The Cosmic Story: Autumn Equinox 2022

 

The seasons are changing. The Wheel is turning.

Summer is slipping into Fall. The days are still warm and sunny but the evenings are turning cool. There’s dew on everything in the morning.

This summer had a different rhythm for me. I spent a month in moving mode, had visits from all four of my children, and actually went to the beach more in a little over a month than I’d been in the past 2 decades.

I now live between the River and the Ocean. I’m becoming a Water Baby again.

 

On all different level, I am in my water phase. Besides being enveloped in the arms of water, I am learning once again to ‘go with the flow’ of life. I am also in my Elder years, which are associated with the West and with the great elemental Water.

Water has many qualities that serve us in times of trouble. Change, flexibility, persistence, resilience, and swiftness. It can bring us luck, surprises and travel. Water is to Mother Earth as Blood is to our bodies. Both are in constant motion.

With each year, it’s easier to live a more authentic version of myself. Since COVID, it has been a relief to step out of the flow of cultural expectations, and just ground into watching the waters of life ebb and flow, choosing when to dip my toe in and when to keep my feet on firm ground.

This elder standpoint is available to everyone at this time of year. For the Wheel of the Year keeps turning and we are entering the autumn time (at least in the northern hemisphere/ those of you down South are emerging into the light and renewal). Like the last quarter Moon of the lunar cycle, Autumn is the season to gather in the harvest, that aspect of ourselves that has matured, and then let the rest drop to the ground. We let the plants decompose back into new soil and we gather the seeds to sow next year. 

 

 

This autumn time comes at the completion of this year’s purpose and energy. It is the harvest time, both literally and symbolically.  It is not only the foods we need that are being harvested, but also the psychological, spiritual, emotional and material energies we’ve worked with since last Winter Solstice 2021.

The big energies of that time were Venus going retrograde as she ended her Evening Star phase in Aries, soon to begin her Morning Star phase in Capricorn on January 8, 2022. These energies suggest that we explore wisely what our next step will be – the Evening Star phase brings out the wisdom of a sign and Aries’ wisdom is to let Spirit take the lead and allow your desire to direct your intentions. This Capricorn Morning Star phase, which seems to have been about taking responsibility for what you love and desire, will end when Venus starts her (first in over 200 year) Libra Evening Star phase on October 22, 2022.

This new phase occurs when Venus meets the Sun on its far side, hidden from Earth’s view. It is a sacred marriage that gives rise to a new type of feminine wisdom, one that builds on what we’ve learned before.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Venus conjunction at 29* Libra is: Humanity’s vast and enduring effort to reach for knowledge transferable from generation to generation. This is lived knowledge of life, not a textbook example. It’s important to listen to the knowledge that’s been passed down, the common sense knowledge of life rather than what we can pick up on YouTube or TikTok. It is a call for our conscious participation in this cosmic evolution.

Who better than to lead us on this new phase of life’s journey than Venus /Aphrodite, Queen of Heaven and Earth. May the Goddess of Peace, Beauty and Love shine her Wisdom on and within us.

 

Aphrodite Urania -- Queen of Heaven

The other big energy around Winter Solstice 2021 was the last full Saturn/Uranus square at 12* Aquarius/Taurus. What did you choose? The Old or the New? Can you read the energies of these times we’re living in? Uranus in Taurus can open us to Earth’s evolutionary genius. Will we collaborate with Mother Earth, re-igniting our connection to her bio-sphere, or will we continue to live as if there are no consequences? 

 

Now is the time to look at those consequences. The rise in electricity rates, as well as oil and gas, is the price we have to pay if we want to transform our society and how we use energy. We have to learn to cut back on our own, and higher costs are part of how we’ll do it.

It’s a time to ‘sacrifice’ some of our old ways if we really want to create a better world in this time of environmental crisis. Sacrifice means ‘to make sacred’. Will we choose to let go of inessentials while the world is transforming, giving our actions meaning? There are great and good things about ‘the old’ that we can keep, such as the adages, every little bit helps. And‘don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater’.  Keep what is precious and true.  Let go of the rest.  And be open to what comes.  That's the gift of Water -- to go with the flow.  Surrender to life and see what comes.

How has your life changed and your garden grown this year? Have you shed an old skin and found more freedom? Or have you retreated in fear of what is becoming?

Autumn Equinox/ Mabon: September 22, 2022

The two Equinoxes, Spring and Autumn, are times of Balance, the balance of light and dark. In Spring, the balance tips over into the light and outer life. In Autumn, the balance tips into the dark and going within. But on those two days, light and dark are equal. It is the time to ground yourself in that balance. Although many people are railing against that binary system, it is an integral part of the cosmos and of our world. Just because ‘we’ don’t like seeing the world as binary, doesn’t mean that the cosmos has to agree with us!

So Light and Dark. Day and Night. Masculine and Feminine. Yang and Yin. On the Equinoxes, these forces are brought into balance.

Onward we go round the Spiral

Touching darkness, touching light.

Twice each year we rest in balance,

Make choices on this night.

The Autumn/Spring Equinox occurs on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 6:04pm PDT/ 9:04pmnjmmh EDT and on September 23, 2022 at 2:04am GMT.

 

 

The chart for Autumn Equinox occurs at the Leo Moon balsamic phase of the lunar cycle that began with the Virgo New Moon. With the upcoming Sun/Mercury conjunction just hours after the Equinox, we are midway through this Mercury retrograde cycle. Since both Virgo and Gemini are ‘Mercury ruled’, this was a month to clean up and clear up the Mind.

That Virgo New Moon made an intense square to Mars in Gemini, which might have made things more confusing, opening us to too many options. It was time to make some choices. Then the Virgo/Pisces Full Moon was conjunct Neptune, either deluding us further or opening us to our creative imagination to deepen our inner focus on what we truly desired.

The Autumn Equinox and upcoming Libra New Moon on September 25^th, are a time of letting go – the harvest is in, whether we realize it or not. Look at what you have around you. That’s what you get to play with this autumn.

 

 

The Autumn Equinox begins the sign of Libra, just as its opposite gateway, Spring Equinox begins with Aries. Just as Aries begins a drive toward our individual visions, Libra turns our focus to our collective responsibilities. While Virgo is the energy of integration of personality, Libra is the energy of taking that personality and bringing it into relationship with others. How will the balance hold?

The Equinox Sun is conjunct Mercury retrograde, initiating a new cycle of their dance. How are we communicating? The better we ‘know ourselves’/Virgo, the better we are at speaking our truth in a kind and courteous manner. And more importantly, we are centered enough so we can listen to what the other has to say.

The Sabian symbol for the Equinox Sun and Mercury is interesting and telling.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Mercury retrograde at 1* Libra is: In a collection of perfect specimens of many biological forms, a butterfly displays the beauty of its wings, its body impaled by a fine dart.

The objective viewpoint of this image brings to mind the archetypal realm, since all the specimens are ‘perfect’. We see the ‘seed’ forms of life. And the butterfly is the symbol of the soul and its transformation through time. This is the time when we see the Sacred in what we’ve harvested. With the Mind aligned with our conscious purpose (the Sun), I know we can bring in a rich harvest.

The Sun and Mercury are opposite Jupiter retrograde in Aries, giving us the courage and optimism to meet what comes, calling on our soul’s vision.

The Sabian symbol for Jupiter retrograde at 5* Aries is: A triangle with wings. This is symbolic of our desire to reach higher levels of consciousness, to see a new dimension of reality. So the vision is strong.

There are two strong T-squares at this Equinox.

The first, fixed, T-square is the approaching (but never touching) Uranus/NN in Taurus square Saturn in Aquarius both aspecting the Leo Moon. With Uranus and Saturn both retrograde, an inner re-structuring of our beliefs and behaviors, as well as our physicality, is possible. The balsamic Leo Moon is open to the wisdom we’ve learned so far, and it can lend us the self-confidence we need to break down and break through any inner blocks.

The second T-square is in mutable signs, suggesting we can make use of these energies in the outer world. With Venus in Virgo opposing Neptune retrograde in Pisces, we might feel the need to be of service to the world. Like the Vestal Virgins of Rome, or the 9 Priestesses guarding Brigid’s sacred fires in Ireland, we might be called to guard and defend what makes life worthwhile, rather than wallow in a deluded sense of evil permeating the world. Yes, there is darkness in the world, but the Light always wins out in the end.

This Venus-Neptune opposition is squared by Mars in Gemini. We can let Mars get us into arguments over ideas, or Mars can help us navigate the issues that are dear to our hearts. There was a Mars/Venus square last week that challenged us to decide what we’re doing. We might have to wait until after Mercury goes direct on October 2 to finally see those decisions through.

Retrograde Neptune sextiling Pluto in Capricorn make a quick YOD with the Leo Moon on Equinox. With the Moon at the tip of the YOD, we might catch a glimpse of what Spirit is calling us to do, there and gone before we get the whole picture, but if we stay open to our dreams and imaginings, perhaps the vision will settle into our bones.

Wheel of the Year: Mabon

 

 

 

The Wheel of the Year is comprised of the two Solstices and two Equinoxes, as well as the four cross-quarter holidays that fall between the Equinoxes and Solstices. 

The Autumn Equinox is called Harvest Home, Mabon or the Feast of the Ingathering by modern Pagans, and it is a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and the Gods during the coming winter months. It is the second of three harvests, the first wheat harvest at Lammas (August 1), this second fruit harvest and the third harvest of nuts and berries at Samhain(November 1).

At Autumn Equinox we have to let go of the Light and allow the Dark in again. Now is the time to begin to turn inward and once again dream.  It is our dreams now that will bear fruit next year.  If you want your soul's take on what dreams will fulfill you, start to pay attention to your dreams. 

May your harvest be plentiful – and shared!

Blessed Be,

Cathy

The Wild Geese

Horseback on Sunday morning,
harvest over, we taste persimmon
and wild grape, sharp sweet
of summer's end. In time's maze
over the fall fields, we name names
that went west from here, names
that rest on graves. We open
a persimmon seed to find the tree
that stands in promise,
pale, in the seed's marrow.
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear,
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye
clear. What we need is here.

~ Wendell Berry ~

(Collected Poems 1957-1982)

The Cosmic Storyteller: Samhain, the Day of the Dead & Aries Full Moon 2021

 

Samhain 2021 & October 20th’s Aries Full Moon

What needs to die so we can create something new?

 

 

Samhain/Halloween 2021

Although most of the leaves here in southern Rhode Island are still green and the temperatures have been in the 70s until today, Autumn is definitely here in New England. And believe it or not, in two weeks we once again turn the Wheel of the Year to Samhain – the days of the Dead.

While we celebrate Samhain on October 31^st – November 1^st, astrologically it has moved to November 7^th, when the Sun is at 15* Scorpio, the power gate of Scorpio. So the whole week is a celebration of the Day of the Dead, All Saint’s Day, All Souls Day and Samhain. The Sabian symbol for 15* Scorpio is about developing the higher mental ability to imagine future-oriented growth.  That includes beyond death!

As the light grows dimmer here in the North, the days of springtime are arriving down South. And they’re celebrating Beltane instead of Samhain and letting the Faerie Folk come visit through the veil to bring fertility back to the land.

Here in the North, the veil thins and Herne the Hunter with his pack of belling hounds will give chase across the sky as the souls of this year’s departed are gathered so they can cross through the veil of Death.

 

The Wild Hunt

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 6^th 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 18^th, 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

 

 

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~ Wendell Berry ~

(The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry)