Moon is the most significant aspect in the study of Astrology. It is the most important aspect in analysis of a horoscope. Yes, the ascendant shows the destiny of this life (“Prarabdha” Karma) and “direction of the Outcome” of the past karma in this life but Moon shows the deepest desire of the soul. What the specific person loves the most and where he will spend his most of “mind-space”/ ”thoughts”. Moon can singlehandedly change the effectiveness of the horoscope – a troubled mind can never achieve its potential & a calm/tranquil mind can go through a sea of calamities with success (or at least not making it worse than it is!). If the ascendant shows the world’s perception about you – the window the world looks at you – Moon is who you actually are! Many people who seem to be miss-understood by masses have very conflicting or opposing / different influences on the ascendant & moon. (Salman Khan might very well have Rahu in the 1st house (Anger / Agitation) but Moon in Jupiter’s aspect!) Mind/emotions and intellect/brain are two different things – Mercury (Budh) controls the intellect / logical thinking but it is Moon that controls the emotions or mind of a person. That is the very reason why the current planets (Gochar) (weekly / monthly /annual horoscope) are analyzed from Moon and not from Sun or Ascendant. It all depends on a person’s “state of mind”: with the same material situation, different folks would perceive it differently. The concept of being happy or sad depends completely on the mind of a person! Moon is the fastest moving astral body going through 12 signs every approximately 28+ days. While Moon rotates around itself and the Earth, it also rotates around Sun. That’s why it is common sense to say that Moon is “Karak” or Governor of the mind & emotions. Moon is also the governor of Mother (Mata-karak), water, emotions/mind, silver apart from many other things.