In most of the world's cultures and astrological lore, the Moon is honored as the most powerful life force, at least equal to the Sun.

The Moon has her own dreams and desires and carries the energy of the Sun to fulfill those desires to our delight or sometimes

Reach for the Stars Buy this poster at Art.com

our detriment. The Moon has many faces, and we are accustomed to seeing her partly hidden. We will look at the abundant ways the Moon symbolizes our values, beliefs and drives, our choices and behavior in relationships, our mother, sisters, maybe children, the family we knew and the home we know, our attitudes and choices of food, our endocrine system, and most important, the director of how we choose to live.

In many stories, the Moon has been described as a bowl you always carry...as you have experiences, you put into that bowl beliefs about your experiences and how to handle similar situations in the future. You carry beliefs and feelings about what your needs are in many areas of life, how to express those needs, in what situations those needs might be fulfilled, and how you might fulfill the needs of others.

You never really lose sight of the bowl, though you may add to it and take things out of the bowl. In this way what is carried is transformed...everything in the container belonging to the Moon is to stay there only so long as necessary to complete a particular change or growth...when it overstays its natural time, it is not right, like spoiled food, stuck emotions, or an overterm baby. Staying too long in any environment may stunt your growth, because of the tendency to repeat patterns when in similar situations or environments.

Fortunately, you can choose to remake your bowl and periodically empty the contents. Transits of Jupiter, Uranus, Pluto change the strength, adjust the porosity, remove some of the beliefs, enlarge the bowl and its usefulness to you and others.

Examining the contents of our Moon-bowls is freeing; it broadens our choices of action, and we begin to have a wider range of responses to both new and similar situations. We observe our thoughts, feelings and behaviors and grow from that observance, towards integrating the positive qualities of our Moon.

Resources:

• "The Mountain Astrologer, June 1996" This issue was devoted to the Moon: you can back order.
• "The Lunation Cycle" by Dane Rudhyar
• "Finding Our Way Through The Dark" astrological companion to "Mysteries of the Dark Moon" by Demetra George
• "Forecasting with New, Full & Quarter Moons" by Sophia Mason
• "The Moon in Your Life" by Donna Cunningham
• "Moon Sign - Key to Your Inner Life" by Donna Cunningham