The Moon is mother, says the astrologer.

The Earth is our mother. Traditional cultures with roots have been saying it since ancient times. In Greece she was called Gaia.

Where is the Earth in the chart? The usual answer is that it’s at the centre, half way between Ascendant and Descendant, where the horizon crosses the meridian.

The Earth is where we are looking at the Heavens from, we can’t see it over our heads moving from sign to sign!

Some chart types, for instance on Astrodienst, include a small circle at the centre. That’s where we are.

Here is another answer: Where is the Earth? It’s the Moon!

This is not to be taken literally. I’m not that confused.

Let me explain:

Traditional cultures with roots have been saying, since ancient times, that we are children of Heaven and Earth.

There is a fundamental duality in us. We are spirit and matter, we are body and soul, we are from above and we belong below. The planets must express this fundamental duality if they are talking about us. But, of course, the Earth is nowhere to be seen up there!

But look. The Sun is a Sky wanderer. The Moon is close to the Earth. The Sun is Father, the Moon is Mother. They are the Yin and the Yang, they tell us about the fundamental duality.

So, is it Sun and Moon, or Heaven and Earth?

Such a question could be asked by someone with an overactive left-brain, and a sleepy right-brain, the one that understands metaphors. It’s both! It depends on the mood of the storyteller.

The Moon changes, she waxes and wanes, she dies and is reborn. Her phases reflect the phases of mortal life. She is our mirror. Nature, tides and plants do what she does. She means home, influence of the environment, emotions and instincts, generation. Along with the first house, she means something about our body. Yes, she means Earth.

The Sun looks immortal by comparison. Always round, always radiating light and warmth, it’s the most potent source of life and energy we know, and if it’s a source, it’s like God. It’s Spirit bursting out in Heaven.

Now, when we are reading a chart, it doesn’t help to think that the Sun is a symbol of the Ultimate Source… unless we connect it with the idea that there is a divine spark within us, a creative spark that is busy creating ourselves from within. For more about the Sun, read The Sun is the Heart of the Chart.

All the efforts and aspirations to become who we want to be, our dreams and ideals, our callings belong to the Sun. This immortal part is not vulnerable. Only its creation is, that lives in the flesh, in the Moon’s realm.

In another post, “Self or Ego, what is the Ascendant?", I used the metaphor of a submarine -a metaphor for the Ascendant - driven by a pilot - The Sun - used to explore the depth of an ocean - a metaphor for life on earth.

Seen from the lightness and freedom of the spirit world, incarnating on Earth can be compared to getting down to the bottom of an ocean; the soul in the body can feel imprisoned, like in a submarine.

How we appear on earth, with a body and a temperament, is shown by the Ascendant and the First House. Our goals and intentions, our life purpose and the heroic journey of becoming who we want to be is shown by the Sun.

Thus, the fundamental duality can be symbolised by the Sun versus the Ascendant, or by the Sun versus the Moon. Symbols are flexible. What if we consider the three of them together? Ascendant, Sun and Moon are the “Big three”, the most fundamental indicators in a birth chart.

As part of a Sun-Moon-Ascendant Trio, the Moon is the soul, or psyche.

The psyche is an intermediary. She has a foot in the eternal world of Spirit, and a foot in the changing and mortal world of Nature. She is a medium. She rules over dreams, not the solar dreams of who we want to be, but the watery dreams, the messages. The Moon rejoices in the Third House. In our sleep, in our daydreams, in the flow of our thoughts and feelings, sometimes in a blurred way, sometimes clearly, we are connected with the great sea, whilst living in this body.

Jung would talk about the function of intermediary of the Anima or Animus between the conscious ego and the collective unconscious.

Again, the left-brains may be irritated, and ask: “So, the messenger, is it the Moon, or is it Mercury?”

They can work together! The Moon provides a flow of emotionally charged pictures, and Mercury articulates words to describe them. Thot, the Egyptian God of learning and writing, to which Hermes became assimilated in Hellenistic times, was God of the Moon.

In this body, energies flow, or get blocked at times, causing diseases. If the Sixth House is more powerful than the First and the Moon, we may need some healing. Check also the Sun for the heart, upper spine and vitality.

The Moon is Mother. Mothers are women, and women are witches, aren't they? They gather in a clearing in the middle of the woods to dance bare feet under the Moon when she’s full. They know the plants and they know how to bind, because they care for tribes and families.

They belong to the Earth and they extend invisible roots into the psychic dimension, where the light of the Moon reflects that of the Sun.

Applying this to the metaphor of the submarine, the Sun is the driver, it is us, with individuality, intention and purpose. It is the Heart.

The Ascendant is the submarine, with an emphasis on its outermost layer. The Ascendant says something about how we appear, with our body and face, behaviours and temperament, and how we interact with the surrounding world.

The Moon is the flesh of the submarine and its Mama. (You know how submarines reproduce). The submarine’s Mama is outside and inside. Outside, it’s another submarine, which belongs to a whole family of submarines sharing characteristics, and it’s the environment where sustenance is found. Inside, it’s all the maintenance, health and safety systems, including the desire to have babies.

The Moon is the psychic world that mediates the Sun-Ascendant connection. She is Earth and more…

Jean-Marc Pierson

Astrologer, Storyteller, etc.

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