Planets: Moon—ray 4 (non-sacred)

B Ray 4 (non-sacred planet)

Method: Autonomous response to stimulus, instinct and habit

Moon: general information

The exaltation of the form, ruled by the Moon, can be traced throughout the entire zodiac and provides in itself an interesting and progressive story (…) told by the various women who figure in the different constellations and around them some day the astrology of the form will be built. There is Cassiopeia, Venus, Coma Berenice, Andromeda (…) as well as Virgo… the most important of them all. (EA 400)

At the time, Alice Bailey remarked that this is a field of thought and of astrological investigation hitherto untouched; since that time, Demetra George has produced material that has changed the way astrologers understand the “mother aspect” in general.

“Our Lady, the Moon” is related to all these and before the great disruption in an earlier solar system which led to the Moon becoming a dead planet, the energies of these stars and certain of the planets which were produced through their activity, were all focussed in and transmitted by the Moon in a most mysterious yet powerful manner. (EA 400)

This idea about the Moon having been “denuded of life” is part of the occult philosophy that covers a previous vast era in the development of our solar system (see “Vulcan veiled by the Moon”)

Moon: Rulerships

• Orthodox: Cancer
• Esoteric: Virgo
• Hierarchical: Aquarius

…the Moon is usually regarded as “veiling” or “hiding” Vulcan, Neptune or Uranus… These three—which form a triangle of immense creative potency—determine or condition the physical, astral and mental natures, thus creating the personality, the “mother” or matter principle symbolised be the mutable cross, that nourish and feed the life of the inner self or soul, until the time comes for that inner self to awaken at the first initiation. (edited from EA 106-7)

• Vulcan: physical
• Neptune: emotional (astral)
• Uranus: mental

For more details see the Vulcan-Neptune-Uranus triangle.

Orthodox: Cancer ⇧

There is a hint in the exoteric interpretation of the Moon’s rulership in Cancer of the esoteric rulership of Neptune. More details to follow.

Esoteric: Virgo ⇧

In Virgo the Moon usually veils Vulcan as the forger of a material form fit to express the self within. If even-numbered rays are emphasised in the chart, it may instead veil Neptune.

The Moon, as esoteric ruler of Virgo, veils either Vulcan or Neptune. —Robbins, Michael D. Article: “Roberto Assagioli (FCD)”

See Vulcan rulerships and Virgo rulers.

Hierarchical: Aquarius ⇧

The energy of Uranus, pouring upon and into humanity, produces the urge to better conditions to provide better forms for the occult and esoteric life and to blend more adequately the inner and the outer [facets of humanity]. This is one of the reasons why the Moon is spoken of… as veiling Uranus. (EA 446)

The main idea behind the rulership of the Moon as a Ray 4 presence is that humanity in general comprises the “fourth creative hierarchy” (four is also the number of the lower self, of the quaternary (Occult Meditation, p80)), and is living out the process of Ray 4 on Earth. This process is especially intensified since 2025 when a new cycle of that ray began (Esoteric Psychology I 23-4).

The will to be and to know plus the fusion of heart and mind [is] the result of the work carried forward in the fourth Creative Hierarchy [humanity] under the influence of that energy which produces harmony through conflict.

…related here to one of the Creative Hierarchies, you have in the Moon itself the exoteric influences of the ordinary mode of procedure upon the wheel of life [repeated incarnation via Cancer], and in the planet… it veils… (…Uranus) … the esoteric energy which brings this Hierarchy to subjective realisation. (EA 139)

The Moon and Uranus here are also related to the ancient transference of “lives” from the Moon to Earth (on subtler levels long before the emergence of humanity from the animal kingdom). In the occult philosophy (you can take this as part pf the occult mythology, or literally for non-material lives):

Today the Moon is a dead world and the reason is that the Uranian urge became so strong in that far distant time when there were living forms upon the Moon that it led to the complete and final evacuation of the Moon and the transfer of its life to our planet. (EA 446)

The Moon to Mercury are both Ray 4 planets, so there are also connections here via Mercury:

Scorpio and Aquarius are also in a peculiar relation to each other through the planet Mercury which governs the human family (being the hierarchical planet in Scorpio), and through Neptune which rules Cancer [esoterically], thus governing expression upon the physical plane. In this connection the Moon is given as the orthodox ruler [of Cancer] and—via Uranus the hierarchical ruler of Aquarius. (EA 219)

Moon decanates

In conventional astrology, decanates simply follow the rulerships of each elemental triad, but Esoteric Astrology has inconsistent information. See notes about the decanates, and the “decans” tab under each sign.

Moon Dignities

• Exaltation: Taurus
• Fall: Scorpio
• Detriment: Capricorn

Exaltation in Taurus ⇧

Symbolically, this exaltation is about how powerfully the form side of life controls our experience.

The Moon is the Mother of the form and in this case veils or hides Vulcan… The Moon, therefore, stands here for the fashioner or moulder of the form, bringing in both the feminine and masculine aspects of form-building, the dual functions of Father-Mother. (EA 399)

The form fashioned for the expression of the human self goes through two stages, ruled respectively by the Moon and Vulcan:

1. Moon: the human form is used for self-interest and purely personal aims, with desire as the driver of activity.
2. Vulcan: the awakening Taurian is motivated to refashion, refine and elevate their human form.

Through desire translated into terms of spiritual will, the form is esoterically “exalted” and of this fact the exaltation of the Moon in Taurus is a symbol. To this the ordinary astrological symbol of the Bull’s horns testifies. This is the crescent Moon and also the symbol of the destructive nature of the form life of the Bull. Forget not that in this connection the destruction or death of the form and the ending of form influence thereby is the goal of the process which changes desire into aspiration. (EA 400)

Fall in Scorpio ⇧

To follow

Detriment in Capricorn ⇧

To follow