The Lunation Point- Integrating the Phases of the Moon with the Signs of Astrology
The Sun, the Moon and our earthly nature; Each of us are born under a very specific relationship between these two great lights of astrology. The Phases of the Moon have never been revealed to share a metaphoric meaning with the Signs of astrology. We do not describe the “New Moon” in terms of Aries or Mars or the First House to convey the meaning of emerging into life under its phase. I always wondered, why not? My own answer to that question occurred to me on December 21, 2006; on the Winter Solstice. Perhaps, I thought, the dark of the New Moon shares an affinity with the dark of the Seasons. Here’s the simple formula.
Your Lunation Point is derived by adding the exact phase arc between your Sun and Moon of birth to 00 degrees of Capricorn. The Progressed Lunation Point is derived by adding the exact phase arc between the Progressed Sun and the Progressed Moon to 00 degrees of Capricorn.
The Lunation Point (LP) is a sensitive degree of the zodiac within your birth chart. It offers us a revolutionary new tool for reading the karma of our birth. It raises the gravitas of the sign and house (and any nearby planet) in which it falls. The LP grounds the nature of any Lunar Phase of birth into a particular degree on the zodiac wheel. And it progresses along an easily predictable formula, offering us one more reliable cycle for timing our astrological weather. And lastly, the LP in your birth chart is exquisitely sensitive to transits, bringing the pure energies of transiting planets into your life, particularly as they conjunct or oppose it.
The significance of a Phase of the Moon derives from the symbolism of the waxing or waning light relative to the complete dark of the early New Moon. When we align the Lunar and Zodiac cycles up along the template of waxing and waning light, every arc of aspect between the Sun and Moon can be translated into terms of a particular degree within a particular sign in the birth chart.
Lets use the chart of Donald Trump. His Sun is at 22′ 55″ Gemini and his Moon is just shy of being Full at 21′ 12″ Sagittarius. The arc of phase is exact 178′ 16″ degrees. He was born very late in his “Gibbous Moon Phase”. However, when we add that arc to 00 Capricorn, his Lunation Point lies at 28′ 16″ of Gemini. This Lunation Point sits up in his 10th house alongside his natal Sun. All of these factors, Gemini, Sun, Tenth are amplified by the presence of the Lunation Point here. It is up to Trump himself whether he manifests these symbols in his nature in its “higher” or “lower” octaves. Each reader will form his or her own opinion on this.
I am just introducing the concept of the Lunation Point here.
Allow me to offer you more context for this idea. And then more examples.
The Sun as Ego and the Moon as Self
The Sun and Moon are the two great “lights” of astrology; the two meta-symbols of astrology that speak to us in terms such as Ego and Self.
The Sun is the king of the day and of “light”. The Sun, moving in tandem with his constant companion, Mercury- symbolizes the abstract “mind”, the experience of “knowing” who “I” am. The world of “I”-deas and “I”-magination all manifest through the realm of the Ego.
The Moon is the queen of the night. The Moon, weaving her path through the “dark” reminds us of the mysteries inherent in the depths and expanses of our larger being. Even though the Sun seems to exercise dominion over the Moon on earth, the Moon gets the last word. The Moon is speaking to us through our senses and feelings; our hunches and intuition. The experience of “Self” is the foundation for the experience of “Ego”.
Ultimately, the most important relationship we will ever have in life is one we have with our selves! If we find peace within that relationship, we can carry that forward a long way into life. “Light” and “Dark” within astrology are equal players in the quest towards peace. Dark is not Evil. The whole idea of “Good” and “Evil” takes the believer far away from peace.
The Phases of the Moon as a Template for the Life Cycle.
As metaphor, the Phases of the Moon can easily describe stages throughout an entire cycle of life.
Of course, the visual Phases of the Moon run their course in twenty-nine and a half days. The Progressed Phases are far more useful to us. We track their influence using the one day equals one year method of progression and they offer a near thirty year cycle of relationship with our natal karma.
Coming back to the metaphor of a lifetime, we recognize that early in life, the crescent “light” of our solar nature emerges from the cosmic “dark” of our lunar nature. The dark of this generic “New Moon” phase of the human life cycle as a whole, yields to this emerging thin sliver of light very early; within a year or two. As we enter into the “First Quarter” phase of life, we are entering into adulthood. The “Crisis in Action” that Rudhyar speaks of fits nicely into the chronology. Forty two years from birth, the light of Ego has grown to its “Full” phase. And we slowly begin the process, of disseminating our well earned integrity and our personal creativity back to life. The Ego will always give itself back to Self, from which it came.
The Signs of the Zodiac as a Template for the Life Cycle
The Signs of the Zodiac also reveal a template for development through life. We are more familiar with this analogy. The seasonal cycle is one year in duration and many astrologers have drawn age affinities for each of the signs. For some two thousand years we have associated birth with Aries, the Ascendant, with the impulsive growth of early Spring. The end of the cycle lay in mysteries of Pisces. Surrender, compassion, contemplation and the higher or lower response to loss are relevant here.
This frame of reference has thrived even as many astrologers in training have naturally asked simple questions of logical order. Why, for instance, do we associate Scorpio with death? We know the ancients did. Did they also associate Pisces with the end? Is childhood more Mercury and Gemini? Or is it Leo and Fifth house? I pose these conundrums to open the mind for what is coming next.
Why are the Meanings of the Lunar Phases held apart from the Meanings of the Signs of Astrology?
The Lunar Phases… why have we never integrated them as part of an archetypal Rosetta Stone with the other symbol sets in astrology? Through the years, I could not find any references in the literature to that spoke to this long standing curiosity of mine. The common wisdom has taught that these two cycles are separate. That simply didn’t make sense to me. For many years, this question remained open and unanswered. But the question wouldn’t go away and the answer was not obvious.
Dane Rudhyar’s “The Lunation Cycle” (1945) was one of the few resources I could draw from. And I so eagerly wanted to associate his description of the beginning of the Lunation cycle with the beginning of the zodiac cycle. But his “eminently subjective” New Moon personality never seemed to correlate in my own mind with the outwardly impulsive confrontation with life that we associate with Aries. Rudhyar’s “Crisis in Action” which describes the First Quarter Moon phase speaks of the compulsion to cut ties with the past in order to move forward building anew. And this didn’t at all seem to correlate with the essentially internal and protective nature of Cancer.
Rudhyar’s “Lunation Cycle” told me that my own Crescent Moon Phase of birth inclines me toward being a vehicle for change in the established order. I could relate to this, but still, I yearned to align each of our lunar phases with the presumed corresponding zodiac signs? I believed that there must be a correlation with the zodiac itself. I yearned to frame my understanding of the Moon Phase in terms of a particular sign of the zodiac!
The Aha Moment
It was late afternoon on Thursday, December 21, 2006. Dark had set in on this shortest day of the year, and I had books strewn across both my bed and the dining room table as I immersed myself yet again in the mysteries of the astrological symbols.
Somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30 PM on this Winter Solstice, I realized in a sudden insight that perhaps The Lunar Phases do share an affinity with the Zodiac Signs if we align the peak Dark of the New Moon Phase with the peak Dark in the Seasonal Phase.
The idea penetrated my body, filling my body with excitement. What if the dark of the New Moon fits with the Dark of Capricorn season? Could the Sea Goat (which we transformed into a Mountain Goat somewhere along the line) reflect an ancient symbol of birth? Perhaps the “Crisis in Action” of the 1st Quarter Moon fits with the Aries Ram? This would place the Full Moon in the Cancer home of the Mother and Moon. This felt intuitively right to me and it represents a paradigm shift for it implies that the symbolism of birth might lay with Capricorn in the mythical ancient mind. How exciting for my Crescent Moon of birth with its need to bring new ideas to the status quo!
All that I had done in my mind was to simply re-align the lunar and solar cycles on the basis of this waxing and waning ratio of light to dark during their respective phases. It wasn’t about eight or twelve phases overlapping. What mattered was the degree for degree shared waxing and waning of light and dark throughout each of the two whole cycles. We have never aligned the two cycles with each other because we are accustomed to beginning the zodiacal cycle with Aries but the Lunar cycle starts in the dark. To align them is to rectify one cycle to accommodate the other. Which would it be? The answer has been clear for two thousands years. The Lunar cycle has been held as “different”. Perhaps, no longer?
“Light” as Ego; “Dark” as Self
Rudhyar spoke to the symbolism of Light and Dark in his book on the Signs; “Astrological Signs; The Pulse of Life”1943. In terms of human consciousness, Light has come to symbolize the emerging individual soul or personality whereas Dark symbolizes our collective unity within culture and cosmos. Dark must not be assumed to be Evil. Indeed it is our source. It is the entirety, which is the foundation for the emergence of individuality. We are both the Light and the Dark and we are all challenged to learn to Identify with all of our nature. Astrology can help with this immensely.
In his book, Rudhyar had painted a picture of each Sign in the Zodiac based on the seasonal proportion of Light to Dark. Individual personality (light) is only beginning its emergence into life in the early stages of the the dark of Capricorn. The individual will grow out of the collective. Ego grows steadily in stature, only waxing stronger than its Collective matrix (dark) as it crosses into the Aries stage of the cycle. Individual personality is reaching its peak at the maximum light of Summer Solstice; the transition from Gemini to Cancer. The individual human intellect and voice in Gemini is the peak of individual personality in a process that began in Capricorn! From here, in Rudhyar’s theory, a depolarization begins and the individual personality begins to Identify with the needs of the collective in Cancer. Light will wane and Dark waxes and this repolarization reaches a critical threshold at Libra, the sign of social etiquette and harmony. The creative individual seeds of personality are planted into the consciousness of culture and left for future generations as we pass through Scorpio and Sagittarius. This process ends (and begins again) at the Winter Solstice; the beginning of Capricorn.
My Uranian Epiphany; the Lunation Point is Born
Still back at the winter solstice of 2006 and I recalled that many of our astrological ancestors found meaning in the arc of the Soli-Lunar relationship by linking it to the Ascendant of the chart. Indeed, a major portion of Rudhyar’s “The Lunation Cycle” is devoted to the Part of Fortune which he considered to be an index of the evolving Sun/Moon relationship; an index of Personality and Happiness that is grounded in a particular degree of the Zodiac. I had never found my own Part of Fortune particularly meaningful and none of the professional readings I had received had stressed its significance either.
However, I integrated this ancient idea with my recent insight about the symbolism of beginnings in the dark of the zodiac, I speculated that there might indeed be a degree for degree affinity between the Lunar Phase of Birth and a particular point on the Zodiac, if I added the Lunar phase angle to the beginning of Capricorn.
My own chart is below for that day. Note that my Lunar Phase is Crescent in nature; exactly 71’ 15” at birth. Imagine that we transpose the “Sun” to 00 Capricorn and we add the 71’ 15” degrees of my Lunar Phase from there. The “Moon” end of this arc falls on 11’ 15” of Pisces, which lays on the cusp of my 12th house in my chart. This is my “Lunation Point” and it represents by sign and house, the particular alchemy at birth of my unique Sun/Moon phase relationship grounded into the Signs of the Zodiac. This alchemy has nothing to do with Sagittarius and Aquarius. It has to do with inherent quality of the phase itself; of the arc 71’15”.
My Solar nature remains Sagittarius; I structure my thinking and my values around freedom and room for growth and seeking large scale understanding of universal principles, etc, etc, etc… And Yes, my Lunar nature is Aquarian; my first instinct is to stand outside the crowd even though I’m in it. I always sit in the back of the class, keeping a safe distance from the authority at the front! I’m a bit of a loner and a rebel and a thinker, appreciating a bit of emotionally distance as a rule. But, the developmental phase of this Sun/Moon whole manifests as a strong Pisces element! It is a third factor of significance in my Identity.
This 11’ 15” Pisces Lunation Point on the cusp of my 12th house resonates for me. I love my mystical time, for me walking alone in the woods; a meditation in motion. As a child and adolescent I was quite shy. I am essentially compassionate, patient, non-violent and in many ways, through the years… vulnerable to the human condition. I certainly have loved my relaxation time with Scotch more than my parents would ever have appreciated! And I love to withdraw… withdraw from normalcy, from rules, from expectations. And yes, I’m a dreamer and have been at times a hopeless romantic!
Jump to Saturday morning, December 23, 2006. I was two days past having intuited this insight about the correlation between light and dark in the Lunar cycle and the Solar cycle. It occurred to me that I should look back in my life, look at the major transits to the newly identified Lunation Point in my chart at 11’15” Pisces over time. If this was a significant point, I would expect to find some calibration between passages of planets over it and life events. Imagine my absolute shock, when I discovered that very day, looking at the ephemeris, that Transiting Uranus was at 11’ 17” of Pisces. I conceived of the Lunation Point two days earlier when Uranus was at 11’ 13” degrees of Pisces. I had been feeling a direct infusion of Uranus energy in my life and I hadn’t really labeled it as such, but the symbols hit me over the head with transiting Uranus on my Lunation Point.
The transit of Uranus within 1 degree of orb of the Soul Point had begun in the summer of 2005, just as I was finally resolving the terms of my divorce. Uranus went retrograde but came back in earnest for the duration of 2006, a year in which I was more heavily invested in my astrological explorations. Living alone, I had also found a friendship with a woman who was also passionate about astrology and had an unmistakable and strong Uranian signature in her nature. Her Sun and Uranus were within minutes of arc of each other. We met often for dinner and bonded over the intricacies of astrological interpretation and theory as well as life hardships and pleasures. She was my muse during this time of deep exploration. I remain grateful to Amber.
More Fun! Progressing the Lunation Point
The creative process is so amazing. Ideas come out of the collective consciousness and unconsciousness in all of an instant. The Lunar world is the fertile ground for all of our Solar realizations. I had attended Steven Forrest’s intensive retreat on the Moon in 2009 and delighted in his superlative analysis of the Progressed Lunation Cycle which follows a twenty-nine and a half year period. I came home after that class and conceived the idea that we could actually tie that Progressed Lunation Angle into a particular degree of the zodiac, because this angle is actually the Progression of the Lunation Point of birth.
Most astrologers recognize the absolute meaningful progression of the Sun and Moon as two separate cycles. And they are interpreted independently from each other in the chart. The Progressed Sun moves along about one degree of zodiac time per year. The Progressed Moon about thirteen degrees of zodiac time per year; cycling the birth chart every twenty-seven and one-third years. The Progressed Lunation Point is the twenty-nine and a half year Progressed Lunation Cycle, grounded into a particular degree of the natal chart. I’ve been observing The Progressed Lunation Point in charts since that class in 2009.
The Progressed Lunation Point is a profoundly simple addition to our tools for timing the wave forms in our lives. I refer the reader back to my own chart above, for the timing of the initial download of these ideas in my life. Note that my Progressed Lunation Point was in a conjunction with my Scorpio North Node high in the seventh house of my chart. The Progressing Lunation Point does not take away any significance from the Progressed Moon, (which was in Capricorn in the Ninth house; reflecting my instinctive thinking on these other-worldly matters), nor does it diminish the Progressed Sun, which speaks so strongly to our personal evolution (and was in my Tenth House, in Aquarius aligned with the axis of Uranus and Chiron in my own chart at the time of my discoveries) As always, we are looking to integrate the messages coming at us from different perspectives when we are anticipating windows of opportunity and challenge reflected in our symbolism.
November 8, 2016- Trump wins the election
Scroll back up to the chart of Donald Trump set for election day of 2016. The Progressed Lunation Point is approaching the end of the third house in his chart. It was at 22′ 36″ Scorpio and would cross into the fourth house of his chart on the day after Christmas. I had no realistic idea whether or not he would win the election. I don’t think astrology can reliably tell us that actually. I think it can easily tell us something about the archetypes we are living at that moment. What did seem clear to me was that his orientation in this particular cycle was strongly personal; indeed approaching the fourth house of privacy. Using the LP cycle, it would seem that he was attuned to fulfilling his own personal ambitions for his own personal interest. It has been interesting to see how he has brought his family into the oval office with him and has been so reticent to fill out the executive branch. I’m not even touching on the Scorpio elements at this time except to suggest a chronic mistrust in outsiders. Is he serving the public? Or himself?
Pope Francis
On March 13, 2013 Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope of the Catholic church. He has quickly risen in public stature, winning the hearts of many who have grown skeptical of the church. Pope Francis has broken with tradition by embracing a more pedestrian, more liberal approach to the poor and underprivileged. His image is that of a progressive papal reformer.
When we look at the birth chart of Pope Francis, we see a Sagittarius Sun with an Aquarian Moon. A spokesman for God who values the potential for reform in his heart? The angle between his Sun and Moon is 46 degrees and 38 minutes of arc. This is the beginning of the Waxing Crescent Phase of the Moon. Add this angle to 00 Capricorn and his Lunation Point lies at 16’ 38” Aquarius in his Seventh House, in conjunction with his Aquarian Moon and Venus.
My observation of the Lunation Point (LP) over the past ten years leads me to suggest that it acts like an amplifier for the sign and house in which it resides. It also strengthens the manifestation of any nearby planetary symbols in our identity. Pope Francis’ Aquarian Moon/Venus is supercharged by this relationship to his Lunation Point. Does he “know” trauma or alienation in his karmic past that colors his behaviors and views? We know him in life to be a Man of God who is peacefully breaking with tradition by advocating social and fiscal policies that would nurture and protect all classes of people and even the environment itself. He is acting out as a reformer more than a revolutionary. His is a eminently a comforting, Lunar figure who brings an Aquarian humanitarian mentality to each individual in his presence.
It is of great interest to note that the Progression of the Lunation Point (outer circle, coupled with the transiting planets) was aligning with his natal Neptune when he was elected to the Papacy. Keep in mind that this is the Disseminating Phase of the Lunation Cycle, grounded here at 17 29 Virgo. This phase speaks to the process of offering one’s magnanimity to others. And the space for this expression on his part is his natal Neptune. Natal Neptune is also bringing in Saturn which is laying across the axis. This juxtaposition of energies and archetypes in his nature was figural in his life at this time. We don’t have to “predict” anything. It is not difficult to recognize that the relevance of these symbols, as he ascended to spiritual leadership within the community of Catholics, and other empathic humans, worldwide.
Many in the media and in life see in Pope Francis the hope for significant change in the crystallized structure of the church hierarchy. His natal Uranus is in the 10th house. With Taurus on the Mid-Heaven, his Aquarian Venus is a factor in how the public perceives him. This combination of loving reformist has taken hold in the public and it remains to be seen just how far he will go with that as he responds to this need of the global communities around him, for his reforms.
There is no attempt here to offer a comprehensive analysis of Pope Francis’ chart or his entire astrological weather. We are sticking to the Lunation Point (LP). Naturally there were other natal symbols under stimulus simultaneously when he was elevated to such stature. Among them, Tr Pluto was on natal Mercury at the Descendant and Tr Saturn was squaring that loving natal Moon/ Venus. I have also left out any analysis of the Life Axis (LA).
Bernie Madoff
On December 11, 2008 Bernard Lawrence Madoff was arrested by FBI agents and charged with Securities Fraud. He had been running a Ponzi scheme through his securities business in New York City. As it was, the scheme was one of the largest ever uncovered in American history. He had defrauded investors to the tune of 18 Billion dollars. He was born with a Taurus Sun and Moon in conjunction. They both reside in the 9th house. We don’t typically think of Taurus as vulnerable to defrauding others, but we do recognize the desire to build security around oneself while working methodically. Perhaps the 9th house hints at the need to elevate that to very large proportions. Madoff’s Lunation Point, derived from the Moon just a few degrees behind the Sun measures out to be 23 31 Sagittarius in the 4th house of the chart. With this Sagittarius emphasis, the idea of expansion and risk taking comes up again in our thinking. The 4th house context also implies a real attuning to family and privacy in his life. But there isn’t a wise soul in astrology who would look at these and other factors in his chart and predict that he would grow up to be so dishonest with the public. He could have just as likely served the public very well.
What is so compelling to show you here is that the Progressed Lunation Point was crossing his Mid-Heaven as he fell from grace. The headlines across America told his nefarious story for months to come. His public notoriety expanded dramatically. The symbolism is too obvious to ignore. When Pluto transited out of Sagittarius and into Capricorn in 2008, the the world economy took a major hit. Metaphor serves us well when we see that as his Lunation Point progressed from the 9th into the 10th housem Bernie Madoff’s professional and personal world re-polarized.
Prince
We all mourned the surprising and untimely death of Prince on April 21, 2016. He had made his mark in music for decades. By now, we have all come to realize that his death was drug related. Prince was a Gemini Sun with a Pisces Moon. We recognize in both of these signs a great deal of creativity. The Solar Gemini is full of activity and personal expression. Gemini is fully human in its nature; embracing the gift of intelligence and mental abstraction. This is of course intimately related to the writing of music. His Pisces Moon reveals a depth to his character; a true compassion for the underprivileged, a resonance with pain and suffering. Pisces is also related to artistic expression of the humility that we all experience at times in our lives.
The Lunation Phase of Prince’s birth was Disseminating. The phase angle is 255 18 degrees from Natal Sun to Moon. Add this to 00 Capricorn and this Disseminating Lunar Phase is expressing itself particularly through the point of 15 18 Virgo. He was a master student of music. More importantly, he was a master teacher, taking many musical souls under his wing and supporting their own journey. This karmic point is also in the 10th house of his chart. It supports the notion that he might naturally demonstrate his Virgo nature to the world.
When we look to the Progressing Lunation Point for the day of his overdose on fentanyl, we see that it is approaching his Mid-Heaven, where natal Pluto sits from birth. It is about one and a half degrees from Pluto. We know that was about to enter into a treatment program on the day of his death. Presumably, with the Progressing Lunation Point crossing over the MH and Pluto, he would have been calling on his most powerful demons to establish a new and “right” relationship with them. Alas, he didn’t get there.
Note also the presence of transiting Jupiter over this natal Lunation Point. Many astrologers have recognized that Jupiter is often prominent in death charts. The context for that becomes more clear when we recognize that Sagittarius was the sign of the heavens following the sign of Death in the mythology of the ancients. Zeus was both a giver and taker of life. But who needs God when you have a Jupiter in your own chart. The blind faith in one’s ability to play Russian roulette without harm, often sets us up for a fall, as it did here for Prince.
Discovering Your Own Natal and Progressing Lunation Point
I invite the reader to use the Your Birth Chart Function built within this site so that you may discover your natal Lunation Point and your Progressed Lunation Point for any date of your choosing. This charting function will open in a new window for you. This allows you to keep these pages available to you while you explore your own or other’s charts. The natal Lunation Point is marked LP on the inside wheel. The progressing Lunation Point is also marked LP, but it is placed on the outside wheel along with the transits for any date of your choosing. This is free to the reader and you can enter as many charts as you wish into your own private database within this site.