Why is Moon Sign used in Vedic Astrology unlike Sun Sign in Western Astrology?

In Indian Astrology, the Moon resembles our mind, emotions and thoughts which activate and channel our actions, the Ascendant resembles our physical self and how those thoughts and actions are perceived by others and our social interactions, and the Sun resembles our physical body. Therefore, these are placed in this exact order of importance. To derive the results of this life and past life, Vedic Astrology takes the Moon and Ascendant (lagna) as our immediate point of reference.

The Sun represents our physical body while the Moon is our mind and receptiveness to events that occur around us. Most of the times we are happy or sad because of what we feel instead of what we receive or physically do in our lives.

• It is an accepted fact that Sun is the giver of all energy & live within our solar system and because of that it should be the most important parameter to measure destiny too.
• However, the Moon is the closest celestial body through which the effects of all planets get filtered and reach us.
• Since the mind usually prevails over physical matters, Vedic Astrology discovered the accuracy of Moon sign readings many millenniums ago.

Moon Sign Vs. Sun Sign Debate

When it comes to comparing the two modes of astrological analysis, there is always a debate so as to which one is better, is the Astrology based on the Moon sign a better and viable means of gauging the events in our life or is a Sun sign based astrological analysis more sensible, because the Sun is the actual source of energy which has its own light and even the Moon relies on the energy of Sun to lighten up the night sky and the lives of people.

Moon is associated with the mind, emotions, and feelings that one may have and your inner self and the way you see the world from your inner eyes, all this is governed by the Moon.

• Our mind and emotions always act as per the Moon’s transit and as Moon is a fastest moving planet, so like our emotions and mind, it changes every second and our lives. Day to day activities and events depend on our mood, which is in control of the Moon.
• In a way, it provides the personal inner touch of your soul to whatever happens in your life.
• Moon gives you a kind and humble attitude towards the needy. It signifies your emotional attachment to your love partner and the feelings of love that you may have.
• Moon also gives an account of your travel plans.
• The Sun, on the other hand, is more of a powerhouse, the energy provider and the king of the zodiac, it is more physical in sense and form of energy, whereas the Moon is more about feelings.
• The Sun is linked to your personality and portrays the positivity and the negative aspects related to your personality. The Sun is associated to your pride, self-confidence and authoritative behavior that you may have.
• We may say that we see the Sun as a source of power, but it is the outer world and your physical attributes, whereas, the Moon is your internal makeup, how you feel and understand the things from your heart by establishing a connection with your feelings.
• The aspects that the Sun portrays about you, more or less people are already aware since it has more of the visible attributes that are revealed, that carry some reflection in your appearance and other perceptible traits.
• However, the Moon gives an account of the things that may even come as a surprise to you also as you may not have explored your deepest desires, your fears, your strengths and remain ignorant until a phase of the Moon brings it forth and surprise the people around, including you.
• The Moon sign indicates your basic nature and how you react on small actions or reactions, it indicates all this. It is capable of indicating the tiniest reaction to any event or action. It signifies your emotions, feelings, intuition and recollections of various emotional aspects of the past as well.

Prediction Accuracy Comparison: Essence of Moon/Sun transit

The Moon is the fastest moving planet in the solar system and transits through all 12 signs in around 28-30 days or one month. It stays in each zodiac sign for 2.5 days while traversing across. As compared to this, the Sun takes much more time for travelling across the 12 signs and completes one cycle in 12 months, staying in each sign for 30 days.

• This gives more accuracy to the predictions based on the Moon since it travels a portion of 30 degrees in lesser time (2.5 days) as compared to the Sun which covers these 30 degrees or one sign in 30 days.
• The predictions based on the Sun’s movements would remain valid and unchanged for 30 days, here the Sun moves 1 degree in 1 day and, thus, for the entire month, since there is no change, the predictions will be more of generic nature.
• On the other hand, the Moon travels 1 degree in 1 hour, thus giving it a more dynamic nature and accuracy in predictions since it covers all the changes that take place in your life in a very short span, therefore it is denser.

Accurate calculation of the Moon sign carries a lot of significance since the Moon travels very quickly and changes degree every 1 hour. At the time of birth, the position of the Moon to the minutest of the details up to the level of seconds will give a precise time of birth. The entire prediction later will be based on the accurate calculation of the placement of the Moon at the time of birth in the birth chart. Results may differ significantly if the calculations are not accurate as expected to be.

Prediction Accuracy Comparison: Essence of Nakshatras (Constellations)

If we analyze the predictions based on Nakshatras, each sign is of 30 degrees and is further divided into 3 nakshatras (constellations). Hence, if we look at the division of signs in terms of Nakshatras, the Sun stays in each Nakshatra for 10 days. Hence, the predictions for this set of 10 days will not change and would be very generic in nature, and it is true for the other 2 Nakshatras in the same sign. In case of the Moon, it stays in one Nakshatra for 12 hours, hence the predictions will be based on this shorter time period as compared to the Sun and would change as the Moon continues its journey.

• The Moon is linked to the Nakshatras Rohini, Hasta and Shravana. The Moon is the lord of these Nakshatras and when the Moon remains in them, it gives favorable results.
• The Sun is associated with the Nakshatras Kritika, Uttar Phalguni and Uttara Ashada as lord of these Nakshatras, therefore in its journey across all the 12 signs, when the Sun remains in these Nakshatras, it may produce benefic results.

Prediction Accuracy Comparison: Depth of Moon/Sun Connection

The Sun sign gives a broader picture of a person covering the overall attributes of physical appearances and personality traits which we may say to have more essence of tangibility attached to it. The broader view may carry the bigger depiction of you, leaving apart many areas of your personality unexplored, contours left open and minor details missed.

• The Moon sign has the quality of covering even the minutest of your inner self in detail. We may say that the open ends that have been left by the Sun sign are closed with the insights that are revealed by the Moon sign. For example, you may come across two persons, the Moon sign of one and the Sun sign of the other falls under the same zodiac. Hence, classically speaking, they would display similar traits. However, here Moon sign plays the trick since the differences between the two personalities, traits and the behaviors would be given more precisely by the Moon sign.
• The Moon sign here would also give the account of the limits and extent of personality traits that would depict the differences among the two, which the Sun sign may not have revealed, giving clearer picture about the person including the unseen inner-self, the untouched and dormant energies within, your inner voice which talks and guides you and many more such attributes… the list is long.
• The Moon is considered an important planet in your horoscope as per Vedic Astrology, even your experience in love, heartbreak, intimate & sentimental moments all depend on your Moon transit and the combination with the sign where it resides.

Your action and reaction in everyday life all depend upon Moon.

Prediction Accuracy Comparison: Attributes used to find Moon/Sun Sign

Finding the Sun sign is much easier than finding the Moon sign. The Sun sign has specific dates linked to each sign and when your date of birth falls in this period then that is your Sun sign.

• On the other hand, calculating the Moon sign may not be a cake walk as it requires, unlike the Sun sign, your time and date of birth and also the place of birth for accurately identifying your Moon sign.
• This adds to the accuracy of predictions based on the Moon sign as compared to the Sun sign, which does not consider the geographic attributes of birth in terms of precise latitude and longitudes to give a far more accurate positioning of the Moon in your birth chart at the time of birth.
• Though many websites are there on the world wide web which may calculate the Moon sign just at the click of few buttons, yet this calculation can be done manually also to arrive at accuracy up to the level of second and not just minutes.
• It is always desirable that the exact time to the seconds level and exact place of birth are known for exact predictions.

Conclusion

By now we have seen the various factors and attributes that provide a clear insight into the comparative picture between the Moon sign and the Sun sign in terms of the levels of accuracy they provide in astrological predictions and the underlying reasons thereto.

As evident, the Moon sign gives a far better, accurate analysis at a micro level and in-depth analytical predictions of your personality since it divides your overall disposition into minutest of parts, which make the predictions so precise.

Though Sun sign-based predictions are also true and give a broad-brush pen picture of a person’s life, but when we want the finer details of human life or wish for accurate behavior, action-reaction on particular event, then we need to resort to the Moon sign-based predictions.