The Moon and IC are complementary energies and are therefore difficult to differentiate sometimes. One way to help comprehend the two as separate is to understand that the houses are a projected or realized result of the experiences endured by their ruling planets. For example, the ASC begins developing the moment we are born, as we try to create an interface between our desires/cause for existing in the moment (Mars) and a world of people who don’t understand why we are crying. Because we are not born with the ability to communicate verbally, we develop a set of attitudes that help others figure out what we want right now. As we grow older those attitudes form the basis of how we interact with our environment, when we anticipate a gap between our environment and what we want from it (a room full of strangers for example).
Stated simply, the ASC is the identity we use to quickly express to strangers/people who are not familiar with us, how we prefer them to interface with us. In real estate terms it is your front yard. If you put a big fence up with a “Beware of Dog” sign, chances are, even the people you invite will be apprehensive. If your front yard is pristine and well maintained, or cozy and inviting, you may interest more than the people you invite to your doorstep. It really comes down to whom/what your Mars has learned over time, will facilitate the kind of experiences you want.
The IC on the other hand is the projected/realized result of our lunar experiences. The Moon’s energy is essentially the mechanism we use to consciously perceive our self, or reflect upon our Sun. Among many other things, it is our self-consciousness. Like the Moon's physical surface, that reflected consciousness remembers everything that impresses upon it and those impressions slowly warp and change the way the Sun is seen in the mirror of the Moon. These memories are our emotional foundations, or the foundations upon which we build our personal psychology. The IC is the space where we keep those foundations.
In real estate terms, the IC is our basement. In some people’s case it is the place where they display old football trophies, drink beers, and watch the game with old friends; a safe haven from disaster; where old holiday heirlooms and scrapbooks gather dust; or where they hide their S&M dungeon. It is the place where we have nothing to hide, because it is where we go to hide all our stuff. This also means it is the personal space we reserve for those who we have accepted into our club.
What differentiates the Moon from the IC is the fact that the Moon is the force actively experiencing reflecting, being impressed upon, seeking comfortable experiences, and instinctively arranging for our needs to be met. The IC is where all the conclusions about what we regularly expect to see when we reflect our Sun, what we remember being impressed upon us through our lives, what we conclude makes us feel comfortable, and where we know our needs will best be met.
Both IC and Moon are tied to our maternal experiences, as (in a seemingly ideal world) our mother is our first source of comfort and emotional stability. When we first see someone identify us as an individual it is our mother (again, in an ideal world) and the impression we get from that identification, becomes associated with how we cultivate comfort and develop the foundations for our on-going personalized concept of self.
Silly, but effective parallel: In The Little Mermaid, Ariel had a treasure trove known only to her and Flounder (Her best friend). The trove was filled with her secret desire to live beyond anything she was familiar with. Even though this was a fundamental part of her identity, Ariel hid the violence of her desire and visited the comfort of that place whenever she could. She was even able to hide it from her father, who destroyed the trove when he found out about it (spoiler alert lol). Eventually the need to express that part of her became too strong. The trove was an example of Ariel’s IC (perhaps in Sagittarius or Aquarius considering the idealism and freedom theme).
"The Snarfblat dates back to prehistarical times, when humans used to sit around and stare at each other all day..... Got very boring".