The moon impacts the female menstrual cycle physically (go to two fertile times) .
The moon also influences us symbolically on an emotional and spiritual level. Expanding the concept of natal lunar phases, lets have a look at the astrological model of moon phases and what they mean.
Astrologically it is significant which lunar phase an individual is born under, as this will set a certain tone for the soul’s evolution in this lifetime.
As we saw with the Wheel/Goddess model, each phase has a particular function and personality, as does each phase of the physical bleeding cycle.
As you may be beginning to see, with all these variations it is no longer one simple formula to suit all women. However we can use all this information to better understand ourselves individually, on a monthly or lifetime basis.
If you know your lunar fertile time, you can read the description of your phase and meditate upon the themes described within the Lunation cycle, and how that relates to your life.
You can also read the information just to get an idea of how the lunation cycle works and unfolds.
The Lunation Cycle.
The Lunation Cycle process is basically a description of the birth, maturation and death cycle that all things must go through. It is a basic Law of Life whether it is applied to a living organism, an idea, an emotion or in this case the cycle of the Moon in relation to the Sun. The cycle is repeated over and over and over again, and each time the cycle is replayed we would hope that there has been progress and a new level of evolution attained.
In this model the Lunation cycle is divided into 8 distinct phases, which means that two of these lunation phases correlate to one Wheel of Life phase. However there is no strict division between phases as I have written here, it is much more of an organic process.
You can use this information to see what your life themes are or which phase of the cycle you are fertile at and meditate upon what significance that developmental phase has in your life. The Common Sense Fertility e-book describes this process in far more depth.
Crone Phase
NEW MOON Sun and Moon conjunct. 0-44 degrees
This is the beginning, the symbolic seed (or intention) has germinated underground. The moon is dark, so is the consciousness of the intention,(seed). All is new and the impulsive, the primal urge is to initiate and emerge, it is the very instinctive first birthing process.
Keywords: purely subjective, un-self-conscious, instinct driven from a body level rather than mental rational level, impulsive, innocent, naive, everything is new, no past, maximum life force, enthusiastic, charm and charisma, a need to be seen and noticed, dissociated, lacking in self confidence, not knowing who they are, overbearing.
CRESCENT MOON semisquare 45-89 degrees
The seed is now a young shoot just beginning to poke itself out of the soil – this phase struggles “against the forces of inertia”. At this stage there is still very little distinction between the instinctual unconscious and the creative consciousness but a move forward has been made and a sense of committment to that forward movement is integral. Crescent Moon people feel that they need to break from the past, to forge ahead in life they must persevere, because as they move forward they feel keenly the habits from the past.. it creates a dynamic tension – like a piece of string being pulled tauter in opposing directions. In a sense they need to cut this string with the past and continue with their new vision and make a new system that was seeded in the New Moon phase.
Keywords: highly sensitised and emotionally vulnerable, fledgling bodies are most secure in a comfortable and known environment, old fears and insecurities, growing, learning, toddler/childhood, expanding the boundaries of self and environment, become ‘rooted’ in their sense of self, use challenges, physically master the environment.
Maiden / Virgin Phase
FIRST QUARTER MOON Square to Sun 90 – 134 degrees.
During the first quarter phase the Sun and Moon square each other for the first time, this creates a very dynamic tension between the two planets.. a lot of energy is released at this point and that is part of the job of a first quarter person; to learn to manage the huge amounts of energy that are released due to the innate crises and conflict that this moon phase provokes. This time promotes action, action to create a structure in the new direction that has been set forth by the previous Moon phases. To correlate to the seed again, the plant is putting out root structure and stem and leaf structure ready to seriously grow out in the world. A person in this stage must be courageous and forward looking, not thinking about the past, all their energy needs to go into the pioneering quality.. the action.
Key words: shattering old structures by building new, crises, challenge, have to be careful of not creating crises just to get a kick out of it, fearless, can become angry and frustrated when inexperienced in the task of managing the crises energy effectively, people who take a stand and do what they have promised,, shape, manage and control environment, need to develop ability to make a decision and then carry out action based on that decision, commitment.
Gibbous Moon 135-179 degrees ahead of Sun.
This phase is basically about perfecting and refining the structures that were set up in the previous phase. There is a natural analytical and evaluative quality to this phase. The buds are staring to develop, preparing to bloom. There is still a link with the unconscious instinctive talents of the darker moon phases, but now more light “consciousness” is available and one of the challenges here is to balance the two modes of being.
Gibbous moon people realise that there is a certain ‘point of no return’, a decision and structure has been commenced in the first quarter phase, and now it is up to the gibbous to fulfil the promise. They must overcome any physical resistances and obstacles in achieving their goals, and realise that they can and must refine and perfect the plan as they manifest it into concrete reality.
Key words: drive for perfection, flexibility, honing of skills, paring down to essentials, apprenticeship, training, bettering themselves, artisan, understand themselves through finding better ways to do things, perseverance, eliminate the useless and superfluous, attention to detail, becoming more objective.
Mother Phase
Full Moon 180-224 degrees Opposing the Sun.
The Full moon phase is where meaning and purpose is given to the structure – “the discovery of what it means to live a purposeful life with conscious intention is the crux of the Full moon phase function” (Finding our way through the Dark). People here are learning to use their minds, realise meaning, become even more objective rather than the subjectivity of the dark moon phases.
Inherently also in this phase is the need to balance polarities, in this case symbolised by the Sun and the Moon being in opposition to each other.. here we have the greatest tension that there will ever be, and the individual will feel the pulls of these two separate beings, the Sun being the souls purpose and the Moon being the personality: the vehicle through which the sun may express its purpose ..when they work together there is a conscious awareness of life purpose. Full Moon phases need to be aware of this polarity within themselves and overcome the urge to find the “other” out in the world to create that synthesised union of opposites.
Flowering of the symbolic seed.
Key words: Culminate, illuminate, fulfil, think before acting, integrate polarities, objectivity, clear sightedness, recognition of other as separate to self: yet tolerating these differences within the larger whole, whole structure up to now can be seen for good or bad, will either contain its purpose or collapse.. this will connect to this persons self esteem and meaning for their lives, urge to merge.
Disseminating Moon 225-314 degrees.
Here we see that a life can be lived in a meaningful way and that this message and sense of meaning can be conveyed to others ; a sharing of the sense of meaning. The fruit is ripe and ready to be picked. A need to live out the purpose, “walk your talk”.
Key words: communication, distribute, convey, network, exchanging, working with others, group vision and purpose, guard against fanaticism, talking, writing, open, non-judgemental, raising conscious of society, bettering the world, meaning and purpose are very important to this individuals sense of self, starts to receive new information which leads to a crises in consciousness in the next phase as they are called to re evaluate themselves.
Enchantress Phase
Last Quarter 270-314 degrees.
Re-evaluation and re-organisation are important here. Last quarter types often experience a crises in consciousness as they are pushed to re-evaluate the meaning and purpose of their lives, and to integrate what they have learnt in their mingling with the other during the disseminating phase. It is a time of tossing out what doesn’t fit in their own developing consciousness. This phase correlates to the First quarter in the energy that is released and must be used, but instead of the energy being directed outward , here it is directed inward. This is a very contemplative inward turning phase, like a turning away from the purely objective and the return to the instinctive, where sense of purpose is still unknown.
Harvest is reaped and whatever fruit is left on the tree is left to rot, “the new seed that is forming must begin the process of severing itself from its parent plant”
Key words: Rebel, turn away, revise, questioning of previous thoughts and values, discard the old and useless, disillusionment, can be secretive, angst, anger and frustration as they sometimes do not know what to replace the old with, destructive, destructuring, seed starting for the next cycle.
Balsamic Moon
315- 359 degrees. Coming up to meet the sun again.
This final phase of the Moon as its light wanes and goes dark, as the Moon prepares to join the sun once more and start the lunation cycle anew, it is the bridge between the death of the old cycle and the birth of the new. Whatever has been learnt during the entire cycle or lifetime is now distilled and condensed, the seed, to take into the next cycle. Whatever is not needed must be released, loose ends in all manner of speaking must be tied up, eg, relationships. This type of person may often have short intense relationships, having many opportunities to heal old hurts from lifetimes evolved.
Key words: Distil, transform, envision, special destiny, break with old patterns and consciousness, encode visions into seed ideas which are scattered into the future,, ahead of their time, out of synch, different, finish old karmic business, straddle the past and the future, specialists in endings, closures.
So what does this all mean?
These different energies are not so clear-cut at one particular time, there is a definite overlapping of phases and moods as we experience the moon and our cycles. We can use this information as a guide.
Let’s look at an example.
Ovulating at The Enchantress / waning moon * Bleeding at the Virgin / New moon.
In this combination the more intuitive/reflective aspects of the woman are being highlighted. The woman’s body is biologically peaking within the context of the menstrual cycle at this point in time but in the frame of the enchantress phase, therefore you will more likely want to be away from it all to see what spiritual or inner egg is being released ready to be fertilised. In the bleeding phase during the waxing /new moon it would almost be like the cleanse of baggage would be taking on momentum, and possibly relating to issues to do with Virgin/Initiatory actions.
As another example, my natal lunar phase is new moon, and at the moment I do pretty much ovulate on the new moon and bleed just after the full moon. If we look at the attributes of the new moon person as being very instinctual, subjective and “in the dark” as it were, the times of ovulating and bleeding assist me in my purpose. To explain further, the enchantress/crone phase is happening to me when the moon is at it’s fullest, that means that the intuitive and spiritual links become stronger allowing me when I tune in, to get more information and guidance which I need. Conversely physically my body is peaking at the new moon allowing me to take action at that critical time of my cycle.
All this is not set in concrete rather I am presenting a model to contemplate and learn from, so that each of us if we choose to can use our cycles as a teaching tool.
