The Moon

The Moon represents our emotions. In traditional astrology, the Moon represents the mother and the nurturing instincts and it also represents habits. When examining our roles on earth, we see the Sun represents Spirit, and the Moon represents Matter.

When we examine what keeps us returning to earth life over and over again, the Moon is an important starting point. In the same way, when we look at the Hermetic creation story the first boundary we must pass through to return to God is the boundary represented by the Moon. If we don’t pass the “test” of the Moon, we return to earth for another experience with earth-life.

What is it about the Moon that makes it the first boundary? Remember the Moon as keeper of Matter, of habits, emotions, and instincts. When we talk about getting “stuck” in any kind of cycle, which of these keep us doing the same thing over and over again? It’s habits and instincts.

Furthermore, what is it that keeps us returning to earth in life afterlife? Emotions–unfinished business, habits, and instincts. Several ancient esoteric systems (especially as brought forward by Gurdjieff) claim that the Moon is the “eater of souls”. How can this be? Could it be that, if we are eternally trapped in a reincarnation cycle, our souls are then unable to move on to reunite with God? The Moon is the first planet we must pass by on our allegorical trip back to God, and in symbolic terms, passing the first boundary, the boundary of the Moon is the most difficult, because we are least conscious of it.

Before we can go further, we must become conscious of our unconsciousness and “see” through the darkness. This is suggested by the fact that in India-n astrology, the brighter the Moon, the more auspicious it is. A full moon, one that is opposite the Sun in our charts, is visible to us. It’s bright enough to light the night!

By illuminating the night, a full Moon can help us make the unconscious visible to us–unless we “project” the Moon’s attributes onto others in our environment. So in order to break through the first circle and examine the other planets, we must break the habits of the Moon and start observing our own unconscious behaviors. The fear is that of leaving the familiar, the known, the “safety” of our illusions. The antidote is to observe where you are habit-bound.

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