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Waxing Moon Magic: Ripening, Ripening

By Dana Gerhardt

When the Moon is waxing, the old ones advise:  Plant broccoli and beans but not your carrots.  Harvest lavender blossoms for your bath, chamomile for making tea.  Pick fruits to eat, but not for canning.  I wish I could garden, gather herbs, and pick my fruit fresh.  But I spend my weekdays in an office, marking a thirty-five mile commute each way.  Weekends I shop and do laundry, whether the Moon waxes or wanes.

The Earth listens to the Moon and so does everything in between.  But how do office workers hear it?  If we envy the old ones their Moon knowledge, we must also envy their sense of place and time.  This was their secret. Having a sense of place brought a deep relationship with earth and sky.  Knowing where you lived meant you could also forget yourself there, and slipping into the background, spy on rich conversations all around.  Much more than keeping to a list of Moon rules, the old ones danced in rhythm to their surroundings.

During the two weeks of the waxing Moon, they’d note a burst of blossoms in the garden; in the woods, how sap was rising in the trees; in the orchards, how fruits were growing plumper, juicier, sweeter.  With each New Moon, they observed how the Earth “inhales.”  Everything above ground swells with the Earth’s life force, increasing with the growing moonlight, to peak at the Full Moon.  Bottle olive oil or wine at this time and the liquid will burst from its container.

Today I hurry through my landscape.  I travel among factory-made objects, where the life force is constrained.  Man-made things are valued more for how they can resist time, or perhaps improve it, not dance with its changing nature.  Fruit trees have a kind of intelligence that my stapler and office chair do not.  What do fruit trees want?  The same magic we do:  They want to succeed.

They want their fruit to be picked.  They want animals to walk away with them, eating the flesh from their precious seeds, then dropping them far from the mother tree.  So they wisely fit themselves to Earth’s Moon-breath. As the moonlight increases, they flush their fruits with color, fill them with sugars, in short, entice and allure, knowing, as the old timers warn, ripe fruits decay more quickly on a waxing Moon.  All the better for slipping seeds into the earth.

We might think this is a mysterious force of the Moon, acting on our earth objects, rather than a fruit tree intelligence.  But what of our own species?  Long ago, it’s said that women menstruated with the New Moon and ovulated at the full.  Women’s physician and author, Christiane Northrup, has likened the period from menstruation to ovulation as a time of ripening, one’s literal (or symbolic) eggs.  In spirit with the waxing Moon, a woman’s energy is outgoing and upbeat.  The enthusiasm can peak at ovulation, when a woman is most fertile and receptive.  Dr. Northrup describes how a patient’s waitressing tips often rose at ovulation with her mood. (Christiane Northrup, M.D., Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom [Bantam Books, 1998], p.104.)

No one has discovered a link between Moon phases and female hormones.  But what if this weren’t the Moon’s force, but a sensitive, human intelligence instead?  Many women know their cycles can entrain with other women’s; those who live or work together often menstruate at the same time.  Might the women of long ago not only have entrained to each other, but along with nature, to the Moon?  Might those women and men blessed with a greater sense of place and time have wisely participated with earth’s exhaling breath?  So that not only women’s bodies and fruit trees, but their ideas ripened too. And everywhere, everyone enjoyed a delicious peak in receptivity when the Moon was Full.

We don’t have to know what the old ones knew or do what the old ones did. But we might learn to perceive our world with a similar sensitivity.  How can we participate?  From New Moon to Full, we might gather our positive energy and direct it outward.  We might ripen our efforts, enticing the outer world to taste our gifts. Whatever our projects, we can designate these two weeks for relevant activities of attraction.  We can be more receptive to others too.

City life makes recovering a sense of place on earth more difficult.  But our bodies give us a good place to start.  During the peak of the waxing Moon, the Full Moon, like the rest of nature around us, we are now filled with Earth’s life force.  We retain more water, swell with fluids.  It’s a good time for donating blood (it’s replaced more quickly), but bad for surgeries (more is lost).  Because the body is more absorbent, the Full Moon is optimum for taking supplements and healing balms (though poisons can be more dangerous).

Last month, I tried a new lunar ritual.  I’ve been putting henna’s red highlights in my hair at each New Moon, as a gesture of renewal.  This time I tried it at the Full Moon, when the hair follicles might be more absorbent.  The rich difference in color was dramatic!  Two weeks later, the strands are a still vibrant hue of ripened plum.  Proving:  even an office worker can find her sense of place and dance with the Earth’s Moon-breath!

© 2000 Dana Gerhardt
All rights reserved


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The Moon is in its
Disseminating Phase

in the
Sign of Taurus


Today's Lunar Aspects (Greenwich Mean Time)
(subtract: PST -8 hours, PDT -7 hours, EST -5 hours, EDT -4 hours)

  • Moon trine Sun, 10:50am  Aug 17 2022
  • Moon square Venus, 3:54pm  Aug 17 2022

Venus is currently
The Morning Star

in the sign of Leo


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Astrologers use a variety of house systems, or methods of dividing up the sky into twelve sections. I use the Porphyry house system; another popular house system is Placidus (this is the default on https://astro.com). If the chart I send you looks different from what you are used to seeing, then likely a system other than Porphyry was used. Whole signs, Equal House, Regiomantus, and Campanus are examples of other systems. If you find all of this confusing, do not worry. It is likely not critical to your report.

m  Conjunction:  Like peas in a pod, planets in conjunction tend to come from the same place. They act together, but it’s also hard to tell them apart. This aspect can increase talent, focus, and intensity (“two are better than one”). Or one planet can disappear as the other dominates. Their connection feels so natural, it’s easy to think everyone blends these planetary energies just as you do—but mostly, they don’t!.

p  Sextile:  Planets in sextile are compatible, though without any fireworks. This aspect doesn’t demand your attention. It quietly presents an opportunity. You can join these archetypal forces. Donna Cunningham has called this the “Oh, that!” aspect, because that’s generally what her clients say when she describes their benefits.  To get the most from sextiles you need to actively work them.

q  Square:  Squares are wild and wonderful—but difficult too. The power struggle between these planets was likely defined in your youth, when they were impossibly challenging. People are usually aware of their squares. They force the issues that make you to grow. And that’s their gift. They ensure you learn your lessons. When you rise to the occasion, they bless you with energy, action, and success.

r  Trine:  Michael Munkasey has dubbed this the “goddess aspect” because it’s so lovely. Identifying talents you may have perfected in a previous life, trines can bring you joy. There’s a nice flow of energy between planets in trine. They support and reinforce each another. But without any struggle, you might take them for granted—neither using nor developing their gifts. An unattended trine can sometimes trick you into negative behaviors.

t  Inconjunct/Quincunx:  Your quincunx planets are innately incompatible. Bringing them into harmonious expression requires constant adjustments. This can be stressful, also motivating. You’ve got to keep changing your process, opinions or attitude—which promotes highly creative solutions.

u  Opposition:  They say opposites attract—and planets in opposition are never far from each other, though they’re constantly bickering. You may be triggered into awareness of this aspect by other people who seem to resist or undermine you.  An opposition can make you feel uncertain, insecure, or discontent, until you can accept and see yourself in both energies. Typically people find it easier to identify with one side and project the other onto unsuspecting others in the outer world.

First House: Personality, physical body, beginnings. Includes the Ascendant and rules physical appearance, the image you project to others, your general outlook on life, how you start things; may describe your role in your family system, often guides your first impression of immediate environment.

Second House: Money and personal finances, sense of self-worth and basic values, personal possessions, talents.

Third House: Communication, thoughts, language skills like writing and speaking, early schooling, siblings and neighbors, short trips, coming and going around town.

Fourth House: Your home, psychological foundations and roots, family, parents, domestic life, instinctive behavior, ancestry, your connection with the past, sense of security, domestic life, real estate. conditions at the end of life.

Fifth House: Children, creativity, romance; pleasure, entertainment, self-expression; all forms of “play”, speculation, gambling, and attitude towards taking risks; hobbies, attitude towards romance, lovers as opposed to partners, attitude towards having fun.

Sixth House: Work and job (as opposed to career), daily life, attitude towards service and coworkers, helpfulness, pets, attitude towards routine and organization, how you refine and perfect your skills.

Seventh House: Partnerships, one-to-one relationships, marriage, the first marriage, the “significant other”, business partnerships, competitors, open enemies, lawyers, mediators, counselors, contracts, negotiations, agreements. clients/the public.

Eighth House: Transformations and crisis, your ability to meet and rebound from crisis and change, sexuality; sex, death and rebirth, rituals and personal growth, your partner’s resources, addictions, psychology, other people’s money, taxes, divorce/alimony, inheritance.

Ninth House: Attitude toward expanding horizons, religious beliefs and personal philosophy, higher education, long-distance travel, morals, foreign languages and cultures, personal truths, publishing, commerce, advertising, your sense of adventure.

Tenth House: Career and profession, your contribution to society, social status, public reputation, material success, how you carve out a public identity for yourself; attitude toward authority figures, parents, caregivers, bosses, governments, attitude towards responsibility, desire for achievement.

Eleventh House: Friends, groups, organizations; hopes, wishes, aspirations, personal goals; your philanthropic attitude, concern for the collective, humanity; like tenth, can bring recognition and honors for fulfilling hopes and dreams.

Twelfth House: What’s hidden beneath the surface, karmic dustbin, limiting childhood/past-life messages, self-undoing, hidden enemies, hidden weaknesses, dreams, secret affairs, lost items, hospitals and prisons, hidden strengths, spiritual studies and soul growth.

A  Sun: Our vitality and magnetism; self-identity, ego.
Roles: The Self, the Hero, the Performer, the King.

B  Moon: Intuition, emotion, nurture.
Roles: The Mother, the High Priestess, the Child.

C  Mercury: Mind; physical dexterity and mental agility.
Roles: The Thinker, the Communicator, the Student, the Trickster, the Merchant, the Thief.

D  Venus: Our capacity for pleasure, receptivity, creativity, and social connection. Also indicates our relationships, self esteem, and financial abundance.
Roles: The Lover, the Seductress, the Artist.

E  Mars: Desire, initiative, anger.
Roles: The Protector, the Athlete, the Warrior.

F  Jupiter: Luck, opportunity, expansion, higher learning, religion.
Roles: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Traveler, the Monk, the Professor.

G  Saturn: Hard work, commitment, focus, inadequacy, leadership, suffering, loss.
Roles: The Task Master, the Grim Reaper, the Wise Old Man, the Builder, the Cynic, the Boss.

H  Uranus: Change, breakthroughs, upsets, discoveries.
Roles: The Revolutionary, the Humanitarian, the Visionary, the Snob.

I  Neptune: Imagination, spirituality, idealism, addictions, deception, compassion.
Roles: The Artist, the Romantic, the Guru, the Addict, the Martyr, the Victim.

J  Pluto: Transformation, power, psychological dynamics, helplessness.
Roles: The Terrorist, the Detective, the Psychotherapist, the Dictator, shady people.

a  Aries: Pioneering, competitive, selfish, impatient, courageous, reckless, independent, dynamic, domineering, “Me first!”

b  Taurus: Patient, stable, lazy, dependable, practical, sensual, stubborn, artistic, possessive, greedy, gentle, loyal.

c  Gemini: Intelligent, curious, adaptable, quick-witted, restless, clever, scatterbrained, lacking follow-through.

d  Cancer: Nourishing, intuitive, protective, moody, sensitive, maternal, domestic, childish, cautious, creative.

e  Leo: Proud, dignified, vain, expressive, romantic, generous, childish, overbearing, self-assured, creative.

f  Virgo: Perfection-seeking, practical, methodical, petty, critical, studious, discriminating, cautious, never satisfied.

g  Libra: Charming, sociable, peace-loving, refined, diplomatic, artistic, indecisive, apathetic, easily deterred.

h  Scorpio: Passionate, secretive, penetrating, resourceful, suspicious, manipulative, jealous, sarcastic, intolerant, determined, aware.

i  Sagittarius: Freedom-loving, philosophical, optimistic, enthusiastic, careless, impatient, talkative, a know-it-all, broadminded, athletic, honest.

j  Capricorn: Serious, responsible, practical, hardworking, stubborn, brooding, inhibited, status-conscious, domineering, unforgiving.

k  Aquarius: Progressive, individualistic, unpredictable, cold, intellectual, artistic, eccentric, shy, impersonal, scientific.

l  Pisces: Compassionate, intuitive, ungrounded, romantic, impractical, self-sacrificing, seductive, musical, artistic.