“As we look deeply within, we understand our perfect balance. There is no fear of the cycle of birth, life and death. For when you stand in the present moment, you are timeless.”
- Rodney Yee
If there’s one thing you should understand about astrology it is this: astrology is the study of cycles. The earliest humans observed and noted the cycles of the Sun, Moon and seasons. As an agrarian society they depended on these cycles for growing food and ultimately for survival. In modern times we still experience cycles through the days and seasons, although technological advances, like lights, air conditioners, furnaces, and other mechanistic ways of controlling our environment, disconnect us from the natural cycles that are constantly around us.
Women may be more sensitive to cycles than men due to their monthly menstrual cycles, but most of us could probably identify personal cycles in our own lives, whether they be cycles of employment, love, or even moods. Astrology helps us to recognize our own cycles and encourages us to work with them instead of against them.
The most notable and easily recognized cycle in the sky is the lunar cycle. Each month the relationship between the Sun and Moon changes and each of those phases describes a particular type of activity or state. Below are the eight phases of the Moon.
Phases move along a continuum; cycles are not linear. Time is not linear. The notions of a “beginning” and “end” are artificial designations for two points somewhere within the phases of a cycle. The balsamic phase isn’t the end of the cycle, but a transition between the last quarter phase and the new phase. Each successive cycle feeds into the next.
I would encourage you to look up! Look up at the night sky and observe the Moon. Notice how it changes from night to night and waxes and wanes over the course of the month. On the homepage of my website at the bottom of the left column you can check the current phase of the moon.
In part II of this series on cycles we’ll talk about what each of the phases mean and how you can begin to harness them for personal growth.
