The Moon through the Signs.
The Moon through the Houses.
Planets aspecting the Moon.
Having looked at the Ascendant and the Sun, the next player in the great trinity is the Moon. The Moon represents our emotions and the need for security. It represents our early environment and particularly the way we experienced the mother. It shows our ability to be sensitive to the environment and to both give and receive emotion. The Moon is related to instincts, and is profoundly connected to the personal unconscious, and all the habitual behaviour that is looked after by this mysterious part of ourselves. The Moon shows how we instinctively react to protect ourselves and others.
The Sign the Moon is in shows the specific way we react, and the kind of emotional needs we have. The Moon goes through all 12 Signs in a month. The Moon sign's influence is at least as powerful as the Sun, showing specific habitual and environmental needs as well as ingrained reaction styles.
With your Moon in Aries with the key phrase: Be inspired, take action. You will thrive in relationships which give you the freedom to take independent action. Some of your most painful memories are connected with times when you were robbed of this freedom. To enjoy a harmonious relationship you need to establish control over your temperament. You have a tendency to be short-tempered, and this comes from frustrations or a tense atmosphere in your childhood. You tend to use the threat of creating a bad atmosphere through your temper or through being huffy to get what you want. With time you learn patience. As a partner, however, you are fun to be with and you know how to create an exciting atmosphere in which things happen.
With your Moon in Taurus with the key phrase: Maintain solid foundations . Generally speaking, you are a very giving person on an emotional level. You like to express your feelings through touching. You have a deep need for security, comfort and stability in your life, and this can manifest as a reluctance to adjust to the changes which go on around you. There is no doubt that you form powerful attachments to the things which represent security for you - not least your partnership - but in the process of maturing you will learn the importance of letting go of those attachments to material things, as they tend to keep you in a rut. Some of the deepest memories of hurt in your life are connected with times when you lost security, and this is why you cling to the status quo.
With your Moon in Gemini with the key phrase: Gather impressions. Childhood friendships and sibling relationships have had a tremendous formative effect on your life, as do the first experiences in school. Painful recollections connected with communication problems, and a feeling of being misunderstood will have left their mark on you. Part of the maturing process for you is connected with being more selective about what you let yourself get distracted by. However, curiosity and interest are the food of life to you, and you can find meaning in small things other people might think of as insignificant. You are more an ideas person, than an emotional being, and you are most comfortable in partnerships which are not too emotionally demanding, and which allow you time to pursue your mental and social interests.
With your Moon in Cancer with the key phrase: Create a secure atmosphere. Your deep feelings are a powerful driving force for you - many of your actions are motivated by a need to protect yourself and those closest to you. Family bonds - particularly to the mother, home and family - are of the utmost significance - and it is in the nature of things that you will experience a good deal of emotional pain as you mature and close bonds are broken. You can be very moody and this has a powerful effect on your emotional environment. Overcoming possessiveness based on dependence, and resisting the tendency to make others dependent on you through emotional manipulation and over-protectiveness, are essential stepping stones towards developing a greater inner self-sufficiency.
With your Moon in Leo with the key phrase: Create warmth around you. You have been brought up to feel that you are worthy of respect and you are strongly motivated to live up to high parental expectations. Your winning manners and romantic nature can lead to fairly dramatic experiences in love. Dealing with the consequences of romantic involvement's will be very formative for you. You have considerable charm and expect a good deal of attention, but on the path to emotional maturity your identity will often be bruised, as you learn how energy-consuming it can be to win the admiration of others. You are a creative person, you like to live the good life, and you expect to have an impact on others. Children can come to mean a great deal for you, and give you the joy you are constantly striving for.
With your Moon in Virgo with the key phrase: Systematise daily life. You have a talent for analysis and for working hard and efficiently. You are a busy and conscientious person, with a love of detail and an ability to organise your daily life. There may be a trace of self-criticism, perhaps due to the atmosphere in which you were brought up. This leads to a tendency to analyse yourself and others and as such you are constantly aware of the imperfections around you. You do not feel comfortable when there is disorder around you, so you tend to occupy yourself a lot of the time trying to create a comfortable and efficient environment. Generally however, partners benefit from your kind, concerned and helpful nature. Learning to relax and avoiding criticism would help you enjoy life more.
With your Moon in Libra with the key phrase: Smooth out differences You are most content when you are firmly ensconced with friends, or in a secure partnership. And you are willing to make considerable compromises to ensure that things function smoothly in this area. Injustice can make you lose your poise, and you are very concerned about fairness and equality. However you are eager to please, and unwilling to take a controversial role. On the other hand you are rather romantic and easily led astray by matters of the heart. On the road to maturity there will be radical developments in partnership matters which force you to re-evaluate your dependence on others. You will often bring an atmosphere of peace and harmony to your home and family life.
With your Moon in Scorpio with the key phrase: Give emotional strength. Deep inside you are very vulnerable, but few people are admitted to the inner chamber where your emotions dwell. You are driven unconsciously to fiercely protect the things which are dear to you, and any hint of insecurity in this area evokes strong defensive emotions, jealousy and anxiety. Trust is an essential ingredient in emotional relationships, and it is only when you feel completely secure, that you can finally commit yourself in this area. When this happens, you consider that the bonds that are created are made for life. In the process of maturing you will learn a more relaxed attitude to relationships. This will only come after a deep sense of loss, which leads you to transform your emotional values in the sense that you learn not to invest all your emotional security in another person.
With your Moon in Sagittarius with the key phrase: Expand emotional horizons. You are a freedom-loving person, who does not take kindly to any form of emotional limitation in your personal relationships. You are inspired by wide horizons, and this will lead to a good deal of travel in your life, or a drive to absorb the culture of the world through the media. This may result in a period of time spent travelling or living abroad. Some of the great difficulties in your life arise when circumstances force you to accept limitations on your freedom and the need to form stable emotional bonds. Major transformations also happen in connection with disillusion when you outgrow old beliefs and convictions, as you most surely will. You need intellectually challenging partnerships, but things would function better if you avoided strident discussions.
With your Moon in Capricorn with the key phrase: Clarify your motivations. You were born serious, and you have a tendency to seem more mature than your age suggests. You have been deeply affected by the experiences of childhood, and you probably felt a frustrated kind of responsibility to one of you parents - in all likelihood your mother. You are so eager to play a mature role in society that you forget how it is to be carefree and enjoy life. You feel deeply, but are reluctant to express these feelings in intimate relationships. Love relationships would benefit if you were more willing to show your vulnerability. However you strive hard to make relationships work, you have a strong sense of family responsibility, and you are very sincere in your feelings.
With your Moon in Aquarius with the key phrase: Caring humanity. You were brought up in an unusual parental environment characterised by rather special family relationships. You probably learned at an early age that it did not pay to be too dependent, and neither does it suit you, as you prefer friendships based on equality and shared interests. As such it is likely that your family relationships were characterised by intellectual principles of equality or liberation, whilst you may have missed the emotional supportiveness most children take for granted, although you may well have had a very friendly relationship to your mother. As many of the deepest bonds in your life are to true friends or groups, some of your greatest difficulties are experienced when these attachments are broken.
With your Moon in Pisces with the key phrase: Purify your emotions. In comparison to many other people, you are extremely sensitive to the emotional atmosphere around you. You are no stranger to sadness, and there was probably a unhappy quality in your family relationships - particularly in regard to your mother. You tend to take on the vibrations of others just as a chameleon changes colour, so it is important to be discriminative as regards who you are with, and what you do. As you mature, you learn to be watchful of your own moods, as they change with the least stimulus. By cultivating an emotionally positive attitude, you can avoid the negative energy states that made you feel helpless in the face of adversity when you were young. In relationships it helps to know that there is no dignity in martyrdom.
The House the Moon is in shows the particular area in actual life to which we become attached to increase feelings of security. This area is where we are most vulnerable and defensive. However it is also this area where we experience the greatest growth and show the greatest concern for others.
Your 1st house Moon with the key phrase: Showing care and concern, means that, the bond to your mother and family has a powerful influence on your development for good or ill, and some of the major developments in your life will arise in connection with the family. You instinctively know how important feelings are to your personal development. Some people may see you as overemotional or sentimental, but you know how to provide a truly nurturing environment for others to grow in. You have a powerful impact on your surroundings through your moods; indeed there may be a childish immaturity in this area. You may exhibit too much dependence on others, and are too attached to the past. Nevertheless other people will experience you as caring and giving.
Your 2nd house Moon with the key phrase: Attachment to personal values , means that, you are very attached to the things you own, as they represent important emotional connections for you. You really do tend to hold on to things from the past, and they can clutter up your home. Your children and family connections are major values for you, and it is a traumatic process when upheavals come in this area, and when bonds have to be cut. Some people may view you as materialistic and possessive, but you are a very giving person, just as long as you feel secure. Sometimes you eat just to feel secure. However you may be too fixated on security, and there will come periods in your life where you will lose the things that you are most attached you. Learning to adjust to economic fluctuations is part of a process of maturity for you.
Your 3rd house Moon with the key phrase: Caring communication , means that, you have a tendency to cement very powerful emotional bonds to a sibling or sister-figure in your life, or perhaps to a schoolmistress. Your mother, too, will have had a powerful effect on your mental development, and she may well have been strongly involved in your education. Trying emotional experiences in your life result from strong differences of opinion, perhaps in sibling relationships. You have a tendency to attach yourself uncritically to a set of ideas more through loyalty than conviction, and when you argue your case you are easily swayed by irrational arguments and emotions. You are however an extremely communicative person, and enjoy building up a warm network of contacts in your local environment.
Your 4th house Moon with the key phrase: Attachment to the home , means that, you were profoundly influenced by the emotional atmosphere as a child, and you were very sensitive to parental moods, especially your mother's. This has made you into a sensitive and rather vulnerable person, and you will be strongly motivated to create a caring and secure family environment later in your life. It would be wise to view the ups and downs of family life in a more objective way, rather than allowing your own mood to be constantly affected by changes. Your home is a haven for you, and you become very attached to it. When radical changes effect your home however, you will discover that you have a remarkable capacity to adjust. You need to spend a lot of time at home, and may find great pleasure in looking after your children, cooking, making home improvements etc.
Your 5th house Moon with the key phrase: Emotional joy , means that, you are profoundly attached to the pleasures and pains of childhood, and strongly motivated to bring your own children up in a very individual way. You have a deep emotional need for romantic attachment. Your tendency to yearn for the security of love stems from unresolved unconscious issues from your own childhood connected with security. Love affairs rarely bring lasting happiness, though it may take you some time to discover this. A more lasting satisfaction comes from creative achievement. You know how to nurture and maintain the romance in a relationship, although you may have a rather mothering style. Perhaps you get too attached to your children at the expense of your partnership.
Your 6th house Moon with the key phrase: Work security , means that, as a very helpful person you like to make yourself indispensable through being of service. You are excellent at tuning in to the physical needs of others, and generally happy take on a lot of tasks - both in your career and around the house. If you are not careful however, other people will take advantage of you. You may be reluctant to say no because of your dependence on the goodwill of others. You may also waste too much energy on menial tasks, thus getting distracted from the broader visions in your life. As you are very sensitive to your working environment, you tend to worry too much about how other people are feeling. Learn to tune in to your own needs, so that you can set limits in relation to the imagined demands of others.
Your 7th house Moon with the key phrase: Tuning in to others , means that, most of your emotional life revolves around your partnership. You form a strong bond at an early age when you are still emotionally immature. You are strongly motivated by security and stability in your relationships, and will be attracted to a partner who can provide this. Men in particular have a tendency to choose a mother figure. Women tend to take on the role of mother in partnerships. Despite the need for stability, marital life will fluctuate wildly. These emotional ups-and-downs are a result of your over sensitivity to the emotional state of your partner. You have difficulty distinguishing between what you feel and what your partner feels. Your concern for the partner's feelings paradoxically evokes exaggerated reactions from him or her. Learn to tune in to what it is you really feel, and allow your partner to have his or her moods without constantly imagining they have something to do with your actions. When you integrate your emotions in this way, your partner will be grateful to be able to express emotions in peace without always having to have consideration for how you will react.
Your 8th house Moon with the key phrase: Emotional purging , means that, you have a deep, deep, emotional nature. Early childhood experiences - in which the fear of death or destruction played a role - undermine your ability to find emotional calm. A complex relationship to the mother - who may have had some acute but perhaps unspoken fears herself - has given you a deep but frustrated desire to belong, to feel secure. No matter how hard you strive for some kind of guarantee that you will be protected, you will never get one. Experience will teach you that you must not rely on other people to provide emotional security for you. A turning point will arise in your thirties in which you discover how much more rewarding it is to give than to demand. Anxiety has taught you to map out and understand the deepest and most hidden emotions. The resources you unearth in your own nature will be of great help to everyone you contact on an intimate level. Before this transformation relationships can be rather painful because of fear of loss, jealousy or extreme emotional experiences. Later your relationships acquire depth and understanding.
Your 9th house Moon with the key phrase: Philosophical foundations , means that, you have a strong need to have a belief to hold on to. You will have been powerfully affected by the convictions and values that your mother held, and though she may have been intellectually dominating, her opinions will continue to have a strong moral effect on you. You are very attached to your beliefs, but rather irrational in your defence of them. Your convictions about life will undergo periodic change. Being a very intuitive and mentally receptive person, you can become a channel for ideas from higher sources. You are attracted to a God with whom you can find safety and refuge. You will almost certainly have interests in philosophical and spiritual areas, and you will benefit greatly from going on courses to increase your self-knowledge. During the course of your life you are likely to travel a lot, and there is a good chance that you will live abroad for a period of time.
Your 10th house Moon, with the key phrase: A caring career. , means that, your mother had a profound effect on your personal development and you probably still look up to her, or see her often. She was most likely the dominant parent and will have influenced you strongly in your choice of career. A lot of your unconscious professional motivation is aimed at living up to her expectations. Later in your life partners will find themselves competing with either your job or your mother for your attention or your affection. But you have a strong sense of duty, and you may feel that your role is primarily to live up to family expectations. Having children really mobilises all your resources, and you will make a good parent, but true fulfilment will be found when you can manifest your caring energy beyond the limits of the family.
Your 11th house Moon with the key phrase: Social security , means that, you form very strong bonds to your friends and are extremely sensitive to how they treat you. You are both caring and concerned as regards their personal development, and easily hurt if they let you down in any way. You need to belong to a group, and your experiences in this area are strongly influenced by your school years. You tend to become too attached to a particular friend at this time, and this can bring problems when you both develop the need for change. During the course of your life you learn to develop a greater emotional detachment, so that you are not so easily hurt or disappointed by others. You may be oversensitive as regards your social position.
Your 12th house Moon with the key phrase: Inner refuge , means that, in your childhood you probably experienced long periods of isolation in which you were removed from everyday life in some way. Perhaps, too, you were profoundly influenced by the dreams, longing or loneliness of your mother. At any rate, you now have a need to withdraw from the world from time to time and commune with nature or your inner feelings. Really you ought to have a room of your own which is sacred to you, and where you can be alone. You are extremely sensitive to your environment and spend a lot of time enveloped in a very private emotional world where other people have difficulty getting into contact with you. In this private sphere you have many dreams and longings. Perhaps it would be wise for you to work more consciously with the inner world of your imagination through creative work or meditative practice.
The Aspects to the Moon show specific emotional experiences which affect our psychological make-up. These aspects are integrated into our emotional nature to give specific reaction patterns and habits.
If your Moon is aspecting your Mercury with the key phrase: Emotional awareness. You are a person who likes to communicate on an intimate level with those you are close to, though you have difficulty opening up to those you do not know well. Other people are comfortable entrusting their thoughts and feelings to you however. Your word and tone of voice are always tinged by your emotions, and this ensures you a good audience. Your emotions tend to swing a lot, and when you are feeling negative it can be very difficult for you to express yourself clearly. Under extreme emotional conditions you will be rather irrational. You have probably been profoundly emotionally affected by sibling relationships, and even now may have a powerful emotional bond to a brother or a sister. Your school years will also have had a great emotional impact on you, for better or worse. You are extremely sensitive to being criticised or misunderstood on a mental level. In many ways you are able to build a mental bridge between the conscious and unconscious mind, clarifying emotions through mental awareness.
If your Moon is aspecting your Venus with the key phrase: Empathy. You have an affectionate nature - you have both the capacity to give succour and love, and a deep need to receive it. Obviously therefore, relationships are extremely important to you, and you tend to form lasting bonds at an early age. Actually the greatest bond will be to your own family, particularly the mother - for better or for worse.
Men with this aspect tend to marry early and unconsciously compare their loved one with the mother. There is a tendency to slink back to the family home for a good meal from time to time, and the wife can have great difficulty asserting her own authority over the mother's. In more extreme cases the man evokes maternal behaviour in his partner, and finds her wanting sexually as a mistress. It is difficult to feel sexually attracted to a mother figure, so unfaithfulness can ensue, as the man seeks to fulfil his sexual needs elsewhere.
Women with this aspect have to learn to integrate the two feminine functions - maternal and erotic - into their lives in some way. If she has difficulty with this she will find the sexual element in the relationship deteriorating, and will end up spending all her time on the house or with the children. A maid might be the answer!
For both sexes there is a tendency to be overmatched and clinging, and too fixated on material security. Unconscious and unresolved childhood needs for love and security spill over into later relationships. It pays to develop a more detached attitude and a greater indifference to the need for constant approval.
If your Moon is aspecting your Mars with a key phrase: Temperament. You were brought up in an atmosphere of tension which has made you constantly on guard. Perhaps your mother was an unusually aggressive woman, or perhaps there were many struggles in your family life. Whatever the reason you tend to get easily upset now - especially in your domestic life.
Women with this aspect are often attracted to emotional men who express their feelings passionately and intensely. However this may be because of unconscious provocation from the woman, who - never having experienced peace and calm in her early life - recreates the atmosphere of tension through criticism or angry moods.
Men with this aspect tend to have a short fuse, and often go about in an irritated state of mind. By identifying early childhood patterns of tension it may be possible to combat these negative emotional anger-states, which can be the source of a great deal of internal pain. Expression of anger rarely solves anything. It does not pay to let anger out, as you may fondly imagine. It pays to be conscious of the reasons for anger, before it arises.
As you mature and you gain insight into your emotional nature, you can learn to create an atmosphere of excitement around you. You will be inspiring to be with, and moreover, you learn to combat insecurity by giving freedom of movement and encouraging independence in those you are attached to.
If your Moon is aspecting your Jupiter with the key phrase: Horizons. Your mother had a strong influence on your personal convictions about life for better or worse. Perhaps she was religious or moralising, with extremely dominating opinions about what was best for you and the world. On the other hand she may have had an extremely beneficial effect on you - widening your horizons, stimulating you intellectually, and providing you with a strong moral foundation. Your mother was probably not the type to let herself be restricted by relationships, and she will have inspired in you the desire to expand your horizons and see the world.
Because of these childhood influences, freedom to pursue your dreams and visions is important for you. You have strong convictions about your personal rights, but these may not be realistic when you decide to commit yourself to a relationship. You often get into emotional arguments on matters of principle when you feel you are being treated unjustly, but perhaps you need to overcome a certain emotional irresponsibility. It is essential for you to re-examine and adjust your moral convictions.
Foreign environments may have played an important role in your upbringing, and generally speaking you will enjoy the cultural stimulation of travel and new horizons. You have very strong empathy, and your emotional life exerts a powerful influence on your environment. You feel things very strongly, especially as regards what is right and what is wrong. You react powerfully to perceived injustice, and instinctively flare up or get upset when you think something is unfair. Above all, you dislike restrictions on your personal freedom, and you can manifest a strong independence if you feel encroached upon. You may often overreact to quite normal expectations on the part of the partner, as regards commitment and responsibility. Generally however, your optimistic and light-hearted nature brings a lot of joy and happiness to personal relationships, just as long as you are allowed to feel free, travel and pursue your intellectual interests.
If your Moon is aspecting your Saturn with the key phrase: Self-sufficiency. Your childhood was probably rather difficult. You may well have felt rejected by your mother, perhaps because she worked too hard and had no time for you, perhaps because she had problems of her own, perhaps because she was blocked emotionally. Whatever the cause you have reacted to rejection by withdrawing behind a protective barrier so that you can't be hurt. Moreover you may also have a tendency to try to win love and acceptance by doing duties taking on family responsibilities. Emotional responsibilities founded on guilt are not wise, particularly if they carry on into middle age.
The situation is perhaps more complex than you imagine. You were born with a strong emotional hunger and need for security, and it is possible that your mother could not fulfil your demands. You may have interpreted her reactions as rejection, and in turn rejected her when she wanted to be warm. Whether this is true or not, you are very difficult to approach now when you are hurt, and you have the emotional resilience and determination to withdraw emotionally for quite long periods of time. However, as time goes by experience will teach you the importance of cultivating an open emotional attitude - it is much less painful in the long run. Ultimately you can be of great assistance to other people who have emotional problems, and you can be quite unselfish in giving time and assistance.
You are extremely sensitive emotionally, but present a very solid facade to the outer world, giving the impression that you are quite cool, even invulnerable. Behind your formal manners is a person who was never fully allowed to enjoy a carefree childhood. At an early age you took responsibility in the family, repressing your own spontaneity and lowering your expectations because of emotional hurt. In later relationships you have difficulty letting down your protective barriers, even though you have a deep desire for intimacy. If you do get hurt emotionally you rarely let on, and you close the shutters on your feelings so that your loved one has no chance to make amends. After the age of 30 you learn more successful strategies for intimacy. First of all it is essential for you to be emotionally self-sufficient - if you sell yourself for security, you will end up in a prison. From a position of inner strength you can then allow yourself to be more trusting and vulnerable - you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by opening up emotionally without making any demands.
If your Moon is aspecting your Chiron with a key phrase: Spiritual highs. The search for spiritual fulfilment must in some way involve a deep and penetrating journey into the realms of the unconscious mind. Also any attempt at understanding one's inner self will not be successful unless accompanied by a spiritual awakening. If your Luna energies are played out by your Mother, as is so often the case, she will take on the role of both wounder and healer thereby initiating growth and development.
The Conjunction is a very difficult position because the natives have such intense emotions that it is difficult for them to understand the effect they have on others. They are extremely sensitive, they are very mystical about emotional bonding, and the day to day levels of relationships are almost impossible to bear. The ideal for this native is to master Saturn and to form a solid bond with a mate, because then the power of Uranian transformation can enter their life through the relationship. This native will be almost terrified of restrictions because of the Uranian desire for freedom. But if they can find the right partner who will help work with Saturn without undue restrictions then the possibility of kundalini energy wil manifest in sexual sharing. This native may be too involved with their mother, which can block the opportunity for a relationship. Also, this native will tend to attract intense and transformative partners. the key to actualising the spiritual beauty of Chiron conjunct the Moon is Saturn grounding and balance, with room for Uranian transformation.
The Sextile aspect creates a perfect vehicle for understanding how emotions can help or hinder spiritual progress. These individuals, once mature, can usually heal other people as soon as they learn that they can heal, if they can feel the energy of others. Sextile natives have a deep understanding of the needs of others and instinctively respond to the sick and childlike.
Chiron square the moon creates a crisis over feelings and higher consciousness. In the early years, relationships are very difficult and intense. This position tends to appear in nativity's of analysts and astrologers, because the early childhood creates many difficult emotional experiences which are a laboratory for understanding people and their complexes once the native has experienced the Saturn return (around age 29 - 30). The potential with this position is the highest level of awareness about human emotions, and this native may even become adept at connecting the higher self into the body. This native is usually involved with the occult because the Chironic awareness factor is so intensified. This position also creates serious perceptual difficulties: these natives are so intense that they have great difficulty learning from outside experiences. They will tend to change environments and people so often that they will not develop long-term friendships. Channelling and drugs are very dangerous for these natives, because they will use the drugs to colour perceptions about reality, and the channelling will just reflect the opinions they already have about other people and themselves. They need to become more objective about their own perceptions or they will entirely lose their ability to use their experiences with others as material to learn lessons from. There is great potential here but great danger also.
If your Moon is aspecting your Uranus with the key phrase: Unpredictability. Extraordinary circumstances regarding your relationship to your family - particularly your mother - and your general upbringing, have evoked a very detached emotional attitude in you. In all probability your relationship to your mother was characterised by a sense of equality or of friendship, rather than traditional patterns of dependence. From one point of view you were never allowed to feel a natural dependence and you protected yourself by developing detachment, but from another point of view you rejected your mother whenever she tried to assume the traditional maternal role. There may also have been an element of unpredictability about your mother's behaviour - a situation in which you never quite knew what she was going to do next.
Later in life you display this inherited tendency to detach yourself when encountering emotional challenges. You send the unconscious message that you are quite prepared to leave if there is going to be too much trouble, and that you can handle your own freedom. Of course you can, but this means that you end up in half-relationships in which you are neither living with, nor quite living without the partner. When you discover that your love of freedom and independence is partly a device to protect you from getting hurt emotionally, you learn to express feelings of commitment with greater warmth, and this in turn creates more security for the partner, who will reciprocate by showing greater commitment.
You do not have conventional desires as far as domestic harmony is concerned. In your childhood there were many unsettling influences and a general atmosphere of unpredictability , excitement or stress. You need to feel that something is happening around you. This means that you can get very restless in relationships, and if you feel bored - and you often do - then you start getting provocative. You are best suited to relationships which keep you occupied with new daily challenges - and you have a strong need to express your emotional energy in group scenarios. Your partner will not be able to satisfy your need for stimulation on his or her own. You thrive in unusual domestic relationships - for example communal living, flat-sharing or residence abroad. For partnership to function satisfactorily it is essential that you stop distancing yourself emotionally - this gives the impression that you do not care for your loved one.
If your Moon is aspecting your Neptune with the key phrase: Develop intuitive sensitivity. As a child you were profoundly influenced by the mood of your mother. You may feel the bond is close, you may idealise your mother, but there are strong indications that she sucked you in to her negative moods, enlisting your support and care. At worst she may have been something of a martyr, or in bad health, at best she was probably rather sad at times. This evoked guilt feelings in you, and an unconscious need to make things better.
Actually you are born to be concerned and helpful, so your mother could not really help evoking these feelings in you. The essential thing in your life is to realise how profoundly you were influenced by the emotional atmosphere of your childhood. By making conscious use of the creative side of your imagination, you can learn to avoid the old traps and create a positive environment for yourself and those close to you.
The greatest challenge for you is to attain emotional satisfaction, and this is best done by understanding the nature of your childhood. It is essentially for you to avoid the tempting pleasure of indulging your emotions and sentimentality. You so easily fall into negative emotional states, and this can make life miserable for the people around you. Your emotional impressionability creates serious problems in partnership matters - you simply have difficulty distinguishing the boundaries between yourself and your loved one. You take on the moods of others or absorb negative vibrations from the environment. The older you get the more you realise that this is just a bad habit, based on early conditioning. Avoid jumping into emotional swamps! Having said this, you have a wonderful talent for tuning in to other people emotionally and understanding them in depth. You are a very sympathetic person.
If your Moon is aspecting your Pluto with the key phrase: Deep emotional involvement. You are profoundly marked by traumatic childhood experiences, in which you lost trust in family security. Your bond to your mother is at best complicated, and at worst non-existent. For some reason she was unable to nurture you - perhaps you were removed from her at some time, perhaps she was unable to breast-feed you, perhaps she was under such psychological pressure herself and did not have the resources to take care of you.
Whatever the reason, you sought to protect yourself from the resulting vulnerability by amputating your emotional bonds so as not to feel pain. Effective though this may have been to ensure your emotional survival as a child, it becomes a deep and unconscious habit which sabotages emotional bonds later in life. It is particularly painful for other people to experience the icy atmosphere you create when you withdraw your feelings.
Experiences later in life lead you to transform your drastic emotional survival tactics and in doing so accept greater responsibility for family problems. This transformation evokes a deep psychological understanding of others who also are tormented by extreme emotions.
You are a person who feels everything very deeply, although people who only know you superficially might not be aware of this. Your need to protect yourself emotionally comes from a number of disturbing childhood experiences which mean that you tend to play it cool in times of crisis. Problems arise in intimate relationships because you never let on how you really feel - if you had the courage to show your vulnerability, people would treat you better. You cling to emotional bonds with great intensity, yet in times of crisis you can suddenly amputate your feelings and become ice-cold. It is unwise to deal with crises by giving ultimata. It is essential to overcome these destructive defence mechanisms, if you want to enjoy warm relationships.
If your Moon is aspecting your Node which means that on a personal level we have the phrase: Mother Earth. Negotiating the twists and turns of your emotional relationships is a full-time occupation for you. As a woman you will be moved by the primitive archetypal urges of the female energy in Nature; as a man you will be attracted to earth divas because you need to feel the full force of emotional power flowing through you. You will lose your footing more than once because of the universal power of emotional attraction or dependence, and plunge into the emotional maelstrom. Sudden changes can take you far from home, and growth in life finally comes when you learn to orientate yourself in the world of your feelings and your unconscious mind.