With all the talk of the two supermoons in the month of August, what better time than now to
bring some awareness to what the moon actually represents. It's common to hear of people utilizing the moon in different individual spiritual practices, but as always, the incorporation of any practice begins with a good foundation of knowledge.
The moon is a luminary and its frequency has the power to make the thought frequencies in our subconscious mind surface to the conscious mind. The moon represents our subconscious
world or our inner world, our deepest thoughts and emotions. It brings with it an energy of
remembrance to the reality of the unseen. It is connected to the soul of your identity and the
part of yourself that you might keep hidden from others. The moon is associated with feminine energy and universally it represents the rhythm of time as it embodies a cycle, beginning with
the new moon and then transitioning through the waxing, full, and waning moon cycles. This
symbolizes birth, life, death, and rebirth. The New Moon is the pause before beginning something new. While the Waxing Moon phase is all about progress, expansion, and growth, whether that be personal growth, a project, or an idea, it is a time to remind us to take consistent action in our lives. The Full Moon represents completion and is a time of peak clarity, as it is at full illumination, as well as, a time to reflect on how far we’ve come and celebrate the growth that has taken place in our lives. The Waning Moon too, is a time of reflection and a time to purge, remove, and declutter your life, letting go of things that no longer serve you. Clearing and balancing our subconscious mind in this way leads to more effective intuition as that is where our intuitive abilities arise from.
The moon has many different representations across many cultures:
In Pagan culture, the triple moon symbol represents the Maiden, Mother and Crone. The
Maiden represents the waxing moon and encompasses purity, enchantment, optimism, and
excitement about new beginnings. The Mother, representing the full moon or fulfillment, fertility, and stability, also brings with it nurturing and protection. And the Crone, representing the waning moon, brings with it wisdom, maturity, completion, and represents a lifetime of experience and reflects the end of phases or cycles of life.
In Native culture, the moon was seen as a timekeeper, a guide, a protector, and associated with transformation. The sea turtle shell represented a calendar with the 13 large scales on its shell as representing the 13 moons in a year.
In Egyptian culture, the moon was known as one the “two Iights”. It was worshiped as a deity and its cycles were seen as a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life and death. It served as a symbol of time, growth, and fertility.
In Norse culture, "Mani", who is one of the two personified siblings tasked with pulling the heavenly bodies across the sky while chased by wolves, is depicted as driving the chariot across the night sky, representing his celestial journey and the passage of time. The Norse believed in the transformative power of the lunar cycles as they were essential for growth and fertility.
In Tarot, the Moon can represent fears and illusions. It can appear as a symbol when you are projecting fear into your present and your future based on past experiences. It can also represent your intuition, calling on you to move through change and life transitions by going within and listening to what your own intuition has been trying to tell you. In the reversed position, it can represent finding the truth, dispelling illusions, and overcoming fear. Some people read the moon card as also representing a cycle either inside or outside of yourself. This cycle could be karmic in nature or just a pattern behavior, emotion, way of thinking, or relationship that needs to be brought into conscious awareness.
In Vedic Astrology, the moon symbolizes the mind, not just the emotions. It's also the thoughts, desires, and dreams within our subconscious.
The moon has been believed to affect human behavior for centuries. As you can see, throughout many cultures and practices the moon represents not only emotions, but our mind and its cyclical nature. Understanding the power our subconscious holds in shaping our reality through our thoughts, emotions, ideals, AND incorporating practices like shadow work, journaling, mediation, mentorship, etc. empowers us to clear and balance that space, while promoting forward growth on our spiritual journeys.
Do you feel the moon has any effect on you or your vessel?