THE LUNATION CYCLE:
PART ONE
In this series on Advanced Astrology, we will be investigating the
legacy we have from all the Masters. One of the modern giants of Astrology
was Dane Rudhyar. Although he is gone from us now, few will forget
his Gallic charm, delightful French accent, and brilliant mind. Dane
Rudhyar has shared his genius with us in his philosophies and in his
directions for living in the new age. He made many contributions to
Astrology, but the one that I most closely associate with Dane Rudhyar
is his emphasis on watching the phases of planetary pairs and on the
importance of the "Lunation Cycle."
He taught us to look at a horoscope as a picture of many cycles; he
taught us to look at aspects as phases of a cycle; he taught us the
necessity to live more fully, according to our personal birthchart;
he taught us to read the birthchart for our potentials so that we
may become more than we are.
I have used the term "Cycles." Let us see what Dane Rudhyar
meant by that term as we examine the Lunation Cycle. If, for a moment,
we think about the Saturn Cycle in a person's chart, we look at the
movement of Saturn by transit, through the houses of the chart. The
transiting Saturn makes many aspects to the natal Saturn. Each aspect
has a meaning of its own as it travels in relationship to itself.
Indeed, the Saturn Return is looked upon as a very important time
in one's life.
The transiting Moon, on the other hand, is swift because it goes around
the Earth, rather than around the Sun. The Lunation Cycle depends
upon the Sun as well as the Moon. It is this relationship between
the Sun and the Moon, as seen from the Earth, that constitutes The
Lunation Cycle. At one time, Dane Rudhyar called this the Lunation
Birthday, because he was looking at which phase of the soli-lunar
dance that a person's birth occurred.
We are sufficiently sophisticated to know that the Moon appears to
wax and wane through the month. The Sun-Moon conjunction, at the New
Moon, begins the Lunation Cycle. The Moon appears to wax or grow until
the Sun-Moon opposition, at the Full Moon. After the Full Moon, the
Moon appears to wane or decrease until the point of the next New Moon,
when the cycle begins again. The Lunation Cycle describes the relationship
between the Sun and Moon and Earth. We are all born at different points
in the cycle. Dane Rudhyar said that there are differing personality
characteristics and attributes associated with the different sections
of the cycle.
(If you tell me that your Sun and Moon are square to each other, I
will want to know if the square is the first square, between the New
and the Full, or the last square, between the Full and the New. The
same will happen if you tell me that your Sun and Moon are trine,
or sextile, or inconjunct. Actually, I will want to know how many
degrees that the Moon has traveled from the Sun in your chart. The
planetary distance will tell me into which section of the soli-lunar
cycle that you were born. Wouldn't you want to know? There are eight
phases, defined by Rudhyar, in the Lunation Cycle.)
The first information that we want is whether you were born during
a waxing (from the New to the Full) or a waning (from the Full to
the New) Moon. As you see, we are dividing the Cycle into two parts,
then into four parts, and then into eight parts. People born when
the Moon is increasing in light are said to be the builders. They
are concerned with growth, building structures, and leaving something
behind when they go. Those born when the Moon is decreasing in light
are always seeking meanings. "What does it mean? What does it
really mean?" If the meaning no longer fits the times or the
conditions or the structure, these people will destroy the structure.
Let me give you an example. People born during a waning Moon need
to know the meaning behind almost everything. The definition is more
important than the structure which it defines. Many years ago, I had
a client who was born during the waning phase of the Moon. One day,
this client's husband was seen driving down the Main Street of their
town with a beautiful young woman in his car. Friends reported that
this had happened before. When confronted, the husband protested his
innocence. Nevertheless, he had violated her narrow definition of
marriage which included fidelity and exclusivity. My client kept repeating,
"This is not what Marriage is. People who are married do not
do this." Her definition of Marriage was more important to her
than her marriage was. She said that she had to divorce her husband
because he was not living up to the meaning of Marriage. Here, the
definition was more important than the structure which it defined.
She broke down the structure and got a divorce.
The first half of the cycle is for doing things, for taking an idea
and building it into reality. The second half of the cycle is for
thinking about what we did or created. It is where we give meaning
to what we built in the first half. Each half of the cycle has its
purpose. Every good Astrologer will tell you to begin a new project
between the New Moon and the Full Moon. The project will grow better,
develop better, and bring you more success. Here I have been talking
about the phases of the Moon as they unfold every month.
There are three different places to watch the phases of the Moon in
relation to the Sun. One place is up in the sky, as the ancient Astrologers
did. This will explain to you what is going on around you. Another
place to look is in every horoscope that you examine. Each of us was
born at one moment within the Lunation Cycle and we are stamped with
the meaning of that moment in our personalities. The third place to
look is in the secondary progressed chart. We measure again the distance
between the Progressed Sun and the Progressed Moon to determine where,
in the Progressed Lunation Cycle, we are currently evolving.
In Part Two, we will look at the Lunation Cycle when it is divided
into eight equal parts. Each eighth of the circle (45 degrees) carries
its own meaning. We will investigate these meanings and how they describe
personalities.
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