*Eleditor’s note: Astrology isn’t a religion. We’re not sure it’s a science, either. It’s magic, maybe. But, as with feng shui, say, things affect things. So as long as we don’t go blaming our problems on the stars, as long as we assume responsibility for our own actions…well, hell, a little auspicious coincidence and applicable wisdom can’t hurt. And so, with that grain of salt…enjoy!

In my former life, about 15 years ago, I spent many hours as a bartender, raking in the fast bucks and learning more than my fair share about human behavior.

Bartenders, like astrologers, have a keen understanding of the nuances of human behavior.

Few bartenders would deny the sensitivity and active listening skills honed while mixing those liquid bouts of courage. Eventually, my attention found its way to the subtle trends that hallmark the experience of any astrologer, which I have now, years later, become.

Patterns.

One of the biggest obstacles I find in the people who refuse to acknowledge the idea of astrology as a legitimate tool for self and social study, is their diehard fixation on cause and effect. The work of all astrologers is quite sophisticated and involves all of our cylinders running to interpret. We observe patterns on a range of levels and the interplay of energy that has been availed to us through years of study. And some of us have become successful at it, to the point of assisting people with major breakthroughs in reaching a state of improved consciousness about their life and how they live.

In short, astrologers look at and share patterns representing energetic tendencies and elements and the interplay of these and how the sky signals (as opposed to causes) these in an “as above, so below” capacity. It’s a different way of thinking, and yet it is not so unfamiliar to any scientist—we are constantly collecting and reworking data sets based on new charts, new experiences and breakthrough after breakthrough with our own charts, reflections and those of clients.

With this, I digress back to bartending.

Why were people ordering the same things on the same days? Digging deeper: why were people, en mass, more aggressive, more talkative, more down to business, more jovial or serious, more melancholy, more gentle on certain days? En mass. Why? Because it was true, they were—there were trends, lightly tapping me on the shoulder to notice.

At that time, I was about a decade into astrology self-study. I had my chart done. I had read a handful of books, and I had run maybe 20 odd charts, mostly of family members, lovers (at the time and previous) and some famous people I was in puppy love with.

It occurred to me that perhaps there was something happening on a fairly regular basis—every couple days—that turned the tides of people’s inclinations just enough for the most sensitive of us to notice.

In fact, over the years since, it isn’t just something I speculate about, it is something that is as real to me as the chair I am sitting on, the sounds in the room around me.

The moon.

Approximately every two days, the moon finds itself in a new Zodiac sign. It shifts through the elements: fire, earth, air and water. The moon travels though one entire cycle of the Zodiac roughly once per lunar month.

Our resonance with the moon’s energy may differ because we all are in a relative relationship with the moon, due to our very own moon sign and overall astrological chart. Observe how the energy of the moon in different signs tickles your own chart.

Moon in Aries (Yang):

The tears you may have cried, the worries you may have had, the feelings you were seemingly drowning in, the fantasies you wove of past lovers and ideal lands far away, the laughing fits you indulged in without care yesterday (when moon was in Pisces) have vanished. Mars the ruler of Aries has grabbed the moon by her lovely locks and whispered in her ear—let’s make magic. It’s time to get started on what’s right in front of you and none of it seems to be happening fast enough. It’s time to ask that person out. It’s time to act then think, for better or worse—it’s time to just do it.

The focus is myopic—like an arrow, pointed and on fire, it’s you alone cutting through life. Watch out for situations where this approach is not ideal. Also notice and forgive the feeling of ADHD, starting strong and getting bored. It’s okay, for two days this attitude works if pointed in the right direction. Yet, it can also signal the last straw broken. Watch the temper. Honor the impulsive and be careful directing that energy. If the project is worth it, the Moon will enter Taurus soon enough. These are great days to start projects, do what you were afraid of, work out, try new things or speak your mind.

These are not such great days to confront others or have any sense whatsoever of diplomacy unless you have a lot of Libra/air.

Moon in Taurus (Yin):

Lethargic? Depressed? Well that’s normal the first 12 hours of this position, it’s all relative—of course you feel a bit like the day after a big party with Mars and Aries having winked goodbye shut the door on the Moon. But if you’ll observe, the energy of Taurus and Venus, its ruler, is now gently holding the Moon in her arms, caressing her face and whispering so low you can’t hear it at first.

But you will, once this moon takes hold everything slows down to steady and the love of the sensual, present moments takes hold. I find my Yoga asana and pranayama practices feel more tedious the first day of this Moon and then more sensual and deep by the second. Also notice that it’s a lot easier to sit and move toward meditation in the silent stillness. Enjoy peace, quiet, strong drive and, if provoked heavily (think bull in a ring) relentless response and follow through (a brick wall if called for).

These two days long to be peaceful and steady and stable and forgiving. It is a good time to follow through on what you have started, get stuff done, cook, have a romantic long, date and intimate sex, fine tune stuff, do things that normally agitate due to tedium, slow down, spend time in nature, learn and explore based on experience versus thinking and talking.

This is not such a good time to talk endlessly, be at the computer or in a virtual situation all day long or think up new ideas.

Moon in Gemini (Yang):

Yikes! Things just got…jumpy, social, flighty.

Ideas flood in, and it’s suddenly a lot more difficult than it was yesterday to concentrate. Meditation seems just littered with thinking. Hmmm…must be Mercury escorting the Taurean energy out with a smile, cranking the music and dancing around the Moon. Conversation is abundant, light and not so penetrating as it is informative and rapid-fire.

It’s flowing so fast you can’t always catch some of it, but that’s fine, before you know it another topic made you forget the last one lost. Better stay busy and keep things moving on these couple days because this energy gets bored, fast. A yoga routine might do well with some changing up these days, light experimentation and not a super amount of reflection as much as play. These are good days to: meet with friends and talk a lot just for the sake of talking, brainstorm ideas, come up with ad slogans, play on any level, let go of petty grudges, joke around and watch funny stuff. Not such a good day to: make decisions with long-term consequences, get serious about something and try to talk in a way that penetrates the surface around the issue, engage in emotional exchanges or media, finish things, philosophize, make long-term commitments—unless they have been all but decided before this Moon.

Moon in Cancer (Yin):

It’s okay to cry, because if you have any inclination before, it will be pulled out of you now. The Moon is in her element here, which is pretty much the opposite of the Sun’s. These days are about restoration, darkness, reflection, silence, and the unspeakable, watery, totally accepting yet fragile, sensitive, reactive, guarded and clingy realm of the crab. Feelings and more feelings as well as intuition, creativity and the need to perhaps find the nearest cave and hole up in it while all this blows over.

If you have a partner, things could get a bit needy on both ends, so it’s a good time for self-care, time out, getting in touch with feelings. This is a moody time. Think of the Moon herself—her phases, her mystery, her absolute calm and silence yet distance. If you settle into this Moon and don’t expect to feel great so much as real, she can be fantastic for reflection and rejuvenation. If you force yourself to be happy and constant and yang about things, she’ll be a bit of hell. It’s a good time to: get body work done, journal, paint, relax and do nothing, meditate, release yourself from expectations, nurture yourself or your partner, listen, cry over things you have bottled up, evaluate your situation based on how you feel if you are trying to make decisions or converse about feelings. It’s not such a good time for decisions based on detached, rational observation or having a discussion about a relationship (since the emotions might be so high that reaction is more of the place these discussions would come from).

Moon in Leo (Yang):

The Sun and Moon are now united in their energies and the effect is warm, party-going, creative, expressive, loving, and luxuriously, gracefully passionate. The air lifts now into a slightly more mature, fire sign. Leo is the quintessential actor—unafraid of spotlight and thriving on attention, this energy performs from the heart. It is a brave time. A time to speak out, but in a more refined way then when we were in Aries.

It’s been around the block and is cautious and calculated about how it lets out its ideas—sophisticated and interested in the effect, this is a time to make that statement, that impression, on others. It’s a good time to come from the heart and express yourself. The warmth dries out quite quickly the wet blanket of the previous, Cancer Moon. This is a good time to act on instinct and draw from experience—to wow others and work on your sense of pride, give a presentation, propose, perform and explain your feelings from the heart. It’s not such a great time to: intellectualize things, overanalyze things, hang out by yourself and think about the direction of your life.

Moon in Virgo (Yin):

The Moon is now wearing critical, dry and analytical sunglasses. The party with Leo was great the past couple days but now’s it’s time to look back and pull out the useful tidbits from the many conversations, clean up the house, throw out the trash and separate the reality from the fantasy. It’s also time to take those liver detox capsules, drink the water you promised you would start drinking, order those vitamins and smoothie ingredients and sign up with your personal trainer.

Virgo, and its ruler, Mercury, is about health and service and work. Clean up, get organized, tune into others around and see who needs what and explore how helping and giving to others might be one in the same action as doing for yourself. It feels like a relief to volunteer. Virgo is about realistically assessing the needs of others versus imagining or projecting them. It’s not glamorous like Leo, but it’s really impossible to imagine life without this energy—what would you do without the person who comes to the emergency room and holds your hand or without the person or part of your personality who cleans up, stays late to make sure things are all in the right place? This moon is a great time to get organized, make a spreadsheet, evaluate decisions based on real experience and circumstances, run the budget, sort through belongings to parse out what you need and don’t and explore healthy lifestyle choices.

This is not such a great time to let go and come up with art that is edgy or irrational (unless you are in a phase of it where you need exact, detail-oriented thinking), come up with new, innovative, groundbreaking ideas, fantasize about your future or visualize.

Moon in Libra (Yang):

Glasses on the end of its nose, the Moon looks up to see a soft smile and a hand plucking its spectacles away. Soft chats and a break from all that analysis will be just enough to see that it might be a bit more than your little world. You are not in a vacuum, it’s time to share your thoughts and feelings and self with others. This is when the Moon meets Venus once again, but this time in the form of a velvet gloved iron fist. This is the sign that signals the end of personal energies and the beginning of a life that is shared. It’s a tall order for a sign to be on this cusp—to be the one to teach the world about what relationship really means. Thus, Libra is not exactly a pushover so much as a smooth operator.

Even if hard truths are delivered, they will be done so with diplomacy and a level of gentle consideration. If Moon in Aries was about “I am,” Moon in Libra is about “I relate.” It’s a great time for long chats, negotiations, interventions, wooing clients, interviews, dinner dates to bring you closer. It’s not the best time to spring into action and execute—Libra is a rather indecisive sign and can’t help that since there is a lot to consider when other people are on the line. Don’t even try to force it, because it won’t stop short of sifting through all there is to consider.

Moon in Scorpio (Yin):

Now that you can relate, how do you interrelate? This is where some rubber meets the road in terms of authentic feelings. The energy here shifts into quite heavy and indescribable territory—the word being “intense.” It isn’t exactly palpable at first, as Libra leaves us in this pleasant cloud. But then, at some point in the shift, the feeling of overwhelm, being out of control, touchy, sensitive—these experiences take hold when Mars/Pluto Scorpio energy grabs the Moon and dips her deeply into a mysterious and dark land of transformation. Scorpio governs sex and debts—a level of interdependency that involves risk and potential loss, even a sense of death to the self. In both situations, you are losing at one point (orgasm is a loss of self to a merging of two, even if for an instant, and debt, well, whatever the amount, you risk it to lend and risk your self sufficiency reputation/karma to borrow).

This is a great time to get to the bottom of any feelings and suspicions or concerns you might have about a lover, a job, any situations that are weighty in your life. Alone and then discussed. It will feel like a mysterious and chaotic vortex at first to investigate issues during this moon, but if you keep to yourself, resist temptation to blurt things out or act out—due to the high chance that this time will be reactive—you will find your view cleared and the way forward transformed into what is correct. This is about self-control. This is not a great time to negotiate, make decisions or express your true feelings for all to hear, as they are in process.

Moon in Sagittarius (Yang):

Yeehaw! Enough of that intense underworld, let’s shoot that arrow to the stars and lasso them up! We’ve earned it. We’ve seen all the dark stuff down there and made a decision about what to do next. Now we are on fire to act. Sagittarius is the centaur ruled by Jupiter, a planet of optimism and expansion. It is also a sign of no bullshit, getting down to the truth and building social and philosophical structures based on experience. It’s a prophetic, globally-conscious sign.

With a heightened awareness of the animal nature inside the human experience, there is an Earthy wildness and zaniness to this couple days which will take hold if you allow it.

There is lots of letting go and expansion and pushing to the edges. The oldest of the fire signs, this is about instinct as well as wisdom and truths. It’s a time of optimism, making plans and shooting as far as we can into the sky—not always destined to reach, but stretching to at least try. The worst that can happen is to land short but further than most would get who don’t even imagine the possibilities. And we’re not afraid. We saw it all, we know we can get through it. So let’s get on with it. These are great days to visualize your future, make bucket lists, party, run around in nature, engage in sporting activities outdoors. These are not so great days to set work schedules with deadlines that are maintainable—as the expectations are more likely to be far fetched.

Moon in Capricorn (Yin):

“Hey, what are you kids doing in here? Settle down, sit down and let’s talk about the budget and timelines around those things you want to do!”

The old sea goat has entered the room, and Saturnian energy has sidled up next to the Moon and lit his cigar. The next couple days will be grounded but not in a drab way, in a “sit down son, let’s get some stuff hammered out” kind of way. There’s a comfort here as Capricorn is the oldest of the Earth signs.

It’s been around the block more times than most and not much will phase this vibe, so bring all your worries and concerns out and tell all your secrets and high-flying goals. Capricorn will put them into perspective and show you what’s possible and what’s “not to burst your bubble but” nonsense. This is a great energy for acceptance, forgiveness, calling what is what it really is and letting it all be. These are good days to make some refining touches on agendas and goals, finish projects and expand on them just to get brownie points, sit in long meetings and endure them as well as contribute strongly through the end, make financial projections, attend dinner parties and let loose within reason and beyond reason because all is manageable. Being or doing, that’s what this is about. These are not such great days to romanticize, fantasize, visualize, spiritualize, cry and sit around doing nothing.

Moon in Aquarius (Yang):

Yeah but that was all based on “old paradigm,” put that cigar out old goat, and let’s consider the magic of life itself—here, look into this crystal ball. Uranus is upon us, and a lightning bolt just cracked in the sky around the dear, tender Moon. But it’s okay, Aquarius is generally kind and understanding while deeply insistent that people get with the program about what the future holds. It’s got a big job, to get people off their butts. After all, we just bask in the now and the past and what interactions mean for the next five minutes. This is the long game gone longer than most would envision. It’s a time when those inventions come in handy and speculative energies rise to a peek. Souls who like the domestic, traditional, conventional way of life will be annoyed by this energy, because things seem to come out of left field, and the emotional support is pretty non existent around the reactions this rebellious energy may inspire. It’s a cool, detached and somewhat arrogant couple of days.

The detachment allows for evaluating things that the days leading up to it built up as “true.” Aquarius scratches its head and says “oh really? Well how long do you reckon that will be so?” The limits seem to have been blown off, like the lid of a jar popped and landing somewhere out of site, you can only hear it rolling in the distance to settle—open your mind, what if there were no limits? This is a great day to visualize, set manifestation points, read about the future—tech magazines, stock trends, documentaries on futuristic approaches, be creative and think out of the box about things. These are not such great days to sooth people, expect your feelings and physical needs to be met as much as the mental need to engage on large-scaled projects.

Moon in Pisces (Yin):

Neptune and Jupiter (again) come and squeeze the Moon and wrap her in a blanket as she giggles. “Thank heaven you are here!” she purrs, “it was getting so chilly!” Pisces enters and softly saves the day and listens to every, single whoa from the last month over. “There, there now, Miss Beautiful, adorable, tremendously underrated Moon, it’s all a dream anyway—would you like to weave another?” This is a time when we feel reassured but only momentarily before we feel again, what does it matter? The fantastic vibe of Neptune and the optimistic and expansive vibe of Jupiter create a warm, whispering wind of both dream and reflection in all directions—past, present and future. Life happening through this vibe seems quite slippery—feelings come and go so fast you can almost sense them for their actual, transient worth—and this is what maturity is: knowing that this too, shall and will (whether you want it to or not) pass.

These are great days for ending a relationship, reflecting on projects, watching films and comparing messages within them to your life, fantasizing, daydreaming, doing nothing and accepting that, admitting that you don’t need certain thought patterns anymore, engaging in art projects, writing poetry, anything, really, except (it’s not such a great time to set down rules around) stuff that the other, younger, signs would consider urgent or important.

How can we find out which Zodiac sign the moon is in?

I recommend the iLuna app.

~

Relephant:

Author: Emily Alp

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock & Renee Picard

Photo: flickr/Keith Rowley