MOON
Glyph
The glyph of the Moon is a double crescent of receptivity, indicating an extremely high level of receptivity, perceptiveness and sensitivity to all aspects of being.
Astronomy
The Moon, our closest celestial body, is locked into revolving around the Earth and has a dark side that we never see. With no protective atmosphere, its surface is full of craters and mountains. The Moon is exactly 400 times smaller than, and 400 times closer to, Earth than the Sun, making eclipses possible. The Moon is however moving slowly away from Earth by 3.8cm per year, meaning that one day the eclipse phenomenon will be a thing of the past, still thousands of years away. As it orbits the Earth, the Moon reflects different amounts of sunlight depending on its continual relationship phases to the Sun and the Earth. The 8 phases* that repeat each month are:
New Moon
A thin sliver of light (waxing) visible in the western sky at sunset when the Moon is between 15 and 45 degrees from the Sun.
Crescent Moon
A crescent of light (waxing) visible in the western sky at sunset when the Moon is between 45 and 90 degrees from the Sun.
First quarter
A half moon (waxing) visible in the midheaven at sunset when the Moon is between 90 and 135 degrees from the Sun.
Gibbous
An egg shape (waxing) seen at sunset between the midheaven and the eastern horizon when the Moon is between 135 and 180 degrees from the Sun.
Full Moon
The Moon’s complete disk seen rising at sunset in the east when it is between 180 and 225 degrees from the Sun.
Disseminating
An egg shape (waning) seen rising in the east before midnight when the Moon is between 225 and 270 degrees from the Sun.
Last quarter
A crescent of light (waning) visible in the midheaven at sunrise when the Moon is between 270 and 315 degrees from the Sun.
Balsamic
A thin sliver of light (waning) visible just before sunrise in the east when the Moon is between 315 and 345 degrees from the Sun.
Dark Moon
When there is no light visible and the Moon is between 345 and 360 degrees from the Sun, completing the month’s cycle, and also when between 0 and 15 degrees at the start of the next month’s cycle.
* Please note that this is meant as a simple guide for understanding the Moon’s phases and locating where or when it’s visible. Not applicable to extreme north or south latitudes.
Diameter: 3476 km
Mean distance from Earth: 384,400 km
Rotation: Once in 27.32 days
Orbital period: 27.32 days
Atmosphere: Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminium, Helium 3
Energy/Archetype
- The Moon’s energy is changeable, fluctuating, absorbing and regulating.
- The Moon is generally a Cold and Moist energy, inward moving and blending, but it is also easily influenced by its connections to other planets and absorbs their energy.
- The Moon represents the feminine side of the psyche, the underlying part of our character that is hidden from the conscious ego.
- The Moon rules the unconscious aspects of the self: emotional, physical, imaginal, familial and ancestral.
- The Moon represents our ability to keep ourselves safe and secure and is constantly alert to danger.
- The Moon absorbs all experience and holds memories and patterns of past behaviour.
- The Moon represents our bottom-line emotional security needs, our capacity for responding and feeling, and how we deal with attachments to others.
- The Moon symbolises how we build emotional intelligence through becoming conscious of emotional patterns.
Astrological Cycle
The Moon takes 27.5 days to move around an earth-centered astrological chart, spending about 2.5 days in a zodiac sign and advancing forward about 12 degrees per day.
Traits
Instinctual, knowing, feeling, emotional, moody, habitual, sensitive, receptive, reflective, reflexive, alternating, psychosomatic, imaginative, motherly, adaptable,
Shadow Easily influenced, disorganised, chaotic, incoherent, inefficient, messy, changeable, leaky, lazy, cowardly, fragile, vague.
Rulerships
Monday, silver, mothers, women, family, the ocean and tides, fertility, the subconscious, phases, baths, port cities.
In the body
Body fluids, fats, soft tissues, stomach, breasts, bladder, nutrition, taste, uterus, menstruation. Parts of the body that wax and wane and have cycles.
MOON
Glyph
The glyph of the Moon is a double crescent of receptivity, indicating an extremely high level of receptivity, perceptiveness and sensitivity to all aspects of being.
Astronomy
The Moon, our closest celestial body, is locked into revolving around the Earth and has a dark side that we never see. With no protective atmosphere, its surface is full of craters and mountains. The Moon is exactly 400 times smaller than, and 400 times closer to, Earth than the Sun, making eclipses possible. The Moon is however moving slowly away from Earth by 3.8cm per year, meaning that one day the eclipse phenomenon will be a thing of the past, still thousands of years away. As it orbits the Earth, the Moon reflects different amounts of sunlight depending on its continual relationship phases to the Sun and the Earth. The 8 phases* that repeat each month are:
New Moon
A thin sliver of light (waxing) visible in the western sky at sunset when the Moon is between 15 and 45 degrees from the Sun.
Crescent Moon
A crescent of light (waxing) visible in the western sky at sunset when the Moon is between 45 and 90 degrees from the Sun.
First quarter
A half moon (waxing) visible in the midheaven at sunset when the Moon is between 90 and 135 degrees from the Sun.
Gibbous
An egg shape (waxing) seen at sunset between the midheaven and the eastern horizon when the Moon is between 135 and 180 degrees from the Sun.
Full Moon
The Moon’s complete disk seen rising at sunset in the east when it is between 180 and 225 degrees from the Sun.
Disseminating
An egg shape (waning) seen rising in the east before midnight when the Moon is between 225 and 270 degrees from the Sun.
Last quarter
A crescent of light (waning) visible in the midheaven at sunrise when the Moon is between 270 and 315 degrees from the Sun.
Balsamic
A thin sliver of light (waning) visible just before sunrise in the east when the Moon is between 315 and 345 degrees from the Sun.
Dark Moon
When there is no light visible and the Moon is between 345 and 360 degrees from the Sun, completing the month’s cycle, and also when between 0 and 15 degrees at the start of the next month’s cycle.
* Please note that this is meant as a simple guide for understanding the Moon’s phases and locating where or when it’s visible. Not applicable to extreme north or south latitudes.
Diameter: 3476 km
Mean distance from Earth: 384,400 km
Rotation: Once in 27.32 days
Orbital period: 27.32 days
Atmosphere: Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminium, Helium 3
Energy/Archetype
- The Moon’s energy is changeable, fluctuating, absorbing and regulating.
- The Moon is generally a Cold and Moist energy, inward moving and blending, but it is also easily influenced by its connections to other planets and absorbs their energy.
- The Moon represents the feminine side of the psyche, the underlying part of our character that is hidden from the conscious ego.
- The Moon rules the unconscious aspects of the self: emotional, physical, imaginal, familial and ancestral.
- The Moon represents our ability to keep ourselves safe and secure and is constantly alert to danger.
- The Moon absorbs all experience and holds memories and patterns of past behaviour.
- The Moon represents our bottom-line emotional security needs, our capacity for responding and feeling, and how we deal with attachments to others.
- The Moon symbolises how we build emotional intelligence through becoming conscious of emotional patterns.
Astrological Cycle
The Moon takes 27.5 days to move around an earth-centered astrological chart, spending about 2.5 days in a zodiac sign and advancing forward about 12 degrees per day.
Traits
Instinctual, knowing, feeling, emotional, moody, habitual, sensitive, receptive, reflective, reflexive, alternating, psychosomatic, imaginative, motherly, adaptable,
Shadow Easily influenced, disorganised, chaotic, incoherent, inefficient, messy, changeable, leaky, lazy, cowardly, fragile, vague.
Rulerships
Monday, silver, mothers, women, family, the ocean and tides, fertility, the subconscious, phases, baths, port cities.
In the body
Body fluids, fats, soft tissues, stomach, breasts, bladder, nutrition, taste, uterus, menstruation. Parts of the body that wax and wane and have cycles.
