The first quarter, or new Moon, is a time for new beginnings. The solar and lunar energies come together and pull in the same direction, which provides a thrust of new life. Beginnings come to pass as instinctive or intuitive actions. Since all is hidden from light at the dark Moon, dreams and waking inspirations often hold the answers. Our inner-self naturally listens to the rhythms of the world and is aware of the unseen.

Shortly before the new Moon, a New Age bookstore owner told me her story. Apparently, she was so busy with her daily activities that she seldom found time to read the books in her store. Around the time of the new Moon, her intuitive abilities were at their strongest, and she was able to recommend books without reading them. She matched her "feelings" about a person to her "feelings" about a book. The feedback she received from her customers was very positive.

Toward the end of the first quarter, the Moon and Sun are no longer in relative alignment. The Moon exerts a stronger influence; it maintains its energetic presence but is no longer added to by the Sun. The Moon's and Sun's energies will be combined again at the full Moon, when they are opposed to each other. Until then, the newly-formed crescent Moon shines and grows, nurturing all that is positive. This is the time to finalize plans and make progress. Gather your energies and direct them toward new goals.

The second quarter is a time to work on things already started. Apply active energy towards completing, producing, or adding to previously initiated projects or activities. Under the steadily growing light of the Moon, progress toward goals should be well underway. As the full Moon approaches, the final touches should be put in place to perfect that which is desired.

The third quarter begins with the full Moon, which signals the time for completion. What was begun at the new Moon has progressed to maturity. The full Moon represents the peak of lunar, life-giving energies and, when coupled with the opposing solar energies, we receive all that nature has to offer. This is the time when effort meets its purpose. Our work is complete, and we should put to use what we worked so hard to create. Fulfillment is the primary directive as we near the last quarter. The original thought has become reality. As this quarter progresses, begin to consider the excess that needs to be reduced.

The fourth quarter is a time for destruction or disintegration. It is a time to eliminate the unnecessary in order to make room for the new. We have celebrated our success long enough. Now we must rid ourselves of old thoughts and plans to make room for new inspirations. This is the time to dismantle that which has been productive in order to eventually make room for new life in the freshly fertilized ground. The light is decreasing as darkness begins to take control.

Michael cuts his stock and cleans his forge during the Moon's last quarter.

When the need for destruction arises, it should be brought to light during the third quarter and allowed to die, as with all things during the last two quarters of the Moon. The dark Moon arrives with lessons of its own. The Moon is dark in the last days of this quarter, which is nature's time to rest and recuperate.

Upon completing the cycle of birth, life, and death, the soul remains in this darkness to concentrate on the lessons of this incarnation. These teachings remain in the forefront of thought, and must be condensed and converted to a vision to be built upon in the next life. It is in this phase that the past makes a commitment to the future. Introspection is a key word for the dark Moon. Since most of the work that occurs during the dark Moon is of an intuitive nature, intentions and affirmations are the best hope for permanently laying to rest that which is dead.

The shift from light to darkness and back again is a natural phenomenon. As the Moon revolves around the earth and the earth revolves around the Sun, there is always a dark and a light side. Darkness has often been associated with evil, and light is usually considered to hold the goodness of all things. This belief probably came about because darkness hides all within its realm, while light is seemingly transparent and open by nature. These beliefs are somewhat unfortunate because each of us has a dark side -- a hidden inner-self. Meditation gives us access to our darkness and raises our level of consciousness so that we might understand the relationship between the dark and light aspects that comprise the soul.

In astrology, the temple of the soul is symbolized by the Moon. The earliest religious teachers, and teachers of today, insist all things must be in balance. The soul is no exception, and must be balanced between the dark and light aspects. Each of these aspects carries its own stream of life: light, associated with the Sun; and darkness, associated with the Moon. The Sun, and the life energy we receive from it, is related to the productive, outer persona. This is the part of our being which deals with the daily activities and controls our waking hours. The Sun provides life and energy. It vitalizes all parts of our physical body.

I was born in the Desert Southwest. At the age of thirty-seven I moved to Portland, Oregon, where the weather is the exact opposite of my birthplace. In the Pacific Northwest misty, overcast days are commonplace -- so common, in fact, that inhabitants celebrate sunny days. Even during the winter months, Portlanders don shorts and t-shirts when the Sun shows its shining face. They appreciate the Sun -- they relish the days when it shines. When the Sun hasn't been out for an extended period of time, people become restless, irritable, and depressed.

The "dark side" of our being is represented by the Moon. This is our invisible side, which is normally active during the night, when the conscious mind is at rest. The lunar-self is composed of the superconscious and subconscious minds. In numerology, the Moon is associated with the number two; it represents both sides of life, the light and the dark, and the duality of the soul.

Our soul is this energy. It feeds all that we are and all that we'll become. Deep within the recesses of the soul lie our secrets, memories, fears, and past lives in their entirety. Imagine the soul as the ocean. It is boundless. Within it we find history and the many lives that have come before. Just as the ocean is all encompassing, so are the soul and the subconscious mind through the collective unconscious.

Psychologist Carl Jung developed the theory of the collective unconscious to explain the "connections" we have to each other and our past lives. He conducted experiments that showed an astrological compatibility between married couples that far exceeded mere chance. He theorized that we are collectively connected by a consciousness that is otherwise undetectable. It can be explored with the requisite amount of courage and honesty.

We are often reminded of our past lives. A typical example is when we meet someone and feel as though we have known them all our lives. The subconscious mind taps into the collective unconscious and recalls our joint history. Rather than remembering that history, we feel an instant connection to our "old friend," by recognizing some quality of their personality we have always enjoyed.

The inner world is the place to which we withdraw for revitalization. This occurs every night during sleep. Our dreams work out problems on a deeper level than we often allow ourselves to consciously see. This re-energizing of the soul also occurs at death, when we examine what was accomplished in the last life and make plans for the next one.

As the ocean is the source of all life, the soul's energy is the source of our inner strength, without which the outer-self could not function. The masculine personality can only be fed from the feminine inner-self. We are the product of our soul, which has been shaped and molded through many lifetimes, and of our ego, which masks our true personality from the world at large. This protective mechanism is an essential part of our being, but at times does get in the way of integrity. By allowing honesty to flourish within, we can bring the ego into balance, thus demonstrating to ourselves and the world the real, wonderful person behind the mask.