The Astrology of Healing
Correspondence Course, Lessons #8-9

Ingrid Naiman

Excerpt from Lesson #8 on The Moon

Conditioning of Space

Lest anyone think I am on a long digression, I will hasten to point out that for all intents and purposes the words “Moon,” “memory,” “emotion,” “inner child,” “dark feminine,” and even “form” all mean more or less the same thing. Even “habit,” “instinct,” “prejudice,” “motive,” and “function” are so inseparable from concepts of the Moon that we cannot speak of them without reference to the Moon.

So, let us try to start somewhere near the beginning. Let us imagine Space, Mother Creator, as “empty;” however, let us define “empty” as the absence of conditioning. This Void is characterized by innocence, purity, and magnetism, the three primary qualities of the Feminine. I know that such ideas are at variance with many psychological and even religious beliefs; but to understand the Moon in the horoscope, I find it necessary to begin at a hypothetical point.

This Original Space is virginal. What this means is that it has not been touched by anything other than itself. Its awareness of itself is therefore entirely subjective. It is really almost impossible to deduce what it would feel like to be this unconditioned. It is important, however, to emphasize that the nature of Space is to feel, not to think much less to speculate. If however I were to allow my imagination to run wild, I would imagine that, in the beginning, I longed for experience and perhaps for fulfillment and movement.
The magnetic qualities of Space do indeed attract “input.” This input causes a stirring, a movement within Space that feels a particular way to Space. This is the first conditioning. I would maintain that it is precisely this conditioning that qualifies the Moon and produces what we see as an aspect in the horoscope. This may be too fast for those for whom these concepts are new.

Gift from the Mother

Each of us receives our own quota of Space. For me, this is the sign of the Moon. This sign describes the special gifts from the Mother of Creation. Moreover, it operates in a place that is called a house, a position that describes the relationship of the soul and subconscious. It is extremely important that we understand these placements well. At this time, we might say that the Moon—as the symbol of this Cosmic history—is unaspected because it is completely naïve and innocent.

Then, there is an event, a primary happening which feels to the sensitive feminine to be of a certain nature. This feeling is described by the contact of a planet to the Moon, the feeling being consistent with the attributes and aspect of that planet. In other words, a violent force may feel Martian whereas a gentle and appreciative contact may feel Venusian. So, the reaction to the “event” produces a feeling which is symbolically depicted by a lunar aspect to a planet.

The next Mars-like or Venus-like event triggers the Moon-Mars or Moon-Venus region of memory. This opens the “file” called “Moon-Mars” or “Moon-Venus.” I feel that computers and memory have more in common than we care to imagine. For instance, we all know that the hard drive contains lots of files, many that we do not even know by name until we have some need to find out as when my password failed this morning so that I could not make an Internet connection. I had no specific reason to know how the hard drive protects the password until I developed a need to know. Then I found that the extension “pwl” has the key to the lock. However, the system would never have worked had there not been something to create the pwl file. Likewise, we each have had so much experience that we cannot, in this linear, time ruled, dimension be simultaneously aware of everything in our lunar vaults. Therefore, we open parts, one at a time, chronologically. When we open a memory file, we have conscious access to memories; but the memories were always there. Not only were they never lost, it is possible that they are continuously functioning in their own dimension even when not deliberately recalled, sort of like the operating system of the computer. It keeps everything working properly even if you are not making modifications to it.

If a memory is very powerful, it dominates the third dimensional field of awareness until such time as it is supplanted by something else. When a memory file is opened—more correctly, when a memory is accessed—it is possible to peruse the contents of that area of the memory vault. This is why regression techniques work and why they enable people to remember what is “locked” away. Once the therapist has the password, the exploration can begin. Astrology provides us with a host of useful passwords.

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2002