning of life is more than a mere intellectual pursuit for you, when you connect to higher wisdom you actually feel nurtured and nourished by it. It touches and feeds your Soul, bringing you a sense of emotional safety and security.

10th House
With your Moon in the 10th house of career and ambition, much of your emotional energy is likely to be invested in your ‘place in the world’. Achieving a certain position or status could bring you a deep sense of emotional satisfaction and security. This could mean through a conventional career, but from a soul-centred perspective it also means the ‘work you came to do in the world’. Esoterically the 10th house is the domain of the Masters, so you may also sense or feel an emotional connection with your ancient lineage of wisdom teachers, and/or sense the vast storehouse of ancient wisdom-knowledge that you have and can bring forth into this life from previous lifetimes.

11th House
With your Moon in the 11th house of social groups and collective consciousness, you may find that you get a great deal of emotional satisfaction from group activity and social networks. You may find that you feel emotionally nurtured and nourished in your friendships, and you may find that working in groups, especially towards humanitarian goals, brings you emotional satisfaction and security.

12th House
With your Moon in the 12th house of privacy, hidden talents, and your inner world, you may find that you get a great deal of emotional satisfaction from periods of solitude. You may feel emotionally nurtured and nourished in silence or by spending long periods just ‘being’ in your own awareness. You may have quite a psychic connection, and sometimes this can bring irrational fear. The solution is to remain very self-aware - be aware that you are not the fear, but rather YOU are the observing consciousness that is aware of the fear.


The Lunation Cycle

Another important way that we look at the Moon in your chart is through the lunation cycle: whether the Moon is waxing, waning and in which phase of the Moon's cycle you were born in (crescent Moon, Full Moon etc.). Generally speaking, waxing Moon types are said to be more subjective in their experience, while waning Moon types are said to be more objective, nevertheless the Lunation Cycle is telling us something about how we as individuals relate to the world around us, and how we make an impact, or not, on our environment. Master astrologer Dane Rudhyar considered the Lunation Cycle to be an extremely important tool for revealing aspects of our psyche of which we may be unaware. You can read more in his book "The Lunation Cycle: A Key To The Understanding of Personality". 

A lunar cycle tells us something about cycles of life. Rudhyar believed the lunar cycle to be one of the most basic ‘cycles of relationship’ simply because it is one that we can all understand and relate to. He said similar ‘cycles of relationship’ can be found throughout all life and if we understand something of the lunar cycle, we will understand a principle that holds true for all such relationships.

What did he mean by a cycle of relationship? Well when we talk about a lunar cycle, we are really talking about the Moon’s relationship with the Sun. To understand this we need to know a little bit about what the lunar cycle is. The lunar cycle begins with what we refer to as a ’New Moon’. A New Moon is when the Sun and Moon occupy the same point in the sky - so the Moon is not visible to us, because of the brightness of the Sun. 

In contrast a ‘Full Moon’ happens when the Moon is directly opposite the Sun. We can see it clearly because it is lit up by the light from the Sun. So as we continue, and describe the ‘phases of the Moon’, we begin to realize that the Moon itself has no actual ‘phases’ as such, but they are apparent phases created by the Moon’s relationship to the Sun. 

When we talk about the relationship between the Sun and Moon we are beginning to explore the deepest yoga:the union of Sun and Moon, yang and yin, light and dark, outer and inner, exoteric and esoteric. We are beginning to move away from separation towards the ultimate union: oneness. No matter how wise or educated we become, we cannot claim to be in oneness, or enlightenment, while our Moon sign dynamics are still keeping us in the dark.

Rudhyar’s Eight Moon Phases

Basically we know the Moon is either waxing, as the energy builds up to a Full Moon, or waning as the energy ‘dies down’ and dissolves into the next New Moon. However within the waxing and waning process Rudhyar also saw distinct phases. To calculate your own Moon Phase check below to see where the Moon is in relation to the Sun in your natal chart:

Waxing:
New Moon (0 - 45º ahead of the Sun). The New Moon is a time of new beginnings. Something is emerging and people born around this time can be impulsive initiators. They are carrying the ‘seed’ of something and like to begin things!

Crescent (45 - 90º ahead of the Sun): People born at this time may have a pioneering spirit but also have a sense of being ‘held back’ by the past. May need to work to assert and establish themselves.

First Quarter (90 – 135° ahead of the Sun ): People born at this time can be strong-willed adventurous, exploring, types.

Gibbous (135 – 180° ahead of the Sun): People born at this time may have a sense of being on a mission, or quest, which can include your personal search for meaning.


Waning:
Full Moon (180 – 135° behind the Sun): People born at this time may be visionaries with a clear sense of purpose and an ability to ‘fertilize’ a situation and bear fruit.

Disseminating (135 – 90° behind the Sun): People born at this time can be passionate crusaders, with a powerful desire to share what they have learned.

Last Quarter (90 – 45° behind the Sun): People born at this time may be more reflective and philosophical. There may even be a sense of ‘dying on the vine’ as energy is withdrawn back into the cycle. They may have an urge to share what they have learned yet may also be discarding what has not worked, and be perceiving the inklings of a new future yet to come.

Balsamic (Waning Crescent. 45 – 0° behind the Sun): This is the closing of the cycle. Ending. People born at this time may have a need for space and solitude. There may be a sense of something is gestating that is about to be birthed.


We may find in the lunar cycle a deeper understanding of some of those irrational feelings that we sometimes experience, that don’t seem related to current events in our lives. Astrologer Demetra George goes one step further and relates the lunation cycle to our Soul’s evolution:



Other ways to study the Moon's influence in your chart include Aspects and the Nodal Axis, which we cover in depth in future editions of the Foundations of Soul Astrology series. For now it is enough to say that there are many ways to look at the Moon but whichever way we look at it, once we commit ourselves to our spiritual journey the Moon becomes a friend, ally, and powerful guide along the way.