How to interpret the Moon in a chart

To interpret the Moon in signs, there are various layers. 

First layer: Like the Sun, the Moon is a luminary. If the Moon is in Taurus, Taurus is in the spotlight. So just Taurus. 

Second layer: the light of the Moon is not the same as the Sun’s. It’s an intimate light. 

Moon is mother, family, early environment. It’s the inner you. 

To the Sun you may say “ I’m so proud of you” but to the Moon you rather go like: “baby, you’re my baby”.  

There is more to it. If you look up Moon in the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols there are five or six pages. Fundamentally, the Moon reflects, and is always changing. Interpretations follow.

For now, let’s just stick to mother, family and early environment. 

If you make a new friend, for them your Taurus traits are just you. Let’s say you love nature, it’s a stereotype, it doesn’t have to always be true, but often it is. One day you invite your friend to a family gathering.  A few little chats later, they understand that your love of nature is a trait of family culture. 

Things may be a bit more subtle than in my exemple, but you get the point. Traits associated with the Moon make you belong where you belong. You’ll feel at home when you meet the same. 

Imagine that as a Taurus Moon you fall in love with a Taurus Sun. 

Sun and Moon conjunct in synastry is a match made in heaven on principle. (Unfortunately, the best connections don't cancel other conflicts that may exist between charts). 

Keeping to a standard stereotype for the sake of clarity, the Taurus Sun wants to be a farmer. This will mean more than making a living to them: this will be a question of becoming who they want to be. You’ll be naturally supportive. 

With your Taurus Moon, you’ll just feel at home on the farm. You’ll recharge your batteries joking with the donkeys. You’ll want your children to grow up there. That’s the “normal” life for you, but it’s not enough for you to be you.

Suppose you have a Gemini Sun, let’s take another stereotype, you’ll want to be a writer. This will mean the world to you.

If, by chance, your Taurus Sun partner has the Moon in Gemini, you’ll read them your papers and they’ll appreciate your style. They may love reading and writing, but that’s just like breathing to them, their success at life is not at stake. 

A third level of interpretation is that the Moon rules over Cancer, and through Cancer, over a house, maybe two, and possibly over planets placed in Cancer. Whatever happens with the Moon happens indirectly - but surely - to these houses and planets.  

In my own chart, the Moon rules over my Cancer Ascendant, is in Libra and in the fourth house. It may be more fundamental to the interpretation to consider the houses: ruler of first house in fourth house. I am a rat. I love my basement. 

My Cancer personality style must be combined with Libra. Juggling with key words always helps: Emotional balance is needed. Sensitivity in search of artistic harmony. Social needs. Feeling two sides. I am a good listener, it’s an airy way to care… I am not saying everything, just showing you how to elaborate.  

Beyond key words, feel the world of Cancer, then the world of Libra, and let the vibes interact in your inner space.

Thinking in pictures can be a funny game:  two crabs on a sea-saw, when one is up the other is down, it could be a nursery rhyme and it is a way to invite inspiration. Two crabs on a sea-saw, one wants to eat you, the other is scared by you, which one will you pick up, which one will you throw away?

A fourth level of interpretation, but it could have been the third, is to follow the ruler of the sign in which the Moon is placed. 

If you have the Moon in Sagittarius, you may carry your home like a rucksack on your back, drive a camper van or settle abroad. Wherever you live is a camp base and/or a library. Maybe it’s near a temple, not far from the city hall. It’s rather open, compared to a Cancer cocoon.  It’s the place you shoot arrows of consciousness from. 

With the Moon in Sagittarius, Jupiter says more. Let’s say it’s in Leo. No doubt, it’s a fiery Moon! Expect a combination of adventure and creativity, of exploration and let-me-show-you; her way to nurture is to take by the hand and lead beyond the familiar environment. 

Don’t worry, she says, I’ll take you back home, you’re safe with me. 

I won’t talk about the Moon in the twelve signs, sorry. 

There are enough cookbooks out there. Moon in Aries, Moon in Taurus, Moon in Gemini, Moon in Cancer, it’s nice, it’s good order. It’s boring like Saturn doing admin. My Uranus in the third house doesn't want to live like that.  

If we wanted to be systematic, then we would also need to write about Moon in Aries with Mars in Aries, then Moon in Aries with Mars in Taurus, followed by Moon in Aries with Mars in Gemini… and all the possible combinations.  

And we would have to do the same with the Sun, then going through all the possible combinations with rising signs… 

I am not going to write a crazy cookbook like that. Beyond the most elementary combinations, we’re all alone in the jungle! 

What I wish to convey is a sense of how to juggle. 

Jean-Marc Pierson

Astrologer, Storyteller and Philosopher a bit. Why don’t you have a look at my homepage?

Do you want to learn astrology with me? Embark on a five sessions cycle, repeat ad libidum! Or just read my book.

Mars in Cancer

A warrior with a sword, holding a baby with his other arm, engaged in a fight. That could be Mars in Cancer. 

He has promised a dying friend to protect this baby and here he is, fighting bad guys who would prefer this little one dead. A question of inheritance or succession, poor baby. 

Mars is in fall in Cancer. Planets in detriment face a special challenge: the conditions are not favourable to the full expression of their energy. It’s certainly more difficult to fight holding a baby. Mars in Cancer has a particularly vulnerable side but it may win anyway. 

Symbolic language is the opposite of literal. The baby may be an inner child, with dreams, imagination and old traumas. 

Soldiers fighting to defend their countries have also a metaphorical baby on their arms. 

As for the Mafia, aggression and family are central values. I remember Al Capone had Mars in Cancer. At the time of writing, I googled “famous Mafia bosses”. I picked up two, randomly, Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano, then searched for astro data. Both had Mars in Cancer. I tried another one, Toni Giancana. Mars in Libra… but a Cancer Sun, and Pluto in Cancer trine Moon. Frank Costello. Mars in Aries, but… Cancer Moon in the 12th, Cancer Rising.  This is not a valid statistical study, but a strong first impression: these five mafia bosses all had whether Mars in Cancer, or Cancer higher than Mars in the chart hierarchy. I wonder how much Cancer we would find in the chart of the Godfather. 

As an idealist, I hope that one day, people will know how to live without violence. Will Mars disappear from the sky? Probably not. There must be peaceful ways for Mars. The energy of the warrior in Cancer can also be the energy of providers, (hunters), nest builders, sport teachers for children, cub scout leaders… (Akela!)

Here is another series of pictures for Mars is Cancer: A baby playing with razor blades. Is it going to self harm or will it rather experiment with a little brother? It doesn’t know it’s playing a dangerous game… yet. 

A variation on this theme: a child with a loaded gun. Or a knife. Or his bare fist, I love dramatic pictures for entertainment and clarity, but it may be just a child fighting. 

Check the third house for clues about peers and neighbourhood. 

Now, a domestic abuser is nothing but a child in an adult body. Children need to test boundaries. Adult abusers are responsible for the actions of their inner disturbed child indeed. They should test boundaries in psychotherapy. 

There is no precise grammar with symbols. Mars in Cancer may take active care of the baby, or be the baby, baby. 

In other words, the same energy - and therefore the same symbol - can mean the abuser, the abused, or the protector. We can also be our own protector indeed, both fierce and vulnerable. 

In Cancer, energies can be maternal or parental, responsible, nurturing, providing materially and emotionally, or childlike, sensitive and imaginative, or even  childish, dependent, passive aggressive, manipulative and full of needs. 

They can also be tribal. Family or nation, with their codes and values may dictate how Mars should act. Individualism is in exile in Cancer. Mars is found there wearing a scarf, the colours of his team. Mars in Cancer has a family name and he is following a flag… 

The antidote to negative expressions of an energy is cultivating the positive side. Not cultivating the positive side is the equivalent of offending a god, the negative side will be the curse. 

There is a giving and a receiving end. Cancer is not traditionally considered a dual sign, but the glyph: ♋︎ shows a double design. We are used to thinking of it as representing a woman’s breast, or the eyes of a crab. We shouldn’t let the interpretations we already know get in the way. Symbols are magical doors. It’s possible to find out more. The doubled design looks like a 6 or a 9, could that be the beginning of a spiral? We can draw it turning from inside out or from outside in. One provides, one takes in. 

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The more challenged a Mars in Cancer is, the more likely it is to manifest as immature, driven by its own needs. If you’re reading the chart of an older person, don’t tell them they are still immature, how could you know? They may have  learned their lessons. 

Mars in Cancer may act with sensitivity, or be motivated by emotions, dreams, imagination or memories, it will know how to appeal to emotions when leading the team, it may manifest as a paternalistic leader or a strong minded woman, maybe a midwife… 

Now, if Mars is in Cancer, its ruler is the Moon. A planet in a sign loves and depends on its ruler. 

Signs are mindsets, houses are more concrete. If the Moon is in the fourth house, it will take the power of Mars in Cancer at home, if it’s in the fifth, it will appear as the rule of a game, in the context of creative endeavours, love life, or be expressed by a child. 

For now, let’s just imagine Mars in Cancer being ruled by a Virgo Moon. There is no precise grammar with symbols. The Moon rules, beyond that, let’s just let images mix. 

The warrior with a baby on his arm is fighting the energies of chaos. Hostile germs are waiting in ambush. The immune system is powerful. Well supported by Mars, good exercise and herbs, antibodies and life energy will shake off the disease! 

Or maybe it was an accident? Reeducation is a fight. 

This interpretation would be particularly relevant if Mars or the Moon, is in the sixth house, or rules it, or makes a strong aspect to a planet placed in the sixth house, or to the ruler of the sixth, or indirectly, if the sixth house is emphasised in the chart, I just don’t want to repeat this all the time!

A child with a loaded gun with the Moon in Virgo could be very skilled at hitting the center of the target - It’s a question of precision after all.  It may be a young chemist who knows what powders to mix and in what proportions to prepare his own explosives. Exciting! With a bit more maturity, he could be serving his country in the army as an explosive expert. 

Not everyone with Mars in Cancer and the Moon in Virgo will handle explosives in the army, even with 10th house (career) or 11th house (groups) emphasis of course. The Moon rules emotions, and if she rules Mars in a chart, there should be some metaphorical fireworks in the interpretation, unless Saturn blocks or dampens it all. 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures conjured up by Mars in Cancer and what comes up with a Virgo Moon. These are only illustrations. What I wish to convey is a sense of how to juggle with pictures to explore in search of relevant interpretations.

Jean-Marc 

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How to develop your intuition with astrology

Symbols show what they mean. We can understand them directly.

Take Cancer. Let’s dive into the picture. Let’s pretend we know nothing. Where will this symbol take us?

It's a crab. There is an environment: the sea and its perpetual flux and reflux. Crabs appear on the shores when the tide is low. They disappear when it's high. Tides are following the rhythm of the Moon and like the Moon they come and go.… 

Let’s be carried away by the sound of the waves.

This makes us feel in a certain way. How is it? A bit nostalgic? Dreamy? There are days and there are nights, there are ups and there are downs, sometimes we’re strong, sometimes we’re vulnerable, like babies… 

Life is an eternal return. Women make babies, babies grow up, boys and girls become men and women. They make love, they found families. Women have babies, babies grow up, repeat.

Generations are waves. Waves speak of generations. Out of the water comes the crab, soon to be taken back in its embrace. 

When the Moon, responsible for the ebb and flows, shines over the sea, we enter a world of dreams. We may wish we had a shell like the crab to protect our sensitive mood. We’re swimming in the world of the soul, all pictures and fantasies, yet instinctive and sensitive…

Water is fertile. Water is full of creatures that can't survive out of their environment. Babies‘ world is an emotional bath: in the nursery, when one starts crying, another joins in and soon they are all crying together, it's liquid… Mothers sing nursery rhymes, they don’t try to reason with babies, soothing passes through presence, intonation, feelings. Baby calms down and falls asleep… One wave after another…

Letting our mind and soul be impregnated by symbols allows us to follow threads of meanings. 

Leo. A roaring lion, claiming power in broad daylight. After Cancer, that’s a completely different atmosphere! 

Symbols make us feel the meaning before we find words to describe what it’s about…

Reading the part about Cancer

Focusing on the symbols, we can conjure up the spirit of the energies. “Conjuring up spirits” are words that belong to magic, and yes there is something magical in this poetic approach. Imagination is a way to develop our intuition. Imagination doesn’t mean making things up: imagination simply means forming mental pictures.

However, we shouldn’t naively believe whatever comes up in our mind. Reality checks are necessary. 

Whatever we may come up with has to be consistent with standard astrological knowledge or be rejected. It may also be confirmed by the feedback we can get from others. Coming back to Earth is the healthy conclusion of the process. The alternative is drowning. Beware, Water is also a world of illusions. 

The same imaginative approach works to explore the meaning of complex configurations. This may lead to psychic perceptions at times. 

In a previous post, I used Venus in Leo square Mars in Taurus as an example of the method consisting of combining keywords to make meaningful sentences. Thinking in pictures is the “right brain” complement of this “left brain” technique. 

Venus in Leo. Can you see this beautiful girl? She is the kind that can’t be missed. There is a little crowd of admirers around her. She laughs at their lines when they are good, there is a constant banter going on, she loves it. She decides on every move. She says “Let's go to the bar!” or “Let’s go to the beach!” … They all follow. 

There is one who is not happy over there. It’s Mars in Taurus, her husband. He played the game, and he won. She found him different. He knew how to do beautiful things with his hands. He had a rooted style that fascinated her. She married him. He believed the game was over, but no. The game is never over. It’s just a game, but…

What happens next? I won’t tell you! 

Let the story fall into your mind like a seed. Let it grow like a plant. Play with ideas, let them go, forget about the whole thing, think of your characters again after a good night’s sleep. It’s not assembly-line work. 

Make an independent portrait of Mars in Taurus, before he met Venus in Leo. Love him, love her, understand how a square connection can be so exciting, in the beginning… 

Maybe, something will come up and make you laugh, or touch your heart. We can’t take it for granted but it may happen. Sometimes it takes days, sometimes a split second. Sometimes it’s a good metaphorical story, and sometimes, it’s spot on. 

I leave you to it. 

Jean-Marc

Thinking of taking a class? What I have been describing in this post and the previous one (Sentences with keywords) is a mental gymnastic. Understanding how things work is great, practising it takes training.

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