From the Bible we learn that Jehovah made man in His image. We are also told that ANGELS visited Sarah and proclaimed the birth of Isaac. They also foretold the birth of Samson and Samuel and the ANGEL (not archangel) Gabriel came to Mary of Bethlehem to announce the coming birth of Jesus. According to occult science Jehovah and His angels are the guardians of the seed atoms, the basic factors in fertilization. The activities of the angels are directed to the maintenance of plant, animal and human life upon earth. To this end their forces are focused by the wandering Moon through the twelve signs of the zodiac; they impinge upon the foetus in a creative manner during the period of gestation from the time of conception to birth.

Thus as the Moon measures the tides of the earth so also does she measure the soul's passage from the shores of eternity through the waters of the womb to the world of time. According to astrology Cancer is the home of the Moon. The ancient Egyptians pictured this sign as a scarab or beetle which was their emblem of the soul and they called Cancer THE SPHERE OF THE SOUL, for it is said that through this moist watery sign fertilized by the lunar ray the seed atoms are projected into the womb of the prospective parent who is thus prepared for the period of gestation; and occult science adds to this that the seed atoms of the animal kingdom, which is still mindless and therefore not amenable to lunar influences in that direction, are projected through the watery martial sign SCORPIO while the seed atoms of the inert plants our poured in through the Jupiterian sign Pisces just before the Sun enters Aries at the vernal equinox to awaken the plant seeds sleeping in Mother Earth, which have been fertilized by Pisces. Thus the human family has the longest period of gestation, the animal a somewhat shorter one and the plant the shortest of all.

The Moon also measures the period of postnatal growth so that the period of CHILDHOOD, measured by the change of teeth is complete at about seven years of age when the Moon is SQUARE to her place at birth. The period of PUBERTY is ushered in at about fourteen years of age when the Moon is in OPPOSITION to her place at birth and is marked by the change of voice in the boy and the commencement of the menses in the girl. At twenty-one years of age the Moon by progression has traveled three quarters of the circle of the horoscope from its place at birth. This finishes the period of incubation and the human being is considered to be full-grown, capable of exercising a franchise and taking care of his own affairs. Thus the distance traveled by the New Moon during the prenatal period of gestation in the mother's womb and the distance traveled by the progressed Moon during the twenty-one years of post-natal development in the womb of Mother Nature correspond exactly.

The Moon, like Mercury, has no basic nature of its own but serves to focus the qualities of the signs and other planets upon the human mind. She governs the tidal air in the lungs and the colorless lymph in the body, also the digestive activity and the sympathetic nervous system which automatically takes care of the process of digestion. She also governs the cerebellum, the mammae, the feminine functions and parturition as already explained.

People who are strongly under the influence of the lunar rays are of an easy-going, dreamy, indolent nature, adepts as architects of air castles which never materialize or assume concrete shape. They are very sociable and generally easy to get along with. They succeed best as cooks, house-keepers or in some domestic occupation or in one which has to do with liquids or a seafaring life.

The Moon being female indicates the marriage partner for a man so that in a man's horoscope affliction of the Moon would not be so apt to cause trouble in health as in married life and the horoscopes of the two sexes should therefore be read differently with respect to the Sun and Moon. If Saturn afflicts the Moon in a woman's horoscope it will affect her health, but in the same respect to the Sun and Moon. If Saturn afflicts the Moon in a woman's horoscope it will affect her health, but the same aspect occurring in a man's horoscope will cause him trouble in married life. If the Sun is afflicted in a man's horoscope it will affect his health but in a woman's horoscope it would indicate trouble with her husband. At the same time however it should not be forgotten that both the Sun and Moon are vital factors in the health of both sexes but one sex is more affected by the Sun, the other by the Moon.

The Moon is the great time-marker of the universe. Without her our lives would be barren of events for although the Sun and the planets by their travel through the signs and houses indicate the years when certain tendencies shown in the horoscope may culminate in action, it invariably requires an aspect of the Moon to fertilize the aspect and make it bloom into physical manifestation. The Sun and the planets may therefore be likened to the hour-hand on the clock of destiny which shows the YEAR when each phase of our destiny which shows the YEAR when each phase of our destiny is ripe for the harvest and the Moon may be likened to the minute-hand which shows the MONTH when the influences are due to culminate into action. In order to become fully conversant with the influences of the Moon we would advise students to read carefully the article on eclipses and new moon in our Simplified Scientific Astrology.