Description
Mommie Dearest – The Moon and mother issues
The Moon in the chart represents childhood memories, emotional needs, mood swings, unconscious reactions, giving and receiving any kind of food, including ‘soul food’. It is also strongly linked to what is called ‘the inner child’ in psychotherapy. Moon experiences go back to the way we engage with our mother. If we didn’t have an actual mother as a child, then maybe a substitute, like a grandmother, older sister, aunt, neighbor, teacher, etc. could have taken her place.
Even if our childhood was completely void of a mother figure, we will still have certain inner representations about what a mother should be like and how we would have wanted her to be. There are many people who would claim that their relationship with their mother or mother figure had been nurturing and loving. But often there are also people who experienced a less satisfactory relationship with their mothers. And most of us would have mixed and ambivalent feelings in that department.
Sign and house of the Moon
These issues are often reflected by the Moon. The combination of sign, house and aspect patterns give valuable clues. The sign of the Moon often reflects the way our mother made herself available to us. This house is the area in our lives where we are mostly in need of nurturing and where our mother had played a crucial rule, albeit often in a subtle, unconscious way. The house which is ruled by the moon is in a intuitive dialogue with the house in which the moon is place. It determines the deeper key motivation to interact with a mother figure. And in many cases our moon has to go farther afield to find home.
Aspects
Aspects can strengthen, weaken or contradict the usual dynamics of the sign in which our Moon is placed. Take for instance a Moon in Libra in a harmonious aspect with Venus. This person will most likely be charming and pleasing in manner. A Sagittarius Moon in conjunction with Jupiter will often go with a very idealistic nature. Moon in Scorpio in a trine with Pluto is not somebody who is easily fooled by appearances. A Moon in Pisces in a sextile with Neptune can be super sensitive and artistical. And so on and so on.
If, on the other hand, the sign ruler is a difficult aspect, the Moon will have a hard time to benefit from the bright side. It might rather feel the complexity and foibles of the sign. In these cases, the typical traits can be exacerbated and appear to be carved out in an extreme way. Challenging aspects from contradictory planets might taint the moon dramatically, thus changing the typical dynamics of the sign. A native with Moon in Virgo would be expected to need a lot of order and tidiness in everyday life. A conjunction with Neptune will probably add a pinch of chaos and a feeling of being lost.
The Moon is complex
This mother figure might have tried to provide order but was in some way not emotionally available for the child. A Moon in Taurus might crave constancy and tactile reassurance. In a square with Uranus these needs might often get disrupted. She might have suffered from mood swings and was experienced as unpredictable for the child. The Moon can be found in all sorts of complex and contradictory aspect patterns, both harmonious and challenging at the same time. To get to the bottom of things here it is crucial to bear in mind that our relationships to our mothers are indeed often twisted and complicated.
