I recently did a bi-monthly Q&A with my customers and one of the questions was about White Moon Selena. Here is the question:-
Can you explain White Moon Selene? Do you think it’s important? Does it have anything to do with Black Moon Lilith?
Now this question has led me down such a rabbit hole! Before I explore the meaning of Selena the White Moon, it is necessary to talk about some technical calculations. The Swiss Ephemeris document (h56) says on this point:-
This is the “hypothetical” second moon on Earth (or the third moon after the “Black Moon”) of unknown origin. It is used by many Russian astrologers. It is 20 times farther from the Earth than the Moon and orbits the Earth once every 7 years. Its orbit is a perfect, undisturbed circle. Of course, the physical existence of such a body is impossible. The gravitational pull of the Sun, Earth and Moon strongly affects its orbit.
So, the first thing I did, since I hadn’t used this before, was calculate Selena on my own chart using the Sun Fire Astrology software. As you can see here, it’s at 21 degrees Taurus. If I want to do the same calculation on Astro.com, I need to use h56 in the add-on table.
Now, here comes the problem. In modern astrology, especially in the past few years, White Moon Selena is considered the perigee of the Moon. Let’s look at this first so we understand what this means – and for that, I need to talk about Black Moon Lilith.
So, as you can see from the image above, the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle. Instead, it is an ellipse. If it were a perfect circle, the center of the Earth would be the point of gravity around which the Moon revolves. But an ellipse has two gravity points or foci. One of these gravitational points is inside the Earth and the other is in space. That gravitational point in space is Black Moon Lilith. Keep this thought alive.
Now, since the Moon has an elliptical orbit, sometimes it is far away from the Earth, called apogee, and sometimes it is closer to the Earth, called perigee. If we were looking from Earth toward the moon’s apogee, our technical line of sight would be directly through the gravitational point I mentioned above.So, to be clear, from our vantage point on Earth, Black Moon Lilith is the second gravitational focus of the Moon’s orbit and The highest point of the moon. Our interpretation of Black Moon Lilith is based on these astronomical facts and, of course, the story of Adam’s first wife, Lilith.
So where do H56 and White Moon Selena fit into all this? Well, this is the dilemma I find myself in.
When I calculate White Moon Selena in my chart, as shown above, it is nowhere near the opposition to Black Moon Lilith. If White Moon Selena is the Moon’s perigee, then technically it should be somewhere opposite Black Moon Lilith. But here you can see that Selena (this hypothetical moon) is still far from the perigee of the real moon’s orbit. So, every explanation I could possibly think of for H56 White Moon Selena falls apart under scrutiny because they have no relevance. As the Swiss Ephemeris document points out, this is just a hypothesis and has no basis in reality.
But if I apply all of what Selena White Moon said to actual Lunar Perigee, makes more sense to me and is an illuminating and interesting story in contrast to Black Moon Lilith. In order to find this White Moon Selena, I suggest you need to calculate the true position of Black Moon Lilith (h13 on astro.com) in your chart, where you will find Selena, in true (not mean ) opposite degree of Black Moon Lilith.
When I asked my astrologer friends about all this, my fellow astrologer Lynn Hayes recommended an article by Richard Nolle. It’s fascinating to me that we both independently came to similar conclusions that Selena’s archetypal story is more in line with the real Black Moon Lilith rather than the hypothetical White Moon Selena everyone commonly uses (h56 )View. In fact, Noel went on to propose the idea that the point opposite Black Moon Lilith should actually be called Eve, so we have another path to explore! And then I didn’t even mention that there are some astrologers in continental Europe who believe that perigee, the point opposite Black Moon Lilith, is Priapus, the energetic god of fertility.Okay, now we have more How to explore the possibilities of Lilith’s shadow/opposite/counterpart. Maybe they are both right, and the layers of explanation create a 3D circular picture.
So, that’s the dilemma surrounding White Moon Selena (h56), and which point one explores the story at will come down to personal preference – either h56, or the degree to which it’s the opposite of the real Black Moon Lilith, ie Moon’s perigee. I prefer the latter because I don’t feel comfortable using a hypothetical moon that has no basis in reality.But others may find it adaptable symbolic I can’t argue with the implications and dynamics of this.
I should also say that any calculation of the moon’s apogee and perigee always has a slight margin of error due to the perturbation caused by the Sun’s gravitational pull on the Moon’s orbit. But despite this, the degree opposite Black Moon Lilith is still closer to perigee than Selina H56. You can also use h22 to calculate perigee on Astro.com. It won’t exactly oppose Black Moon Lilith unless one of them is conjunct or square the Sun, but it’s still worth trying the idea.
So, technical details aside (my head is still spinning!), how can we use these images, stories, and symbolism to better understand Selena White? While Black Moon Lilith and I are old friends, as she is directly conjunct the Sun in my natal chart, White Moon Selena is a new character on my archetypal stage. Here are the ideas I’m considering, starting with the dark goddess I’m familiar with and then moving on to the light.
When Black Moon Lilith is at the highest point of the moon, far, far away from the earth, we feel her gravitational pull from space and the pulling force deep within our hearts. But we can’t see her. She was a ghost, a disembodied thing that once became flesh and was allowed into heaven to be with Adam. But Adam was not kind to her. Adam thought he was better than her. So Lilith, who is powerful enough to know the name of God, says no! No, I won’t give in! She left the Garden of Eden, and because of her boldness and brazenness, Lilith has been demonized ever since, as have divine and earthly women throughout history.
Black Moon Lilith’s placement shows that we have great creative potential, but she is also where we feel demonized and unacceptable. She is the object of our rejection, the abuse we refuse to receive but often receive. She is a part of us that seems out of reach, inaccessible, but we feel her deeply and powerfully, with an emptiness inside of us, waiting to be filled. She is a witch, her archetype tainted over time, a cursed being, a scapegoat for the world’s horrors. Black Moon Lilith is the power of our magic when we focus our intention. As Lilith said, I desire to be made flesh, we also allow our desires to manifest.
So, what about Selena? The mythical Selene is a moon goddess – maid, mother, crone, much like the destinies Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos with whom Selene is sometimes associated. Out of interest, Lachesis gives us guardian angels, or spirit guides who accompany us throughout our lives. Finding the asteroid Lachesis in your natal chart can provide you with more relevant information. But, back to Selene, she is the mythical moon, the guiding light through the darkness.have a lot of Of course it’s more about her mythology, but that’s what I’m going to do now.
If Lilith is as we say No Yeah, then Selena is what we’re talking about Yes arrive.We know without a doubt that she is That’s it. She is where we feel happy, where we connect with our guardian angels, and where we feel protected. Banished from heaven, Black Moon Lilith was not protected. In many stories, she is said to have given birth to the horrors of the world. She is the mother of demons and the killer of human children. No one was there to celebrate her, inspire her or protect her legacy.
If Black Moon Lilith speaks of the manifestation of heavenly power coming to earth, then perhaps White Moon Selena is at the exact opposite level of the real Black Moon Lilith, representing the transformation from material to spiritual.If Selena is the moon’s perigee, then the reason we can relate to her so immediately is because she is closer for us.We find her easier to embody, easier to relate to because she’s in a way more like us Than Black Moon Lilith. Black Moon Lilith is so far away from us, so beyond our understanding, that she becomes that terrifying witch with the crooked nose and wild giggle, the Wicked Witch of the West. But Selena is so close to us, she is more like the kind old woman who lives in the last house in the village. After church on Sunday afternoon, you would quietly visit her because you needed a potion to amuse your lover, or cure an illness, or drive away a bit of bad luck. Maybe Selina is the Good Witch of the North. If Black Moon Lilith is the ghost that haunts us, then White Moon Selena may be a fairy godmother who can grant wishes one, two, and three. Now keep your heels together.
However, if we were to create an axis from these two, Black Moon Lilith and White Moon Selena are two sides of the same coin, both related to our lunar expression, both related to our emotional journey as souls. They all contain magic, not darkness or light, but a neutral force that changes according to our intentions. Although we use words like black and white, dark and light to describe them, they are more than just polarities. Neither is entirely bad or entirely good. Black Moon Lilith shows us that we need to respect our own identity, even when others have abandoned us. She is directly connected to our manifest magic. Remember, she knew God’s name! In the Shadows, without a clear and grounded consciousness embracing White Moon Selena, she could slip into spiritual bypass.
So, these are just some of my thoughts on Selena White Moon. As I said before, personally I would apply all of these meanings to the exact opposite of Black Moon Lilith’s true position in the chart rather than the h56 point, as the latter is not true in our physical universe point or object. However, I offer these thoughts gently, considering that other astrologers may have different theories, practices, and experiences, and knowing that our discipline continues to evolve as we learn more about the sky and ourselves.
