Whether you’re interested in learning more about astrology, living in tune with nature or grounding yourself in an earth-based spirituality, working with the Moon can be extremely insightful.
Because the Moon moves through the heavens so rapidly, completing a full cycle in just 28 days, it’s a great option for those wanting to quickly get to grips with astrological cycles and their influence on our daily lives.
By working with the Moon, you’ll quickly come to understand her affect on your moods and your emotions, and on each individual area of your life in turn.
Keep a Moon Diary
All you need to keep a moon diary is a small notebook or any kind of standard diary with enough space to write. Get hold of a lunar calendar online, and in your diary note down the moon sign and phase for each day over the coming month.
Each day, jot down a few words to describe how you felt - elated, depressed, anxious, fearful, excited, confused, energetic? Add some information about what was most on your mind that day - was it work, your love life, the kids, the house?
Analyzing the Results
You can analyze your moon diary as you go along, if you’re familiar with astrology; if you’re not, it’s sometimes helpful to keep the diary for a month first and then look back on it all in one go as you learn to understand the astrology behind what you’ve been experiencing.
The Influence of the Moon Sign and House
If you know your own Moon sign, you should notice that you feel more emotionally empowered, and stronger, when the Moon is transiting that sign during the month.
The next step is to work out which house the Moon was transiting each day. To do this, you need to know either your Ascendant sign (preferably) or your Sun sign. Write down the signs in a list, in order, from Aries to Pisces, and write a 1 next to your Ascendant sign or Sun sign. Working down the list, write 2 next to the following sign, then 3 and so on; when you reach the bottom of the list start again at the top until you’ve written 12 against the sign before your Ascendant or Sun sign.
Use this list to see which house the Moon was transiting on any given day. For instance, if your Ascendant sign is Aquarius and the Moon was in Taurus that day, then it was transiting your 4th house. The 4th house is the house of family in the astrological chart - did you find that family matters or domestic issues dominated your attention that day?
The Influence of the Moon Phases
The most significant Moon phases for our purposes are the Full Moon and New Moon. Full Moon bring about closure or endings, while New Moons bring excitement, new beginnings and new opportunities.
Find the date of the Full Moon in your diary - what sign and house was it in for you? Did something in that area of your life (as indicated by the house position) come to a conclusion, or did you try to finish up or end something? Was the lack of an ending causing you frustration?
Do the same for the New Moon. Did you experience something new in that area of your life (as shown by the house position)? Are new beginnings underway, or have you formed a bright new idea which you need to work on?
These are generalizations, and you’d need to cast full astrological charts for each day to get the full picture, but this is an easy and useful way to start to understand how the cycle of the Moon affects you on a daily basis; once you get the hang of this, you can move onto more complex observations, and start to look out for patterns and trends.
