I love using the art of story and analogy to help bring the oftentimes confusing or misunderstood components of astrology into focus. Let’s call them ‘Astro-analogies’. And one of my favorite and most used analogies is one on the Sun, Moon, and ascendant called the ‘astrology and the road of life’.
I get asked all the time “Hey how come I connect more with my Moon sign than my Sun sign… or, why do I resonate more with my rising sign than I do my Moon sign… or, how does this trinity work?”
So I came up with this analogy that paints a very clear picture of how these three main components of astrology and our birth charts work, how they are different, and how they need to work and travel together in balance. So here we go!
Imagine there is this road of life that we all will travel down. The goal is obviously to get where we want to go and to get there enjoying the journey. Now when we start studying astrology the first things we usually learn about are our Sun, Moon, and ascendant (aka rising sign). We learn what signs they’re in, but we usually have a hard time understanding the difference between them or how they work within us.
The Vehicle: Ascendant (Rising Sign)
Now on this road of life, we need a vehicle to travel in. So you can imagine that the ascendant is the vehicle that we will travel in. This is why it is connected to both our physical body and identity, as our physical body is our earthly vehicle, and our identity the vehicle for our person. Some of us may have a big truck, some of us a sports car, or a mini-van. We can also stylize our vehicles, paint them, put a nice sound system in them, or get some fancy chrome rims, whatever makes you happy or comfortable on your journey. It’s related to our health too, as our vehicles need fuel and tune-ups from time to time.
The Driver: Sun
So if the ascendant is our vehicle, the Sun is the driver of that vehicle. The Sun is the light of our consciousness and is the guiding light making the decisions where to go. The driver needs to be confident in knowing where it wants to go, how to operate its vehicle, and remain aware and awake while driving.
The Child/Passengers: Moon
I’ve always said that the Moon is like the child in the back seat of the car. Before we go anywhere we need to make sure the child’s needs have been taken care of and it’s buckled up with a full belly. Otherwise, the child could be jumping around and end up distracting the driver, causing the driver to wreck the car. Or the child could be screaming and annoying the driver, who is then anxious and not enjoying the journey down the road of life. Adding to this analogy in terms of passengers, when you’re on a road trip it’s nice to have good company and people to travel with, right? The Moon is that company. It is our emotional body and needs to be nurtured and cared for. When it feels nourished, it makes for a great companion!
When they work together
Now with the children/passengers buckled up and happy, the driver is awake and knows where they want to go, and everyone is singing songs together and smiling. And the vehicle is tuned up, filled with some high-grade gasoline, tire pressure is good, its’ been washed up and is sparkling clean, and Journey’s ‘Wheel in the sky’ is blasting from the speakers…all is well, working together and the journey down the road of life is a good one. This is you! Of course, the terrain ahead and what you will encounter in the future is unknown, and you’ll also be sharing the road with others along the way. But you can know and take care of your vehicle, your driver, and your passengers. If those aren’t taken care of and aren’t working together it is hard to even get on the road…
So this is the Astro-analogy that I use all the time to paint the picture of the Sun, Moon, and ascendant. To sum it all up, the ascendant (which is the Eastern horizon) represents the energetic qualities that our identity and physical constitution pull from and is our vehicle and path that we have chosen in this life here on Earth. I also like to think of it as if Earth is a school and our ascendant is the path or subject we have chosen to earn a degree in during this life. The Sun gives light to our entire solar system as it also does in our birth-charts, and our Sun is the source of our vitality and is where we were born to shine – it’s the driver of our birth chart. And finally, the Moon reflects the light of the Sun and gives it to the Earth. Our inner human soul, our needs, and instincts are all indicated by the Moon. It’s the child in the backseat. I always joke and say that is why the Moon looks like Pac-Man – because we need to feed our Moons to be happy. 🙂
And there you have it! I hope this little analogy helps you to understand how these three essential parts of astrology work together.
If you’re ready to create a deeper understanding of your own astrological road of life, join us now in our special FREE Origins of Astrology Mini-Course!