Then, before they have a chance
to catch their breath, mesmerized by the celestial
poetry, hit them hard with their moon imagery.
It's common astrological lore that the luminaries
describe essential and powerful aspects of
human character. That's because in addition
to the archetypal mirroring on the realm of
the soul that they share with the rest of
the planets, they also have a direct physical
influence on our daily lives. We measure
our days and nights by the rising and setting
of the sun. It's motion and rhythm defines
our seasons which further influence how we
act, what we wear, and even what kind of poetry
we write! And the moon moves the tides!
If humans are 70% water, then the tides of
our inner being are also rising and falling
with the rhythms of the moon's orbit.
In my experience interpreting charts the moon
is the most powerful force in our astropsychology.
Why? Because it symbolizes our need
to feel content and humans are very
watery, emotional creatures. The moon
defines our soul image reflecting
not only the ancestral memory
that reverberates through our cells but also
our natural instincts, habits, and comfort
zones. The moon shows how we
want to be nurtured by people and life.
It is our nesting instinct which defines how
we create our homes and our souls. It
reflects and dispenses the creative light
of the sun. I use the moon to describe
to clients the condition or configuration
of their souls by saying you have the soul
of the...(house modifier)...(moon sign archetype).
In our example chart above we see a Sagittarian
moon occupying the 6th house of service with
a trine to Venus in Aries in the 10th house.
I would tell the person, "You have the soul
of the analytical philosopher.
You are a hard-working scholar and
a devoted truth-seeker. And these
roles will help you gain emotional contentment
in life." With the trine to Venus I
might throw in something like, "Your soul
urge is in deep need of adventurous love,
relationships that will help you carve out
your life calling in the world as a pioneer."
(All due to Venus' influence from the 10th
house in Aries)
At last we come to the ascendant. In
my practice I've noticed how all four of the
Angles (ASC, DSC, MC, & IC) are vitally
important in defining the circumference of
our whole character by their signs, any occupying
planets, and the chart positions of the planets
which govern the signs on those critical cusps.
In the Western tradition, based in a "doing"
rather than "being" culture, there is an amazing,
one-sided emphasis on the ascendant (persona)
and the midheaven (calling). Without
the balance of the deep images of being defined
by the descendant (intimacy) and nadir (heart
& hearth center) a chart interpretation
lacks wholeness. However, you still
have to start somewhere and the ascendant
wins the election because it is the initiation
point of the whole chart. Some traditions
emphasize that the soul incarnates through
the ascendant over the eastern horizon to
ignite the body and infuse it with life.
The ascendant or Rising Sign along with planets
occupying the 1st house are critical to understanding
the life work of an individual. They
define your dharma (life work) by their sign
and how that dharma will be acted out by that
sign's governing planet. You've got
to explore the imagery of that planet's chart
position and aspects to arrive at the total
picture. There are twelve basic templates
for each Rising Sign based on the twelve possible
sign positions of the ruling planet.
Throw in aspects and house position and you've
got millions of combinations for the way people
look and act. You can really see that
in life. You might see someone who looks
like or embodies the essence of a close friend.
You are seeing similar rising influences.
Your friend might have Aries Rising with mars
in Cancer, while the stranger could have Cancer
Rising with moon in Aries. The ascendant
really brings the chart symbolism into physical
expression, defining how we look and act,
our approach to living. Why is the ascendant
so powerful and why does it directly influence
your personality by defining a living style
of expression? I often think of the
rising sun at dawn and emphasize to clients
that the ascendant shows how we dawn on people.
The sun transits through its birth sign for
thirty days during the month we are born,
the moon for two and a half days; in contrast,
the Rising Sign changes approximately every
two hours, leaving a more potent stamp on
your individual nature.
The Rising Sign is based on the birth horizon,
which is to say that it is based on our perspective
here on planet Earth. The sun, moon,
and earth have a dynamic trinary relationship
that reflects the eternal pattern of father-mother-child,
the basic life package. I wrote a haiku
poem to illustrate this relationship with
the sun symbolizing the father essence, the
moon mother essence, and the earth child essence.
Mother
nurtures child
Yet child follows father's light
And the mother smiles.
In other words, the soul (moon) nurtures and
protects life (earth) so it can orbit the
sun and follow its purpose! Where moon
reflects the ancestral past the sun symbolizes
the living radiant present and the ascendant
points toward future developments. The
moon is like the Master's degree we come in
(combined with the meaning of the South Node).
In this life we are working with the sun's
energy and chart meaning to earn our PhD,
the ascendant.
In the example chart above, Cancer is rising.
In describing the ascendant it's useful to
use the image of a mask or face. It
is the soul's face as a physical embodiment
of who you spiritually are in essence.
I would tell this client that he wears the
mask or embodies the face of the healer, protector,
nurturer. Choose an archetype and fly
with it. And I would modify that description
by the chart position of the planet that governs
the Rising Sign, which in this case is the
moon. It's very important that you use
the ancient rulers of the signs first and
foremost in modifying and bridging the realms
of experience defined by their house positions.
So if Scorpio is rising you immediately hunt
down Mars, not Pluto. If it's Aquarius
on the cusp of the 1st house, seek out Saturn
for more insight. If Pisces is ascending,
spot Jupiter, not Neptune. The planet
that governs the Rising Sign is the chart
focalizer. The ancients called it
the "Lord of the Chart." Whatever you
call it, it's vitally important to realize
and elevate it's importance in the overall
birth vision. Give it more interpretational
weight! And use it to modify your translation
of the meaning of the ascendant.
In our chart example, the moon governs the
Cancer ascendant, so naturally I would modify
the meaning with descriptors of the Sagittarian
and 6th house sort. I might say, "You
embody the face of the devoted, scholarly
healer who is concerned with serving others
through philosophy and higher education and
whose life work involves expressing compassion
through mastering a craft involving expanded
perspectives and inspiring people with practical
wisdom."
Before you know it the chart is alive with
meaning and you're ready to delve deeper!
Prior to venturing off to explore other regions
of the chart, I usually give a brief wrap
up of the sun, moon, and ascendant.
To this person I would say, "You have the
soul of a devoted scholar, walking the path
of the authoritative mystic, embodying the
face of the analytical, truth-seeking healer.
And I would be dead on accurate as this is
the chart of Albert Einstein, a man whose
ideas and writings gave birth to the concept
of the Unified Field and quantum physics,
proving that all things are unified as energy.
This Piscean dreamer said, "Imagination is
more important than knowledge." In addition
to his scholarly pursuits and the gift of
genius granted by the Yod to Uranus in the
3rd house, he spent a great deal of his time
working hard for and inspiring pacifist movements
and humanitarian welfare. His face was
totally Cancer Rising. You can see his
worrying demeanor and his deep concern for
humanity in it.
After constructing
a synthesis of the sun, moon, and ascendant,
I usually head straight for the Lunar Nodes
and the
Birth
Lunation Phase to spice
it all up. But that would require a
whole article in and of itself. I hope
you will use this simple but rich technique
to electrify the way you render the chart
meaning to clients and friends. May
the Cosmic Muse guide your intuition!
