Hello, dear, reader,
This week I tweeted something off-the-cuff that distilled a thought I’ve been churning for months:
For years my friends and I have bemoaned the “Sun Cult” or the overly diurnal society in which we live, its faults including a hyper-focus on productivity and achievement over mere existence as well as a measurement of someone’s worth by how much attention and power they accumulate. I am ruled by the Sun so am not here to badmouth this beautiful, shining sovereign but simply point out what is overlooked— something astrology does so well.
The Moon is so common, such a regular part of our earthly existence that she is easy to overlook. At the same time, Mary Ruefle believes that the first lyric poem was created because of the Moon:
Epic poetry was well established. The great men had sung of battles and heroes, whose actions affected thousands, and blinding shields and the wine-dark sea and the rosy-fingered dawn… In the middle of all this then, a woman on an island on a moonlit night picks up some kind of writing instrument…she begins to simply speak or sing, and the words express her personal feelings of the moment. Let’s call her Sappho. One can hardly say these little songs have survived—for we have only fragments—but even this seems fitting, for what is the moment but a fragment of greater time?1
This idea points to the magic she contains if we dare stop overlooking the common, the fractured, the imperfect, which is her domain.
I am reminded, too, of Anne Carson’s Short Talk on Major and Minor:
Major things are wind, evil, a good fighting horse, prepositions, inexhaustible love, the way people choose their king. Minor things include dirt, the names of schools of philosophy, mood and not having a mood, the correct time. There are more major things than minor things overall, yet there are more minor things than I have written here, but it is disheartening to list them. When I think of you reading this, I do not want you to be taken captive, separated by a wire mesh lined with glass from your life itself, like some Elektra.2
These divisions echo the domains of the Sun and the Moon, respectively. There is something quieter, more earthly about Lunar/”Minor” things but ultimately, the Moon is about not dividing between what belongs or doesn’t. While the Sun may shave off what doesn’t fit its coherent whole or grand vision, the Moon welcomes everyone, belongs everywhere, with princes and paupers, big and small, alike.
We musn’t overlook the minor moments, feelings, memories in our life that the Moon can help us access, or appreciate more deeply. Just because something is common or embedded in ordinary circumstances does not diminish its power. In his short story “A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain,” Jorge Luis Borges, an Argentine author who was born with Cancer rising (the sign of the Moon), tells of the titular character believing “that ‘great literature’ is the commonest thing in the world, and that there was hardly a conversation in the street that did not attain those ‘heights’”.3
The profundity of something is not diminished merely because it happens all the time. Think of clichés: we tend to overlook them because we hear them so often but isn’t their deep truth what makes them so commonplace to begin with? We diminish the power of each moment by letting its commonness halt our attentiveness. Yet each experience is always new. It has already been lived before, by many before you.
There’s a reason the Moon rejoices in the Third House, place of the goddess, writing, and daily life. She alights when we record our ever-shifting thoughts, feelings, memories, likes and dislikes. She loves to gaze upon our shelves full or journals and notebooks; our photo albums and bulletin boards. Are we not alive for these, local, momentary joys?
I wrote that tweet because I know my life is more enjoyable when I celebrate the small things— a really cute outfit that makes me feel like myself; a really good meal, savored; a night out with an old friend.
Plus, if you have trouble with any Lunar things— sleeping well, comforting or protecting oneself, feeling your feelings or resting, remembering to eat— or have an afflicted Moon (in Capricorn or Scorpio, any hard aspect to Mars or Saturn; in the 6th/8th/12th house), then engaging in these minor celebrations is an act of remediation. To learn more about drawing down the Moon through remediation check out my newsletter on the subject:
This is what proper Lunar remediation can shift you towards:
[The Moon] is wise, patient, and fond of courtesy, controlling himself in accordance with the laws of Manu4. Speaking kindly and clothed in spotless garments, the playful Moon with pleasing eyes laughs softly and sweetly.5
William Lilly adds that the Moon, when well-dignified (or remediated) is “a soft, tender creature, a Lover of all honest and ingenuous Sciences, a Searcher of, and Delighter in Novelties…wholly caring for the present Times…easily Frighted, however loving Peace”.6 The Moon may make you more timorous because she makes you more aware of potential dangers. Her deep feeling and concern for the present can also help you open your heart to the plight of Palestine right now, reminding you that we are of the same race as everyone else, and that our safety is tied up with theirs.
We see the Moon when we all cry over the loss and brutality committed against the Palestinian people as well as when we rejoice at a smiling baby who has just escaped the rubble or a family who carries their cats with them from what used to be their home. Remembering the names and lives of all those killed, injured and displaced is so so important. It helps us remember our shared humanity.
Learn More about the Moon and the other Planets with my new Zine. Read more and purchase below:
I made this guide so anyone, of any astrology experience, can bring more magic and intention into their lives. Read extensive essays on each of the traditional planets alongside interactive activities to bring the felt experience of astrology even closer
And if you want help remediating your own chart or connecting to your own Moon, my books are open <3
For now, I leave you with this:
Until next time,
Love
Chloe
https://poets.org/text/poetry-and-moon
https://gregsandow.com/media/ShortTalkText.pdf
Jorge Luis Borges, “The Collected Fictions,” p. 196
Hindu for “The first man,” it seems to me to signify a divine humanness
Yavanajataka p. 10
Lilly https://www.renaissanceastrology.com/moon.html#H