Whereas the Sun represents the divine spark descending into matter to create life, the Moon is the receptacle receiving that divine spark, the chalice in which life grows, the substance of which all things are made. This is why the Moon is exalted in Taurus, for Taurus is the sign of matter, substance, receptivity and springtime, when the fertile Earth receives the outrushing seed of life. The Moon has no light of its own, but shines only by the reflected light of the Sun.

The Moon’s symbol is the half circle of personality, which is but a reflection of our true self within, the Sun. The Moon waxes and wanes through its phases, and so do the affairs of its house. The Moon’s house is where we feel and change the most, and the experiences to which our emotions are most vulnerable.

The Moon symbolizes more things than any other “planet.” It is yin, the principle of receptivity, the emotions, matter, our mother-image, nurturance, personality, the past, home and family, childhood, children and young people, habit patterns, memory, the subconscious, public and mass consciousness, reflexive and instinctual behavior, women in general and the wife in particular in a man’s chart. In the physical body the Moon rules the stomach, breasts, solar plexus, and all bodily fluids and the flow of secretions.

On Earth the Moon rules the ocean and the tides. Since the Moon depicts our general experience of having been nurtured, supported and taken care of, an afflicted Moon can lead to feelings of alienation and not belonging, of being estranged from this universe of which one is, by right of birth, a part. This can manifest in feelings of self-worth based on what you do and its success, rather than on who you are.