The Moonscope: A Road Map for Your Soul's Journey

By Amélie Gebhard

© Amélie Gebhard - published by The Career Astrologer, March 2022 / 31.05.2022

For thousands of years, the Moon has captivated people. Our ancestors called La Luna the “Great Mother.”

The words “measure” and “Moon” have the same root. (1) Meanwhile, the word horoscope originated from the ancient Greek words hora, or “hour,” and skopéin, “to observe.” The term Moonscope is a reference to it and describes nothing less than that: to observe the Moon.

All advanced cultures throughout the history of this planet have dedicated deities to the celestial wanderer. In Greek mythology, there are five divine beings associated with the Moon: Selene, Artemis, Danaë, Callisto, and Hecate.

In ancient times it was believed that the Moon was a kind of mirror image of the earth. The dark areas were interpreted as landmasses and mountains, the bright ones as the glittering surface of seas. (2) The Moon was seen as a partner who was closely involved over the course of life.

In more recent centuries, the Earth’s satellite was a favorite subject of writers and artists. The potpourri of homages courses through all layers and tides of human history. There were lunar almanacs and astrological reference books as well as literature, songs, poems, art, and paintings about the Moon. A classical symbol in 18th- and 19th-century poems, the Moon has become less present in contemporary poetry. The reason for this “demystification” may have been the first lunar landing in 1969, which made the Moon a “mere” place within reach. So the silent satellite disappeared from our inner landscape.

But where does this tremendous attraction to the satellite come from? There are numerous stories about the Moon’s effect on humans, animals, and plants. Science disagrees about the interaction, (3) while most people do not. Every being on Spaceship Earth maintains a relationship with the Moon. What’s the magic behind it? Is it the fact that you can see the luminary with the naked eye in the celestial sphere, and it accompanies you throughout life like a dear friend of many years?

...

In astrology, the Moon tills the field of feelings. Its position in the natal chart describes the nuances of how emotions are dealt with—detached, cautious, passionate, or overwhelming. How do people take care of themselves and how do they take care of others? Who is in charge—the heart or the mind? The Moon, in its natural state, is reflecting back the light of the Sun. It is like a sponge that absorbs and reabsorbs moods, needs, and states of mind.

The Moon sets Nature’s rhythms. It makes its rotation through the 12 signs of the zodiac in 28.5 days. The various stages of the Moon phases provide essential information about the level of intensity with which the individual experiences and acts out feelings and needs.

Reliable like a system of perpetual motion, the transiting Moon will touch all planets and significant points in the birth chart on its orbit in the same succession at least once a month. Every planet, asteroid, as well as the angles and lunar nodes—all have a monthly date with the Moon.

On the macro level, the planets and the aspects they form with the Moon determine how they communicate with each other. It is significant in this process in which phase of the cycle they meet. On the micro-level, one can see the condition of the planets and the consciousness with which they are endowed (the elements, modalities, and qualities). Do they speak the same language? At the individual level, the house and quadrant in which the gathering occurs can provide important clues. To what extent can one absorb, integrate, or be inspired by the input?

The Moon is the radio that plays the soundtrack of life. The sign, house, and quadrant in which a conjunction occurs is the frequency on which it broadcasts. The planet the Moon conjoins is the channel that transmits. The inner audience sits in the house over which the planet rules, and it is here that the effects are felt and seen.

A conjunction is a momentous aspect. The forces of two planets unite and influence each other. An outdated but poetic German name for the conjunction is Zusammenschein, which means “to shine together.” These conjunctions and their repeating order are the keys to a very personal Moon chart approach.

...

In the Moonscope, the lunar cycle and its sequence around an individual chart—two different yet synchronous movements—interweave. They form a whole, pacing the flow of time invisibly.

A new cycle begins with the New Moon. Together with the Sun, it forms an intention and a theme emerges that is carried through the whole month. An inner message sprouts forth from a field of possibilities deep within the unconscious mind.

In the waxing phase, the task comes into view, like the Moon, to elucidate how to condense the task into solid action. The growing phase is a time to explore your vision, initiate action, and push past limitations. 

The Full Moon is a time of culmination. The seed has reached its full potential, and the theme comes to its fullest fruition in a powerful time of release, resolution, and illumination.

It is not until the waning phase that insights will be integrated and changes initiated. With the balsamic phase, the cycle ends. Any loose ends can be completed, and the focus turns toward the future. Becoming empty like a clear vessel may be appropriate to allow the next lunar theme to appear.

The initiation of the New Moon starts every month at a new point in the birth chart. The sequence of triggers generates a melody, and each month begins with a new chord. This sound is sometimes louder or sometimes softer depending on the sequence of each individual’s alignment of planets. It takes some practice to connect the movements through time and space until the magic of the Moon unfolds in everyday life.

...

What is the best way for the two astrological movements—the lunar cycle and its sequence around an individual chart—to merge? Is it possible to connect space and time, the pictorial with the linguistic, feeling with logic? How does one avoid competition between intuition and intellect?

From a neuroscientific perspective, thinking, feeling, and acting cannot be separated from each other in terms of brain technology. (4) Emotions play an important role in almost all areas of human experience. Suppressing emotional messages causes people to lose touch with themselves. Neurobiologically, one feels a state of happiness whenever one has achieved a state of coherence. The brain constantly strives for this state because energy consumption remains at its lowest at this level. Some call this state happiness or “being in the flow.”

The examination of the Moonscope provides tangible coherence, allowing a person to more easily classify, locate, and manage what they are feeling. By identifying contexts, the feeling makes sense. Understanding evolves through constant repetition within a safe environment. The soul needs the freedom to decide on the path of evolution and gives itself the space and time to try it out. As a result, when independence is the next evolutionary step, it’s more widely embraced as a positive challenge and not experienced as a moment of stress. This phenomenon of developing the ability to improve as well as experiencing this improvement is referred to as self-efficacy.(5)

...

Back to the Moon. Why is it useful to work with a Moonscope? By transferring the phases of the current cycle to the birth chart, one can see in which phase the Moon meets the natal planets.

Depending on the birth chart, the Moon passes several planets a day or none at all for several days. A daily analysis can be entertaining and motivating. It’s useful to identify the “sweet spots“ in your Moonscope, because they show an ideal or most favorable combination of factors for a particular activity or purpose.

Using the Moonscope as a device to dive into your truth can fulfill the Moon´s key function: to ensure emotional security and well-being. The sum of the individual parts (Moon phase, conjunctions with the chart points, the sequence of triggers) shapes the self.

Each Moonscope tells its own story about the conditioning and habits of the individual’s horoscope. Someone who has become aware of the triggers within their inner emotional roadmap can consciously choose new paths and perhaps make different decisions with this compass. The opportunity for awareness and integration offers a way out of the cycle of action and reaction. Old, familiar patterns will dissolve with time. When the old disappears, new space is created to be in relationship with yourself and others. It’s a shift from duality to Oneness and a step into creator consciousness.

References:
1. Indo-European mēnōt (= Moon, Moon change, month) traces back to the Greek men (= crescent Moon, month). The Indo-European word probably belongs to the Indo-European verbal root med = to wander, to pace off, to stake out, to measure. With these etymological origins, the Moon would therefore literally mean “the wanderer.”
2. Plutarch, De facie in orbe Lunae (“On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon”).
3. See “The Moon Was Full and Nothing Happened: A Review of Studies on the Moon and Human Behavior and Lunar Beliefs” (I. W. Kelly, James Rotton, and Roger Culver, Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 10, no. 2, Winter 1985-1986).
4. According to Gerald Hüther. One of Germany’s best-known brain researchers, Hüther focuses on the influence of early experiences on brain development, the effects of anxiety and stress, and the significance of emotional reactions.
5. Albert Bandura, “Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change” (Psychological Review vol. 84, no. 2, 191-215, 1977).

Published in: The Career Astrologer, March 2022.

Author: Amélie Gebhard is an artist and astrologer living in Berlin, Germany. After 25 years in the film and fashion industry, her spiritual journey has led her to astrology. Besides her astrological work, she is also dedicated to the artistic visualization of astrological content. She has a monthly new moon column for a German magazine. At the moment, she is going through the German Astrologers Association DAV certification program after 3 years of intense training with different mentors. She participated in the 2021 writing workshop of Arlan Wise and Alexandra Karacostas, which resulted in this article. Amélie can be reached at info@goldstaub-berlin.de

Images:

• Full moon: Image by Xpics from Pixabay
• Moon phases above landscape: Image by ELG21 from Pixabay
• Moonscope chart of Kristen Stewart: Amélie Gebhard’s own design
• Kristen Stewart 2022: MichaelKovac1, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

© 2022 - Amélie Gebhard - The Career Astrologer

All articles at a glance