Sun Self / Moon Self ---> the two most consistently influential Inner Selves in your personality

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Your Sun Self is an important part of your character.

Most people know their Sun Sign -- the Zodiac sign they were born under -- the one you name when someone asks, "What's your sign?" It is the central focus, the brightest, often the strongest and most influential factor in your horoscope. Sun energy is active and immediate. It's focused on the present.

It reveals to the world both the person you are now ... and the person you're becoming -- the general direction and theme of your soul's evolution. Sun energy carries a feeling of power and force -- and is fueled by a sense of purpose and objective.

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The energy of your Essential Self

When you're aligned with its strength, you feel authentically alive -- completely in touch with your destiny and the person you were designed and born to be.

You're not only comfortable in your own skin, you're in control of your own strength and authority. There's even a sense of invincibility attached to this place. You know who you are, right down to your soul. And nothing and no one can undermine that.

I call this energy and the Inner Self it sustains your Essential Self, your True Being. It fundamentally defines who you are.

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But there's also your Moon Self to consider.

Your Moon Sign and Moon energy are totally different from your Sun Sign and energy. Since the Moon changes Zodiac signs every 2 1/2 days, it depends entirely on the exact day you were born -- and where the Moon was at that moment. Your Moon can be in the same sign as your Sun -- which happens if you were born very close to a New Moon.

But the Moon keeps on traveling after each New Moon forms. So it could be in any of the other Zodiac signs -- depending, of course, on who you are on a soul level. Theoretically, your Moon energy is subordinate to the Sun, and is considered the second most powerful, the second most influential force in your character.

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It's important and powerful, too.

In reality, however, a person's Moon energy / Moon sign qualities will often dominate his personality. Your Moon energy is basically your fall-back position, the moods and attitudes you retreat into naturally because they're comfortable and familiar.

If you're in a situation where you feel relaxed and laid-back, your Moon energy is the Inner Self who takes over and manages life for a while.

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There are differences

If you feel you have to "put on a front," you'll use your Ascendant (your Rising Sign) qualities. (That's what they're for. To show the world -- and other people -- a facade you're happy to let them see.)

If you feel you have to "put on a show," you'll bring out your Sun qualities. (These are a more honest display of who you are, because they open up and reveal some very fundamental things about your character ... your basic orientation on life, your essential direction, the ambitions and engagements that light your fire. )

These also display an Inner Self you want to be respected and admired ... as opposed to loved or understood. (If you want people to "love and understand you" -- that's your Moon energy talking. Good luck with that.)

If you feel you're with people or in situations where you can open up and really reveal your inner thoughts, feelings and your fundamental nature, you'll let your Moon energy -- Your Emotional Inner Self -- come out. But you have to really trust that it's safe to do this, because another one of your Moon Self's responsibilities is to protect you from emotional harm and injury.

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For different situations

You no doubt realize physical injuries involve one type of sensations, reactions, experiences and "lessons." But when you "get your heart broken" or "your feelings seriously hurt" a whole different kind of sensations, reactions, experiences and "lessons" come up for you to work with, learn from and absorb.

It's an interesting fact that you cannot recall or relive the exact experience of physical pain. You can recall that something hurt like hell and felt godawful, but you can't pull up the exact sensation as a memory -- once it's gone. You can anticipate and avoid anything that will ever make you feel something like that again ... but the brain doesn't hold onto the details and in-the-moment experience of physical pain.

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Emotional pain is ... special.

Emotional pain is different. You can recall your most embarrassing moment, your most heart-breaking event, the situation in which your emotional core shattered completely with a clarity and precision that makes the whole episode come flooding back ... putting you right back there in the moment, as if you're reliving it again.

That's what trauma and PTSD are about -- the emotions that surged up and became a permanent part of your emotional history during an excruciating or terrifying event -- or series of situations. To the extent it can, the body will heal itself -- and life will go on. The mind, however, may not be able to make that adjustment.

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It is something essential to your survival.

The traumatic experience -- and everything that went with it, including the physical setting -- can become part of an un-erasable tape that runs (often without your conscious permission) the moment the least reminder of the original threat reappears.

These are very basic, very rudimentary reactions firmly tied to your survival instincts. (The fact that something inside you is convinced what it's doing is necessary to keep you alive is why they have such such power ... and are so painful and stubborn.)

And yet, unless you are seriously damaged to the point that you see the whole world as a threat, you'll habitually operate from your Moon energy -- especially if you're by yourself. (If you have to deal with somebody else ... depending on who that is ... you may decide to put some other safeguards in place.)

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It's present even in daily life.

Psychologists have discovered that two rats in a cage will behave differently than they will in a cage by themselves ... no matter how large the cage is.

Think about this -- especially in terms of our habit of crowding together in cities and living side by side in fairly small spaces. It may be convenient and offer a lot of advantages, but it costs us something in sustaining our psychological selves.

Think how wonderful it feels when you share your life with someone you love and want to be physically close to. And then consider how uncomfortable it is to have to share your home (or your living accommodations -- like an apartment building) somehow with someone you don't know or dislike ... even if there are multiple doors closed between you. (Just knowing they're there can make a difference.)

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It's all part of your Moon energy.

That's your Moon energy -- Your Emotional Inner Self -- sending you messages (and sometimes, as I said, those "gut feelings" are literally important to your survival ... your safety and well-being ... your psychological health. Listen to them!!)

Your Moon Self is an extraordinarily complex subject -- containing more, apparently, than I can cover in one post. So, since I have a lot more to say on this topic, I'll break off here and let you get back to your life. We'll pick up where we left off next time. See you then. Thanks for reading. (And maybe you learned a thing or two ... or three ... that made it worth the stop. Take care.)

Part 2 coming soon.

Thank you for stopping by!

If you've always known there was more to Astrology than Sun Sign material and the three line daily horoscope in the newspaper, climb aboard and follow this blog. You'll find a world of wisdom detailing how you were designed to work with life ... and why you are the way you are -- all in quick-to-read, easy-to-digest-and-remember, written-in-plain-English essays that offer plenty of food for thought.

Little by little, I'm doing a set of articles that talks about all the elements in your horoscope and what they have to say about you. If you "know something" about Astrology -- or know something about your chart placements, that will help you get more from this material.

If you don't ... well, this is one place you can learn. We all have to start somewhere ... because we aren't born knowing this stuff. Meanwhile, if you've never seen your horoscope ... and don't have a clue how to work with it, maybe it's time to find out. There are lots of "chart services" on the internet -- some of whom produce decent, readable charts "for free" and some are so awful and confusing that even I can't read them easily -- and I've worked with charts for decades.

One extremely user-friendly chart site is here: AstroLabe. I recommend them if you want a simple, easy-to-read chart. I think they even give a reasonable little interpretive reading of your horoscope as part of the package. You'll need to know your birth information -- day, month, year, time and geographical place. Without all that your chart will have limited accuracy.

Or, if you want to get serious and really talk about this, upvote this post and start a conversation in the comments section sometime in the next six days from the time of publication. We'll go from there depending on what you want to know.

Questions about any of this? -- Upvote this post and talk to me in comments. It's a terrific way to build value for yourself and the community ... and it will give me ideas of what to write about in future posts. Believe me there is lots to say about the way The Sun, The Moon -- and all the other elements in a horoscope, all the other components of Astrology -- work together to interpret you and your story -- and what it all means to the person you've become.

This is who I am.

About the art in our visual essays ...

Although sometimes the background pictures in our visual essays support the topic and text, they don't always. Sometimes the connection is clear. Sometimes it's symbolic and subtle. Sometimes, there's no connection at all.

The scenes depict landscapes and natural features, buildings and wildlife. They were chosen because they show something lovely or interesting ... or simply because the photo appealed to me.

Our spectacular and remarkable planet is changing at astonishing speed. Rarely are these changes for the better. Few people seem to know ... or care ... or have the will and power to do anything about this. It may not be long before the world humans have known and lived in for centuries is forever lost. We certainly won't be able to make repairs as fast as we destroyed it.

So a few years ago I began collecting pictures of the way things were ... and still are for now, a record of the beauty we have while it is still ours to love and honor.

The photos here are part of that collection, with sincere thanks to the artists who saw these moments ... and with their cameras ... preserved them. All of us at Enchanted Spirit are profoundly grateful to them for their generosity and skill ... and for the added grace, depth and dimension their art brings to ours.

Original images used under this Creative Commons license or this Creative Commons license and modified by added text.

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