In astrology, the moon is associated with our most intimate and personal aspects. The moon is Earth’s natural satellite, and because we live on Earth, we are sublunar beings. The moon governs the tides, water, and our unconscious, internal, and personal energies. Understanding our natal moon is the first step toward emerging from our cocoon.
In our birth chart, the moon represents what for us is protection, security and nourishment, even if by definition the energy of the sign in which it is located is not protective, safe and nurturing—for example, Capricornian coldness or loneliness, or Scorpion pain can be our spaces of refuge and unconscious mechanism if we have the moon in these signs.
The first thing to understand is that the moon is ours. It comes with us in our birth chart, and we are the ones who will find its resonance in our childhood environment. As mammals, when we come into the world, we need to be nurtured and cared for, protected from the outside world, and fed. That will be the lunar function in childhood, which will mechanically shut down to protect itself—generating a fantasy of oneness.
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But what happens when it’s time to break out of the shell, but it’s strong and rigid enough to maintain its shape? This is where the lunar influence becomes somewhat suffocating and oppressive. A space that was once nourishing can quickly become our worst prison.
It’s interesting to observe when a dog or cat has offspring: how she defends them fiercely, yet simultaneously expresses the greatest love and tenderness. In animals, lacking cultural mediation, it’s much easier to understand how even that attachment can be severed in an instant, as soon as those pups are ready to enter the world. While this might seem cruel to humans, it’s perfectly normal for a mother dog to give her offspring the space they need to become independent.
In humans, the process is more complex due to the social and cultural mediation of our language. That is, we too will break out of our shells and emerge into the world; however, that childhood memory of that primal, familiar, and known energy will always remain attached to our subconscious, a memory we may have seen reflected in our family. It is in our closest and most immediate surroundings that we can find those images onto which we project lunar energy. But let us never forget that the moon is ours and that it was we who empathized with those characteristics in our immediate environment.
In this sense, when we adults tap into our lunar energy, it’s as if we’re saying, “I want my mom, I want my dad, I want to go back to that familiar place that gave me so much protection, security, and nourishment.” When we, as adults, unconsciously and defensively tap into this energy, what we’re doing is closing ourselves off to our solar potential; that is, we’re regressing, returning to childhood. There’s nothing wrong with this as long as it’s a conscious and chosen process. However, if it’s unconscious, it becomes a mechanism that closes itself off naturally and automatically, denying everything that comes from within.
How can we avoid becoming prisoners of our moon? And how can we harness lunar qualities without letting them suffocate us?
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When we understand and study our Moon in our birth chart by sign, house, and aspect, we can consciously choose in which areas, scenarios, or situations to express it, and we can also choose not to identify with it excessively. For example, someone with their Moon in Taurus won’t abandon their affection for material stability, but if they are aware of this, they can pursue a career even when the economic outlook isn’t very promising, because they will understand that their fear is associated more with learned and defensive behaviors than with their current desires.
The moon can be memory, it can take us back to what is known, understood, and learned, but it can also be our most sincere way of nurturing, sheltering, and protecting whatever it may be, whenever it may be. Rather than denying it, or wanting to escape it, the best thing we can do is get to know it so we can observe ourselves and understand that our fears will always be ours, but that we can also overcome them as long as we exorcise our own ghosts.
