The Sun and the Moon (Vedic Astrology Part I)

This post is inspired and predominantly contains excerpts from the book – The Astrology of the Seers – A comprehensive guide to Vedic Astrology from David Frawley. I fully recommend the book.

‘Everything that happens at a particular moment shares the quality of the moment. Hence, in the moment of our birth can be read the quality of our life, just as the nature of a tree can be read in the seed from which it comes.

As the lords of time, the planets are the lords of karma or destiny.

The stars form the cosmic man and we as human beings form a solar system within ourselves.

Our own soul is a star, a sun, a point of cosmic light.

The universe becomes a tapestry of thought in which we can play rather than a net of desires in which we are caught.’

The Sun and the Moon (Vedic Astrology Part 1)

The Sun – In Vedic astrology, the Sun is a masculine force and the principle of light, life and love, our true will and perception. This determines our potential and spiritual life, since it represents the soul – the causal body or reincarnating entity – whose will is behind our fate. The sun is reasonable, discerning and illuminating and so can give intelligence, perception, strength of will and character. The sun affords endurance, stamina, vitality, positive spirit, direction, courage, conviction, confidence, leadership and straight-forwardness. Hence it a vital force behind inner strength and peace.

When ill-placed the Sun gives lack of intelligence, poor perception, weakness of will and character. It creates lack of endurance, low vitality, melancholy, fear, dependency or servitude, and deviousness or dishonesty. Furthermore, an overly strong but malefically disposed Sun creates pride, arrogance, tyranny and control. That is because the sun can be too authoriarian, dominating and controlling. When the Sun is strong we outshine everyone else for good or ill, depending on whether its disposition is benefic or malefic, conscious or unconscious. A weak but spiritually disposed Sun makes us receptive, wanting to do good, and self-effacing- in other words soft. Yet we may lack in confidence and come under the rule of other people. We will seek to sacrifice ourselves but may not know what to give ourselves over to.

According to Vedic Astrologers, the Sun rules the heart, the organ of circulation and vitality, and a weak Sun gives problems here. Inwardly the heart is the organ of intelligence that regulates life, breath, aspiration and perception. The nature of the Sun in the chart shows who we really are in our hearts. The Sun shows who we are in ourselves, as an individual, as apart from how we appear or what roles we take. It, shows how we are with ourselves, in ourselves, and by ourselves.

The Sun is our sense of self and indicates the level of our self-manifestation. On the lower level, the Sun represents the ego. It shows our impulses towards power, prestige, fame, honor, respect, authority and control — all the things that give value and preeminence to our separate self and personal power. It shows where we shine, how we shine, and in what we shine, and how we illumine ourselves and our own lives.

On the higher level, the Sun represents our soul as our power of direct cognition. It shows our aspirations, our creativity, our seeking for light and for truth, our integrity, our capacity to transcend external conditioning and be a light unto ourselves. The Sun is who we really are, and along with the Sun in the chart is the question of identity, the search for our true Self, the great enquiry “Who am I?

In terms of family relationships, the Sun represents the father. We can read through it the life of our father, our relationship to him, and his influence upon us. It is the role of the father to shape our sense of self, to provide us with direction and self-worth in life. It is the absence, weakness, or failure of the father in modem culture that is behind the many ego, identity, and self-image problems so many of us today possess. The son needs a beneficent father to give him a sense of self-strength, selfmastery, and the capacity to function capably in the world. The daughter needs a good father to provide her a sense of self-worth, integrity, and the capacity to be herself in the world.

The Sun shows the kinds of authority and the values which shape our lives. The Sun represents the king, the president, the political leader. It can indicate the government in general and whatever favors or promotions may come through it. It represents law and order, rule and reason, on higher or lower levels. People with a strong Sun suit law and order because they are exact and organised.

The Sun represents spiritual authority and, along with Jupiter, can help us understand the nature of the guru or spiritual teaching we are most likely to follow. It shows our guiding light, principles, values and precepts. The sun aids our transcendence. It takes us beyond things, negating their limitations. It may raise us to a high level outwardly in life but will inwardly push us beyond that. It operates to negate all things into the self. The Sun tends to deny the ordinary activities of life but only to command the extraordinary, the highest and the best. From the Sun, we have our taste, that is our appreciation of quality. Thus, the Sun will further us in the highest or most grandiose human strivings. It will always promote the growth of intelligence. While destructive of form and expression, it elevates the being and the intrinsic worth of things. It does not always give abundance but does give quality. It gives power, fame, mastery, and glory but not always wealth or emotional happiness.

In Sanskrit, the sun is called Surya, which means “the father, progenitor, enlivener, impeller.” He is the source of will, energy, motivation and inspiration, like the Greek Sun god Apollo.

Moon - The Sun is fiery and the Moon is watery. While the Sun stands alone, the Moon is the friend of all. Hence, the Moon measures our popularity, our social status, and our capacity to influence the masses. Hence, there is a saying – water has no enemies.

Furthermore, whereas the Sun creates the king or strong-willed leader, the Moon creates a good administrator or a leader open to the needs of his people. The moon is said to create the best managers as a result.

Just as the Sun rules the heart, the Moon rules the mind. According to the Vedas from the Moon the mind (Sanskrit, “manas”) was born. Yet the Sanskrit term for mind has a different meaning than the usual western one. Mind includes emotion and means feeling; it is consciousness in general that reflects upon things. It means thought, care, consideration, as well as musing, dreaming, and imagining. It is often conditioned consciousness. Thus, the Moon shows our capacity to receive and to be affected, but it also indicates our capacity to be hurt. She is the most easily hurt of the planets and indicates our general vulnerability. She is nervous, can be reserved, fearful due to the fact she is highly emotional.

As the Self is the point of central clarity and perception, the mind is the field of conception and manifestation. She is imaginative, deep and creative, as well as changeable and moody. As the Sun represents the Father, the Moon is the Divine Mother and creatrix. As the Sun rules time, the Moon governs space. As the Sun represents who we are in ourselves, the Moon shows how we relate to others, our social consciousness. Moreover, as the Sun represents character or individuality, the Moon indicates our personality.

Finally, The Sun represents the present and future; the Moon, the past. The Sun shows the causal body, which indicates the will of the soul ' to be achieved in incarnation. The Moon shows the astral body, the field of impressions or past karma operative behind the present incarnation. Hence, the Moon is an important karmic indicator. It is said, our ancestors and the moon are at one; in short the Moon shows who we have been and what of the past we bring with us. Thus, the Moon can show positive resources from the past which give us greater consciousness in life, or it can show negative influences from the past that bind us to regressive patterns of behavior.

Afflictions to the Moon show personality disorders, difficulties in relating to other people, and emotional disturbances. A badly placed Moon gives wrong imaginings, hallucinations, and psychological turbuIence. It creates lunacy, as our language reflects. A badly afflicted Moon shows bad heredity, poor family background, bad education, and other traumas to the emotional nature that may be very difficult to overcome and may indicate severe imbalance or disruption of the astral body.

The Moon, like the Sun, is a Sattvic or spiritual planet. The Moon gives faith, love, openness, surrender, devotion, peace and happiness. It imparts the grace of the Goddess, the Divine Mother. It makes us pliable, sensitive, and contemplative. It causes us to do good for the sake of others and to be obedient to higher principles. People with such a religious or spiritual Moon often have a strong connection with a traditional religion and may have had many monastic past lives. They have sweet, tolerant and humane dispositions, and can even become saintly. They are often the easiest people to be around and the least critical. They will tend to see the good in all.

The main weakness of the lunar type religious or spiritual mind is that it may cause people to be too orthodox. They may rely unquestioningly on an authority that does not represent the truth. They like organization, ritual, and tradition and represent the best of it; but when that tradition has become negative, they are often unable to question it, much less break away from it. They may be more concerned about being good than finding the sweeter truth.

As a very sensitive and mutable planet, the Moon can be easily influenced and overcome by other planetary energies. Saturn can darken it, depress it, or give it detachment. Rahu can cloud it or cause us to lose power over our minds, which the Moon rules. The Moon represents our impressionability, our capacity to become whatever influence we give ourselves over to.

The Moon is not only responsiveness but also inertia. Through our lunar sensitivity we can become accustomed to a life of pain, sorrow, or ignorance as well as to one of joy and truth. The Moon is our capacity to endure in any environment, which can also become a negative factor whereby we accept subordination, subservience, or degradation.

The mind is purely a dependent consciousness; it has no real nature of its own. As such, it can function in one of two ways: it can reflect the inner nature of things or their outer appearance. It can mold itself after the inner light of truth, the spiritual Sun, or after external influences and authorities, the outer or social lights (which the planets can project upon it).

In its higher nature as pure, receptive awareness, the mind is one with the Self, the Moon and Sun are one in function, and the consciousness of the human being is integrated. Such a well-placed and spiritual Moon is found in the charts of yogis and other conscious individuals. In its lower nature as impressionability to mass influences and collective traumas, an ill-placed and malefic Moon is found in the charts of criminals, the insane, or those suffering from neurological disorders.

As indicating the feminine nature in general, the Moon can give beauty and attractiveness. It can make for a good wife or homemaker as well as mother. When more intellectually disposed, it can give a broad grasp of many fields of knowledge, and often, like Venus which resembles it, it can give artistic accomplishment or religious devotion.

On the level of human relationships, the Moon represents the mother. Through it we can read her nature, her influence, and her longevity. It also shows our birth and through it we can read the difficulty or ease of our birth and the factors which brought it about. The Moon indicates the home or where we feel at home. It shows happiness and the state of the emotions. It shows where we place our love, care, general affection and friendship in life.

The Moon gives love and friendliness to all. Such a benefic Moon is often found in the charts of doctors, healers, or psychologists as well as good mothers and wives. It is the capacity to focus our attention the other and his or her needs. Lunar people are friendly, caring, and nurturing but not always honest, consistent or clear. They may frequently avoid their own emotions. Lunar people work through cooperation and mutual help, through family and friends; solar people rely upon the power of their own character, the strength of their own will. As solar types may become egoistic, lunar types may become circumscribed within a family, clan, group or belief system and be unable to work with anyone outside of it.

The Moon indicates relationship, interchange, and communication. It shows our general propensity for relationships and how we receive others and view society. It also gives creativity and expression to the mind, the capacity to influence others as well as to be influenced ourselves. It can be used as a general measure of our creativity or self-expression.

The Moon is our social nature and points out our social concerns in life. It indicates our popularity as the Sun does our prestige. It shows the effect of our personality on others as the Sun shows how we uphold our individuality even against others.

The Moon governs water — water as a psychological symbol, water in our own body, or water in the world. She sustains our fluidity of body and mind. The Moon allows us to flow. As such, she is the creative flow of life, the stream of awareness, the waters of creation from whose well we must drink to find contentment in life. She is the water of delight which bestows happiness in life. In her influence is love and communion.

The main name for the Moon in Sanskrit is “Soma.” This refers to our inner nectar of happiness which alone has the power to calm the mind and refresh the nerves. The Moon gives the inner contentment through which alone longevity and rejuvenation can proceed. She is the general beauty, bliss, communion and communication from which the more specific energies of Mercury and Venus arise.