Solar Minds, Lunar Bodies

The sun and moon in astrology and magick.

WE ARE BORN AT A GIVEN MOMENT, IN A GIVEN PLACE AND, LIKE VINTAGE YEARS OF WINE, WE HAVE THE QUALITIES OF THE YEAR AND OF THE SEASON OF WHICH WE ARE BORN. ASTROLOGY DOES NOT LAY CLAIM TO ANYTHING MORE. 

– CARL JUNG

If you know anything at all about astrology you know your sun sign. Pop astrology pervades the public awareness, but this awareness is shallow, at best, and at worst misguided. Every person on earth has a sun sign, but also a moon sign, a rising sign and a place in which every other planet resides. The subject is entirely complex, and opaque to those who aren’t acquainted with the works of Valens and Lilly and Hand. Still, there is a lot to learn even from two data points on a chart, and symbolically one can look at the positions and meaning of the sun and moon and gain quite a lot. Still, this article isn’t meant to be a delineation of individual sun and moon signs for each and every place in the chart, but rather a more top down look at the symbolic mechanisms of the sun and moon as they apply to the greater ontology of magick itself.

The sun and moon are known in astrology as the two luminaries. Together, they represent a significant portion of each person’s life path and personal makeup. Traditionally, the moon in our natal chart was linked to the body, while the sun was linked to the mind. While this is broadly accurate, there is much more nuance that can be applied in order for greater self understanding.

An Eternal Dance

It’s important to understand the relationship between the luminaries and the earth. The moon makes a 28 day trip around the earth, resulting in a lunar cycle that has influenced cultures and calendars since ancient times. The distance the moon will move through the heavens each day, known as the average daily motion, is about 13°. This means that the moon will move through each sign in the zodiac during it’s 28 day cycle. The sun, source of life on earth, moves slightly less than 1° per day, making an entire trip around the zodiac in a years time.

The sun emits light, the moon receives and reflects the light of the sun. When the sun and moon make a conjunction, we on earth see a new moon. When the sun and moon oppose each other we see a full moon. When they are 90° apart, or square to each other, we see a half moon. The dance between the sun in moon creates the appearance of light and dark on the moon. From our perspective, we see the moon rise right after sunset with a full moon, but the moon travels with the sun during the day and can’t be seen during its new moon phase.

The Moon is my Mother

Symbolically and magically the moon receives energy and is usually referred to in literature as feminine in nature. Many people don’t identify with gendered language, so we can refer to the moon as receptive, reflective, and inward moving. The second century CE astrologer Vettius Valens wrote this of the significations of the moon in his Anthologies:

The moon, lit by the reflection of the sun’s light and possessing a borrowed light, in a nativity indicates man’s life, body, the mother, conception, beauty, appearance, sight, living together (i.e. legitimate marriage), nurture, the older brother, housekeeping, the queen, the mistress of the house, possessions, fortune, the city, the assembly of the people, gains, expenses, the household, voyages, travel and wanderings.

It is important to the symbology of the moon that it reflects light, and does not emit its own. It is the sun who emits light and heat, enabling our planet to harbor life as we know it. Valens writes this on the significations of sun:

In a nativity the all-seeing sun, nature’s fire and intellectual light, the organ of mental perception, indicates kingship, rule, intellect, intelligence, beauty, motion, loftiness of fortune, the ordinance of the gods, judgement, public reputation, action, authority over the masses, the father, the master, friendship, noble personages, honors consisting of pictures, statues, and garlands, high priest hoods, <rule over> one’s country <and over> other places.

Because they are so inexorably linked, one cannot really talk about their sun or moon sign in without looking at them as a pair. If there is a disconnect between the sun and moon in the chart, the native may have issues reconciling the outward and inward parts of their life. The ancient astrologers understood this principle, and determined a way to synthesize it into sensitive points on the chart, the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Spirit, amongst many others. Without extending past the scope of a newsletter, I will just say that the Lot of Fortune is associated with the moon, and with one’s fate in life, while the Lot of Spirit is associated with the sun and with the life purpose. The idea was that you could look at the placement of the two Lots and tell something about the native’s life at a higher level.

In the Chaldean order, the moon is the first and closest “planet” to us here on Earth. Because of this, the moon is the lens through which the energies of the heavens reach us. Since the moon represents our bodies, we can compare that to how we are dependent on our bodily senses to receive the information from our environments and the outside world. The sun is like our minds, able to apprehend our bodily senses and act on them, effecting change in our environments.

We can now begin to synthesize for ourselves the role the two luminaries might play in our magical practice. The sun emits, and so may be used for offensive, outward and energetic workings. The moon receives and reflects, and can be used for those workings that require defensive or inward, receptive energies. Many objectives are not defined simply by the binary of emit or receive, but luckily the lunar cycle gives us a ready framework for blending the two. When the moon is full, it is reflecting at a maximum, but when the moon is new, the sun is the sole light in the sky. At the quarter phase, the sun and moon are just about in balance.

Praxis

Meditate on the full lunar cycle. Each day, reflect on how the changing dynamic of the sun moon balance could potentially manifest energetically. Think of several situations in which the different phases of the moon could be incorporated into your practice.

Now check your own chart and see what energies are present. You can cast your chart for free here, if you do not already have one. Using the experience gained from the previous mediation, look at your chart and see how it plays into your understanding of your lived experience.