5th month under Venus: Sex distinction.
6th month under Mercury: Brain development.
7th month under Moon: Precocious birth.
8th month under Saturn: Abortive birth.
9th month under Jupiter: Normal birth.
Swedenborg has said that all children come from the Moon. There is a Greek legend which associates Selene and Selinon, confounding the Moon with the parsley plant, and old women to-day tell their inquisitive grandchildren that they were brought from the parsley bed. In the Greek Mysteries the soul passes through the sphere of the Moon in its descent to the Earth, taking upon itself a silver vestment, which is the astral or lunar body, as distinguished from the imperishable solar body proper to the incarnating ego.
The Hindus, as has been shown elsewhere, make all their astrological calculations from the place of the Moon, and the horoscope of birth is converted into terms of the Moon’s position at the moment of that event. Also they reckon the periodic effects from the same position. It is therefore obvious that the astrologer at all events has not overlooked the enormous influence that this orb is believed to exert upon mundane affairs and human life. As we have seen, the ancients, with whom these beliefs arose, were keen observers of natural operations, and depended entirely on their unaided and unprejudiced observations for whatever knowledge they possessed. They regarded the Moon as the purveyor or carrier of astral influence. Life and energy were generated from the Sun, the vital centre of our system. This life was modified by reflection of rays from the various planets, which transmitted the Sun’s rays to this Earth in altered electrical and magnetic conditions, and the Moon, circling round the Earth at great velocity, collected and distributed these influences upon our nether sphere. The notion is at least cosmical and coherent. If it also be true it is of the utmost importance to us as terrestrials.
The Moon, then, in Cosmic Symbolism represents the element of functional variability, and is the symbol of Change, of ebb and flow, of increase and decrease, of rise and fall. It is associated with the human soul subject to samsara, or the law of cyclic rebirth. It is the Mercabah or vehicle by which the light and heat of the Sun is distributed, the Great Conveyancer and the Universal Purveyor of celestial influences. Like the human soul it is subject to phases, now waxing and now waning, and sometimes suffering eclipse, having no light of its own but deriving all from the Universal Sun.
It has two aspects, a nether and a higher. That which is above represents the side that, at the time of conjunction, is turned towards the Sun, and the lower is that which is always towards the Earth. When the Moon-Soul is between the Sun and Earth it is in correct cosmic relations, but when the Earth interposes its dark orb, there is an ascendancy of the material over the human, and the spiritual light is in danger of being shut out. The Moon-body suffers death, like the physical body, but it persists after the death of the physical, and may endure for upwards of one hundred and twenty years, according to its inherent vitality.
It may be regarded as the Purgatorial vestment in which the Human Soul manifests until its liberation to the Spiritual world. One of the initiations teaches that this same Moon-Body may, without suffering dissolution, be again carried to earth and incarnated. But this is not the normal case, as those who have witnessed the dissolution of the Moon-Body well know. As a cosmic symbol the Moon is replete with the deepest mysteries concerning the birth, evolution, and dissolution of all that is commonly called human. Its influence in mundane affairs gains an additional signification from this fact.