Understanding Your Subsconcious in Astrology: The Sun and Moon (Part 1)
The traditional astrological understanding of the Sun and Moon sees these as the “lights” of the main character drive: the conscious ego (Sun) and the subconscious self (Moon).
By understanding how you operate subconsciously, you’ll be able to use your energies more consciously. This includes techniques you’ll experience inside your body and internal ecosystem.
What is astrology?
All ancient practices are tied to Nature. This includes astrology.
Probably as long as people have lived under the sky, they have charted the stars’ positions and aspects and used it to predict events in the world. Astrology became a useful tool of divination that interprets patterns of the planets, Moon, and stars to foresee earthly events.
As a modern era of scientific Revolution took place, astrology fell on the wayside as the tools of science failed to explain how it could work. Astrology became discredited as a science, even though it can not be fully classified as a rigid science — we don’t fully comprehend the cosmos and as creative beings, we always have free will.
However, astrology is being re-discovered by masses as a way to understand the world around them.
The Sun and the Moon
In your birth chart, there is the duality of light and dark between the sun and moon, which are called luminaries. The luminaries are deeply personal energies in your chart, representing the seen and unseen parts of your psyche. More importantly, we see the Sun and Moon as a play of two polar energies together. This ancient principle of polarity is one of the core laws of the universe and part of the foundation of Astrology.
The Sun
Most of us know our Sun Sign, through popular astrology.
The Moon Sign powerfully affects the manifestation of your Sun Sign.
An emotionally-in-touch Cancer might gain vanity and confidence from having their Moon Sign positioned in Leo, for example. Other planets control other domains in your life. Venus reigns over one’s love life, and the Midheaven sign gives us insight into our life’s work.
Apart from astrological signs however, any deeply-rooted thoughts, or ideas and feelings you hold onto inevitably become the belief system that determine your actions…which could greatly support your conscious goals and intentions…or create a spectacular fizzle, crash, and/or burn.
The Moon
The Moon is really part of the Earth system. In fact, the Earth and Moon form a binary system that share a common center of gravity which is located within the earth's surface, about 1,060.68 miles beneath the surface of the earth.
In astrology, the moon rules over the water sign Cancer and embodies your subconscious mind and deepest emotional needs.
Visible at night, the moon reflects the light of the sun, and rules the ocean tides and provides nourishment to animal and plant life on earth. Representing the relationship with your mother and early home environment, the moon represents your “home”, or “comfort zone”, what you need to feel nurtured, secure, and at ease. You begin to understand your emotional needs, reactions to situations, and instinctual behaviors.
The Moon is a mystery in that it is both our mother and our child. The Moon is our mother, because (similar to the womb of the Saturn return) everything and every body issues forth or is born from it. The Moon represents the subconscious and un-manifest regions from which all life, literally all "stuff" comes forth.
As each one of us is born “in a Moon sign”, we draw around our spirit whatever kind of form or body appropriate. We individuate or extract our self from mother Moon and take on our individual form. We are no longer part of the great matrix or womb from which we came, but at some point have been born and begin to separate from the mother. We are an individual, now separate from our mother, and living on our own.
Breaking Free: growing out of a group
The first way to break free of subconscious patterns that may be sabotaging you is to grow up. Everyone experiences this at some point—it tends to still be called the “awkward teen years”. This occurs around the first Jupiter return at 12 years of age, but more physically the opposition or halfway point in the first Saturn cycle (15 years of age). What we call puberty.
Everyone is growing out of their peer group to become individuated. In certain situations, this process can feel more traumatic, less empowering — imagine the atmosphere of a middle and high school. The intense peer pressure that rules the group mind of the early teens begins to break down as more independent souls leave the group.
Others may or may not be successful at emerging into their own identities based on how they witness one another leave the group.
Breaking Free: Recognizing subconscious behaviors
The Moon is all about memory, about the past, and about where we came from. It can also be a repository of where our thoughts and behavior come from, which is our subconscious. Your subconscious is the part of yourself of which you are not fully aware, but which may heavily influence your feelings and actions.
When your moon is in a opposite or incompatible sign to your sun, it creates internal tension to meet the needs of each. For example, a Taurus sun wants light sensuality but their Scorpio Moon seeks deep intensity, or a Virgo sun wants practicality but a Gemini moon craves variety.
It takes experience to recognize your emotional needs may be different from what you consciously want. What is experience in emotions if not a little rough terrain in the relationship department? Accepting and understanding the differences between your sun and moon is the first step to integrating both sides of yourself.
align your conscious and subconscious together
Aligning your subconscious mind with your conscious mind is vital for a truly fulfilling, successful, and happy life. Do you cultivate awareness of your subconscious (Moon)?
The sun and moon work together to not only breathe life into existence on earth, but also within you as an individual. As you grow through life, you integrate their polarities, allowing you to release and let go of the past, breaking free from anything to achieve your goals. The Sun and Moon are the lights in your astrological chart, and reflect a way for self-mastery and healing.
Thus, your conscious and subconscious must align in order to reach a goal. No matter how strong your will or how pure your intent, if your subconscious hold sabotaging habits that work against your elevation, you will always be fighting an uphill battle.