As
we face the death of the year, and all the deaths after the last two
years, death is very much on our minds. This is the seat of people's deepest fears. The truth is most people
are afraid of death. Even if you don’t subscribe to a religious
belief anymore, those beliefs are rooted in the DNA we inherited from
our ancestors. And they
were told to be afraid of Death!
Since
Covid,
death has become a conscious companion, one most people want to
ignore until the last moment. Sort of how we are ignoring the
environmental crisis until the very last minute. But
don Juan’s
advise to
Carlos Castaneda, ‘Take death as your advisor’ is an idea that
helps us make the right decisions for our lives.
Samhain
is a great time to reflect on our beliefs about death as we enter the
season of death. Astrologically, we are approaching the end of a
20-month
cycle of lunar nodes in Gemini/Sagittarius which has pointed us in
the direction of examining our beliefs, shedding those limiting beliefs that no longer serve life. This leaves us open to new ideas and new beliefs.
During
these last few month of this lunar node cycle, we are challenged to
face our beliefs about death, during the time of greatest darkness
here in the North. The other astrological indicator forcing us to
face our fears is the big aspect of 2021 – the Saturn square to
Uranus. This is a challenge of old vs new. Saturn is the archetype
of 3D reality while Uranus opens us to unseen alternative realities.
Saturn represents fear while Uranus symbolize freedom and awakening.
So
what do we have to awaken to that will diminish the fear everyone
is feeling?
We
can begin by examining our relationship to death and to change. For
our fear is not only about our physical death but also about the
death of old societal structures that no longer serve the common
good.
What
are our beliefs about Death? Lets
quickly explore what the majority of people in the world believe
about death. While this certainly doesn’t represent everyone’s
beliefs, these beliefs form a collective cellular
memory that
is lodged in the Collective Unconscious/World Soul and our individual DNA.
Christianity
has affected so much of the world. And its teaching about
death
is cruel.
(And
so opposed to what Jesus’ death proclaimed – that death is
nothing to fear because the soul lives on.)
Christianity
has
taught
that we are sinners and so most probably we’ll go to either Hell or
Purgatory when we die. Which basically means, we are
bound to burn in a fiery place – either for a while or for eternity.
Not
many people make it to Heaven, so can you blame people for not
wanting to die? Death is pain and suffering, and we get enough of
that here in this world.
So
we could say, the fear of death comes from an old belief that sits in
our unconscious and rules our emotions around death. It’s
so telling that our patriarchal religions teach this fear of death
and yet patriarchy has killed millions
of people through the last 5000 years of its power. Patriarchy has
caught us up in a paradox: with its fear of death it creates more
death through domination and control. It seems that patriarchy has
become a
death culture
since it’s killing a lot of people, animals
and plants
as its’
poisons – ideas,
chemicals, wars –
kill Mother Earth and
her children.
Hell
Judaism
is much kinder. It believes in an afterlife where you re-connect
with loved ones. But you don’t necessarily stay in ‘heaven’ –
you come back in a body again when the Messiah comes and reigns on
Earth. So you might have to wait awhile to come back.
In
Islam, people are commanded
to follow Allah’s laws and will be judged after death on
their behavior during a life of trials.
Then
they will be
sent to either paradise or hell depending on their good or bad
behavior during life. Another
fiery ending depending on what kind of life you’ve lived.
Reincarnation
I
don’t know a lot
about individual
Eastern
beliefs, but many
eastern religions
believe in Reincarnation, giving people
the responsibility to do good, so their future lives are good. Many
Native American tribes believed in Reincarnation and so were not
afraid of death. A Lakota
Sioux prayer ended with the phrase, ‘It is a good day to die’
showing a warrior’s determination to give his life for a good
cause.
And
the Celtic people were not afraid of death, believing in the
transmigration of souls or reincarnation. There are
hints of the idea of reincarnation in early Christianity (the
Gnostics) and
the New Testament,
but once the Roman empire became entangled with the Church, it
denied
this belief so the authorities/ patriarchs
could better control people who
thought
this life
was their
only lifetime to
achieve salvation. (btw, what kind of god creates bad children?)
The Wheel of the Year
As
we see from the Wheel of the Year, Mother Earth has
lessons about life to teach us. She
teaches us that both
life and
death are
a natural part of the
life
cycle,
and so death
is
not to be feared. When people die, their souls survive and move
through other worlds, choosing to reincarnate here or perhaps in
another world. Just
as the trees lose their leaves in Autumn and grow them again in
Spring, so does each soul incarnate to live
out its
own
unique experience.
When our life is over, our souls reflect on lessons learned
and purposes
fulfilled. We
meet with our fellow souls, reuniting with loved ones.
This
belief that
death is just another aspect of life implies that we need
to give Death the respect it is due. We
honor our dead by remembering and celebrating their lives.
The
Gemini/Sagittarius lunar nodes invited us to let go of old beliefs,
so we could find some new ones to base our lives on. Have you done
that these past few years?
A
new
belief could be that death
is a birth into a new life of
greater consciousness, one
in which our
Soul remembers who it is and why it came to Earth.
A place of peace and rest and learning. A paradise? Maybe.
Ancestral Healing Spirits
This
Samhain
we have many, many souls to mourn
and
celebrate and send on their way through the veils. Beloved family
and friends – my older brother Brad, who died of complications from
Covid, was a warm, kind, charismatic man who died before we wanted to
let him go. A
beautiful, sweet troubled
young woman who was too sensitive for this world. And so many
others.
There
are also millions of souls who have died from Covid, war, famine and
other cruelties of our capitalistic, militaristic world that
we don’t know personally.
There
are also the billions of species
– plants
and animals – who have died because of human caused climate change
in fires, floods, heat, cold and extreme weather.
We
are all connected, and as so many humans and other species die, we
are left with holes in our web of connection. When we create rituals
to honor Earth’s seasons, we can
consciously repair those holes. So this Samhain, let your light
shine out into the growing darkness and let’s begin to repair those
broken connections with
others who have suffered loss.
Ancestor Spirits
Samhain
is also a great time to connect with the Ancestors – both our
personal ones and those parts of our soul which have knowledge from
other lifetimes. This wisdom can help patch those holes and make us
stronger.
Use
this next season, from Samhain to Winter Solstice and the rebirth of
the Light, to think about what beliefs and ideals no longer serve
you. And
then let them go with gratitude for what they gave you in the past.
It’s time to make some changes.
Women
are better at releasing and changing because our bodies do it every
month during our fertile years. So we women are especially being
called to help people and souls release themselves from energies that
no longer serve us.
The
Divine Feminine always emerges to birth new life, a new epoch, a new
world.
Aries/Libra
Full Moon: October 20, 2021
'Only
the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of
life.'
Carl
G. Jung
With
the arrival of Samhain, the dying of the light before its rebirth, we
begin to shed our old skins. To go into the darkness and wait for
the mystery to manifest.
But
this week’s Aries Full Moon is a call to begin to put ourselves out
into the world in new ways. A new beginning and an ending. A
paradox.
What
makes this Aries/Libra Full Moon so potent is its connection to Pluto
in Capricorn and Eris in Aries. Both these dwarf planets stand for
transformation – Pluto, the transformation of society and Eris, the
more intimate transformation that calls us to stand up and follow our
hearts.
The
Aries Moon is conjunct Eris, the warrioress who causes discord if we
refuse to follow our hearts. This
Aries Full Moon demands action, since Aries, as the initial impulsive
fire of life, wants to move and shake things up. Aries is the energy
of new beginnings (once again the paradox of endings and beginnings).
It can push us to make necessary changes in our lives, or it can
make us impulsive and angry. If you make conscious choices now about
what you want the future to look like, this Full Moon can help you
begin to bring your intentions into reality. (Although be patient! The new world isn't here for a few more years. This is the time to test and hone your skills.)
With
the Sun in Libra opposite this Aries Full Moon, we reach a
culmination and fulfillment of those seeds we planted at the October
6th
New
Moon at 13*25’
Libra. That same day, Pluto turned
direct and is now heading to its own American Pluto return on
February 20, 2022. (2.20.2022) This Full Moon squares Pluto in
Capricorn, ensuring that we take into consideration the big cultural
changes that Pluto in Capricorn has engendered since 2008.
The Balance of Feminine & Masculine Energies
The
Libra Sun concerns the Other, how we relate to other people in a fair
and balanced way. We often say Libra is about our relationships -- and it is. But it's about more than romantic relationships. Libra is the lesson that teaches us how to treat another person or the world in a respectful way. With Aries Moon concerned with our own
self-identity, this Full Moon each year always has us readjusting our
relationships - I/Thou relationship. This year is especially intense since Mars joins the
Libra Sun while Eris joins the Aries Moon. Our instinctual response
(the Moon) is shaped by the intensity of Eris to do the right thing
for our hearts, while Mars is challenged to act on that inner
knowing.
Mars joined the Libra Sun a few days after the Libra New Moon and
while the Sun is moving away from Mars, it is still energetically
connected to the planet of action, desire, will and courage. And
Mars ‘rules’ the Aries Moon, so our need to make things happen is
tempered by a more balanced Mars. Hopefully, it's energy can make us more
aware of other people’s needs, and give us the ability to balance
our needs with those of the Other.
Both
Mercury and Jupiter turned direct on October 18th,
so their energy is strong as they slow down and change direction.
Jupiter forms good aspects to this Full Moon, encouraging visions and
possibilities of future connections (Aquarius).
Mercury
in Libra is opened to opportunities to see our heart’s truth by
Venus, the ruler of Libra, who is in Sagittarius now. These two
planets form a YOD with Uranus in Taurus, another Venus-ruled sign.
Yods are called ‘the finger of God’ or ‘the sword in the
stone’. It is an aspect of powerful adjustments. I read this YOD
as a commitment to listen to the Earth and our body (Uranus in
Taurus) to find our truth (Venus in Sagittarius) and to communicate
(Mercury in Libra) it to the people we are in relationship with.
Another way to say this is: Are we willing to make the necessary 'adjustments' to change our value systems? Taurus is the sign where we determine what we find valuable as well as what our VALUES are. Uranus in Taurus wakes us up to the truth that if we want to heal the planet and heal ourselves, we have to re-connect to Mother Earth's biosphere and live by her values. The plants and animals are our teachers for these lessons. Our body transmits our electromagnetic field to the rest of nature. Uranus says 'your body is your tuning fork'.
So
this Aries Full Moon is a new beginning, an opening for us to change
our ways and do things differently. Then we can spend the Samhain
season figuring out what needs to be shed, laying the dead to rest so
that new life can emerge for ourselves and our society.
I
just listened to an interesting talk by the German astrologer,
Alexander von Schlieffen, on the astrology of the next few years
until 2026. We’re definitely not out of the woods yet, but in
these coming years, the outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto – will be revising and reworking our society.
Hopefully we’ll each have a part to play, if only to bring down the
corporate control of our world by turning away from conspicuous
consumption for a simpler, peaceful, more creative life. When people
have time to be creative, they do not turn to useless entertainment
to fill their time.
“The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes.” Friedrich Nietzsche.
So,
let us release what no longer serves a fuller, deeper, more creative
life.
Merry Meet and Merry Part and Merry Meet Again!
Cathy
