Transits of the Planets

The Moon - Introduction

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Elsewhere I have discussed the applications of the transiting Moon to other transiting planets, presenting them mainly as timing guides for action. This is a part of what is called electional astrology. In this chapter I discuss the transiting Moon making combinations with factors in the natal chart. By their very nature, transits mix natal factors with transiting factors, so you are more likely to feel their effects as energies coming from external circumstances. The result may be entirely psychological, or it may be a mixture of personal and interpersonal effects. However, the effects of the transiting Moon to points in the natal chart may also be used for choosing the best times to act. For this purpose, you should concentrate on the very next transit that the Moon is going to make after the time and date at which you have chosen to read your Premium Daily Horoscope.

Because of the speed of the transiting Moon, which moves at an average rate of almost exactly 13° per day, all the effects in the Premium Daily Horoscope are short-lived. It takes only about four hours for the Moon to go from a point 1° prior to the exact contact to 1° after it. However, there is a lighter effect for the entire time that the Moon is applying to the transit by aspect once it has completed any previous transit. This effect then peaks when the Moon contacts the exact position of the transit. If the transiting Moon has entered a sign where in the natal chart the only planet or planets are near the end of the sign, then the effects of the transit will not be evident until it gets nearer to the exact time of the transit.

The only times in which a transit of the Moon may have lasting effects are when it occurs very near a New Moon or a Full Moon. The effect is even stronger if this happens at an eclipse of either the Sun or Moon. However, with these you should pay attention mostly to transit contacts by conjunction or opposition with natal points or planets. Transits of the Moon by other aspects have much less of a long-range effect.

Because the Moon signifies your feelings and emotions, the dominant effects of the Moon are found in your moods. However, the Moon’s energies often manifest below the level of normal consciousness, so you may not become aware of their influence until it has ceased. For this reason, during powerful or difficult lunar transits you should strive to be mindful of the Moon’s energies and their effects on your perceptions, as well as the ways they may be colored by the quality of the transit.

In addition, an important effect of the Moon’s transits is to trigger the effects of other, slower-moving transits, especially if the transit by the Moon is similar in nature and quality to that of the slower moving planetary transit.

Qualities of the Moon

The qualities of the Moon’s energy, namely the Hot, the Dry, the Cold, and the Wet, are variable. Generally, the Moon is predominantly of the nature of the Wet. The degree of Wetness may vary, but it is always present in the Moon’s energy. At different phases of the lunar cycle the Moon can be Hot or Cold, or have a balance between the two. However, whichever of these qualities it may have at any given moment, they are always displayed temperately, that is, not in excess. As a result, the energy of the Moon tends to blur distinctions within the mind while also helping you find connections in your experience of the world that you might not have found without the Moon’s energy.

When the Moon displays the quality of Wet in an intemperate manner, which can happen, emotions arise. Properly understood, emotions must be distinguished from feelings, although the Moon signifies both. Feelings are sensations. They are a mode of awareness. The Moon’s energy has a great deal to do with sensation and the function of the eyes in seeing. But the perceptions of the Moon can also come at a subconscious level that may be difficult to verbalize. Yet the perceptions of the Moon through feeling are accurate.

The word “emotion” contains as a root “motion.” Therefore, emotions tend to be disturbances of perception and cause the faculty of feeling to give inaccurate information. So we can say that the faculty of feeling is the Moon’s energy operating in a temperate and balanced manner, whereas emotion is the Moon’s energy operating intemperately and in an unbalanced way.

Regarding the qualities of the Hot and the Cold, the Moon at times can energize and at other times can have a calming effect. This largely depends on what else is going on at the same time from other transits.

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The Moon is not only nocturnal, it is the most nocturnal of all planets. Therefore, its energies operate unconditionally. One of the paradigmatic significations of the Moon is motherhood. When the function of mothering is done properly, it represents an unconditional affection and willingness to take care of the child. The maternal function is not operating properly whenever affection is withheld from the child unless the child meets certain conditions.

An additional comment is in order here. What I have just written should not be interpreted as saying that a “good” mother can never be angry or upset with what a child does. However, the “good” mother eventually lets go of her anger and upset and recalls that her acceptance (or his) of the child is unconditional.

Ease or Difficulty of Dealing with the Moon

The Moon is traditionally considered to be a “benefic,” that is, a planetary energy that is inherently “good.” In truth, there is no such thing, any more than there are planetary energies that are inherently “malefic.” In some cultures and at some times in history the intensely feminine nature (in the strongest possible meaning of the word “feminine”) of the Moon is upsetting in cultures that have so overdeveloped the masculine side of their consciousness that they cannot deal with feelings.

However, the energy of the Moon is not only inherently positive, but it is also the planetary energy that is most strongly connected with nature and the natural world. Only when the natal Moon makes difficult combinations with other planets, you are likely to experience the Moon’s energy as negative.

Function in the Natal Chart

Inward Manifestations

As stated previously, the energy of the Moon signifies all those parts of our being that most connect us to our nature as living organisms. The energy of the Moon has its strongest effects during infancy up to the age of four, although it is always a significant factor in the chart. It has a strong connection with the physical body and its operations (along with the Ascendant and the Lot of Fortune). It signifies the digestion and absorption of food and liquids. It signifies all the functions of the body that operate autonomously and do not require our paying conscious attention to keep them operating properly.

In the mind, psychologically speaking, it signifies all mental processes that normally operate at an unconscious level. However, there is an important point to be made here. The Moon’s energy is not inherently unconscious. The Moon does not “rule” the unconscious mind. Its energy is simply capable of operating without our paying attention. Every aspect of the mind that the Moon signifies is potentially conscious if you do the proper kind of work on yourself through psychotherapy and/or spiritual exercises. On a day-to-day basis all habits and routinized behavior patterns are under the signification of the Moon. And, of course, the Moon has signification over feelings and sensations that can be broadly described as “irrational” and, when these are disturbed, the emotions.

Outward Manifestations

The transiting Moon may signify women regardless of the native’s sex or sexual identity. The original justification for assigning to the Moon rulership over the feminine was connected to the biological rhythms of women, which are clearly associated with the lunar cycle. From this there may have come the idea that, just as the Moon changes its appearance rapidly during the month, the Moon also indicates things that rapidly change and are somewhat unstable. This in turn may have given rise to the view that women change rapidly and are somewhat unstable.

However, it must also be said that this may be in large part due to the domination of traditional astrology by males. It may simply be that many men have difficulty understanding women and are likewise out of touch with their own feelings, both subconscious and conscious. In this era of changing gender stereotypes, we will have to revisit the idea of the close association of the Moon with women.