Astrological Planets: The Moon in Brief

The Moon may not be a "planet" in the traditional sense, but in astrology, it is classified as a planet for the sake of clarity. The symbol of the Moon is the crescent, which represents the purely emotional half of the soul. The other half, used in the glyphs for Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus, represents the mental half of the soul. The symbol can be seen as a parabolic mirror used to reflect, collect, and concentrate energy emanating from an external source. Turned on its side, it is a bowl to contain and nourish.

The Moon is always changing shape and causes the tides to wax and wane. Consequently, the Moon has come to represent our changing moods and emotions, feelings which wash over us and recede, much as the tide does. And yet the Moon reflects the light of the Sun in a completely predictable cycle. For this reason, we associate the Moon with habits and predictability. The Moon is also connected to fertility, as its full cycle is roughly the same as the menstrual cycle of a woman. The Moon rules intuition, unconscious attitudes, patterns, and conditioning. It is also associated with the breast and the stomach.

Qualities associated with the Moon include: emotions, moods, feelings, intuition, reflection, response, adaptation, habits, cycles, dependability, support systems, motherhood, nurturing, protection, unconditional love, adoption, the past, cooking, home-making, conditioning, and writing that comes from the soul.