Book Review of Shadows: The Lunar Gospel by Cal Garrison

🔮🔮🔮🔮/5!

Astrology is a vast subject with lots of different sources of information – sometimes too many – and learning details about specific topics can be daunting. The Lunar Gospel perfectly covers your moon sign, along with your lunar nodes and what the presence of the moon in your chart means for you. That’s it! Despite the succinct subject matter, I learned so much from this little book. It explained my moon sign and the lunar nodes like little puzzle pieces, and told me how to put them all together in a way I haven’t found elsewhere.

This book was a quick, fun, and enlightening read. In 200 pages you have 8 chapters that cover the moon in astrology and what it means in the signs and houses, what the lunar nodes are and what they mean in the signs and houses, and finally it explains how to bring that information together and actually use it. The author also talks about the very extended asteroid system she uses, which was really interesting and new to me. (I’ve talked about some of the asteroids, but there are so many more!) The book is beautifully descriptive and non-judgmental, and explains things in a way I found very easy to understand.

Let’s get a little personal for a minute…

My moon is in Libra in the 11th house, then my North Node is in Aries in the 5th house, with the South again being in Libra/11th. before reading the book I was really stuck on a few things that didn’t seem to add up – namely the fact that I don’t have the libran obsession with relationships (no judgement), and the 5th house is the house of children and YIKES. If the moon represents my emotions, and the north node is my future or destiny, does that mean I’m living the wrong life? I never wanted kids, and honestly don’t care either way if I get married or am in a long relationship – but always dreamed of having my own life that was what I wanted. A house that I bought and that I made mine, to be my own boss at a job I could be proud of, basically just to have opportunities to be and discover who I truly am. I am very stubborn about the way I personally do things and express myself, and have very distinct lines drawn in the sand when it comes to certain things. A lot of friends and family have often joked that I instantly know what I don’t want, even if I have no idea what I do want. That usually doesn’t change much over time. ANYWAY, that doesn’t really line up with being an out-loud diplomatic relationship expert who pines for a boyfriend, you know?

This book goes beyond saying “the moon is your emotions” and explains that the moon indicates what KIND of people we come from, what our past lives have shown us, and where we might fit in. It’s concepts we’re comfortable with, because we’ve graduated from that class already. That definitely changes things a bit. It explains why I’ve always just felt differently about relationships than a lot of other people I know. The 11th house is all about friendships, non-possessive relationships (friends, non blood family, step/foster children) and the groups and people we surround ourselves with. It’s also a fairly spiritual house.

Then we have the lunar nodes – North and South. This are also about your past, past lives, your soul’s journey, and the things you need to learn in this life time. The South Node is your past and past lives, with the North Node pointing your way along the path of fulfillment. Your south node indicates things and concepts you’re comfortable with, but again because you’ve already done this. These can be a trap that will be easy for you to fall into. Mine is, again, in Libra and, again, points to someone who was dedicated enough time to relationships, but can’t help but think “this is something I SHOULD be doing”. So this lifetime instead of dedicating myself to these romantic pursuits I should pick a more aries path – which means putting myself first and focusing on cultivating my own identity. In past lives I was no doubt always in relationships or co-dependent in some way and never had a chance to actually solidify who I am. Even though I’ve never been overly interested in romantic relationships, it’s not like I never entered into them and didn’t focus so hard on them at times. Around the same time I stopped trying to attract a partner, stopped trying to make myself look good in someone else’s eyes, stopped trying to be a person that COULD be in a normal relationships, and started focusing on my self and health and career, my life really changed. I felt stuck for a long time, and now I really feel like I’m moving. That path also leads me through the 5th house, the one most associated with children, but that’s not all. This house is about PLEASURE and FUN and CREATIVITY. It indicates that focusing on my happiness and creativity and desires is exactly what I should be doing this time around – because my soul didn’t really get the chance before. It was so comforting to read all of this about myself. It was like all of these pieces that sort of made sense on their own, have finally clicked together and formed a more clear picture of me.

Ok, back to the book…

I would recommend this book to someone newish to astrology (should know what a moon sign and birth chart are, at least), but also to those who’ve been studying for a while. This way of explaining the moon and the lunar nodes makes so much sense, and blends together so well. If you’re curious about past lives, digging in to your lunar nodes and their positions and aspects to other planets can be a great starting point. I never felt like the author was dumbing anything down, or that I was getting some half-cocked astrology idea. I also never felt judged even though I lived a very south node life for quite some time before figuring my shit out haha, but have definitely been inspired and have a new perspective on my purpose and future.