Thought Catalog Agency

Here’s How Understanding Your Moon Sign Can Transform Your Life (And Healing)

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Shadow work is working with parts of our personality, thought, and behavior patterns we typically repress, don’t see, or that aren’t fully integrated within our psyche. Compared to our shadow, our persona is the ego mask we wear and typically present externally. In terms of astrology, our persona is thought to be our Sun sign, or the traditional Zodiac sign we associate our horoscope with.

Our persona is how we describe and label ourselves and what we feel comfortable sharing regarding who we are and what we do for the world. This persona is often strengthened through cultural and social messaging —but it’s not all of who we are.

In contrast to our Sun, our Moon sign houses our shadow. This shadow lives deep within the layers of our subconscious and unconscious psyche. Qualities of our shadow are often tied to past traumas and social, familial, and cultural conditioning, as they express what is often repressed, suppressed, disowned, rejected, or projected onto other people. In Astrology, our Moon sign houses our emotional self and the deepest layers of our psyche. While the term “shadow” may be thought to have a negative connotation, our shadow—or Moon sign—is actually the storehouse of our greatest gifts and power.

Engaging in shadow work is key to the expression and embodiment of our fullest potential. Shadow work allows us to take our power back and more fully integrate unconscious drives and desires into conscious ways of being. When we repress what is hidden in our shadow, we perpetuate cycles of suffering. Our Moon sign is important in shadow work, as it houses who we are when we feel emotionally comfortable and how we experience ourselves when we’re alone. Our emotional world houses the root of all triggers and reactions. Until we understand what these triggers are and how we are likely to react, we may feel as though we are a victim to reality and see the world through a negative lens. Emotional drives strengthen karmic bonds, or hardened patterns and loops of how we engage with the world around us.

Astrology helps teach how to soften patterns of karma to more effectively navigate through life’s challenges and see ourselves as the hero of our own life journey. Our job is to work towards the light and integrate internal energies to create flow within who we truly are. The goal is open, authentic dialogue between all of the layers of our psyche in order to act with the greatest sense of authenticity possible. This means bridging the gaps between the Moon (unconscious), the Sun (ego/persona), and Rising (superego/highest self) expression.

Your moon, or emotional self, can be thought as your inner child. Children need love, care, and support in order to fully thrive and experience themselves in the world. They crave to play, to learn, to grow, to create, and to engage with all of life’s pleasure and opportunities. Our moon houses our fundamental feminine energy. This feminine energy generates our creative potential, including all of our automatic and emotional reactions. Without feeling as though they are receiving the love, care, and support they need, children are likely to engage in cycles of emotional tantrums, outbursts, and repression. Like a child having a tantrum, until we feel safe and secure, we’ll likely block ourselves from expressing our emotional world vulnerably. This wreaks havoc on external expression. We may feel shame around who we are, causing us to repress important parts of our psyche and emotional world. This creates imbalance in our external expression and embodiment. Ironically, the more we repress or feel shame around who we are, the greater the power this repression has over us and the more shame we’re likely to feel about ourselves.

In order for our inner child to feel safe, our inner child craves masculine structure and an adult nurturer. This adult nurturer can be thought of as our Sun sign or ego. The goal is to create congruence and a safe container for our emotional self to live and be expressed externally.

Ask yourself:

  • How do I notice emotions impacting my life, my relationships, and my communication?
  • Where do I notice a gap between how I express/portray myself externally and the way I see or feel about myself internally?
  • Where do I notice qualities of my moon’s Zodiac sign in my emotional life?
  • Where do I notice qualities of my moon’s Zodiac sign in my drives, desires, and the ways I see myself?
  • What might I need to feel safe in bridging any gaps between the way I see myself internally and the way I present myself externally?
  • Who do I feel safe expressing my emotional self around? What can I do to help this emotional self feel safer in other relationships and environments?
  • Where do I notice any shame regarding my identity, drives, and desires?

These journal prompts help highlight any areas of unconscious or shadow expression. Compare qualities of the Zodiac signs in your Sun and Moon, highlighting any areas in which your ego/persona can soften to safely house your emotional world and expression.

For example, as a Scorpio Sun, I can come across as more intense and controlling in my outward expression than I feel or experience emotionally. With a Moon in Leo, I crave validation, and my family/intimate life means a great deal to me. When my inner child doesn’t feel supported, I can catch myself in performative behaviors that come across in an intense Scorpio nature, contrasting with how I actually feel emotionally. By intentionally being more vulnerable and direct in my emotional expression, I can better communicate and allow my inner child to have her needs received, allowing her to feel truly loved, seen, and cared for.