The
Cosmic Story: Lammas 2019
The
King's Sacrifice
John Barleycorn
August is here, the long slow ending of summer. When
life is good and easy, just waiting to be enjoyed. There's a
fullness to August, a ripeness. As if the Sun's glow has sunk into
the Earth herself, giving her the glow of life. There are hay rolls
in the fields, tomatoes ripening on the vine; thunder clouds pile up in the sky, while the humidity builds until the heavens pour down. There's hot sunlight in
the day, but also a slowly expanding nighttime.
Venus, Moon and Jupiter
This is the time of year to go outside at night and live
for awhile under the stars. What better way to contemplate our
blessings than by looking at the majesty and mystery of the heavens.
Harvest time is always a good time to try to see the big picture.
And the night sky heavens certainly provide us with one.
Interestingly, the only two planets visible in the night sky now are
Jupiter and Saturn – the archetypal energies that shape societies
and world issues, the energies that test us and shape us.
At Lammas, we also tend to look at ourselves and wonder
what we've done this year. It's time to look for some of the results
of our year's focus and energy. What are you preparing and
harvesting? What has your garden grown? We are harvesting our
gardens now, seeing the abundance Mother Earth gives us if we give
her our respect and care. Just as we have to be good stewards of the
Earth we also have to be good stewards our ourselves and our
communities. Perhaps our harvest will help with that.
The
Wheel of the Year: Lammas – The First Harvest
In the Celtic Wheel of the Year, the cross-quarter
holiday that stands between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox is
Lammas, or Lughnasadh on August 1-8, celebrating the first grain
harvest. Lammas is a celebration of life and the bread of life
(before Monsanto poisoned it with Roundup). With bread in abundance,
we tend to forget how important bread was in sustaining ancient
people through the winter months.
Lammas Mask
Lammas was also a festival to the Celtic god Lugh of the
Long Hand, the god of many crafts, the king of his people, god of the
Sun. It was a time of gathering, feasting and dancing, when
marriages were contracted, goods sold and treaties made. But mostly,
it faced and celebrated the fact that the Sun was beginning to wan as
it moved South, with shorter days and less light and warmth. You'll
notice that as we enter August, the daylight hours decline more
swiftly.
Harvesting the Grain
With the cutting of the grains, the god of growth offers
up his life to feed and sustain the community. It was a symbolic
sacrifice of the King, offering the best to the gods and to life.
This is both harvest and seed for the new year, offering us the
knowledge that all things come to an end. And that there is rebirth
awaiting the turn of the Wheel.
What is our harvest this year? What have we grown and
is it ready to be harvested?
Last Harvest
With two other harvests yet to come, at
Autumn Equinox for fruit and at Samhain/Halloween for nuts and seeds,
there is still plenty of time to gather in our harvest. But it is
time to look at what needs taking care of now. And we need to see
what sacrifices must be offered to life.
There is a great need for our ideas and visions to
manifest in 3-D reality. This is our moment. Since we are the
change we've been waiting for. Even more than our outer political
reality, it is our inner, soulful reality that will shift the
balance. Think of it as a shifting of the balance between light and
dark, yin and yang, male and female. We are coming to a new balance,
a new harmony and equilibrium. When we bring the tension of
opposites into balance, a new, transcendent path appears before us.
Ask the goddess Hecate to guide you to your new path. She will meet you at the Crossroads.
Each of us has a gift and talent we can offer the world.
What have you spent your life learning? Many of us have developed
multiple talents, for we are Renaissance people. We are bringing in
a new birth, a new vision for society and for the planet. What are
you working on? How can you synthesize what you know? What is the
best possible way for you to manifest your gifts? Are you practicing
and experimenting? I hope you are!
Tiverton, RI: Sunset
The
spiritual practice of this time of year is that of the Royal
Sacrifice. Our sacrifice is to make sacred all of Life. In his
book, Original Blessings,
Matthew Fox shows us what we are called upon to do now.
To
speak of “Original Blessing” is to speak of times past when
healthy air, water, soil, forests, animals, birds, insects and the
rest could be taken for granted. When the goodness of our existence,
even amidst struggle, nevertheless was always there.
Today
we cannot take Original Blessing for granted. We have to work to
return nature and human nature back to a healthy state. That is the
naked struggle today: Can we rediscover the sacredness of creation?
If so, can the mystic in us come alive
again, fall in love again, enough to carry on the struggle for the
salvation of our Earth biosphere as we know it?
Do
we have the energy, passion and willingness to see this struggle
through in the next eleven years, and the generosity needed to
change our ways, let go, reinvent our footprints on this planet?
Matthew
Fox: Daily Meditations July 18, 2019 On
Eros and Justice: Part 1
The Lion's Gate:
15* Leo
The Lion's Gate occurs during the end of July and beginning of August, harking back to ancient Egypt and the helical rising of the star Sirius before the Sun. We can say that the Sun is channeling information from the Sirian star system during this time. Sirius is considered by many native peoples one of the star systems that seeded our Earth and which continue to work with us on subtle energy levels. If you work more consciously with these energies, then this is the time to stock up!
Sirius: brightest star in the night sky
Astrologically,
we reach the Leo power degree of 15* on August 7th,
just hours after the first quarter Scorpio Moon of the Leo New Moon
cycle. With both the Sun and Moon at fixed power gates (always 15*
of the power signs, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius), we are
receiving information from both signs. We are challenged (the
square) to face our shadows and karma (Scorpio) and bring the light
of consciousness (Leo) to them.
The
Shadow comprises those parts of ourselves that hold stunted energy,
energy that has stopped developing as originally intended. Jung
believed that the Shadow develops to protect our young ego from
parents and teacher's expectations. Because of these shadow
energies, our ability to be ourselves and to act in accordance with
our true nature is twisted. Jung says the Shadow needs to be
recognized and worked with if we want a clear channel to our anima
(our soulful being) and our animus (our virtuous doing).
We can touch
on our Shadow when we judge others harshly, because we are projecting
our Shadow onto them. A liar projects those lies onto others; a
racist projects his fear and loathing of the
unconscious parts of himself
onto strangers. When do we stop lying to ourselves? When do we stop
being afraid of life!? In this moment, where Shadows are so evident
in our chaotic world, we need to find and shine our light into the
world's darkness.
It is time to release ourselves from the bondage of our
old stories. It's time to stop complaining about our lives and get
on with them. It's time to face our human frailties and forgive
ourselves. It's time to stop questioning what our purpose is and to
see it there before us. Whatever we're dealing with is our
purpose. Whatever virtues we believe in we need to embody.
Whatever gifts we have we need to offer to the world.
In
a new astrological system I'm studying called The
Gene Keys,
the energy of mid-Leo is attuned to guidance and virtuous living.
Out of division comes the ability to guide others through the
darkness. And the energy of the Scorpio quarter Moon is to move from
entropy, where we've been in a static chaotic state, to one of
creativity, freshness and fierce beauty.
We are called to listen to our Heart's wisdom. As our
souls awaken, we begin to live out of our Higher Self, the part of us
which is connected to everything in the universe. We rediscover our
place in Earth's biosphere and in the cosmic order. I have to tell
you, it's a much more radiant and abundant place to stand in than in
the chaos of a failing patriarchal social system. From this place of
peace and harmony, we can act upon the world in the correct ways,
because in the inner silence, we can tap into our higher wisdom –
we can connect to Lady Wisdom, our Sophia.
Lady Wisdom
The Venus/Mars conjunction: A secret, sacred Marriage – August 24, 2019
The great gift the cosmos is bestowing on us during this Lammas season is the union of Venus and Mars, occurring on the royal star, Regulus, in the heart of the Lion.
Whenever Venus and Mars get
together, a new energy of relationship emerges – relationship to
self and others and to Nature. To occur on this Royal Star, which
has just recently moved into tropical Virgo, is auspicious. The
royal energy now flows through the divine Feminine. And this is a
Wise feminine energy being birthed this season.
This sacred marriage of the archetypal energies of love
and desire (Venus & Mars/ Psyche & Eros) occurs at 5* Virgo.
The core Shadow theme of this degree is our distrust of others,
especially in relationships. It is all about dishonesty. We're
afraid to show people who we really are, and so our Shadow comes into
play. Be truthful with yourself and you can be truthful to others.
This
conjunction takes place in the
underworld
because both planets cannot be seen – they are both too close to
the Sun. Venus will conjunct the Sun on August 14th,
just before the Aquarius Full Moon. She has just swung around behind
the Sun and is on her way to becoming an Evening Star, visible again
around September 20th.
Mars is just approaching the Sun, and will conjunct it on September
2nd,
and it will appear as a morning star around October 17th.
Sacred Marriage in the Unconscious
So this meeting of Venus and Mars on August 24th
is hidden from our view and our consciousness. It will bring up
those unconscious places within us where we need to be honest with
ourselves. If we don't look at our Shadow, it will act upon us
unconsciously, it will meet us in the outer world. If we dance with
our Shadows, we'll integrate them. If we stay conscious, we will
pick the energy up through the body. That is the place it will
manifest first. So pay attention to your body wisdom. The Body
Knows!
Astrologer
Adam Gainsburg is a living sky astrologer, someone who actually looks
at the heavens and tracks the planets in the night sky instead of on
a computer. He's written a book on the phases of Venus called TheLight of Venus
where he tracks the 13 phases of Venus journey through the sky.
(He's also working on a book on Mars phases). As Venus disappears
into the glare of the Sun, she also moves behind the Sun so we don't
see her until she moves far enough away to appear as the Evening Star
in late September.
Adam
calls this phase of Venus cycle the
transmutation phase
of Venus, when She sheds the old garments, beliefs and qualities of
her Morning Star phase and transmutes and alchemizes it into
something new. As Adam says, “Such intense light – as love –
forces us to meet our dark self or opposite, everything we're
convinced that we aren't. An invisible Venus forces us to see our
Other
inside ourselves.” (Light of Venus, page 119). Adam says
transmutation is essentially feminine, with changes occurring within
you at first so you concentrate on who you're becoming. It's future
oriented.
We
must learn to embrace our sovereignty, our wisdom of both Heaven and
Earth. Our feminine wisdom, love and compassion must rule the day.
While
Venus is heading away from the Sun on August 24th, Mars is
heading into it, joining the Sun on September 2nd. This
allows both energies to look at their shadows, for what else can we
see in the bright glare of the Sun? Both archetypal energies are
purified by our Star's fire. Our ego steps into the fiery furnace
of life and hopefully emerges ready to stand up for truth, justice
and life. The fact that these energies meet on the fixed star
Regulus, which is the Lion's Heart, awakens our own lion-heartedness.
We need to be fierce in our defense of our Earth, our people and all
our relationships.
Susan Seddon Boulet
This
is an interesting season because three planets conjunct the Sun –
besides Venus and Mars, Mercury also dives into the Sun's fiery
furnace on September 3rd. Three very personal planets are
being renewed in the Sun's fire. We have to make conscious our love
and wisdom, our desires and goals, and our ability to communicate
those needs honestly.
Planetary shifts
and Sabian Symbols
There
are four shifts in planetary direction this season. When planets are
retrograde, our energy is directed within to remember, review and
restructure. When a planet stations and turns back to direct motion,
the energy we've been working on within turns back into the world.
Mercury turns direct on July 31st at 24* Cancer. Two
directional shifts occur on August 11th: Jupiter at 15*
Sagittarius turns direct and Uranus at 7* Taurus turns retrograde.
And Saturn at 14* Capricorn goes direct on September 17-18th.
Try to feel the energy shift in your body on these days. And also
pay attention to your dreams, which show us what's going on in the
unconscious.
The
Sabian symbol for Mercury direct at 24* Cancer is: A woman and
two men castaways on a small island in the South Seas.
What aspects of our psyche have been 'cast away' or lost? What can
the woman/soul do? The doubling of the men suggests that we are
beginning to see a new way of 'doing' things. Jung always said that
when an image is doubled, it means that part of that energy is
becoming conscious, while the other part is still unconscious and
needs to be worked on. What does your soul yearn for and
what can you do to give it what it needs?
The
Sabian symbol for Jupiter at 15* Sagittarius is: The
ground hog looking for its shadow on Ground Hog's Day, February 2nd.
This image suggests that we try
to get a bigger perspective on events. Ground Hog's Days is Imbolc –
the Celtic gateway to Spring, when we look to the future. Be aware
of what happens on the 11th,
taking it as a clue to future events. It's a great time to journey
and meditate on what's ahead for you.
The
Sabian symbol for Uranus at 7* Taurus is: The woman of
Sumaria at the ancestral well.
The story of Jesus meeting the Sumaritan woman at the well symbolizes
a transition from the old tribal order to a new order based on
Universal Love. Jesus revealed his divine nature to a woman who
guards the wellsprings of life. The Water of Life. Our Christ
consciousness greets our Wisdom/Sophia consciousness. We have to
really believe we are spiritual beings, so we can access the wisdom
we need to face our collective evolutionary crisis. A new
quality of being arises that
transcends the old ways of patriarchal being and doing. This is what
we have to awaken within ourselves during this retrograde, which
lasts until January 10, 2020, when Uranus turns direct on a Full Moon
lunar eclipse.
The
Sabian symbol for the sacred marriage of Venus and Mars at 5* Virgo
is: A person becoming aware of nature spirits and normally
unseen spiritual agencies. What
a great symbol! We are learning to go beyond what we see in 3-D
reality and now can look deeply into the world around us. It is
through the use of the creative imagination
that we see so deeply. Isn't it time to learn how to exercise this
important muscle? I've been working with it for over 30 years and
it's the most important function we can learn work with now, since it
has to do with manifestation. We need to own our own imaginations
before we can transform the world. So get your head out of TV and
the mass media and create your own reality!
The
Sabian symbol for Saturn turning direct at 14* Capricorn is: An
ancient bas-relief carved in granite remains a witness to a
long-forgotten culture. Saturn,
along with Pluto in Capricorn, energizes a re-structuring of our
society. We have seen how our democracy has been taken over by
large, corporate entities such as big Pharma, the oil and gas
industries, the military-industrial complex. The 1% do own the
government and run our society. That's not what our founding fathers
wanted for America. And so we need to restructure and renew our
society along the lines of a true democracy. These are the ancient
beliefs we need to remember and incorporate. And those 'founding
fathers' learned from the Native American Grandmothers what was
necessary to found a new country based on freedom for all. How
ironic and ultimately evil that we killed the very people who guided
our nation's founding!
Well,
that's all for now. I hope your harvest is fruitful and that you are
blessed by its bounty. I'm here if you need me.
Walk
in the Light,
Cathy
"John Barleycorn (Must Die)"
(Harvest folk song)
There were three men came out of the west, their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They've plowed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They've let him lie for a very long time, 'til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They've let him stand 'til Midsummer's Day 'til he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long long beard and so become a man
They've hired men with their scythes so sharp to cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the way, serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with their sharp pitchforks who've pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart
They've wheeled him around and around a field 'til they came onto a pond
And there they made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their crabtree sticks to cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can't hunt the fox nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle or pots without a little barleycorn
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They've plowed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They've let him lie for a very long time, 'til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They've let him stand 'til Midsummer's Day 'til he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long long beard and so become a man
They've hired men with their scythes so sharp to cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the way, serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with their sharp pitchforks who've pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart
They've wheeled him around and around a field 'til they came onto a pond
And there they made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their crabtree sticks to cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can't hunt the fox nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle or pots without a little barleycorn
