Sun Sign, Moon Sign

Discover the Key to Your Unique Personality through the 144 Sun, Moon Combinations

Charles Harvey & Suzi Harvey

DEDICATION

To our parents, Cordelia, John, Jack and Joyce

To our children Natasha, Giles and Alexander

To Grant Lewi who lit the way

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Authors’ Note

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 Getting the Most from this Book

Chapter 2 Sun and Moon: the Lights of Our Life

Chapter 3 Elementary, Dear Readers

PART 2 THE SUN-MOON COMBINATIONS

Chapter 4 Sun in Aries

Chapter 5 Sun in Taurus

Chapter 6 Sun in Gemini

Chapter 7 Sun in Cancer

Chapter 8 Sun in Leo

Chapter 9 Sun in Virgo

Chapter 10 Sun in Libra

Chapter 11 Sun in Scorpio

Chapter 12 Sun in Sagittarius

Chapter 13 Sun in Capricorn

Chapter 14 Sun in Aquarius

Chapter 15 Sun in Pisces

PART 3 FINDING YOUR SUN-MOON COMBINATION

Table 1: Finding Your Sun Sign

Table 2: Finding Your Moon Sign

Table 3: British Summer Time

Table 4: Time Zones Around the World

For Your Further Astrological Study

Further Reading

Acknowledgements

Copyright

About the Publisher

AUTHORS’ NOTE

For convenience sake, and to make for easier reading, we have used the masculine gender pronoun throughout the text (most of the time). Astrology emphasizes through the Sun and Moon that we all contain both male and female attitudes and approaches to life.

Part One INTRODUCTION

Chapter One GETTING THE MOST FROM THIS BOOK

To thine own self be true

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Resolve to be thyself; and know, that he who finds himself, loses his misery

MATTHEW ARNOLD

MAKING A FILM OF YOUR LIFE

Imagine a cinema centre. It is showing two films of your life. On one screen Triumph is being shown; on another screen, Tragedy. Each of us has the possibilities for both scenarios within us. Most of us will experience something of each.

The difference between success and failure in life ultimately comes down to self-understanding. Within you are many different gifts, conflicting wishes and pressures, obligations and ambitions. The more you are able to recognize and work with your different sides and tendencies, the more you are likely to turn tragedy into triumph, rather than snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

We feel that the first step in recognizing and reconciling these different ‘selves’ inside you is getting to know intimately not only your Sun sign but your Moon sign as well – and how they create a lively, sometimes problematic, but always interesting dialogue within you. And what we offer you in these pages is a series of ‘film clips’ showing some of the main features of the 144 most important Sun – Moon story lines. One of these is yours. It describes the essential personality of two of the most important and central characters in the drama of your life. These characters, as represented by the sign positions of the Sun and Moon at your birth, are the heart and soul of your story. The better you can get to know them the more will you be able to understand, and even consciously collaborate on, the script of your life. Once you can comprehend the innate contradictions, you can turn them to good use – a bit like adjusting the seasoning in a soufflé. You will discover it is a good recipe, a fine script – do not fight it; enjoy it!

We have tried to give you a taste of the contrasting pressures and inner dilemmas that each combination is most likely to experience, and to show how these different aspects of you can work positively together. You will not agree with everything you find here (unless you are the most watery of Water types), but if these profiles encourage you to reflect more on the full-length film of your life and how you can give it the best performance and production you can, we will be more than happy.

FINDING OUT YOUR SUN-MOON COMBINATION

If you have not had your personal birth chart drawn up, and do not know your Sun – Moon combination, Part 3 gives instructions and tables for finding the sign position of your Sun and Moon.

If you do not know your time of birth and there is uncertainty as to which sign your Sun and/or Moon is in, you will need to read the two different possible combinations. This should help you to decide which is the more likely position and so narrow down the likely time of your birth. Care is needed with this method, however, as other chart factors may be involved of which you are unaware. If your decision is between a Cancer and Leo Moon, for example, you may decide your Moon is in Cancer, yet this could be because your Rising Sign is in Cancer.

THE LAYOUT OF EACH COMBINATION

We have given our findings and interpretations for each Sun – Moon combination under the following main sections:

• quotations

• themes

• main text

• relationships

• your greatest strengths

• your greatest weaknesses

• images for integration

• famous people with this combination

Some details about the contents of each of these sections follows.

The Quotations – In Their Own Words

Each one of us views the world from a different place and in a different way. What we notice and what interests us is very much conditioned by our birth chart, and not least by our Sun and Moon positions. So if we want to understand a combination more fully we cannot do better than to listen to the ideas and observations of those who have lived a lifetime with that particular Sun – Moon combination.

In consequence, we have started each Sun – Moon entry with quotations from individuals who were born with that particular combination. These have been chosen to illustrate, directly or indirectly, some of the essential qualities of that particular type in their own words.

We regret the fact that, despite our best efforts, there are many more quotes from men than women in this book. This is a direct reflection of the ratio of eminent men to women in our society over the centuries, which has inevitably resulted in a very strong bias towards quotes from men being available in the many collections and dictionaries of quotations. For somewhat different reasons, certain categories of people, for example writers and philosophers, tend to be a more fruiful source of telling quotes than, say, sportspeople or those working in business or the helping professions. This is not surprising. Writers and thinkers spend their time reflecting on the nature of the human condition and our relationship to the world, whilst, with obvious exceptions, people engaged in sport, commerce and caring for others tend to be less immediately engaged in such reflections.

In doing our research for this book we usually found far more quotes than we could possibly use for certain of the combinations, whilst it was often difficult to find suitable, pithy observations from other solilunar types. This is not surprising. Certain combinations – such as the Sun in Gemini, Moon in Aquarius – were alive with wit and wisdom, whilst quotes were relatively thinner on the ground for other combinations. Even though some of these combinations are deeply reflective – such as those with both Sun and Moon in Scorpio – they seem to be less naturally verbally articulate.

Themes

This paragraph gives a very brief summary of some of the main issues of the combination, starting with the element combination of the Sun and Moon. The first element given is the Sun’s; the second element that of the Moon. To avoid constant repetition and to save space, we have given further details about each of the 10 element combinations, including some observations about compatibility with other types, in Chapter 3.

The Main Text

This main essay identifies and discusses what we have found to be the main issues for the combination. We have resisted the temptation to break this text up into formal sections. Each combination is usually presented in a somewhat different way as dictated by the combination itself and by the material we have available. We have usually given suggestions about the types of work which are likely to be especially congenial to the combination, though, as we have noted elsewhere, we do not see these combinations as a clear indication to vocation, but much more as indications of the approach and attitudes that the type will bring to what they do. The one area we have separated out is Relationships, as these are so central to what the Sun and Moon combination in the chart is all about.

Your Greatest Strengths

This is a summary of what seem from our research to be some of the more creative possibilities of the combination. Other factors in your full birth chart will suggest other strengths and creative potential, so you should not be dismayed if your favourite virtue is not mentioned!

Your Greatest Weaknesses

Here we pull no punches. This section attempts to identify some of the greatest defects and life problems the combination can produce. We are not saying you are like this (though others may agree!), but these are issues that you would do well to note. As with your virtues, your chart as a whole may suggest more obvious blemishes to your otherwise perfect self!

Images for Integration

These may not obviously hit you between the eyes the first time you read them. They are intended to be reflected upon. Sometimes we have given just one image, more often two, and sometimes more when the very different possibilities of a particular combination seem to require it. These images are intended to evoke what we see to be some of the essential issues of the combination in question, and to get you thinking. If an image does not speak to you, put it to the back of your mind. One day when you are wrestling with some problem or theme that repeats itself in your life, the penny could drop.

Since this is a book rather than a video we have usually given these images as ‘word pictures’. But we could equally well have used pictures, cartoons, sculptures, music, landscapes and other symbolic expressions of these ideas. Occasionally, where works of art and music are very well known or especially appropriate, we have used these. Under Sagittarius – Cancer, for example, you will find Jimi Hendrix’s legendary Woodstock version of The Star Spangled Banner. Its mixture of emotional patriotism (Cancer) and raw, fiery, exuberant energy and brilliance (Sagittarius) as he imitates the ‘rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air’ on his guitar, speak volumes about this combination. In a different vein, under Gemini – Libra you will find Elgar’s Enigma Variations. The composer dedicated it ‘to my friends within’. Not only does Elgar’s very concept evoke the synthesis of these signs, but if you listen to the sheer range of musical experience Elgar derives from his one simple theme you will arrive at a deeper, inner, understanding of this combination. Likewise under Scorpio-Sagittarius we have Picasso’s painting Guernica. To view its tortured images conveys to us a moral statement (Sagittarius) about the destruction and iniquities of war (negative Scorpio) which goes to the heart of the preoccupations of this Sun – Moon combination.

The Famous People

This book grew from our study of peoples’ lives. You will find that one of the most fruitful ways of finding out more about the subtleties, dilemmas and creative possibilities of a specific Sun – Moon combination is to study the biographies and autobiographies of famous individuals who have that combination. The list of celebrities that are given at the end of each entry is a selection of some of the better-known contemporary and historical individuals whom we have recorded as being born with that particular Sun – Moon pairing.

We have made every effort to check on the accuracy of the charts we have used for these individuals, but inevitably some errors may have crept in. If you have reason to suppose that any of the people given under a combination are there under false pretences, we would be pleased to hear from you.

While the Sun – Moon combination can give some clues and indications as to career choice, it will be found more useful to consider the famous people listed in terms of the kind of approach they had to their particular work, the ideas and themes which have engaged them, and the general flavour of their lives. So, for example, to understand the acute paradox of the combination of clinical detachment and intense passion of those born with Sun in Aquarius and Moon in Scorpio, one can learn volumes by looking at the output of the writer Alex Comfort. The very titles of Comfort’s best sellers – Sex in Society and The Joy of Sex: A Gourmet’s Guide to Love Making – encapsulate a creative synthesis of these very different approaches to life. His many other books, plays, poetry, essays and novels draw upon similar themes, with the clash between freedom and possessiveness, between intellect and emotions, between personal liberty and social obligations. His work is often expressed in a pungent blend of Aquarian-Scorpio humour as in Come out to Play, his satirical fantasy about a biologist deeply learned in the knowledge of human mating habits.

It would be wrong to conclude from this example that all Aquarius-Scorpios will be writers, or that they will all be preoccupied with understanding their relationship to sex (though many will be!). But what we can conclude from Comfort’s life, and many other cases, it that the creative pivot around which this Sun – Moon combination revolves is the conflict between mind and emotion. By attempting to reconcile the fundamental tension between a need to see the world through a strongly developed rational intellect and the irrational intensity of their emotional life, this type finds their own unique creativity.

If you take some time out to study the lives, accomplishments and aspirations of those people we have listed, you can gradually build up a picture of how other people have used your own particular combination creatively, how they have reconciled conflicting pressures, and indeed where their dilemmas have tripped them up. To illustrate this further, let us take a brief look at the different lives of all the people listed under Sun Scorpio – Moon Pisces.

Scorpio and Pisces are both Water signs. Water is the element (here) that emphasizes the feelings and emotions and a general sensitivity to, and understanding of, other people’s needs and experience. Hence such types often have a strong attraction towards the caring professions and other occupations that demand emotional sensitivity, such as the theatre and creative writing. Even though all Water signs are theoretically highly compatible, the intense, self-controlled, purposeful and ambitious Scorpio is a very different kettle of crustaceans from the free-flowing, adaptable, often self-sacrificing and addictive sign of the fishes, and this combination of signs can experience as much inner conflict as any other. A consideration of our list reveals the wide variations of expression possible from this one combination, yet the common themes they tend to share.

Hillary Clinton

A lawyer by training and one of the US’s most influential First Ladies. But forget her profession – what is she like? She has been described alternately as a Lady Macbeth and a Florence Nightingale. The astrological truth is that she is both. Sun Scorpios are naturally forceful and ambitious, but Moon in Pisces gives a softer, caring concern for the world, and especially the underdog. So it is that her solar public image can be typically Scorpionic – stiff, icy, aloof – whilst in private she can be warm and funny, with the classic Piscean flair for mimicry.

In her work in the White House, as in her earlier legal practice, it is clear that Hillary Clinton really cares (Pisces) passionately (Scorpio) about what she does. She is not only concerned with personal power (Scorpio), but is guided by a natural concern and compassion (Moon Pisces) for the sick, addicted, unemployed, underprivileged and the underclass – all groups traditionally symbolized by the Moon in Pisces. With characteristic Scorpio concern for regeneration, Clinton’s purpose is to help these people help themselves with hand-ups rather than hand-outs. Also typical is her determination and intense commitment to get to grips with and to purge the Scorpio abuses of the drugs industry, ruled by Pisces.

Gene Tierney

This actress was famous for her silky, feline femininity, which she used in portraying classically Scorpionic indefatigable scheming heroines and seductresses in film noir thrillers. Indeed mystery thrillers themselves are of the essence of this combination.

Tierney’s life was marked by a deep struggle to get to grips with (Scorpio) her chaotic emotional life, which was constantly running away with her (Pisces). As so often seems to be the case with this type, her emotional life went in waves of collapse into self-abandonment (Pisces), and self-motivated dramatic recovery and regeneration (Scorpio).

Grace Kelly

Another actress, Kelly is remembered particularly for her elegant, coolly self-possessed (Scorpio) yet intensely vulnerable (Pisces) roles in Hitchcock suspense thrillers such as Dial M for Murder and Rear Window. Her marriage to Prince Ranier is a classic combination of the romance (Pisces) and purposeful ambition (Scorpio) that this type needs to marry within themselves.

In her very private, private life as Princess of Monaco she was famous for her dedicated work (Scorpio) for numerous charities and good causes (Pisces). Details of her closely guarded emotional life are only now beginning to emerge, but these suggest that this was vastly more complex and tangled than her outward, almost chilly Scorpio self-assurance would have suggested, and that she had an intermittent drink problem.

Bela Lugosi

Lugosi is one of the many actors that this combination seems to produce, but more significant is the kind of parts he played. Like Grace Kelly he is associated with suspense thrillers in particular and with menacing, Dracula-type roles which appeal to, and evoke, the darker (Scorpio) aspects of the imagination (Pisces).

Like others of this combination, Lugosi was tempted by the enchanting Piscean world of drugs and the sense of self-transcendence and emotional release they can bring. Equally typical of this type, however, he successfully fought his addiction and, with typical Scorpionic powers of regeneration, regained his creative equilibrium.

Martin Scorsese

The films of this highly imaginative (Pisces) cinema director focus upon the darkest aspects of male aggression and violence (Scorpio) and a preoccupation with sexual inequality. Typical of his work is Taxi Driver with its nightmarish Scorpio – Pisces vision of New York as an open sewer spewing forth pimps, whores, addicts and criminals.

Equally expressive of the mixture of social concern (Pisces) and personal struggles (Scorpio) is Scorsese’s melodramatic Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, in which a newly-widowed woman tries to cope with economic survival and create a new life for herself and her 12-year-old son. The very title of Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ combines Scorpio, which rules temptation, and Christ, whose symbol was the fish, into one image. Indeed, on the highest level, one could say that the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ is the ultimate symbolic image for this combination which can plumb the depths and heights of human experience.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The themes and characters in Stevenson’s writings constantly reflect the contrasting dark, passionate approach of Scorpio with its fascination with the problem of evil, and the gentle, imaginative, lyrical qualities of Pisces. This contrast is most explicit in the split personality who is both the dedicated Dr Jekyll and the murderous Mr Hyde. People who are strong Water types are very much in touch with their dream life, so it is fascinating to note that the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde came to Stevenson in a nightmare. He spent the next three days in a state of feverish creativity, writing down this 30,000-word story that so captures the essence of the Scorpio – Pisces split between passion and compassion, and between savagery and civilization. This incident is also a classic expression of the creative power of the inner connection of Sun and Moon, which can come about between sleeping and waking.

This same splitting and marrying of tough and tender is present in Stevenson’s kindly, caring, yet utterly villainous Long John Silver in the romantic thriller Treasure Island. For all his wickedness (Scorpio), he still evokes our compassion (Pisces). Likewise we can contrast Stevenson’s wild Scorpionic study in evil of The Master of Ballantrae with his superbly Piscean recollections of childhood of his Child’s Garden of Verse.

William Cullen Bryant

The majestic writings of this poet and lawyer speak volumes of the power of Scorpio combined with the lyric sensitivity of Pisces. His dedicated anti-slavery campaigning is typical of the resolute commitment and compassion of this type.

Alexander Alekhine

Chess is a classic Scorpio – Pisces war game. It involves Pisces strategy and Scorpio plotting, Pisces subterfuge and Scorpio unexpected attack. Alekhine was not only one of the greatest of all chess players, he was passionately addicted to the game and its strategies, just as he also became passionately addicted to alcohol. When his drinking lost him his world title he, like Bela Lugosi, picked himself up from his addiction and made an astonishing comeback from his self-destructive drinking (Pisces) through his sheer determination and applied willpower (Scorpio).

Marie Curie

In the area of science, few life stories appeal to the imagination as much as that of Nobel Prize-winning Marie Curie. Her research against fearful odds into the secrets of radioactivity and its application in radiology, carried out with her husband Pierre, was typically Scorpionic in its intensity and dedication. At the same time her classic Pisces concern for the suffering of others led her, during the first world war, to equip ambulances with X-ray equipment and then personally drive them to the front so that she could help diagnose and care for wounded soldiers. So it was that one of the world’s great scientists also became head of the radiology services for the Red Cross, a superb creative synthesis of these two different impulses.

Summary

From the above you can see how these lives illustrate the range of expression of this combination which, whilst often very different in terms of their occupation and detail, still reflect the underlying principles of these signs. If you want to obtain further pointers to your own inner dynamic, we would encourage you to study the lives of those born with your own combination.

If you come up with additional observations and insights about any of the types, we would be happy to hear from you. All material used will be acknowledged in future editions of this book and/or our further publications.

OTHER ASTROLOGICAL FACTORS

The sign position of your Sun and Moon are of great importance in understanding your central psychology. When it comes to refining your understanding of your Sun and Moon, your Ascendant sign and the position of your Sun and Moon in the 12 ‘houses’ of the chart are also very significant. Interpretation of these is outside the scope of this book. The Ascendant and the houses are determined by the time of birth. Each house focuses on a different area of life and has qualities not unlike the signs. Regardless of your Sun sign, if you were born at sunrise, with Sun in the first house, you will have some of the self-centred qualities of Aries. On the other hand, if you were born in the hour or so after sunset, your Sun will have some of the Virgo qualities of the desire to be of service and to develop special skills.

The other important factors that will modify the basic interpretations given in these pages are the aspects made to the Sun and Moon by the planets. If you have your Sun or Moon in close aspect to Saturn, it adds a Capricorn overtone. Likewise, if one of the lights aspects Jupiter it will add jovial qualities, and so on.

For your further exploration of these and other factors, a short list of recommended astrology books is given on page 567. Of these, Grant Lewi’s Heaven Knows What contains the classic pioneering texts on Sun – Moon combinations, whilst Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas’ The Luminaries is an invaluable study of the deeper psychologies of the Sun and Moon, and is especially recommended for those who want to obtain an in-depth understanding of these life principles.

Chapter Two SUN AND MOON: THE LIGHTS OF OUR LIFE

As different as night and day.

The greater your understanding of what the Sun and Moon represent within you, the more valuable and interesting you will find the Sun – Moon profiles given in this book. This chapter looks in more detail at the significance of each of these ‘lights’ or luminaries, as astrologers call them.

We all have different sides to our personality. These different aspects of ourselves are not always in agreement with one another. The two most central and important parts of our nature are represented astrologically by the Sun and the Moon. We can think of these as rather like our masculine and feminine approaches to life that we learned from our father and mother (or those who acted as our parents). For to an astrologer, regardless of our sex, we all have both male and female dimensions to our nature. The central purpose of this book is to show something of the main issues involved with each of the different types of Sun and Moon zodiacal combinations. Equally, it is to show what can happen when we really become aware of these two sides and begin to work – and live – more wholeheartedly with them.

BUT WHY SUN AND MOON?

When we talk about the Sun we are essentially referring to our conscious, focused, ‘thinking’ level which we use to make decisions and move about purposefully in the world. By contrast, when we talk about the Moon we refer to our spontaneous, natural, receptive, ‘feeling’ level, and the way we seek and give nourishment and comfort to ourselves and to others. So far so good. But what, we may ask, have the Sun and Moon out there got to do with what is going on within us down here?

The ancient wisdom, of which astrology is an important part, had no problem with this question. The ancients saw no real separation between man and the cosmos. Their central dictum was ‘As Above, So Below’. In other words, they saw that all things are the product and reflection of the same Creator, that ‘all things are made in the image of the One’. This idea may at first sound very strange to modern ears, but, as those who have seen the film Jurassic Park will know, this idea is still central to contemporary scientific thought. For we now know that the instructions for making the whole body are given in the DNA of every body cell.

Just as one cell can tell us about the whole body, so likewise the ancients argued that what we see Above, in the heavens, will be reflected down here, Below, on Earth. Or, put another way, what we see in the macrocosm, the larger whole, will be reflected in the microcosm, the smaller whole. Science is increasingly corroborating this premise through discoveries about the ‘inter-connectedness of all life’, which has given rise to the now universally accepted idea that the ecological balance in nature, when disturbed by man’s greedy interferences, threatens our survival.

The Sun and Moon are certainly the most prominent features of the heavens; they illuminate our distinctive but complementary worlds of day and night. This being the case, we can argue that all things will contain an equivalent Sun and Moon within them. So this means that the ideas of the Sun and Moon are to be found at work within all organisms. And, just as the DNA we see under a microscope looks nothing like the cells, tissues and organs that it can become, so the Sun and Moon take on different forms in different entities. In other words, no-one would mistake a chicken for an egg, or an acorn for an oak. They look totally different. Yet we know in fact that chicken and egg, acorn and oak are rather intimately related to each other.

Astrology is a larger expression of this same chicken and egg metaphor. The ancients saw that if Above and Below are reflections of each other, then all things must contain the same essential ingredients. (But as to the perennial question – what came first, the chicken or the egg? – that discusson belongs in another book!)

To the ancients the Sun and Moon were the gods who illuminated and ruled over the starkly contrasting worlds of day and night. So by analogy the same gods are seen to dwell within us, illuminating our own days and nights, our own minds and hearts. The Sun, which lights our days, represents the state within us of being wide awake. This ‘noonday’ level of consciousness enables us to be deliberately conscious, focused and attentive. In this state we know ourselves as separate, alert individuals, attempting to make our way heroically in the world, even though we may wonder why we sometimes bungle it so badly. Nevertheless, we consciously keep trying.

In terms of recent research on the brain, the Sun relates to that level of consciousness which is traditionally associated with a masculine approach to life: the left brain’s activities of reasoning, manipulating objects and numbers; the ability to think in three dimensions, to orient oneself, to plan, organize and pursue specific goals.

The Moon, by contrast, represents the feminine level of our personality. The ancients knew that the Moon ruled the world of night and the mystery of the unconscious, of dreams, imagination and the ebb and flow of our emotional needs, responses and sympathies. At this level we are in the realm of the feminine and all matters related to the right hemisphere of the brain, such as sensitivity to sights, sounds, smells; verbal fluency; and interest in people and relationships. The Moon is our connection with the larger world of what some would call Soul, that principle by which we are connected through body and feeling to all life. The Moon is our ability to respond to our own needs and to the needs of others for nourishment, protection and affection.

To put it on a postcard, we could say that the Sun shows our more individual side and what we are like when we make wide-awake, conscious decisions about our life, what interests us and where we are going. Whereas the Moon shows our natural, gut-level, instinctive response to life, our emotional needs and our approach to looking after ourselves and the needs of others. And the vital thing to remember is that, whether we are male or female, we each have both Sun and Moon sides to our nature. To clarify further what these two different sides actually mean for us in real life, let us look at some real-life situations.

THE SUN AND MOON IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Imagine you are at a party. At most parties the aim is to make everyone feel at ease and sociable and, without realizing it, more in touch with their Moon level. Hence, parties are usually held in the evening, as the Sun is setting or has set, and the time of carousing begins. Nourishment is provided – plenty of food, drink, music and probably soft, muted lighting. These are all lunar things which encourage us to feel relaxed, more intimate, and in touch with our spontaneous feelings, or in other words our Moon side.

Now, imagine that you have had a bit too much to drink and you are drifting along with the mood, and are generally a bit ‘out of your head’. Suddenly someone behind you drops a glass which smashes on the floor. As this happens you find yourself ‘pulling yourself together’ and ‘getting back into your head’. You may shake yourself and blink your eyes so as to ‘wake up’ and be able to size up the situation and take appropriate action, such as stopping people stepping on the broken glass, or helping mop up the spilt drink. If the situation is potentially dangerous you may actually turn up the lights to ‘shed more light on things’.

This scene illustrates a shift of consciousness from the relaxed, cosy, soft-lit Moon level, to the more purposeful, bright-lit, focused, decision-making level of the Sun. Indeed, whenever you hear someone saying ‘pull yourself together’, you are hearing the instruction ‘move from your Moon level (where you have become over-identified with your feelings and emotional responses) into your Sun level (where you can have more conscious, decisive control of what is happening to you)’. If, while you are reading this, you take a moment out to say ‘pull yourself together’, you will probably find that as you do this you will pull your shoulders back and straighten up your spine. You are, as it were, taking possession of your body or, as we say, ‘becoming more self-possessed’. It is interesting to note that, astrologically, your back and spine are ruled by Leo, the Sun’s natural sign. So when we say of someone who is weak-willed that they are ‘spineless’ or ‘lacking backbone’ we are suggesting that they are lacking solar qualities.

To give another example of the way we switch levels in daily life – imagine you have just had a serious talk with your bank manager about your overdraft. With good Sun-level conviction you have assured him or her that you are working hard to get your debts paid off. Outside the bank you meet an old friend. You start talking and soon you are deep in the lunar world of your mutual memories and shared experiences. Then out of the corner of your eye you see the bank manager coming down the street. Immediately you recognize that you are ‘wasting time’. You straighten your back, ‘pull yourself together’ and briskly ‘go about your business’, back into your Sun level again. For most people such shifts of consciousness occur repeatedly throughout the day. With a bit of deliberate self-awareness you can catch yourself shifting between these levels.

We most obviously experience this shift when we wake in the morning from the lunar world of dreams. We gradually become conscious that it is time to get up and that there are things that have to be done. The more important the things are that have to be done, the more quickly we are likely to wake up and get going. (Indeed when there is a ‘big day’ ahead some people find it very difficult to surrender to the Moon level and her healing sleep.) This shift of consciousness represented by waking up is, for most people, normally around dawn as the Sun is beginning to rise in the sky. With sunrise, our own consciousness begins to rise, and we gradually leave the world of lunar unconsciousness behind.

Each of these cases illustrates the very normal process of moving our centre of consciousness from a responsive, reactive Moon mode to a purposeful, decision-making Sun mode, or vice versa. Each level serves an important purpose in our natures; each has its own strengths and weaknesses, its own desires and aspirations, and each will tend to pursue its own interests irrespective of the other. This is why so many people find that they are in conflict with themselves. One side pulls us one way, the other side pulls another. When this happens, we feel inclined to ask ‘Which is the real me?’

The answer, of course, is both. Ideally we need to be more aware of both, and to be more adept at recognizing when one is dominating to the detriment of the other. Indeed, as we shall see, the more we can accept, understand, and work with both these Sun and Moon levels, the more we will move towards that ‘inner marriage’ of the lord and lady within us, of which the great alchemists and philosophers have always spoken. We are this inner marriage all the time; there is no hard and fast separation of these modes in the way we actually live our lives. But is it a good marriage, or does one side feel like divorcing the other all too often?

You will find some of the ideas associated with Sun and Moon listed on the next page.

Some Ideas Associated with the Sun and Moon

SUN | MOON
Day | Night
Male | Female
Yang | Yin
Dry | Moist
Gold | Silver
Illumination | Reflection
Father | Mother
King | Queen
Prince | Princess
Mind | Heart
Thinking | Feeling
Science | Art
Left Brain | Right Brain
Right Hand | Left Hand
Logic and Structure | Imagination
Clear facts | Symbols
Focuses attention | Reflects the moment
Interested in things | Interested in people
Guided by reason | Guided by experience
Purposeful, goal-oriented | Responds to needs
Takes action | Receptive
Makes decisions | Feels what is needed
Present and Future | Past and Present
Progress | Tradition and Habit

Table 1. The Sun and Moon can be seen to correspond to two very different ways of relating to the world. We each use both. When either is overemphasized, there is an imbalance. When both are used together (see Table 2), we can become increasingly vital and creative.

GETTING IT TOGETHER – THE KEY TO CREATIVITY

When our conscious, masculine side is at war with our feeling, feminine side, our life can become an endless struggle between what we feel we need to do and what we think we ought to do – like a child living with constantly arguing parents. This can lead to a perplexing sort of self-sabotage which trips us up at the crucial moment. Indeed, we say of some people that ‘their left hand does not know what their right hand is doing’. As we have seen above, this is just another way of saying that our left-brain, conscious, Sun side does not know what our right-brain, unconscious, Moon side is on about.

But experience shows that the more these two sides can be brought into contact with each other to form an inner dialogue, the more whole, fulfilled and creative our life becomes. In fact, there are times when these two aspects of ourselves do come together. As we wake we may remember a dream we have had. Dreams speak from our lunar side. By training our solar side deliberately to remember our dreams, we can learn to listen consciously to our unconscious. Working with dreams in this way gradually brings the conscious and unconscious mind first into a recognition of, and eventually into a dialogue with, each other.

FALLING IN LOVE – WITH YOURSELF

The experience of falling in love is a good metaphor for what happens when the masculine and feminine, the Sun and the Moon, begin to work more harmoniously within us. As anyone who has ever been in love will know, when we are in love everything seems possible. The world is beautiful and life is good. The bliss of being released to life’s magic through falling in love can even become addictive. It makes us feel alive and, even more important, it makes us feel creative.

It is a notable fact that, even in puritanical periods of history, the affairs and infidelities of the creative artist tend to be accepted. In some way, we admit that strongly creative people, be they artists, musicians, poets, politicians, entrepreneurs, indeed philosophers, are in the business of finding their inner wholeness. As such, it is recognized by society, albeit unconsciously, that deep emotional experience and experimentation is for such people the essence of their life.

Everyone loves a lover. This is because their love reawakens our own capacity for love, and we are reminded that we, too, are alive and potentially creative. A loving relationship can be an immensely powerful outer trigger to our own inner creativity. This is because falling in love connects us with both our Sun and Moon energies and, at least temporarily, creates a state of inner ‘alchemical marriage’.

This inner fusion and creativity can, however, take place at any time if we encourage it and give both sides enough space to develop in conjunction with each other. It is probably no coincidence that Leonardo da Vinci, who was a great scientist as well as a great artist, was ambidextrous and could actually write different messages with each hand simultaneously. In other words, Leonardo had equal access to his conscious, purposeful, scientific-orientated left brain (through his right hand), and to his poetic, artistic right brain (through his left hand). Although very few of us are ambidextrous, this inner marriage is something that can happen to all of us. Having tasted it once, it gets easier and easier.

We hope the profiles in this book will help you to recognize some of the main qualities of the central Sun – Moon polarity within you, something of its conflicts and something of its creative magic. The more conscious you can become of the issues in your own Sun – Moon polarity, the more will your left hand be able to shake your right hand, and the more you will be able to get your act together and move towards a greater level of vital wholeness and harmony.

Table 2 offers some images for the resolution of the Sun and Moon, which show how much more valuable it is when we have the Sun and Moon working together. As the old saying goes, it takes two to tango, and this is also true for the individual personality. Happy dancing!

The Middle Way – Working with Both Sun and Moon

SUN | MOON | SUN+MOON
Day | Night | Dawn, Dusk
Sunlight | Rain | Growth
Father | Mother | Child
Male | Female | Androgyne
King | Queen | Alchemical marriage
Active | Passive | Aware
Mind | Heart | Wisdom
Thinking | Feeling | Intelligent kindness
Self-Conscious | Spontaneous | Conscious spontaneity
Right hand | Left hand | Ambidexterous
Logic | Imagination | Creative thought
Science | Art | Inspired invention
Progress | Tradition | Living tradition
Interest in things | Interest in people | Practical help
Awake | Asleep | Creative dreaming
Words | Music | Opera, song, poetry
Purposeful | Responsive | Attentive
Table 2. The often opposing priorities and methods of the Sun and Moon can find a creative resolution in the ways shown in the third column.

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