The Ascendant-Descendant axis is the axis of presence and encounter: myself facing the other. When the Black Moon in transit touches it, by conjunction, opposition, square, trine or sextile, the lack makes itself heard in the very way of being there and of standing opposite. I would like to say what each aspect awakens, and why, on this axis, the answer is always on the other side.
The axis, before the aspect
A transit of the Black Moon announces nothing. I want to say this before anything else, because it is the first question I am asked. The Black Moon is not a body that acts; it is a void that moves, and for a few months it stands at one place of the zodiac and of the chart. What it does there is make a lack audible: the Call, which I described on the page Lilith, the Black Moon, makes itself heard where the Black Moon passes.
The Ascendant is the point of the zodiac that was rising in the east at birth; it opens house 1, the house of the body that appears. The Descendant faces it, in the west; it opens house 7, the house of the other. The two form a single axis, and that is the first thing to understand in order to read a transit of the Black Moon to one or the other: touching one end of the axis is touching the other. A conjunction to the Ascendant is an opposition to the Descendant, and the reverse. I therefore read each aspect on the whole axis.
The second thing to understand is the rule I hold from the birth chart and apply in transit as well: the three respondents of the Black Moon, Christos for the Mean, Apollo for the Corrected, Priapus for the True, always stand opposite it. On the Ascendant-Descendant axis this becomes very readable: when the Black Moon is on one, its respondents are on the other.
Conjunction to the Ascendant, opposition to the Descendant
The Black Moon rises. For a few weeks for the Mean, back and forth for the True, the lack makes itself heard in presence itself: the way of holding oneself, of appearing, of beginning. I often see, at this passage, a person who no longer quite recognizes themselves in their way of being there, who feels too visible or not visible enough, or who is tempted to change their look, their name, their body, as if the place to be taken were no longer the right one.
Its respondents, meanwhile, are on the Descendant. The answer is therefore not sought in work on oneself, but in the encounter: what the other reflects back, what they resist, what they propose. It is one of the transits in which one learns the most from one's relationships, provided one does not flee them.
Conjunction to the Descendant, opposition to the Ascendant
The Black Moon sets, opposite. The lack makes itself heard in the bond: the expectation placed on the other, the disappointment, the fascination, the temptation to expect a partner to fill the place, or to break off so as not to feel it anymore. I read this passage, in many people, as a laying bare of relationships: what held by habit no longer holds, what was missing from the bond becomes audible.
Its respondents are on the Ascendant. The answer lies in presence to oneself: consenting to be there, oneself, before asking the other to be there. It is the transit in which one understands that the bond was missing, first of all, the one who stood in it.
Square to the axis
The Black Moon square the Ascendant is square the Descendant: it stands at the Midheaven or at the Imum Coeli, on the vertical axis, the axis of the public place and the home. The lack does not bear directly on presence or on the bond, but it puts them under tension from the other axis: what is missing in vocation or in roots weighs on the way of being there and of standing opposite. I read the square as a demand that comes from elsewhere and forces the horizontal axis to move. The answer is sought at the opposite point of the square, Imum Coeli for a square from the Midheaven, and the reverse, where the respondents stand.
Trine and sextile to the axis
A trine of the Black Moon to the Ascendant is a sextile to the Descendant, and the reverse. I do not read these aspects as facilities, as is often said of trines. A void gives no gifts. The trine gives the lack a form that lets itself be heard without crisis: what is missing in presence or in the bond is said, recognized, and can be worked on without anything collapsing. The sextile asks for a gesture: the place opens, but one has to take it. These are the passages in which the answer can be chosen rather than endured, and that is precisely why they are so often allowed to pass without anything being done.
Durations
The Mean Black Moon advances about forty degrees a year: with an orb of two degrees, an exact aspect to the axis lasts five to six weeks. The True oscillates around the Mean by up to about thirty degrees, and can therefore make and remake the same aspect several times in a few months, with stations: those are the dates when the body makes itself heard. The Corrected follows an intermediate curve. The application calculates all three and gives the exact dates for your chart.
And the other angles
The Midheaven and the Imum Coeli receive the same aspects, with the same logic: conjunction to one, opposition to the other, respondents opposite. What they awaken is the place taken before everyone and the home: see the worksheets Black Moon in transit in house 10 and in house 4.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the Black Moon conjunct the Ascendant last?
Five to six weeks for the Mean Black Moon, with an orb of two degrees. The True can return to the point several times in a few months.
Is a trine of Lilith to the Ascendant favorable?
I do not read the aspects of the Black Moon in terms of favorable or unfavorable. The trine gives the lack a form that lets itself be heard without crisis, and the answer can be chosen there. It still has to be chosen.