Chart Anchor #2: The Moon
September 3, 2019
This is the second post in our series on Chart Anchors (my term for the sun, moon, and AC). Post #1 was about the meaning of the sun in your chart. You can find that here.
Consider the physical moon--with no light of its own, it hides in darkness until the sun shines on it. We see it because it reflects that light.
What does that have to do with your astrological moon? Lots.
The moon part of you is the reflective part of you. I mean this in a few ways:
It’s the part of you that is self-reflective--your inner world.
The moon part of you also reflexively reflects your origins, whether you mean to or not. Here we find traces of your family of origin, ancestry, cultural heritage, and generational nostalgia--all coming out in ways that may surprise you at times.
Broadly speaking, this is the part of you that you can only see when your ego/consciousness (sun) shines on it. In a word: this is your subconscious.
“Um, okay, so wait… I have more than one sign?”
If this is your first foray into astrology, the fact that you even have a moon sign (and house, etc.), may be new information.
It’s easy to assume that it must be less important than your sun sign--otherwise, wouldn’t you have heard about this before?
Actually, there’s a really practical reason no one told you about your moon sign when you were a kid. It’s because no one can tell you off the top of their head which sign your moon is in, without looking it up.
Unlike the sun, just knowing your birthday isn’t enough.
The moon changes signs every two and a half days, and it’s not always in the same sign on your birthday every year.
So your chart has to be properly calculated to find out where the moon was when you were born.
(Don’t know your moon sign? Check out the quick reference doc I sent when you joined the Circle - the link should be in your Patreon private message inbox.)
Read on to find out what the moon means in astrology and why it’s just as useful as the sun in explaining how you’re wired….
What do you need in order to feel safe?
In the previous article about interpreting the sun in your chart, our strategy might be boiled down to the question, “what do you need in order to feel happy and healthy?”
Turning our attention now to the moon, we might start with, “what do you need in order to feel safe?”
What are your subconscious strategies for creating a sense of emotional safety? What soothes your fears and anxieties?
Do you need a certain kind of home? Large? Small? Clean and minimalistic? Full of nostalgic items, or fancy things? Maybe you always keep on hand three extras of everything you use day-to-day.
Most of us prefer that the people around us behave a certain way in order to feel secure. Do you need people to like you? Do you need them to tell it like it is so you don’t have to guess, or do you need them to be very gentle and diplomatic in their speech?
What’s your love language? Do you feel most comfortable with people who give a lot of hugs, or compliments? I am overjoyed when folks do practical things to help me out--no surprise with my Virgo moon. Do you prefer that people show their appreciation by inviting you to do fun stuff with them on a regular basis? Is a thoughtful gift the quickest way to melt your heart?
What happens when you don’t feel safe?
Your moon also speaks to the type of events and behaviors are most likely to freak you out. It also gives some clues about how you most commonly react to these triggers.
Are you more likely to attack the apparent threat/person/situation, or do you direct that negativity inward? Do you become resigned and retreat inside yourself? Maybe you gloss over the incident with a flippant comment, burying the hurt--as much of a risk for "positive vibes only" spiritual types as it is for stoic "man's-men."
What do you do to try to regain emotional equilibrium? Clean your house? Send a highly rational email to try to get the other person to see the error of their ways? Maybe you court power by doubling down on activities that expand your income or influence. Do you sometimes apologize just to keep the peace, even if you don’t believe you did anything wrong? Lose yourself in a drug or a Netflix binge?
I've been known to exhibit some pretty intensely orthorexic tendencies when my life feels out of control, and if that's not an example of toxic Virgo, I don't know what is.
Keep in mind--we aren’t talking about intentional, conscious behavior here. We’re talking about emotional reflexes.
Some of yours are probably more effective than others. Most of the time, you're probably successful at suppressing the more dysfunctional ones, having spent a lifetime learning to do so.
There’s no shame in admitting to yourself that you have the less helpful inclinations, though. In fact, shining that conscious light on them is what gives you the best shot of minimizing their destructive impact.
It's also important to notice and celebrate your positive strategies, and to notice how they relate to the more difficult ones. Your moon info can really help you draw connections here.
Expanding on the personal examples above, I can recognize the part of me that sometimes tries to control my eating with exaggerated rules about what's healthy is the same part of me that loves making checklists, or decluttering my closet. In other words, the Virgo part--the part of me that feels safest when the earthy details of my life are in order.
(Which they almost never are, thanks to my nine million Gemini planets, but I digress.)
Knowing that, I can stop beating myself up for not being perfect (another unfortunate Virgo tendency) and instead focus on choosing to prioritize housecleaning, balancing my checkbook etc. as strategies for emotional self-care.
So how do you interpret your moon?
Look to the sign and house that your moon is in. Here’s the basic formula:
Your subconscious (moon) seeks _____ [the things described by your moon’s sign & house] in order to feel safe. It goes looking for that in a _____ [sign] kind of way, in the _____ [house] part of your life.
Let’s say your moon is in Leo in the 6th house.
A Leo moon person needs to feel seen and appreciated as an individual. Leo moon also needs a sense of playfulness in order to avoid feeling stifled.
A 6th house moon person needs to know they can rely on a solid foundation of daily habits and routines (6th house). They feel best when diligently applying themselves to their work.
So as a 6th house Leo moon person, you probably thrive best when you take a playful approach (Leo) to the systems that help you get everything done consistently (6th house).
You may love color-coding things, as much for the fun of playing with color as for its practical purposes. You probably like a bank that lets you edit the nicknames of your savings accounts, so that when you check them online you see something more fun and personal than “Savings 1,” “Savings 2” etc.
I don’t mean to make it sound like if you have a 6th house Leo moon, you’ll only apply your creativity to the mundane organizational tasks of life.
A Leo moon will crave creative projects, full stop. You might channel those instincts into a performing art, a handicraft, an entrepreneurial adventure, or designing a calendar of fun activities with your kids.
Because that creative moon is in the 6th house, you’ll likely be moved to make a systematic practice of these projects. No dilettantism for you--you devote yourself to your craft by showing up every day and doing the work.
The wildly imaginative cook sits down to create his meal plan and shopping list every Sunday at 4pm. The happily amateur standup comedian gets up every day at 6am to write for exactly 90 minutes before leaving for her day job.
Remember, this is the moon we’re talking about here -- these people aren’t performing these Leo 6th house behaviors because they’re worried about what other people think of them. (That would be the AC).
These activities help them feel comfortable. Clear-minded. Safe.
Some specific associations of the moon
Even though your chart is yours and describes your internal makeup, the principle of “as within, so without” applies here. We experience the astrological symbols in our chart both internally and externally, as people, things and events that show up in our lives.
Here's some of the other stuff in your life that is also associated with your moon:
Home. Your literal house, as well as your home life--who (if anyone) shares it with you, and how you operate there.
When I get clients who are making a big move, I often that their moon is being transited by Uranus, the planet of sudden changes born of pressure to bring one’s life into better alignment with who they are.
That’s not to say you can’t move without a Uranus transit--it’s just one example of how an event might show up in your chart.
Moving is also not the only way a Uranus transit to your moon could manifest. So if you’re happy where you are, don’t worry that an upcoming Uranus transit means you are going to have to move.
Another dramatic way moon/Uranus transits sometimes manifest (and they aren't always this dramatic, I promise!): pregnancy. Which brings me to another thing correlated with the moon:
Women. This is a traditional association that, naturally, gets a little more complicated in the modern world.
The old-school interpretation would that the moon in your chart represents the women in your life (especially your mother). In this style of astrology the moon also represents your own relationship to being a woman, if you are one--including your experience of being a wife and mother.
In more modern psychological terms: the moon represents your feminine side, regardless of your overall gender. This will also play out as projection onto the women in your life, especially if you aren’t comfortable with your own femininity.
And in even more contemporary, post-gender-binary terms: you can just think about this as the receptive/soft/yin part of you, as well as your experiences of receiving, being nurtured, and nourished and doing the same for others. This is how I think about it.
Change, cycles, instability. Well of course, right? The moon controls the tide cycle, relates to the menstrual cycle, and forms the basis for our concept of months.
It’s also a classic symbol of changeability. “O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,” Romeo begs Juliet, “that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”
Its meaning in astrology is no different. This might, however, seem counterintuitive after all of the talk about strategies for feeling safe and secure.
Think of it this way: the moon represents our relationship to everything cyclical, and everything impermanent. That includes our specific triggers for feeling like the ground has been yanked out from under us, and how we react when it happens.
Getting to know your moon
Bust out your journal and let’s explore a bit. Don’t forget you can use The Cookbook to look up the basic associations of planets, signs, symbols and aspects.
What do you know (or what have you heard) about the sign your moon is in?
What elements of that do you see in yourself--especially the self you are when no one is watching or judging you?
Are there any associations of your moon sign which you don’t relate to? If so:
Is the description completely opposite of how you feel your inner world works? Or is it just a bit off base?
Does the description sound more like how you felt or behaved when you were younger, before you had the benefit of your current life experience?
Is the trait a part of yourself you’re ashamed of or usually try to deny or compensate for? If so, do other keywords for the sign spark interest for you in what gifts might come from that same part of you that has brought you disappointment or fear?
4. Does the sign’s constellation symbol itself (Pisces’ fish, Libra’s scales, etc.) resonate with you? Does it confuse you?
5. List a few of your qualities that aren’t described by your moon sign OR your sun sign. As you go deeper into your chart, it will be interesting to see whether these qualities are reflected back to you by other symbols in your chart.
6. What do you know about the house that your moon is in? How might this color your understanding of the meaning of the moon in your chart?
7. Look for the ☾ symbol in your chart - that’s your moon. Are there any other planetary symbols crowded next to it? If so, that’s a conjunction, which is a super important aspect. It means the parts of your personality represented by the other planet(s) are really wrapped up in the how your subconscious functions. Make note of this!
8. Look for the ☾ and ☉ symbols in your chart. Is there a red or blue line between them? If so, that’s an aspect. A red line is either a square (90 degrees) or an opposition (180 degrees); a blue line is either a sextile (60 degrees) or a trine (120 degrees). Each type of aspects describes a highly meaningful interaction between your battery pack (sun) and your emotional core (moon); look to the appropriate blurb in the Cookbook for insight into the aspect.
If you were born at the opposition, that means you were born at the full moon! A square means it was either the first quarter or last quarter moon, depending on how many signs ahead of your sun it is (3 vs 9).
Some astrologers go really deep into moon phase in their chart interpretations; if this interests you let me know and I’ll find some references for you!
Care to share?
You certainly don’t have to share all or any of your answers with the group… but it’d be great to hear whatever you do feel up to sharing! The whole group benefits as a learning community when folks are brave enough to open up a bit. :)
I’m happy to give feedback or not, as you request.
Coming right up...
We’ve got one more chart anchor to cover: the AC (aka ascendant/rising sign). Spoiler alert: this is the part of you that other people are most likely to see in you. So yeah, kind of a big deal!
