the moon
field guide
“The moon, lit by the reflection of the sun’s light and possessing a borrowed light, in a nativity indicates man’s life, body, the mother, conception,, appearance, sight, living together (i.e. legitimate marriage), nurture, the older brother, housekeeping, the queen, the mistress of the house, possessions, fortune, the city, the assembly of the people, gains, expenses, the household, voyages, travel and wanderings (it does not provide straight pathways because of Cancer). The moon rules the parts of the body as follows: the left eye, the stomach, the breasts, the breath, the spleen, the dura mater, the marrow (as a result it causes dropsy/moist syndromes). Of materials it rules silver and glass. It is of the night sect, green in color and salty in taste.”
Contemplate:
What emotions are you comfortable expressing? Which ones do you have trouble acknowledging or sharing? What are the obstacles to your own vulnerability? What do you need in order to feel safe to share your feels? To be in them? To process them?
How was emotional wellness and hygiene modeled for you growing up? How might this have affected you? How do you want to model it going forward?
Practice:
Feeling your feelings IN THE MOMENT anytime you can. Step away. Don’t hold your breath. Breathe through it. Move through it. Share it if needed in healthy ways.
Do you allow yourself space each day to sit with how you feel? Each week?
the new moon
When the Sun + Moon are joined (conjunct). Therefore when the Sun is in Aries, the New Moon will also be in Aries.
New Moon’s are ALWAYS powerful portals for new beginnings + resets, for setting intentions and thinking about what you want to create in your hologram for the next month. Some months I feel called to sit down and find clarity at the beginning of the month but for most I work with the moon cycles, setting intentions on the New Moon and checking in at the Full Moon.
moon map
We each have a unique way the Moon transits thorough our Bodygraph each month + learning yours can help you connect to times of greater inner wisdom.
void of course
When the Moon is Void of Course (VOC) it is said NOT to be a good time to sign a contract, launch a project, conduct business or make important decisions. VOC Moon’s can last anywhere between a few hours to, rarely, a full day or more. You can find these times through some of the astro sites or I love my Magic of I planner which lists them in the breakdown of the days energy. It IS a great time to take a nap, do some journaling, move through The Collective doing some inner work, do something you don’t want anything to come of (like file your taxes ;), meditate, RELAX!
The full moon
When the Moon is directly opposite to the Sun. Therefore when the Sun is in Taurus, the Full Moon will be in Scorpio… seeking balance between the two polarities.
The Full Moon is a time of magic + ritual. Under the full moon there is amplification. The moon is at its most magnetic and we are made of our own tides. It is a potent time for checking in with your New Moon intentions and honing your manifestations. It’s a time for spell-casting, speaking your words into existence. It is a time to connect with her + draw her aligned support down to the mundane, earthly world.
It may be a time when what does not serve our manifestations rises to the surface to be released.
Artwork: Cameron Robbins
human design
The module below is for a deep unpacking of the Unconscious Moon and how it relates specifically to attraction + magnetism.
But we can also look at both of our Moon Gates in the context of their relationship to our Sun Gates, how they motivate us, ask us to be seen and drive our inner nature, can nourish us, how they push and pull us toward our gifts and the lessons we are meant to learn as well as how they are tied to our emotional landscape. See how to locate your Moon Gates + read a shorthand description here. Contemplate your Shadows + Gifts.
Do you have an open Solar Plexus? How do you take on others emotions? How are you at expressing emotions? Have the difficult convos in public where you can pick up on Auras around you to help you speak clearly about your feelings.
a s t r o l o g y
To locate your Moon Sign you can pull up a free natal chart here - Select the first option: Chart Drawing, Ascendant. You can locate the Crescent Glyph to see which House + Sign and it will also show the astrological sign in the Legend on the left. Below are some jumping off points. Listen to the audio in relation to these energetics and how you fundamentally require nourishment both physically and emotionally + your relationships with the ordinary.
The Sign of your Moon includes how you nourish yourself, how you process, how you relate emotionally, what your emotional body needs to stay in alignment + balance. You can also ask yourself if there are any ways you use this energy to avoid feeling. Take each quality and let it roll around in your consciousness, journal, contemplate, meditate on your own unique expression.
The moon + the signs
Moon in ARIES {Fire}: action is part of self stewardship, initiative, moving through challenges, even a little healthy competition, independence, releasing excess heat + intense emotions through movement - exercise your body, take good care of it, find freedom, avoid withdrawing as a reaction or lashing out in defensiveness, instead nurture curiosity. Be mindful of impulsiveness, express sensitivity + vulnerability but avoid the need to be the loudest and most important emotion in the room. Include the desires + feelings of others, be diplomatic in your communication. I don’t recommend busy work as an avoidance strategy but it can be helpful to channel your feels into action. Be mindful of expressing so much independence your partner feels like you can take it or leave it. Practice healthy aggression. Get into Libra vibes and make your spaces beautiful.
Moon in TAURUS {Earth}: a very happy placement for your Moon as it is in exhalation here, tune into the sensual pleasures in life and help others to as well. Honor your body and all its beauty. Security may come through material, food + emotional attachments, honor your need for stability. Be mindful of your money story and how it’s impacting you. What importance are you placing on the material and how does it serve you or not? Cultivate a strong sense of self worth from within, contribute your talents and resources intentionally and meaningfully, be open to receiving. Get acquainted with your center, be the rock. Get out of your comfort zone and explore your depths a bit. Practice gratitude + generosity.
Moon in GEMINI {Air}: being adaptable, self-soothe through learning + finding new ideas. Balance logic with intuition, release righteousness. Your confidence comes through inspiring others. Roll with the ever-changing landscape, release “grass is greener” mentality, develop a strong connection with your higher mind + spiritual connections. Be mindful of when you check out mentally + how it is serving (or not) you and your relationships. Are you distracting yourself with words, talking without connecting? Practice active listening and curiosity. Move from thinking to doing.
Moon in CANCER {Water}: the moon is in her domain here. You may find you are a true nurturer or that you indulge yourself too much in your own emotions, have a way to empty out + release the energy you take on through your openness. Release dependencies + clinging attachments, take responsibility for your own emotional well-being + needs. Get to know your feels intimately. Create resonant home (safe space) + family, potential ease materially in the House ‘container’. Be mindful of retreating into your shell + shutting down. Practice radical self care, fill your cup so you can nurture others from a space of fullness. Bring in some Capricorn structure to create balance.
Moon in LEO {Fire}: be mindful of dramatization. You have a need to shine, check in with your truth and integrity when in the spotlight for long, focus on what you can do for those around you rather than what they can do for you. Recognize your own talents + lovability within before seeking praise with-out. Let partners know that words of affirmation is your love language. Cultivate passion, joy and play in your world. Open your heart and lead from there. Rock your uniqueness, inspiring other to do the same simply be being in your Aura.
Moon in VIRGO {Earth}: be mindful of being overly critical in your relationships (and on yourself) or over-analyzing everything. You are here to be of use/of service in some way. Ritual serves you, a way of consistently organizing, processing, purifying your physical, mental + emotional bodies. Allow for imperfection + trust that it’s all as it should be, connect deeper than the superficial, allow yourself mistakes. Connect a bit to Pisces to balance, get your body in water, examine whether your boundaries still serve you, cultivate a resonant spiritual practice.
Moon in LIBRA {Air}: a need to bring harmony + right relationship. Prioritize your needs first, make sure the folks in your inner circle are resonant, be you, stay true to your own identity rather than getting lost in your efforts to give others what they need. Honor your own needs, be mindful of defensiveness + forcefulness, or wearing a mask that supresses your real feels, or placing unhealthy important on presentation. Stand in your worth independently of others. Practice good emotional hygiene so that your emotions remain balanced. Move your body - get regular exercise!
Moon in SCORPIO {Water}: this placement can feel challenging and asks you to choose change, to allow for transformation, to alchemize your pain into purpose. How can you share the power, embrace mastery, cultivate trust, create healthy foundations - have clarity on what that looks like so you can create it. Honor your depth and intensity and the deeper ways with which you naturally bond but avoid the lower vibrations of vengeance or pettiness when you get hurt. Mine your shadows. Transmute your darker emotions + utilize your gift for depth. Get into some earthy Taurus energy for support.
Moon in SAGITTARIUS {Fire}: be open to malleable environments. You have a need to be free (but not of real connection), release the need to prove any mental superiority, recognizing your own perfection through seeing perfection/the best in others. Go on an adventure, seek variety, movement over stagnancy, seeking expansiveness, explore your Jupiter lines. Follow your joy + inspiration, stay open to abundance, seek truth. Be communicative when you need to step away and clear your mind or shake things up. Move beyond the surface. Share laughter. Take your expansive views and infuse some Gemini vibes, mind/body connections, not ignoring the micro for an all out focus on macro. Share your positive glass half full expansive vibes wherever you go.
Moon in CAPRICORN {Earth}: use your deeper understanding of people for good, relinquish control, encourage + empower others to lead when you amplify their positive qualities, leave a legacy in some way, set tasks + follow through, honor + express your feelings rather than judging or invalidating them, notice where you feel limited in nourishing and embodying your container + tweak, cultivate healthy boundaries. Create structure, order + security. Be mindful of getting stuck in what if’s. Avoid comparisons. Get into and feel your feels e’ry day. Be courageous in your vulnerability. See: Brene Brown. Seek approval within, rather than without.
Moon in AQUARIUS {Air}: take space to find clarity when needed. Find ways to challenge yourself intellectually, connect to like minded expansive visionary people + groups, Stubborn much?… lean into flow, be with your body, your heart, your feels - honor them as much as your mind. Find ways to play + enjoy the creative process. What you give your attention thrives and where you withdraw fades. Be mindful of when you are compartmentalizing to an unhealthy degree. Open your heart, make art, bring in some Leo to balance. Let others know you hold a safe space to let their “freak” flag fly - help them to accept themselves by showing them inclusivity and the ways in which all are valued.
Moon in PISCES {Water}: need for solitude as well as to feel the unity of oneness. Vibes of inspiration, compassion, intuition, sensitivity, creative outlets, merging + separating. Channeling your moon through the arts, music, fantasy, psychic abilities, magic, healing work (Neptunian archetypes). Cultivate + strengthen your boundaries, know your definition (what’s consistently you). Shore up your emotions when needed. Use your empathic nature as a gift and also know how to protect and shield yourself. Pay attention to when you are looking through rose colored glasses rather than at the truth. Bring in some Virgo energy to balance. Create some structures, draw lines in the sand where needed. Channel your big feels into your art or aligned actions.
the moon in the houses
The House in which your Moon resides represents a place in your life where you will most likely go through phases as well as where you find comfort + nourishment. You can read about some of the themes of the Houses here. Look to your House to further understand how your need for safety + comfort may be expressed.
the dark of the moon
A phase often not talked about is the Dark Moon. This is the phase leading up to a New Moon, beginning a few days prior. It is a time for endings. This is a great time to do Cord Cutting Meditations, to dissolve limiting beliefs + fears, to liberate yourself from attachments that do not serve you, to write down habits or patterns and ask for them to be released (and then burn the paper or a photo that represents ‘you of the past’).
This might be a good time to call on the wild + empowered energy of Goddess Kali (the “mother of the Universe”), the ‘destroyer’ to help you, to protect you, to assist in transformation. Not unlike the stone moldavite, she will flip things on their axis to put you back in right relationship with your life.
Moon days + associations
Mondays are ruled by the Moon. So, Mondays can be particularly supportive days to connect to the Divine Feminine, draw tarot cards, connect to your inner Oracle, ritual, retreat/quiet, creativity, connecting to intuition, nourishing yourself, going to the market, food prep, going inward, the yin, wearing white, silver + light blue and green, opalescent stones, tap into your Moon lines, nourish your Sacral + Third Eye, explore your Conscious + Unconscious Moon Gate.
Stones: moonstone, opal, pearl, labradorite, selenite
Plants: lettuce + endives, melon, rosemary, chickweed, white rose, night-blooming plants, the healing power of mushrooms, artemisia.
Trees: maple and olive
day chart vs. night chart
We each either have a day chart or a night chart depending on… you may have guessed it, whether we were born under daylight or moonlight. If we were born during the day then our Sun Sign will fall in the top half or Southern Hemisphere of our chart (Houses 7 - 12). If we were born at night, then our Sun Sign will fall below the Horizon in the bottom half of our chart, considered the Northern Hemisphere (Houses 1-6). This is a bit more nuanced in Whole Signs Houses (which I use) if you are on one of the cusp houses in which case the degrees of your AC/DC axis is the horizon.
Those of us who were born in the evening may feel a deeper affinity with our Moon Sign than our Sun Sign. We may feel more connected to our intuition (Moon) over our intellect (Sun). Our Moon may simply feel more accessible, more important in some way.
THE NODES
The Nodes of the Moon are not celestial bodies, but points where the Moon’s orbit around the Earth intersects the ecliptic, where the Moon + Sun cross paths. It could be considered a kind of merger of their energies, Moon (Soul) + Sun (Spirit). The North Node is referred to as the Dragon’s Head and the Southern, the Dragon’s Tail.
The Nodes are one of my favorite pieces to look at to create more ease + joy in our lives by aligning with our right path through leaning into our North Node.
THE PHASES OF THE MOON | NATAL + PROGRESSED
Understanding, leaning in and utilizing your progressed moon phase as well alchemizing the challenges and leaning in to the gifts of your natal phase.
the transiting moon
I am a big proponent of working with the energy of the Moon, whether your Timelord or not (and do so myself) since the Moon represents our needs, desires, emotional self + body, and is the closest celestial body to the Earth, reflecting the light of the Sun. She is a great ally when it comes to co-creation and living our lives with more ease and synchronicity by honoring the energy. One of the ways we can deepen our alignment is by paying attention to the Sign the Moon is in, which changes about every 2.5 days. And an easy way to begin working with this is to just notice the element of the Sign Luna occupies and begin to embody and integrate some of those qualities into your day. Lean in.
Fire Days: Vitality, Passion, Impulsiveness, Action, Energetic, Crossing Things Off Your To-Do List, Doing Some Extra Cardio, Dancing, Dating, Having Fun, Moving Healthy Aggression (Aries).
Earth Days: Grounding, Earthing, Being in Nature, Cleaning, Organizing, Clearing, To-Do’s, Getting Clear on + Taking Steady Action Steps Toward Your Goals, Eating Good Food (Taurus), Getting Into Your Senses, Getting Into the Details (Capricorn), Crafting + Beginning Healthy Routines (Virgo) + Mindful to Being Overly Critical to Self + Others (Also Virgo).
Air Days: Learning, Teaching, Contemplation, Communicating + Socializing, Connecting, Practicing Mindfulness, Breathwork, Reading, Quick Decisive Action, Getting Into Your Body To Balance Too Much Mental Chatter, Rewiring Thought Settings, Relationship Support + Beauty Routines(Libra), Moving Out of Old Thought Paradigms Into New Ones (Aquarius).
Water Days: Getting Into Your Intuition, Emotional Hygiene, Creativity, Slowing Down, Going Below the Surface, Subconscious Work, Healing, Feeling Your Feels, Spiritual Practices, Nesting, Snuggling, Taking a Bath, Imagination + Visualization, Soaking in Waters, Shadow work.
p h a s e s + t a r o t
Another Tarot Spread option (the other is in Full Moon) is to pull 8 cards representing the Moon’s phases either around the New Moon or Full Moon placing them in a circle going clockwise beginning at ‘12 o’clock’.
The New Moon Card represents new beginnings and energy coming in. What seeds are you planting? What intentions do you have for this next cycle?
Waxing Crescent represents seeds planted + current manifestations in the works. What are the details?
First Quarter Moon represent actions to take to push your desires forward. What are you paying attention to? What are the steps you need to take?
Waxing Gibbous shows energetics to consider around making decisions. What needs refinement? How can you better align?
Full Moon shines a light on what may be in the dark, either intuitive but unconscious, or something you may need to pay attention to. What needs amplification and/or what does not serve your goal?
Waning Gibbous is an area that requires reflection. What is being harvested? What needs deeper analysis or acceptance?
Last Quarter Moon shows what has reached completion. Release attachments. Have gratitude.
Waning Crescent aka Balsamic shows you what needs to be released. Where do you need surrender? Rest, Recharge!
the goddesses
In addition to Kali, there are many Goddesses + Deities one can work with around the Moon. Some of my favorites are: Mother Mary, Isis, Hecate, Chandra-Devi, Grandmother Spider, Mani and Artemis. Click each one to read about them + do your own research.
Ways to work with them:
meditate on/with her, calling on her energy + visualizing her in front of you.
make offerings
ask her questions and allow the answers to come in your waking life.
write down your questions before bed + ask for answers in your dreams.
free form journal around the archetypes + qualities she represents
I love this line of jewelry for connecting to goddess energy
moon lodge
Support for harmonizing + honoring your moon cycle.
a d d i t i o n a l l y
cutting your hair with the moon cycles
what moon were you born on? find out here + then check this out. Take note. Do you feel a particular way during the phase you were born? More grounded? More at home?
the moon centers + a meditation for balancing them.
practice moon salutations
moon phase planting guide
new moon - plant above ground plants that produce seeds, with the exception of fruit
waxing moon - plant above ground plants that produce seeds including fruit
full moon - transplant or harvest crops, plant root vegetables
wanting moon + void of course moons - pause, rest + maintain; weed, prune and fertilize
Moon in the elements
fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sag) - Fruits + Crops Grown For Seeds
earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) - Roots, Transplanting (but fertile in general)
air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius)- Flowers, Soil Tilling + Haarvesting
water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) - Leafy Greens (also best days for planting in general as water days are super fertile).
harvest
Harvest your above ground plants in the morning (and apply plant food). Harvest those where the edible is below ground (like root vegetables) in the evening. Evenings are also great for sowing seeds into the Earth.
eclipse moon
While this is focused on the Autumn Eclipses of 2023 it has foundational information on eclipses and can be extrapolated for any current eclipse weather.