The Moon Weather in Your Horoscope

Watching the Moon go through the 12 signs and of the zodiac, then repeat, is one of the best ways to see how this ancient system of timing works. Lunar cycles were watched carefully by people from India to China – and likely, from Stonehenge to Rome.

You’ll often read that ‘the Moon is in Scorpio, so…’ or ‘the Leo Moon today means…’ on the internet. It’s more complicated and interesting than that.

Essentially, you’re people-watching. When people have a Lunar Return (the Moon goes back into the sign, which is exactly the same as their birth sign) they go through a monthly rebirth!

Your friend with the Moon in Aries is more energetic, dynamic, pushy, assertive, forceful when he has the Moon travelling through Aries, because he is having his monthly Lunar Return.

The Solar Return, by your way, is your actual birthday – which is where the saying ‘Many Happy Returns’ comes from, as my astrological colleagues Derek and Julia Parker and I, once told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper (they didn’t know).

WHAT IS A LUNAR RETURN?

The Moon weather in your horoscope is about your own Lunar Return as well as the regular rhythms which affect your partners, relatives, friends, colleagues and the rest. You typically have one or two days, every month, when the Moon goes back into the same zodiac sign it occupied at your birth. It’s the same for the people in your world, which may explain a few things.

The Moon is a symbol of motherhood, feeding, caring, protection, security, nurturing and instinct. Maternal feelings. The need to be needed. We all have the Moon somewhere in our chart, in one of the 12 signs, and when the travelling or transiting Moon goes right back into that sign, something in you wakes up.

You can typically look back at some of the most unforgettable events in your life and find they coincided with a Moon return back to the same sign as your actual Moon sign. Why? Because these periods mark a time of self-actualisation. In other words, you become who you were always meant to be. It becomes even more interesting if there are other cycles also in your Moon sign, when the Moon herself ducks back in.

PLANETS, ASTEROIDS, NODES AND HEAVENLY BODIES TELL THE STORY

Let’s say you have the Moon in Taurus in your Second House of finance. You’ll see the transiting or travelling Moon is in Taurus for a day or two – you can check this on my website any time. What about the fact that Uranus is also in Taurus, though? Or, in May 2019, the Sun as well?

This builds the story. You have many layers in an episode to live through for 24-48 hours. In this particular example, it’s not just your need to be needed (the Moon) with money (Taurus) but also the revolution (Uranus) that is taking place at the same time. This is way more than just a Moon transit.

PEOPLE WATCHING WITH THE MOON

I am going to extract a chapter here about Moon signs from the Number One Amazon bestseller 2020 Astrology, so you can see who surrounds you, and why their lunar return triggers them, every single time. You’ll also get to know your own Moon sign and watch for the days the Moon arrives there, as this for you is a time of ‘drop everything and do your Moon’. It’s rather the same when you watch a mother with a baby. If the child needs feeding, that’s the priority. That is how your Moon sign feels on the days that the Moon goes back into the zodiac sign it occupied when your own mother had you!

ALL ABOUT YOUR MOON SIGN – AND THEIRS

Your Moon Sign reveals how you play mother. This applies to men too. The Moon goes through regular phases in the night sky where it grows, big and round, like a pregnant mother’s stomach. That’s synchronicity! The phases of the Moon change over a 29.5 day period. Women also have periods every month – about 29 days. The Greek word menses means ‘moon’. Your Moon Sign shows your maternal instinct. It reveals how you feed, nurture and care for people, either alone or in groups. It describes how you look after babies, children and animals. It’s your clucky bit. You learn how to express your Moon Sign from your mother, stepmother or grandmother, for better or worse. When instinct calls and you need to be needed by people, you ‘do’ your Moon Sign. If your Moon has hard-work aspects in your birth chart, then mothering others may also be hard work for you. Those moments when you look at the mirror, or hear yourself talking to children and think ‘I’m turning into my mother’ are correct. You are. Your Moon Sign may be the same as one of her dominant signs, too. Check.

If you are curious about the ‘house’ part of what follows, just hit Search on this website and look up the house in question. There is even more information there about the area of life in which you genuinely need to be needed – all your life.

Now, who is around you and how are they triggered when they have Moon weather in their sign? And how does the Moon weather in your horoscope also trigger you? You can watch her cycling through the 12 signs by tracking the Moon on my website, or with a wall chart lunar calendar – I buy mine from the excellent Atlantis bookshop near the British Museum in London.

Moon in Aries/First House

You are Boadicea, fighting for your family or your people, using yourself as the attack or defence. You are frequently found in black nylon tights, fighting for your rights. You are Sir Lancelot, too, whose reputation precedes him, leading the battle cry as you gallantly look after your version of Queen Guinevere. You were born to be upfront, putting yourself well ahead of the pack, pushing and thrusting your way forward, on behalf of who or what you care about. This is a brilliant Moon sign for anyone in uniform.

Moon in Aries people fight for you by fighting against someone or something else, which is why you are so gifted at politics, the emergency services, the armed forces, sport or cutthroat business. If you have this Moon sign, life is a challenge. Sometimes the issue is personal. A lifelong feud with your ex, or his. You find it hard to back down or just walk away. The way you dress, walk, shape your body, have your hair and put your best face forward is unusually important to you. Your name and title also matters a lot. They work hard for you. You have no time for wimps. Moon in Aries people overhear an argument, or see a fight, and wade in using themselves as the weapon. It’s always personal, with you. You may rush in where angels fear to tread if you have this Moon sign. You are fast and furious by nature and that tendency increases when you have children, or become a babysitter, aunt, uncle, step-parent or godparent. Bullies tremble when they see you. You fight like a tiger if your young are threatened. You can be too pushy, too noisy, too inflammatory (fanning the flames when there is heat on the internet) for some. Adrenaline pumps into your bloodstream when you are scared or angry – on behalf of others more than yourself – and before you know it, you are branded a human battering ram. Are you a pushy parent? Do you go nuts when your children are playing sport? Be careful. Don’t end up being accidentally filmed on YouTube at a football game, jumping up and down near the goal like a gorilla on acid when the referee gives your boy a red card!

Moon in Taurus/Second House

If you care deeply about someone, you will find a way to give them money, make them money or save it for them. Sometimes the issue is not money, it is precious possessions; a house; an apartment. It is your way of showing that people matter to you. Even your animal companions are given gifts and treats, more frequently than others – or on a bigger scale. Fido can be a fatso, as a result. If money is too tight to mention, you will grow flowers, bake bread or knit jumpers. You will make dolls’ houses with your bare hands, or hand over a bag of home-grown asparagus.

You come into your own when you learn that it’s okay to give things away and that you can change lives – perhaps even save them – by generously donating your time, energy, resources, possessions, money or property. You need to feel needed by those who are genuinely needy, most of all. Never doubt how important this is to people who depend on you.

Moon in Taurus people have a reputation for being tight with money or obsessed with it. This only happens when you are so generous with others that you end up miscalculating and panic. Find your math’s comfort zone. You do that ‘we shall not be moved’ thing when there is any question of money, ownership, insurance or price. You don’t do it so much for yourself, you do it for other people. You have a strong set of values and you do not budge once you have decided what those values are. You can’t be bought and sold, particularly if a family member, friend or lover is involved.

You stubbornly resist change if it threatens you and yours. You plant your feet on the ground and simply refuse to move. You can be the snorting bull who digs her hooves in the mud – forever. Sometimes, change is good, though. Don’t become Bore-Us Taurus. Fear of losing what you have, or what you hold on behalf of others, can make you a hoarder. You may even become grasping. This is usually a temporary over-reaction to being broke, or perhaps being robbed or ripped off. It should not rule your life, nor your happiness.

You are a natural environmentalist or conservationist and believe in preserving wilderness and the oceans, because they are priceless.

Moon in Gemini/Third House

You are the human internet, who connects people to each other using Twitter, your e-mail account or your smart phone. You always know the real story and you know how to tell it, as well. People listen and read attentively, because Moon in Gemini is the mother of all writers, conversationalists, public speakers or…gossips.

You talk to animals, who are not supposed to understand (except they do) and to very small children who have not said their first word. Children, godchildren, nieces, nephews, stepchildren all benefit from your vocabulary, because you do not believe in dumbing down just because someone is…aged two.

You choose your words very carefully because you know they can heal or hurt. You use the English language like a bandage, or a nip of brandy in an emergency. You soothe, comfort, reassure and ‘hold’ people with everything you say. You are the person who delivers the eulogy at the funeral or says exactly the right thing, at the wake. You always know what to put in the card, or within the Twitter word limit.

If you have a stellium in Gemini, then your way with words, ideas or images may be a job. You are a natural translator and may be very good with foreign languages or gifted at translating difficult concepts into plain English. The Moon in Gemini has been compared to a monkey, chattering and jumping around. You are more like a bumblebee, collecting ideas, news, gossip and information – then buzzing across to the next location to drop it. You can seem mentally busy – as busy as a bee in fact.

It is very important that you are convinced of what you know and believe in – at a deep, core level – before you start selling the message or talking it up. You can get away with selling shoes to people who work in the Saks Fifth Avenue shoe department, so you’d better believe in the shoes.

You are a gifted storyteller who can sometimes create a story, or whip up a drama, to entertain yourself and others. It’s mere words to you, but it can affect people’s lives. Turning everything into an episode of EastEnders, Girls or Neighbours stops you being bored, but think before you blather.

Moon in Cancer/Fourth House

You accommodate people if you care about them. You are the hostess who always has the spare bedding ready and can find something in the pantry, no matter what time a guest arrives. You make a house or apartment into a home and may be a very good amateur decorator, builder, gardener or architect. Your place is always welcoming and you worry if it’s not.

Cancer is the sign of the mother, so you ‘mother’ your own or other people’s children. I knew someone with the Moon in Cancer who was a lollipop man at a local school, for years. Your maternal instinct may or may not result in sons and daughters, but you will find a way to look after other people’s children, if there is no other way to express your Cancer Moon. You understand that in order to feel safe, everybody needs a home or family. A home town, homeland or clan. You know that can be interpreted in many different ways and will do your best to deliver it, to those who need it. You know how refugees feel –or the homeless. The Cancer glyph looks like a pair of breasts, or a pair of encircling arms. People feel nourished by you, when you hold them. They feel protected.

You may also be drawn to your history and culture, through antiques or retro objects. The past is always better than the present, to you. Your nostalgia shows up in your CD collection. You look after the people you care about, by cooking them the recipes that have lasted, stuck into exercise books by relatives – or by making sure they eat ‘your’ food. In Scotland this is porridge. In Sydney it is barbecued seafood. In New York you might have bagels. You like a solid home, built from brick and made to last. No other Moon Sign is as concerned with the emotional value of a home as you are. Or a home town, or homeland.

Put ‘s’ in front of motherhood and you get smotherhood. Why be the parent, godparent, aunt, uncle or grandparent who goes over the top? One day, little Jimmy has to leave home (or you) and it’s better you realise that when he’s three years old, then when he’s 35. You may have mother hang-ups, too. What kind of mother did you have, or do you have?

Moon in Leo/Fifth House

There is huge maternal instinct here, for children, godchildren, stepchildren, nieces, nephews or adopted children. It’s the maternal instinct of a Queen who welcomes a new prince or princess into the palace. You are here to lead your heirs by example. You may be less interested in making them chicken soup (so grubby! So much toil!) than taking them to a good restaurant. You believe the younger generation are special, because you are their monarch. If children or teenagers do not star in your personal life, you will find a career where you teach, mentor or guide other people’s offspring. They become The Chosen Ones, even if there are 40 of them in a crowded classroom.

You put on a good show. You would not want to let your young entourage down by appearing vulgar, or rude, or badly behaved. Time and again you stop your basic instincts, because there is a little voice telling you that you must set an example. And not just any old example. A royal one. A special one. A noble, stately and dignified one! You don’t do ordinary.

You are the lion-hearted ruler, strong and fearless, in any family or household. You rule from your special armchair, and when you take the lead, others follow. Why? Because they respect you – and you are right. Leo is a fixed sign and if you have the Moon here, unless your birth chart is very different, you will have fixed opinions. It takes a great deal for you to change your mind or alter your course in life. You don’t have dinner parties, you hold court. You don’t have one night stands, you are courted, properly and correctly. This is the Moon in Leo way. People who don’t understand how to behave are not allowed past the drawbridge. You prefer the good stuff in your home. The expensive stuff – let’s face it. There’s always a bit of Buckingham Palace somewhere and many Leo Moon people have a gilt complex. You secretly think some people are just peasants. Nothing causes the Moon in Leo person more anxiety than marrying and dividing the church up into her family, his family – and the embarrassing, great unwashed. Do we have to invite Cousin Ted if he just got out of jail?

Moon in Virgo/Sixth House

If you care about someone you will serve them. If you feel protective towards them, you will work for them, as if they were actually paying you a salary. You do your duty by animals too, almost as if they were your furry employers. Housework and work are instinctive and you can be maid or butler to anyone who triggers your maternal instinct. You need to be needed and it’s the routine tasks of running a Dyson over the floor, or emptying the dishwasher, that make you feel complete. You are superb in any organisation, department or institution which needs people to make the wheels go around. You believe in a good job, done well, and need to be useful. You often become indispensable.

You care a great deal about food, drink, drugs, doctors, healers, surgeons, fitness, gyms, yoga and the rest. When the people around you are ill (especially children) you hit the internet and become Doctor DIY for the night. You’re the person who sits by the hospital bedside, until the nurse has to drag you out. You take the cat to the vet and become James Herriot. Your children, godchildren, nieces, nephews, stepchildren or similar, need to understand that you were not put on earth to run errands for them and attend to endless lists and chores. You can fall into this trap very easily, especially if you are new to parenting (or substitute parenting). Good luck, trying to have a dinner party with Moon in Virgo people (or Sun in Virgo people, come to that). There will inevitably be guests who also have Uranus or Pluto in Virgo too, if they were born in the Sixties. If you’re the cook you may as well have a spreadsheet. Gluten tolerant? Gluten intolerant? Vegetarian? Vegan? Low carbohydrate?

No matter when you were born, it may be necessary to stop your life every so often, and get off to review it. You look after the people you care about, by attending to the tiny details of daily life, but it is all too easy to become bogged down in them and forget there are other things you could be doing with your time. Like Jeeves the butler in the P.G. Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster series, you attend to the fine details of daily existence with the aim of perfect service. You put the trivia into Trivial Pursuit, though. You may need to get over it.

Moon in Libra/Seventh House

You show you care, by going out of your way to make sure the deal with your partner is fair and square. That involves quite a lot of time, energy and effort – but you don’t mind. Your marriages, relationships or work partnerships are based on sensitive negotiation of mutual space, shared interests and common ground.

You are drawn towards duets and double-acts of all kinds, even from childhood. Your first two-way street may be with a brother, sister or friend. Later on, you start dating young, so you can explore the see-saw with people who are different from you – yet your equal. If you care about people you will treat them as your equals. You feel deeply for people who suffer from sexism or racism, for this reason.

The Moon in Libra and the Seventh House is also about fighting for fairness. You are extremely sensitive to feuds, contests, disputes and competitions with others and will go out of your way, if you are ‘fighting the good fight’ for those you care about. It is quite wrong to say that Libra is associated with peace. You will go to war, to have justice.

The Moon in Libra person always has a house or apartment which is a compromise. That’s why you will never find a streamlined ‘look’ or theme. Your living space is an example of what happens when two people must please each other, as well as themselves. With this Moon sign, you may give the spare room to your husband, while you have the She Shed in the garden. Or – your wife may be mistress of the bedroom (quite literally) while you are the lord of the kitchen.

You see both sides, when you care about someone. This is particularly true with children, godchildren, stepchildren or young relatives. Wavering over who is wrong/right or what to do, can make you famously wobbly or turn you into an infamous Weak Parent. Being ‘nice’ and trying to stay popular with everybody – especially your own offspring – will not make you popular on a Sydney-London overnight flight when your little darling is kicking the seat in front of them, demanding food or fiddling with the volume on the iPad (no headphones) while you say ‘Sorry’ a lot.

Moon in Scorpio/Eighth House

The arrival of godchildren, nieces, nephews, children, stepchildren or children makes you rush out to buy a Will Kit. You translate caring into cash, precious possessions and even cars, houses and apartments. It is hard to separate your maternal instinct from money. Let’s also be honest – it also makes you feel powerful.

You need the intensity and intimacy of marriage, because of the life insurance and the mortgage, the joint bank account and the legacies. You secretly appreciate the security that comes from knowing adultery means you can take your ex to the cleaner’s. You care deeply, passionately, emotionally and financially – most of all. You are not particularly suited to those casual arrangements with lovers, where they cruise past with a toothbrush. It doesn’t feel real enough. You don’t feel needed enough. When you go to weddings and hear the words ‘Til death do us part’ it gives you chills. You would make a superb accountant or bank manager, because you understand that paperwork is about human passion. You appreciate the risks as well as the gains. Scorpions have a very particular way of mating. They can eat each other, or sting each other to death. Sex is never just sex to scorpions. It is dangerous. It is about power. It is also about trust. You understand this in your relationships, your friendships, your partnerships, your family life and perhaps in your line of work – depending on your career choices. You have a feeling for the undercurrents which run underneath the bed sheets. The right lover for you will respect this. The wrong one will never really get to your hidden depths, and that sells you short, emotionally, sexually or psychologically. You don’t really do chirpy and you don’t do ‘nice.’ You do depth.

You will happily power trip the whole planet, when your children, godchildren or young relatives are at stake. Animals, too. You can be venomous, like a real scorpion. Positively poisonous, in fact. You scare people because they see the sting in your tail. This gives you the advantage but it can also intimidate potential lovers. Expect trembling.

Moon in Sagittarius/Ninth House

You believe in comforting people by passing on what you know – which is actually what you believe. It may be religion. It may be astrology. It may be a firm belief that there is no God and that only science can make it all better. You hand out advice like hot chocolate. You lend your books or recommend websites. That’s your way of nurturing people who need help. You may suggest they take the same workshop or course that you did. After all, it worked for you! You have such tremendous faith in your philosophy of life that you trust it will help friends, relatives or lovers as much as it helped you. Conversions satisfy you greatly. You are extremely good at making people feel comfortable about cultural, racial or national differences. You put people at ease, so there are none of the usual worries about language barriers, or the big multicultural divide.

You are a great travel companion. You come into your own on the road. You are also an excellent host when foreigners come to town. You show them round and ask about their city. You cover a lot of ground with your children, godchildren or young relatives. You take them on holiday with you, or set aside your air miles so they can see Paris. You believe it is better to travel than arrive, and you believe every journey is also an opportunity to travel in the mind. If there is no money or time to achieve this for your family, your lovers or your friends, you will find other ways to cover a lot of ground. You’ll subscribe to cable television for the travel or wildlife documentaries. This is the National Geographic Moon sign.

Sagittarius rules the thighs in old astrology. It seems appropriate for someone like you, who walks, hikes, cycles and rides with such enthusiasm. Heaven help us when you want to give one of your lectures – or sermons. Of course, plenty of Moon in Sagittarius people know they have a reputation for this holier-than-thou approach. Good old astrology has taught you to shut up, when you secretly long to dole out your views. You can be cult-prone. Watch out for that. When they ask for your bank account details, it’s probably not just a meditation group.

Moon in Capricorn/Tenth House

You need to be needed by your boss, your lecturer, your most important colleagues or your best clients. You feel most comfortable looking after people in highly structured organisations, like corporations, universities or government departments. You are first on the scene, ready to offer a comforting hand on a shoulder, when there is a redundancy, a resignation or a promotion. Reshuffle! You are a great comfort to people who are trying to get the top or stay there. This also applies to the fine art of social climbing. You are the networker who understands how useful you can to be to people on the way up, or those who’ve made it. It’s easier for you to care about people who are successful, or The Girl Most Likely To. You never feel comfortable about applying your tender touch to those who are either at the bottom of the scrapheap, or doomed to fail. Why bother with the wannabes or losers? You understand how a hierarchy works and move slowly and carefully from one level to another, always helping, always climbing. When the boss wants tea and sympathy, you run to the kettle. You need to be needed by the right people. And that means the top people. Be careful. As some astrologers have pointed out over the years, this can make you look like a crawler, chasing people for your own purposes – rather than a genuine friend.

You sincerely care about making everything a success. The trick is choosing something that other people like, respect and actually need. The work has to be worth it. The career has to be genuinely helpful to humanity. Maybe it’s not the one the family actually wanted for you. Maybe, when we have that whopping stellium in Capricorn as you get closer to 2020, you’ll even give up the career path you’re on now. You can read more about these transits to your Capricorn Moon, elsewhere in this book. If you already had your life-changing Pluto transit to your Capricorn Moon, then you will have seen a total and sweeping transformation of your mission, ambition and position since 2008. This has also altered your definition of success and what it means to ‘make it.’

Moon in Aquarius/Eleventh House

Your friends are like family. You have platonic friends (opposite gender) who are like siblings or cousins. Your same-sex friendships can feel like parent-child relationships sometimes. You need your friends, to need you. It fulfils you. Friends with dodgy mothers, or those who sadly lost their mothers when young, gravitate towards you. People who need nurturing are all over your dinner parties. You adopt them. You’ve been doing this since Brownies or Cubs. You read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five or Secret Seven and it was like you’d come home. You circulate among friends and acquaintances and this pumps oxygen into the club, the team, the band, the class, the social media, the society, the association, the tribe.

Aquarius is an air sign and back in 1951, the astrologer Margaret Hone was telling us it ruled the circulatory system. You are a human air conditioner. Light, breezy, never sleazy – you don’t use friendship for ulterior motives like sex, money or social climbing. You are a friend only for the sake of friendship. Moon in Aquarius people typically belong to more than one small community of people and have detached acquaintances which go on for years. They want to reform their local area, country, or the world. The petition or the street march is where they feel truly at home.

You can put group goals – like the ambitions of a political party – before lovers, children or family sometimes. You have to ask yourself if you really are the humanitarian the astrology books talk about, when this happens. John Lennon is our go-to example for the Moon in Aquarius. He was great with The Beatles, the fans and saving the world with Apple. He was not so great with his first wife, Cynthia. Be careful. An Aquarius in the Roman Empire was the hydraulic engineer in charge of aqueducts, which fed the public baths. Nude, mixed bathing meant the community had to make sure friends and acquaintances were kept at arm’s-length. Don’t you know it. This remote, detached quality is common with Moon in Aquarius people. You don’t do close or complicated. You don’t do cuddles. You also think about the good of the group, or the cause, all the time. Stop saving the planet with Fred and Jo if you’re forgetting to feed the kitties.

Moon in Pisces/Twelfth House

The Mother Hen of the Drinking Den! You were made for a cocktail bar – ‘Can I get you another? How about an umbrella?’ You make people feel at home anywhere there is a drink (or maybe other substances) because Pisces rules anything that gets you high. You all get happily smashed together in a cloud of incense, and talk about T.S. Eliot. If you avoid drugs, cigarettes and alcohol for health reasons, then you may be more at home with meditation, psychic readings or spiritual healing. They also allow you and everybody else to escape from the real world. You can also take people scuba-diving or surfing, or invite them into your fantasy sci-fi world, via Star Trek and Doctor Who. As long as it’s unreal reality, the people you care about are welcome there. You love headphones. You tell people what their dreams mean and give them intuitive messages. It shows you care. You have a feeling for their soul or spirit. You understand the subconscious mind, but also the chakras, the aura and the astral body. If you are a Christian, you care for their spiritual welfare. If you are psychic, then you use that to follow the hunches that keep your lovers, relatives, friends or colleagues safe. Your nose twitches at the first hint of a threat, like the star of Bewitched.

You keep secrets. Everything you are told, goes into the vault. This is another way of showing that you care. You’re a confidante. People can share their thoughts, feelings and memories with you. You are the invisible and reassuring voice in the confessional box. Your children, godchildren or young relatives enter a different space when you’re

around. You respect their invisible friends. Your greatest gift is operating behind the scenes, as Miss or Mr. Invisible, without credit or recognition – for others.

It can come as a shock to realise there are sceptics out there who don’t believe in crystal healing, space clearing or the survival of consciousness after death. Be careful. Not everybody at work wants to have your rainbow crystal hitting them in the head when they walk past the office windows.