The persona can make it difficult to determine one’s personality type. This is where astrology can come in and help identify the persona. There are 12 different moon signs, and each moon sign is in one of 12 different house. So, if my math is right, each of the 16 personality types will have one of 144 personas. (Very broadly speaking, of course, because the moon doesn’t exist in isolation in the chart and forms aspects to other planets in the chart).
While at Half Price Books recently I came across a copy of the out-of-print 1974 book Astrology and Personality by Noel Tyl (1936-2019), who was an influential 20th century astrologer. There is a chapter on Jung, so of course I bought the book.
Tyl makes the interesting point that the Moon in the natal chart can show us the persona – the mask we have selected consciously or unconsciously to help us interact with the outer world.
I haven’t heard the moon described in this way before, but after thinking about it, it seems to make sense. The Moon needs to feel safe, which the persona plays a role in. The Moon also likes to belong (By contrast, Saturn, which is the Moon’s opposite, demands that we focus on our own purpose rather than on fitting in with others), The moon also represents our instinctual self.
Finally, the Moon’s location in the chart shows where you are adaptable and make room for others. One can see that the persona can play a role in this adaptability as well.
In modern astrology a common mistake is to view the ascendant (rising sign) as merely a persona, which is not at all how ancient astrologers viewed the ascendant. To them it was very aligned with our personality, character, health, and body. So it was nice to see that Tyl instead attributes persona to the Moon.
In part 2 I will analyze what Tyl says about human needs, the Moon, and the personality.
Sources:
