The Lunation Cycle: A Key to the Understanding of Personality

by Dane Rudhyar

This pioneering classic provides a new dimension in the use of astrology as a powerful tool in understanding life patterns. "The Lunation Cycle" is a unique technical breakthrough revealing the significance of the cyclic relationship of the sun and moon as phases of a larger process. Rudhyar formulates and describes here for the first time, the eight Soli Lunar types of personalities and the importance of the 'new moon before birth' and the 'progressed new moon charts'. Rudhyar's innovative presentation of the 'progressed lunation cycle' is an invaluable technique providing insight into how to use all life events in the actualisation of inner potentials.The meaning of specific events are viewed as an ordered series of Lunation phases, within the context of your whole life pattern, from birth to death. This is a practical and clear way to anticipate major turning points and transition periods and to understand our individual schedules of unfoldment. This groundbreaking book the sun and moon as a dynamic pattern of relationship; the part of fortune as an index of personality and happiness; the art of fortune in the houses and zodiacal signs; the part of spirit; and, the planets in relationship to the lunation cycle.

Genres: Astrology, Spirituality, Occult, Witchcraft, Reference

196 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1967

About the author

French-American astrologer, one of the most noted and respected astrologers of the 20th century.

He was called a modern renaissance man for his ability to express himself in many fields; music, painting, poetry, philosophy and metaphysics.

He wrote for national magazines since the '30s and was the author of many books.

Reviews

[Yitzchok · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lunation Cycle – Dane Rudhyar

This book contains some very powerful and original ideas about the process of our personal growth through life. I did not give it 5 stars because at times it can be dense and a bit difficult to read. However, it is well worth slogging through those difficult parts. When you reach the (third) eye opening and mind illuminating parts about the Lunation cycle and the relationship of the Moon to the Sun and how each stage reflects a very specific part of our growth – it makes it all worthwhile. I give the concepts in this book 5 stars all the way.

On a number of levels this book is very personal to the current stage of my growth at the time of reading which is April 18, 2015. I just recently read “Born to Win” about Transactional Analysis and the three ego types within ourselves; Inner Child, Adult and Parent. I have been working to integrate all 3 ego aspects particularly making room and respecting the need for the Inner Child to express himself while still having the Adult be in charge. (See my review of Born to Win for more details). In this light its fascinating to see Rudhyar’s exploration of the relationship between the Sun (Adult) and Moon (Inner Child) and the necessity of integrating the two.

Additionally my Progressed Full Moon is happening next year on April 9, 2016. It is a particularly powerful Progressed Full Moon because it is trining and sextiling my Natal Neptune to the exact degree. The descriptions of the Full Moon in this book, some of which I have excerpted below, is very helpful and feels very true to my experience of it.
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The following three examples are my attempt to break down the archetypes of the Sun and Moon and is relevant to the first excerpt that I quote below.

Male and Female:
The Moon is – Female archetype
The Sun is – Male archetype

Emotions and Logic:
The Moon is - instinctual, emotional, experiential and subjective.
The Sun is - cerebral, intellectual, cognitive, logical and objective.

(One can argue that my description of the Sun may be more accurately ascribed to Mercury. Perhaps. The Sun may be the sum total of all our parts. This particular description is the best I could come up with to denote and expand upon the commonly used description of the Sun as the “Core-self”. I must say that I was startled to see Rudhyar use the moon to describe the mind. I think the “heart” would be a more appropriate usage. He also uses the “spirit” to describe the sun. I can hear that, but it is as vague as the “core-self”.)

Transactional Analysis:
The Moon is – Inner Child
The Sun is – The Adult
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The following excerpts are to me some of the most powerful ideas of this book:

Relationship of Sun and Moon
“That the sun and moon represent two definitely antagonistic and irreconcilable orders of life is the great illusion. It is the illusion of separateness which sets the mind (moon) against the spirit (sun), the ego (a psychic structure whose evolutionary purpose is to develop objective clarity of consciousness through individual differences) against the spiritual self (a power of integration seeking the fullest possible inclusiveness). This illusion of separateness destroys the vital essence of relationship, even if the outer forms remain as shells. It is the denial of relatedness. And the mind which becomes pervaded with it only able to see the sun and moon as two unrelated alien and forever conflicting factors – each with its own independent “cycle of positions” – instead of as joint participants in a true “cycle of relationship,” the lunation.

…It is at the symbolic “full moons” of human evolution that these two approaches are seen in the clearest possible contrast. But this contrast is not to be considered as a glorification of the sun and a depreciation of the moon, opposing the solar to the lunar, in the sense of there being an irreconcilable enmity between the two. The negative approach is that which believes in such an irreconcilable enmity between solar and lunar forces, and even more in the utter lack of relationship between them. The positive approach, on the other hand, stresses constantly the relatedness of sun and moon within their cycle or relationship (the lunation cycle), as it also seeks to build within man (psychologically speaking) the power of forever relating the lunar character of the psychic structures of consciousness (mind-ego) to the solar power of the spiritual will and purpose of the self. It is only the result of such a relationship that creative meaning develops within the truly individualized and integrated human person.” – Pgs. 30-31
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Lunation Cycle of the Moon – Full Moon
“If a positive attitude of growth and of liberation from the remains of the past has prevailed during most of the waxing period, the full moon brings to the earth-organism (at the physical or psycho-mental level) some sort of fulfillment, illumination or revelation. The new solar image – the new message from the creative spirit – is received in clear objective consciousness.

It assumes a state of concreteness; that is, of full perceptibility or intelligibility, as the case may be. This state implies some sort of contrast – a black-and-white, dark-and-light dualism without which no objective realization of form is possible for man. This means, in practice, that some new factor is given a high valuation, and that, as a consequence, an old value is either altogether repudiated or placed under a new light in contrast to the new realization.

This, in turn, may produce a definite re-orientation of everyday activities or a new statement of purpose – a man’s “purpose” being the result of the nature and quality of his response (positive or negative) to the images released within him by the spirit of the “sun”. – Pg. 29

“During the last half of the lunation, man has to do consciously what spirit accomplished in the unconscious darkness of the new moon phase. Man, as conscious individual, is to fecundate [make fruitful] society. He is to disseminate the seed of the future civilization. He is to build the form of tomorrow. He is now the sun-illumined moon, the creative Two-as-One. He has to shed his light in order to satisfy the need of his people, his race, humanity as a whole. As the moon wanes in the sky, so the illumined individual vanishes into his spiritual progeny. The civilizer’s light is being absorbed into the fabric of the new civilization – the new earth.

…The keynote of the first half of the cycle is spontaneous and instinctual action; the keynote of the second half is conscious growth in meaning and immortal selfhood – and the only true kind of conscious growth implies sharing meaning and value with others by means of adequate formulation, for no individual can gain real immortality (personal or social) except as a participant in the activity of an immortal Whole.” – Pgs 32-33
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“Progressed Full Moon: This marks a time of fulfillment, but also a climax which may mean the beginning of some kind of end. It is above all a crisis of clarification of life-purpose, of personal desires and aims. It may witness a sudden conversion or illumination; but more often it is simply a high tide period during which life seems to oscillate to and fro, between past and future. Some type of energy or behavior seems to have run its course, and it may give the person a sense of weariness or satiety. It should above all force him to face all the basic issues of his life and to start seeking for a clear meaning. Success of a sort may be reached at the progressed full moon, but it may also appear as a culmination beyond which no further growth is possible; and the question arises insistently: “Then what?”

In any case some kind of concrete limits have been reached. There must be a translation of the center of selfhood and consciousness to a new level - whether it be height or depth – or else the gradual ebbing away of all vitality, spiritual as well as physical, is bound to begin.

Much depends obviously upon the age at which the progressed full moon occurs. When it comes in early youth what is being “fulfilled” is not the individual selfhood, but instead the collective nature of family or race. Inherited characteristics reach a climax.” - Pg.108

[When it comes later in life]
“The yearning for a more “spiritual” consciousness was becoming insistent.” - Pg. 110

“The path of the full moon is the “Conscious Way”; the way of the ancient TAO [combining within itself the principles of yin and yang and signifying the way, or code of behavior, that is in harmony with the natural order.] reformulated for our modern minds. At full moon, there can be a birth of light, a birth of meaning. From then, one goes on. Even though the body is beaten with pain, even though men die by the millions and the structures of the past crumble, as leaves wither under the blasts of the north wind, nevertheless the Conscious Way can be trodden with the warmth and radiance of “personality,” with the creative joy that wells up from the depths of conquered unconsciousness and assimilated instinct.” – Pg. 138
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Part of Fortune
“The Part of Fortune may refer to the individual’s wealth and “good fortune” but this is not its most significant meaning, certainly not its primary meaning.” – Pg.73

…It is because the man who reaches the object of this search actually radiates a mysterious something which attracts success to him, that the name “Part of Fortune” was given to the index of the soli-lunar relationship. For as New Thought has taught us wealth, success, health, happiness are the varied results of a deep sense of ease, which in turn indicates a rhythmic flow of life-energy. There can be no such flow where there is not a vibrant, steady and uneradicable faith (instinctive or conscious) in the abundance of that infinite potential of life which, to the astrologer, is the sun, and to the religious soul, G-d.” – Pgs.79-80
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[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marc Lerner recommends these Dane Rudhyar books:

1 Astrological Signs
2 The Astrology of Personality
3 The Astrological Houses
4 The Lunation Cycle
5 Astrological Mandalas
6 An Astrological Study of Psychological Complexes (Advanced)
7 Triptych (Advanced)

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An authoritative and in-depth examination of the astrological meaning of the lunar phases. Rudhyar is at pains to explain that these are not merely a matter of the Moon going through phases, but that they represent the cyclic unfoldment of the way Sun and Moon interact. Each lunation represents a cycle in which the animating and fecundating power of the Sun charges the Moon with energy, which the Moon in turn causes to manifest on Earth in various forms. The phase of the Moon at our birth tells us where our own life fits in with a larger unfolding of some new idea, process, principle, or other structure into the world.

One of many interesting takeaways for me personally was a new interest in the Part of Fortune. This and other "Parts" were devised or discovered by Arabian astrologers. They struck me as being rather arbitrary, but Rudhyar explained why they are valid astrological symbols in their own right and should be studied. The Part of Fortune is related to the Ascendant as the Moon is related to the Sun in our chart; it shows where we seek happiness in life, and where we may well find it.

The second part of the book is written not by Dane Rudhyar but by his fourth (I think) wife, Leyla Rael Rudhyar, and it discusses the phenomenon of solilunar progressions in detail. The life of each one of us goes through phases, like the Moon, but these phases are not necessarily reflected in obvious outward events. Rather, they give significance to outward events. She describes the phases in detail, and uses them to examine the lives of Jimmy Carter, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and finally Dane Rudhyar himself. Illuminating and thought provoking.

In all, a highly useful and probably indispensable text for the serious astrologer. Rudhyar's writing is not the most readable, but his ideas are fascinating.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marc Lerner recommends these Dane Rudhyar books:

1 Astrological Signs
2 The Astrology of Personality
3 The Astrological Houses
4 The Lunation Cycle
5 Astrological Mandalas
6 An Astrological Study of Psychological Complexes (Advanced)
7 Triptych (Advanced)

[Michaella Montana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh the lunacy, the luney bin, the full moon ebbs and flows of craziness. Yes, the moon does go through moody monthly changes. However, Rudhyar asserts these regular shifts are not just the moon’s fault though- it’s actually the relationship between the sun and the moon that we see in the sky. It takes two to tango and the moon has been receiving lots of unearned flack. The lunation cycle is actually the sun-moon cycle.

Though at first I was a bit skeptical about how much Rudhyar stresses the cycle as a “relationship” between the sun and the moon, I realize its more about where they are in relation to each other geo-metrically from the earth’s perspective. Geometry shows relationship, just like the light on the moon in the sky reveals distance from sun. Rudhyar contrasts this with the cycle of the year which has a fixed point of reference that Earth returns to (vernal equinox). So the month cycle is about both the moon and the sun, and this monthly cycle is valuable in telling the quality of time.

For instance, the day we were born is generally celebrated at our birthday. However, Rudhyar suggests the lunation birthday of the month is just as important because it is a cycle of geometric relationship (and we can celebrate every month). Thus, the cycle of the year and the cycle of the month are both important in understanding context and quality of time for a particular person.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Lunations are all about gradual unfoldment, after all! From the first chapter, Rudhyar makes the distinction between objective time and individual time. Objective time refers to the cycles that are literal and shared by all in the cosmic environment. Individual time refers to one’s own rhythm of unfoldment which Rudhyar describes in the progressed lunation cycle a few chapters later. The moon is both personal emotionally and collectively, as astrology deals with both personal and collective factors and how to balance them. It is in individual time that there is subjective freedom, but to experience this one must emerge from the collective time. Rudhyar writes, “immortality is the victory of subjective duration over objective time” (p.4). Enough said.

In addition to distinguishing between objective and subjective time, Rudhyar makes another distinction between cycles of position and cycles of relationship. As described before, cycles of position have a fixed starting point, while cycles of relationship have the reference point of a geometric aspect (lunation cycle). This exercise of understanding frames of reference is good practice for realizing the moment of time we are in as the spring equinox point moves backward to the constellation Aquarius due to the Earth’s wobble. Further, there are cycles of relationship between planets in a person’s birth-chart.

If one has individuated enough such that the planets are all relating to each other in the birth chart in a coherent way, then the spirit of the cosmos can constantly resonate the instrument of one’s chart in a harmonious and original subjectivity. Understanding cycles of relationship is a practice in astrological individuation, just like cycles of chord progressions in music. I love the line that spirit is the “capacity to be the origin of a cycle of subjective duration”(p.13). Everyone can be the protagonist of their subjective story.

Next Rudhyar writes how the lunar is the entrance to the realm of relationship because at night we see all the planets, while during the day we really just see the sun. So the lunation cycle is a beginning to understand cycles of relationship, as the moon’s appearance in the sky at night is literally a result of the relationship with the sun. We can also stare directly at the moon, but cannot normally look directly at the sun. It’s also possible that we understand how things are related to each other through dreams, though there’s still much to understand about this area. What’s important about this section is how Rudhyar describes the consistent phases of the lunation cycle here from new moon to new moon.

Then Rudhyar describes the different lunar “types”. He asserts that we get a lunation birthday every month which is the same phase as the phase at our natal birth. At our lunation birthday there is a return of the signature of the practical lived experience required to fulfill the intention seeded by the natal sun.

Rudhyar writes “’That is to say, our ‘lunation birthday’ can be a matter of concrete, simple and repeated experience every month. This allows us to feel frequently and visibly our attunement to the greater rhythm of life- to resonate consciously every month to that aspect of the soli-lunar relationship which is imprinted indelibly upon the electro-magnetic field of our total psychosomatic being.” (p.49).

If lunation birthdays can tune us to the cosmos, then why not celebrate? Check your type and see what Rudhyar has to say.

As mentioned earlier, the lunar realm is the beginning to cycles of relationship. Rudhyar then describes the idea of “parts” as a way to describe the relationship. He writes “ A Part is simply a practical means to evaluate, at any moment of a cycle of relationship created by the motions of two celestial bodies, the status and purpose of this relationship.” (p.57) The Part of Fortune, as it includes the ascendant, sun and moon, reveals the individual way the lunation cycle is put to use. It is fortunate as it is life force for the person’s ascension. He also describes the opposite of this part as the part of illumination, which the lunation cycle with the descendant instead of ascendant. It is the part of illumination because consciousness most of the time requires another person which is symbolized by the descendant. Joy results from both parts. Rudhyar then describes the part of fortune in the houses and signs, the part of spirit in relation to the part of fortune, and the contact between planets and the part of fortune.

About halfway through the book Rudhyar begins his discussion on the progressed lunation cycle. This is the realm of subjective, creative, free duration. Rudhyar writes of progressions “ it is a symbolical kind of time, because it is time unfolding internally in terms of the subjective realizations and evaluations of the individual person”(p.103). In a progression, a year of actual living is represented by a day in a progression. And this “day” of progression is subjective maturation, or condition needed to fulfill the natal chart as an individual. It is like a subjectivity clock that can help the individual be unique rather than only follow generic time. Rudhyar goes through each progressed lunar phase and what to expect subjectively in those cases. Around 30 days after the actual birthday, there will be another lunation cycle, thus after 30 years, there will be another progressed lunation cycle and after 30 another. These phases are periods of subjective duration.

Rudhyar ends the book with a note on how we are in a collective symbolic “basalmic moon” of the Piscean Age which will call forth the need of seeding the Aquarian Age. Though the Piscean Age is drawing to a close, the beauty of the balsamic moon is that it has theoretically been around the entire block and thus there is potential for a maximum amount of consciousness, in contrast to the new moon which can be somewhat instinctual even if expressive. We can all learn a lot from basalmic moons in this time of the end of an age, and try to carry the valuable message from the closing cycle into the unconscious newness of the next one so we don’t have to re-integrate the lessons from duality in the new beginning.

After the Epilogue is a section by Leyla Rael, Rudhyar’s wife that is really worth a read and helps with the practical element in the lunation cycle and working with clients. She writes “To give a person an opportunity to see the rhythm of his or her own unfoldment against the background of a relatively simple, obvious yet universal and profound symbol-the phases of the moon-can be, in and of itself, almost a revelation for that person”(p.170). Both the transiting lunation cycle and the progressed lunation cycle can be valuable in working with clients.

This helped me gain an appreciation for the talent of Leyla and how she takes Rudhyar’s ideas one step further. For instance, she describes three levels of being that correspond with the theoretical 3 full progressed lunation cycles an individual can experience in a lifetime. The first full lunation cycle of around 30 years is a development as a particular person that is still conditioned by the environment of ones upbringing, then next 30 years is a cycle of individuation and rebellion against all that conditioning, and the final 30 years is re-socialization of the individual. (p.175). Again, this is subjective time rather than literal time, and is a really interesting way of relating lunation cycles to one another.

Finally, Leyla Rudhyar includes a lunation cycle “biography” of Dane Rudhyar written by her. There are times when I wish I could be like Rudhyar right away, and just jump to where he was when writing, painting and composing. Reading this biographical section by Leyla helped me realize it took many lunations for Rudhyar to get where he did, and thus I can allow for a naturally timed unfolding.

Having both Leyla’s writing and Dane’s writing in one book mirrored in itself a lunation cycle between the sun (Dane) and the moon (Leyla), as she closes the book as Rudhyar’s balsamic moon (Cosmic Couple Goals). And though the book is complete, am sure at each new moon, somewhere they begin the cycle again in a love story dance of subjective time.

[Melissa Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a psychologist and I love Rudhyar's writings on personality and personal development. Easy, pleasant read.

[Catarina PBatista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but I think too detailed for someone who knows little about astrology like myself.

[Cindy Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rudhyar is a poet and his muse are the stars! I will never get tired of reading him, such an advance soul that keeps teaching us the wisdom of the cosmos!

[Asude · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was not an easy read for sure def should read with a background information. Will get back to this book.

[Pinar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bu kitaba daha fazla not verebilirdim ama feminist tarafım biraz geri adım attırdı. O kısımları atlarsam, okurken keyif aldım. Bilgilendirici ve faydalı bir kitap. Ancak kitabın içindeki bazı bölümlerde tarihsel klasik astrolojik bilgilerden ziyade, yazarın kendi algı ve kurgusu üzerine oturttuğu bir çerçeve var diye düşündüm (daha çok yazarın Güneş ve Ay ilişkisini kadın-erkek ilişkisi çerçevesinde anlattığı bölümlerde).

Kitapta Ay fazları, şans noktası, aydınlanma noktası, ruh noktası kavramları anladılıyor, ilerletilmiş ay fazlarına değiniliyor. Ayrıca kitabın son bölümünde yazarın eşinin ilave bölümleri var.

[Jose Luis Belmonte · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the greatest XX century astrologers, the book shows what is it the lunation cycle psychologically and how it can be used as a model, a pattern to apply to other couple of planets like Venus-Mars of Jupiter-Saturn. It is noteworthy that Rudhyar was a follower of Jung, in fact it could be said that he (being an Aries) reintroduced the study of mythology into astrology, the same as Jung did for Psychology, in fact Jung himself studied astrology and applied it!.

[Vasilis Kanatas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an inovative thinking by Dane Rudhyar who introduces a kind of Lunar Astrology. I loved this book!

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive overview of the lunation cycle, and a descriptive walk through the lunar/solar relationship. I found the explanation of the progressed lunar cycle particularly helpful.

[Predrag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential book for those who want to understand how soli-lunar cycles and their rhythm affect us and our psychological unfolding throughout our life path. Very inspiring.