The Moon
in the Tenth House
This is an uncomfortable position for the Moon. It places the most vulnerable part of your psyche at the point in the horoscope where it is most exposed to public scrutiny. Still, in many cases, it can be a beneficial placement. People react to your humanity with sympathy. They identify with your weaknesses and fears and find your efforts to conceal your vulnerabilities endearing. But there’s always the chance that some of these people will see something within you that they don’t like, and their affirmation will turn into condemnation and ridicule.
You might think that you can ignore these judgments, but the fact is that your emotional security is strongly linked to what other people think about you. You are blessed and cursed with a deep and compelling need to be liked. You are blessed because this need to be liked can inspire you to work harder than everyone else and make the best use of whatever talents you have been given. It is an indicator of success. You are cursed because this need can cause you to be so focused on your public image that you disregard other important areas of your life.
There are also instances in which this need to be liked becomes simply a need to be noticed. The reasons for this would be found in other factors in the chart, but it often seems to turn the need to be liked on its head. You do all you can to not be liked, to be notorious and despised. There’s a certain logic to this. After all, it’s generally easier to piss people off than to make them happy. However, this kind of fame can never give you the emotional security that you seek. Eventually, if you are someone who enjoys playing the bad boy or girl, there comes a point when you are going to have to admit that this attention costs you more than it is worth.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the First
Everybody’s looking? “So what?” you say. You do what you want, and if people feel compelled to look, if people want to judge, let them. You’re not intimidated. Then there comes that moment when you feel a critical glare on the back of your neck, you hear a snide remark, or you see people looking away when you come near, and all that willful confidence comes crashing down.
Doing exactly what you want and pleasing everyone is not, in normal circumstances, possible. You have to make compromises. You have to learn to like doing things that please other people. For those of you who are able to make these compromises, the payoff can be tremendous. You command attention on two different levels: through your personality and through your work. When you get that ball rolling, even the most willful and impolite behavior is unlikely to impede your progress.
For those of you who are unwilling to compromise, the prognosis is not so positive. You might end up playing the bad boy or bad girl, getting plenty of attention but pleasing no one but yourself. There’s a lot of fun to be had with this plan, but it will never sustain your emotional needs. And when the fun is over, you might find yourself with nothing but a few really good stories about how you did it all your way and no one to tell them to.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Second
You understand the cash value of intuition and the usefulness of being sensitive to the likes and dislikes of other people. You are good at reading trends, and your instincts with regard to practical affairs are usually on target. But most of all, you are typically able to make maximum use of the fact that people tend to like you without appearing callous or calculating.
Putting all this together, it might seem that you have the perfect ingredients for fame and fortune, but there’s one glitch. Your focus on the material aspects of success often causes you to discount the emotional payoff you get from earning the praise and appreciation of your peers and the world. This leaves you vulnerable to extreme letdowns if and when those judgments turn negative and instead of applause you start hearings boos.
You are vulnerable because, as much as you appreciate the material benefits of success and achievement, it is the emotional benefits that you most require. You need to hear the affirmation of your peers. You need to know that you are respected by the people around you. If they want to also give you money, that’s okay, but no amount of material gain will ever replace what you would lose if that appreciation and respect were to go away.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Third
Your ambition tends to be focused on the specific, on the problems that are immediately in front of you in your small world. Though this might satisfy you, it is not likely to impress your peers. Regardless of the skills and intelligence you display, they are likely to judge what you do as trivial and see your point of view as limited by your personal experiences and an inability to see the big picture.
You may be tempted, for the sake of your Tenth House Moon, to think in broader terms and apply your talents in a more generalized way. But this is not your strength. Stepping out of your small world and trying to win the affirmation of strangers will always seem like a hollow act to you. Even when it works and you earn the positive judgment of your peers and the world, the emotional satisfaction you gain will always seem less than genuine.
You might have to be satisfied with a smaller audience, an audience that knows you in the context of your everyday activities and appreciates your attention to the immediate. With this audience behind you, you don’t need the affirmation of strangers. You can develop your problem-solving skills and ability to communicate to the fullest. You might even be able get the larger world to notice you. However, even if that happens, it will still be the approval of the people in that small audience that will matter most to you.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Fourth
The audience that has or had the biggest influence in your life was likely your very first audience: your parents and your family. Whether or not you pleased this audience can have a huge impact on how you live your life. If you wowed them—if you won their unqualified approval—then the opinion of any other audience at any other point in your life is likely to seem unimportant. But if this audience disapproved or just remained neutral, then it is unlikely that the affirmation of any audience you face in your adult life will be enough to satisfy you.
The fact is that the vast majority of people with this combination are in the second of these categories. Even if you got only good reviews from your parents, there were likely still moments of doubt. For this reason, the overriding theme of your life is probably going to be the conflict between your ambition and your fear of a public disapproval that will echo the disapproval you encountered (or felt that you encountered) in your childhood.
Your success in the world will greatly depend on how you react to this conflict. You might withdraw into fear and bitterness and blame your parents for you failures. Or you might be inspired to work harder and strive for approval. The rest of your horoscope will have something to say about the choices you make, but in the final analysis, the determining factor will be you.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Fifth
Typically for people with the Sun in the Fifth House, the mission is to simply follow your passion, but with this combination, things are different. You need to follow your passion in a way that will please other people. Your passion isn’t just about your drive, your desire, your pleasure, it’s also about inspiring, lifting up, or maybe just entertaining someone else. It’s about being of use to your peers and to the world. When this is done right, it can lead to great success.
It’s getting it right that’s the problem. You may feel that the fact you are being observed cramps your creativity and your ability to express your passion to the fullest. Your passion is supposed to be about you, not the judgment of your peers. Submitting the products of that passion to such a judgment might seem like a sacrilege, or at least an intrusion into your autonomy. What business is it of the world’s what you do for your own enjoyment?
To get it right, you have to reach beyond the essential selfishness of the Sun in the Fifth House. You have to accept the fact that creativity for its own sake is pointless, that no matter what it is you make—be it a screenplay or a business plan—it has no meaning until it has been put out into the world. The world might beat it down a bit. It might reshape it and tear off a piece here or there. You might not even recognize your creation when the world is through with it, but if your passion is still at its core, it’s still yours. Only now it might be doing something good for someone else.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Sixth
You are often surprised that people seem to notice you, and you’re never quite sure why it is that they expect you to lead them. Often this places you in uncomfortable positions. You might react to this discomfort by intentionally playing the villain, the rebel, the bad girl or boy. However, this is not going to stop people from noticing you, and, in some cases, it will attract even more attention.
Once you get beyond this discomfort, however, this can be a productive combination. You are humble enough to not take the good opinion of the world for granted. You understand that you have to produce results in order to earn its praise and support. Sometimes this means doing the dirty work—the routine tasks that make everything else possible—and sometimes it means bringing things down to the basics and making sure that everything you do is grounded in real life.
On the other hand, there is always the potential with this combination that you will be overwhelmed by the attention your Tenth House Moon attracts. A lot will depend on other factors in the horoscope, but, typically, you are not well equipped to deal with too much notoriety. You are more comfortable working in the background, away from the wide eyes and high expectations of the world. It may be necessary for you to periodically escape from the Moon in the Tenth spotlight and find a quiet corner where you can just be yourself, unnoticed and unjudged.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Seventh
How other people judge you and the impression you make on the world are often dependent on your relationship with someone else. This relationship could be with a spouse, a relative, an accomplice, a competitor, or even an enemy. It might have lasted a lifetime, or it might have been over in a few brutal seconds. Whatever the nature of the relationship, it will call forth features of your character that will in some way define you to your peers and determine how you feel about your place in the world.
This is not to say that you can’t do important things on your own. This is actually a powerful combination. You don’t just attract attention. With the Sun in the Seventh, you also make a strong impression on people on a one-to-one basis. Generally speaking, you tend to be the dominant partner in most relationships. However, the relationship that ultimately forms your public image may be one that is totally beyond your control.
The great challenge in your life is often rising above the relationship that defines you and making a place in the world that is all your own. This doesn’t mean that you have to disown that relationship or throw off the public definition it has given you. It means that you have to build something positive out of that definition, something that transcends your connection to that relationship and redefines you in a way that is both true and emotionally satisfying.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Eighth
Of all the combinations with the Moon in the Tenth, this is the one most likely to take on a role of reprobate. This is partly because you want to scare people off. You play the bad guy or the tough girl and exaggerate the darker side of your nature so that people won’t see the confusion and uncertainty that lie beneath. Truth be told, you are as frightened by this darkness as anyone.
What befuddles you is the fact that even when you are at your most devilish, people still seem to like you. In fact, it’s almost as if they are inviting you to play this role. It’s even more confusing for those people with this combination who choose to place nice. You’re pretty sure that the world can still see your flaws and unseemly obsessions, and yet they don’t seem to flinch. If they knew you like you know yourself, they would back the heck off.
Of course, you have to admit that, compared to the emotional issues with which most people deal, yours tend to be much more interesting. That’s because you face the big questions about life and death, good and evil, on a deep and intimate level. Most people don’t have the courage to go where you go. That’s why they so often find you fascinating, no matter how badly you behave.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Ninth
People aren’t just inclined to notice you, they’re likely to listen to you as well. You have a way of expressing yourself that convinces people that you know more than they know, that you view the world from a higher perspective. The degree to which this is true will depend on other factors in the horoscope and how well you use your Ninth House Sun, but just the perception is often enough to satisfy your emotional need for the respect of your peers.
There is potential with this combination for phenomenal wisdom, but it has to be earned. The knowledge you need can come from a variety of sources. With the Moon in the Tenth, you will usually have no trouble finding teachers and mentors to help you along the way. However, it is always up to you to judge the value of what these people are teaching and to make the most of what you learn.
What you have to keep in mind is that the same things that make people listen to you when you’re speaking with intelligence will make it doubly noticeable if you start spouting nonsense. You have to develop your mind. You have to make sure that your emotions or the expectations of the world don’t twist your logic. This doesn’t mean you can’t be wrong or subject to the intellectual blind spots that plague us all. You just have to be sure that what you preach reflects the best of you and never the worst.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Tenth
You identify strongly with what you do, both in terms of your work and the role you play in the public scheme. In some cases, this role is the only thing people see of you. It is as if you were born into it, that it is your destiny. Obviously, there are benefits to this way of living. It provides the potential for phenomenal success. However, there are also drawbacks.
In some cases, your close identification with what you do leaves you with no time or energy for anything else. Things like relationships, your health, and your peace of mind suffer. You really enjoy fulfilling the calling you’ve taken on, and you get an emotional charge out of doing it well. Other areas of your life might be more problematic. It is only within your work that you feel content and secure.
Of course, closely identifying yourself with your career is no guarantee against failure. Forces beyond your control can disrupt your working life and put an end to your contentment. Dealing with such a turn of events would likely be very difficult for you, but it could also be a wake-up call, reminding you that everyone needs a break, even the ones who are following their destiny.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Eleventh
You don’t worry much about being noticed and judged by other people because there is only one audience whose opinion you value. That is the opinion of your chosen, intentional community. If you can earn their praise, their respect, then what the rest of the world thinks doesn’t matter. By limiting the number of people you want to make happy, you are able to approach life with a high degree of confidence and certainty.
Of course, that all depends on you being sure of the affection and respect of that community of like-minded people. If for any reason you should begin to doubt their acceptance, your certainly will fall away, leaving you afloat in a sea of anxiety. It is not as if you can change your loyalties. That would alienate you from the only people whose opinion you value. So, instead, you struggle to win them back to reestablish their faith in you and your loyalty.
Your need for the approval of your intentional community makes it doubly important that you choose the right community. You must have clear, rational reasons for aligning yourself with a social or political cause, reasons that go beyond gaining the acceptance of this or that group of people. With this combination, you have the potential to become a powerful spokesperson and advocate, but only if the cause you serve is worthy of your skills.
The Moon in the Tenth House with the Sun in the Twelfth
For you, the need to please other people can become a serious distraction. With the Sun in the Twelfth, your primary mission is to look inside yourself, but it’s hard to do this when you’re so aware of the world outside and the observations and judgments being made there. You can find yourself in the dubious position of trying to please the outside world when you don’t really understand what’s going on inside you.
This is particularly likely when the Moon is activated by close aspects or strong by sign. Since you are so emotionally invested in pleasing people, or at least in getting their attention, putting on a show for the observers can become an obsession. It feels so good when they applaud, and so bad when they don’t, that you keep dancing faster and giving more of yourself until you have nothing left to give.
However, if you can avoid this trap, there is great potential with this combination. You can become an example to others of how a person can conquer his or her inner demons, of how the surrender of ego can open doors to inner peace and profound wisdom. This is obviously a more difficult path, and those of you who take it are unlikely to achieve the notoriety of those who don’t, but what you stand to accomplish with this path has value that far exceeds mere popularity.