Moon/Pluto – Watch out for the wave!

I’ve been wanting to write about Moon/Pluto for some time. It is an aspect that runs through my family and understanding it is key to avoiding many an unpleasant or difficult situation. Not only has it helped me enormously to get a handle on my own feelings, but it has enabled me to relate to and interact with my children (who are all endowed with this aspect too) in a much more compassionate and patient manner.

The person with Moon and Pluto in aspect has the potential for an enormously intense emotional life. The Moon placement describes your emotional needs and the circumstances that bring you emotional security. Pluto takes those emotions and supercharges them with the mother of all lightning bolts! The Moon pulls the tides of course, and the most accurate description I can offer of this aspect’s influence is that of being swept away on a tidal wave of feeling.  Not a problem if you’re happy, but if those feelings are difficult ones, then you find yourself plunged – quite suddenly – into a whole world of pain.

Since the Moon also describes your home environment and your sense of security, and Pluto describes a deep and intense anxiety, this aspect also brings with it a challenge to develop trust. There is usually something about the home or family life that has shaken the sense of security and trust in the world, and it is this that we are being challenged to re-establish.

As with any challenging aspect, awareness is the first step to relief and, speaking from personal experience, I had almost four decades of being carried off on these waves with no understanding of where they came from, where they were taking me, what their purpose was or how to escape them.

Mercifully I can report that with awareness of the aspect and its patterns, I have monitored my own emotional life very closely and am now able (thank the heavens!) to recognise when I am in the grips of such an ‘episode’. I have learned not to take the depths I am experiencing too seriously, to give myself some breathing space, and to trust that the world will simply not look this dramatic in a relatively short period of time.

The key understanding is this: the trust needs to be transferred from the enormous and difficult emotions back to the Universe. 

But how invaluable that information, that breakthrough, would have been when I was younger! How  many apparently unbearably difficult times would I have survived with less scarring if I had understood that, in truth, the storm in that moment was only on the surface, and that the calm and happy depths of my ocean were actually unmoved? How valuable, then, to be able to teach that same lesson to our children!

For the purposes of dealing with someone in the grips of one of these tsunamis, here are several guiding points that might help:

1) Don’t negate the feelings. What the Moon/Pluto child is feeling right now is life or death. It is all-consuming and there is no way out. It is the most important and difficult moment of their life. Don’t make light of it. Don’t laugh. Give them a cuddle. Allow them to ride it out.

2) At the same time, try not to engage in too much conversation about these feelings, or ‘enable’ them too much. The chances are that in an hour’s time, that same ‘desperate’ child will be pretty confused and somewhat embarrassed about why on earth they were in such a state in the first place. Just be an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on.

3) Learn to monitor the external conditions of your child’s life, too: tiredness and hunger are a fast-track to difficult and intense feelings. These days, before I even ask my son about his day, I feed him a piece of toast as he walks through the door. Even he has acknowledged the pattern now. “It’s okay, mum. I think I’m just grungry,” he says and heads for the kitchen. What a valuable lesson at such a young age.

Learn to trust that this too shall pass.

The Sibling – Mother experience: it’s all in the Moon

I had a chat with my eldest son this evening, about the experience of mother.

I explained to him that he has a different mother from his siblings. He, naturally, looked at me as though I had lost my marbles. Stepfathers and half-brothers he can understand… but different mothers, when he knows full well I gave birth to them all…? Hell, he was being ushered out of the house past the birthing pool in the kitchen minutes before the last one decided to put in his appearance!

I told him it wasn’t that weird, really. I explained that my own four siblings and I have very different experiences of our own mother. And, when he thought about it, he could see that the way he saw and interacted with me was quite different from the way his brothers do. Which isn’t in any way evaluative, incidentally. From my subjective position 😉 I would say that not one of them has a ‘better‘ or ‘worse‘ relationship with me, but each is intrinsically different.

Well of course, I hear you cry, since all your children are different!

And yes, you have a very good point.

But, in keeping with the Lunar articles that have begun this blog, I would go a step further and say that it is also because their Moons are very different. Since Moon describes your mother-experience, and each of my children has a very differently placed and aspected Moon, does it not make sense that they each have a very different experience of me?

My eldest has a Cancer Moon: the Moon at her happiest, a devoted and nurturing home-maker of a mum. He was my first-born and for him I ordered a weekly organic vegetable box, pureed only the very best for his little body, clad his bottom in washable nappies and he never suffered once from nappy rash. The downside to this, of course, is that now that he has reached the grand old age of 11 and started high school, he feels the need to let me know it’s all a bit full-0n. Smothering, even. I need to take my cue and back off a bit. He wants to spread his wings – not the easiest of things to watch happen for a Cancer-Moon mummy.

Compare that to little Bertie: a Pisces Moon. Ruled by Neptune, his grasp of who his Mummy is is likely to be rather more nebulous and uncertain. He is more likely to experience his mother as an ideal that she is not always going to live up to. He’ll have a vision in his mind of who I am and will struggle with being disappointed that I cannot always attain that giddying height! There is a possibility too, I am sad to say, that he will see me as a victim and, conversely, with the Neptunian perfectionism, if I fail to live up to his ideal of ‘Mummy’ then he will feel like a victim.

Of course, as well as them, two of my children have Taurus Moons (a traditional and reliable Mummy, who knows that the way to our hearts is through a good plate of nourishing food; a pair of snuggly pyjamas and lots of cuddles) and, finally, one has a Leo Moon (a dramatic Mummy from whom we want lots of affection, attention and praise and, if we don’t get it, we may become rather dramatic as a result!) All very different, but all with the same Mummy. Me.

Interesting, then, that no matter if you bring your children up in exactly the same manner, with just the same type of mothering and love, their experience of you will be the very one that they need in order to grow, individuate, evolve and make the best of their path. And I say that advisedly because, as challenging a concept as it may seem, even if in spite of your best efforts their experience of you as a mother was not what you would have wished, it was what your children needed to best set them up to work through what they need to in this life.

Moon through the Houses Pt 2: 5th to 8th

Continuing my exploration of the placement of the Moon in the Nativity, here is the second of three articles looking at the interpretations of the House your child’s Moon falls in. The idea, next,  is that we combine the Moonsign with its House and come up with a third, tailor-made description of the condition of your child’s Moon. After this series, I will be taking one Moonsign through all the Houses as an example of how to do it.

Of course, as ever, these descriptions depict the general principles of the Moon placements. In each individual chart there will be more ease, or indeed more difficult aspects to these Moon placements and you would need to look at the individual Nativity in order to work out whether these principles were easily tapped into by your child, or were the object of a little more sensitivity or difficulty.

Again, if you are not sure where your child’s Moon resides, please feel free to send me their details, and I will happily let you know.

So, let us begin!

Moon in the 5th House:

The 5th is the House of children, romantic love, creativity, and is associated with all things Solar and Leo. The Moon here will therefore have similar energies to that of Moon in Leo: showy, expansive, dramatic and overt, fond of children even from an early age. Lots of lavished affection in both directions, with a happy Moon placement. This little one is likely to hold his or her feelings in quite high regard; to be quite strongly attached or swayed by them, and to be more than happy to discuss them.

Parental tips:

• This little one is likely to enjoy acting classes!
• When feeling less than happy, these children can be quite dramatic in their emotional expression and may need a little help regaining some perspective. It will be important that their feelings aren’t belittled though, of course!

Moon in the 6th House:

The 6th is the House of daily life and health and, putting these two together, you have a little one for whom long bouts of unhappiness are likely to manifest into ill health. This is also the House most closely associated with Virgo, so the Moon here is very service-orientated: this little one has an emotional need to be useful. They will thrive in a neat and tidy environment and be hindered by disorder and mess. This is a child for whom helping Mummy around the house is unlikely to be a chore.

Routine is also of vital importance to 6th House Moonchildren. An established and regular routine will keep them emotionally far more stable than a more spontaneous lifestyle.

Parental tips:

• Beware the vicious cycle of ill-health – unhappiness – ill-health with these Moonchildren. A routine of healthy living and eating will help this situation enormously.
• The service-nature of this little one is a boon to all he or she meets, but be careful they are not exploited and remember to look after themselves a bit, too.

Moon in the 7th House:

The 7th is the House of partnership, most closely connected with Libra, so the Moon here makes for a little person who is at his or her most emotionally stable when they have a sidekick.  Their true  friendships will be few and profound, and they will perform better in partnership than alone.

Parental tips:

• If your little one is trying something new and seems out of his or her comfort zone, the difficulty should be eased enormously by providing a helpmate: a trusted friend or sibling should do the trick.
• Stressful situations, which a child with, say, Moon in the 1st might handle well will not be easy for this little one: they don’t handle crisis well. On the other hand, they are very sociably adept and will shine in company.

Moon in the 8th House:

The 8th is the House of profound transformations and is most closely associated with Scorpio, so this is a little one whose emotions are powerfully intense, and ever-evolving: they are likely to go through transformations as a result of emotional experiences. They will also have a tendency to play their cards very close to their chest, emotionally; it can become a bit of a guessing game which can, as a result of this bottling, become a little explosive when they can no longer keep it in.

A certain intuitive perception of things not always being as they seem is also suggested by this Moon placement, which can also manifest more negatively as a rather suspicious nature, and as a result this little one is likely to love unravelling mysteries, and supernatural stories.

Parental tips:

• This little one will struggle with apparent superficiality and may need some help to put their feelings in perspective, understanding that others may not have such depth and intensity of emotion, and that’s okay.
• The 8th House Moonchild can also struggle with expressing his or her emotions, and will probably need some help to open up gently, to understand that it is not so healthy to bottle it up.

 

Moon through the Houses Pt 1: 1st to 4th

Continuing my exploration of the placement of the Moon in the Nativity, here is the first of three articles looking at the interpretations of the House your child’s Moon falls in. The idea here is that we combine the Moonsign with its House and come up with a third, tailor-made description of the condition of your child’s Moon. After this series, I will be taking one Moonsign through all the Houses as an example of how to do it. The rather exhaustive remainder of combinations will be available eventually in my book. 🙂

Of course, as ever, these descriptions depict the general principles of the Moon placements. In each individual chart there will be more ease, or indeed more difficult aspects to these Moon placements and you would need to look at the individual Nativity in order to work out whether these principles were easily tapped into by your child, or were the object of a little more sensitivity or difficulty.

Again, if you are not sure where your child’s Moon resides, please feel free to send me their details, and I will happily let you know.

So, let us begin!

Moon in the 1st House:

The 1st House in the astrology describes your sense of self, your identity, how others see you, how you interact with the world. With the Moon here, your little one will not find it hard to make friends or to influence people. Their lunar identity can make them very intuitive, too – don’t be surprised if they seem to know how you feel before you do – but they may have a tendency to rely rather too heavily on the emotions, rather than taking a little time to reflect before reacting.

Parental tips:

• The tendency to wear their hearts on their sleeves can make these little ones really quite vulnerable. Be aware, too, of times when that vulnerability is used as a defence.
• Just as the Moon waxes and wanes, so can these children seem to change with the tides. Don’t be surprised if they go from loving something to hating it in a heartbeat. Patience and persistence in the learning of constancy would help a great deal.

Moon in the 2nd House:

The 2nd House is all about material security, so for this little one to feel emotionally secure, the material must be dependable. He or she will like to be surrounded by familiar objects and belongings, and is likely to feel more threatened by the unfamiliar. Being the house of possessions, the Moon here also runs the danger of being possessive, especially when things in the rest of their world are unstable.

Parental tips:

• This is the baby who likes the comfort blanket, or teddy, or fire engine! Something familiar, taken wherever you go, will provide that sense that all is right with the world.

Moon in the 3rd House

The 3rd is the house of siblings and of Gemini influences: changeability, quick-thinking, communication. When you add the Moon to the mix, you have a little one who is very emotionally attached to his or her siblings, whose emotions change with the wind, and who is quite happy to talk about them!

This is also a child who feels safe and secure at school, who is likely to love reading and learning generally: all this is food for their little soul.

Parental tips:

• This is another little one who needs to take a deep breath and have a good think before reacting to instinctive emotional response.

Moon in the 4th House

The 4th is the house of home and family, of the opposite sex parent. This Moonchild is likely to be a little home-bunny; in good aspect, the Moon is very happy here in Cancer’s domain, and will produce an empathic and considerate family-focused child; a mini-mummy.

Parental tips:

• With Moon in the 4th (and therefore Cancer’s home), this child is likely to pull back, crablike, into his or her shell when feeling unstable or insecure.

Next: Moon through the Houses Pt2: 5th to 8th.

If you are interested in my services as a Children’s Astrologer, please visit www.alicestrology.com

Moon in Cancer: the Comfort Zone

Last week, my Little Cancer Moon began High School. He has reached the grand old age of eleven and has found himself flung upon the mercy of the big wide world.

His primary school, with its grand total of 70 pupils, is little more than an extended family: the major requirement for a happy Cancer Moon; and he was happy there. This is, of course, an understatement. He performed well in class, had good friends, his teachers were more like extra mummies than authority figures and there were many tears (all round) when he left in July. He was with his people.

Then High School happened, and with the natural exuberance that accompanies a rite of passage, he looked forward to it with a proper mix of excitement and trepidation. Suddenly, though, instead of a two-minute trot around the corner to school, he has to walk to the bus-stop and stand with a load of older kids he doesn’t know. Instead of being that big fish in a teeny pond, he’s a tiddler in an ocean.

The first day was fine: the school was only open to the new intake, so they had it to themselves. They were all in the same boat, all excited. He came home confident and happy, full of beans and optimism. When the second morning came around, he was raring to go. He had filled in his timetable, organised his books, packed up his PE kit, knew where his bus pass was.

That evening was a distinct downturn. This time, school had been full of much older, scarier kids; kids who swear and swagger, who are bigger and more confident, to whom these ‘little’ ones are a mere insignificance and something to poke a bit of fun at. He no longer especially wanted to go back. Not that he had been on the receiving end of anything unpleasant, but he’d got lost on the way to PE, not had anyone to sit next to on the bus, been told he had to play rugby the next day… all of which had rather knocked his nerve.

So we sat on the sofa when all his little brothers were in bed, and had a chat.

“It’s really taken me out of my comfort zone, Mum,” he said.

“Your primary school was a lovely, safe place,” I replied. I made a circle with my fingers. “Like this, this is your comfort zone. But the new school is much bigger.”

“Mrs Hill was always telling me to step out of my comfort zone!”

“Exactly, so you just need to give it time for your your comfort zone to expand and envelop this new school too. Before you know it, it will just be a part of that comfort zone.”

At that very moment, there was a knock at the door. A friend’s post had been misdirected and she had come to collect it. We filled her in on our conversation.

“Oh, don’t worry!” She replied, ever-so-breezily. “My two were always getting lost at the beginning. You can always ask – no one will mind! And next year, you’ll look at the younger ones arriving and remember how new and strange it all seemed!”

We sat back down on the sofa. He looked at me and said, “She was supposed to arrive, just at that moment, wasn’t she? To reassure me about it all.”

He went in to school the next morning, anxious but less scared. And it went swimmingly. He’s developing new friendships and he even enjoyed rugby!

The new High School may not ever be the cozy little family that the Cancer Moon managed to find in his primary school, but he will discover his core family once he’s settled in, and his Moon will be happy once more. In fact, next year I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he wasn’t helping the new arrivals to try to see it from a different perspective!

If you are interested in my services as a Children’s Astrologer, please visit www.alicestrology.com

 

Moon through the signs: Sagittarius to Pisces

This is the third and final instalment of my series of articles on the Moon through the signs, exploring what the Moonsign placement signifies in terms of your child’s astrology and the conditions of his or her life, specifically from birth to seven years old.

In the next article, I am going to begin looking at Moon through the Houses and how that flavours what we already know about the Moonsign. After those explorations, I will take one Moonsign through each house. Obviously, though, to take all the Moonsign and House placement combinations is a very large undertaking and will take a long time. I am, however,writing them up in a book which will, I hope, be ready for publication in the summer of next year.

For now, though, let’s continue with the Moon through the signs.

Moon in Sagittarius:

Your Sagittarian Moonchild is a little utopian. The world is ‘supposed’ to be a place of high ideals, beauty, dignity, and is a horrible disappointment when it fails to deliver. Ruled by Jupiter – the embodiment of the jovial – this is a perpetually happy little person, inclined naturally towards optimism and the habit of spreading it.

Later in life, your little one is likely to be interested in philosophy, religions, spirituality – in belief systems in other words – theories and beliefs that pertain to the larger, unseen and more mysterious workings of the universe.

Parental tips:

• Try to help your little Sagittarian Moonchild to accept the world and the people in it for who they are. Expecting them to live up to your little one’s standards is a sure-fire route to crushed ideals.
• Even if you don’t agree with them, it is vitally important to the Sagittarian Moonchild that his or her opinions are heard and respected, so try to listen and allow the space for it.
• This little one is likely to have quite a thirst for knowledge and a good set of encyclopaedia could rescue you from a 24-hour-quiz of a life!

Moon in Capricorn:

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, which is a naturally rather sombre and responsible energy. This placement is often referred to as ‘an old head on young shoulders’ and generally produces somewhat reserved and serious little ones. As these little ones get older, you will see a pattern where they only really feel good about themselves if they feel they have achieved something, whether that is in life, or in the simple day-to-day. This somewhat suppressed nature makes for a child who is not really sure how to handle emotions, but in spite of their own difficulty with them, they still have a deep need and longing for the love and affection they perceive others as getting. Saturn is also the planet of older people, more mature people, and Capricorn Moonchildren often feel more comfortable with older children or adults.

Parental tips:

• It will help your little one if you can try to persuade him or her to enjoy the ride and not to be too goal-focussed. Capricorn Moonchildren can be their own worst critics, too – help them to take it a little easier on themselves.
• This little one can focus far too much on the practical, neglecting the emotional. Lots of openness and affection can go a long way towards ameliorating the situation for them.

Moon in Aquarius:

Aquarius is ruled by Uranus which brings a very ‘alternative’ energy to this placement. Where Saturn is perceived as conformist, Uranus is the non-conformist, sometimes rather ungenerously labelled the rebel. This bright and sparky little one will want above all to be independent and autonomous, to make his or her own decisions, to work it out for him or herself. This sparky energy translates to friendships and feelings, too – they’re likely to be the life and soul and a popular member of the group, but also to feel that brainpower is more dependable than those pesky, uncontrollable emotions.

Parental tips:

• However frustrating it may be, try to allow your Aquarius Moonchild the space to make his or her own mistakes. Trying to force ideas or methods is likely to result in dug-in heels and explosive stand-offs.
• Aquarian Moonchildren can sometimes feel rather too ‘different’ for their own liking, either intolerant of or untolerated by the group. Gentle assurances about differences not being wrong will help them not to evaluate their differences, or those of others too harshly.

Moon in Pisces:

Pisces is ruled by Neptune and Moon/Neptune contacts invariably bring about a heightened sensitivity, which in a Pisces Moonchild can cause problems with their less sensitive peers. The sensitivity can be so heightened in fact that this little one would do best to avoid insensitive people altogether.  The positive side of this is the compassionate manner with which they are likely to treat others. Neptune is the rather foggy planet of dreaming, too, and this can be wonderful for the imagination, but not so good for the escapism.

• Try to help your Piscean Moonchild learn to let negativity wash over him or her and not take it too much to heart.
• Living in the real world can be much less appealing to this little one than the fantasy world of the imagination. Focus can be a bit of an issue when it comes to school; a little too much gazing out of the window!  Helping your little one to create clear boundaries between fact and fiction, between the world he or she inhabits and the one of his or her imagination will be of great use to him or her later on.

In the next article, I’ll be looking at the Moon through the first three houses.

 

If you are interested in my services as a Children’s Astrologer, please visit www.alicestrology.com

Moon through the signs: Leo to Scorpio

Here I offer  a continuation of my exploration of the Moon through the signs, and what that signifies in terms of your child’s astrology and the conditions of his or her life, specifically from birth to seven years old. I should add, though, that these conditions don’t change as we grow older, but life experience and self awareness will give us a better handle on them as the emphasis of our life moves away from the dependence upon mother and home towards a more independent and autonomous way of living.

As with all these placements, we need to look to the individual chart: which House the Moon is in, and how it aspects the other planets in the chart, to work out what specifically is likely to threaten or bolster our child’s sense of emotional security.

This time, we are going to be looking at Moon in Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio, and the next article will cover the final four: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

Moon in Leo:

Leo is ruled by the Sun, which in turn describes our identity; how we see ourselves, who we project onto the world. Moon in Leo, therefore, is likely to produce a little one with a strong sense of the importance of his or her feelings, emotions, security. In times of distress, don’t be surprised to see the little drama king or queen make an appearance! Leo likes to look good, to be admired, so when a Leo Moonchild is in trouble, the situation is exacerbated by their own sense of having failed to make the grade: they will really struggle if they feel disappointed in themselves.

The very positive side of this placement is a child who is very openly and effusively warm and affectionate. Think of a pride of lions (even the collective noun is a very apt description here!) and the cubs tumbling over one another, the lion and lioness calmly, indulgently and proudly looking on. Those are the perfect conditions for your Leo Moon. The more secure and loved the child feels, the fewer dramatic episodes.

Parental tips:

• Whilst it is important to your little Leo Moon to feel adored, be careful not to over-pander to it – precociousness can definitely be a drawback for this placement.
• There can be a tendency towards ‘big’ talking, exaggeration that can adversely affect credibility. “He threw a boulder at me!” could, in reality, be “A pebble hit me when he walked past…”
• Be aware too of the image consciousness of this placement: if your little one is playing up, what is he or she afraid is making them look bad?

Moon in Virgo:

Next we come to our Virgo Moonchild. Ruled by Mercury, Virgo is a rather meticulous, analytical sign. This is a willing little helper, a child who is happiest just getting on with the task at hand: “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well…” – the most likely to be Mummy’s right-hand man / woman. This is the ‘neat freak’ type, whose home as an adult is always in order and spotless.

In our practice, we tend to believe that Virgo is ruled more by Hygeia than by Mercury (which is a theory that can prove a little controversial), but Virgo is less about communication (that would be Gemini) than neatness and healthy habits, which is much more the domain of Hygeia. That aside, the point is that your Virgo Moonchild will want to eat the right kinds of foods, clear the table afterwards and be sure to wipe his or her mouth. The pyjamas will be neatly under the pillow before breakfast is had.

This is a very unassuming child, too. Where Leo Moon is more than happy to be the centre of attention, Virgo Moon would rather melt into the scenery. That analytical spotlight can be turned rather harshly back on itself, so that self-belief can suffer.

Parental tips:

• Your Virgo Moonchild will need some help from you to develop a healthy sense of self-worth.
• They will need to learn  to value their own wishes, feelings and desires too ,as they are much too likely to subjugate their own wishes, feelings and desires to others’.

Moon in Libra:

Even those who know very little about astrology are aware of the sign for Libra: the scales. It’s all about balance, and the placement of the Moon here denotes a little person who likes things to be fair. Not only that but, ruled by Venus, this child’s security depends on harmony, too; all things beautiful, harmonious and pleasant. The world looks considerably less safe to them as soon as a dark cloud threatens their sky.

This is a sociable little person, too; not in a loud and forthright “Where’s the party?!” kind of way, but in a more sedate “Let’s sit in the garden with a nice piece of cake” fashion.

Parental tips:

• Your Libra Moonchild may have a tendency to submit to others’ wishes too readily, due to their deep need for peace and harmony – they’ll probably need some help to develop a healthy method of gentle assertion.
• Venus (ruler of Libra) doesn’t have a lot of drive, so you may need to encourage the knack of getting on with it, rather than smiling sweetly and trying to talk him- or herself out of it!

Moon in Scorpio:

Sorpio is ruled by Pluto, which is the big, brooding influence in astrology. Pluto supercharges all that he touches with immense intensity, so this is a little Moon that really feels it; I mean deep down feels it. And that brings its own complications. This little person is unlikely to sit on the fence about anything much and, with Pluto being what he is,  may not really even understand why they feel so strongly. As the parent of a Scorpio Moonchild, be prepared for a bit of a bumpy ride; not that the ride is bumpy because of any kind of malice or naughtiness, but because it is as unfathomable to your child as it is to you.

Because Pluto operates below the surface, the eruption when the feelings come out is often so shocking to those around your little one, that they learn that their feelings aren’t safe. What they need to try to learn is a way to express them before they get so out of hand. Time and experience, along with gentle guidance, will ease the way considerably.

Parental tips:

• The intensity of a Scorpio Moonchild’s feelings will obviously spill over into friendships, which can make the school playground a bit of a life and death experience at times! Try to reassure your little one to loosen the ties a little, to allow their best friend to have other friends, too, and not to be distraught when they invite someone else to tea!
• In order to help your little one not to learn that feelings aren’t safe, as a parent you will need lots of patience with the outbursts until such time as he or she has managed to find a less explosive way of expressing them.

In the next article, I’ll be looking at the last four Moonsign placements: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

 

If you are interested in my services as a Children’s Astrologer, please visit www.alicestrology.com

Moon through the Signs: Aries to Cancer

From the moment your child is born, understanding the Moon placement is of vital importance. Apart from being one of the ‘Big Three’ – Sun, Moon, Ascendant – this is because your child will live predominantly through his or her Moon for the first seven years of life. From 7 -14 Mercury takes over, then 14-21 Venus is in charge. The list goes on, but within the scope of this blog, this is the information we need for the sake of a child / young adult’s astrology.

In astrology, the Moon describes our experience of our mother; what conditions in life we need in order to feel safe and secure, our instinctive feelings, and the family situation into which we have been born… It is undoubtedly obvious, therefore, why it is the Moon through which  a human being lives during the first seven years of life, since we are utterly dependent upon our mother / family from the moment of birth, and the conditions of our homelife have so very much bearing on the rest of our lives – some of us can spend a lifetime trying to unravel our childhood! A Moon with difficult aspects will describe a trickier childhood than one with easier aspects, all of which I intend to look into over the course of the next few weeks.

In this series of articles I propose to describe the attributes of each Moonsign placement, with advice for how to counter difficulties and how to encourage strengths. If you are totally new to astrology and would like to know how to work out where your child’s Moon resides in his or her chart, please do feel free to leave me a message.

So, with no more delay, we’ll start at the ‘beginning’ of the zodiac with

Moon in Aries:

The sign of Aries is ruled by the planet Mars, which is the planet of energy, assertion,  independent action and spirit. The Moon in this sign describes a child who will become quite feisty and spirited when his or her feelings are tweaked. It can be a 0-60 mph in under 3 seconds kind of energy: from calm to superanimated (or superagitated)  in no time at all. The distressed Aries Moon will probably come at you fists first, or with an instant tongue-lashing, if they perceive a threat to their security. Quite often, the explosive reaction will not necessarily measure up to the actual feelings, and when it all blows over – sometimes as quickly as it blew up – they will wonder what all the fuss was about. And rather regret the outburst.

The positive side to this placement is a child who can be very brave and independent. They don’t need anyone alongside them in order to feel safe and secure, but are quite happy to get on with it alone. They’re not much bothered whether others believe they are right but will tend to have the courage of their own convictions. This is an admirable strength to have… up to a point. Unchecked, there can be a tendency to overlook the feelings of others in favour of their own. They may need a little prompting to think about how others feel, too.

Parental tip:

• Give your child the space he or she needs to explore their emotional environment. They’re likely to want to work it out alone, at least initially.

• And encourage your Aries Moonchild to take a few deep breaths before reacting. A little time-out may help, or counting slowly to ten.

Moon in Taurus:

The Taurus Moon is a bit of a Comfort Nut. This child will probably want to come home from school and change straight into snuggly pyjamas, or cuddle up on a comfy sofa with a hot chocolate and something cozy on the television. Ruled by Venus, this little Moon needs lots of cuddles and good, rib-sticking food. It is this child who will be hanging around the kitchen waiting to lick the bowl, who can identify what is cooking when the merest whiff has penetrated upstairs.

Taurus is quite a steady and traditional sign, and this is reflected in the food tastes; in resistance to changes in life or in thinking; in reticence to stepping out of the comfort zone (literally and figuratively). It is your Taurus Moon who is the last to be ready for school because it’s warm in the kitchen, or there’s more porridge to be had…

There is a stubbornness about this placement, too: if the sweater is not quite right, there is nothing that will persuade him or her to wear it – it’s just too scratchy! But this bullish steadiness also means they are quite steadfast: they have a long fuse and are slow to anger.

Parental tip:

•  Comfort eating can become an issue with a Taurus Moonchild.
• You’ll need to be patient. Not much can make this little one move faster than he or she wants to!

Moon in Gemini:

Ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication and thinking, this placement is a very ‘fizzy’ one! Here is a little one who likes to talk! Gemini tends to flit from flower to flower and this placement is no exception: the emotions can be very rapidly changeable. There is a danger here that the child might become too dependent on rationalising his or her feelings away, rather than allowing him- or herself to feel them. They will be very happy to talk about them, to consider them rationally, but you’ll need to encourage feeling them, too.

Whereas the Taurus Moonchild is very reluctant to even contemplate new ideas, the Gemini Moonchild thrives on them. Lots of different subjects are the delight of this child, but there is again a danger that he or she will bite off more than they can chew. It is difficult to go into anything in any depth if you are constantly moving onto the next hot topic. “Jack of all trades, Master of none…”!

Parental tip:

• Try not to rationalise your Gemini Moonchild’s feelings, or explain them away. Encourage him or her to feel them and work through them.
• You’ll need to encourage this little one to develop a bit of staying power and applied self-discipline.

Moon in Cancer:

The sign of Cancer is ruled by the Moon, so the Moon here is in its domicile and just about as happy and strong  as it can be. The sign of Cancer is all about motherhood, security, home and family and a Cancer Moonchild will have a very strong bond with these.  Because the Moon represents the mother, too, a Cancer Moon looks to his or her mother for a sense of stability and security, and to his or her family, too. These things are very important to them. They’re likely to be a ‘little mother’ in the home, too – looking after little brothers and sisters. This placement can produce a teenage boy, for example, who looks after the younger ones at school, then comes home and watches CBeebies (little kids’ tv) with his younger siblings. This is an enormously protective and defensive little person.

Parental tip:

• Lots of nurturing attention is needed for this little one to feel secure.
• Don’t be surprised if your Cancer Moonchild shows an unusual level of sensitivity, especially to perceived disapproval.

In the next article, I’ll be looking at the next four Moonsign placements: Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio.

 

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