Q&A: The Yin & Yang of the Moon & Sun
Today we’re answering the questions: Is the moon female or male? What about the sun?
This is a fascinating topic, because the concept of the sun and moon are present in many different modalities, in addition to our physical lives. In all modalities, including Buddhism, yoga, Taoism, and feng shui, the moon is female and the sun is male.
In feng shui, we describe the sun as yang energy. Yang energy relates to the time of day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., when the sun is at its highest. It is a more masculine energy, though it’s not necessarily related to gender. Yang energy is active, outward, and exterior. For example, the exterior of your home is more yang than the interior.
The moon, by contrast, is yin. Yin is dark, passive, internal energy, and relates to the time of night between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. This energy is more feminine. The moon is also considered female because we can see a connection between the moon and the female body.
The most important thing to remember is that these two energies cannot exist without each other. Light can’t exist without darkness, male can’t exist without female, and happiness can’t exist without sadness. Think of the yin yang symbol: a circle, which is a boundary, and within it a sine wave. One side is black (yin) with a little dot of white (yang), and the other is white with a little dot of black.
The beautiful thing about this symbol is that it’s not a static symbol; instead, it’s full of movement. It represents the paradoxical dualities of opposing forces that are always working together and in constant relationship.