Tuesday, June 6, 2017

The Cosmic Story: Sagittarius Full Moon, 2017

The Cosmic Story: Sagittarius Full Moon 2017
Truth, Lies and Choices

Today I was listening to NPR’s On Point and the talk was about the fact that human beings are hard-wired to lie. I don’t know if I agree with them completely. I think our culture hard-wires us to develop shadow personalities, and so we learn to lie to protect ourselves from the harsh rules and judgments of patriarchy. Our religions have made us feel unworthy and afraid of any minor infringement of the rules. But who is to say that if we had a different society, we would not lie, because we wouldn’t have to be someone we’re not.


 


But then again, Gemini’s ruling guide is Mercury, the god of lies and cons as well as the psychopomp who leads soul between realms. And other cultures have their gods of lies and deception, so is it built into our human nature or is our nature shaped by our society?
It is true that all of us tend to lie at some point in our lives. I know that many women will lie when they don’t feel they have the right to state their needs and desires, especially when they don’t want to make love to their husbands. Our fifth chakras need lots of work if we’re going to speak our truths instead of hiding behind lies. Lies aren’t always bad – they can be as simple as a woman’s cultural conditioning to say ‘yes’ to helping when she really wants to say ‘no’. But lies can also destroy trust between people, especially when the liar refuses to admit he’s lying when he’s caught out.
Or the lie can be big, so big that it controls people’s lives. Like the lie that America is exceptional – better than anyone else. Like the lie that capitalism is the best economic system in the world and it will work for anyone willing to work. Or that a certain religion is evil. Or that a rich man, who has never cared for anyone but himself, suddenly says that he has compassion for poor and struggling people and they believe him, even when he takes away the very government programs that help them, while shunting more money to the wealthy and powerful.
Lies are cons, and we all have a little conman in us. The worst lie, the worst con, is the one we perpetuate on ourselves. When we lie to ourselves. The lie that we’re right and everyone else is wrong. The lie that the life we’re living is good – even though most of us are addicted to something that takes us away from life. The lie that we can’t do anything to change our lives, that we’re stuck where we are. Lies become truths when you can’t see the big picture. That what this week’s Sagittarius Full Moon can show us. The Big Picture.
Are we predisposed to lie? Maybe. But we all have choices—it’s called free will. The one rule I had for my kids was that we didn’t have to lie about things. That they didn’t have to lie to me if they fought, got high, snuck out of the house or got bad grades. And they didn’t. The truth helped us all stay true to ourselves. I find that for the small and big issues in life, if you don’t have to lie to your parents, you don’t lie to yourself.
And that’s what we need to do now, as we continue the roller-coaster ride through the next decade as the revolution unfolds. Our operating system needs an upgrade. Too many old ways of thinking are no longer viable. They just don’t work in this new world we’re creating. They twist our thoughts and words to fit into an old schematic. And so we lie. We can keep what is good from the old ways while letting the rest go. But the powerful don’t like to give up their power, and so we each have to stand in our truth so that there is so much Truth shining out we can’t ignore it. The future is calling us. And we need to see and speak the truth if we’re ever going to make it.

Sagittarius Full Moon


This week’s Sagittarius Full Moon lights up the issue of truth and lies. Sagittarius is the archetypal energy of the journey, the Quest to find the Truth. Christina at Zodiac Poetry speaks about Sagittarius’ quest as the hero’s journey, the goal which is attained is really the self-discovery and growth of the hero. As we journey toward our life’s goals, our old, outworn prejudices, beliefs and values are outgrown and left behind, and we emerge into a new world. What we discover there is eternal. 


Sagittarius -- the Archer
 
Sagittarius is the sign of cosmic law as well as mundane laws,: the sign of spirituality as well as of mundane religions, the sign of expansion, optimism and vision as well as religious fanaticism, which is basically a narrow, pessimistic, rigid vision. The Moon in Sagittarius is comfortable when she knows her beliefs and lives them. But most of our beliefs are unconscious, created at an early age before our ego develops. So rational thinking can’t change our lives; we have to change our limiting beliefs. We do this through the imagination, through working with our dreams, through journeying within to discover what energies are holding us hostage. Then we can discover our Truths. We might be surprised at what we find. But the gift is that then we can change those beliefs.
We have a Sagittarius Full Moon when the Sun is in Gemini. Gemini is the archetypal energy of the Mind, the energy of experiencing life through the Mind: the fact-collector, seeking information and putting it in categories that help us frame our world-view. Gemini loves to connect with people, experience everything and act as the go-between. But Gemini is so busy categorizing life’s experiences fun, boring, interesting -- that he often doesn’t find the meaning of those experiences.
That’s where Sagittarius comes in – Sagittarius finds meaning for us. When we understand the meaning of our experiences, we can let go of the stuck energy around the wounds, freeing up that energy for new life. Understanding gives rise to greater consciousness, which opens us to new and greater experiences. This is what archetypal Mind is for. We need to heal our collective Mind to enter the Age of Aquarius, the sign of a future-oriented group consciousness. We have to unite the left & right brains and operate out of a whole brain, opening to the wisdom of our imaginations so we can name and organize that information with the rational mind. Finally, any conclusions we arrive at must hold true to our spiritual beliefs. This is how we live a meaningful life. 

 
 Saturn
 
This Sagittarius Full Moon falls close to Saturn retrograde, adding a dimension of reality and discipline to the mix. What is the Truth? What is my Truth? Those are the questions everyone is talking about today. We are living in the energies of last year’s Saturn/Neptune square and this Full Moon re-engages with those energies, with the Sun and Moon/Saturn squaring Neptune in Pisces (which turns retrograde on June 16th). Saturn in Sagittarius formed a waning square to Neptune in Pisces all last year, opening up a Pandora’s box about truth and delusion, fake news and ‘real’ news, facts and alternative-facts. Neptune’s realm of the imagination can deceive us if we operate out of our personal desires. We can cloak ourselves in delusions and believe we are seeing the truth. Or Neptune can bless us by opening us to the voice of Spirit. The difference comes through our ability to let go of our ego’s need to be right and to actively listen. By now, we need to make friends with Neptune in Pisces and get over being deluded by it. It is a great opening of the creative imagination, so stay centered and listen.

Neptune

The Cosmos is asking us to look at the world and see the Truth. Nations talk about democracy, equality, fairness and freedom, but do we really live those ideals? Do we ignore the disconnect between how we see ourselves and how we act? Are we living up to the best of humanity, to our beliefs and values, or are we hypocrits who say one thing and do another? As we come to the end of an evolutionary cycle, we get to see our Shadows because we can’t advance into the future without healing the darkness of the past. We heal it, not by throwing money at it and not even by apologizing for it, but by understanding the truth and meaning behind our actions so that we can leave that behavior behind us. But it cannot be the old patriarchy’s truths which will give us the wrong meanings. Being gay is not evil! Loving two people isn’t evil! Trying to control a woman’s body IS EVIL! We have to open ourselves to freedom, see the big picture and choose who we want to BE. This is the task that Saturn on this Sagittarius Full Moon sets for us.
Take into your hearts the Truth and change!

Hermes, the Alchemical Mind

Gemini’s ruler, Mercury, also works through the Mind, and unfortunately, in our present culture, we often limit him to the rational, left-brain. But Mercury is the messenger who travels between worlds and so he’s also the right-brain imagination. Mercury is the communicator, the translator, our vehicle of expression and he wants to use both sides of the brain to make decisions. This month, work with the mind as he travels quickly through three signs of the zodiac: in Taurus from 5/16-6/6, where he looks at practical applications of his ideas, in Gemini from 6/6-6/21, where he looks for many options about where to go from here, and in Cancer from 6/21-7/6, where he dives deeply into the feeling of ‘being home’. This month is all about shifting our attention, opening our Mind and listening in different ways to what life is offering us.
Caroline Casey offers us a way to work with our Mercury: “Ask for the power of words and articulation so that you may be more effectively and uniquely expressive. Ask for tolerance for the modes of expression of others. Inculcate a willingness to speak to everything in its own language. … Offer yourself as a voice for those things that have no voice.” (Caroline W. Casey, Making the Gods Work For You, Piatkus, 1998, p. 233.)

Jupiter

Another dimension to this Full Moon is that Jupiter, Sagittarius’ ruler, stations and turns to direction motion within an hour of this Full Moon. Jupiter is in Libra, the sign of peace, partnership, equality, justice and the Arts. Retrograde since February 5-6, we’ve been on an internal quest to achieve that balance and find our creative voice. Jupiter trines the Sun in Gemini, adding a more balanced view of things to Gemini’s usual bag of tricks. Jupiter is the archetypal storyteller, the one who carries all those stories in his traveling bag. Art is one of the most effective forms of communication we have, strong enough to break through the hypnotic trance of mass media. Tell your story in whatever medium it wants to inhabit. With its powerful curiosity and seeking, Jupiter’s archetypal energy gives us the optimism to expand our lives and the potential for healthy growth and positive change.
With Jupiter starting to head back into his T-Square with Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries, the revolution continues. Don’t forget to be part of it in whatever way you can.



And there is a brilliant grand fire trine – the flames of desire that inspires – that will liberate us from our inner darkness and free us to bring that light into the world, where it is so needed. Uranus, Pallas Athena and Eris in Aries awaken us to what we need to do. The North Node moved into Leo from Virgo on May 10th, awakening our creative expression and finally it connects to Saturn and therefore the Moon, in Sagittarius, bringing our new hopes and visions into these fires of creation, fires of liberation.
The personal planets connect to each other in early degrees of their signs: Venus is in her own sign of Taurus, opening us to the Earth and to what we value. Mercury is in his own sign of Gemini, twirling faster as he breaks free of earth-bound Taurus. Mars just moved into Cancer, so you might find yourself or your loved ones being over-protective and steamy.
This is quite a strong Full Moon, cradled in the arms of the Revolution/Resistance, exploring the eternal truths and leaving behind useless information and illusions of grandeur. Settle back into your instincts and let your original Mind do its work of making sense of your world. For those of you who are tired of the news, try re-watching the old TV show, The West Wing. It will inspire you with a vision of how mortal men can still uphold Truth with power.

So let’s finish with some Sabian Symbols to speak to your right brain imagination.
The Sagittarius Full Moon occurs on Friday June 9, 2017 at 6:09am PDT/ 9:09am EDT/ 1:09pm GMT. 




The Issues
The Sabian Symbol for the Sun at 19* Gemini is: Two Chinese men converse in their native tongue in an American City. Dane Rudhyar sees this as the feeling of isolation we feel when we expand our horizons into the unknown. We want to connect with like-minded people, people who speak our language.
The Sabian Symbol for the Moon at 19* Sagittarius is: Pelicans, menaced by the behavior and refuse of men,seek safer areas for bringing up their young. Rudhyar sees this as the need for people concerned for the future to discover new ways of living that are sustainable. So find your people and go back to the land and learn how to sustain yourself. Just in case.

The Initiation
The Sabian Symbol for Saturn at 25* Sagittarius is: A Sculptor at his work. We are tasked with envisioning our future and then manifesting it.
The Sabian Symbol for Neptune at 15* Pisces: An officer instructing his men before a simulated assault under a barrage of live shells. There is going to be a struggle between the old and the new, both within each person and in society. This image asks us to be prepared, while not falling into the delusion that all is lost.

The Gifts
The Sabian Symbol for Jupiter at 14* Libra: In the heat of the noon hour, a man takes a siesta. Remember, there will be moments of Grace and blessings.
The Sabian Symbol for the North Node at 27* Leo is: The luminescence of Dawn in the eastern sky. There is a new Dawn coming and we are challenged to find the new opportunities it offers us. A new Day is Dawning.
The Sabian Symbol for Uranus at 28* Aries is: A large audience confronts the performer who disappointed its expectations. I think we all know who this one is talking about. Just don’t forget to look at your own shadows as well. Let’s take our own responsibility for letting the world go to hell in a hangbag.

We are living in exciting time!
Walk in the Light,
Cathy

There are two poems today. Thank you Joe Riley!


Let's Remake the World

Let's remake the world with words.
Not frivolously, nor
To hide from what we fear,
But with a purpose.

Let's,
As Wordsworth said, remove
"The dust of custom" so things
Shine again, each object arrayed
In its robe of original light.

And then we'll see the world
As if for the first time.
As once we gazed at the beloved
Who was gazing at us.

~ Gregory Orr ~
(Concerning The Book That Is the Body Of The Beloved)


Hope

Old spirit, in and beyond me,
keep and extend me. Amid strangers,
friends, great trees and big seas breaking,
let love move me. Let me hear the whole music,
see clear, reach deep. Open me to find due words,
that I may shape them to ploughshares of my own making.
After such luck, however late, give me to give to
the oldest dance.... Then to good sleep,
and - if it happens - glad waking.

~ Philip Booth ~
(Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950-1999)

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

The Cosmic Story: Gemini's Mission & the Great American Eclipse

The Cosmic Story: Gemini’s Mission & the Great American Eclipse


The Sun blew into Gemini on May 20th, dancing with the waning Moon in Pisces. Gemini’s mission statement is all about dancing with life, going with the flow, peering under every stone that catches your fancy. Gemini loves to talk, to learn, to express its’ ideas and to sample whatever experiences come its way. The Gemini twins are also into mobility – they like to travel, so make sure you know how to maneuver through tight spots and dangerous places.


Gemini’s ruling planet is Mercury, the guide of souls, the con man and thief, the messenger of the gods. Mercury is the planet of the mind: how we use our brains, both our right-brain imagination and left-brain rationality. (The sign and element of your natal Mercury tells you a lot about how you interpret the world.) Like the sign of the mortal and immortal Gemini Twins, Mercury likes to travel back and forth between different states of awareness—the big immortal spiritual understanding of life and the more limited, focused, rational view of life. Don’t keep Mercury stuck in one realm—he’ll turn into the con artist on you. Stay flexible in your thinking and keep learning.
Mercury was retrograde from April 10-May 3 in Taurus and Aries. A few days before Mercury turned direct, it aligned with Uranus, the planet of awakening, freedom and originality. Once Mercury turned direct, he again caught up with Uranus at the Scorpio Full Moon, making sure he got the message. Awakened Mind! Both planets were in Aries, the sign of the Original Mind. Hopefully, your mind broke out of its old boxes; to think ‘outside-the-box’ and open up to new ideas, perspectives and insights. If you want a fresh start, go out before dawn and look to the East. Mercury, now a Morning Star, will rise very close to the horizon, just before the Sun, aiding us to open our minds to envision the big Aries dreams that will create our new story.
Mercury is now back in Taurus, grounding in the values of his new insights, distinguishing between what is true and what is irrelevant, planning on what he wants to build. He’s finally moved past the degree where he stopped to backtrack, so perhaps you’ve noticed that suddenly the pace of life has quickened. You’ll find that your projects will move ahead now. Even though Mercury in Taurus is practical and grounded, he is light on his feet (Taurus has rhythm and knows how to dance). Find your rhythm and go with it.
Mercury will enter Gemini on June 6th, zipping through his own sign in 2 weeks, bringing a new lightness to your thoughts and energy – anything is possible. And keeping in line with his speedy pace, Mercury enters Cancer just after the Sun on Summer Solstice. Take a breath, you’ll need it! He’s traveling through Earth, Air and Water – all in one month. Mercury is taking up his role as psychopomp, the Guide of Souls, this June. What do your body/Earth, mind/Air and feelings/Water want? Let Mercury guide you to your soul’s desire. Write that new story.



Venus is also a Morning Star (look higher in the sky at dawn) and is approaching her maximum elevation in the morning sky, and in early June will begin her 5 ½ month journey to meet up with Sun in mid-November. Venus is also finally past the point of her retrograde station on March 4th at 14* Aries. She met up with the Sun to begin a new Venus cycle on March 25th at 5* Aries (especially important for anyone with planets at 5* of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn).
Venus is now a Morning Star, her Aries fire making her feisty yet compassionate, remembering what she learned as she retrograded back into Pisces. This Venus cycle asks us to be brave and stand up for those spiritual values that shape the best of our humanity. Venus enters her own sign of Taurus on June 6, giving her fire shape, materializing her vision. Use your senses this month and find your beauty.

Neptune

Both Jupiter and Neptune change directions this month. Jupiter, the ruler of the Sagittarius Full Moon, is a channel for curiosity, spiritual law, expansion and luck, and turns direct at 13*13’ Libra, shortly after the Sagittarius/Gemini Full Moon on June 9th. This strong Jupiter in the sign of partnership, justice and aesthetics will help us shed old limiting beliefs. Neptune, the planet of spirituality, imagination, delusions and glamour, turns retrograde on June 16th at 14*16’ Pisces. (If you have planets at these signs or in the other cardinal (Jupiter) and mutable (Neptune) signs at these degrees, watch your dreams around these dates—they can tell you what you need to see about how these energies are affecting you.) Go in and refine your vision!
Very much like both Gemini and Mercury, the energies this month are shifting and changing rapidly. So stay open to your inner life as you play in the outer world and you’ll do fine. Remember to play with the spiritual imagination (Pisces) to communicate (Gemini) your values, needs and concerns (Mercury in Taurus). And expect something new to show up in your life this month, something or someone who can help you on your way.

Gemini New Moon/ Sagittarius Full Moon: Telling Your Story to Change Your Life

Scheherazade and the Sultan

Stories are the way we communicate with ourselves and with others. They teach us about life and guide us to new perspectives. My favorite childhood heroine is Scheherazade, the crafty, beautiful and brave woman who saved her country and her tormentor by telling stories. Caroline Casey calls her a ‘trickster-redeemer’; I call her a Bard, a Wisdom Keeper. You can find her story in the book, 1001 Arabian Nights.
Scheherazade changes her world through her stories, and like her, we can change our lives when we really look at the stories we tell ourselves. Are these stories helpful? Do they still ring true or do we just get lulled into listening to them because of habit? If we’re really ready for a new story about our purpose here on Mother Earth, than we have to look at the old stories that have shaped us, take their wisdom to heart, and leave them behind so we can co-create a new life for ourselves and for our world. Your inner Scheherazade is already telling you stories through your dreams – are any of you listening? If so, you will learn and change.

The Gemini New Moon occurs on May 25, 2017 at 12:44pm PDT/ 3:44pm EDT/ 7:44pm GMT. The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 04*46’ Gemini is: A revolutionary magazine asking for action. This is a revolution of the collective mind – shared ideas that want to take action. We share an emotional connection to each other and the world, and that connection (knowing we’re all in this together) will sustain us as we contribute our talents and our energy to this Revolution.
This New Moon acts alone – no other planets make aspects to it, so basically we can do anything we choose with it, as long as it aligns with our Truth. Mars, the action planet is also in Gemini opposite Saturn retrograde in Sagittarius – we can either feel stuck or let our Truth guide our actions. Saturn isn’t such a rigid taskmaster lately because of his easy connection with Uranus, so become a disciplined wildperson and get your new act together! Also in the background is a spiritual sword we must retrieve to cut away deception and illusion to see the truth of our souls, as well as the ever continuing T-Square that is rocking our world between Uranus in Aries opposite Jupiter in Libra, both squaring Pluto in Capricorn. To misquote Sting, ‘when the world is spinning down, we’d best let our soul be unbound’.

The Sagittarius/Gemini Full Moon occurs on June 9th at 6:10am PDT/ 9:10am EDT/ 1:10pm GMT. The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 18*53’ Sagittarius is: Pelicans menaced by the behavior and refuse of men seek safer areas for bringing up their young. All birds symbolize spiritual messenger's, and the pelican is the archetypal Mother, who will pierce her breast to feed her young with her own blood if necessary. She symbolizes survival and sacrifice. What do we need to sacrifice to survive the menace of our patriarchal society of destruction in the name of consumerism and greed?
The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 18*53’ Gemini is: A large archaic volume reveals a traditional wisdom. This is the Book of Life, the important knowledge we need to survive. It’s time to stop spending our minds on trivial information as we skim the Internet (the Internet and Twitter are definitely Gemini tools – look at how our Gemini president uses the quick and surfacey technology). This Full Moon is about Wisdom, not information.
Sagittarius wants us to face the truth about ourselves and the world. Aligned with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, this Full Moon can force us in face those truths and wake up to our responsibility and destiny. So once again, keep releasing the old stories of victimization, self-doubt and stuckness. We’re all coming unstuck! Where do you want to go? With Jupiter turning direct an hour after the Full Moon, just tune in to what your inner guidence is telling you.

August 21st: The Great American Eclipses



Did you know that America is hosting a total Solar Eclipse, country-wide, on August 21st, 2017? The eclipse crosses the Continental US on a diagonal from the Oregon in the Northwest to South Carolina in the Southeast. (See Map below.) Because it crosses the country, millions people will experience full totality and the rest of the country will experience it as a partial eclipse. 


 
The 70 mile corridor of totally will offer up a spectacular show – the day will turn to night, and the stars and planets will shine out for about 2 ½ minutes. Check out the map below and if you live within driving distance of totality, I suggest you go and experience the mystery and magic of a day turning into night.
The whole Earth gets quiet.


This Solar Eclipse occurs at 28*53’ Leo and it conjunctions the Royal Star Regulus, the Heart of the Lion. So the first thing we know is that we have to be ‘lion-hearted’. 

Constellation of Leo
Regulus 'Heart of the Lion'

Then the Sabian symbol for this 29th degree of Leo is: A mermaid emerges from the ocean waves ready for rebirth in human form. While mermaids have a vast mythology, their psychological meaning is a ‘personification of a stage of awareness still partially enveloped by the ever-moving and ever-elusive ocean of the collective Unconscious.’ (Dane Rudhyar: Astrological Mandala) Mermaids sing a siren song – they beckon us on with an intuition of something spectacular, that’s just beyond our reach. Will the intuition be reabsorbed back into the unconscious or will it emerge into a concrete form? This symbol expresses our deepest desire to live spiritually, consciously and creatively. Can we grow legs?
What an invitation to awaken to our creative essence! What a gift from the cosmos at this most chaotic time.
If you have any planets at 26*-30* of Leo and Aquarius as well as Taurus and Scorpio, this eclipse is calling to you.
Eclipses occur in series that last over 1300 years and that repeat every 18+ years, so we can study some of the results throughout history. Each eclipse has a meaning we glean from the first eclipse in the series. The first eclipse occurred on January 4, 1639 with the Sun and Moon at 13*49’ Capricorn. The Sabian symbol for 14* Capricorn is: An ancient bas-relief carved in granite remains a witness to a long-forgotten culture. It is an eclipse series that demands that we remember what values are important and let go of the inconsequential things. At this moment in history, we have to let go of our consumerism and neglect of our Mother Earth. We have to rise up to defend life!
This powerful eclipse can bring us a new reality based on the spiritual laws of life. Bernadette Brady rocks the astrological eclipse world and she says this is the meaning of the August 21st total solar eclipse: the unexpected fortunate turn of events. Expectations that are unrealistic but success comes through an older person or those where you least expect it.
I’ll have more on this eclipse in my next newsletter. Just so you know, it is impacting Donald Trump’s chart in a big way. And it probably is related to what happened with him on May 15 – around the time he fired Comey and talked with the Russians. We’ll wait and see.

Walk in beauty,
Cathy

Not dawdling -- James Broughton

Not dawdling
not doubting
intrepid all the way
walk toward clarity
with sharp eye
With sharpened sword
clearcut the path
to the lucent surprise
of enlightenment
At every crossroad
be prepared to bump into wonder

~ James Broughton ~

(Little Sermons of the Big Joy)