The two most fundamental energies in our birth chart are the Sun and the Moon. While the Sun is the most yang, projective, giving us our sense of individual self and purpose, the Moon is the most yin, receptive, providing us with the application of our purpose. The Sun is the light and life of our system. The Moon being the closest heavenly body to us controls the rhythm of the sea and all its creatures as well as the flow of blood in the human body. As the Moon distributes the light of the Sun each night, we experience this partnership and are able to understand their relationship in forming the personality of the human being.

Each night a different amount of light is given off by the Moon according to its changing relationship with the Sun. Within an approximate twenty-eight day cycle the Moon will have passed through eight phases, each phase lasting about forty-five degrees or three and a half days. These phases each have their own unique characteristics which influence all life on the planet. The first phase is the New Moon at which time no light is emanating from its surface. Beginning at zero degrees it will have completed its cycle at three hundred and sixty degrees.

One way to describe these phases is to use the analogy of the plant.

At the New Moon the seed is in the ground preparing for germination. It is implanted in a new beginning.

In the early degrees of the Crescent Phase, the sprout is drawn up from the earth by the initial impulses of light. During the remaining stages of the Crescent Phase the plant goes through a strengthening process, mobilizing its energies against the elements of nature. 

When the First Quarter comes about, the plant has passed the initial stages of survival and is now sending down roots. By firmly anchoring its life force, the plant is able to concentrate its energies in the growth of stems and leaves with the tiny buds appearing by the beginning of the Gibbous Phase.

 During the Gibbous Phase the plant is focusing on the reason for its existence. By ridding itself of everything superfluous, the culmination of its entire past from its beginning is brought to the moment of its achievement by coming into bloom.

 The phase of the Full Moon is the completion. The work has been done and the gardener can stand back and assess his efforts. As the Full Moon progresses through its forty-five degrees the flower becomes the fruit.

The Disseminating phase is the harvest. The purpose of the plant is to now give back to the earth, to those who brought it into being and to nurture others.

By the time the Third Quarter comes around, the harvest is over, the abundance has been shared and what is left in the fields begins to decompose. The cycle is beginning to end.

 During the Balsamic Phase the seed capsule is buried underground. It is clear that what was, no longer exists in its original form. This is the time of transition. The light of the Moon has grown very dim and by the end of this phase will have disappeared into darkness.

When we are born we come in under the influence of one of the Moon's phases. The degree will pinpoint its
intensity.