The Luminaries - By Tim Metcalfe
 

The Sun

An immense spherical mass of nuclear fusion. The primordial source of light and energy in our solar system. A crushing dense ball of electro-magnetic pressure, binding millions upon millions of neutrons with a gravitational field strong enough to trap massive would be rogue planets into elliptical orbit. What a magnificent organism he is!

For eons we have been looking to the sky and marvelling at the majesty of our sizzling star. Sol, Helios, Apollo, Ra to name but a few mythological male archetypes we have graced him with, as civilisation after civilisation has grappled with the meaning of his existence. And he is surely worth worshipping for all the life, light and warmth he brings. He has captured the minds and hearts of every sentient being born to this planet as they have followed his path across the sky as day becomes day at his rising and night becomes night as he sets. Indeed would time exist as we know it if it weren’t for his cyclical motions and seasonal dances?

His astrological significance is huge; all of you who know your astrological sign in the modern world are referring to the position of the Sun at your exact time of birth. Are you an Aquarian, a Scorpio, or maybe even a “Sun ruled” Leo? That we represent our selves as an individual sign of the zodiac gives a respectable professional reference to the Suns resume. He represents our life path, our journey, the quest that we have undertaken upon this Earth. He sets out the goals that we are to strive for and describes the core of our personality. He is the father, the leader, the monarch. He is our power, our vitality, our strength, and our part of the divine spark bringing all into manifestation.

He rules the sign of Leo and the house with Leo on the cusp as well as traditionally the 5^th House, Mundane astrology gives him ownership of Magistrates, Kings, Royal Palaces, Cedar Trees, Rosemary, Lions, Starfish and Solid Gold

On a more personal level he represents what makes you special or king like in your own divine right, he gives you your basic sense of identity and mirrors your personal experience. All of us spend our lives trying to reach our Sun, it is what drives us and gives us our rites of passage. He gives us our inner sense of authority and calls to us to accept the challenge to set foot on our life journey. He is our profound sense of self, our ego, and teaches us to love “Me”! He is at the centre of all things, the nucleus. Is he not in perfect likeness to an atom sitting on his throne at the centre of our solar system. As above, so below.

Are you in true self-awareness and divine consciousness?

“Yes your Majesty” . . . . . .”I am”.

The Moon

Glorious in its constant perpetual waxing and waning cycle in relation to the sun, astrology’s second luminary (the first being the sun, both seen as planets by astrologers), along with all of the heavenly bodies, roams the sky in precise calculable fashion. Passing through each Zodiac Sign every two and a half days, the moon calves its orbital path around the earth pulling with it the tides and oceanic rhythms of Gaia.

Stonehenge stands tall in the South West British countryside paying homage to ancient cultures acknowledgement of our protective, nurturing and beautiful natural satellite. In fact the ancient Neolithic monument, whatever the purpose of its construction, is a perfect device defining the relationship between the sun and moon to awe inspiring accuracy. The minds of the day must have had great skills of heavenly body observation and conceptualisation not to mention craftsmanship to be able to construct such a magnificent structure.

The moon is the personification of our human life cycle from birth to maturity to death. It represents the ebb and flow, and the natural rhythms and mood swings of our daily lives. In myth the lunar cycle represents the female archetype of the young, free adventurous woman developing into her most fertile and motherly nature, and finishing as the old wise woman and healer. These archetypes are best described in the Greek stories of Artemis, Demeter, and Hecate respectively.

She is also seen as the ruler of fertility and recent studies have shown a direct link between the lunar phase (relationship between the sun and moon) in a woman’s natal chart to her most fertile moments each month as well as correlation with her menstrual cycle. The sex of her child can also be predicted due to the moons position at the time of conception.

Most significantly the moon holds the female principle in contrast to the male principle of the sun.

She represents the body, to be incarnated and to die. She is inward looking and rooted in the past and nostalgia. How do you nurture yourself and others? If you are upset or under stress, how do you react? What and how much do you eat? What kind of home do you like to create? Where do you live? Who do you live with? What is your mother like? Where do you feel most comfortable?

The answers to these questions are where you will find your lunar complex. Your reactions to situations are governed by the moon, these reactions may seem irrational from an outside perspective, but on a personal level are purely gut rational. The moon says something of what you are born to instinctively expect. She rules food so those with eating disorders will have an afflicted lunar complex. The moon also signifies your relationship with your mother and how you were nurtured. Two siblings may experience the same mother very differently and so will have different moon placements.

She also represents your feelings, your emotions, your needs, and where you feel secure and safe. She is the primary planet of successful relationships, as compatible moon sign elements will make you feel comfortable with others, whereas incompatible moon sign elements will make you feel unsafe and insecure. The moon rules the sign of cancer and so it rules your family, your clan and your home. She rules carers, rivers, fountains and coastlines; she is nocturnal, unconscious and instinctive. When you are in a bad mood your moon has been abandoned, when in a good mood it has been fed.

The moon also rules fluids and so it’s no surprise that the high percentage of water in the human body must be affected by the pull of the moon. How you nurture the energies in your chart is your choice, but the moon will see to it that fate and free will decides.

  by Tim Metcalfe