Astrological Moon: The Mystique of Luna

Close your eyes and imagine the actual physical Moon in the dark sky. Picture its soft, ethereal glow bathes the landscape, casting delicate shadows and illuminating the world with a silvery sheen. This gentle luminescence creates a magical atmosphere, where every leaf, blade of grass, and ripple in the water shimmers with an otherworldly light, perfect for contemplation and wonder.

Have you ever noticed how the Moon’s shape changes from night to night, yet it always repeats its pattern each month? Observing this regular cycle can evoke powerful imaginative and emotional responses in us, just as it has in humans for millennia!

Among the celestial bodies in the night sky, the Moon is the most intriguing and captivating to the naked eye. Its presence, coupled with its ever-changing colour, size, and shape, powerfully influences human imagination, even more so than the Sun. Classic Poems about the Moon, like “The Crescent Moon” by Amy Lowell, and “The Moon” by Robert Louise Stevenson as well as the iconic song “Fly Me To The Moon” by Frank Sinatra, all draw inspiration from the Moon. Mythology and symbolism have created a rich tapestry of imagery that sparks various psychological interpretations.

Mythology

In many cultures, the Moon is personified as a deity. In Greek mythology, Selene is the goddess of the Moon, often depicted driving a chariot across the night sky, pulling the moon behind her, Selene had the power to give sleep to mortals by allowing them to have a period of the day without the Sun, representing constant change. Similarly, in Roman mythology, Luna is the goddess who illuminates the night. In Norse mythology, the Moon is personified by the god Máni, who guides the lunar path. These deities reflect the Moon’s importance in ancient cultures, symbolising its power and mystery.

Symbolism

The Moon often symbolises cycles, changes, and intuition. Its waxing and waning phases are seen as metaphors for growth and decline, beginnings and endings. The full Moon is associated with completion, clarity, and illumination - a peak moment in life, a full moon when the things are coming to fruition. We can be sure that there is a past which has led to this moment, a hidden beginning at the new moon when the seed was sown in the dark of the moon, a new beginning and potential. The elegant, slender crescent Moon represents dreams and creativity and is often seen as a symbol of fertility, growth, and transformation in various cultures. At the crescent moon, it’s a time of promise and development, and we can be sure there is a future when decay sets in, and the cycle continues to its inevitable ends because nothing in mortal life remain the same.

The Moon’s transformation reflects personal life’s progress, suggesting the dynamic of life episodes - the waxing and waning, the fullness and emptiness, the beginnings and endings that shape our embodiment of soul movements. Engaging intimately with the psyche’s processes involves familiarity with these lunar phases: recognising the nuances of beginnings and endings, understanding fullness as part of a rhythm, not a goal: and appreciating emptiness. These particular qualities of lunar consciousness appear in the image Ficino recommends for attracting lunar spirit, depicting a young woman with horned head on a dragon or bull, with serpents over her head and under her feet. This image appear prominently in imagination. The Moon and the snake have been closely related because of the moon’s death and rebirth. The Moon and the bull, linked by their power to fertilise and their crescent shapes horn, represent a power directed toward nature and the building of material culture.

Moon Lore

The full moon is magical and hypnotic, sometimes appearing as a mysterious eye watching from the night sky. Fairy and folk tales suggest that gazing at the full moon can cause madness or turn people into werewolves.

“We have the entire sky within us, our fiery strength and heavenly origin: Luna which symbolises the continuous motion of soul and body, Mars speed and Saturn slowness, the Sun God, Jupiter Law, Mercury reason, and Venus humanity. - Marsilio Ficino, letter to Lorenzo the Magnificent. “

Imagination and Lunar Phases

Imagination, aligned with the Moon’s patterns, involves more creativity and inspiration. It includes enduring the death of achievements. Death is always close to creativity. We may metaphorically imagine this through Persephone and the underworld, viewing life experiences stored in memory from the soul’s perspective as dead. This lunar dying is a movement toward emptiness, accompanied by feelings of endings and loss. Experiencing cycles of growth and decay, light and darkness, is part of being celestial. Recognising and accepting movements of decay as natural is essential. Without emptying phases, there can be no fullness. The Moon is full briefly each month, yet we often imagine an ideal state of constant fullness. Lunar rhythms, seen as archetypal images of the psyche, can be sensed at any time, reflecting various motions of the psyche.

Lunar Time and Timing

Albertus Magnus, in “The Book of Secrets", describes the Moon as the conveyor of all planetary virtues, aligning with Ficinian concepts. The Moon promotes honest and honour but is also inconstant and loves of wet and moist places. Embracing the body too much and becoming preoccupied with the physical and personal is a risk. However, the Moon also keeps us grounded and practical. Astrological time and timing are deeply embedded in human experience. Diurnal cycles, monthly moon phases, and annual seasons are all rooted in celestial movements. Lunar time, measured by the Moon’s cycle, is a metaphor for feeling time and memory, encompassing unconscious assimilation of nuances, reactions, senses, and desire. It follows a 27.3-day cycle.

The Moon’s Connection to Nature

The Moon is associated with nature, matter, and motherhood, symbolising nourishment, protection, and embodiment. These aspects are essential for coagulation. Feelings of hunger, emotional deprivation, eating disorders, and spatial disorientation can symbolise a fear or rejection of coagulation, a refusal to embrace of our incarnation. Physical symptoms during Saturn transits often affect the skeletal structure, skin, teeth, knees, and back, reminding us of the body’s temporal nature and limitations. These times promote withdrawal and contemplation. When aligned with a transformed Saturn, we learn to care for the Moon in our birth charts with patience, compassion, and acceptance.

Reflection on the Unseen

As you gaze at the Moon, think about this: if you had been born and lived your entire life on the far side of the Moon, you wouldn't know anything about how your world influences the lives of those on Earth. Standing there, looking at the Sun, you wouldn't wonder about the planet that your life revolves around. From your hot, arid wasteland, you couldn't imagine our blue skies, lush vegetation, or sparkling oceans. You wouldn't know any of these things because, from your viewpoint, you couldn't see the Earth and wouldn't even know we exist.

As you look at the Moon, ask yourself: how much are we missing because we don't recognise the existence of things we can't see?

In the upcoming articles, we will delve deeper into the Moon’s influence in our astrological charts. Make sure to check back soon for more insights!