Transits and Actions of the Moon – Part 20 of The Chemistry of Time
Every year in the last week of September the afternoon air turns crisp and cool, the leaves on the trees begin to change from greens and fade into reds, yellows, and browns, and the cafe menu breaks out the pumpkin flavors, spiced apple, cinnamon. The month of Libra comes reliably, with its cardinal air, marking the beginning of the Fall season. With each thirty-day transit of the Sun through a sign a similar consistent pattern is played out and together they form our perception of a year, upon which we base our core understanding of the passage of time. The generating power of the Sun is just one of the cycles which play out reliably and form the background of our lives, and it is within each of those thirty-day months that we find the most important of them. The other luminary in the system is the Moon, which spends around two and a half days in each sign, completing a full cycle approximately every twenty-seven days. The Moon is the minute hand to the Sun’s hour hand and its rapid but steady movement through the territorial elements is the most present and recognizable cycle of the system because it is the reflector. The most recognizable effect of this is in how we respond to what is, or put another way how we feel about what is. The Moon is the governor of emotional response, and its action is equally recognizable to that of the Sun.
Today, the Moon is in the sign of Scorpio. This is a deep and moody atmosphere which often reminds me of those days leading up to Halloween. It can be a little on edge with a hint of danger to it, and feels at odds with the nurturing and comforting efforts of Cancer, where the Moon is at home. The Moon in Scorpio is said to be a rather poor condition for the Moon owing to it being a fixed sign ruled by Mars. The Moon prefers to start things and bring things together but in Scorpio it is fixated on separating everything into its component parts. The problem for Scorpio is that the Moon reflects everything and that by definition overwhelms any effort to divide it up, because how can one divide everything? The Moon is the fastest of the wandering stars and is always in motion but that is not the specialty of Scorpio, making this one of those complicated combinations where the interaction of the elements is difficult. The system entails all things though, and difficult things are very much a part of this world. It is when the Moon is in Scorpio that it is best equipped to parse and process the difficult reflections and likewise each of the other eleven signs has its own specialty. It reminds me of Halloween – a time of tricks, confronting the growing darkness, hauntings, the lingering memories of the past, and the burgeoning winter. It does so because Halloween comes at the time of the year when the Sun is in Scorpio, and the Moon is the reflector of the light of the Sun. After the fall harvest is the time for work and preparation to equip us for the coming cold and dark days of winter, and when the Moon is in Scorpio it reflects the light of those times. The same is true for each transit of the Moon and by reflecting on the corresponding solar season you can quickly ascertain the character of the traversal of the Moon through a given sign.
The cycle of the Moon thus gives us a sort of emotional calendar. If you track the place of the Moon on a given day and watch it change you will quickly notice how it effects your mood and perceptions. It is the quick movement of the Moon, two and a half days per sign, that makes things like “thinking things over for a few days” a practical approach to life. Think about that rough couple of days or a glorious three-day weekend. It is the Moon which governs these shorter cycles and most impacts our day-to-day experience. Similarly you can watch the Moon each month return to where it was a month prior and see common patterns repeating. Those couple days a month when your back is sore? Chances are they are under the same sign of the Moon, and by knowing where the Moon is we can begin to understand how the reflecting action of the Moon dictates the passage of time and influences each day.
In addition to the transit through a sign, the Moon is reflecting and activating the planets found in those signs. This is true by transit and also against a natal chart. Consider the bellow chart:
The inner circle shows the birth chart while the outer reflects the current position of the planets – the transits. All have been hidden except for the Moon, which is in Scorpio. By looking at the inner circle we can see that the native has Mars in Scorpio and the the Moon is applying to a conjunction with it. The effect will be to activate the natal position of Mars for the owner of this chart. If this is a challenging placement, it can correspond to challenging experiences, and likewise for functional placements. On closer look we see that not only is the Moon approaching the Mars in Scorpio but that is being squared by Saturn, and it is itself squaring Mercury and the Sun. The natal chart has the Sun and Mercury opposite to Saturn and both square Mars in Scorpio. This pattern is called a T-square and shows these planets generally working at cross-purposes for the individual in their life. When the Moon aspects one of these planets it aspects all of them at the same time.
For this person, most days of the month do not have to involve that placement of Mars in Scorpio but whenever the Moon is in Scorpio it will activate it. As it happens, Mars in Scorpio is a very strong placement and shows a desire and ability to take action. The system tells us to expect that when the Moon passes over it the person is likely to respond with a strong desire to take action. Their ability to implement that desire and the outcomes of that desire will be influenced by the mentioned positions of Saturn, the Sun, and Mercury. These arrangements suggest an individual who becomes inspired and driven to take action when the Moon enters Scorpio, but who has to deal with a regular pattern of being restricted in that (Saturn in overcoming square position). This pattern is probably well known to the native, but knowing the timing and movements of the Moon can reflect light upon it and provide the tools to understand what is happening. Because it is the Moon in Scorpio that is the activating factor we can discern that this monthly impulse to take action is driven by an emotional response to a sense that the winter is coming, that threats lurk in the darkness and the unknown, and from lingering emotional baggage.
The Moon is the reflector, and it shines light upon us that we would otherwise not be able to see in the darkness.
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