Black Moon Lilith

Forget the full Moon, forget the new Moon, forget your Moon; ‘cause Black Moon Lilith is comin’ to getcha! You thought the Moon in Scorpio was wild? Lilith is so wild she was ejected from God’s best theme park yet, and on the way out she said, “I hate that place anyway, and Adam is a dick!”

So, who or what is Black Moon Lilith? I will try not to nerd too much here. I’m done nerding, certainly within my person. Call it end-stage Taurus-Gemini, early stage Scorpio-Sagittarius. But I need to use words to approximate a gestalt which isn’t exactly rational; so, some specs may be helpful.

Mythically, Lilith was co-created with Adam to be his wife, but she wasn’t having any of that - in one telling, she refused to be on the bottom. So she was replaced with Eve, who ended up tempting Adam, and getting them both ejected from God’s theme park too. Allegedly. I mean, the Abrahamics just can’t stop blaming women, can they? Like, if you hate your wife because she likes being on top, and a talking snake convinces your new wife to eat forbidden fruit, then you’re probably doing the wrong drugs. Or maybe you’re repressing something, you know? And that whole naked-woman-talking-to-a-snake-about-fruit thing is manifestly porn. Anyway…

Astrologically, Black Moon Lilith is a calculation of the Moon’s apogee. Unlike the asteroid Lilith, Black Moon Lilith is a mathematical point in an astro-chart where the moon would be farthest from Earth. There are two such calculations: mean Lilith is the average position, whereas true or osculating Lilith is the precise position. The latter mirrors the physical moon’s orbital wobbles, so she swings back and forth through the mean position, in and out of adjacent signs. True Lilith is preferred by some astrologers because it reflects Lilith’s origin story as the untamable femme. Mean Lilith has a transit of 9 months per sign. Both are Black Moon Lilith. Take your pick.

OK, I promised not to nerd too much. And before going any further, I want to be clear that I am not attacking or valorizing one or another or whatever gender. Black Moon Lilith is in everybody’s chart. If you feel that Lilith should be a feminist symbol, and not up for interpretation by a guy with “guy” in his nom de guerre, then probably abandon this rabbit hole now.

So, what does Black Moon Lilith mean for the astro-curious? If the physical Moon represents our instincts, our intuitions, our receptivity, our natural fluctuations, our visceral experiences of our bodies, and our visible gateways to the astral realms, then Black Moon Lilith is the farthest, darkest point from that: you don’t engage or experience her like you would your instincts; you don’t predict her moves; and she is not receptive or passive, or any other trad-feminine idea, especially as viewed from a patriarchal perspective; not even from a balanced perspective. If the Moon is the astrological and natural feminine receiving and reflecting light, complement to the Sun qua astrological and natural masculine source of light, then Black Moon Lilith is all shadow, absolute feminine, creating or reproducing, as it were, on her terms only. She is not a complement to anything. She does not serve any balance or order. She is not in any relation to such principles except to subvert them or willfully break them.

Ignore Lilith at the risk of ignoring your unconscious will to rebel. But here’s the thing, you can’t be mindful of her in the ordinary sense. She is a mathematical point. You have to look at this position in your natal chart, or its current position relative to your natal points. Then consider the effects of an untamed, subversive, and unconscious force. Pure shadow.

One personal indicator could be where and how (i.e., the house and sign) you feel the greatest shame or self-repression, because that would be where your conscious self is saying “but, that’s wrong!” Oppositely, you could be so aligned (unconsciously) with your Lilith that she indicates where and how you relish breaking the rules, sans guilt. But as I see it, Lilith was exiled from paradise because she refused to serve The Matrix. She saw through the idyllic fruit-tease and her assigned place there. So I feel that even these suggestions are too banal and obvious. By the same token, her legends are absurd if taken literally. Lilith is said to have copulated with demons, stolen or killed babies, gone after men who sleep alone, and tried to reproduce using nocturnal emissions. Sometimes a girl just can't find a good sperm bank that’s open late, amiright?

H. P. Lovecraft to the rescue. Because I love the idea that there are unknowns out there (and in here) that are truly beyond us and are overwhelming to our consciousness, such that our minds cannot apprehend them without shattering. So I will take the unconscious (not subconscious, not astral, not liminal), but the truly untamable and dangerous un-conscious as the source of Lilith’s rule-breaking. On a side nerd-note, Lilith seems at home in the Kabbalistic Abyss, the place below Supernals and above the Formative world, where the minds of unprepared magicians are torn apart and tossed back into a demonic husk. I’ll let you know if I ever get up there in one piece. OK, last nerdtour, promise, because we’re still left with the question of what to make of the wild femme that is Black Moon Lilith. How might she manifest astrologically? I’m so glad you asked.

Black Moon Lilith recently entered Scorpio. True Lilith will be bouncing back to Libra or forward to Sagittarius, then returning to Scorpio often, where she will spend most of her time on average. Hence, mean Lilith will make an overall nine-month journey through the Fixed Waters of the celestial scorpion. While Cardinal signs initiate their element (e.g., Cancer / Water), Fixed signs stabilize that energy into controlled and unyielding forms. They are slow to start, needing a proper, sometimes painful catalyst; but once moving, Fixed signs do not stop; in fact, they have a tough time letting go, hence their last 10 degrees make for a desperate grab at a return to their glory days. Furthermore, Scorpio is ruled by Mars, who is already a triplicity ruler of Water signs by night, making the nocturnal Scorpion intensely Martial with libidinal connotations; specifically, sex and death, decay and ripening, putrefaction and regeneration; and generally, intense depth and turbulent emotions sublimated or transmuted, and put to strategic, patient execution. All of that, protected by armor and deadly defenses. But at the end of the night, Scorpio remains a stable Water sign whose work is to perfect its Element. Heady D and the Boyz said it best, “Now that we found Love, what are we gonna do with it?”

So let's consider what Black Moon Lilith could do using Scorpio. The common way of detecting the unconscious is via projections. That is, when other people or things become unwitting movie screens for stuff that's ours; personal, intense stuff wrapped in narratives that we unconsciously splatter outside of us. So you could examine Scorpio in your natal chart, asking how you are using, or being used by, sublimated libido in Scorpio’s house to break the rules with or against your projections. If Scorpio is in a diurnal house (7 to 12), then the projections are very likely to latch onto the ready supply of people and things you are in relation with; e.g., in the 7th house, your spouse or committed partner(s), collaborators, and open rivals. And remember, these projections will be charged & intense, overshadowing the reality of the other person. So you may find your 7th house complements & opposites suddenly charged with dangerous or magnetic energy; and not necessarily toward you. The nocturnal, personal houses (1 to 6) are trickier because there you are the main agent, so you may be confronting your shadow projections more directly. Of course, things aren’t so cut and dry, and given that I am interpreting Black Moon Lilith’s actions as true shadow projections, feedback from someone close and caring will be helpful. And all of this would be modified further by whatever planets or points are in Scorpio or aspected thereto.

Now, while Scorpio is a good place to start looking for shadow shenanigans, I think it is worthwhile to look across the chart, because Black Moon Lilith will draw resistance from the house 180 degrees across the zodiac.

Enter Taurus for the face-off. Another Fixed sign, but that of Earth, where, counter to Scorpio, the prominent themes are physicality and sensuality, practicality, parsimony, and the tangible return of life fulfilled by the stability of spring. So, look at Taurus’ house in your natal chart; that is where Black Moon Lilith will elicit cope or pushback, modified by whatever planets are in Taurus, or wherever Moon or Venus are if not there. How will the Bull oppose the shadow libido from across the way? Lilith, from Scorpio, will throw into Taurus’ face the futility of laboring after life and physical permanence; life is, after all, death-fruit waiting to ripen and feed the next cycle. And sex? Its true purpose is boundless, ecstatic merger with the object of love; mere sensual enjoyment of separate bodies is missing the essence for the shells. Taurus may suddenly confront this view from the shadows, opposite to its nature, without a solution. In Taurus, there is the problem of inertia vs labor & transaction for its own sake. At one extreme, Taurus may fall into analysis paralysis, refuse to budge, or withdraw into a dull ennui. Or the Bull may passively give in to sensual excess to feel better about Lilith’s scorpionic stings. At the other extreme, Taurus may reductively dismiss the complexity or nuance demanded by Scorpio in favor of finding the hammer that sees everything as a nail. The Bull will exhaust itself in labors or transactions that have no power over very real existential or spiritual issues.

Remember, this isn't Lilith per se, but a way to see her effects on Taurus via the shadow-boxing and shadow-fucking activated in Scorpio. Also, Taurus just enjoyed a brief exaltation of the physical Moon as she passed through, and continues to enjoy the Sun for the burst of light that is full-on spring. So the Bull still has the upper hand, but that won’t last. What might be long-term productive strategies for Taurus, when and if those are called for? Taurus will drop the analysis paralysis and just put one hoof in front of the other, trusting that productive momentum will build. Once moving, Taurus should seek its autonomy. A good Taurean reaction to decay and death? Taurus is the energy of life taking root and flourishing, however temporary or conditioned. So the Bull can charge at health, work to be hearty and hale. All things must die, but not today, and let’s not speed that along. What is a good Taurean reaction to rule-breaking sex? Ask, what is the real exchange here? What will be the offspring, actual or metaphorical? And who will be left with the bills? Unlike Water, Earth is good at boundaries. Furthermore, Taurus is Venus ruled with magnetic power and graces of its own, so there’s nothing Taurus lacks in that domain. What about shadow aggression? The Bull has thick skin, is placid and imperturbable, slow to anger, and isn't interested in arguing for its own sake; rather, it wants results from solving real problems. Patience is another Taurean virtue; this too shall pass, but there’s work to be done in the meantime. And even though the Moon has moved on, as the Sun will soon enough, Taurus will keep asking for help from wherever Venus and the Moon are; the Bull’s luminaries don't just disappear; they will eventually aspect and return.

But what if this is all just lame and banal anyway? I mean, what if both Taurus and Scorpio need Lilith’s fuckery? Not to break the rules for some dramatic, life-shattering, edge-lord or edge-lady bragging rights. But for the Bull and the Scorpion to integrate in an alchemical marriage or a merger of opposites. That may be more difficult up front - by way of restraint and real spiritual work - but less actually painful and damaging than indulging shadow-play. Taurus & Scorpio are a Yin-Yang after their manner. Two feminine, nocturnal fixed signs that stake their respective claims on opposite ends of the same cycle of life. Both are true, and the shadows define the lights just as the other way around. And no, I won't be writing about scorpions and bulls getting it on. But I do want to end with another gestalt, or dramatization, of Taurus / Scorpio flirting with taboo, elegantly illustrated in a scene from The Mummy (1932, starring Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor, and David Manners as Frank Whemple):

Frank Whemple: Yes. The fourteen steps down and the unbroken seals were thrilling. But when we came to handle all her clothes and her jewels and her toilet things - you know they buried everything with them that they used in life? - well, when we came to unwrap the girl herself...

Helen Grosvenor: How could you do that?

Frank Whemple: Had to! Science, you know. Well after we'd worked among her things, I felt as if I'd known her. But when we got the wrappings off, and I saw her face... you'll think me silly, but I sort of fell in love with her.

Helen Grosvenor: Do you have to open graves to find girls to fall in love with?

If you want to know what Black Moon Lilith is doing with Scorpio and Taurus in your life, ask me about a consultation. I may be able to shed some light on the situation.