The Moon in Your Natal Chart
Understanding its Meaning
When you look at the Moon in the night sky, what does it evoke in you? As it changes shape across the days, the Moon often stirs feelings – the early crescent offering a sense of something new, or the passionate Full Moon bringing clarity to pressing situations.
We have been gazing upon the Moon contemplating its sense of mystery as it orbits the earth and You…
Its force undeniable affecting the tides as well as humans. It has captured the imagination of sky watchers, poets and dreamers across millennia. Equally in Astrology, the Moon is a powerful symbol governing your fathomless inner world of feelings, emotions and memories. Read on for an introduction to the Moon and its archetypal meaning in your natal chart.
The Sun and Moon as a sacred planetary pair
Astrologically, the Moon is considered the second most important planet, next to the Sun. It makes sense, therefore, to first contemplate the Moon in relation to the Sun. Considered the “luminaries” in Transpersonal Astrology, they are a planetary pair that resonates with complementary vibrations, a dynamic duo revealing fundamental information about your archetypal profile.
Symbolically, the Sun represents the sacred father, the animus and Yang or Creative energy, whereas the Moon is the sacred mother, the anima and Yin or Receptive energy. The Sun is the Giver of Life; the Moon is the Builder of Form. The Sun is the direct source of light willing you to grow towards it like a seed sprouting up into the light of day. It focuses you externally. The reflected light of the Moon is like the Sun at midnight, shining in the darkest interior domain of your psyche. It correlates to your deepest feelings and the variety of emotions that come up to be expressed.
The Moon, your inner world and what shaped it
The Moon in your natal chart represents your emotional blueprint, what drives you to satisfy your needs and to seek comfort, safety and security. It rules your early childhood experiences and all you absorbed from your environment before you even began to speak and walk. These experiences, recorded as memories, shape your beliefs and thought processes, condition your behavior patterns and your use of language. Over time, they construct a subconscious mental structure of familial and societal codes of conduct, considerations and beliefs that run mostly on autopilot. This is known as “programming” that dictates our behavior and the very way we think.
Working with your Moon to understand your emotional state
Understanding and working with your natal Moon profile can reveal valuable information about your inner state. You can start by studying the sign and house it is in, the aspects it is making to other planets and significant chart points. These are the elements that can help you become more conscious of how your inner world was shaped. They may reveal how you were cared for and nurtured (or not), by your mother, your immediate family and successively by your community, society, and other environmental factors and how you care for those in your world.
As you study your lunar profile, you come to recognize how your mind has compensated for unresolved traumas or negative experiences such as feeling forced to conform to certain ways of being that denied your true nature. This often leads to a high level of emotional reactivity that affects your relationships and ability to manage life’s stresses.
It takes effort to notice your thoughts and emotions and what triggers negativity. Just as the moon is changeable, so are our moods. When we are distressed, worried, feeling fear or other negative emotions, this clouds over and dims our inner light.
At this point it is important to remember in Transpersonal Astrology aspects of your nature are not judged as good or bad. Further, the birth chart is a starting point. It is not a fixed, unchangeable profile of who you are. You are as dynamic and changeable as the Moon. Working with your archetypal Moon can help bring subconscious programming to your consciousness so you can effectively process and release it.
“At this point it is important to remember in Transpersonal Astrology aspects of your nature are not judged as good or bad. Further, the birth chart is a starting point. It is not a fixed, unchangeable profile of who you are. You are as dynamic and changeable as the Moon.”
Tuning into the deeper undercurrents of intuitive feelings
How often do you turn inward long enough to get a sense of how you really feel about something? As with all forms of personal growth, tuning into these subtle undercurrents does not happen automatically. By paying attention to your inner state, you learn to recognize the difference between emotional reaction that brings you down, and a centered, calm knowingness about what you are experiencing and whether you are resonating with it in a way that feels true.
The emotional pull to conform to family and societal rules is powerful. We are so often taught to be afraid of being different or living an alternative lifestyle. Just as biological instincts help us survive the natural world, we obey our conditioning as a way of psychologically surviving in a harsh world. Knowing the difference between a real fear (such as a genuine threat to life) and an imagined one shaped by programming (such as a fear of failure or disappointing a loved one) leads to dissipating many of the fears that inhibit our creative impulse. To me, this feels empowering and liberating.
At its highest level of expression, the archetypal Moon can guide you to tune into and trust your intuition, which is connected to the unseen forces guiding you, including the “cosmic intelligences,” as the planets are known in Transpersonal Astrology. The Moon is the natural ruler of Cancer and the 4th House of home and family, the higher expression of which is your spiritual home. At this level you come to feel a sense of belonging, having a role to play within the greater whole of the cosmos. The Moon can guide you to empower your soul so it reflects a higher quality consciousness out in the world. This process ignites the fire within that initiates you into a clear and focused creative state of being.
“By paying attention to your inner state, you learn to recognize the difference between emotional reaction that brings you down, and a centered, calm knowingness about what you are experiencing and whether you are resonating with it in a way that feels true. ”
The Moon Through the Signs
Below are brief interpretations of the Moon in each sign. Keep in mind this is only one aspect of your chart that must be developed and integrated with the whole of your blueprint to actualize the potentials set forth for you in this life.
Moon in Aries:
Need for independence and the freedom to pursue your desires. Seeks self-discovery through creative acts. Competitive, brave and pioneering spirit. Can be headstrong and reckless, not thinking of consequences or the effects of your behavior on others. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn to adapt the drive to create with awareness of what your creative seed is for, to take others into consideration and be careful to ensure your creative efforts are sustained for all.
Moon in Taurus:
Need for stability and material security. Deep affinity with the natural rhythms of nature and refined sense of the value of material things. Can be slow to act and stubborn when faced with the need to change and become attached to material wealth as a source of power and prestige. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn non-attachment to material things and acquire only what has intrinsic value because it is necessary and useful to support you on your spiritual path.
Moon in Gemini:
Need to feel in touch with what is going on around you and feel connected through engaging and communicating with others. Refined mental processes, articulate and affinity for creating diverse relationships. Can try to take in so much your attention becomes distracted, you become superficial and lose focus on what is important. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn to quiet the mind and be open to receiving information intuitively from sources beyond your mental processes.
Moon in Cancer:
Need to feel safe and comfortable in familiar surroundings and have a sense of belonging, of home. Natural tendency to nurture, to care for others and make them feel at home. Ease in expressing feelings and intuit the feelings of others. Can become emotionally attached or needy and leverage the feelings of others to satisfy your own needs. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn that where you belong is wherever you are, that your sense being at home with yourself resides in your heart no matter where you are.
Moon in Leo:
Need to express yourself through your creativity, to shine in the world for the sheer joy of it. Bold, generous and playful, a natural leader. Can be overly dramatic and focused on being the center of attention. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn that the simpler your motivations the purer your personal creative expression – shining bright from the love in your heart rather than by monopolizing the light away from others.
Moon in Virgo:
Need for purity, to bring order out of chaos and to develop these qualities by being of service to others. Modest, efficient and practical, able to quickly assess what needs to be done. Can be overly critical, especially of yourself, and intolerant of others’ ways of doing things. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn that purity of spirit is developed by fully accepting yourself and others despite perceived flaws, and become open to accepting the unique qualities in others as a way of expanding your ability to embrace the fullness of life.
Moon in Libra:
Need to engage with others and create relationships. Refined social abilities, collaborative in nature and seeks balance, harmony and beauty in your surroundings. Can be indecisive and surrender to others’ wants just to keep the peace, or to focus on what is nice and ignore the darker parts of your and others’ natures. Stretch into the Transpersonal – become so at ease with who you are that you can consider others while also being true to yourself without fear of being rejected.
Moon in Scorpio:
Need for passion and intensity, to totally immerse in what or who you are engaged with to achieve deeper, transformative connections. Probing, resourceful and able to intuitively see the inner workings of the psyche often hidden from others. Can be selfish, jealous, secretive, controlling or obsessive-compulsive. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn how to de-identify with the object of your desire, to become aware of your own hidden motivations to become whole in and of yourself.
Moon in Sagittarius:
Need for freedom and adventure, to explore unfamiliar places and ideas, to develop a philosophy and meaning for life and way of relating with society. Generous, honest, optimistic, able to see the over-arching themes across disciplines. Can be dogmatic, opinionated or blunt. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn to develop ways to co-exist by incorporating diverse ideas and respect for others’ points of view into the ethics and laws that create a harmonious philosophical framework to live by.
Moon in Capricorn:
Need to operate in efficient and practical ways, to achieve real and tangible results with a focus on what is good for the greater whole. Responsible and disciplined, makes great effort to master your skill sets. Can be cold, condescending, unsympathetic or overly ambitious. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn to develop personal integrity in all aspects of life, to infuse a spiritual essence into the material structures and organizations at all levels to manifest purposeful, inclusive organizations that evolve with the times.
Moon in Aquarius:
Need to connect to social groups while embracing your own uniqueness. Progressive, a natural activist, seeks to support causes that promote inclusion and diversity. Can be aloof, eccentric, radical or being rebellious just to be a rebel. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn to gather your personal power and use it in a mature way in service to humanity and further in service to the collective evolution of human consciousness from fear to love.
Moon in Pisces:
Need to develop compassion for self and others and fully engage with life. Intuitive, imaginative, idealistic and highly sensitive, seeks to express love unconditionally and have mystical experiences beyond the physical realm. Can be unrealistic, lack boundaries or fearful of life’s harshness. Stretch into the Transpersonal – learn to summon the courage to be fully present, showing up in all experiences no matter how challenging, to glean the essence of what is learned to evolve into your true.