Auntie Moon

Parkinson’s disease weakens the voice. Sometimes it’s hard to hear what the person is saying or to understand them clearly. For three days every month, my mother (who had this terrible disease) decided to make a series of phone calls. She’d call family, insurance companies, and Medicare. Her favorite call of all was the one to the funeral home which issued her prepaid funeral policy. No one could understand what she was trying to say. Sometimes they’d hang up. Sometimes they’d struggle through. Despite the obstacle of not being able to communicate, my mother could not resist a strong internal urge to make those phone calls. She would also pull out every official document she had tucked away. She had to be sure everything was in good order.

When she came to live with us, I started tracking these days on my astrological calendar. They always fell on the days when the Moon was leaving Capricorn and entering Aquarius. She was running on instinct. You could set your clock by her.

My husband was working at home and I had a 9-to-5 job, so he was alone with her during the days. He spent more time on her phone calls than he did on his work. He was going crazy trying to manage this odd behavior.

To prepare him for the coming months, I marked the days that I anticipated her odd behavior on the calendar for the rest of the year. It worked. It was accurate. My husband was shocked! How could this be so accurate, he wondered. How could I have known in June how she would behave for three days’ time for each remaining month of the year?

Well, the Moon is instinct. It’s primal behavior, internally driven. Hard to resist.

When the Moon enters Taurus, I become a domestic goddess. I want to clean and garden and cook. All at the same time! Uh, that’s too many projects at once. “Pick one, Silly,” I’d say to myself, “and finish it.” My Moon in the 3rd where the mind is busy and Taurus on the cusp of the domestic 4th still gets me every month. I can accomplish a lot!

After a while, it becomes second nature. You get a feel for how a month will roll out for you. Tracking the Moon can get you there fast. What days do you like to be out and about? When do you need companionship? Or to be alone?

Spend a little time tracking the Moon. Give it a few “moonths.” You’ll learn a lot about the people you live and work with. You’ll learn a lot about yourself. We’re all children of the Moon.