MOON

Where the face of the Earth is turned away from the light of the Sun, there the Moon shines, reminding us of solar purpose by brilliantly reflecting the Sun's light. The Moon moves about 12 or 13 times faster than the Sun; it travels through the zodiac once every 27 and 1/3 days. The Moon is thus the trigger mechanism of the solar system. It conjoins the Sun once each month in the Sun's zodiacal sign.

In their subsequent cycle together the Moon waxes and wanes. As it waxes, it symbolically carries out the unifying purpose of the Sun and conveys it to all the other planets, including the Earth. As the Moon wanes, it symbolically gathers in the harvest of experience and stores it as memory, precedence, and tradition. As the Moon waxes and wanes it also regulates the tides on Earth, and as feelings are symbolized by water the Moon's motion represents the rhythmic ebb and flow of public moods.

The motions of the Moon around the Earth also carry it alternately inside the Earth's orbit toward the orbit of Venus, then outside the Earth's orbit toward the orbit of Mars. This is a symbol of regular flux between introversion and extroversion, between objective activity and subjective reflection.

Thus the Moon represents our capacity to respond to life in a rhythmic way, to our day-to-day and hour-to-hour capacity to flow with, indeed to dance with, what life brings.

 

Leyla Rael

 

MOON IN VIRGO 

Keynote: An instinct for order is methodically exercised.

Symbol: A woman tidies up her home.

Earthy Virgo steadies the Moon's changeable disposition. The Moon, in turn, softens Virgo's brittleness, like water moistening clay, to make it more pliable. Consequently, people with this combination can shape and create the conditions under which useful work can proceed.

These are the conscientious housewives and faithful providers who sedulously strive to do their jobs properly. Since Virgo is the eternal reformer, they can be exacting managers, especially in regard to domestic duties. They cherish few illusions about their family and friends and can generally indicate ways in which anybody or anything might be improved. Head rules heart and the mind keeps a tight rein over the desire nature. Sometimes this aspect produces the hyperfastidious housekeeper or supervisor who will sacrifice the comfort of others for the sake of maintaining a meticulously run home or office. He or she will compile detailed lists, schedule each day down to its last minute, and then become agitated when people fail to conform to plan.

The Moon in Virgo indicates a steady and often ingenious employee. It gives a talent for gardening, cultivating orchards, taking care of small animals, and making household repairs. Such people relish the task of implementing nature's work and refining her products, whether through sophisticated chemical analysis or the homely art of cooking. Usefulness is their watchword, and if they discern anything to be "use-less" they are apt to discard or overlook it. This accounts, in part, for the high incidence of atheism, agnosticism, or skepticism found among both solar and lunar Virgoans.

Ordinarily, the Moon in Virgo is too modest to promote fame; unless the willingness to allow others to take credit is offset by other aspects. Most of the time the necessity to do the job properly takes priority over the effort to win personal popularity. Even though their work is often essential, these retiring individuals may seem to merge into the larger group or corporation in which they may function. They are often instrumental in preventing trouble. They may for example, be survey analysts, or public health inspectors - always ready to spot danger signals and foretell catasrophe. Despite their reticence, success is often achieved because they take the precautions to avoid blunders.

This discerning placement gives the ability to sort and classify information. Knowledge if valued, not so much for its own sake but because it can bring about a higher standard of living. There is an intense interest in diet and health because the physical body is such a personal and tangible presence that anything which improves the way it functions is deemed undeniably beneficial.

Lunar Virgoans are often characterized by an impersonal kind of chastity which reflects a mental attitude more than a physical actuality. They dislike public displays of affection and even in intimate relationships maintain an inviolable core of reserve.

Many spinsters and confirmed bachelors have this combination. Often it is just as well for them to sidestep marriage since they can be nagging mates. Even men with this position can be old-maidish in their insistence that everything be arranged to suit their fancy. Yet, by the same token, they make excellent doctors and nurses, exemplary teachers, and efficient secretaries or assistants.

People with the Moon in Virgo should endeavor to broaden their minds to accommodate new and progressive ideas, for they have a tendency to submit to a tyranny of trifles and to slip into a rut of comfortable conformity. They are generally well advised to cultivate the art of relaxation and to enjoy life without feeling obliged to account for every moment spent, remembering that tolerance and serenity will do more for their health than any diet, tonic, or medicine. By foregoing the temptation to analyze each situation down to its bare bones, they can save themselves a lot of unnecessary worrying and others a lot of unwanted, therefore unheeded, criticism.

 

Astrology, the Divine Science

 

Mindfire