Tuesday, September 18, 2018

The Cosmic Story: Aries/Libra Full Moon, 2018



Growing into a New Life: Our Initiation into Love


Center of the Milky Way Galaxy


If we’ve worked with the Virgo New Moon’s energies, grounding in new behaviors and ideas, we’re ready to grow into our new life, our new story. It’s going to be an initiation and a stretch for us to listen to the voice of our soul rather than the chaotic voices of our world. So how do we keep on track as we learn and grow into our new selves?

We need a story to walk with. We need a vision that holds us in wonder and awe, in magic and possibilities. That’s what good astrology and mythology and sacred stories do. They walk with us through life and change how we see ourselves and our possibilities. When we walk with someone as a companion, we want to be the best we can be. Because we’re walking in a field of love. Whether it’s love of God/Goddess, love of partner or child, love of nature or for poor, suffering humanity, we are most ourselves in the interchange of love.

Unbeknownst to most people, we have a living mythology we can relate to and walk with. The cosmic story that the planets tell us every day. Most especially the Moon, which moves through the astrological signs every 2 ½ days, receiving the light and energy of all the other planets as she circles us every month. The Moon tells stories if we know how to listen.

 
Mystery Moon

The Moon is a mystery-keeper as well as a time-keeper. Working with the cycle of the Moon can keep us centered in the NOW as well as in Eternity. For there are two types of time. Chronos time is our clock time, the time we agree to share with others. Kairos time is Spirit’s time – real time, eternal time. The Moon can ground us in both.

This Aries/Libra Full Moon is the beginning of a another cycle, since Aries is that fire-bolt from heaven that starts the whole thing rolling. Every year at this time, we begin a new emotional, lunar cycle through the zodiac. While the solar cycle starts in March/April with the Sun in Aries and impels us to find out who I am, the Aries lunar cycle begins in August/September with the question, who am I in relationship with others?  It coincides with the harvest times in the northern hemisphere.

  The storyline for each Aries Full Moon is the Libra mystery: how do you and I compliment each other? How well do we fit together? How do we achieve some kind of balance between me and my desires, and you and your desires? How do I relate to others? To my family and friends, lovers and strangers? How do I relate to the world?

So if that’s the energy of this Full Moon, let’s walk with that story for the next astrological month of Libra. 

\
 Sunset over Cape Cod Bay

All of the planetary energies are filtered through our Moon, which aspects them all as She moves through the month. As the Moon Mother, she sheds the Love of the Universe down on each of us. Libra and the 7th house are associated with relationships, perhaps because, if we look at the astrological chart, it is when the Sun comes down from the heavens to be welcomed by the Earth as mate and partner before slipping below the Equator for the next few seasons.

If you know your chart, these stories will have deeper meaning and resonance for you. But they still describe the energies available to each of us, energies that reshape our lunar life each year.

Aries/Libra Full Moon 2018

This year’s Aries/Libra Full Moon occurs on September 24th at 7:52pm PDT/ 10:52pm EDT and on September 25th at 3:52am GMT. 

 

This Full Moon’s energy is enhanced by Mercury and Ceres in Libra, Chiron Rx in Aries and Saturn and Vesta in Capricorn.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 2* Libra is: The light of the sixth Race transmuted to the seventh. (SS) This can be understood in terms of the meaning of the numbers 6 and 7 and is illustrated in the Seed of Life. The number 6 represents the synthesis of descending spirit and ascending matter – the union of opposites and the fruition of all our past efforts. Within the six-fold fruition the seed is found – the seventh. 

The Seed of Life
 
It’s time to live out of this seed Self. This is the new birth we are striving to grow into. We need the emotional strength and courage of the Aries Full Moon to achieve it.

The Sabian symbol for Mercury at 6* Libra is: A man watches his ideals taking a concrete form before his inner vision. (SS) We have to learn to visualize what it is we want to create, so that this new creation will manifest as we will it to be.

The Sabian symbol for Ceres at 9* Libra is: Three ‘old masters’ hanging on the wall of a special room in an art gallery. (SS) It’s always important to reground ourselves in eternal values. The number 3 symbols a process of manifestation – something is happening that is essential. How we relate to power, Love-Wisdom and intelligence-in- action depends on being grounded in great, unchanging spiritual realities.

These three planetary energies are engaged in a new birth – a new way of being grounded in the Self yet opened to the Other, nurtured by Ceres’ spiritual realities and Mercury’s inner visualization. We can achieve our goals if we ground them in the spiritual necessities of our times. We are not here for ourselves anymore – we are here for the future.

Often the Full Moon in Aries is seen as a struggle between being ‘self-centered’ and ‘other-centered’. But if we keep in mind what we’ve learned through this year, this Aries Full Moon could be a game-changer. With Chiron retrograde conjunct the Aries Moon, we can either spend our time being re-traumatized by our old wounds or finally free of them. And free to start a new life with Aries courage and leadership.

We call Chiron the wounded healer because in the myth, he was wounded by a poisoned arrow and, being immortal, couldn’t die. But before his wound, Chiron was the mentor of heroes. And that’s his function now if we let him mentor us into a true sense of who we are that doesn’t take away from who the other is. If we take up our archetypal identity, our deep soul identity, Chiron can mentor us so we do become the person we’re meant to be.

And integrating our Aries emotional body with the conscious Libra Sun, Mercury and Ceres, we can become the hero/heroine of our own story. And that story includes our purpose in the world and for the world.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 2* Aries is: A comedian reveals human nature. (SS) Comedians give us an objective view of ourselves and others and show us both our strengths and our weaknesses. At the moment, they seem to be the ‘real news’ carriers. And they do it with humour because if we can laugh at ourselves, we won’t get caught up in pride, stubbornness and anger. A good way to deal with an Aries Moon!  Chiron’s mentoring will help us hear the truth and perhaps live that truth.

The Sabian symbol for Chiron retrograde at 1* Aries is: A woman just risen from the sea. A seal is embracing her. (SS) Here Chiron can heal and mentor the new form arising from the ocean of the collective unconscious. We are all participating in this awakening, and we each have to do our part in our own re-birth. 

Mermaid - Woman Rising from the Sea.
 

But we are also part of collective humanity’s awakening and evolution, which includes nature. We are part of Mother Earth’s ecosystem, and we have to re-claim our place in it. In Celtic mythology, the seal holds a special connection to humans and is believed to have the ability to shed its skin and become a human. But it is the mournful song of the seals, so human-sounding, that tugs at the heart. A magical call of the sea, the seal song reminds us that we too came from the great ocean of life and long to be united with Spirit. (A great Neptune retrograde in Pisces image!)

This woman, arising along with the Leo Solar Eclipse’s mermaid desiring a human form, is the New Feminine, ready to give birth to a new world. It is a call for women to embody our souls, and for men to listen to their souls. And it’s time to step forward and be the vanguard of the future. Let Chiron heal the wounds to your old identity and mentor you into your new archetypal identity, with Love at the center.

Saturn and Vesta come into this picture via a Cardinal T-Square, a tense 90* aspect to the opposition of the Full Moon. With these planets in Cardinal signs, there are three different urges for action that have to be integrated Self, Other, Society

Saturn: Lord of Boundaries
 

Saturn is the Great Initiator, the energy that tests us with limits, frustrations and obstacles. And yet, his gifts are responsibility, authority and manifestation. Coupled with Vesta, the great Priestess of the Fires of Life, they will test our will to success in this new birth. Vesta can help integrate the Cardinal call to action, uniting the three needs of self, other and society. Call on the Priestess to guide you through these initiations, always staying true to your Self and open to the Other.

The Sabian symbol for Saturn and Vesta at 3* Capricorn is: The human soul, in its eagerness for new experiences, seeks embodiment. (SS) Here we see a strong desire to prove oneself in this new life we’re creating. We need our emotional body to embody fully now. So the 4th leg of this triangle, which is in Cancer, suggests that we really know what we need and then ask for it to ground in this new life. (It’s what your heart needs, not your head!)

Our initiation challenge is to desire this new life with passion, love and vision. To do this, we have to listen to our hearts. Gregg Braden has a program on Gaia that speaks to how we can listen more clearly to our hearts. The exercise is simple: 1) touch your heart to bring your consciousness there. 2) slow down your breathing and 3) feel appreciation, gratitude, care and/or compassion for at least 3 minutes. Do this exercise every day, and it will open up your heart’s channel of communication with your brain so you are more in touch with your intuition, feelings, and creative imagination.

So we do have some tension at this Full Moon, but it can be the exciting (Aries) tension of adventure and determination rather than fear. Fortunately, we do have the tools to meet our initiation and pass through it.

However, there’s another T-Square of tension between the rulers of Aries and Libra which has to be resolved. And it is linked to the Full Moon by an inconjunct from Uranus in Taurus to the Sun and Moon. This aspect forces us to stretch ourselves to bring in this new energy. We have to look wider afield than we usually do. A new world needs new forms of energy, vision and empowerment. And Uranus can awaken us to these new forms, especially because it is still in a helpful trine to Saturn/Vesta. The old is giving way to the new. Believe it!

There is a Fixed T-Square between Aries’ ruler Mars in Aquarius (conjunct the South Node), Libra’s ruler Venus in Scorpio and Uranus retrograde in Taurus. Fixed signs shape and form the energies. It can be stubborn about it too. With this T-Square, the forms have to learn to be compatible.  It is grounded in the 4th leg of the North Node in Leo, asking us to own our creative self-expression -- what we are sent here to develop!


Love Conquers War.

Mars has just come out of its retrograde and is moving ahead in Aquarius. Mars is our action-oriented energy, and in Aquarius Mars is altruistic, and so the energy is unselfish and public-spirited. So right there we see that this Aries Full Moon probably won’t descend into selfishness. Our Mars energy is transforming from aggression to assertion, from competition to cooperation, from domination to equality. We can see that our society still has a long way to go, but at least the injustice and inequality is out in the open now.

Venus is the ruler of Libra, bringing her beauty, harmony and artistry into our lives. She is willing to compromise to keep the peace because she understands the fine art of diplomacy. But more importantly, She describes what and how we value and give meaning to our life experiences. It is Her values that motivate our Mars actions and guide our life goals. She is the heart of the matter – Goddess of Love/Goddess of Wisdom.
(see Wisdom’sDaughters: How Women Can Change the World for more on Venus/Aphrodite.)

Venus is traveling in the underworld of Scorpio now and is about to turn retrograde as she hurries to meet up with the Sun. All bets are off now. What will She be willing to do to find justice and equality as She ends her journey in Libra once again? Venus will be ending her cycle as an Evening Star of Wisdom and after the retrograde will become a Morning Star again. The Morning Star is the Warrior Maiden, springing new and fresh from the Underworld. Just so you know what to expect!

Venus turns retrograde on October 5th at 11* Scorpio and travels back to 26* Libra by November 16th. Venus in Scorpio can release our old relationship wounds, whether from parents, siblings, friends or lovers. Dane Rudhyar calls it a ‘new quality of will and purpose.’ The fierce feminine is rising up.

(I will be writing about Venus retrograde and the myth of Psyche and Eros during her time in the Underworld.)

With Venus opposite Uranus retrograde, a real breakthrough is possible. What this means for this T-Square is still a mystery, a mystery that we must each discover in our own hearts. Once again, try out Braden’s Heart connection exercise to keep in touch with your Venus as she travels through the underworld.

(I’ve been using Dane Rudhyar’s book on Sabian Symbols: An Astrological Mandala (SS) but the meaning it gave for the following energies just doesn’t feel right. So I explored other astrological meanings and I like using David Cochrane’s (DC), an  incredible vibrational astrologer. )

During the Full Moon, Venus is at 9* Scorpio. The meaning of 9* Scorpio is that of intelligence, spontaneous inspiration and expression of feelings, and the capability to deal with the public (DC). These might be qualities we need to release from the Underworld and bring back with us. And with Venus, the shadow quality most likely would be jealousy, of others who do what you do, or love who you love.

Until we love and value ourselves, we will be insecure and need to deal with our Shadows. When we embrace all of who we are, we do much better at living life.

The meaning of 4* Aquarius is idealistic, sensitive, compassionate, concerned with inner, spiritual development (DC). With Mars here, it confirms the transformation that occurred during Mars’ retrograde.

Venus and Mars are in a challenging square to each other, but it is a waning square, so it’s about preserving the seeds of our values and true beliefs. Uranus retrograde will help inspire these two energies. Prepare yourselves! And keep your journal close by.

The meaning of 1* Taurus is inner strength and intensity, deeply loving and magnetic. (DC) And the Sabian symbol for 1* Taurus is: An electric storm.(SS) That’s what this might feel like! (We’ve been having them all day during Mars square Uranus – also a waning square.) It fits Uranus to a T.

This is the Harvest Moon. Go out and let it shine on you.

Blessings of the Harvest and Autumn Equinox,

Cathy



Zion National Park


I should be content
to look at a mountain
for what it is
and not as a comment
on my life.

~ David Ignatow ~

(News of the Universe, ed. by Robert Bly)

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Thursday, September 6, 2018

The Cosmic Story; Virgo New Moon 2018

The Cosmic Story: Virgo New Moon 2018

What New You Have You Birthed This Year?


Virgo, the Virgin


As we leave the summer and creative, playful Leo behind, we begin to shift our attention inwards to see what we have harvested this year.

Mutable signs signal that their season is about to shift. Just as Gemini balances the shift between Spring and Summer, Virgo balances the shift from Summer to Autumn. After the fertility and growth of summer, we look at the abundance of our harvests. To do this, we have to slow down and use our discernment to really see what kind of life we’re living. And how well that’s going for us.

Virgo brings us back to our center, to our essence. This is where we weave together the strands of our life, where we create a whole picture of who we are. Once we know who we are, we can begin to know our purpose.

This is the Virgin who belongs to herself. She offers us self-knowledge and self-ownership. But if you look at the constellation of Virgo, the Virgin holds in her hands the harvest or her Child. This symbolizes the realization of her potential. It is not enough to belong to yourself – you have to develop your potential to be truly virginal. 

Isis & Horus
 

Virgo is the energy that helps us develop our fullest potential. Virgo’s gift is to look at and evaluate our harvest, our health and our wholeness. Virgo’s favorite virtue is integrity (soundness, wholeness, completeness- Lat. Integritas).

Each year we cycle through the task of growing older. Every year, we have the chance to grow and change (or choose to diminish and lessen). Virgo’s service to us is to give us that chance to re-organize ourselves as we finish up the lessons of the past year. Who have we become this year?

As we approach the balance of Light and Dark at the Autumn Equinox, this Virgo New Moon is a call to once again analyze, understand and integrate the changing components of our body, soul and spirit for another year.

Why? To prepare us to go out into the world again. As we enter the sign of Libra, we begin the seasons of darkness and social intercourse. We band together in the darkness to create a brighter light.

So, what do you have to offer? That’s your Virgo New Moon assignment. Know yourself is Virgo’s motto. Who are you and what new integration are you undergoing? And how will you bring it into our world? (I’m offering a workshop on that very subject.)

We are called to heal our world, especially those of us who have healed ourselves. This is Virgo’s gift of service and humility. We need a more awakened society to heal and help the future. So please, share yourselves and your knowledge and wisdom with
your community so we can change how our world operates.

Begin with the feminine values of community and cooperation and the masculine powers of focus and reasoning. After all, we are all in this mess together. If we want to leave war and destruction behind us, we have to live it out with our neighbors.

Virgo New Moon 2018

The Virgo New Moon occurs on Sunday, September 9, 2018 at 11:01am PDT/ 2:01pm EDT/ 7:01pm GMT.


The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 17* Virgo is: An Ouija board.
Ah! Ouija boards! How we let the magic and message come through our fingertips. It’s a great symbol for grounding in our ‘psychic’ or right-brain abilities so we can listen to our senses, speak with the elements, imagine the future. Often feared as an instrument of ‘evil’, we have to learn to embrace the unknown rather than vilify it. It’s time to open ourselves to other possibilities if we’re going to ground in a different future.



This Sun and Moon dance with three other planets – Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. These energies can bring in divine revelations of a new order of living or create more illusions and delusions about hidden conspiracies and agendas. So choose the clear light of your own beliefs rather than the fog of collective misinformation.

A New Moon unites the solar light of consciousness with the lunar light of the unconscious. It’s an ah! ah!moment. A moment when a new seed possibility is created.

Into this Virgo new seed is poured the easy trine energy of Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto as Lord of the Underworld is a great candidate for the energy using the Ouija board. What is Pluto telling us about our society and how we’re affected by it and how we can affect it? We need to take his messages seriously.

Jupiter in Scorpio sextiles the New Moon, offering us an opportunity to incorporate what we’ve discovered about our shadows into our new potentials. As Jung said, our shadows are 99% gold if we work on them. Lots of extra energy and light becomes available when we do.

With the groundedness of Pluto and the emotional awareness of Jupiter, the opposition of Neptune rx in Pisces to this Virgo New Moon should help us rather than harm us. Neptune stretches this very grounded Virgo New Moon to incorporate that Ouija board’s messages. Opposites are complementary – they fit together if we don’t let them pull us apart. Our Piscean vision works through Jupiter to deliver the goods – the imagination and hope that this new me is viable.

The really big gift of this Virgo New Moon is the grand trine that incorporates Virgo’s ruling planet – Mercury. 

Hermes Trismegisthus
 

A grand trine has at least one planet in each of the element’s three signs. Along with the New Moon we have an earth grand trine between Uranus Rx in Taurus, Mercury in Virgo and Saturn (SD) in Capricorn. This resonates with the last Pisces Full Moon grand earth trine of Virgo Sun along with Saturn and Uranus. Hopefully we got the picture of how we’ve changed, or mean to. Now we get the mental blueprint.

Grounding in the chaotic (out of chaos comes new form) energies from this summer’s multiple retrogrades, Mercury here takes on his alchemical role of Mercurius, Hermes Psychopomp – Guide of Souls, Hermes Trismegisthus or the Egyptian Thoth – healer and teacher of magic. During those two months of summer, Mercury went through the alchemical fires of summer in the sign of the hot summer Sun, Leo. Our old ways of thinking have been tempered in the fires and we’re ready to see the world in new ways. Our brains are opening up.

With our alchemical guide, Hermes Trismegisthus, our rational mind can entwine with our imagination and our physical skill for greater and broader vision, understanding and action. 

 

Virgo’s Mercury operates differently from Gemini’s Mercury. Virgo’s earthy nature gives this mind the patience and concentration it needs for serious healing and transformative work. It’s an alchemical mind that can let go of what no longer serves our nature (the dross), and that purifies our physical, mental/emotional and spiritual bodies to bring us wholeness.

Virgo’s qualities of patience and purity, her industriousness and attention to details and procedures, and her humbleness and service can all be put to good use now. We need to pay attention to the details, in our work and in our visioning of the future.
It’s time to ground in the magic and re-create your life. Especially if you’re a Virgo and/or have planets at 16-19* Virgo, Capricorn or Taurus.

Venus has moved into the sign of Scorpio and is opposite Uranus Rx in Taurus. It seems like we’re due for a wake up, shake up. Just roll with it.  Venus in the Underworld is like Circle, who looks in the waters and calls up the dragons for answers about the future.

 
Circe ~ John William Waterhouse

Both planets square the Leo/Aquarius Nodes. We’re supposed to shine our light out, not stand back in the mob. Our Venus has been compromised by patriarchy. She needs to go into the underworld and be reborn. She’ll disappear from the evening sky on October 22nd and go on her Underworld Journey to become a new Morning Star in November. She goes to reclaim her emotional power and balance. 

Venus is also at the head of a kite, an astrological configuration that deals with fate. Her dance partners are the earth trine energies of Uranus, Mercury and Pluto.  Venus can ground these revolutionary and evolutionary plans.  But she has to love and desire them. They have to come from the heart.  Venus will go on her underworld journey in the coming months to make sure she knows what she loves.

Mercury finished his long summer journey through Leo (June 29 – September 5) and entered Virgo on September 5th. Now we have to temper and shape our renewed Mind. Mercury is a morning star for the next few days and then becomes an evening star from October 4th – November 21st.

Venus has entered Scorpio! Watch how she navigates the dark watery depths. She goes retrograde at 11* Scorpio from October 5th to November 16th back to 26* Libra. This Venus retrograde asks us to give up our resentments, our wounds and our old stories and go back and make peace with our lives. The learning is over. Hopefully, you see how meaningful all those experiences were – how they led you here, right now! Now we have to live with the life that’s in front of us. Use this Venus Rx to go on Psyche’s Journey to ground yourself in Love and self-awareness.

Mars ended his retrograde on August 27th at 29* Capricorn and will reenter Aquarius on September 10th.  Hopefully, our actions will be more aligned with our being now. 

Jupiter is moving forward in Scorpio, finishing up his emotional transformation there on November 8th when he gets home to his own sign of Sagittarius.

Saturn just stationed to turn to direct motion on Thursday, September 6th at 3* Capricorn. The Sabian symbol for 3* Capricorn is: A human soul, in its eagerness for new experiences, seeks embodiment.

That says it all. Go embody!

Blessings,
Cathy


Alaska ~ Jennifer Shippee



Preface to Leaves of Grass

Love the earth and sun and the animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labor to others,
hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people,
take off your hat to nothing known or unknown,
or to any man or number of men,
go freely with powerful uneducated persons,
and with the young, and with the mothers or families,
re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,
and dismiss whatever insults your own soul;
and your very flesh shall be a great poem....
~ Walt Whitman ~

(from the Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855 edition)


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Copyright 2018 Cathy Pagano