WHEN THE MOON IS IN ITS APOGEE then what should we call her?
by Monique Leurink

 

BLACK MOON, VOID MOON, DARK MOON, LILITH, DARK STAR
MOON, VOID MOON, INVISIBLE MOON, DEAD MOON, ANTI-MOON...

‘ THE MOON AND I ARE SAYING WITH A SIGH ...’
You Moon, you are capricious indeed.
Even with names you shroud yourself in mysteries!

There is not only much conflicting information about the different hemispheres of the Moon, such as Dark Side, Far Side and Back Side.
There is also much conflicting information about the term of the Moon in its apogee. This text is meant to bring more clarity in this labyrinth of moons.

TERMS MOST USED FOR THE MOON IN ITS APOGEE

Dark Moon - Darkstar Moon - Dead Moon - Lilith - Anti Moon
Void Moon - Black Moon - Invisible Moon - Black Moon Lilith

Before getting down to these terms let us first have a look at the two main cycles of the Moon.

THE FIRST CYCLE - THE MOON PHASES

This is so far the best known cycle that almost everybody is familiar with, both in the world of
astronomy and astrology. Here the Moon assumes different shapes and we know this as the
Moon phases, caused by the interplay of Sun, Moon and Earth. There is ample information
on how to interpret the moon phases, so you may find your way easily. It is not in the context
of this article to dive into the moon phases. To get a better idea of our Moon let us first have
a look at its hemispheres.

THE MOON’S HEMISPHERES

THE DARK SIDE, BACK SIDE or FAR SIDE OF THE MOON
This is the Moon’s hemisphere that is always turned away from earth in her orbit. This is
caused by the fact that the rotation of the Moon is equal to the duration of her orbit around
earth. The Moon’s rotation and revolution speeds are exactly synchronized, so from Earth’s
point of view we always see the same side of our rotating Moon.
For this reason we cannot see the back side of the Moon from Earth. When the Moon is full
we always see the same side of her. Other terms for this Moon’s hemisphere are Back Side
and Far Side of the Moon.
Both the back side and the front side of the Moon receive an equal amount of sunlight.
Therefore there is not literally a dark moon. Yet the term dark side of the Moon exists too.
But this does not refer to the term Dark Moon. Dark Moon is a dark part of the Moon that
does not receive sunlight during a certain period of time. Many people get confused by all
these terms and refer to the back side, far side and dark side as the invisible part of the
Moon’s hemisphere. However, these three terms do not refer to the Moon in its apogee.

BLUE MOON
When we have a Full Moon twice in the same month this Moon is called Blue Moon. A Blue
Moon may take place every two or three years. However, the Moon will not turn blue. This
term is based on a mistake as a result of using this term erroneously in the English paper
Sky and Telescope in 1946. They corrected the mistake in an article in 1999 but the term
had found its way already in the world. Just like the term Lilith has mistakenly found her way
where we point at the Moon in its apogee. Rumors spread easily....

NEXT BLUE MOONS
31 August 2023 03.36 CET
31 May 2026 10.45 CET
31 December 2028 17.48 CET

BLOOD MOON

A blood moon is a total moon-eclipse.
Earth is in between the Sun and the
Moon. By the shadow of Earth the Moon
cannot receive the light of the Sun.
The red color is caused by Rayleigh
scattering (the elastic scattering of light or
other electromagnetic radiation by
particles much smaller than the
wavelength of the radiation) of sunlight
through the Earth's atmosphere, the same
effect that causes sunsets to appear red.

NEXT BLOOD MOON
15 May 2022 8:28 P.M PDT

THE SECOND CYCLE - THE ELLIPTICAL ORBIT OF THE
MOON

This elliptical orbit has little to do with the Moon phases, but reveals new qualities of the
Moon at its furthest and closest position from Earth. This cycle is part of the Lunar Axis
(Black Moon and Priapus) and the many aspects and features of this cycle are being taught
in Diamond Astrology, together with elliptical orbits of the Solar Axis (Black Sun and
Diamond), the Axis of Extremes (Dragon and Beast) and the Node’s Axis (North Node and
South Node). These four axes appear to give revolutionary new insights into our
consciousness beyond our personality.

MOON IN ITS APOGEE - GOOD, BETTER, BAD TERMS

NOT CORRECT: DARK MOON
As indicated already the term Dark Moon has been mixed up with the Dark Side of the Moon
and therefore has no relation with the Moon in its apogee. Once again: Dark Moon is in fact
the dark part of the Moon that does not receive sunlight during a certain period of time.

NOT CORRECT: DARKSTAR MOON
The Moon is not a star, nor a darkstar. She is a satellite. In the astronomical hierarchy the
Sun is a star, not a planet. The Moon is a satellite, not a planet either. Our Earth is a planet.
We cannot possibly refer to the Moon as a dark star.

LESS CORRECT: DEAD MOON
The Moon in its apogee reaches her largest distance from Earth and is slowing down her
speed almost to a standstill. But is this a reason to call her a dead Moon? I don’t think so. At
her farthest point from Earth she loses her ordinary lunar qualities. Coming almost to a
standstill does not imply death. Astrologically, from the point of view of the personality this
may be seen as death. But from the point of view of Essence it is the birth of a new
dimension in our consciousness.

NOT CORRECT: LILITH
Many people use this term for the Moon in its apogee and even also in some ephemeris,
especially in France. Unfortunately some books have been published with the term Lilith
referring to the Moon in its apogee, which has caused great confusion. Why is this not
correct? Because Lilith can only point at two issues - the asteroid Lilith and the mythological
Lilith.

THE ASTEROID LILITH - ASTEROID 1181
In an astronomical context Lilith is an asteroid and is part of a large family of asteroids,
located in space between Mars and Jupiter and discovered in 1972 by Benjamin Jekhovsky.
This asteroid is known now as asteroid nr. 1181. But originally it was mentioned after the
composer and child prodigy Juliette Olga ‘Lili’ Boulanger, whose nickname was derived from
Lilith. In her research astrologer Martha Lang-Wescott has implemented this asteroid Lilith
for interpretations. There is an ephemeris of this Asteroid Lilith.

MYTHOLOGICAL LILITH
This Lilith is referred to as the first wife of Adam, instead of Eve. This is mentioned in the
Berechit, the first book of the Jewish Torah. And also in the Zohar, the mystic/ esoteric
interpretation of the Torah. Lilith means ‘the obscure’, which she represents indeed. The
church-fathers of the Roman Catholic church knew very well of her existence but in the bible
they covered the story up. Why? Because Lilith represents the free, independent, powerful,
female spirit and is equal to Adam and therefore to men. Unlike Eve she is not obedient and
docile at all, she even defied God and the angels who had come for her to bring her back to
Adam from whom she fled away - yes, she could fly, unlike Eve - after she refused to submit
to him. In accordance with the creation of a collective image of women, such an independent
and free female spirit would not be convenient to serve as an example so why not cover the
story up....

LILITH AND EVE - TWO PRIMEVAL MOTHERS

Lilith and Eve dwell more and more in the collective consciousness as Primeval Mothers of
mankind. Eve is the primeval mother of the flesh, a Venus Mother and she is mortal. Lilith is
the primeval mother of the mental female spirit, a Mars Mother and immortal.

LILITH A DEMON?
Indeed, Lilith cannot give birth to children. Not out of an inability but out of a refusal. Or even
an impossibility. Why? Because she represents the mental female spirit. And here we see a
relation with the Moon in its apogee, because the Moon
at the largest distance from Earth becomes a mental
moon. Perhaps that is the reason why people began to
call this Moon Lilith. There are ghost stories about
Lilith’s refusal or impossibility to give birth to children.
This mythological Lilith - beautifully depicted on a
Sumerian clay tablet, with wings that indicate she could
fly, with a crown on her head indicating her divinity, with
the Ankh cross in both of her hands indicating her
immortality and with claws of a bird indicating her
animal/instinctive nature as well - represents both the
divine and instinctive, the free, Martian and independent
female MENTAL spirit. In fact this mythological Lilith is a
powerful, intelligent, independent, instinctive and sort of
goddess in her own right.

It is a special feature of the Moon to project. This may
be one of the reasons that the mental quality of Lilith has been projected in a negative way
and demonized the mental female spirit of Lilith. Also a long era of patriarchal dominance
may have contributed to this conceptualization of Lilith.

THE BLACK MOON A DEMON?
This may be the reason that many astrologers who relate this negative concept of the
mythological Lilith think that the Moon in its apogee has similar dark and demonic qualities
and keep far away from her. But this is definitely not correct and in this way she is put into a
wrong double darkness.

LESS CORRECT: ANTI MOON
When the Moon is in its apogee she is losing, or actually releasing, her usual lunar qualities.
This does not mean that this is the end of the process. Because of the reduced speed and
her largest distance from Earth an alchemizing process can now take place. The term anti
Moon implies that there should also be a pro Moon and there is not. So with this term we
submit the Moon to duality and this is not right. In fact, when the Moon is in its apogee,
duality disappears.

MORE CORRECT: VOID MOON
It is true that the Moon here is in a Void so the term covers quite a lot of the process.
But what is the Void? In the Void the Moon reduces the visible, familiar, physical world to a
zero-point. In order to get a glimpse of a breathtaking cosmos behind it. Here the day
becomes night in worldly terms, but in universal terms the night has become day. All that is
known disappears. That results in the fact that in the Void everything can become new. We
can become new. Like when we were a child. We must not forget that the Moon is not only
the Queen of the Night but very much the Queen of Borrowed Light. When we grow up we
generally are adapting ourselves to general standards that are not ours. These standards
also represent the borrowed light within. The Moon in its apogee, in the Void, is an excellent
opportunity to release the situations that we have built up from the Moon’s borrowed light, to
empty ourselves to a zero-point so that we can dis-cover our true Core. And become new.

CORRECT: BLACK MOON
This is the best-known term. But in my opinion it may give rise to an uncomfortable feeling
for people who are not familiar with the astrological true meaning. It may yield an idea of a
creepy witch with wicked intentions, flying on her broom in the darkness of the night. The
Black Moon has become more and more commonplace in astrology though and because
she has got much more familiar to many the term ‘Black Moon’ is not scary anymore.

MORE CORRECT: INVISIBLE MOON
It is true that the Moon in its apogee is invisible. But the term does not cover the complete
concept. Behind her invisibility is the promise of the infinite realm of a breathtaking universe
where life becomes visible with cosmic eyes.
If we want to get a fuller understanding of the Moon in its apogee then we cannot possibly
continue to interpret her from this isolated position alone. She is part of a quartet of the Black
Luminaries (Black Moon/Priapus and Black Sun/Diamond) and she deserves it to be
understood as such.

THE MOON IN ITS APOGEE IS NOT A TANGIBLE CELESTIAL BODY
Just like the Node’s axis - South Node and North Node - are not tangible or visible celestial
bodies, so are the Luminaries of Diamond Astrology. It is sometimes said that these
Luminaries can never exist because you cannot see them. But this is of course nonsensical,
because every astrologer knows how powerful the influence of the invisible South and North
Node is. This goes too for the Part of Fortune. The Nodal Axis, the Part of Fortune and the
Black Luminaries have two things in common: they are all derivatives of the Moon’s orbit
around Earth and of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. And they are non-physical. But they do
have a most powerful impact.

NOT DEMONIC BUT A NEW BIRTH
The Moon rules birth. It is well-known that the Moon materializes energy or consciousness
into matter. She makes life physical. The mother gives birth to the physical body of the child.
Not to the soul of the child. When we want to come to a truthful understanding of the Black
Moon then we should stop to see her as demonic, dangerous and destructive.
The Black Moon rules the second birth. The birth of the Essential Self. That heralds a
complete new phase in a person’s life; the portal to the Essential Self.