As we all know, the Moon is the major natural source of light during nighttime. While the Sun rules daytime with a strong direct light, the reflected rays of the moonlight accompany us through the night. Since this luminary (as we call it in astrology) has its light from the Sun, which is the active part of the personality, the Moon represents its passive counterpart.
The Moon as a Force
Every time we acknowledge that we have needs that can be satisfied only by the outside world, we connect to our moon. We humbly realize that we get “our light” from others, as the Moon does with the Sun. Among these needs we find—typically in childhood—primary needs such as food, water, and shelter. Still, the most important are love, acceptance and sense of belonging because even as adults we have to rely on others to have them.
Generally speaking, the Moon is strongly connected to emotions because they are an expression of our needs. The term emotion comes from the latin emotus, which means “to move out”. When we feel an emotion that’s precisely what we do: we are angry because we need justice; we are scared because we need to feel safe; we are disgusted because we need to move away from something.
Being in contact with your emotions is being in contact with your needs. In Jungian psychology they say you are closer to your personal unconscious. I know that in modern astrology Pluto is the planet that mainly relates to the unconscious. Still, according to the old sevenfold pattern, this meaning was given to the Moon.
In fact this luminary rules nighttime, rest and sleep. When we dream our fantasy and imagination are both free, allowing the unconscious mind to emerge. Dream interpretation is key to communicate with it, and it is one of the main tools of modern Western psychology.
The Mother
Early childhood is the period of life when the moon forces appear more clearly. At that time we are basically emotional beings that relates to the primary caregiver—the mother, most of times—by crying and yelling. Psychologically, we resonate to the Water Element, whose tides are also ruled by the Moon.
The mother holds the child as the Moon revolves around the earth, protecting it from cosmic rays. She embodies for us the lunar function which is the ability to recognize—and adapt to—our needs. The mother feeds us when we are hungry; she warms us when we are cold; she smiles at us when we are sad. In other words she loves and nurtures us simply for what we are.
As we grow up we slowly integrate the lunar function and become able to take care of ourselves. We should have learned how to perceive our needs and emotions and how to satisfy them. This perception can also turn into a sense of compassion that enables us to perceive the same needs in others, increasing our social skills and our ability to build long lasting relationships.
Key Words
- Female, passivity, weakness, dependence, docility, victimhood
- roundness, smoothness, softness, purity, fertility,
- receptivity, perception, unconscious, intimacy, affection, compassion
- emotions, impressionability, susceptibility, touchiness, jealousy
- rest, sleep, dream, laziness,nourishment, cyclicity,
- memory, memories, past, synthesis, cosmos, the periphery,
- protection, shelter, home, interior, childhood, mother,
