Introduction to Planetary Influence – 4:
The Moon in Astrology
– written by Philip Graves – 5 Jan 2004
– reformatted for WordPress, June 8th, 2016
The Moon in Astrology
The glyph for the Moon is, by Moore and Douglas’s model, a broad vertical crescent of Matter connected to a narrower vertical crescent of Matter, forming together the image of a crescent Moon, or partial, incomplete circle of Spirit. According to the reverse model of the crescent and cross, the glyph for the Moon is composed of two crescents of Soul, reflecting the individuality of the person.
The Moon is ever-changing; evokes the containment of the Sun’s power, and its reflection from a variety of different angles; and stands for the principle of response, which manifests on an experiential level as feeling, emotion or desire, and when positively expressed brings sympathy; when negatively, moodiness. It describes personal experience, the unconscious, the instinctive reactions, and the fate by which these bind one. It shows personal provenance from the past, memories, and what the individual seeks to overcome.
The waxing and waning of the Moon in its phases produces on a human level phases of growth and decay. The fast-changing path and circumstances of the Moon is reflected in the rapid changes undergone by human emotion. Although frequently emotion has been regarded in modern times as an agent of hazardous personal instability capable of deceiving those who feel it with regard to reality, in fairness the arousal of human emotion is a healthy response, steering and guiding one towards consciously willed adaptations to the unconsciously perceived and illuminated reality of one’s situation, for one’s own well-being and benefit. Since the lunar response is thus a key to personal survival via constant circumstantial adaptations, the Moon also serves as a projection of the mother, who has a similarly responsive role early in the life of a child, on that child’s behalf.
The relationship of the Sun to the Moon in a nativity indicates the extent to which an individual’s will and behaviour (Sun) harmonises or conflicts with his or her emotions, situation and environment (Moon).
Referred to sometimes as the ‘bowl of heaven’, the Moon has been regarded as a vessel for the reception of Spirit as Matter, and for the feeding and sustenance in material form of the will and creations of Spirit. It also governs the masses and the public in general, as they react and respond to changing material conditions.
The nature of the lunar influence is capricious; changeable; charitable; concrete and practical in ideas and ingenuity; desirous on a material level; defensive of the defenceless; economical; faithful; fanciful; fluctuating; frivolous; hopeful; imaginative; impressionable; instinctive; kind; lacking in concentration; magnetic; maternal; modest; peace-loving; protective; psychic; reactive to domestic and everyday matters; receptive; respectful; romantic; susceptible to influence; sympathetic; timid; travel-loving; unstable; venerating; and wandering.
The Moon governs changes, common people, females, health, home, marriage affairs, liquids, mother, native place, ocean, removals, place of residence, transportation and distribution systems, voyages, water, and worldly condition. It also signifies fancies, mysteries, popularity, public life, romances, and travelling. It confers a capricious, fanciful, inconstant, unsettled nature, with the capability of achieving public honour but a danger of reversals.
People signified by the Moon include barmen; brewers; caterers; charwomen; coachmen; common people; dearers in liquids; drunkards; female Royalty and nobility; female officials, taverners and street-sellers; fishers; fishmongers; hackneymen; huntsmen; ladies; maids; malsters; mariners; messengers; midwives; millers; nurses; pilgrims; public commodity workers; sailors; public salespeople; tradespeople; transport workers; travellers; vintners; water-carriers.
Places described include baths; bogs and marshes; brooks; deserts; fields; fishponds; fountains; highways; natural pools; port towns; rivers; sea havens; shores; springs. Minerals include crystals; moonstones; pearls; selenite; silver; soft stones. Colours are pale green; white; pale yellow; and silver. Flavours are flavourless; or fresh.
Herbs are mostly those having soft, thick, juicy leaves, loving to grow in watery places. They include adder’s tongue; agnus-castus; avens; cabbage; chickweed; clary sage; cleavers; colewort; columbine; cuckoo flower (lady’s smock); cucumber; dog rose; duckweed; endive; flax (linseed); fleur-de-lys; gourd; grass; hawkweed; hemp; honesty (Lunaria); hyssop; iris (flag); ivy; kale; lettuce; lily (white); loosestrife (purple, yellow); mandrake; mercury (annual); mushrooms; onion; orach; poppy; purslane; rape; reeds; rose (white); rosemary; saxifrage (inc. burnet s.); stonecrop; violet; wallflower; water lily; watercress; and wheat. Trees include melon; palm; privet; pumpkin; willow; and wintergreen.
Animals include bats; camels; cats; carrion crows; chameleons; chicks; crabs; cuckoos; ducks; eels; elephants; frogs; giraffes; geese; herons; hogs; lobsters; otters; owls; oxen; oysters; panthers; partridges; pigs; rabbits; rats; ravens; sea birds; snails; swans; tortoises and weasels.
Physically, the Moon rules the abdomen; alimentary canal; bladder; breasts; brain function; cell tissue building; cerebellum; cleansing; eye (left in male; right in female); fluids; gastric juices; glands; glandular process; heart functions; left-side reproductive organs; lymph; oesophagus; menstruation; nerve sheaths; palate; pericardium; saliva; swallowing; sympathetic nervous system; thyroid gland; throat; tonsils.
When prominent, it confers a fair stature; a corpulent, plump, fleshy body; a pale complexion; grey eyes, with one usually a little larger than the other; a round face; plenty of head and body hair; and short, fleshy hands.
Illnesses signified are abscesses; allergies; apoplexies; catarrh; colic; convulsions; coughs; diseases in the left side; dropsy; emotional depression; endocrine imbalance; epilepsy; eye pain; female disorders; functional ailments; gland inflammation; gout; measles; mental instabilities; nausea; palsy; rheumatic conditions; sciatica; small pox; stomach aches and ailments; stones; and worms.
Unto character, when well placed, the Moon confers composed manners; desire to be carefree; fearfulness; flitting tendency; focus on the present; frequent residence change; learning of many different work skills; seeking of and delight in novelties; lack of steadfastness; love of honest and ingenious sciences; peace-loving nature; prodigality; softness; tenderness.
When poorly placed, the Moon produces careless or beggarly living; discontent with all conditions of life; dislike of working; drunkenness; idleness; lack of spirit or of future forethought.
In ancient astrology, the Moon signifies the sensitive and irrational mind; mothers and women. As a vocational significator, it produces diviners; dream interpreters; magicians; and soothsayers. In horary astrology, it indicates the flow of time.