Lady Luna's Lunation Lecture: What is a Lunation?

Good evening, everyone. My name is Luna, and I'm the Moon. I asked John if I could start doing some more work on the blog, and he was very understanding and said yes without hesitating. So here I am. 

I hope you'll be nice as this is the first time I've been up here by myself. Oh no...I wasn't supposed to say that, was I? [blush]

Anyway, you've probably seen me...I'm that orb that floats around in the night sky that can sometimes seem incredibly close to the earth. I exert a certain...force, shall we say, that moves the tides around. 

People have written songs and poems to me for centuries, and would you believe that vast majority of these...well, admirers, I guess is what you'd call them, even though the term makes me dreadfully uncomfortable...have no idea about my astrological functions?

I rule the ebb and flow of a person's emotional body. The astrological sign I'm in at your birth can tell you a lot about how you react to things. Think of me as "mom": When life gets tough, you come running to me, and I receive you warmly and make you feel safe and secure.

Lunatic. Lunacy. Looney. They all come from me. And did you know that the word month comes from moon? I go through all 12 signs of the zodiac in about 28.5 days, or almost one month. I'm often the timer for astrological events, too. Fascinating, isn't it? 

I don't like to talk about myself much, but it's safe to say that astrologers like the one who writes this blog think I'm pretty important. In some forms of astrology, I'm even more essential than my consort, the Sun. I don't make a big deal out of it, though...Sol would get upset if I tried to grab ALL of his light for myself and that's just NOT who I am. In truth, in western astrology, he's in charge, but I definitely do my share of the work. 

Anyway, speaking of words, the word lunation is not well-known, but it's one of the things I do often, twice a month to be exact. A lunation is a new moon or a full moon, both important parts of my monthly cycle through the signs. 

The new moon cannot be seen because the moon and the sun are conjunct; in other words, I'm too close to the sun for you to see anything but a ring. A new moon lunation is a "download" of energy at a particular point astrological degree, while the full moon lunation is a "culmination" at a particular place.

If you've got planets or sensitive points close to each, then you may take a hit, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, either. 

If this stuff is all too geeky for you, feel free to ask our astrologer friend John. Otherwise, my next lunation will be in a few weeks!