Published in Mountain Astrologer Feb-Mar 1998

Introduction

The Zodiac as the Seasons — Ptolemy

The Sequence of the Zodiac — Rudhyar

The Cycle of the Sun and Moon — Ptolemy

The Lunation Cycle: Rudhyar Revised

The Moon’s Nodal Cycle

Introduction

Cycles are how the cosmos displays its order to us. The Sun and the stars move around us with breathtaking regularity; spring begins anew each year; and the Moon moves through its phases in predictable sequence. Simultaneously, we have flux and stability. It is this realization that permeates astrology and has given birth to traditions we now separate as "scientific" and "magical." Do these cycles have a basic structure? Can we apply his structure to the astrological natal chart to derive important information?

In this article I will show three cyclical structures that you can apply to your own chart cycles that involve the Sun and the Moon.

In the 2nd century C.E., Ptolemy used the natural science of his time to give astrology general principles by which to use cosmic cycles. He was following up on previous teachings from Hippocrates and Aristotle, and his formulations were used by astrologers in the late ancient and medieval worlds. Within our own time, Dane Rudhyar was inspired by teachings on cycles and by the stages of life in the plant world. Rudhyar noted that cosmic cycles have a basic structure and applied that structure to modern astrology. Thus, the natal chart shows not static placements hut phases and turnings within the larger cycles of the heavens and the Earth,

This article will examine, with a critical eye, both Ptolemy’s ancient formulations and Rudhyar’s modern adaptations. On close examination, Ptolemy’s formulations may help solve some of the difficulties in Rudhyar’s modern work.

Here we’ll concentrate on three different cycles that involve the Sun and the Moon. We’ll begin with the cycle of the tropical zodiac; then the cycle of the Sun and Moon moving together; and finally, the Moon’s latitude cycle (otherwise called the Moon’s nodal cycle.

The zodiac, as a cycle of the Sun, reveals our individual active solar principle. The cycle of the Sun and Moon, from New Moon to New Moon, shows how we reveal our solar purpose in our world. And the Moon’s latitude cycle depicts how the world is to us and how we manage the world we are already in.

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The Zodiac as the Seasons — Ptolemy

Traditional astrology uses the zodiac to tell us about physical features; modern astrology uses the zodiac to tell us about psychological features. Because the signs are based on the Sun’s seasonal path through the sky, and the tropical zodiac refers to the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, the formulations of both Ptolemy and Rudhyar make sense only in the northern half of the world. Our Southern Hemisphere friends may want to reverse the seasons and the signs, and apply the cycle in that way.

According to the "natural philosophy" of his time, which Ptolemy adapted to astrological symbolism, change occurs through permutations of the four qualities: hot, cold, wet, and dry; These four consist of two pairs: hot and cold, wet and dry. Cyclic sequences, including the human life cycle, are predictable changes in the sequence of hot, cold, wet, and dry. When there is a change from one quality to another, it accounts for earthly change. However, when two qualities change at the same time, it is catastrophic. For example, the fertile soil on the ground has the quality of cold with a proportion of moist and dry When it rains, only the moist quality increases. However, if there’s a dramatic increase in temperature, the extreme heat and its accompanying dryness will quickly rob the soil of its life-giving qualities.

In Chapter 10 of Tetrabiblos, Book L Ptolemy discusses the seasons of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The winter solstice has the greatest of the cold quality. (See Figure 1) In the wintertime, wet is increasing, while cold is beginning to moderate. Thus, winter has the two qualities of cold and wet. At the spring equinox the wet quality is strongest. From that point forward, however, hot is on the rise. Thus, spring has the two qualities of hot and wet At the summer solstice, when the Sun is in Cancer, we have the maximum of hot, and during the summer, hot recedes while dry is on the increase. So summer is a hot and dry season. At the autumnal equinox, there is the maximum of dry, but hot and cold are themselves equal. During autumn, cold is on the increase so that autumn is cold and dry. Dry moderates and cold increases until it is at its strongest at the winter solstice, and we begin anew with an increase of wet.’

A prominent usage of these categories in natal analysis is for determining the native’s "temperament," relevant to physical features and personal behavior. While it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss all the features and permutations of traditional temperament analysis, they all include the seasonal cycle and other features of the natal Moon and Ascendant?

Cold has little muscle tone or physical exuberance, and little emotional display, but has a steady disposition and greater depth to its thinking. Wet is fatter, softer, and connective in its thinking, and quietly emotional in its behavior. A testimony of hot inclines toward a muscular build, restless energy, and an impulsive or spontaneous personal style. Dry is physically thin, somewhat impersonal, and discriminating in its thinking.

To blend these types seasonally, we have the following. The cold and wet type, the "winter time" phlegmatic, acts more slowly and in a less contactful way, with a body inclined toward fatness and sinus problems. The "springtime" sanguine person, with warm and wet, is more active and friendlier to others and has a well-proportioned but slightly chunky body The "summertime" choleric person, with an excess of hot is active to the point of being provocative, quick in response, and muscular of body (increase of dry). The "autumnal" melancholic person is more serious and much more inward than the sanguine or choleric, and has a thinner body.

This sequence is similar to the human developmental cycle. In Tetrabiblios I, Ptolemy begins the developmental cycle at the maximum wet, similar to the spring equinox with the entry of the Sun into Aries. He says that the first age of a living thing has an excess of wetness, "being tender and still delicate." The second age is hotter and is the prime of life, "almost like the summer," Then, in the autumn of our lives, there’s dry and we’re "at the beginning of decay. "At the last age, we’re colder and near dissolution.

If we’re not too young, we know that the first half of our lives gives us more physical energy than the second half. Professional athletes are often past their prime by their mid thirties, as hot decreases, while those with more cerebral occupations (CEO’s, New Age healers, and the like) are only just moving into maturity In the first stages of life, with stronger wet, we’re often more imaginative and spontaneous; later, as we move into dry; we become more certain of ourselves but rigid.

However, this developmental sequence does have an important exception. Many of us, when younger, had bodies we could call dry. Yet increasingly we find our bodes becoming wetter (read fatter). We have to eat drier food (cut down on ice cream) and heat up the body more (work out) to retain thinness. (Hippocrates, the founder of Greek medicine, describes the human cycle in this way).

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The Sequence of the Zodiac — Rudhyar

What is the cycle of the zodiac from a psychological or spiritual point of view? Throughout his career, Rudhyar wrote about the zodiac, and his description of the signs and the sequence of the zodiac depict the quality of one’s selfhood, one’s ongoing personal identity, in which our life project may be a matter of individual expression as an individual or a collective being. His clearest exposition, to my mind, Astrological Signs: The Pulse of Life, is unfortunately out of print at this time.

In The Pulse of Life, Rudhyar contrasts "day-force" and "night-force," which parallel the changing lengths of day in the Northern Hemisphere. From Aries to Libra, day-force is the stronger; from Libra through Pisces, night-force is the stronger. From Capricorn to Cancer, however, day-force is gaining strength; from Cancer through Sagittarius, night-force is gaining strength. Using Ptolemy’s language, when day-force is stronger, there is greater hot than cold; when night-force is stronger, there is greater cold than hot. ‘When day-force is on the increase (from winter solstice to summer solstice), wet grows dominant; when night-force is on the increase (from summer solstice to winter solstice), dry becomes dominant.

What does Rudhyar mean by day— force? It is our expression as individual beings and corresponds to the tendency we all have to be unique individuals. Night-force is that part of us that identifies with the collective as conscious participants in a larger field. It has an "ingathering" nature. We all have personal and collective selves, personal and social egos; and we all have particularizing and universalizing tendencies. It is the oscillation between them that makes our identity uncertain but our lives interesting.

The cycle’s beginning, however, is not at the sign of Aries, as Rudhyar states, but at Capricorn, the place of the invisible incarnation, the coldest point in the cycle. The entity-to-be does not become visible or conscious of itself until the sign Aries. Growth of the distinct individual occurs through Taurus and Gemini and reaches its fulfillment in the sign Cancer, the sign of the summer solstice, the farthest northern declination of the Sun, where the greatest amount of sunlight falls in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the place of greatest hot.

Thereafter, day-force gradually weakens, with "the other" growing steadily. Cancer deals with "other" by subsuming it into oneself; Leo stays out front and impresses; Virgo displays its remaining individual dominance by working very hard and being of service. From Libra through Pisces, with the dominance of cold growing, the day-force is more hidden and comes out as the "shadow" side of the manifestation of the different zodiacal signs. The feistiness of Aries through Virgo seems selfish and tyrannical later on.

The night-force brings individual personalities together. In Cancer the nights begin to grow longer and one meets a wider but still personal world. Through Leo and ‘Virgo that world becomes larger and more intimidating. Libra, the place of dry and the beginning of the dominance of cold, is a time to harvest the fruit of the individual development and decline. In Libra, one discovers that the purpose of the entire cycle is not who one is and what one has (which decays), but what one gives to the larger world and to the future (the present fruit and the scattered seeds of a future new beginning). Libra, the first moment of intentional togetherness, finds itself in equal partnership with the world and establishes this as an ideal to be sought for.

In Scorpio, the leaves decay and the seed remains, as the individual sacrifices him or herself to a reality greater than oneself; in Sagittarius, one becomes more and more the embodiment of larger social forces at work. On a psychological level, Capricorn is the place of the collectivized individual for whom his or her nascent self is a growing shadow. In Aquarius, the individual is somewhat stronger, but as the reformer of the decaying system or an unheeded prophet. In Pisces, the system itself falls apart, which allows the individual to emerge.

Each phase of the cycle of the zodiac is necessary; no one is better than the other. Each contains possibilities of cowardice and authenticity. I urge you to contemplate the meaning of your Sun sign in its place within the larger cycle, for it can tell you many things about yourself. However, we need to go further to describe the world in which we live.

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The Cycle of the Sun and Moon — Ptolemy

The yearly movement of the Sun and the monthly cycle of the Moon, from New Moon to New Moon, are the most discernible patterns of the changing sky. The phases of the Moon relate the Sun to the Moon in ever changing but predictable patterns that are relevant to shorter periods of time and to the more receptive environment of nighttime. If the Sun is a place of inspiration and tells us about our pattern of identity the Moon phase relates that identity to the world and to everyday life.

According to Ptolemy, the New Moon is the greatest place of cold, and the first quarter of the lunar cycle is increasingly Wet; the First Quarter Moon is the greatest of wet, and the second quarter of the cycle is increasingly hot. The Full Moon is the greatest of hot, and the third quarter of the cycle is increasingly dry. The Last Quarter Moon is the greatest of dry and the fourth quarter of the lunar cycle is increasingly cold,

Here we arrive at a problem. Ptolemy’s successors placed the qualities of the lunar phases one quarter ahead of those of Ptolemy, and Rudhyar’s lunar phases followed that later tradition. So the New Moon is like Aries, not Capricorn. Ptolemy, as I will explain, seems to be correct.

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The Lunation Cycle: Rudhyar Revised

In his classic The Lunation Cycle, Rudhyar states that the symbolism of the Moon phase may be more relevant to a person’s functioning than the Sun’s place in the zodiac. I will use Rudhyar’s own language to describe the symbolism of the Moon’s phases.

"The most spiritual impulse [Sun] is quite futile, unless one discovers a method and adequate instrumentalities to make it work," The Sun’s sign may describe an "archetypal purpose" of a life, but one is also a creator and creature of relationships within the world itself. The Moon’s phases depict a pragmatic application of the spiritual impulse from the Sun into our everyday worlds.

Rudhyar describes the first half of the lunation cycle, the waxing Moon, as active creation of personal form, and the second half as extension beyond the personal, releasing into an unknown future.

Following Ptolemy’s cycle, however, the waxing Moon is an increase of hot and the waning Moon an increase of cold, with the maximum of wet at the First Quarter Moon and the maximum of dry at the Last Quarter.

Rudhyar divides the cycle into eight main divisions, based on the Sun-Moon phase in a birth chart. I will review Rudhyar’s descriptions within a sequence that begins not at the spring equinox (Aries), but at the winter solstice (Capricorn). (See Figure 2)

New Moon type (the Moon is 00 to 44º 59´ ahead of the Sun): According to Rudhyar, the New Moon is subjective and impulsive, tending to project oneself onto the world, and contains "intense vital energy and subjective vision." Rudhyar describes that first moment of illumination, but without a sense of purpose or awareness of meaning. He describes an "Aries" kind of Sun-sign personality, although I see more "Capricorn" for the New Moon.

The conjunction of the Sun and Moon happens in the dark and is more symbolic of inner process than outer energy. Even when the Moon becomes visible after a New Moon, she is a thin Moon, showing far more promise than bluster. To my mind and observing eye (observing the sky and New Moon people), this is not the warm wet fertility of Aries but rather the cold and increasing wet of the Northern Hemisphere winter. The New Moon is the "seeding" process that takes place invisibly during the winter, not the uprush of new-found energy.

Crescent type (the Moon is 45º to 89º 59´ ahead of the Sun): It challenges the old, battles with the demons of the residue of the past, and is more assertive and confident than the New Moon type. Anew cycle does not eliminate the past without a struggle. It must confront the old even if the old seems dead. Rudhyar gives the phase a Taurean feature of identification with Earth (Earth as the discarded remnants of former plant life, the fertile soil of what is to come).

If you begin the cycle at the cold point of Capricorn, the Crescent phase is not Taurus but 150 Aquarius, the middle of winter, when it is increasingly wet and beginning to warm up. It shows the promise of rather than the actual manifestation of Taurus. The Crescent Moon is somewhat larger and more energetic than the New Moon, showing more of what it will become.

First Quarter type (the Moon is 90º to 134º 59´ ahead of the Sun): The First Quarter type experiences a crisis in action," where it is necessary to build frameworks for the future, as well as a new sense of relationship and experience. Here one is willful and may need to be wrathful to eliminate obstacles and move in a specific direction. At this quarter, the Moon is half-visible, half-invisible. There is greater consciousness but an equal part is yet unknown. We find a fertility and sense of possibility that conforms to the place in the cycle of greatest moisture — the spring equinox and the Sun’s entry into Aries.

Gibbous type (the Moon is 135º to 179º 59´ ahead of the Sun): At the Gibbous Moon there is more sunlight reflecting the Moon and the Moon is fatter. The Gibbous Moon type contributes to one’s own personal growth, clarifies personal and social issues, and is more confident and more firm in its approach to the world than the First Quarter type. In the Ptolemaic cycle this is an increase of activity because hot is increasing. This "sanguine" phase conforms to the season of late spring with the signs of late Taurus and all of Gemini.

Full Moon type (Moon at 180º and approaching the Sun to 135º 01´): The Full Moon type approaches life and its destiny with a clearer consciousness and sense of purpose — the Moon here reflects as much of the Sun’s light as she can. At the Full Moon, corresponding to the sign Cancer, what was an original impulse is now a formed concept that can be applied to a wider field. Reflecting the maximum of hot, one has greater resources for activity

Disseminating type (the Moon approaches the Sun from 135º to 90º 01´): Illumined and focused by the Full Moon, the Disseminating type projects its energy broadly and desires to embody its newly found purpose in a focused way. This reflects the gradual increase in the quality of dry The Moon is still large but is waning. Her own energy, individuality, and sense of possibility are decreasing. Unlike Rudhyar’s model, which is more Sagittarian (although according to his cycle it would begin at 15º Scorpio), I see this phase beginning at a place corresponding to 15º Leo in the zodiac, It is more individually expressive than the colder part of autumn, which is Sagittarius.

Last Quarter type (the Moon approaches the Sun from 90º to 45º 01´): If the First Quarter represents a "crisis of action,’’ then the Last Quarter is a crisis of consciousness," and the Last Quarter type needs to embody its purposes in the wake of the eventual dissolution of its structures. One is resolved and also inflexible, as fulfillment and decline alternate with one another. in Ptolemy’s terms, dry is now at maximum but cold is now greater than hot as the energy level of the cycle declines. This is autumn, the beginning of the Sun’s entry into Libra.

Balsamic type (the Moon approaches the Sun from 45º to conjunction): The Balsamic type is more introverted and oriented toward the future, for now there is little to do but finish the paperwork, turn off the lights, and go to bed, At the phase of the Balsamic Moon, cold is increasing. "The cycle has come to seed, which is the foundation of the future plant." One may feel possessed by a vague sense of destiny, corresponding with a slow increase of wet, but nothing can be done except to wait. As the lunation cycle comes to a close, the Moon disappears within the beams of the Sun, awaiting the next moment of hidden spark that begins the cycle anew. The Balsamic type is not Piscean but begins at 15º Scorpio, because this thinning of Moon correlates to the darkening of the skies of late autumn.

Why do I prefer that the Sun-Moon cycle begin at the cold place, corresponding to the winter solstice, rather than the wet point, corresponding to the spring equinox? The beginning of a cycle, including the human life cycle, is not a rush of new energy, but a quiet beginning (cold) that can only suggest its future energy and potential (increasing wet). The middle is a maximum of activity and purpose (hot). The waning of the cycle contains fewer possibilities (dry) its power decreasing into a condition of stillness (cold). The sequence of the Moon’s cycle begins quietly and invisibly and becomes gradually larger as she moves toward her dramatic and energetic fullness. Afterward, she becomes but a slice of herself, as her previously exuberant activity becomes more and more a thing of the past. Therefore, I feel that Ptolemy’s sequence does a better job of describing Rudhyar’s sequence.

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The Moon’s Nodal Cycle

We have gone through the cycle of the Sun and the zodiac, which expresses our sense of identity and purpose. The lunation cycle, that of the Sun and Moon together, signifies how we manifest our purpose in life. The Moon’s latitude cycle (the conjunctions and squares of the Moon with her Nodes), distinct from the other cycles we’ve discussed, signifies the world itself. We have far less tradition here and are working with less developed territory.

Much modern thinking proposes that our involvement in our world is not secondary to our uniqueness but is primordial. We are already engaged in our world and always in communication with it. The Moon’s latitude cycle, distinct from other cycles we’ve seen, is relevant to such thinking.

This cycle consists of the Moon moving in celestial latitude, that is moving up and down from the line of the ecliptic. When the Moon is conjunct the Nodes, it is exactly on the ecliptic and thus has no latitude. When the Moon is square her nodes she is at the bendings, and that is about 6º N or 6º S latitude from the line of the ecliptic.. Thus, there are four turning points in this cycle — the conjunctions with the North and South Nodes, and the northern and southern bendings, which are the places of maximum north and south latitude, respectively. The Moon passes one of these four pivots each week.

Here are the stages of the cycle. Let’s start at the place that corresponds to the season of winter and, I feel, the New Moon. This occurs when Moon is at maximum south latitude, her southern bendings. You can find this in a chart by going from the South Node in the direction of the zodiac until the square to both Lunar Nodes. The Moon’s journey then proceeds north in latitude until she reaches the North Node. When at the North Node, the Moon is on the ecliptic going north in latitude. Moving northward, when she reaches maximum northern latitude, she again squares the Nodes but at the northern bendings. The Moon then begins a southward movement in latitude, heading toward the South Node. At the South Node the Moon crosses the plane of the ecliptic and is now heading south in latitude. Thus, we coming to where we started. (See Figure 3)

According to Rudhyar, the pivots of the Nodes and bendings are parallel to the cardinal ingresses of the zodiac. He likens the Sun’s changing declination to the Moon’s changing latitude. When the Sun’s path crosses the equator heading north, we have the spring equinox and the sign Aries. This is like the Moon conjunct the North Node, heading north in latitude. The Sun’s northernmost declination, at the summer solstice and the sign Cancer, is like the Moon’s northernmost latitude, its northern bendings. When the Sun crosses the equator heading south at the sign Libra, we have the autumnal equinox, which is similar to the Moon conjunct the South Node. Finally, the Moon at the southern bendings is like the Sun at the winter solstice, at Capricorn, the Sun’s maximum southern declination.

Rudhyar and others discuss the Moon’s latitude cycle in terms of lunar matters of adaptation, assimilation, growth, and release. This cycle is less about personal identity than about how we place ourselves within our immediate and larger environments. It is about how we receive, use, incorporate, and express the world in which we live.

Here’s an analogy based upon daily life. At the southern bendings you have awakened but haven’t begun your day —you read the sports page over breakfast or, if you’re particularly unlucky, do some work left from the previous day. Then you "get into gear" You check your e—mail, telephone messages, and to-do list to see what you’re facing today. This is like the Moon at its North Node, You say to yourself, "Shall I take the day off, do I have enough sick time?" or "How do I impress so-and-so on the promotion’s board?" As the Moon reaches its northern bendings and moves toward the South Node, there’s less thinking and more doing as you carry on what you’ve already decided upon. The majority of the day’s efforts are over as the Moon reaches the South Node, for now you can wind down, unless you have to work late. As the Moon goes toward its southern bendings, you’re telling stories with your friends or participating in larger cultural activities like reading People magazine or watching Seinfeld. Eventually you retire for the day. Note that at every stage of this cycle you respond to your world differently, and that all stages are necessary for completeness.

Rudhyar describes this cycle using the Moon as a personal and archetypal significator for the mother. In her northern half, the world itself is mother; in the southern half, the individual is mother for the world, The Moon near her North Node and going to northern latitude establishes a mother or a mother-image toward the world at large. In its northern latitude, one has a greater ability to adjust to circumstances, and may be ambitious and glory-seeking in an endeavor to be of the world at large. Near the South Node and going south, the mother or mother-image is repudiated, transformed into a more psychic image or a yearning to be a nurturer oneself. (One takes on "mother" and expresses it through one’s personality.) While at north latitude the person tries to fit into an all-encompassing world, at south latitude one takes the world for granted and embodies that world.

Can Ptolemy’s now-familiar succession of cold, wet, hot, and dry help us? Because Ptolemy’s structure of the seasonal cycle has been helpful to us with the other cycles, let’s apply it to this one.

Each hemisphere contains a dominance of hot, cold, wet, or dry. Phases between conjunctions with the Nodes, the Moon being at either North or South latitude, reflect the interplay of hot and cold. The cycle between the bendings reflect the interplay of wet and dry. (Again, see Figure 3)

North latitude is like Aries through Virgo — there is greater hot than cold. Upon the Moon’s conjunction with the North Node, hot increases as improvisation turns to conscious activity You bring greater personal energy to bear in adapting, rebelling, or trying to climb to the top. Before the northern bendings, you are busy finding ways to deal with your world; after the bendings, but still north in latitude, you’re acting on a plan.

South latitude is like Libra through Pisces. At the conjunction with the South Node, and when the Moon heads into south latitude, there’s no point in working with a pattern; instead the pattern works with you. Before the south bendings, the world speaks through you, and after the south bendings, which correspond to Capricorn through Pisces, the world itself begins to diminish. With the Moon at this cold point of its conjunction with the southern bendings, new possibilities gradually emerge.