The Moon

The Moon. I love the Moon. She makes me feel comfortable and safe, and I love to stand in her light and marvel at her beauty. She only ever shares one side of herself with us, the other side remains in the shadows and is kept to herself. From an astrological perspective Momma Moon (my pet name for her) represents the part of us that is vulnerable, needy and dependant. Our subconscious and the parts of us that we keep hidden from the rest of the world. She represents our feelings, emotions, instincts, childhood, ancestral inheritance, and moods.

The Moon has no light of her own instead she reflects the light of the Sun, so the amount of light she reflects is dependent upon the Suns position in relation to her. It is no surprise then that in astro speak she is about mirroring and the reflection of what occurs between people. This part of us is largely impacted by our mother or primary caregiver because as little people we are completely receptive to the world around us and the years we spend dependant on our primary caregiver hugely shapes our subconscious. Where the Moon is placed in the birth chart indicates the type of mother that the individual would ideally want, so when viewing the mother through the eyes of the child, the child will experience their mother through the characteristics of that zodiac sign. For example, my Moon is in Virgo, and I experience my mother as very detailed, analytical, and orderly.

The Moon indicates the energies we are sensitive and react to on a subconscious level, for this reason she governs our day-to-day because it is arguably our daily life that has the biggest impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. Our individual capacity for nurturing ourselves and giving ourselves what we need is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves and the world around us. The Moon is so close to us it should be no surprise that she has such an effect on our daily lives and our need to feel safe and secure and can initiate that survival instinct within us. As humans our most basic need is that of security, so the house in which the Moon is placed shows us the area of life in which the need for security is felt the strongest. When the shit hits the fan, we tend to fall into lunar behaviour desiring those things, actions and environments that bring us comfort.

The Moon can literally describe our home, in both a physical and emotional sense. It can indicate how we live and what we might be like to live with. The home can quite literally be our adult womb. She shows us our habits and instinctual responses, indicating our patterns and conditioning. She describes the feminine energy within us and the mother. For women the Moon shows their relationship with themselves and for men their relationship with their mother or primary caregiver, as well as his female partners and how he experiences them. For many people the adult relationships that we seek out can be driven by a desire to fulfil our needs that were not met as a child, or on the flip side they could be used to fight overwhelm from a seemingly overbearing mother figure. She also resides over bodily fluids, the menstrual cycle, lymphatic system, pregnancy and childbirth.

She represents emotional inheritance, the qualities, attitudes, and the strengths and weaknesses that are passed to us through our family line. The Moon’s placement may also describe our attachment to the people and places in our lives and how easy, or not, it may be for us to let go of these. Another basic need for us humans is food, because of this the Moon has an impact on our eating patterns and habits, as well as how we nourish ourselves in general and how we digest experiences as well as food.

I invite to you to have a look where your Moon is placed. Next time you’re feeling like you need a bit of mothering can you notice what behaviours you display, or what things you crave? Can you see these energies in your Moon sign? As you go about your daily life are your habits those of the zodiac sign your Moon is in? What are your go to behaviours when life gets a bit icky? Perhaps write these observations down, get curious and see what you find.

With soul,

Paula

Tompkins, S. and London School Of Astrology (2006). The contemporary astrologer’s handbook : an in-depth guide to interpreting your horoscope. London: Flare Publications.

Hall, J. (2018). The Astrology Bible. Godsfield.