Part One
The Soli-Lunar Relationship
It has become customary among people interested in astrology to say: "I am a Leo," "I am a Sagittarius." What is meant by such statements is that the individuals in question were born when the Sun was located in the zodiacal signs Leo and Sagittarius. Zodiacal signs — which must be clearly differentiated from zodiacal constellations (groups of actual stars) — are simply 30-degree sections of the path which the Sun describes in its apparent yearly motion from one spring equinox to the next — more precisely, from two successive northward crossings by the Sun of the celestial equator.
The Sun is in Aries when it is located from 0 to 30 degrees away from the vernal equinox point (Aries 0°). It is in Taurus when it has traveled from 30 to 60 degrees from this same starting point of the yearly solar cycle. To say, "I am a Taurus native," means, thus, that one chooses to characterize one's own nature or human type by using as a "frame of reference" the apparent motion of the Sun every year from one vernal point to the next.
The position of the natal Sun within this zodiacal frame of reference defines what we call the "birthday" of the person — at least, within the limits of accuracy of our modern calendar. The birthday is, thus, exclusively a "solar" factor and has meaning solely in terms of the significance of the Sun.
It should be clear that any other important natal factor which has a regular cycle, for which a precise and logical starting point can be easily ascertained, might also be used in the same way as we normally use the Sun in order to determine a different kind of "birthday".
For instance, a planet like Jupiter crosses the equatorial plane northward at regular intervals; these crossings could be considered (and are so considered in mundane astrology) as the beginning of a Jupiter "year", lasting nearly twelve solar years. Then, the position of Jupiter at birth could be defined with reference to this Jupiter "year"; when Jupiter returns to its natal place, a person could then be said to have his "Jupiterian birthday".
Such a procedure would be followed in any civilization which would consider the Jupiter factor as being more basic than the Sun factor and which would base its calendar upon the cycle of Jupiter instead of upon that of the Sun. This would be logical and feasible, whether or not it has ever been done.
Actually, because astrology and the use of a calendar began in societies mainly concerned with agriculture and the need to establish as clearly as possible the rhythm of seasonal changes, the position of the Sun — the one basic source of heat and light — has always been featured in the making of a calendar. It has not, however, always been featured as exclusively as it is in our present "solar calendar". There have been so-called "lunar" calendars, and the Islamic calendar still belongs to this category.
It is incorrect, however, to call "lunar" any calendar or time pattern which is established by considering as the basic unit of time the period from one New Moon to the next-that is the "lunation cycle". Such a lunation cycle is soli-lunar, not really lunar, for it refers to the recurring period of the successive conjunctions of the Sun and the Moon. New Moons and Full Moons are not, strictly Speaking, "lunar" factors; they are phases in the relationship of the Moon to the Sun, as it is seen from the point of view of the Earth.
The Lunation Cycle is a cycle by the related motions of the Moon and the Sun. It belongs, therefore, to a different type of cycle than the yearly cycle of the Sun from vernal equinox to vernal equinox. The former is a "cycle of relationship" — the latter, a "cycle of positions". The distinction between these two categories of cycles is basic and must be made if astrology is to have solid and logically consistent foundations.
This distinction is that between the "sidereal" and the "synodic" periods of the planets. The former refers to the regular motion of a planet to a (theoretically, at least) fixed starting point. The vernal equinox point, a characteristic star which is supposed to be "fixed", constitutes the beginnings of such cycles. The year, the sidereal day, the transits of a planet from its natal position to this same position years later are, all "cycles of positions"; they refer to the distances of a moving factor (Sun, earth meridian, planet) from one set point to this same point again. Only one basic factor and its motion are considered.
On the other hand, where "cycles of relationship" are studied, two moving factors are considered. The cycle begins at the time of their conjunction, climaxes at the time of their opposition, begins again at the next conjunction. Not only the lunation cycle belongs to this category, but all usually called "cycles of planetary conjunctions" — such as the well-known cycle of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions, which lasts about twenty years.
The soli-lunar cycle extending from New Moon to New Moon is, in my opinion, just as important in practical astrology as the cycle of the solar year; but while it has a most fundamental and recognized place in mundane astrology and in all agricultural and climacteric approaches to the study of astrology, it is not given sufficient meaning in natal astrology, in psychological-astrological studies and also in the type of personal guidance featured in astrological magazines.
We consider as basic the twelve-sign zodiacal cycle of the Sun (the year) and the twelve-house pattern derived from the daily motion of the horizon and meridian of the Earth, both of which are "cycles of positions". But just as basic are all "cycles of relationships" between planets, the prototype and model of which is the soli-lunar cycle — the measure of the true monthly periods of time. This period, the month, is necessary as a vital intermediary between the year and the day — just as, philosophically speaking, "mind" is the necessary intermediary between the realm of "spirit" (the Sun and its yearly rhythm) and that of "material body" (the Earth and its daily rotation).
There is but one Latin word for "mind" and "month", mens, from which also is derived the word for "measure". Mind — and also in a certain sense, soul — belongs to the middle realm in all trinities of principles of being. Mind is the "formative principle"; this principle, which is the controlling factor in all actual manifestations of life (i.e., in all "organisms"), can be understood only in terms of the interplay of polarities — the yang and yin of old Chinese philosophy, the solar and lunar factors in Alchemy and in the more profound systems of modern psychology (particularly C. G. Jung's).
To study only the Moon and its sidereal real "cycle of positions" is to ignore the meaning of mind and soul, for these elements of our most vital nature are expressions not of a lunar factor, but of a constantly evolving soli-lunar relationship. This relationship is symbolized and actually represented in astrology by the lunation cycle, whose cyclic series of phases are not lunar, but soli-lunar.
Truly, we may say that the "phases of the Moon" are changes in the appearance of the Moon only. Actually, however, we do not see the Moon itself as a body; we see the solar light which this body reflects. The Moon has no phases, really. It is the light of the Moon which varies and has phases; it varies because it is the expression of the relationship between the Sun and Moon. To ignore this distinction is to be philosophically blind to one of the greatest and most basic realities of life and organically embodied existence on earth. It is to miss the central key to the most potent of all mysteries.
Of itself, the Moon is nothing — as, of itself, mind is either nothing or (in some cases) a power for destruction. The Moon has vital power, meaning, purpose only as that which gives form to and distributes organically and harmonically the "ray" of the Sun. Likewise, mind has vital power, meaning and purpose only as that which gives form and individualized being to the "divine spark" as that which builds a "soul-organism" as a dwelling place for this "spark" emanated from the one Divine Father.
This is not merely metaphysics or spiritual psychology. It is the most practical of all keys to the everyday life and, as well, to the achievement of the great work to which Alchemists, Occultists and Theosophists of all ages have guardedly referred. It means that, in the cyclic development of the soli-lunar relationship through the monthly lunation period, we can find the most profound, most vital, most practical pattern of unfoldment for the powers of personality — a guide to the actual living of our organic, personal, psycho-mental life.
It is only through the living of this life that we can ever hope to realize and to fulfill spirit in ourselves — individualized spirit, God imminent, the Christ within. Spiritual living is not away from the earth but at the core of the earth-born organism which is represented, in blueprints, in the birth-chart of the individual — at the core and through it! Indeed, it is through the illumination and the clear, objective vision, of which all Full Moons are the ever-renewed symbol.
Part Two
Solar and Lunation Birthdays
At the New Moon, the Moon is united, as it were, with the Sun (i.e., in conjunction). It is being impregnated by the ray of the Sun. This ray of spirit impresses upon it a new purpose, a new act of spiritual will, a new creative impulse — indeed, a new answer to a vital need which had become outstanding at the close of the lunation cycle just ended.
Spirit is that which provides answers to every vital need, solutions to the pressing problems of living organisms and human personalities born of the earth. But these answers to needs and prayers, these spirit-emanated solutions must be made understandable and acceptable for human beings. They must be formed or formulated as new techniques, new organizations, new words, ideas or laws. It is as the light of the Moon waxes toward Full Moon that this process of organic and social formation or intellectual-mental foundation takes place.
At Full Moon, this process reaches a climax and fulfillment or else the failure of the process is revealed and separation or disintegration begins. If there has been fulfillment, then the purpose released at the New Moon, as an act of spirit and a creative impulse from the heart of the Sun, now becomes a conscious realization, an objective image, a clear concept, a "vision" or illumination. As the light of the Moon wanes, what has been fully realized has to be disseminated. The consciousness of the illumined individual, of the clear mind is to be spread among men. New systems, new meanings, new philosophies are to be built.
The individual can live consciously what he "saw" because his mind, once truly awakened or illumined, has power over material substances and organic processes, because the clearly realized meaning can indeed transform both the past — which, by becoming significant, is entirely renewed or "redeemed" — and the future — which is determined according to the character of the understanding (positive or negative, constructive or destructive, as the case may be) which the individual has extracted from his previous experiences.
What has been left undone during a cycle is responsible for new needs or problems arising as the last phases of the lunation cycle occur. The failures have to be dissolved, the inertia challenged; the ineffectual techniques have to be given up. The last quarter phase of the lunation cycle is filled with revolutionary challenges, reform, self-overcoming, self-sacrifice; these total up to new essential needs, for which the creative Sun-ray, impregnating the Moon at the New Moon, will once more give solutions and harmonizing, healing answers.
The point which must be stressed is that this complete monthly cycle of the soli-lunar relationship can and should be considered as a celestial framework within which the birth of an individual occurs — a framework as significant as the zodiac.
A person's birth moment can be referred to the zodiacal cycle, and the particular character of his birth is then defined by the degree of the zodiac on which his natal Sun is placed. He is a "Leo type" or "Pisces type", which means that he is born at a particular point, moment or phase of the "cycle of positions" which begins every year at the vernal equinox. This is his "solar birthday".
But a person's birth can be referred also to the lunation cycle. He may be born just after New Moon or at the first quarter (Moon square Sun) or near Full Moon or late in the waning period of this lunation cycle. This point, moment or phase of the cycle at which his birth occurred determines his "lunation birthday". Every month, he will experience a new "lunation birthday", as every year a man has a solar birthday.
Both types of birthday are equally significant. Indeed, the lunation birthday may give a more practical and more vital key to an understanding of how this person meets the challenges of everyday life, orients himself to society and to the business of participating in the "work of the world", how he faces "reality" — as we, men on earth, can actually and personally experience it.
If this be true — and the truth of such an assertion is, I believe, both logical and validated by experience — then it constitutes a real challenge to the astrologer. The latter has been accustomed to interpreting the solar birthday of a person by dividing the zodiac into twelve signs of 30 degrees each and by giving a great variety and wealth of meanings to the position of the natal Sun in any one of these zodiacal signs. He has divided all human beings into twelve categories and types, according to the zodiacal position of their natal Sun: this "typing" is the basis for the type of personal guidance or forecasts found in present-day astrological magazines.
If the astrologer now seeks to give meaning to the "lunation birthday" of a person, he has also to "type" all human beings in some manner, according to the phase of the soli-lunar relationship (the so-called "phases of the Moon") at or near which birth occurred.
The simplest and most understandable way of doing this seems to be to speak of a "New-Moon type" of birth, a "first" and "last quarter type", a "Full Moon type" — simply because these four most characteristic appearances of the Moon in the sky are matters of common and universal experience among men of all continents. But such a fourfold division is not quite sufficient for practical purposes; besides, the way of using it and its scope must be carefully determined.
It is many years ago now since I published a series of articles discussing this matter of phase analysis of "cycles of relationship"; I still consider valid the eightfold type of division I presented then. It applies particularly to the soli-lunar cycle from New Moon to New Moon. A twelvefold division of the cycle is entirely sound whenever one deals with "cycles of positions" — as in the cases of the solar year and the sidereal day. An eightfold division seems to me philosophically valid and supported by tradition whenever we deal with the cyclic interplay between two moving factors and, thus, with the constantly changing results of their relationship.
Relationship generates power; without relationship, there is no power available for release. The rhythm of basic releases of power, at least in the realm of "life" (i.e., biopsychic, organic activity), seems to be essentially symbolized and measured by the number 8. This was so in Hindu, Chinese and Christian Gnostic symbolism; and the eightfold division of a circular field of electro-magnetic energy is a very basic one, even in modern scientific technique. The fourfold cross, foundation of both the twelvefold and the eightfold divisions of the circle (or cycle), establishes the points of basic crises in the relationship between the two polar factors being considered. But four more points, bisecting the four quarters, are necessary to mark the positions (or moments) of greatest momentum or most critical release.
Thus, eight sectors are constituted, each encompassing 45 degrees of the complete circle — just as the familiar solar zodiac and the wheel of houses include twelve divisions of 30 degrees each. As a result — the "lunation birthday" of a person is to be found located in one of these eight lunation sectors, and the lunation type of the individual can be determined. There are eight such types — instead of twelve, as in the familiar solar-zodiacal method of typing.
As we shall see presently, it is easy to ascertain the type to which one belongs simply by finding out how many days from the preceding New Moon one was born — or, more precisely and accurately, what is the distance (arc or angle) between one's natal Moon and one's natal Sun, which can be done by referring to your birth chart. [You can also use the Aspectarian section of the online KhaldeaEphemeris to determine your lunation type.]
The next thing is to define, as broadly and inclusively (yet also as significantly and practically) as is possible within the limited space at our disposal, the characteristics of each type. The solar Aries type, Cancer type, Sagittarius type of persons have been described almost endlessly in recent astrological books and magazine articles. A vast amount of observations and the study of thousands of birth-charts in relation to the known character and destiny of the persons to which they refer will be necessary before an equal wealth of data, type characteristics and referent occurrences can be available with regard to the eight "lunation types". Yet a basic start can be made, to which much will have to be added as this new approach arouses an increasing amount of interest.
I have no doubt that this eightfold kind of typing will prove illuminating and will serve the most desirable end of an ever more thorough and more vital understanding of basic human responses to life and of the intricacies of man's psychological approach to what is, to him, actual and concretely experienced reality. One of its great advantages, considering our modern twentieth-century *mentality, is that such a type classification deals with factors the importance of which in human life, human growth, human moods, etc., can be readily accepted.
Part Three
About Lunation Types
The "Lunation Type" to which one belongs has nothing to do with the time of the year or the season in which birth occurred — thus, with the serious problem of the reversal of seasons in southern latitudes. It has nothing to do with the zodiacal longitude of the Sun; therefore, there is no question to be raised by pseudo-scientific and confused minds as to how the sign Aries can retain the same astrological characteristics when it no longer coincides with the celestial span of the constellation Aries.
In defining this "lunation type", one refers only to the state or condition of the relationship between the Sun and the Moon at birth. This relationship can be measured accurately by referring to a modern ephemeris — [such as the aspectarian section of the online KhaldeaEphemeris] — giving the exact longitudes of both "lights" and the aspect which they make to each other. But the state of the soli-lunar relationship can be made as well a matter of direct sense experience simply by studying the shape of the lighted portion of the Moon visible in the sky.
It is not the Moon which changes, but only the amount and shape of the lighted portion of the Moon — and this amount and shape of lighted lunar surface is at all times an exact expression of the state of the relationship between the Sun and the Moon, as seen from the Earth.
What this relationship measures and represents is primarily how the life force and all life processes operate in the organic whole (body plus psyche) which modern psychologists call "personality". All life processes are bi-polar; all obey a tidal rhythm or to and fro motion; all include, likewise, both anabolic and catabolic (cell-building and cell-destroying) phases of activity. The individual person acts and reacts in everyday life according to a basic kind of balance between these life polarities. It is this particular kind of balance or dynamic equilibrium which establishes the dominant keynote of the personality.
In this keynote, two elements are blended: the spiritual and the psycho-mental elements — thus, symbolically, the solar and the lunar factors. If "solar" spirit represents the archetypal selfhood of the individual, the idea and purpose of the Creator for that particular individual — thus, the "greater will" of the Self or God within — the "lunar" life processes are those very agencies required to fulfill this divine purpose and will.
These life processes are physiological, psychic and mental-defining, thus, three levels of personality expression. At the biological level, the Moon refers to the circulatory systems of the body and particularly to the complex activity of all the endocrine glands, as they pour chemicals of all kinds into the blood and lymph streams. At the psychic level, the Moon symbolizes the flow of "psychic energy" or "libido" of modern psychology and the compensating influence of what Jung calls the "anima". At the mental level, the Moon represents the general function of adaptation to the challenges of life, which is at the root of all feeling judgments, all sense of good and evil, all intuitions of value.
It is, briefly said, upon all these functions and activities that rests the essential task of making the solar-spiritual will and purpose effective on earth and among men. It is within these functions and activities that God's "idea" of the individual person can and must become incorporated if life is to be a successful answer of the spirit to a poignant need of humanity and of a particular soul.
Thus, if we want really to "know" a person and the power, of his or her total being for achievement or failure, what we need first of all to understand is how the "lunar" agencies, organs, functions, etc., are related to the "solar" purpose which it is their one and only task — spiritually speaking — to exteriorize and make effective. To live a spiritual life is not to aspire or yearn for some remote spiritual realm or being. It is to make the spirit-emanated purpose of one's life actual and effective in one's personality and, through one's personality, in one's community and nation.
Every human being is born with the inherent, yet only potential, ability to achieve this task. How can he do it best, most easily, most effectively — and this means, how can he most successfully meet the constant challenges of life and everyday earthly existence? This is the basic question which any valid type — of astrological help and interpretation should be able to answer, at least tentatively. I maintain that the core of the answer is to be found in a study of the soli-lunar relationship at birth, when it is referred to the whole lunation cycle. The first thing is to ascertain the "lunation birthday" and the "lunation type" to which the person belongs.
The characteristics of the eight types are derived from an analysis and interpretation of eight sub-periods within the lunation cycle. They are based upon the realization that every lunation cycle means the working out of a solar purpose and impulse released at the New Moon — and (if all goes well) made clear, while it is being fulfilled through some adequate instrumentality, structure or organization, at the Full Moon, then spread out into society.
The second basic factor to recognize is that the inertia of past structures (personal and social), of habits, customs, institutional and class privileges, frustrations and fears (individual and collective, conscious and mostly subconscious) always resists the new creative spiritual impulse released at the New Moon. This release takes place in the "inner" life of the soul or psyche; it is born in relative darkness and unconsciousness, often surrounded by fear, despair or at least confusion — in a "manger", symbolically speaking. As it emerges into the conscious life, it arouses opposition, thus conflicts and a struggle of wills, often a clash or a crucial complex.
Thus we have, in simplified and sketchy outline, the following pattern of unfoldment from New Moon to New Moon:
The Waxing Period
A. Moon conjunct and up to 45° away from Sun: The vibration (or "tone") of the new solar impulse stirs the inner, subjective life and spreads outward.
B. Moon from 45° to 90° away from Sun: There is a struggle of wills, as the new impulse faces the resistance-inertia of crystallized forms, memories, etc. One notes a search for "new land", virgin fields of experience.
C. First Quarter Moon to 135° away from Sun: This is a period of crisis in action, repudiation of the past, building of new structures. There is a forceful, organizing approach to reality, decision.
D. Moon from 135° to opposition aspect to Sun: A critical, self-improving, evaluating approach to reality is noted. Devotion or clarification of individual goals takes place.
The Waning Period
E. Full Moon to 225° away from Sun: Objective, conscious approach to life and reality keynotes this. The original impulse ("tone") has become a (relatively) clear concept or "image". A new kind of power develops; it is mental-social, rather than biological-instinctual: the Apollinian or "classical" attitude. Negatively, it denotes separation from what had been built during the waxing period.
F. Moon up to Last Quarter phase (waning-square aspect): There is a demonstration of the concept or "vision" gained, dissemination of ideas. One feels increased awareness of participation in society or reaching beyond reality. Ideological struggle and perhaps fanaticism result.
G. From Last Quarter to waning semi-square of Moon to Sun: There is a crisis in consciousness. Social decisions are made. Revolution or reform results. Catabolic activity is noted. Building of strong, tight groups dedicated to ushering in the new cycle yet to come is undertaken. Negatively, dictatorial attitude and ruthlessness come to the fore.
H. From waning semi-square to New Moon: One notes a reaping of harvest and sowing of seed. Personal sacrifice and attitude of service to institutions and groups are keys. We see petition to the spirit, prophetic attitude. It is a linking of the past to the future — or total disintegration.
It is from this pattern that the basic characteristics of the eight lunation types presented below have been derived. These characteristics can take on, it is sure, an immense variety of aspects; yet they constitute the foundation for eight definite and typical approaches to reality and to everyday personal and social experience. To put it differently, for as many basic ways of meeting the task of demonstrating effectively and vitally the power and purpose of the spirit within — of incorporating, realizing, acting out and multiplying through new creations.
Part Four
The Eight Lunation Types
...
maksio53