Winter Solstice 2022: the Divine Mother gives birth to the Light.

 

The Wheel of the Year: Winter Solstice, 2022

The Divine Mother Gives Birth to the New Light

 

 

The Wheel of the Year: Winter Solstice

Each year the northern hemisphere of Mother Earth celebrates the re-birth of the Light from December 20^th -25^th. Whether we celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, or New Year’s Day, we rejoice in the return of the light. Many of our cultural holidays, such as these, are aligned with the Wheel of the Year, the yearly cycle of the Sun and Earth.

We are just leaving the energy of Samhain/Halloween, the Gateway of Death. When we began the season of Samhain, we invoked the ancient goddess Hekate, Goddess of the Crossroads (and of Witches – Women In Total Control of Herself) as our guardian spirit. Did you ask her for guidance? Her dogs sniff out what lies beyond our seeing. Her torch gives us light in the dark. Her power is the power of choice and transformation. 

 

Hekate

 

Did you decide what you’re leaving behind? Have you chosen a road? That’s all it needs to be right now. A decision, a knowing, a casting off of an old attitude. We are in the very darkest days around Winter Solstice. Surrender to the Dark one last time and see what you find out about yourself.

With Winter Solstice, the Wheel of the Year begins the new cycle with (Re)Birth – the (re)birth of the new Light. Because we simultaneously live in a linear consciousness and a cyclical one, this light and our individual consciousness, are something we know and yet the light contains a mystery, the unknown future light. Together, a straight line and a circle create a spiral – and suddenly, we’re in tune with the universe.

We get a chance each year to create something new with the light, with our energy, with our consciousness: still rooted in who we are – our BEING – while giving birth to a new DOING. The Feminine Being is eternal. The Masculine Doing is eternally re-incarnating. (Or not. We might be content with how we’re living life and so we just renew our energy and continue doing as we’ve always done.)

While at Winter Solstice/Christmas, we celebrate the Light and the Child, let’s not forget to celebrate the Mother, who gives birth to the Child of Light. She is the source of this new life and light. For me, this is the season of The Mother Goddess.

 

 

For those of you who haven’t experienced the birth of a child, it is the mother who is, and needs to be, the center of this archetypal drama. Without the Mother’s body, there would be no baby’s body. Without the Mother’s labor, there would be no birth into this world of ours. Without the Mother’s caring, the new life will not thrive. While we are blessed to live in a time when fathers are becoming great caretakers, it is still the realm of the Divine Mother who oversees the care and growth of new life.

In patriarchy, motherhood has been elevated (Madonna) as well as devalued (negative mother/witch). Supermom, especially a single mom, is often exhausted and stressed over her children’s expectations. And in our present patriarchal world-view, those expectations have become excessive and unrealistic.

Modern moms need a break from patriarchal expectations that are being planted in our children. Moms need to remember who we are before we can expect others to respect our needs and vision.

So let’s go back to basics and explore our ideas of Mother.

 

 

First, there is the archetype of the Great Mother – Mother Earth. This divine being created life here on our planet and continues to do so, despite the devastation of her natural habitats which help sustain Her life. A good metaphor for what is happening to Mother Earth with climate change is that She is in MEN-o-pause – she is putting ‘hu-men’ beings on pause as she tries to regulate her systems. Hot flashes and cold sweats are all part of ‘the change’ older women go through. Whether we believe it or not, women are created in the image of this Divine Mother, so thank goodness we have so many healthy, intelligent, creative post-menopausal women to help re-set our human systems as Mother Earth works to re-set hers.

Don’t you think it’s time to listen to the wisdom of the Grand-Mothers?

Aside from Mother Earth, how does this archetypal Mother manifest on a human scale? Basically, Mother is the doorway into life. It is the only way (for mammals) for a new baby, whether human or animal, to enter this world. Not only does Mother create our bodies out of her own, but she willingly suffers the pains of birth (a sacrifice, which means to make sacred – because pain and blood are the payment for the power of birthing something new into the world).

So with power and love, Mother births us into the world.

When did we forget that power and love? That divine purpose? Not every woman can or should have children, but the process is imprinted in our bodies. Women’s bodies are shaped to create life. Isn’t it time we remembered to honor it? Hint: It’s not by legislating that creativity though. Sometimes Mother Earth grows weeds that don’t support life and so die out early on. We really need deeper, feminine, spiritual insights into pregnancy and developing life. And we also have to speak to the issue of free will. This is about a woman’s choice.

Let’s also honor the ground we live on, since Mother Earth sustains us. I live in a tidal river valley that slopes up to cliffs that overlook the Atlantic Ocean just as it begins to become Narragansett Bay. I am embraced by water, sheltered by water birches and old oak trees.

This specific landscape shapes my everyday world with earth and sunlight, wind and water. The four elements are constantly moving and shaping not only the landscape but my life. I’m seeing that the wind plays a big role in my landscape, blowing leaves and trash cans with abandon. I’m going to have to go talk with the wind and understand its fierceness.

What landscape are you a part of? How is it birthing you this year?

Winter Solstice Goddess: the Divine Mother

With the Christian Christmas story, our focus is on the miraculous Child being born. Winter Solstice is the right time to celebrate the birth of this new Child of Light being born into the world, since that’s what happens on Winter Solstice.

For the northern hemisphere of Earth, the weeks before Solstice are the darkest of the year. There is less daylight and more dark night in our 24 hour cycle. At Winter Solstice, the Sun descends to the tropic of Capricorn in the south, stops and goes no further south. It ‘stands still’ (the meaning of solstice) for about 3 days and then begins to move north again. The darkness feels just like Susan Cooper imagines in her magical Winter Solstice book – The Dark is Rising.

In the Christian Christmas story, there are Three Wise Men (magi meaning astrologer) who came to worship the Child and leave gifts. Perhaps they suggested that we celebrate the Divine Birth of the Christ Child on Christmas Day, like the Persian god Mithra, who was also born on December 25^th, because that is the day the Light begins to move north again for another year.

In looking for an aspect of the Goddess who embodies the virtues and gifts that are necessary at this point in the Earth’s life cycle, it is obvious that we are calling on the Great Mother. Whether we see her as Mother Mary or Isis or Haumea or Demeter, we do have archetypal stories that show us what the positive Mother energy is for. (In patriarchy, which devalued and suppressed so much of feminine wisdom, we often have too many stories of the negative mother/ stepmother/ witch.) 

Haumea

 

Haumea is the guardian goddess of the Hawaiian Islands, a goddess of fertility and childbirth and the mother of Pele and her sister, Namaka, the waters that surround the island and which receive Pele’s fiery lava, as well as many other Hawaiian deities. Haumea, like the Greek Mother Goddess Gaia, creates out of her whole body – not just her womb. Like the Earth, Haumea changes from maiden to mother to crone as the seasons change, so she takes many forms and comes back in many rebirths. Haumea is the archetypal energy of earthly creation and abundance, as well as the necessary death that proceeds new life. (Also see Pachamama.)

Demeter, the Greek Mother Goddess of the growing grain and agricultural abundance, was also the Mother of Kore, who became Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. This is an archetypal imagination of the Great Mother who is a nurturer of human life – providing not just for our physical needs but for our spiritual needs as well. 

 

      Demeter & Persephone

In the ancient world, there was a mystery religion that centered on women, abundance, life and death as well as the knowledge of re-birth. The Eleusinian Mysteries, dedicated to Demeter and her daughter Persephone, was one of the most sacred and secret initiations in the ancient world; it’s mysteries celebrated for over a thousand years. While we don’t know all the particulars of these ancient mysteries, (not one of the initiates ever revealed the secret knowledge – pretty impressive statement of the power of these initiations), we do know it was an experience of the immortality of the soul and possibly the knowledge of reincarnation. This story shows that Demeter was more than just a fertility goddess; she was the guide and guardian of our human soul – a fitting job for a Mother.

Isn’t that what mothers do? We want to guide our children so they have the tools to survive in the world and the values that will help them thrive. The world needs this wisdom of the eternal return of life so we can step away from our fear of, and fascination with, Death. Since the Great Mother is not only the life-giver but the death-bringer, she can give us the faith and courage to face death without fear and in hope of our spiritual survival. That’s what Christianity was supposed to teach us but it looks like it failed, because the Church concentrated on sin and death rather than resurrection and renewed life.

The other two Mother Goddesses, Isis and Mary, have similar birthing stories. Both are impregnated by an absent Father god. Isis is more pro-active about it than Mary, but she began as a goddess while Mary had to deal with being human. And of course, we’ll never know how pro-active Mary actually was!

The importance of these two Mothers is that we know their personal stories. We can connect with them on a human level. Both gave birth in hidden places; both had to deal with someone (a king, a brother) who wanted their baby dead.

 

 

With Mother Mary, she was the Virgin who gave birth to the Sun King. While she ended up playing an archetypal role, Mary as a human mother was the source of life for her son Jesus. Mary went into labor and gave birth to a son. She nursed him and kept him warm and safe, even though the world was turned against them. Mary gave all her attention to making sure that her son survived those first few months of life. She was his world, and he was hers. That’s what mother’s do after a baby is born.

If we want to ask for guidance on mothering this new Light that is coming into our world on December 21^st, Mary tells us that it takes focus and love and nurturing to make sure that our child’s life force gets strong. It’s hard work and it takes a while to get to those quiet nights, but contentment washes through us every time we hold our child. That’s what this winter time is for – that quiet focus and contentment. To stop our patriarchal programming to do, do, do, we have to turn to our inner mother and ask to be held in her loving arms. Even when we try to squirm out of them!

This Winter Solstice season (from December 21, 2022 to February 2, 2023), skip trying to exercise and diet your way through January. Instead, listen within and ask yourself what does your body need. What does your heart need? What does your soul need? You can start your new programs after Spring Equinox, with big planets changing sign, therefore of focus, from March to May.

Winter Solstice December 21, 2022

The Sun enters the sign of Capricorn on Winter Solstice, December 21, 2022 at 1:48pm PST/ 4:48 pm EST/ 9:48pm GMT.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 1* Capricorn is: An Indian chief claims power from the assembled tribe. Each year at the Winter Solstice and the birth of the light, this symbol asks us to take on our authentic authority. It is wonderfully symbolic that our most revered mythic leader, King Arthur, was born on Winter Solstice. This need to step into our own power is a repeating theme this year. The power of leadership means to take responsibility for our world, our people and ourselves.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 9* Sagittarius is: A Mother leads her small child step by step up a steep stairway. Our emotional body wants the Mother to teach us how to move in our new life. How do we do things differently? How do we learn things thoroughly? How do we build the muscle to get up to this next phase of human consciousness?

We can read this chart as shaping the cosmic energies for the next three months until the Spring Equinox. I cast the chart for Washington, D.C. so the Cancer ascendant is specific to the United States.

The first thing I noticed in this Solstice chart is that the Moon is in its Balsamic phase, the phase right before the New Moon. This is a finishing up and ending energy. It’s interesting that as the US Pluto return is energized for the last of three passes on December 28^th, the January 6^th committee has recommended criminal prosecution against Donald Trump for inciting a riot against the US government and against the rule of law. A country’s Pluto return is often experienced as a disintegration of its power, but ultimately as a renewal of that country’s ideals. If Pluto’s evolutionary energy can stabilize the rule of law over personality here in the US, it will finally and truly mark our independence from the mindset of ‘divine rule’ by kings or despots. We have to stop idolizing the ‘rich and famous’ – our homegrown, American bourgeois royalty.

Personally, we might find these next 3 months to be a time of finishing up old business in many ways. Mars and Mercury will be retrograde as we begin 2023, so both our mind and our energy are being reconfigured. After they turn direct on January 12^th for Mars in Gemini and January 18^th for Mercury in Capricorn, we’ll still need to re-orient ourselves to a new year. When Uranus also turns direct on January 22^nd, a day after the Aquarius New Moon, we can begin to make some changes in our outer life.

But remember the Mother Goddess, who is our guide this season, and go slowly. Kids learn to crawl before they learn to walk, and walking is a pretty shaky business for awhile, until they get running down pat. Climbing steep stairs is also a challenge. So start slowly and make what you do now count.

Both luminaries make major aspects to one planet each. The Sun at 0* Capricorn squares Jupiter which just entered 0* Aries. The Sun in conservative Capricorn will be challenged to act too quickly by Jupiter in Aries if we don’t pay attention. Jupiter in Aries is all set to explore new possibilities. But remember, Mars will be in Gemini (ruled by Mercury), the realm of ideas and the mind, until March 25^th, so let your imagination and mind explore and play with ideas until then. Those plans can begin to manifest when Jupiter moves into the sign of Taurus in mid-May.

The Moon in Sagittarius is opposite Mars retrograde in Gemini. Our lunar emotional body will want to light up the night and go on our quest, but Mars will stay stuck in his head for a while longer. Moon in Sagittarius will need to move and possibly shake things up, so spend the first few months of 2023 organizing and consolidating files, throwing things out, planning a trip or a quest. Give your Sag Moon something to do while you’re contemplating what you want to do with the rest of the year.

Saturn will finish up his business in Aquarius and move into Pisces for the next 2 ½ years on March 7^th. After about 5 years in two signs (Capricorn & Aquarius) he rules, Saturn is going to let go of control and sink back into the collective unconscious to reacquaint himself with the heart of the Anima Mundi/World Soul.

Saturn takes 28-30 years to complete its cycle. Looking back, in April, 1966, when Saturn was in Pisces, Time Magazine asked the question on its cover, Is God Dead? Looking back, it seems like that was a pertinent question. What will Saturn’s passage through Pisces ask us this year?

In early 1994, with Saturn in Pisces, “Ukraine announces that it will give up the world’s third biggest nuclear arsenal. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had received over 1,800 warheads and 175 long-range missiles. After two years of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States, the country agreed to get rid of all nuclear weapons if Russia would respect its sovereignty.” Perhaps Russia will remember its promise when Saturn returns to Pisces.

Chiron in Aries turns direct right before the Capricorn New Moon on December 23^rd, moving us forward again to reclaim our own unique identity from our patriarchal patterning. This is echoed by the Sabian symbol for the Winter Solstice sun. Take on your authority, with humility, grace and wisdom.

 

 

Winter Solstice is the time of the Longest Nights. During this time of great darkness, why not let your imaginations run wild, much like we did as children.  It is a time to return to the child-like wonder of life.

This year on December 20^th, Jupiter passes out of the Omega sign of Pisces into the Alpha sign of Aries, signaling a shift from deep spiritual connection to a cosmic curiosity, which can have us exploring (at least in our minds with Aries’ ruler Mars retrograde in Gemini) what we envision for next year in this new light.

This time between Winter Solstice and 12^th Night/January 6^th was once the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, a time out of time when the world descended back into chaos so it could be reborn anew. After the past few years, it’s time to really renew ourselves and our culture. Use this time to let go of your old story and experience each day without expectations – but with delight. Set your world on its head – let the servant be the master, as it was during these ancient celebrations. Let your imagination be the master during these magical days. Let your rational side take a control break and serve the imagination. Use both to create magic, which will filter down through the year. What we do now sets up a template for the coming year. (Check out how to record your dreams for the 12 Days of Christmas.)

And check out my Winter Solstice Story.

May the peace and the love of the Goddess and the God be ever in your hearts. Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again.

See you next year!

Cathy

The Cosmic Story: Virgo New Moon 2022

 

Letting Go of the Past to Embrace the Future

The last weeks of August are always bittersweet.

Summer is coming to an end, school is about to begin and the days are getting shorter and cooler. But Summer lingers – the Sun is still hot and burning, the nights still need fans. Today when I went to the beach it was almost empty of people compared to how it’s been this past month. But the water and sky and wind were still playing in the heat. The water was nicely cool and its clear green waves rolled lazily into shore.

A perfect August day. A day to enjoy Nature’s beauty and benevolence. Especially the sweet breezes that cool the Sun’s heat. A day to savor life. 

 

 

Now the Sun has moved into one of the seasons of change, as all mutable signs end the four seasons. The Sun’s month in Leo is now past, with the Sun slipping further south into the sign of Virgo last Monday. We have another month until the Sun sits on the equator before slipping into the southern hemisphere, bringing them Spring and Summer, leaving us here in the northern hemisphere Fall and Winter.

When the Sun resides in the sign of the Virgin, we’re energized to look at what we’ve accomplished this past year and what we still have to do in the growing dark of the year.

Like the winnowing that goes on at harvest time, Virgo asks us to discern what we have really given birth to this year. Because Virgo is not just the Virgin—She is the Virgin Mother with her Child. The seed that was conceived at Winter Solstice, when the Divine Virgin/Mother gave birth to the Light and to Her Divine Child, is now ready to be harvested and taken into the world as nourishment for ourselves and others. 

 

 

Leo asked us to use our creativity to ground in our vision. In Virgo, our task is to hone what the soul gave birth to this year. That’s why Virgo celebrates both Mother Matrix/Soul and Child/Life.

What we harvest is particular to ourselves. We each have our own journey and our own quest. The quest is always the same and the journey never ends, but our stories are our own. So each harvest will be different.

My harvest this year is a house that will be a home. In my spiritual youth, I thought this wasn’t a worthy enough goal. Oh, I made a good home for my kids – but the house and home never satisfied me. There was always something beyond. But chasing that beyond never fully engaged my heart and soul.

So one day, I just decided to stop. To let it all go. I finally let go of my need to achieve, to do, to act and settled back to just Be. I re-learned how to go with the flow of my childhood and let myself see what showed up. In the quiet of BEING, I realized I also needed to know what I wanted, what my heart’s hope was. What did I desire most?

When I finally recognized what I longed for and asked for it, it came to me so easily, it was a blessing.

It took me a while to finally get that I had to be whole-hearted, all of me had to want it, which is a quality that Virgo also exemplifies – integrating what the body needs, the heart hopes for and the mind finally acknowledges.

We have to be totally honest with ourselves to be whole-hearted. This task is reflected in the Gene Key for the New Moon at 5* Virgo. The 59^th Gene Key is about our innate dishonesty – embedded in our DNA. It is what attracts us to others, while at the same time making us fear and distrust them. So it seems we’re hardwired to be afraid to reveal ourselves to others – and to ourselves!

But there’s a deep planetary transformation going on that requires us to overcome our old operating systems and learn to be honest with ourselves and with each other. Once we release the programmed fears, we engage in a higher consciousness and can develop intimacy with ourselves and with each other.

(This is why so many of my clients are doing Shadow-work now. Our Shadows are behaviors that we all develop as children to hide our truest Selves from rules and judgments that try to shape us to society’s plans. Once you work with your Shadow, you release the authentic parts of yourself to grow and thrive. And once you’re living authentically, blessings flow.)

The Goddess energy for Virgo is the Great Mother with her Divine Child. We can look to the Egyptian Goddess Isis and her son Horus as our Virgo guide.

 

 

Isis was one of four children born to the sky goddess Nut and her husband Geb, the Earth. She married her brother Osiris, who became King. Together they taught humanity all the arts of civilization. But Osiris’ brother Set was jealous of him and killed him, scattering parts of his body all over Egypt. Isis and her sister Nephthys found those parts and Isis, through her magic, restored Osiris to life long enough to be impregnated. She gave birth to Horus and Osiris became the King of the Dead.

Horus fought Set for the kingship and eventually won it. And thereafter, Horus was believed to incarnate in each Pharaoh, while the deceased Pharaoh became Osiris.

Isis and Horus represent the source of rulership for the Egyptians. For us, this Mother and Divine Child can become a source of our own sovereignty, our own self-rulership. They symbolize not only what we harvest in our lives, but also good rulership of who we are and what we have.

For this New Moon, you can invoke the Great Mother Isis and her Son Horus as both the source of your Being and the Doing that comes from our authentic Selves.

The Virgo New Moon 2022

The Virgo New Moon occurs on Saturday, August 27^th at 1:17am PDT/ 4:17am EDT/ 9:17 am GMT.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 5* Virgo is: A person becoming aware of nature spirits and normally unseen spiritual agencies. This image is a call to use our creative imagination to give us insight into the spiritual powers that are available to us in these changing times. We are entering a new age where we will value the unseen realities not as moral forces which condemn us, but rather as spiritual energies available to us to use to make a better world.

This New Moon makes one major aspect – a very tight square to Mars in Gemini. Mars entered Gemini on August 20^th, where it will remain for over 6 months as it retrogrades on October 30^th at 26* Gemini until January 12, 2023 at 9* Gemini, and finally enter Cancer on March 25, 2023. So we have a long time to work with this energy. It’s time to use our Minds as they were meant to be used – as a support and aid to what our Hearts know and desire.

The Sabian symbol for Mars at 5* Gemini is: A revolutionary magazine asking for action. This image speaks to our need to re-create something – our lives, our beliefs, our perspectives, our society, our government. But it is not a call for violence! We need a peaceful revolution going forward. (The right -wing has made use of these revolutionary times – the US Pluto return – to manipulate people and try to turn the clock back and repress us. Steve Bannon has studied the ‘occult’ and knows all about the astrological energies of our times.)

Mars is the planet of action, of assertion, of anger – of doing. It is the sacred masculine energy within all of us. While patriarchy has honed it into a killing, dominating energy, it is essentially the energy of movement and action. When we allow Mars to embody the Green Man energy of life, it turns against its patriarchal modeling and protects and defends the rising Feminine energy of life. That is its true function.

With Mars in Gemini, the sign of the Mind, we can become scattered with all the things we want to do and learn – our over-use of technology has scattered our minds. That is why meditation is so important right now if we want to ‘own’ our own minds. This tight square to the New Moon challenges us relate to and integrate those higher spiritual energies into our harvest. Like Horus, Mars here can help us organize and focus our new gifts for the greater good by disciplining our minds. Or if our Mars is still entrenched in the old Mars model, we will cause disruption with our communications and aggressive opinions.

The other big aspect of this New Moon chart is a fixed T-square between Venus in Leo, Uranus retrograde & the North Node in Taurus and Saturn retrograde in Aquarius. Venus is being resonated by the lingering Uranus/Saturn square of 2021 – will we energize a hopeful future or will we succumb to the ancient fears in our DNA and continue to foster hate and fear with others.

Venus here is challenged to get creative and find ways to leave behind what no longer serves life while integrating us into Mother Earth’s biosphere.

After the big Uranus/North Node/Mars conjunction in Taurus around July 31 – August 1, Uranus turned retrograde on August 24^th at 19* Taurus. The Sabian symbol for 19* Taurus is: A new continent rising out of the ocean.

We are in for major changes for sure. It’s sad that our leaders are not asking us to change our behaviors to make life more sustainable. We did it for war – WWII – and we can do it for life. Uranus retrograde can help us find our inner freedom from old behaviors (shadow work) and from old societal beliefs. 

 

 

Mercury, the planet that ‘rules’ Virgo and Gemini, just moved into the sign of Libra, the scales of justice, on August 25^th. It will turn retrograde on September 9^th at 9* Libra.

The Sabian symbol for Mercury retrograde at 9* Libra is: Three ‘old Masters’ hanging on the wall of a special room in an art gallery. This image speaks to the ‘need to return to ‘source’ during a confused search for new value in a chaotic society.’(Dane Rudhyar) It calls us to meditate on the values we hold dear and to re-establish our lives based on them. While we need to leave the past behind us, it is important to save and bring forward those values that are most truly the source of life – Power, Love/Wisdom and Intelligence-in-action.

Mercury in Libra opposite Jupiter retrograde in Aries can open us to new ideas about how we can relate to each other – if we can face our inherited fears, learn from them and then let them go.

It’s time to wake up and change our habits. It’s time to take responsibility for our behavior. What do we value? Are we living by our values or do we only pay lip-service to them?

At this harvest time, count your blessings and work to be worthy of them.

Blessings on your harvest!

Cathy

The Cosmic Story: May & the Divine Feminine Taurus Lunar Eclipse & Mercury Retrograde

 The Cosmic Story For May 2022

The Romans worshiped the Goddess Flora, the flower maiden, in May. For them, May was the time to blossom, just as the Earth was blossoming. Flora was a nymph who became the bride of Zephyr, the god of breezes. As a wedding gift, he gave her the gift of Spring and the Garden. (As usual with patriarchal re-tellings, it is the god’s gift to Flora, instead of recognizing that Flora, blossoming, is the growth aspect of Mother Earth, who also sends the gentle breezes of Spring to awaken that blossoming. In reality, they work together. Equal partners in creating the awakening of new life. Sort of like pregnancy being caused by a penis.)

 

Flora

Like the cross-quarter holiday of Beltane (May 1-5), May is a time of wild delight, innocent wonder and open sensuality. Our senses come alive as the fragrant blossoms open to the Sun. In May, we are bathed in beauty – our sight is filled with vibrant rainbow colors, our smell is intoxicated by the heady fragrance of lilac, hyacinth and rose, our touch by the feel of the Sun’s warmth and soft breezes on our skins, and our hearing by the sounds of birds, insects and leaves filling our heads with the music of life. My heart is always blown open by the sheer beauty all around me in May here in Rhode Island. But then again, I’m a Taurus. A May baby. I incarnated to embody that season’s beauty.

 

 

The Romans honored Maia and the Bona Dea/ Earth Mother in the beginning of May. This time of blossoming was also allotted to girls who were just coming into their sexuality and womanhood, the new beginning which promised them growth and change. But I know all women feel this awakening to life, no matter what our ages. It is the Goddess’ call to us to continually create and grow. As the goddess of flowers, Flora invites us to make flower garlands and crowns to adorn ourselves with the scents and beauty of the Goddess herself.

May and the sign of Taurus exemplify the light-filled side of the Divine Feminine (her dark side manifests in the opposite sign of Scorpio, for She is all things, all possibilities, all mystery) – its beauty, its sensuality and its ability to manifest life. Out of the divine spark of Aries’ fire, Taurus takes that energy and manifests it into something tangible, beautiful and life-giving.

In its truest form, Taurus is The Garden – the earthly paradise that our planet once was. And still could be.

 

 

For the most part, humanity experiences the Earth as a Mother Goddess – the One who carries us as we grow, the One who nurtures us, the One who clothes us in our human body. And the One who takes us to our final rest. Most surely, She is the One who embodies Home.

Just so is the quantum field – for it is the most subtle form of Mother Earth – the place where manifestation begins. And so we see the energy we call ‘the Divine Feminine’ as the foundation of the universe. We see it in the Tarot card The World, as the Woman dancing in the snake of time.

The Divine Feminine is not just our physical world. She is the Source of mystery and life, love and wisdom, our soul and its power to manifest. She is the ground of our being. The foundation and cosmic laws of Life.

She has been called many names, for she is Maia, the Magic/Illusion of the world that keeps us from seeing the Cosmic Unity. In fact, She is Life in all its many forms. She is the Goddess with 10,000 names because She is Matter that knows she is also Spirit. She is the mirror of our self-reflection, helping us see who we are. She becomes illusion when we don’t listen to our souls but rather to collective, rigid beliefs.

In Hinduism, Maya is illusion, a veiling of the true, unitary Self—the Cosmic Spirit also known as Brahman. The illusion these religions warn us about are the societal rules and perspective we each live in. Maya is what entices us into life so we get the experience we incarnated for. It’s how we respond to the experiences that make them an illusion, which are meant to trap us. When we see past the illusion, we get past the societal traps, and see ourselves clearly. Then Maya comes alive with the beauty of deeper experiences and lessons. The Buddha had to remember all his past lives before he became an Enlightened One under the Bodhi Tree at the Scorpio Full Moon of May.

In the I Ching, the second hexagram (although some feel this used to be the First) is the sacred Yin energy of life The Receptive. The feminine is open and allowing. It is also the source of Yang energy, since masculine doing is the externalization of feminine being. This is the energy of the Quantum field, the place where creation begins.

It’s interesting, and practical, that the Romans also got cautious by mid-May and knew that ‘lemures’ and other night stalkers could hurt the newly blossoming growth. Birth is always a dangerous time and new growth must be cultivated tenderly.

These ‘lemures’ are our shadows, our old unconscious behaviors that kill off new life and growth. We’ll see this at the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse – a perfect time to look deeply at who we are – our shadows, our fears, our gifts and our desires. Watch that you don’t cut off the new feelings and visions that want to live this year by shutting down that new life.

Mercury retrograde: May 10 – June 3, 2022

Shedding superficiality for self-assurance,

and mediocrity for authenticity.

Our dear traveling companion, Mercury/The Mind, is once again turning retrograde on May 10^th. With so much going on in the world, I’m sure most of our minds are spinning. So why not take a break? Instead of looking outside for ‘the news’ why not turn your attention inside yourself and see what you really think about the past few years. To really blossom this May, look at what happened from a deeper perspective, hold on to the lessons learned and then let it go.

 

 

According to The Gene Keys by Richard Rudd (a system that unites your astrology chart with the I Ching), Mercury goes retrograde at the 20^th Gene Key – The Sacred Om. This retrograde is a call to re-align ourselves with the sacred sound of the Universe. This entails a change of frequency. While we have measured Earth frequency and reproduced it, it’s always best to just go stand/sit/lay on Mother Earth and let yourself get tuned.

The shadow quality of this hexagram is superficiality – an apt description of so much of our cultural conversations and the media. But all too often also a description of our society. One of the lessons we’re being asked to learn this Mercury retrograde is to recognize our shadow behaviors that keep us living superficially, so we can step into the light of our own decisions, our own visions, our own purpose. It’s time to own who we are. And rejoice in it.

The war playing out in Ukraine is happening all over the world. How lucky we are that most of us don’t have to physically fight in a war for our liberty. The old dominator/patriarchal/corporate culture is trying to stop a new world from being born: a world focused on freedom, on diversity, on community, on creativity, on peace. A world in balance, where both Yin & Yang, Feminine & Masculine Spirit are valued equally. Isn’t it time to stand up for what we value? It is the season of Taurus, after all. Taurus asks us to find out what is of value to us and work at it and refine it.

In America and the West, perhaps liberty comes from not engaging in what is expected of us. Freedom comes from putting time into the things and experiences we value (a Taurus trait) rather than shopping (a patriarchal twisting of value and self-worth). One need we all share is our need to value Mother Earth, not only because our lives depend on Her, which they do, but because we are part of Her and of each other. This is our home. Why are we killing ourselves?

What creative options can we come up with to live differently, to enjoy life more, to engage in community? First we have to change our minds – change our perspectives so that we can see ourselves clearly – see what’s important to us. We need to look from the inside out – from the inner feminine knowing of heart and gut that knows what we long for.

The conjunctions between Neptune, Jupiter, Venus and Mars in Pisces this past month opened us to our collective unconscious needs and desires. Those waters are still stirring. While you wait to see what life brings you this year, ask yourself important questions. What is important to me? What do women desire most? What are men willing to do to preserve life rather than kill it? What can I do to make this beautiful world a better place to live in? How can I take up my stewardship of Mother Earth?

If we can hear the Sacred Om in everything (Maya – May), we can change the Story.

So what is it that Mercury is going back to reclaim? Mercury travels from 5* Gemini back to 27* Taurus. This is Gene Kay #8: The Diamond of the Self. This is the point where we either choose mediocrity or our own unique wildness and freedom. If we embrace who we are without fear, if we choose life’s adventure instead of a fake security (see how the money keeps disappearing), we can bring this back to Mercury’s original purpose – to know the truth, to speak the truth, to vibrate to the sacred OM.

Mercury retrograde occurs on May 10, 2002 at 4:48am PDT/ 7:48am EDT/ 12:48pm GMT. 

 

 

This chart is interesting because the only planet Mercury aspects (just before it turns retrograde) is the Virgo Moon. This shows us a mind at odds with the plans of the heart. It makes sense, since this retrograde is all about deciding what is important to us.

The other interesting thing going on is that Aries Venus is inconjunct the Virgo Moon. They can’t see each other’s point of view. Venus in Aries wants to fight NOW. Moon in Virgo wants to make a plan. Venus might be too impatient to wait for Virgo’s plans to take shape. But to make wise choices, we’ll need to be patient (Mercury is retrograde!) and make sure our hearts are clear.

Pluto, which just turned retrograde April 29^th, is in an easy aspect with Neptune, Jupiter and Mars in Pisces. As it retrogrades back to the second hit of the US Pluto return, can we take the concerns of the world’s suffering seriously? Can we leave behind the old divisive wars (so many of which use religion as an excuse), and see that we’re all in this together? Time will tell.

The Pisces trio is also in an easy flow with Uranus, Sun and North Node in Taurus, feeding our soul’s hopes and dreams into the new world we’re building for ourselves and hopefully for the world. While at the same time, Saturn in Aquarius is squaring the nodes, once again questioning us about our desires. Are we fearfully clinging to the Old or will we take the risk to embrace the New?

Scorpio-Taurus total Lunar Eclipse, May 15-16, 2022

The Scorpio Full Moon total lunar eclipse occurs on Sunday and Monday, May 15-16, at 9:14pm PDT/ 12:14am EDT/ 5:14am GMT.

 

 

This is a total Lunar Eclipse because the Sun and Moon are quite close to the Nodes. The eclipse is expected to last about 85 minutes. This total eclipse is central, meaning the moon passes centrally through the axis of Earth's dark (umbral) shadow. This is also a super moon, meaning the Moon is orbiting close to the Earth. The eclipse lasts from around 9:30pm to 1:55am EDT, with totality occurring from 11:30 pm EDT to 12:30am EDT, with maximum totality at 12:14am EDT.

The Taurus/Scorpio axis of the zodiac energizes our search for values, for what is worthy of our attention, for what is needed for growth. Both feminine signs, Taurus adds the earth element while Scorpio adds the water. These two signs are concerned with growth – both our physical and emotional growth, which depends on us living up to our values and knowing our worth.

While the Taurus Sun has been dancing on a daring edge with Uranus, Scorpio’s deep waters have been stirred up by the tumultuous energies moving through Pisces. Perhaps if we truly see how it is our culture that creates the traumas we’ve all been through, maybe we can share our grief over those emotional wounds and forgive ourselves for incurring them. And let it all go! While Taurus wants to grow our lives and experiences, Scorpio wants to release emotional pain what no longer serves life so we can grow.

The Full Moon of May/Taurus is also called the Buddha Moon, because it was under the Scorpio Full Moon that Siddhartha achieved enlightenment and became The Awakened One. (I had to bitch for a moment – our superficial culture has even taken this most important aspect of spiritual growth – to awaken to our divinity – and turned it into ‘being woke’.)

 

This Full Moon deepens our need to polish the Diamond of the Self. If we can do it properly, we will be clear about our goals and desires. The eclipsed Moon will need to work with the idea of compromise – how we continually compromise our beliefs and values by not standing up for them. By working at jobs that don’t nourish our souls. By living without a sense of personal freedom. By being too afraid to really love another. By never developing our imaginations or seeing our own uniqueness.

This is our opportunity to look at those shadow qualities that keep us in our ruts, that stop our growth and leave us dissatisfied with life. We’ve allowed a killing society to shape how we live our lives. This is a good time to break free and rediscover how you want to live your life.

At its best, this lunar eclipse calls us to become a driving force for humanity, to bring something new and vital into the world. When we do, it has the power to attract others, who can help us with the birth. It is time to create something in our lives that can help us blossom.

Saturn in Aquarius squares this Full Moon as well as the Nodes, so we get another challenge to choose between the Old vs the New. What possibilities will help us create a new reality? Saturn is probably part of your shadow. Look to your natal Saturn to see what might be holding you back from freedom.

Mars is about to conjunct Neptune in Pisces, both in a helpful relationship to this Lunar Eclipse, so be prepared to start acting on what Spirit has been telling you. Jupiter leaves Pisces on May 10^th after Mercury goes retrograde, adding some passion for action to our self-reflection. And giving us many new opportunities to search for our new identity.

Venus has just danced with Chiron in Aries, so I know she’s feeling healed and self-confident to meet the demands of this eclipse, since she is the guardian planet of Taurus. She’s in charge, and it feels like Chiron was mentoring her on her self-worth, especially after hearing how the conservative judges on the US Supreme Court are about to take away women’s right to an abortion. And yet these people allow their children to be trained in the military as killers, so we know this is not about murder and death. This is about control. Our Aries Venus is not going to stand for it. But she has to remember to have a plan.

It’s always easier to make changes when you connect with the cosmic energies operating at the time. These times are enlivened by many big changing energies. It’s time to fasten your seatbelts – the ride is going to be rocky for the rest of the year.

(There’s a Taurus/Scorpio total Lunar Eclipse on the U.S. Election Day – it should be interesting!)

Blessings of the Season

Cathy 

 

Matins II (excerpt)

I arise today

Blessed by all things,
Wings of breath,
Delight of eyes,
Wonder of whisper,
Intimacy of touch,
Eternity of soul,
Urgency of thought,
Miracle of health,
Embrace of God.

May I live this day.

~ John O"Donohue ~

(Eternal Echoes)