Moon in Aquarius: Florence Scovel Shinn and The Game of Life

“You cannot always control your thought but you can control your word, and eventually the word impresses the subconscious and wins out.” — Florence Scovel Shinn (Mercury in Virgo, Trine Pluto)

Words and sound have an energetic power that we are still discovering in scientific terms. Our sound vibrations ripple in a way that help effect change; many thought masters have observed this and put to paper what it is and how to use it to improve our lives and relationships with ours.

Florence Scovel Shinn is one such shining example. I’ve read and listened to her books many times, and each time I learn more. In her books, she expressed the core, yet varied, impulses of people with a keen humanitarian eye, and her personal accounts have a fairness and lightness to them. She understood that different people resonate different, and the key to self-improvement and happiness is to actively choose to become so, using the power of decisive speech. In her observations of the mind, her words become rather more stringent and analytical.

Sun and Moon in air signs

While adding to the list of affirmations by Moon sign, Florence’s books was pure fodder for inspirational quotes— she did have an accessible, easy writer-ly style and a keen observer’s eye for the many types of personalities. Her Sun is in Libra and Moon in Aquarius—a charming pairing of airy intellectualism.

In his 1940 foreword, New Thought minister Emmet Fox (1886–1951) wrote:

One secret of Shinn’s success was that she was always herself…colloquial, informal, friendly, and humorous. She never sought to be literary, conventional, or impressive. For this reason she appealed to thousands who would not have taken the spiritual message through more conservative and dignified forms, or have been willing to read…at least in the beginning…the standard metaphysical books.

Strong planets

One feature of her writings is that Shinn saw visualising, decreeing, and emoting are all means of causation. , Plain as day, clear and simple, no ifs and buts.

It reflected the flow in her birth chart very well. She has Mercury at 18 Virgo. This means the planet is exalted, and its energies are strong in the sign. It shows a powerful intellect and the ability to communicate with clarity.

Another Mercury theme is her North Node in Gemini: In this life, she develops her intellect, skills, communication ability. Gemini’s ruler (Mercury) is exalted, reflecting she will have a relatively easy time of it.

On the flip side, Saturn Conjunct South Node. In her earlier days, perhaps as a child, she experienced negativity and the problems of life. There might be a lack of structure growing up.

Forming a T-Square pointing to Saturn (and hence the South Node) are Venus and Chiron. A T-square aspect really gets a person going, primarly from an internal tension. It is often called an “achievement figure” as the aspects they form are charged with energy. The energy tension allows people to use it in life, be it in work, to act, or to achieve goals.

When the T-square is pointed at Saturn, the individual becomes ambitious and strong.

Florence showed this in her life, as she was motivated to improve her position in life. In fact, she disliked horoscopes for its predictive nature (or at least how it is popularly used). Florence believed we could overcome “karma”, “destiny”, or the “cards dealt to us” to choose another path.

"The science of numbers and the reading of horoscopes, keep man down on the mental (or mortal) plane, for they deal only with the Karmic path."

Astrology chart

3 air signs, 2 earth signs, 2 water signs (balanced, harmonious feminine energy, intuition, receptivity).

Mars at 28 Scorpio holds the highest degree. The soul is here to establish bravery and to enter into the mysterious, the hidden part of life, the occult and unknown (Scorpio themes). She has an enormous willpower and internal strength.

Jupiter at 25 Cancer holds the second-highest degree and shows that her soul’s purpose is to teach and guide others in a unique, unorthodox manner, to go against the mainstream conventions of her current time and society.

Both planets occupying the highest degrees in her chart are in domicile (Mars in 28 Scorpio) and exalted (Jupiter in 25 Cancer). They aspect each other, showing that she has innate wisdom that comes out when she applies her willpower and assertiveness towards digging for truth.

Florence Shinn and The Game of Life

 The Complete Works of Florence Shinn, a monograph containing four of her works: The Game of Life and How to Play It, Your Word is Your Wand, The Secret Door to Success, and The Power of the Spoken Word, all four written from 1925-1945. Florence Scovel Shinn, who was otherwise an illustrator from New Jersey, penned the book, and consecutive publications, with copious anecdotes from her own experiences as a healer, informed by passages from the Bible and theories of human nature and the untapped power of the subconscious.

In The Game of Life, she reflects with some insight on what she terms as ‘real and selfless love‘, and the power of making a stable connection with it and acting through it. Her tales frequently take a turn for the miraculous in a way that might appear simplistic or naive, but are illustrative of the prevailing attitude of the New Thought philosophy which formed the base of many enduring movements such as Christian Science.

Above all, Florence taught that we are Masterminds in our lives and can create using the power of our own words and speech. Rather than be preoccupied with what is happening, or should be happening, we ought to clarify what we want.

“Pure, unselfish love draws to itself its own; it does not need to seek or demand. Scarcely anyone has the faintest conception of real love.”

– Florence Scovel Shinn