The Work of the Moon 3: The Magic of the Moon

Wisdom Teachings
The Centres of the Solar System
Full Moon and New Moon Meditations
Book: Full Moon Meditations

The Scriptures say: “The background of consciousness cannot be defined; it has no form and no name.” It is like sleep where there is no awareness and no thought. The “I AM”, the individual existence, emerges with awakening. Its symbol is the number 1 and the circle with a central point, whereas the background, THAT, is symbolised by 0. When we cut the circle horizontally, we get two semi-circles. The upper semi-circle stands for the “I AM”, the consciousness, the lower for its reflection into objectivity, into mind. Our minds are the mirror for consciousness; they are like a sea in which the sun reflects itself. Consciousness is number 1, number 2 is its reflection.

The sun is pure fire like the self, the “I AM”, which is an image of the sun. The moon principle reflects this light through the mind. When we say “moon” we think of the moon we see in the sky, but this satellite of the earth is only a vehicle of the moon principle because it reflects the rays of the sun to the earth. Not only the moon is a moon, but also the sun. It receives from the central sun and then re-distributes to the solar system. The Mother of the World also receives to distribute. Through receiving and giving the creation and also we remain in balance.

Our original self is stable and permanent; the reflection is instable and suffers from fluctuations. Everything which is located in our bodies below the diaphragm is the reflected part of the self. For the average human being the diaphragm is the seat of the mind which keeps on bringing in for us things from objectivity and the related thoughts.

The self, the sun, expresses through the moon principle, the mind and the causal body. For all our actions there is a cause, a reason in the mind based on the intellect. Where there is no reason it goes beyond the intellect. Each time the self is coloured by a cause it cannot shine forth in its pure light. When we lift ourselves up to the eyebrows and act on the basis of our consciousness, but not of the mind, a point of tension is being created, a bridge connecting the pituitary and the pineal gland and thus the sun enters consciously into our system. This way we transcend the entanglements of the emotional and mental worlds and are beyond them.

We find in us the solar principle as the radiant centre of consciousness, the lunar principle as the soul or the mind and the material principle as our physical bodies, the earth. The movement of the earth, the moon and the sun bring about the different moon phases which show themselves in the human mind through a change of moods. Our sympathies and antipathies are like the phases of the waxing and waning moon. Attraction and repulsion correspond to full moon and new moon which also cause the ebb and flow of the oceans.

As long as our minds are oriented to the intellect it has a relation with the ebb and flow in the mental and astral matter. Therefore we also experience different moods at different times. We live in the reflected world and are stuck in the patterns of our thinking. What we do strengthens our thought patterns, it is a vicious circle of thought and action – action and thought which bind us. Therefore it says that the moon causes the circular path of birth and rebirth. The rebirth is due according to the seeds of memory of past experiences stored in the mind, and these seeds sprout again in the new life. The moon conducts the descent of the souls and sends them back to earth through its rays, while the sun keeps the soul living through death and birth.

All activities of sprouting, fertilising and fecundity have to do with the moon. It stimulates the reproduction on the physical plane, so that the species can multiply itself. The moon is the lord of the night; therefore nights and not days are important for reproduction. It rules the receptive consciousness; also the cycle of fecundity of woman can be attributed to the lunar cycle of about 28 days through all twelve signs of the zodiac. The moon governs the growth of plants, while the sun rays provide nourishment to them. During waxing moon leaves, branches, blossoms and fruits of the plants are stimulated. For this reason gardeners and farmers sow when the moon starts waxing. Plants whose fleshy parts develop under the earth, however, should be sown at the beginning of the waning moon.

In astrology the moon represents the mother, while the sun stands for the father. Whereas the energy of the sun is a martial energy and rules particularly in Aries, the lunar energy is soft and makes us tender. The house of the moon, Cancer, makes us experience peace and inner transformation.

The moon mind waits in order to receive; it is like a lotus waiting at dawn to receive the sun rays. A man with a strong lunar energy simply waits for all the good things which will come. All meditative work is a work of the moon and not the sun. For through meditation we align the mirror of our mind to the divine to reflect it in us. All exercises for refining and purifying the body serve this purpose. Mentally sick persons cannot correctly receive the light in themselves, their mirror is distorted and they cannot reflect neither from out of objectivity nor from subjectivity.

The moon mind always has the feeling that it cannot reach the divine by itself. But the divine can easily reach the moon mind. It is easy for the sun ray to reach the lotus, more easy than for the lotus to raise to the sun.

The moon mind has no logic, no arguments, but it has feelings. All our logic, reasons and evidences don’t satisfy a moon mind. A female mind can feel things. A logical mind needs a basis in order to feel something. Figures, papers, etc. are based on the intellect. The intellect can express a thousand arguments, but it will not succeed to convince a person who intuitively knows that his or her doubts are right, but doesn’t have a proof that it is right.

Moonlight is mystical, it makes the flora and fauna shine with a magical charm. It shows things and veils them nevertheless. The lunar energy is magical in the sense that we understand a person and yet cannot understand him or her. Something remains hidden which makes the person attractive. Moonlight enables transformations and mysterious experiences in the depth of our being which are not there with the sun burning during the day. All divine experiences or initiations take place during the night; for a yogi the night is the day. The moon heals and has magnetic currents through which we can heal.

Some say that the moon is a dead planet. This is a fact to a certain stage of consciousness and acts as an illusion before attaining the stage of proper seership. The reason why the moon is considered to be a dead planet is according to the wisdom teachings that the moon was the former earth and that at formation of this earth the souls were guided over from that heavenly body to our planet. So the moon is an empty house as far as the living beings of the earth are concerned, but the house is used for many other purposes. Thus, the moon is a mediator for the energies of Venus, Uranus and Neptune. It is a misconception that the moon is a throw-off out of our earth.

The Cancer full moon is celebrated as the most sublime day for experiencing the presence of the teacher. With the help of the right teacher the light of the soul can be easily made brilliant. The teacher can be for us like the sun whose fire is difficult to bear. When he approaches us through the moon his energy is so attractive that we don’t leave him anymore. Then the teacher becomes for us Jupiter who brings the expansion of consciousness. For this reason it is said that Jupiter is exalted in Cancer. It is said that the teacher has cat’s eyes for he sees his disciples better in the night than during the day. In the stories of Krishna it also says that he always comes at midnight and sounds the magic of his flute music in the full moon light to absorb the souls into the divine.

Sources: K.P. Kumar: Uranus / notes from seminars. E. Krishnamacharya: Spiritual Astrology. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.