Sun Sign, Moon Sign: Discover the personality secrets of the 144 sun-moon combinations. Charles Harvey

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СКАЧАТЬ are represented astrologically by the Sun and the Moon. We can think of these as rather like our masculine and feminine approaches to life that we learned from our father and mother (or those who acted as our parents). For to an astrologer, regardless of our sex, we all have both male and female dimensions to our nature. The central purpose of this book is to show something of the main issues involved with each of the different types of Sun and Moon zodiacal combinations. Equally, it is to show what can happen when we really become aware of these two sides and begin to work – and live – more wholeheartedly with them.

      BUT WHY SUN AND MOON?

      When we talk about the Sun we are essentially referring to our conscious, focused, ‘thinking’ level which we use to make decisions and move about purposefully in the world. By contrast, when we talk about the Moon we refer to our spontaneous, natural, receptive, ‘feeling’ level, and the way we seek and give nourishment and comfort to ourselves and to others. So far so good. But what, we may ask, have the Sun and Moon out there got to do with what is going on within us down here?

      The ancient wisdom, of which astrology is an important part, had no problem with this question. The ancients saw no real separation between man and the cosmos. Their central dictum was ‘As Above, So Below’. In other words, they saw that all things are the product and reflection of the same Creator, that ‘all things are made in the image of the One’. This idea may at first sound very strange to modern ears, but, as those who have seen the film Jurassic Park will know, this idea is still central to contemporary scientific thought. For we now know that the instructions for making the whole body are given in the DNA of every body cell.

      Just as one cell can tell us about the whole body, so likewise the ancients argued that what we see Above, in the heavens, will be reflected down here, Below, on Earth. Or, put another way, what we see in the macrocosm, the larger whole, will be reflected in the microcosm, the smaller whole. Science is increasingly corroborating this premise through discoveries about the ‘inter-connectedness of all life’, which has given rise to the now universally accepted idea that the ecological balance in nature, when disturbed by man’s greedy interferences, threatens our survival.

      The Sun and Moon are certainly the most prominent features of the heavens; they illuminate our distinctive but complementary worlds of day and night. This being the case, we can argue that all things will contain an equivalent Sun and Moon within them. So this means that the ideas of the Sun and Moon are to be found at work within all organisms. And, just as the DNA we see under a microscope looks nothing like the cells, tissues and organs that it can become, so the Sun and Moon take on different forms in different entities. In other words, no-one would mistake a chicken for an egg, or an acorn for an oak. They look totally different. Yet we know in fact that chicken and egg, acorn and oak are rather intimately related to each other.

      Astrology is a larger expression of this same chicken and egg metaphor. The ancients saw that if Above and Below are reflections of each other, then all things must contain the same essential ingredients. (But as to the perennial question – what came first, the chicken or the egg? – that discusson belongs in another book!)

      To the ancients the Sun and Moon were the gods who illuminated and ruled over the starkly contrasting worlds of day and night. So by analogy the same gods are seen to dwell within us, illuminating our own days and nights, our own minds and hearts. The Sun, which lights our days, represents the state within us of being wide awake. This ‘noonday’ level of consciousness enables us to be deliberately conscious, focused and attentive. In this state we know ourselves as separate, alert individuals, attempting to make our way heroically in the world, even though we may wonder why we sometimes bungle it so badly. Nevertheless, we consciously keep trying.

      In terms of recent research on the brain, the Sun relates to that level of consciousness which is traditionally associated with a masculine approach to life: the left brain’s activities of reasoning, manipulating objects and numbers; the ability to think in three dimensions, to orient oneself, to plan, organize and pursue specific goals.

      The Moon, by contrast, represents the feminine level of our personality. The ancients knew that the Moon ruled the world of night and the mystery of the unconscious, of dreams, imagination and the ebb and flow of our emotional needs, responses and sympathies. At this level we are in the realm of the feminine and all matters related to the right hemisphere of the brain, such as sensitivity to sights, sounds, smells; verbal fluency; and interest in people and relationships. The Moon is our connection with the larger world of what some would call Soul, that principle by which we are connected through body and feeling to all life. The Moon is our ability to respond to our own needs and to the needs of others for nourishment, protection and affection.

      To put it on a postcard, we could say that the Sun shows our more individual side and what we are like when we make wide-awake, conscious decisions about our life, what interests us and where we are going. Whereas the Moon shows our natural, gut-level, instinctive response to life, our emotional needs and our approach to looking after ourselves and the needs of others. And the vital thing to remember is that, whether we are male or female, we each have both Sun and Moon sides to our nature. To clarify further what these two different sides actually mean for us in real life, let us look at some real-life situations.

      THE SUN AND MOON IN EVERYDAY LIFE

      Imagine you are at a party. At most parties the aim is to make everyone feel at ease and sociable and, without realizing it, more in touch with their Moon level. Hence, parties are usually held in the evening, as the Sun is setting or has set, and the time of carousing begins. Nourishment is provided – plenty of food, drink, music and probably soft, muted lighting. These are all lunar things which encourage us to feel relaxed, more intimate, and in touch with our spontaneous feelings, or in other words our Moon side.

      Now, imagine that you have had a bit too much to drink and you are drifting along with the mood, and are generally a bit ‘out of your head’. Suddenly someone behind you drops a glass which smashes on the floor. As this happens you find yourself ‘pulling yourself together’ and ‘getting back into your head’. You may shake yourself and blink your eyes so as to ‘wake up’ and be able to size up the situation and take appropriate action, such as stopping people stepping on the broken glass, or helping mop up the spilt drink. If the situation is potentially dangerous you may actually turn up the lights to ‘shed more light on things’.

      This scene illustrates a shift of consciousness from the relaxed, cosy, soft-lit Moon level, to the more purposeful, bright-lit, focused, decision-making level of the Sun. Indeed, whenever you hear someone saying ‘pull yourself together’, you are hearing the instruction ‘move from your Moon level (where you have become over-identified with your feelings and emotional responses) into your Sun level (where you can have more conscious, decisive control of what is happening to you)’. If, while you are reading this, you take a moment out to say ‘pull yourself together’, you will probably find that as you do this you will pull your shoulders back and straighten up your spine. You are, as it were, taking possession of your body or, as we say, ‘becoming more self-possessed’. It is interesting to note that, astrologically, your back and spine are ruled by Leo, the Sun’s natural sign. So when we say of someone who is weak-willed that they are ‘spineless’ or ‘lacking backbone’ we are suggesting that they are lacking solar qualities.

      To give another example of the way we switch levels in daily life – imagine you have just had a serious talk with your bank manager about your overdraft. With good Sun-level conviction you have assured him or her that you are working hard to get your debts paid off. Outside the bank you meet an old friend. You start talking and soon you are deep in the lunar world of your mutual memories and shared experiences. Then out of the corner of your eye you see the bank manager coming down the street. Immediately you recognize that you are СКАЧАТЬ