Moon (astrology) - Western Astrology

Western Astrology

The Moon is the ruling planet of Cancer. In Roman mythology, the Moon was represented by Diana, the hunter goddess. In Western astrology The Moon is said to represent the feeling nature of the individual.

The moon is associated with a person's emotional make-up, unconscious habits, rhythms, memories and moods. It is also associated with the mother, maternal instincts or the urge to nurture, the home, and the past.

The moon is used to characterise the inner child within us, as well as the past and how we have been as individuals rather than how we are now. It is also used to represent the perception one has of one's mother, so someone with a Pisces Moon would be more likely to see their mother as a Piscean type, even if in reality that was not the case. In the horoscope the aspects the moon makes with other planets and the transits the slower moving planets make to the moon are all said to have a strong impact on how our lives unfold.

The moon is also said to represent receptivity, vulnerability, etc. but this should not suggest that its power is considered less than the sun's. From an astrological perspective (in which we assume, for the sake of argument, that the earth is fixed and everything else moves) the sun and moon are the same size. From an astrological perspective, they are equals; a solar eclipse reminds us of this so that we do not doubt the power of the moon, which is hidden and mysterious but no less influential.

The first-century poet Manilius, described the Moon or Luna, as melancholic. In medicine the moon is associated with the digestive system, stomach, breasts, genitals, buttocks, the ovaries and menstruation, and the pancreas. The moon is the ruler of the 4th house.