Astro Basics: Know Your Moon Sign

Dear Fellow Traveler:

We're into that phase of the month when Tuesday editions are something other than monthly horoscopes -- here is the July long monthly and here is July Inner Space. We also have interesting coverage of Sunday's solar eclipse on Daily Adventure & Adventure, our main blog -- which today includes coverage of the point Lilith.

Today I have an astrological self-study project for you, which is looking up your Moon sign and house placement. This is a new idea for a Tuesday edition -- let's see how it goes.

If you are interested in astrology, knowing the placement of your Moon is basic. In truth, it is essential. The Moon represents your core personality: the child self that grew into an adult role. The Moon also speaks to your basic needs, and it describes your mom.

I bring this up now because the Sun is in the sign Cancer, ruled by the Moon, and we are about to have a total eclipse in that sign as well. So that places emphasis on the Moon.

If you seek understanding of yourself through astrology, you want to know about your Moon. It can help you explain a lot of things that are not covered by your Sun sign, including aspects of your personality that you don't like to reveal to others or, alternately, that you overemphasize because they are so familiar. The Moon can also tell you how your mom's personality transferred into your own, and where your mom's influence is sneaking into your life.

Finally, the Moon can be understood as the "child self" because it describes our most basic needs for nourishment and attention.

An accurate Moon position depends on knowing your birth time. If you don't have your time of birth, you can get your Moon sign or something close to it, though not the house your Moon is in (which changes about every two hours). So, step one, as with any astrological project, is look up your birth time. I don't suggest you believe the "about dinner time" kind of description; go for your birth certificate, or get a more detailed description from a parent or other relative. You may need to call your local health department, which will advise you on how to get a certificate with the time, if it is available. Note that many replacement certificates lack the birth time.

The next step is to go to Astro.com, where they have a nifty, convenient system for casting your chart. I just did it -- it's easy and the programming is smooth, cheers to Astro-Dienst. This is going to give you the basic data, not an interpretation. That second portion, how to work with your Moon placement, I will cover one week from today.

If you take these steps, you're also going to know the rest of your planets. Many of you will be seeing your natal chart for the first time. I would suggest you look at it with wonder and not "confusion." Astrology is based on a language, and it takes time to learn even the basics, but you can get good information straight away, if you know where to look.

Please let me know how it goes. We have posted this letter to a discussion page. To use this discussion page you will need to create an identity in our blogging system or use the one you have. Creating an identity takes about 30 seconds. There, you may discuss your findings and state your questions. I'll check that page tonight and ask other Planet Waves astrologers to check in as well. Let's see what we learn.

Yours & truly,