Live Your Sun, Satisfy Your Moon
“One girl’s a streetwalker, but her feet are so soft…”
S. Margolin, performed by Jerry Riopelle
You have to live your sun and satisfy your moon. Since I’ve said this so many times., I’ll elaborate.
Your Sun, its sign, its house placement, and its aspects show what you have to do to feel vitally alive. Your Moon sign, its house and its aspects, show what you need to feel nurtured. Your emotional state. Together they are a natural pair.
In this culture, we are ego centered. It is far more important who you are than how you feel. Consider how we worship those who achieve and succeed. This would be a function of the SUN. It is a MALE.
Take Elon Musk as an example. How many people think about how Elon Musk feeeeels? We don’t care! Or, how about this year’s model? Do we care if she is happy? No. We only know that she is on top.
We do not bestow the same honor on someone who may have a less flamboyant Sun profile, but may be blissful on an emotional level. They may be happy, serene, etc. They may live in a shack but by a different standard, they are more successful than the guy/gal in the posh neighborhood if they live where they do, in contented peace. This is the MOON and it is a FEMALE.
The Vedics (Indian astrologers) consider the aspects to the Moon to be more important than the sun. The Sun is an afterthought in compare. They judge the quality of a life by the Moon because they do not think a life is worth much if you have to live it feeling like crap even if you are rich, or hugely successful in some way.
Does anyone care how, Anya Taylor-Joy, is feeling today? How about Chris Hemsworth or Joe Burrow? We don’t care how they feel. We care that they’re on top!
On the same subject, most people like their Sun sign. I was in a workshop once and the presenting astrologer (David Pond) asked who in the room liked their Sun signs. Virtually everyone there raised his or her hand enthusiastically. You know… We’re a healthy group. We like ourselves.
Then he asked same about the Moon sign. Less than one third of the hands went up and I was astounded.
This underscores the idea that we are ego centered and would just as soon amputate our emotional natures in large part. We do not honor them. Heck – if you can get a result like that in a group like the one that was in that room that day… well it made an impression on me.
Just for the record, we do not like our appearance either, by and large. The appearance is shown by the ascendant and I can’t count how many people reject their ascendant / rising sign. They argue it must be the wrong math I am using and stuff. I just stare at them.
Back to the Sun and Moon. You’ve got your visible and your less visible parts. The Sun is overt and the Moon is not. Perhaps your Sun and Moon are in the same sign (conjunction), same house, with the same aspects. There is no conflict. What people see, is what there is. This is a specialist to an extent. A one trick pony with a knock out punch.
The next situation, a Sun Moon trine or sextile is just as easy and preferable really because then all your eggs aren’t in one basket. Where a person with major emphasis on one sign can be overwhelming to people (including themselves) people with an easy aspect between the Sun and Moon can readily find a way to live their lives that satisfies their emotions.
Like this: Say you are a Sagittarius with a Leo Moon. Sun / Moon trine in fire. Sagittarius wants to travel and Leo wants to be seen. Okie doke. You get yourself an on camera job as a foreign correspondent, and there you go. Your sun is vitally alive, while your Leo (ego) Moon is being fed. Your needs are met, the two energies compliment each other.
But what if the Sun and Moon in a chart do not agree? (The square or opposition). This is the condition that many people live with and they have to juggle. Home and career. Commitment vs love of freedom. Being a private individual who also craves a stage. Examples are endless.
What if your Sun wants to stockpile money for security, but your progressive and humanitarian Moon wants to give it all away? Lots and lots of people live like this, so what’s the answer? The answer is the same in all cases. Live your Sun and satisfy your Moon.
If you can’t manage to do this happiness with elude you. It’s true that some people have to be more creative than others to manifest a happy life. If you’re happy, then fine. If you’re not, chances are excellent that you’ve a conflict like this and you are serving one side of yourself while denying the other.
This is one way that astrology is marvelously helpful. Your average dissatisfied person out there lives without insight hoping for a magic thing to occur that will solve their dilemma of a lifetime. Basically they want to wake up one day and feel fulfilled. Astrology shows very distinctly the conflict that underlies the condition. It gives instant access. It like cracking a nut in one smooth move and this is why I love Space Junk the way I do.
What do I mean?
- Well you’ve got the woman with all the Aries, other fire signs… Lots of raw male energy and she is at home with the kids all day and mad as hell. Well, golly gee, I wonder why?
- Or maybe she has a bunch of Capricorn. Maybe she wants to be somebody, in a way that the public respects (ie – not a mommy). Maybe she wants to achieve, but all she’s done is married a rich guy, so she feels like a failure.
- Or maybe she’s a Libra and happy that she is in a relationship, but her Moon is in Virgo. She may serve her husband, her family, but yearn to do more. She may wish to be out helping people in the evening, but sacrifice the needs of her Moon, for the wants of her Sun – To be a wife.
You get the idea.
The solution?
Live your Sun and satisfy your Moon.
The point here for beginners? You are not just your Sun sign. There are more than twelve kinds of people in the world, right? You may be an Aries with your Moon in Taurus, or Pisces, or Virgo, or…
People aren’t flat and either is astrology.
Do you live your Sun and satisfy your Moon?
Studying astrology? Check out our Astrology Beginner’s Package.
Taurus Sun in 8th, Gemini Moon in 9th (conjunct Cancer Venus). They are semi-sextile. In helping a friend preparing an estate sale, and talking, conversations abound – with music on the radio, Sun & Moon are both happy.
Mars (sextile Taurus Sun) is getting a transit by Pluto: physical energy, social interactions, learning/understanding – fueled, and fueling, all of it
Just discovered this. . Libra Sun 9H (conjunct MC) Square Cap moon 1H.
I don’t think I live my sun, and I sure as hell don’t handle my Cap moon well! This post really helps! New stuff to consciously work on 🙂
on second thoughts, I do live my sun 😀 . .. but feel always conflicted about everything like you mentioned in the post . . . commitment vs freedom is a huge one for me. .
“She may wish to be out helping people in the evening, but sacrifice the needs of her Moon, for the wants of her Sun – To be a wife.”
Can you give an example with this woman, how can she live her sun and satisfy her moon?
Tnx!
Scorpio sun, sag moon.. I just cant get my head around the live your sun, satisfy the moon.I am not sure if its the mercury in scorp or the 12th house sun confusing me. But then maybe its because a sag moon cant be satisfied?. One of my favorite quotes is always be happy but never satisfied.
I’m not getting it either.
Ha, Sadge moon is just insatiable. <3
Yep. Double scorp with square Moon in Aquarius. Very people and friendship leant but kind of brutally sincere and unpopular with Mercury in exile. A long date loner with a sense of inner freedom. An impossible cocktail of misanthropy and altruism.
I’m not even sure how I would do that. I’m an introvert Leo sun in the fourth house with a square to my Taurus moon in the 12th house.
The relation between my Sun and my Moon is a Biquintile! The biquintile is a riddle. I guess that ‘riddle’ is also my current keyword for a biquintile.
12th house Sag sun with 11th house Scorpio moon. They are definitely at odds! I explore as Sag sun needs but meeting needs of deep Scorpio moon has proved to be difficult. Working on it since Pluto is transiting my 1st house now. ?
A question to all with a real (not just sign to sign) square between Sun and Moon:
Are your parents divorced?
Yes
My parents divorced when I was 3 and I have a Moon-Sun trine.
This reply was quite unexpected. So I have to refine the paradigm. Did you have the impression that the divorce had something to do with you?
The idea of Sun square Moon is actually: Your parents’ marriage had already some difficulties. So they decided to have a child in order to save the marriage. This is not something, which they would tell to their child, but children always know somehow when their parents don’t feel well. So there is a big pressure on the child to keep the already dysfunctional relationship of the parents together and this pressure is indicated by the square. With a trine the parents should be at good terms with each other (This doesn’t exclude a divorce, but makes it only really surprising.), so that their child (the native of the natal chart) doesn’t feel any of this kind of pressure. So I again stick my neck out and say that @Macateca doesn’t feel guilty of the divorce, but @KaD does.
Yeah, I don’t feel guilty of the divorce. And I’ve never wished they would have stayed together because otherwise I wouldn’t have grown up with my stepfamily.
I have the Sun Moon Square and no they were married over 50 years. My mom an aAries and my Dad a Libra. They were always f+ing or fighting. I am the eldest of 8!
Elsa, this has to be your best piece of writing yet. And without even knowing it til now, I actually live it to a T.
With an 11th house Sun in Cancer & 10th house Moon in Gemini, I’m a homeschool educator. It fulfills my desire to be home and close to my kids (Cancer), greatly expanded my circle of friendships through my extended networks (11th), satisfies my moon’s incessant need to read and learn and share what I’ve learned and read (Gemini) and takes the place of my former corporate career (10th). It’s not perfect (nothing is) but it’s pretty close to perfect as life for me can get. I absolutely love what I do, even with the nonsense some days.
Oddly, this whole shift all took place around when Pluto ingressed Cap and opposed my Sun. (Whole ‘nother story in itself) It challenged my Sun to be true to itself. 🙂
This is so brilliant! And it’s funny how people seem to be clearer about living their Sun than satisfying their moon…
It also highlights my challenge: living my moon in Leo conjunction with Pluto in the 8th.
As a kid I wanted to be an actress. That might have worked, but my need for approval/attention was too powerful and over-the-top. And Chiron on my Cap ascendant didn’t like those bright stage lights.
I think I have an un-satisfiable moon. Insatiable! I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to understand my emotions – but that would be second house… In fact, I see it now: I have spent way more time dealing with ‘the manipulative Other’ – there is the 8th house action! Ah! Light bulb moment!
This explains so much. Thank you Elsa!
Maybe you can work in theatre but in an 8th house kind of way? Wearing masks or full body costumes on stage will silence Chiron’s fear about being seen in public. Or dealing with the background, blocking, props, makeup, lighting, directing, or generating funds from wealthy donors. Those are all Capricorn practical. Or in another 8th house way, you can also do playwrighting, audio narrations, ads, or creative podcasts where you’re not seen at all. It’s all more covert… The important unseen jobs. ?
You have to know somebody to get anywhere in theater–especially the non-union theaters throughout the USA! These are fake “Community Theaters” where the director picks from their clique. You don’t get into the clique unless you’re 18 or younger.
I flunked two auditions because I was too old for the child-centered director–even though these were adult plays/musicals: Grease and Guys and Dolls.
What kind of person would cast pre-teens as 1940s NYC gangsters and their gun molls?
I actually like my Moon sign better than my Sun sign. But I do resent my rising, precisely because it is so different from my Moon sign.
Using Equal, I have Virgo sun in the 4th house only 0’07 from my 5th house cusp. But using placidus it is well into the 5th. (Honestly the description of the 4th resonates more with me but I liked thinking I was a 5th house Sun. Probably because I have Mercury, Chiron and the Part of Fortune in the 5th.) I love looking at architecture magazines and imagining how I would FEEL living in the space in the photo, sometimes it feels good because of comfort or a deja vu of my childhood or past life. There are some really beautiful houses, in the architecture styles I like, but they don’t transmit nothing to me. I’ve done that since I was a little girl.
And Aries Moon in the 12th.
So, the Cancer and Pisced houses… The way I feel at home is really important to me. I’d never leave my house If I didn’t have too. I’m not restless like that. Unless I feel bad because of the environment. I like being in control of the organization of the house. And it takes a lot of me-time for me to start feeling lonely. I need periods of isolation where I can be someplace else with my mind (even if physically I’m doing something productive). When I’m like this, a knock on the door or the phone ringing are the things I hate the most.
Despite my Aries Moon, I never feel good exercising. Even after, I don’t feel the dopamine surge you’re supposed to feel. I only like activities where it feels like play: skating, horseback riding, yoga and some gymnastics. I also like walking and walking. I have good endurance (Taurus rising and SN) but I suck at intensity. I hate running and crossfit, for example. I can walk at a fast pace for 2 hours as long as I have good music and a lot of things to think about. On my bucket list is doing the Vikings marathon which is a marathon on ice skates in Sweden… I would never run a marathon though.
Do I satisfy my moon? I don’t know what it wants in the first place. Independence definitely and I’m working towards it. I used to be very invested in religion and spirituality but as of now I’m a little distant.
I am bored with my male self (Scorpio Sun on the cusp of 11th house conjunct Pluto – it is a peace of work, very hard to keep it light and in check, hard work in all forms, always with people, never alone). However my Moon is in Taurus (5th house), and it is great, I enjoy it! But the Scorpio is killing all the fun most of my days (opposition). I figure I would have to be sort of rich for the Sun to let the Moon get what it wants. I feel the opposition clearly.
I recently found that asteroid Amaterasu (#10385) is staffing the important Venus-Mars-midpoint of my natal chart. Amaterasu is the Japanese Sun-GODDESS. How can they have a female deity for a male principle? And why is she not just the Sun (German grammar also wants the Sun to be female, so it shouldn’t be seen as contradictory), but an asteroid?
Wow, didn’t expect to see so many comments. I’ll start at the beginning and read them all…how interesting
Speechless. So much valuable information here and I feel that everyone has been so honest and forthcoming in an effort to help all understand a little bit more…cuz it really might take at least one lifetime and we all need all the clarity that might be available.
Thank you all and thank you Elsa
Gemini sun, cap moon (cap rising). Capricorn moon by itself sounds bad. But looking in perspective, it could be worse. There are two, three pictures from a sunny march which shows exactly the combo’s vibe. Black somber clothes with questioning, surprised eyes almost forming a smile. Ah, there it is, found my sun/moon’s vibe.
An eye opener, thank you. Sun and moon, Cancer and virgo, are in sextile but do i live them? Don’t think so. My adventurous sadge asc wants totally different things than those careful two, whereas chart ruler Gemini has plans of it’s own. Well, i am a person of many aspects, is what i think. Husband and child have sun and asc in the same signs. What you see is what you get. They are focused, hell yeah. Sometimes envy them. I think they have more depth but mine is the amplitude, the array of colors and talents. Those are the cards i was dealt with. But i might play them in a better way, i see.
This is a really great article, wow
Thank you!
Yes Elsa this advice requires intentional effort. This year I worked with my north node energy in Taurus & that has helped me feel more satisfied. My scorpio moon is conjunct Neptune and it helps me to empathize with friends. So many comments…this has definitely struck the collective nerve!
that is so true, someone living in a shack and has all the amenities would be super happy. then someone who living in a mansion has alot of problems mentally emotionally and depressed feeling bereft and not happy at all. when i read on those famous individuals who commit suicide and they had it all, for example, Kate Spade, who created those beautiful interesting handbags, i’m deeply shocked.then i read on a deeper level that she had bipolar disorder and was not given proper care or help. Her husband left her, and wasn’t supportive. she had a beautiful chart too, Capricorn sun &mercury, Pisces Ascendant, Sagittarius moon Leo mars, Scorpio venus, Pluto Virgo trine her sun. i noticed the red square to her Pisces jupiter to Sagittarius moon to her Pluto Virgo. both pisces and virgo made a red line to her emotional moon. i read above how some comments wondered about sun square moon, yet there are squares from jupiter and pluto.
Sun and Moon AND Venus in Cancer opposite Neptune and Uranus in Capricorn with a 1H Scorpio Pluto-Libra Rising. If I was in that class with you Elsa, I probably wouldn’t have raised my hand either times LOL.
The energy can be overwhelming, yes. Thankfully my Cancer is in the 9H so if I go down which can happen A LOT, I eventually rise up. Yes, I’m very in tuned with my emotions, but I often wonder why I was given all of this Cancer? With all that focus, you think it would be easy, but NO. Cancer wants security and stability, 9H wants adventure and to throw caution to the wind, Capricorn wants to build and buck authority while forced to be responsible and authoritative-Atlas “world on my shoulder” kind of feel. I know I probably will end up some kind of wise sage elder, but jeez, all of the transformations I have to go through to get there. And with my Asc being Venus ruled, I so badly want love but always forced to go at it alone due to Pluto 1H.
Anyway, I would say, having this focus on Cancer has made me realize that others don’t feel as intensely or not as genuinely caring as I am. It’s nice to know that I can tap into it and creatively and/or physically transmute it and be able to relate to people of all walks of life and circumstances. BUT it’s definitely been a balancing act my whole life. I think I know how to satisfy both, but it’s not thaaaat easy.
Welcome, Cancerian Moonchild!
thank you, Elsa, but I’m more so a returning/lurking member. I post every now and then and then fade into the background as I live life. Been ’round these parts for about 12 years and I love your insights, stories, knowledge and the community. I just choose not to share much because I don’t always think I have anything valuable to input. But thank you for holding space for anyone and everyone <3 I still remember the reading I was gifted. I wish I could find the recording somewhere to see how far I've come. It was a godsend at the time. Thank you, immensely!!
You’re welcome! 🙂
This is such a great article, Elsa. Ever since I heard you say that long ago, I have had this in the back of my head.
I have a Sun-Venus-Mercury-Jupiter stellium in Scorpio (tight – only 5 degrees). These are in the 9th/10th house.
Then there is my Moon in the 8th/9th house, depending on which house system you use. But my Moon is also square Cap Mars in the 12th. Loosing my head in a temper? Oh yes. Making relationships unsteady? Yes!
I think of my Sun and Moon as neighbours. The neighbour you have right next to you, you can’t “see” – you can’t see it, if you stare straight ahead, you can only see the side of your neighbour’s house, right? That means, they are not visible, or the angle is “incomplete/skewed” in some ways. You can’t “see” (sun) what or why they need what they need.
Then, there is the neighbours in a sextile from your house… You can see them, you can see a bit of their house front. They’re easily seen, but you have to work or turn to really see all of them, right?
Then we have the trine – that’s much easier. You can see the whole house and more. It’s easy, they are not too close, but you have something that attracts you, maybe because the house looks like your own, yes?
Then, there is the opposite… You can ONLY see the front, not the house or backyard, nothing but the face of the house. And you can easily judge them by this, because you don’t see the whole picture.
… The Aries example of the woman at home is so close to my sister. She is full frontal Aries 4th house, with 3 heavy planets in Capricorn (2nd), and she is mad as hell. She has no job, she has a child, while her husband go to work for many hours. She is also a Sag Mars, 1st house. She is also a 0 degree Pisces Sun.
She wants status, possessions, life… But she can’t , she has chosen to “suffer” (Pisces) instead.
It’s weird how much of our suffering has been brought on by not honouring these two basic things in our life.
I guess what I am trying to say is that astrology has helped me immensely with this contradiction in life, wanting a relationship, but f*cling it up die to intensive anger bursts and insecurity.
The conumdrum has always been, that as soon as I had a job, my partners left me – and then I had a job, and I met a new partner – and then I lost/quit my job.
That’s how annoying this combo can become!
I seem to always have to choose between these two, I can never have both of them. It is annoying as hell.
These days, I am looking for jobs, and I am scared shirtless, because once I find this job – what will happen to my relationship with the partner I have, right?
Maybe your job and your partner weren’t compatible. If you have bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and your partner only has 2 years of college in a non-related field…this ain’t gonna work for the long term.
Thank you B – I think you are definitely on to something. Also, at the times I was in a job, I had no clue I had an undiagnosed ADHD to go with it, and thus, the partners who was (to some or other degree) oftentimes dysfunctional, I was simply over-stimulated/burnedout from handling a full time responsibility on work paired eith my needs not being met at home.
I have learned so much about dopamine sources now, and the medicine certainly helps, and this combo offers hope in all of it.
I am leaning into Pluto coming out of his hiding in my 12th, crossing the Ascendant, and my Uranus opposition coming up soon (hello midlife crisis).
The last part I realised only yesterday… So, this is great or bad, depending on how you look at it. In one way, it’s good, because my Natal Uranus sextiles my Ascendant which means I often meat immensely wonderful and quirky people who helps me on my way, and the Uranus opposite natal Uranus, will enhance this h while also being opposite himself too, at 4 degrees Sagittarius
…
I am finally coming to see, that the field I work in, will have to be shifted/changed and my life will not ever be the same, because I need to find alternative job opportunities and perhaps look into a completely new area of work… How all this will unfold I have no clue, but I have been jobless as much as I have been IN a job since starting on that road. Sometimes you gotta take a hint, eh?!
Also: my partners have mostly been on the same educational level as I, but their personal issues has been the problem. (Projections is a bitch sometimes…)
But I know what you mean in regards to education. I have been there with that type of partner as well, and that is not a good match, let me put it that way…
In 2019 I finally figured out that I needed a whole different type of education in a partner, so my current partner is an engineer, and this is a perfect match for my own quirky braincells 🥰
Thank you!
Virgo rising, Sag sun and Pisces moon. A t-square of sorts. My sun attracts, my moon enthralls but my rising tsks, tsks. Initially I’m desired – living it and loving it. And then the critic to it all arrives (Virgo) and it’s all completely wrong but I’m in so deep. Sag jumps in, Pisces holds on dearly and Virgo picks it apart.
I like how I look, others are attracted to how I look (pretty enough, but not too pretty) but eventually we all remember I’m quite short and can never reach that top shelf.
I’m not sure what to make of mine. Taurus Sun 9/10th house, aquarius moon 6/7th house. Leo rising. What’s weird is that I’ve never had a super pull to be the corporate big wig and climb the ladder like you’d think I would with a 10th house Taurus sun. I’m also not sure what the aquarius moon in 6th/7th house would need either. I think I just feel slightly out of place no matter what I do lol.
Elsa, this is PROFOUND!!!
OMG. Profound.
Sag Sun, Libra Moon 43 degrees apart. I NEED to reconcile this.
Thank you, once again for your statement of what should be obvious to someone (me) who has studied astrology since the 1970’s.
I don’t do charts for others unless they are friends or family and I offer. I just study family and friends’ charts quietly, continuing to learn, learn, learn, satisfying my Moon on 9th house cusp. BTW your SR chart looks amazing. I want to come back to your email and take a look at that chart again.
My daughter got a chance to go to Ireland just before her recent birthday. I didn’t know it in advance; I was preparing to do her SR……still haven’t gotten to it and I’m a bit late! I’ve been so excited for her because she normally works hard all the time and takes about zero time off. I also have some interesting SR (Solar Return) notes from an astrology retreat/conference I went to many years ago in Ohio. I’m piling up my next project(s) for study.
I owe you coffee, girl.
Thank you, Paula.
I believe I lean more towards satisfying my moon simply because it’s conjunct Mars (both in Aq in late 4)
They square Taurus Sun in 8.
I mos def vibe off that as well in many ways but hardly as much as I’m into the Moon, Mars, Chiron conjunction.
I LOVE home n being home despite having moved home 9 times in my life.
But 4th house is ruled by the moon and lunacy ‘quirk’ and Aquarius eccentricity kinda go hand in hand.
I revel in my uniqueness and enjoy it immensely.
I’m also very ‘mom’ like in terms of loving, nurturing and – of course – worrying bout my kids n grands.
Also when my kids were school age it was I who attended all the Parent/teacher events/activitues or took em n picked em from Day care when they were younger.
In this way my Taurus Sun is almost muted by all of this.
Lastly I think my stubbornness is less the result of my Taurean Sun specifically but the presence of a full five planets in fixed signs.
As I’m writing this I think I’d help myself somewhat if I’d learn a little more of living my Sun.
I have a Sag sun in the 5th and have always worked in education, dreaming up creative activities for my students – and I get paid for this.
My moon is in Cancer in the 12th conjunct my Cancer ascendant. I think this also suits my field of work. I don’t have children but my job seems to work well with both my sun and my moon. I do like to travel but tend to take too many home comforts with me.
I actually like my ascendant although it is far from giving me the tall, athletic appearance that is prized so much where I live. Nobody ever guesses that I’m actually a Sag.
How close is your Moon to the ascendant? What degrees?
Just curious. My Mom was a mega Cancer with Sun and Moon in Cancer plus several others. It really strengthened her Cancerian ways.
Hi Paula, there are just two degrees between my moon and ascendant, and between them they have aspects to Venus, Jupiter, the MC, and the North Node.
Maybe your mother also has important aspects between her planets in Cancer and with other planets.
My dad was a sun in Cancer and I do have a lot of his mannerisms and share some of his interests!
I try to either meet friends or stay at home with some nice recipes when the moon is in Cancer every month. 🙂