eight

Numerology is the study of numbers. Right you say. But what does that mean to me? I’m not a mathematician. Why would I study them? Well, ask yourself this question: Are there some colors that make you feel good? Are there other colors that make you feel nervous or ‘icky’? Colors are actually light vibrating at different frequencies. Have you heard music that just makes you feel good all over or have you heard that earsplitting beep of that microwave in the coffee shop that makes your teeth itch? Sound is a vibration at different frequencies too.

We have seen that the Sun and the Moon each hold a pre-eminent place in the hierarchy of astrological delineation. The Sun signifies the soul and the intention for the life purpose; the Moon signifies the body and the means of actualizing the life purpose in the concrete world. The lunation phases are a display of the changing relationship between these two luminaries during the course of the Moon’s monthly orbit around the Earth. Each lunation phase describes the kind of energy that is generated at each stage of the cyclical process.

We are each born during a particular lunar phase, and this natal lunation phase describes the kind of energy inherent in that stage of cyclical process we use to express and actualize the life purpose. While Hellenistic astrologers were aware of the different qualities of the various lunar phases, it was Dane Rudhyar who first articulated the classification of the eight lunation phases as eight personality functions and types. Rudhyar used the image of a seed as a metaphor of how the eight phases depict the successive stages of the life process by which life forms unfold, fulfill, complete, and renew themselves. He then extrapolated from these meanings to eight human personality types that reflect the behavior of individuals born during each lunation phase.³

The process begins at the New Moon, when a seed containing a new vision infused with an intention germinates in the darkness. With the light of the waxing Crescent phase, the first tender shoots of this vision have struggled to push themselves above the ground. During the First Quarter phase, the life force of the vision takes root by establishing itself; its stem and leaf structure give shape to a strong definite form.

The waxing Gibbous phase corresponds to the development of the buds with the promise and expectation of the flower that blooms during the Full Moon phase. Now halfway around the lunar cycle at the Full Moon, the vision is fully illuminated and infused with meaning and content. The waning Gibbous phase, also known as the Disseminating phase, corresponds to the fruition of the cycle, when the vision is acted upon and lived out through the lives of humanity, thereby fulfilling its purpose.