The Moon represents the passive feminine principle, and a part of us that is incredibly receptive to outside experiences. The Moon reflects the unconscious mind, behaviour and patterns formed in the past. The Moon has a tribal feeling, and has also become known as the Queen of the night and the Goddess of darkness. Cancer, first of the water signs, is governed by the moon, the lady of the waters, and has influence over the tides, and menstruation.

The Moon became known for defining the 28 day lunar month. The 28 day moon cycle is related to the female menstrual cycle. In older times the words for Moon and Mensuration are closely linked. French peasants describe menstruation as le moment de la lune, which means Moon. The menstrual cycle is part of our sisterhood and like or loathe it, view it as something negative or positive, we become aware of our natural rhythm. Women living thousands of years ago all bled with the Moon, and the first time we ever got our period was like an initiation into womanhood, and being part of the clan.

The Moon and Cancer both rule over the stomach, breasts and ovaries and we may get that crampy feeling in our belly, and tender breasts just before a period is due. The emotional crabbiness, moodiness, abnormal mood swings and general feeling state is one that has fascinated scientists for years. Still, not every single woman reacts in this way just before her period, but the more we understand the Moon in the astrological chart, we can readily comprehend why these images have come about.

Before a period some women may comfort eat, particularly chocolate, or go all weepy, and generally feel bloated. Women have been stereotyped for being emotionally crazy at this time, and becoming irritable, unpredictable, emotionally manipulative and due to fits of crying, hysteria, hypochondria and overreacting. However, many women feel angered by having the dark side of the Moon projected upon them, and most of these descriptions can be torn right out of any astrological textbook relating to the sign of Cancer, on a bad day. Yet these traits can be emphasised by any male or female with the Moon or Cancer strong in their charts.

The poor sign of Cancer gets dragged into all of this, but in crablike-Cancer fashion there are many stories in societies were women withdraw during their menstruation to special houses. In some places it was to protect the menfolk from us women during our blood loss, and it was believed that we were more open to supernatural forces. I think this superstition still exists in some men’s unconsciousness today and they still fear our time of the month! Though it’s more humorous nowadays and some are apprehensive over what mood we will be in during our cycle. In older times a woman during her period was considered to be dangerous and ‘untouchable’. The Moon has always has some powerful, emotional images attached to her, and there are plenty of superstitions abounding around the time of the Full Moon.

“This face of the Moon is often what emerges when we get drunk, or lose control of solar consciousness. One can find a glimpse of Atermis in one’s own emotional savagery, if the instinctual needs are violated or threatened. The wolf is also her creature, and the myth of lycanthrope or werewolf…The werewolf appears when the Moon is full, and it is said to destroy only those it loves…Lycanthropy in folklore is a state of possession by a supernatural bestial force which turns savagely against those upon whom the person is emotionally dependent. The werewolf can only be destroyed by a weapon of silver, the Moon’s traditional metal – as though only nature itself can tame or contain nature…We do not often meet this face of the Moon in astrological textbooks. Yet it is a dimension of the full rather than the new Moon, when the lunar light is at its most powerful and the matriarchy rules. By Liz Greene, The Luminaries

This describes a Moon in Cancer person I know perfectly and why she reacts quite violently and destructively to the ones she loves the most.