Conjunctions of the Moon: I

Greetings, and welcome back to Journeys! To round off the year I am presenting you with a two-part article exploring the deeply mysterious conjunctions of the Moon. The first half, presented this month, examines conjunctions of the Moon within the inner system described last month (the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars) along with the ascendant and midheaven.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

A conjunction is the most intimate relationship two or more planets or objects can have with one another in astrology. Planets which are found in the same sign as one another share a kinship in that they are ‘with’ one another, in much the same sense that people who are in the same room are with one another. Planets or points which are conjunct together and in the same sign are even closer than this and metaphorically represent couples or family members in the same room. These relationships are the closest that can exist because they are a fusion of separate principles into a single whole – a synthesis. The magic of this relationship is the basis of the synthetic astrology of ‘The 26 Keys’.

With another planets conjunctions to the Moon we must bring that planets essential meaning into astral expression and we will basically act to personally represent those principles through our soul, but we may strongly over-identify with them on a personal level and thereby find it difficult to be objective on both the level of the planet conjoining the Moon and on the lunar level itself. In other words, the essential principle of the Moon is wedded to the principle of another planet and they cannot be truly separated, they must be integrated and fused together and expressed as one. Additional conjunctions will expand and complicate this process but they will also add their energies to it, helping us to resolve all these issues.

Whereas conjunctions of planets to the Sun represent consciousness or the spirit coming into direct contact with a planet, embodying it in a life story as a fundamental aspect of being and the experience it leads to, aspects of the Moon are far more intimate, representing contact between the soul (personality) and that planet. This difference is very significant but quite difficult to describe and is best understood through direct experience with individuals who have conjunctions involving one or both Lights, but one fundamental distinction is that conjunctions of the Moon are much harder to gain objectivity on because of a closer level of identification and because they are shrouded in the mysteries of the astral where their deeper reality is cloaked in symbolism. This deeper complexity compared to the Sun is expressed in the fact that unlike the Sun, which has a fixed body, a shape which only alters its brightness and not its form, the Moon has a number of shapes, guises she can adopt which add nuances to the aspects she can make. In other words you can have a conjunction of the New Moon with Mercury or a conjunction of the Full Moon with Mercury, and so on. The Moon has a cycle composed of two crescent shapes (one waning or decreasing in light and one waxing or increasing), two ‘shell’ or ‘brooch’ shapes (again, one waxing and waning), two half circle or ‘bowl’ shapes (once again, waning or waxing) and the New (invisible) and (fully visible) Full Moons. Each of these shapes manifests as a slightly different kind of Moon that produces slightly different kinds of aspects. However this is not the only way in which this astral complexity manifests itself in the astrology of the Moon.

When astrology measures conjunctions (or any aspect) it is usually only measuring the position of planets in the tropical zodiac which is a zone delineated by the orbit of the Sun extended around the Earth. This measures the planets through a horizontal plane of space (degrees of the zodiac, or position along the ‘track’ the Sun makes in the sky over a year) but it does not measure them in a vertical plane (declination north or south of the equator). This means that planets in conjunction in the tropical zodiac are in the same general region of the ‘track’ that runs through the sky but not necessarily in the same spot viewed from Earth – one could be above or below the other, or some way off to the side. They need to be in parallel by declination as well as in conjunction in the zodiac to be visibly next to one another in the sky (when this happens with the Sun and Moon there is a total eclipse of the Sun, but most months the Moon passes over or under the Sun, vanishing from sight completely, because its declination is different to the Suns). This becomes more important in the case of the Moon because the Moon has a much greater potential range north or south of the equator in the sky. It’s easier for her to go out of bounds (see previously linked archive material) which means that her conjunctions with other objects are more often separated by declination. Aspects where she is not separated by declination are more potent and involve much less ability to be objective about what the aspect represents. We essentially see ourselves in it too much to view it clearly, at least until we perform the sacred act of knowing it within ourselves. Additionally the position of the Moon above another sky object that it is in conjunction with is different in significance to when it is below that other planet. In the former case the Moon is acting more to shine its Light upon the other planets principle and the conjunction is usually more conscious, inclining towards investigation and probing, while in the latter it is more tidal, having more influence through the subconscious or unconscious but leading to a much more intimate connection and ultimately a deeper understanding of the planet.

A further factor which determines how powerful and effective an aspect can be is the dignity of the planets involved. If a planets dignity is strong then they will produce a greater quantity of effectiveness and the aspect will be more conventionally expressed and well supported, we will feel more familiar with it too. For this reason conjunctions of a Moon in Cancer or Taurus (where the Moon has strong essential dignity) will be more vividly displayed than aspects where the Moon is in Capricorn or Scorpio (where this essential dignity is missing). The Moon also traditionally has its joy in the 3rd temple, meaning lunar conjunctions that take place in this temple have slightly more freedom of expression than others. Finally, the conjunctions of the Moon can be placed in one of the 6 visible parts of the sky (the 7th to 12th temples, above the horizon line) where it is more publicly expressed or in one of the 6 invisible parts of the sky (the 1st to 7th temples, below the horizon line) where it is more privately nurtured.

Putting this together it means that if for example you have a Full Moon conjunct Venus in Cancer in the 3rd temple it is much imprinted more potently and amped up than if you have a New Moon conjunct Venus in Capricorn in a temple other than the 3rd, and if that Full Moon is above Venus you may communicate your private emotions and feelings to others very strongly and help others through your gifts, while if below then you will be affected by tidal impulses that take you on an inner voyage deeper and deeper through the realm of Venus, a journey that will bring about a true flowering of Venus in the soul rather than a personal expression of it in some material form outside of the soul.

Aspects can generally be placed in either a Magnetic form building (trine, sextile) or Electric energy releasing (square, opposition) category. Since a conjunction is a fusion of principles, its essential quality is Neutral and concerned with synthesis. Aside from this it has no other inherent nature and is neither a form building nor energy releasing aspect but often both, and its qualities will be largely determined by the essential nature of the planets involved, their signs and any other aspects which are made to the conjoined pair. The Moon tends to build conjunctions which are more Magnetic or form building (and thus “softer” like the sextile and trine aspects) but this is not always the case. Other aspects to the Moon such as a series of squares or oppositions can put it in a difficult position which make it more Electric or energy releasing. The Moon is the most receptive object in astrology and so takes on characteristics and impressions from everything it touches, like water.

The almost universal problem of a conjunction is that we are unable to separate the conjoined principles from one another: where one exists the other is also, and so we cannot distinguish between them easily. This means that in terms of magical initiation part of our work will be to separate out these principles so that they can be examined individually and then conjoined together again into a more expressive and well integrated whole. This is especially important with aspects of the Moon because the contact the soul has with a particular planets energy leads perception of that energy to become coloured by subjective content and to take on habits, good and bad. Until we gain a more objective view of our personal baggage it will play a role in how the conjunction plays out and we will not see something important about that planet until we undergo an appropriate transformation of our astral character. Major times when this will be forced upon us by circumstances are shown in our Moon key, including the progressed Moon key.

The conjunction is also a store of power in much the same way that two beings increase their power when they unite. Conjunctions show planets which are reinforcing each other within our energy field. The collecting and merging together of 2 planets (sometimes more) creates a locus of energy in the chart, increasing that areas significance for us. This has varying and numerous effects on the astral and mental planes and on the expression of the conjoined planets – every conjunction is different and its essential nature depends on the nature of the conjoined planets in relation to the context of the whole chart. The case of the Moon and its conjunctions is interesting because the store or locus of power is placed firmly in the astral where it can manifest itself in a staggering array of naturally inborn occult faculties that only manifest themselves after we have done the character transformation work that unlocks this power.

Thus, conjunctions with the Moon are as rich in mystery as they are in complexity. With all this being understood I couldn’t possibly provide any kind of definitive account of these conjunctions, especially in this journal, but what I can do is provide you with some food for thought and some insight into some of their occult mysteries.

Moon conjunct Sun

The New Moon is the beginning of the Sun-Moon cycle which lasts about 28 days. At the beginning of this cycle the cosmic Electric and Magnetic Fluids are mixed together and cannot be easily distinguished or separated. As time moves on and the Moon begins to appear again as a waxing crescent (‘sprouting seed’) after emerging from the light of the Sun (the waxing crescent) she incrementally builds up her energies, accumulating a greater Magnetic charge, with the greatest amount of accumulation occurring around the First Quarter Moon (the waxing half-Moon or ‘filling bowl’) when she is about 90° away from the Sun and the tipping point (where the tap reaches maximum flow) coming at the waxing Gibbous Moon (‘the egg of light’). This charge continues to build until the Full Moon, whereon the cosmic Magnetic Fluid and the Electric Fluid are fully ‘separated’ and attract each other across the conductive surface of the Earth, creating a powerful ‘high tide’ for both Fluids. She then sheds her light, rapidly sinking into tenebrous depths at the waning Giobbous Moon (‘the egg of darkness’). The Moon then begins to discharge Magnetic Fluid rather than gather it, with the greatest discharge occurring near the 3rd Quarter Moon (the waning half-Moon, or ’emptying bowl’) when she is again about 90° away from the Sun but growing dimmer. She then phases into a waning crescent (‘harvesting sickle’) before rejoining the Sun at the New Moon where she is recharged and the cycle begins anew. This happens once or rarely twice every calendar month, with the Sun and Moon usually being in different signs each time the New and Full Moons occur.

This aspect indicates a New Moon at our birth. This life will include a major new beginning in at least one area, or more likely it will be an overall theme of life with a focal point – most likely this will be connected to the temple of the conjunction but it can also involve planets in aspect to the Lights or factors connected to Cancer or Leo in the chart. How these people see themselves and inwardly feel about their behaviour and character are intertwined and this can make them self centred, sometimes even narrow minded, or unable to expand their point of view. They can lack objectivity and perspective on themselves but their nature is simplified. This is because the awareness of spirit (or individuality) and soul (or personality) are closely merged, resulting in extreme difficulties separating feelings and personal needs from identity. Being born under the New Moon is an indication of fusion between soul and spirit, with the sign of the zodiac in which this conjunction takes place assuming supreme importance in the chart as a whole (unless Sun and Moon are at the boundaries of different signs, which makes these issues somewhat moot). The outward Electric radiation of spirit (Sun) is fused with the inward Magnetic way you feel about yourself, thus, you are able to radiate your own inner feelings well but often lack objectivity since you cannot instinctively tell apart what you are from what you experience. Such people easily convince themselves that they are angry (or whatever) and find it hard to distinguish that from just feeling angry.

Strong personalities emerge under the New Moon but they are not usually dominant socially because the New Moon is more the dark Moon of the observer, the watcher in the water, and so these people are often powerfully lurking in the background. With both Lights in one sign, as is usually the case, the personality becomes more self aware overall but has to pick apart the whys of the way it is, the programming has to be peeled away from the core self (which has usually had a major role in directing it) so that the qualities of the Moon sign can be viewed more objectively. Overall there can be great difficulty in attaining an objective perception on the soul until vivid subjective responses (which feel right because they are so full of life) are identified.

As noted above, the New Moon represents a time when the Fluids are mixed together and the Electric Fluid regenerates the Magnetic fluid (and vice versa). This means that by birth you are born with an awareness of the Electric and Magnetic Fluid that makes it difficult to distinguish between them. However, as you grow older the awareness changes and it becomes easier to differentiate between the solar Electric nature and the lunar Magnetic nature. This growth of awareness is attached to the progressed Moon. When the progressed Moon enters the sign that is the first square after its natal sign the Magnetic Fluid really begins to build up, and when it enters the sign opposite to its natal sign it is at maximum strength and easily distinguishable from the solar nature. When the progressed Moon enters the sign of the second square to its natal position the accumulated Magnetic Fluid is discharging at maximum volume, causing the manifestation of many effects. When it enters its natal sign again a new cycle is beginning as you return to your natural relationship with the Fluids. This cycle takes about 28-29 years to complete and the times indicated above are all easily identified in the progressed Moon key. The same energy pattern is also reproduced fractally – at different times in life! – by the aspects the progressed Moon makes to the natal Sun, which I describe in The 26 Keys in the progressions of the Moon and call the Soluna cycle. The same cycle occurs on a much smaller scale every month following the transiting Moons position through signs.

Mysteries of charisma, charm, enchantment and enlightenment swirl within the depths of this conjunction as well as secrets of healing, meditation, astral and mental magic and the magic of the equilibrium and mental matrix (‘violet or golden cord’). Consider for a moment the sacredness of life and the immense mystery behind even the most commonplace of mundane of objects and occurrences. Pick anything you sense. Consider what it is and where it came from, how it came into being and what it has experienced. A simple book with printed word was once a living tree, somewhere in a living wood. Creatures made their home in it. Its ancestors, all born of the same spore and seed, stretch back in a line beyond human memory. The evolution of those trees stretches even further back, and the evolution of plants further still. Continue this line back beyond even the creation of life on Earth to the creation of the cosmic matter that was the necessary ingredient for the book, and then layer into all this the fact that it has printed words coded into a language that formulates and communicates thought from one sentient mind to another sentient mind, all of which had to somehow all come to exist for you to hold the book, or whatever it is you chose, in this moment. The simple fact is that everything is a miracle and that the greatest miracle of all is that we are somehow all here as conscious souls witnessing the emergence and reality of it all while also being an indivisible part of it. This is the fundamental magic of this conjunction.

Moon conjunct Ascendant

In a previous article I have written about this conjunction before and so I will simply quote it fully here: .

This aspect emphasizes and fuses the energies of the Moon with our embodied identity, so that our aura is permeated by lunar vibrations. The activities of the Moon are magnified, focused and intensified. They become essential to our self expression. In our identity (on some deep instinctive level) we are the Moon – there is no separation. Our astral awareness – our ability to operate on hunches and instincts and impressions – is thus promoted to a more prominent part of our awareness, we are sensitive and intuitive, and will find that others respond readily to us personally. These souls instinctively sense what is happening in the astral, what people are feeling and what is going on between things at the personal level, and are so sensitive to this that it can alter their own moods without them correctly sourcing it – it feels like them but is in fact something they are encountering in their environment. They may not really see the extent to which all this applies because it is right in front of their face. They will learn much about themselves through exploring their moods, especially if they also make a conscious effort to study the lunar calendar and pay special attention to when the Moon is in their rising sign each month. To such people the secrets of the astral world reveal themselves willingly.

Unlike the disk of the Sun which is never varying in its size the shape of the Moon is given the appearance of constant flux from dark to full and back to dark again. When the Moon is completely dark or ‘New’ it is because it is between the Earth and the Sun and so all of the sunlight is falling upon the side of the Moon facing away from the Earth. Effectively she disappears from sight entirely because she is so close to the Sun in terms of her position in the sky that she is lost in the blinding solar corona of light for a few days. At sunrise on these days both the Sun and the Moon will be on the ascendant and so there will be a triple conjunction of these three factors. Most of the time this will happen in a single sign of the zodiac but sometimes it will be spread out over two because the Sun is near the beginning or the end of a sign, but this is uncommon. In the much more common cases of a New Moon rising on the ascendant the emphasis on one particular zodiac sign is often extremely strong and recognizable. It is also often extremely recognizable when there is a Full Moon rising on the ascendant, simply because the Full Moon is filled with energy and visibility. So the particular phase of the Moon is an important factor in the quality of lunar energy the Moon rising person is working with. Essentially, they have fused a specific lunar field to their body in order to explore it very personally. This unique property of the Moon adds a further layer of subtlety to its interpretation, a factor which must be considered in addition to its sign and aspects and the temples it rules in the chart. It gives the Moon a far broader range of expression than any other object in astrology, which combines with its swift motion to aptly embody the flux of the astral realm.

The Moon rising personifies as a touch of lunacy in the face, especially in the light of the eyes, although it is not usually of the menacing kind. It confers an instinctive need for independence and autonomy, but at the same time cravings to be cared for and nurtured. To these people personal self-expression is a way of nurturing the identity, in other words they understand that life is a journey of personal self-discovery, a wisdom distilled from the soul’s long and ingrained experience. Deeply private and sensitive, in times of crisis they may instinctively withdraw and spend time on their own, getting to know their own feelings again. They are unconsciously responsive and instinctively react to situations very sensitively, at times overly so, and will need to obtain detachment and a more consciously aware sense of their immediate surroundings and personal response reactions to them. There is an unusual sensitivity to their own physical body and they are in tune with its changing needs, and its health is quite sensitive to the astral plane. Their moods powerfully inform their flesh and its countenance, and the mood is often determined by undercurrents in the environment.

When the Moon is here the soul is quite strongly consciously influenced by the Magnetic, emotional and gravitational tides of the Moon, and are often fluctuating through moods to reflect different moments and environments. This can put the awareness in touch with life in a very intimate and personal way, allowing the soul to feel the mood in a room, the hidden emotional rhythms in a poem, the cyclical dance of societies, to sense the emotional undercurrents in an exchange, etc. The rhythm and the pulse of life is felt physically moving through the body, and the needs and urges represented by the Moon are always present because they are a fundamental part of the self expression in action. In fact the health and the wholeness of being depend upon a conscious, creative output of the Moon. If the soul does not do this, strain is placed on the body areas connected with the rising sign as the awareness will feel the burden of being increasingly cut off from life.

Generally these people are very easy or simple people to get to know in the sense that when others first meet them (ascendant) they show their Moon qualities, a side of our nature we often keep private. What this means is that these people are private, insular beings who still show a lot of personal qualities when first met. They give of the personal self to the world in a direct way, and must often keep doing so, because it is who they really need to be. People can meet them and be struck by a very friendly, personal manner, the way they come across as someone who is what they appear to be, someone they can trust because they actually do what it says on the label. But even so they are so emotionally vulnerable that it can take time to break through the initial shell of privacy they shroud themselves in. The Moon rising can make us a bit of a shy wallflower. This results in someone many people think they really know well personally, but whom few actually do. Yet at the same time as it feels emotionally vulnerable enough to keep people at bay, this Moon will also crave to be cared for and nurtured by another. This internal conflict can create emotionally rooted dis-ease and problems in relationships.

If you are lucky enough to be a moonrise soul, whenever the Moon is Full or New and in your rising sign or its opposite (about four times a year, when the Sun is also present in those signs), then the influence of lunar energy will be stronger for you. If you are a magician you can make optimal use of these times in any work with the Magnetic Fluid or the magic of the Moon sphere. With your astral senses you will be able to more deeply feel the ‘pull’ of the Moon over your astral materia. If you know how to sense them, beings will draw near, beckoned by their own curiosity. These can be good times for looking more thoroughly at the black and white mirrors with the help of these beings. You will also experience a strong point of contact with lunar energy whenever the 1st temple key is activated.

In the end this is the path of a soul that is seeking to know the soul and the secrets of adventures in the astral wonderland, a mystery that will not stop in its quest at self comprehension, especially in the area of instinct, reaction and the need to delve into the past and to feel right about ourselves. It is a life of integrating and finally uniting the Moon principle with the embodied identity. The soul does not clearly see the degree of its own emotionality because it is pressed right up against it – the astral awareness is so present that it interferes with our evaluation of peoples opinions, their motives become unclear, and the sensitivity we have to being loved and accepted and fitting in ends up distorting our self image, so we lose sight of who we really are through just reacting to what people are feeling. We need therefore to take a step way back here and put things lunar into their proper perspective – we can become ‘possessed’ by the spirit of the Moon, with all that this entails. The key to avoiding that fate is to know our own personal baggage so thoroughly that we can never conflate it with what belongs to others.

Moon conjunct Midheaven

Whereas the conjunction of the Moon with the ascendant leads to an internal experience of the lunar side of life and then the consequent challenge of defining a discrete personal identity, the conjunction of the Moon with the midheaven is a more external affair relating to our connection to how the lunar principle manifests in society and culture. This is just like through declination when the Moon is above a planet it is in conjunction with, whereas the conjunction with the ascendant is resonant with when it is below instead. If the conjunction with the ascendant concerns itself with our own astral identity, the conjunction with the midheaven is concerned with the wider astral identity of the world we live in.

The nurturing, caring instinct of the Moon within all of us – fundamentally arising from the fact that all astral life is interconnected and dependent upon that connection for its life – will seek some kind of role to play in which it can be useful and productive. For this reason, a typical instinct among these people is to take professions which fulfill this need. They may be nurses, childcare workers, mothers, cooks or any other profession which directly nurtures and involves care-giving, especially for the vulnerable, and can be found in any public role where there is an emphasis on safety. However a larger number of them will not take such typical career paths but will instead bring a nurturing and care-giving instinct to whatever profession they are in. These are the bus drivers who ask how people are doing, the office workers who bring cookies or donuts, the souls who serve as shoulders to cry on and unofficial councilors.

Of course there are also those who crave some kind of personal recognition for their achievements, people who are motivated to be noticed for various personal reasons. Leo Moon, for example, might be motivated by the need for fame, while Capricorn Moon on the midheaven might be fueled by a cannier long-term plan, but in each case the soul will be drawn into what it does through an instinct to take care of others, the Leo Moon entertainer and the Capricorn Moon entrepreneur meeting at the midheaven over the importance of improving the astral conditions for everyone. And whereas the Moon rising makes us sensitive to our own subconscious and the shifting of our own mood, Moon on the midheaven leads us to be more sensitive to what is happening outside of us and thus to be reactionary and impressionable socially, especially with regard to how people see our public role in life.

Moon culminating energy is not financially valued overall by our world today. Mother is not even seen as a profession. Nursing and care work takes second place behind the bottom line of how much it will cost. We measure success not by astral standards but by physical and material ones – how much money you have, how much stuff. The question of how much you have trampled over others to get there matters little. Status and recognition are hardwired into our bank accounts. We could argue that, over the centuries, the conditions for those who need help the most have improved. Medicines, luxuries and goods have become more available. A relatively short time ago your social status was independent of and far more important than your financial status. You could not have been a peasant who suddenly found a fortune in gold and was then accepted among the hoi polloi of high society. If you tried to gain entrance to the castle banquet you would have been turned away. The “peasant”, however, could today enjoy access to the same places and events as a prince, provided they have enough gold. However, this kind of social change matters little to the Moon on the midheaven. The emphasis we place upon what is important and worthwhile achieving has not shifted towards an emphasis on the quality of life improvements we bring to others through our contributions to society. Status may not be as important any more, but people perhaps care even less. These issues can play an important role in the professional life of these people.

The Moon as a symbol of astral awareness is a symbolic portal into the astral realm and every chart provides us with this access. With the Moon rising the gateway into that infinite realm is within us and resonates or opens and closes in rhythm with our own mood. But with Moon culminating we open to the astral mysteries outside of us, the outer world and its content. We have to find something seemingly out there to plug into in order to find our point of access to the astral. The reality of course is that the inner and outer astral are still just the same astral, that there is no division between what we experience internally and what manifests externally. This is a deeper mystery many of these people are led into at some stage – the reality of the shared astral, the illusion of private experience. Many of them come to understand the subconscious and its role in this process and the use of technology such as affirmations can be important tools for them to become familiar with.

Moon conjunct Mercury

This conjunction opens the astral awareness to the splendor of the interconnectedness of the astral realm, the fluid nature of which fills the pathways connecting everything. It allows us not only to perceive these connections but also to cause them through that perception according to quantum laws. The rational mind in its intellectual activity seeks to answer an endless avalanche of questions, each one seemingly more important than the last. This is the energy of Mercury, an endless restless swirl of inquiry which can and often does nurture doubt, confusion and madness. What the Moon very often brings is a sense of context for all of this information which makes it less likely that we will go out on a limb, causing it to snap. This context is usually connected to what instinct brings to the situation, especially the instinctive awareness we all have of how our ideas and thoughts have impacts upon others. Beyond being interesting, even fascinating, ideas hold power and it is this power which this conjunction helps us to be aware of.

This can make us extremely sensitive to what is being said. If you have this conjunction in your chart it could indicate that you need to look at your own reactions to what other people’s opinions are. It’s quite likely that you are overreacting in some cases and where this occurs you have to examine your own reaction seeking for what has been triggered and why. This is a good habit for anyone with this aspect to adopt because the potential for self honesty in this conjunction is very high. These are the kind of people who are never really content to rest on their laurels (like Moon conjunct Jupiter). They are too restless to settle for anything other than a constant investigation of whatever they are interested in, but as I have pointed out they are at the same time highly sensitive to how others will be affected. This sensitivity is mostly rooted in concern over what others will say about them and whether or not they are “correct” rather than on how people feel (see Moon conjunct Venus, below, for that insecurity), so it is more like a sensitivity to criticism or being found at fault than a genuine concern for the impact of words on other people, but the astral awareness is still faced with the knowledge that we are all governed by the environment of thinking that we live in. Suppression of thought and opinion is undeniably unhealthy, and these people know it better than most of us. We may differ along many uncountable lines, but man’s fate is woman’s, they rise or fall together.

Fundamentally a deep mystery of this aspect is that it is teaching individuals about this fact. One person’s experience of life naturally differs from another, sometimes drastically and even unfairly. The game appears to be rigged in favour of certain people. This much is clear to Moon conjunct Mercury, which may even suffer from it at the thin end of the wedge. We have clear bias towards certain personal characteristics. This isn’t why we haven’t had a lesbian black American president, its why the very notion of it seems extreme. Again, this is clear to people with Moon conjunct Mercury, provided they give it some thought, and it leads to probing questions about why and what to do about it. A large number of them do so within the domestic family unit rather than the larger family unit of society.

Problem solvers, then; people who make themselves useful tackling tricky questions for the rest of us because it makes them feel that they are making things better, that they are taking care of others when they can provide answers. For this reason they make excellent teachers or transmitters of information, opinion and knowledge, but even better gatherers of it. Yet beneath it all is this deeper awareness that though we may have different views and are challenged with the task of finding common ground, the necessity for doing so is not so that we are titillated when our curiosity is satisfied or we feel good because we crack a puzzle or arrive at ‘the correct system’, but so that we can get along. The capacity to absorb information, perceive multiple points of view and debate with it through this conjunction is very developed and so the memory is usually highly retentive, but this can mean we find all kinds of new highly reasonable justifications for very old irrational habits. The ability of the egoic mind to portray itself as a victim is elaborate and insidious, and so these people must guard against such behaviour by relentlessly questioning where they are getting their opinions and ideas from. The story that we tell ourselves in our heads can be very convincing and silver tongued when we have to live with this aspect in our charts. Yet as I pointed out in the first sentence of this section, this ability to fill the astral realm with significant connection is a magical one.

The astral realm is teeming with intelligence and this conjunction is surrounded by it. The beings of the astral realm have a hierarchy based on how expressive they are of universal ideas, but below the notion of absolute unity (which is the Akasha of the astral) there is a literally infinite splendor of individual and personal expressions of this ultimate truth, each one an equal and essential expression of it. The way that all of these expressions connect together and add up to greater and greater truth (and thus even more profound questions with every answer) is the province of this conjunction.

Moon conjunct Venus

Where Mercury is astral form Venus is astral force and so the conjunction with the Moon (astral awareness) leads to a connection to greater astral power rather than greater astral clarity. Here are the people who really feel the astral plane and thus know it on a much deeper level than Moon conjunct Mercury, but who can be easily led astray by what they perceive to be there if they are not emotionally calm and tranquil. Of course, it is possible to have Moon, Mercury and Venus all in conjunction, but such a triple conjunction brings with it not just the potential for needed clarity on pesonal matters but also the added challenge of being able to distinguish between the various levels of awareness entangled together and thus it requires much greater work in order to be objective about where our impressions are coming from.

With Moon conjunct Venus on its own however, the source of where our impressions come from is clear – they come from our empathy with other people and other things, from the way we resonate with astral life. We have to genuinely measure the empathy and psychic sensitivity of these people as higher than the norm – their instinct for sensing what is being felt is extraordinary. They are the Betazoids among us where Moon conjunct Mercury are more like the Vulcans (and Mars the Klingons, Jupiter the Ferengi, etc). The conjunction of the Moon and Venus produces a highly sensitive soul with a poetic and loving nature, although this may not be apparent to people immediately, it depends upon the sign which the conjunction takes place in and the aspects to the Moon and Venus as a whole. Even behind a Capricorn wall, however, these souls cannot help but be tender, devoted and affectionate, with a strong longing for both giving and receiving love. This is because the ultimate power of the astral realm, where the ultimate form is the unity of all things, is the power of the unity of love.

The Moon and Venus are each concerned with safety in their own way, and so this aspect emphasises the need for harmony and peace in the environment. These people may reflect this by decorating their homes in pleasing colours or with beautiful objects such as pieces of art. They try to create a comfortable atmosphere in domestic life on all levels, sometimes to the point of avoiding confrontation so everything ticks along nicely, but it is truly like a bomb under the surface when they do this. Similarly, they can invest so heavily into making life pleasant that they become lazy and indulgent.

The main challenge, though, is that emotionally these people or those surrounding them can just get swept away. What they feel, and what they perceive as a result of what they feel, creates continues ripples and waves around them, especially in their personal relationships, affecting other people with the force emanating from them. They may always be able to find the calm at the eye of the hurricane at sea, but other people have not yet even learned to swim, and occasionally they feel something even they are unequipped to process. Once emotional calm is lost this conjunction can be as destructive as Moon conjunct Mars – destruction through rot by water or a monsoon rather than being turned to ash in flames. Some muses eat human souls for breakfast – they burn the artist up. People with this conjunction are often among them.

Diplomacy is also natural with the Moon/Venus contacts, but this strongly depends upon other aspects to the Moon and Venus. Both artistic and creative expression as well as smoothing relations allow these people to express the sense of appreciation they feel for the beautiful things in life. Spiritual matters, relating to the nature of true beauty and the mysteries of love, can become deeply significant personal themes. Their calming influence can then extend far beyond their own life, touching the lives of many others and quelling discord in the astral realm surrounding them. They are beloved of the beings of love, art, and harmony and thus often have been given strong spiritual insight, guidance and power.

Yet they are easy to push over and tend to become doormats easily without a strong Mars or some other force that counters their empathic vulnerabilities. It can be all too easy for these people to become lost in worlds of their own, the imagination offering them a fairer or more perfect world. With such a high capacity for feeling the suffering of others and for being the victim of less scrupulous plans, bitterness and resentment can poison the well and prevent these people from enjoying the gift of their emotional connection to life. The soul knew this before it arrived, it was part of the reason for being. The soul is here to learn how to carry the vibration of loving kindness in a world filled with cruelty and coldness, to not be dismayed by betrayal and heartbreak but instead to let that only increase the power and preciousness of its empathy. In doing so the strength of its empathy is not diminished but instead strengthened by its tempering in experience.

Moon conjunct Mars

Psychologically the conjunction of the Moon and Mars increases our temper and makes us more impulsive and emotional as a person, and without indications to the contrary elsewhere in the chart perhaps not sensitive enough to the feelings of others. This aspect can be ruthlessly selfish and self centred and determined to do things its way, or to be ‘the winner’. It is a wonderful aspect for competitive effort but at other times these souls often act without thinking and feel an inner frustration when things don’t go as they will them to. This frustration is so much more than the normal degree of frustration we would expect to feel. It is a burning, boiling anger which wishes to strike to get its own way, to tear apart and destroy if necessary and to be gratified by that rush of crude power. This may be especially visible in childhood character, before souls have learned how to contain such instincts. Even so, the desires remain strong and willfully driven throughout life. The soul must learn to wield and direct them. It must also heed the heros call. There is something to fight for.

Sexually this is a major energy boost. The libido is lit on fire. Lust and other expressions of pure animal instinct can often take hold of the astral body completely and drive it forwards on an insatiable quest for the slating of thirst and the feeding of hunger. It doesn’t tire, it totally collapses after all energy has been spent in pursuit of a quarry. It collapses, then it quickly recharges and is ready to go again. This again must be very carefully and willfully handled. It is probably better for these people to find ways to magically wield and direct the vital force rather than to continuously give it expression through, for example, sexual acts. They have a much greater willpower than the average person does. They refuse to be defeated and always come back fighting. You want them on your side. Then you will gladly not object to their brute tactics.

Instincts and responsive emotional patterns underpin these peoples actions in a very direct way and tend to be known by the will, so they rarely find themselves in the position of not knowing what they want, but not necessarily why they want those things, and they also have the ability to act decisively from gut reactions, which means they can make (bad) impulsive moves. They may also hold back from the full expression of their desires because they fear their destructive power, or they may really judge and disagree with others as a form of self defense, that is, they may take issue with what people are saying or doing by default as a means of diverting attention from the real issues that make them feel vulnerable and as a way to cover their sensitivity. Instincts may tell them that someone is antagonistic towards them or that there is a threat, whereas in fact retaliation is premature and driven not by any real cause but by imagined (or wanted) ones. However, at other times, they will be sharply warned of impending danger and should always heed this once they learn to objectively discern the difference.

Often these souls are firmly and strongly opinionated, very personally aware of what makes them unique or different, and may hold what they believe to be true as sacrosanct or sacred. They defend territory and boundaries fiercely. This can make them bigoted and opinionated while seeing themselves as courageous and brave. The degree of friction in their relations with others is a good sign of how much this is true. If they keep insisting on doing things their way without seeking out the advice of others or caring about their needs their actions will eventually lead down a disastrous path of self destruction.

Born as a leader rather than a follower, people with this conjunction find it hard to stand waiting around for instruction or development and rejection strikes at the core of their personal self esteem, which despite seeming bold is often fragile because it depends upon the admiration of others and not on any true self knowledge. The pain of rejection or humiliation can lead them to do and say many rash and unkind things and to harbor grudges. They need to realize that the needs and different opinions of others are as important as any are (the needs are as important, the opinions not at all important), and they need to find a way to tone down the impulsive and willful nature of knee-jerk reactions, but there is no mistaking their fighting spirit. Sometimes the world needs this kind of action, and sometimes it doesn’t. The soul will be taught how to tell the difference.

It may seem as if there are many negative connotations to this conjunction, but that is only because the nature of the will and the desire body is so driven and immediately felt as emotion in the astral that it is difficult to control, there is no time in which to do so. It therefore hones the instinctive emotional reactions to such a degree that we can respond with the appropriate degree of force instantly, in any situation. Once a degree of self discipline in this is learned, and with the aid of softer qualities from other chart elements tempering the excesses of this aspect, there is great potential to motivate and energize the self and other people astrally and physically, that is, there is an ability to get things going, to move things along thoroughly. So, once inner adjustments have been made, such as being able to see things from others point of view, not being so driven or sexually frustrated, and not being so self conscious of how different we are, this aspect can be a constructive force for action. It can also lead to a great deal of energy and power for astral magic. We need to crusade for some things but we must always remember to allow for other points of view, especially ones which somehow compete with ours. If we cannot master this aspect it will make us vindictive, aggressive, arrogant, angry, frustrated, rejected, resentful and bitter at others success. If we can learn to temper our emotional excesses then it unleashes the will of the soul into constructive actions and drives us and others forwards towards the attainment of wishes. The emphasis on our personal differences with others will shift in a positive, creative direction and the soul will celebrate what makes it and others unique.

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Thats all for now, thank you for readfing and for your support, especially if you are one of my munificent patrons. Come back next month, at the end of the year, for the second part of this journey!