The Moon in Esoteric Astrology

(Artwork by Kagaya)

Esoteric Ruler of Virgo

Planet of the Fourth Ray

The vast majority of humanity is still quite fully focused on the life of the personality. Attachments to one’s biological karma, instinctual emotional responsiveness, patterns of early family conditioning and conformistic sociological behaviour (all lunar influenced) are still very strongly integrated into the mass consciousness {Cancer}

From the ~soul centred~ esoteric perspective, the Moon has no essential life value. It is a storehouse for the past - especially that past which is characterised by outworn and discarded astral images and desires. Although our attunement with the essential wholeness of life is steadily growing, a number of us are still struggling with the relationship between our soul awareness and our involvement with our physical, mental, and especially our emotional lives. This is the ~cross~ that we bear, is it not? And it is this ~cross~, and the sacrifices and re-orientations that it requires, which lead us more assuredly to a place of greater consciousness. As we move towards the fixed cross we are moving through the illusion of the Moon, trying to perceive beyond the maya of pre-conditional forms of body, mind and emotions, and into the reality that is Love/Wisdom.

When an individual has learned how to detach himself from the magnetism of his lunar past, one of three planets can be substituted for the Moon’s placement and traditional function in the natal chart: Vulcan, Uranus or Neptune. The Moon is then said to ~veil~ that planet’s effects.

When a person is leaving the Mutable Cross and is about to mount the Fixed, the effects of Vulcan are very noticeable. Vulcan rules that process which ~breaks the chains~ to form.. As the ~Blacksmith of the Gods~ Vulcan forges new tools for the expression of consciousness. Past patterns of behaviour are dissolved in favour of a growing awareness, which leads ultimately to detachment from the desires and compulsion of form.

When the Moon veils Uranus, the individual becomes a vehicle for the birthing of new archetypes of human consciousness. One is freed from the past - Uranus the ~revolutionary~ has seen to that. A new focus for form , one more appropriate to the current evolutionary stage of life, appears.. when the energies or Uranus are substituted for the position of the Moon in the natal chart, the individual consciously acts as part of a group effort working to bring in these new archetypes for the betterment of humanity.

This is a predominant theme at the present time, as the majority of people on the Fixed Cross are becoming increasingly responsive to the incoming Aquarian Age, its association with Uranus, and the unfolding of intuition and group consciousness. One of the greatest transitions in the evolution of human consciousness at the present time is the shift from intellectual awareness to an intuitive perception of reality.

The nature of the soul-centred, esoteric energies of the planets does not negate their personality-centred exoteric indicatives. A blending is taking place - one which gives rise to an ever—increasing inclusivity. The nature of the interrelationships between the energies, forces and ray qualities of the planets and signs reveals to us these patterns of unfoldment and their directions. The soul-centred individual has neither forgotten or abandoned the past.

The effects of the Moon and its sign placement, as we understand them to be from the angle of personality centred and psychologically oriented astrology, are still valid in this respect. But there are other, more refined or highly evolved influences which the Moon ~veils~. These esoteric inferences and effects dominate and supersede the earlier, lunar based ones in the consciousness of the soul-centred individual.

As we study these deeper, more esoteric aspects of astrology, we will find that our own intuition expands accordingly. This is one of the gifts of astrological studies - they expand our consciousness.

The third, and probably the most esoteric lunar veil, is that which concerns Neptune. When the Moon ~veils~ this planet’s effects, it may be said that Neptune rules all life on the astral plane - the entire feeling-sensitive nature. The average person is unaware of the vast majority of impressions which bombard his consciousness and to which he responds unconsciously (yet nevertheless storing many of these impressions). The Moon, that is the form nature, blocks and veils these impressions from revealing themselves as it would be extremely disturbing to have total access to the collective astral plane without the properly structured tools of perception. The construction of the ~tools~ for the channeling of awareness is within the province of Vulcan.

The various levels of the permeating energies of Vulcan, Uranus and Neptune through the Moon, as representative of the past and the formative nature, are quite important. This is especially so to those working upon the Fixed Cross. We are moving through the illusions of the Moon, trying to perceive beyond the maya of preconditioned forms of body, mind and emotions, and into the reality that is Love/Wisdom.

Neptune is operative when the Disciple is switching from the Fixed Cross to the Cardinal Cross. It’s function is to dissolve the sense of separateness whilst maintaining the sense of individualised Self-hood. Neptune, in this respect is connected to that process which we might call the ~redemption of life form~ and the bathing of matter in ~The waters of the Life~, which is, Love. This connects the Moon, the Fourth Ray, and the Fourth Kingdom (Humanity), to the nurturing substance of the Mother, and reveals yet another facet of Neptune’s esoteric rulership of Cancer.

(Reference Alan Oken)

The artwork used on this page  is by the wonderful artist Kagaya and is of course copyrighted  to him.    You can visit the Kagaya gallery by clicking either on the large picture above or on the link below and the site will open in a separate window..

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