The Cosmic Story: The Wheel of the Year: Spring Equinox 2019

The Cosmic Story:

The Wheel of the Year: Spring Equinox 2019

The Courage to Stand up for Freedom

Onward we go round the spiral

Touching darkness, touching light

Twice each turn we rest in balance

Make choices on this night

Make choices on this night.

Pagan Equinox chant 

The Wheel of the Year: Spring Equinox 2019

The Wheel of the Year is turning once again and we’ve arrived back at Spring Equinox in the North and Autumn Equinox in the South. At this time of balance between the Light and the Dark, we are called to find that balance within ourselves, so that we might bring balance to our world in the coming year.

And for the first time in 19 years (since 2000) there is a Full Moon a few hours after the Equinox. This will be the first Full Moon in Aries/Libra and there will be a second one on April 19^th – our true Blue Moon, when there are two full Moons in a zodiac sign rather than in a calendar month. With this second Aries/Libra Full Moon we switch back to a regular lunar cycle of New Moon/Full Moon. (for the past few years it’s been Full Moon/New Moon).

Spring Equinox occurs when the Sun rises above the equator, bringing longer days and warmer weather to the North, while in the South, the days grow shorter and darker. For us in the North, we welcome Spring and her bounty. We welcome the return of Light. And with it, we look forward to new beginnings. With Pluto joining the South Node in Capricorn later in the month, we have a chance to release past karma so we can get on with the future.

On this day when we experience the balance the Light and the Dark outside, we can find our internal balance as well. And we’ll need it this year. This is the year of preparation for the big cosmic events coming to us next year in 2020: the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in January with Jupiter joining them later in the year, and at the end of the year, the 20 year Saturn/Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius (the conjunction that deals with our social and financial conditions), which shifts this conjunction from the element of Earth to Air for the first time in 800 years.

We’re already feeling the upcoming conjunction of the two most serious planetary energies in our solar system – in the sign of Capricorn, which concerns our society and those institutions which focus our collective energies, such as government, financial systems and our patriarchal rules. Saturn, the planet of 3D reality, of responsibility and limitation, authority and structures meets Pluto, the planet that destroys what is outmoded and dead, first bringing them up to the surface so we all see the stagnation and corruption underneath. Ultimately, their union will bring about new structures, new authority and a new culture. With every ending, a new beginning.

But for a while, we’re just going to have to deal with the chaos of and resistance to patriarchy’s death. Right-wing white nationalism is rearing its ugly, and cowardly, head because we are at the end of that ruling system. Unfortunately, this old paradigm seems to want to take down the whole world rather than letting go and dying out so rebirth can happen.

This year prepare for transformation and stay committed to using your power to stand up for your values. Do we value the Earth and all her children (Nature is literally dying) including humanity or will we sleep our way through to the End? We’ll just keep getting deeper and deeper into transformative energies as humanity is offered the choice of conscious evolution – change or die.

And it is the youth of our world who will lead the way, since the future is theirs to deal with. Just as my generation did in the 60s, Millennials like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar are taking the bull by the horns and standing up to the tyranny of the patriarchy. The rest of us need to follow their lead and support them, since we have all contributed to the big mess we find ourselves in. Especially the baby-boomers, who have either made things worse or gone off to meditate. It’s time to change that. It’s time to stand up for the future.

Astrologers consider the Spring Equinox the beginning of the astrological year and look at its chart to see what the new year has in store, especially the next three months til the Summer Solstice. Let’s look at the Equinox chart as an indicated of what our Spring might look like energetically.

Spring/Autumn Equinox occurs on Wednesday, March 20^th at 2:59pm PDT/ 5:59pm EDT/ 9:59pm GMT. 

Spring Equinox 2019

The Sun in Aries and Taurus

The Sun rises above the equator into the sign of Aries and joins the asteroid Chiron this year. The Sun in Aries is like a rambunctious Ram, ready to take on the world. And it comes face to face with Chiron, forcing us to face our woundedness and also our destiny, both individually and collectively.

Aries is the sign of our individual identity, the ‘I am’ of the zodiac. Aries is the divine fire of life which seeks existence here in 3D reality. Aries seeks an inner sense of aliveness, identity and initiative. Aries is the hero of the zodiac, stepping into the world with a pioneering attitude of adventure. Life is here now, so let’s live it!

Chiron the centaur was a philosopher, healer and the mentor of heroes, who was wounded by a poisoned arrow and could not heal himself. The asteroid Chiron confronts us with our woundedness and mentors us to our greatest gifts. If we were supposed to be perfect, we wouldn’t have to incarnate! So our task, if we accept it, is to acknowledge our woundedness with love and self-acceptence. Nobody promised that our lives would be easy, especially not if we’re on the path of consciousness.

Chiron, an asteroid that circles the Sun between Saturn and Uranus, is a gateway and bridge between the visible and invisible worlds, initiating us into expanded consciousness through our woundedness. (Synchronistically, at the moment I’m writing this, I’m listening to George Harrison sing ‘My guitar gently weeps’.) With all the hatred erupting around the world, this Equinox chart asks us to understand woundedness with compassion instead of fear. 

 

Uranus, the great Awakener, has just left Aries and moved into the sign of Taurus, where he’ll bring much needed changes to our financial system and hopefully, open us to saving our Mother Earth through invention and world-wide intervention for climate change. While in Aries for the past 7 years, Uranus has awakened us to a new sense of ourselves – to an archetypal sense of ourselves if you will. Have we acknowledged to ourselves that, despite our human flaws, we are agents of the archetypal forces of life? That besides our small ego identity, we are also called to our archetypal identity of healer, priestess, shaman, bard, warrior, pioneer, inventor, Earth steward, teacher, leader?

If we have done our work, then Chiron in Aries will help us mentor those who are still in the process of awakening to themselves. Chiron in Aries will push us to accept all the many facets of ourselves. In the movie ‘Dirty Dancing’ Baby tells her father, ‘There are a lot of things about me that aren’t what you thought. But if you love me, you have to love all the things about me.’ Self-acceptance comes first. That’s what Aries is all about.

Chiron in Aries is also poised to heal the wounded masculine, which has been trained to be a warrior for thousands of years. Haven’t we grown beyond the need for war, killing and cruelty? Doesn’t our world need healing and cooperation rather than more rugged individualism and domination? Does America really need almost a trillion dollar military budget? What about using that money for life instead of death?

Chiron in Aries will hopefully give rise to the new masculine, to a new sense of what it means to be a man of heart, as well as a new way of doing, which is what the masculine energies are all about. What the ‘new masculine’ will look like after Chiron gets through Aries is open to many possibilities, but my hope is that the men of our world will welcome back a newly awakened King Arthur and his knights, who protect the defenseless, create a new civilization and honor the Goddess of the land. The divine masculine in women will give us the heart courage to stand up to oppression and use love, wisdom and compassion as a force for change. 

 

During this next 6 weeks, the Sun, which symbolizes consciousness, will be challenged by Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn (April 10-13) to change our ways as we see more of the corruption of our western way of life. The Aries Sun will also square/ challenge the lunar nodes around April 12^th, a check-in to see if we’re listening to our heart’s needs or still following the rules. The Sun will be supported by Jupiter in Sagittarius (April 14) to help us expand our vision of the possibilities available to us to meet our future. The Sun will stand opposite the Moon in Libra twice this season (March 20 & April 19), helping us find ways to get along with each other.

The Sun enters Taurus on April 20 (Passover/Easter) and on April 22, Earth Day, it conjuncts Uranus. If we don’t wake up this Earth Day, will we ever? Hopefully, the whole world will go on strike in support of Mother Earth that day.

The Moon

Libra Full Moon

The Moon at the time of the Equinox is in Virgo, approaching fullness as it moves into Libra a few hours after the Equinox. One of my sons is an Aries with a Virgo Moon, and he always plans (Virgo) his adventures (Aries)! And he does things his own way.

Virgo is the sign of the harvest, bringing a sense of wholeness and completion, for she is the Mother and Child, the source and fruit of our labor. Virgo is where we develop discernment and integration of body, mind and spirit. Virgo energy helps us make use of those gifts and talents we apply ourselves to with dedication and diligence.  This Equinox chart indicates that it's time to harvest what we've sown in the past year.  As we end the old astrological year, what have we learned from all those retrogrades last year?  What harvest can we bring into this year to develop even more?

Great Mother Goddess of Earth

With the Sun and Chiron opposite the Moon clothed in her ‘virginity’ – belonging to herself and owning her creativity – this chart suggests that if we hold true to ourselves and face our woundedness, we will overcome the old hatreds and fears that keep us separated. And with the Aries/Libra Full Moon to guide us, we’ll keep our balance and stay true to ourselves while being open to the Other in relationship.

The Virgo Moon is part of an Earth grand trine between Mars in Taurus and Saturn, Pluto and the South Node in Capricorn. This earthy trine represents a talent for manifestation, which can keep us grounded at the same time as we ascend to a higher state of consciousness. Spirituality needs to be grounded in our physical 3D forms. Mars in Taurus gives us the stamina we need to make changes in our lives. The Virgo Moon gives us the discernment we need to make the right choices. Saturn, Pluto and the SN can release us from old karma and rebirth a sense of dedication to the whole.

 

Grand Trine/Kite

This earth trine forms a kite figure with the North Node in Cancer. Often trines, since they represent an easy flow of energy, aren’t challenged enough to do the work, but when another planet or point opposes one of the points of the triangle, it pushes us to get going and develop the opportunity presented by the grand trine. The North Node in Cancer is pushing us to find out what we really need to make life worth-while, and when we look to our emotional body (Cancer) to see what we need, we will activate the power of the grand trine to help us manifest it. The waters of Cancer will moisten the earthy energies of this trine and make it flower.

Other Planetary Energies

The conjunction of Pluto with the South Node in Capricorn (peaking March 28 – April 2) gives us the chance to compost what is dead and dragging on us, especially old patriarchal beliefs around religion and the domination by the male of the species. Old karma needs to be faced and released now. Especially if we want real change in our lives. Not superficial change, but the deep transformative change that puts us on a new path. With Uranus still squaring the Nodes of the Moon, we have that extra charge of rebellion and awakening to shatter what no longer serves us, individually and collectively.

It’s time to step out of our individual patriarchal mindset, which means stepping back from wanting more than we need, stepping away from the colonization of our imaginations by the mass media and by acknowledging that rugged individualism is no longer the way to go. We need each other and we need community to flourish. This is the Aquarian ideal.

There is a mutable grand square in the chart between the Moon in Virgo, Jupiter in Sagittarius, Neptune, Vesta and Mercury retrograde in Pisces and Juno in Gemini. Mutable signs make this grand square easier to handle, since mutable signs are more flexible than the cardinal and fixed signs.

The mutable grand cross reflects the process of aligning with information (Gemini) that is founded in natural laws and truth (Sagittarius), and adjustment (Virgo) of outdated viewpoints and opinions that are not based on universal, timeless principles (Pisces). In other words, as we seek to understand the human journey in a holistic and universal sense, our viewpoints and perspectives naturally shift (mutable archetypes) to reflect this evolution within consciousness. It has been described as the process of moving from the microscope to the telescope. (https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2538)

Juno is the energy of right relationship, the know-how to maintain a balance between self and other. If we approach all relationships with curiosity and open-mindedness – Jupiter in Sagittarius, we will be able to live out the universal truth that we are all one In Greek and Roman mythology, Juno and Jupiter/ Hera and Zeus are the divine couple, the sacred marriage of Heaven and Earth. While patriarchy turned Hera, the Queen of Heaven, into a jealous shrew, in reality, she was the Full Moon, called the Perfect One and Zeus, her consort, was meant to perfect her. Symbolically, this means that what our Moon nature shows us must be owned by our ego consciousness and worked on.

Jupiter in his own sign of Sagittarius reminds us of the cosmic order, of the expansive energies of life that allow us to grow and evolve. He wants us to incorporate an expansive vision, one that is inclusive rather than exclusive. This energy will help us move beyond the narrow-mindedness of our present religious beliefs and help us recognize that the god-force lives within all of us. One way is not better than another from this higher perspective. Especially concerning the Divine Feminine, which has been made irrelevant by the religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It’s time for the Divine Feminine to reclaim her place as the consort of the God and the foundation of Life.

Jupiter sextiles Venus in Aquarius, opening up our network of friends and giving us opportunities to explore new relationships. With Venus in Aquarius opening up new paradigms of feminine power, we have to remember that while warrior women are needed (Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel can lead the way there) we also have to recognize that women’s power can come from other feminine talents: being a medial woman – a woman who can see through the veils to other dimensions and bring back wisdom and knowledge for the good of the group, being a mother, being a healer and being an artist. These energies will be easier to access once Venus moves into Pisces (March 26) and conjuncts Neptune (April 10). There are many ways to find our feminine power. Being a warrior isn’t the only way.

All things come from the Goddess, the great Shakti who is the energy of creation. The God’s energy bestows consciousness and self-awareness. Perhaps we are growing conscious enough to work on our Shadow nature and allow the true union of Hera/Juno and Zeus/Jupiter to show us how to be whole.

Mars starts the season in Taurus, trining the Capricorn stellium and sextiling the Cancer North Node, giving us the stamina to release ourselves from those stuck places through the power of the Great Mother Goddess of Life. Mars moves into Gemini on March 30^th - 31^st, so watch that you don’t get too scattered during April and May since Mars in Gemini is interested in everything. Mars squares Neptune in Pisces on April 27^th, a good day to stay focused.

The lineup of energies in Pisces – Neptune, Mercury retrograde and Vesta – get reflected by the discerning Virgo Moon. These three energies want to awaken us to our soul depths, to the memories of our ancient capacities. With Vesta, the priestess and keeper of the sacred fires of life, keeping us centered, we can work with Mercury and Neptune in the creative imagination to find our truth in the midst of the chaos and craziness of our times. Mercury conjuncts Neptune three times this Winter/Spring – February 19, March 24 & April 2 – due to its retrograde, which ends on March 28^th.

We’ve had an unusual Winter season without any retrogrades until Mercury went retrograde on March 6 – 28. Mercury finally ends its 2 ½ month visit to Pisces and enters Aries on April 17^th, raring to go with new ideas, imagination and ideals.

Once we hit April, 3 planets turn retrograde.

Jupiter turns retrograde at 25* Sagittarius to 15* Sagittarius on April 10^th until August 11^th.

Pluto turns retrograde at 24* Capricorn to 21* Capricorn on April 24^th until October 2^nd – 3^rd.

Saturn turns retrograde at 21* Capricorn to 14* Capricorn on April 29^th until September 18^th.

Full Moon at 1* Aries/Libra on March 20, 2019.

New Moon at 16* Aries on April 5, 2019.

Full Moon at 30* Aries/Libra on April 19, 2019.

Beltane – May 1-5, 2019 – next newsletter 

 

The Goddess of Spring: Ostara

Ostara, the Goddess of Dawn (Saxon), who was responsible for bringing spring each year, was feeling guilty about arriving so late – Mercury was retrograde you see. To make matters worse, she arrived to find a pitiful little bird who lay dying, his wings frozen by the snow. Lovingly, Ostara cradled the shivering creature and saved his life.

Legend has it that she then made him her pet or, in the X-rated versions, her lover. Filled with compassion for him since he could no longer fly because of his frost-damaged wings, the goddess Ostara turned him into a rabbit, a snow hare, and gave hime the name Lepus.

She also gave him the gift of being able to run with astonishing speed so he could easily evade all the hunters. To honor his earlier form as a bird, she also gave him the ability to lay eggs (in all the colors of the rainbow, no less), but he was only allowed to lay eggs on one day out of each year. 

 

Eventually Ostara lost her temper with Lepus (some say the raunchy rabbit was involved with another woman), and she flung him into the skies where he would remain for eternity as the constellation Lepus (The Hare), forever positioned under the feet of the constellation Orion the Hunter. 

 

But later, remembering all the good times they had once enjoyed, Ostara softened a bit and allowed the hare to return to earth once each year, but only to give away his eggs to the children attending the Ostara festivals that were held each spring.

Ostara, Eástre is the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning was easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the Christian’s God. Bonfires were lit at Easter to help welcome the Sun back on his journey north, and according to popular belief of long standing, the moment the sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps, dancing for joy.

With the return of Spring, new hope and life and light are born again in the world. While many of us have left behind our religions, we can’t leave behind the symbolic meaning of the seasons if we want to stay connected to life and its truth. So rejoice in the Springtime, and find meaning within and without. 

Ostara Blessing:

We hail the Goddess of Spring, of vibrancy, of stirring bounty, of the waking earth that readies Herself for the seed. We hail the Goddess of Sunshine, and cycles and changes, and all good and terrifying things. Bring fertility in our work of minds and hearts and hands. Bring blessings and the gift of hope’s manifestation. We hail the Goddess of Spring as Her bounty covers the land. Hail Ostara.

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

May the Blessings of Spring give birth to your new life!

Cathy

I’m still available for astrology readings, dream work and spiritual coaching. Email me at cathy@imaginecoachingservices.com to set up an appointment.

The Cosmic Story: Mercury Retrograde in Pisces 2019

Mercury Retrograde in Pisces & Uranus into Taurus

at the New Moon in Pisces:

Dreaming the Future into Being

It’s time to slow the Mind down. It’s time to stop listening to outside news and tune into the inner news. There’s a lot going on in there this month, so whose news would you rather tune into? Fox News or your news?

Mercury, the Messenger God and Psychopomp, is no longer in the Shallow. He’s into the deep end now. After navigating his way through the entire sign of Pisces, he’s decided to heed the call of Mother Ocean and turning, dives deep into his retrograde back through Pisces. There’s nothing shallow about our Mother Ocean so his journey will be deep, mysterious and perhaps dangerous, for Pisces is also the sign of the Collective Unconscious – the source of our collective longings and hopes, our fears and terrors. The Source that gave us birth.

I’m sure Mother Ocean has a lot to say to us. If we choose to listen.

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac. And Mercury turns back in the very last degree of Pisces. The End of the End.

We are indeed at an End Time. The end of patriarchy, perhaps even the end of our civilization. Mother Earth is wounded and we humans get to choose if we kill her and us, or if we step up, as AOC says, and choose the transformational cost of a new Green Deal over the cost of war and pollution and unrelieved climate change.

The Sabian Symbol for this very last degree of the zodiac, 30* Pisces is: A majestic rock formation resembling a face is idealized by a child who makes it the ideal of greatness, and growing up, begins to look like it.

This message of potential transformation is clear. Nature’s amazing grace and beauty is our foundation and strength. Spirit is alive in Nature and her laws, and if we pattern ourselves after one of these archetypal principles of life, we transform ourselves and our world. We allow that archetypal value to live through us and in us.

This is the perfect message for us right now. With the Pisces New Moon occurring hours after the Great Awakener, Uranus, thunders into Taurus (when he was there for a few months last year, Hawaii’s Kilauea erupted for over a month), we get to plant the last seed of the 2018 astrological year with a bang.  Uranus in Taurus will bring up new lands and new manifestations of life.

We can plant the seeds of our imagination for a transformed life and a transformed world and Neptune, which is conjunct the Pisces Sun, will carry it into his watery realm to share with the dreams of not only humanity, but of Mother Earth herself for all her children. 

 

So find time Tuesday night or Wednesday to plant those seeds of hope and possibility. Worry is the negative use of the imagination, so don’t waste this precious New Moon gift on fear or worry. Be playful and use the imagination as it was created to be used – as a blueprint of possibilities and the workshop of the soul.

The best way we can work with the whole Mercury retrograde cycle this month is to decide on an archetypal principle or deity to meditate on, and use our creative imagination to develop a personal relationship with the energy we want to incarnate. With this kind of meditation, we’ll be exploring our own inner depths and discovering what is waiting to be unveiled and understood.

Pick an energy you want to incorporate into your life, such as courage or intelligence, beauty or love, discipline or artistry. Pick a Goddess or God image that incorporates that power. Or open up and see which energy wants to choose you. One Mercury retrograde cycle, Grandmother Spider came to me and taught me many things about myself for those three weeks of Mercury’s backward travel. So work with your image or symbol and do active imagination with this archetypal energy.

Saraswati

Perhaps you want to find backers for your project. Talk with the Hindu goddess Saraswati, the energy that flows into language and insight and sound. Perhaps you’re completing school and need to focus on studying – talk with Athena, goddess of strategic knowledge. Perhaps you want to do more of your inner work – talk with Vesta, the virgin priestess of flames, to inspire you to find your Self. Perhaps you need to let go of a relationship without the drama and pain – talk with Aphrodite, who after love-making goes to her bath to restore her virginity (she belongs to herself). Perhaps you need to defend your people – talk with Arthur or Lancelot about getting the Round Table to muster and help stand against injustice.

The Divine Feminine is the life-force behind all evolution and change, the ground of all being. The Divine Masculine is the source of consciousness and self-awareness. Just as Sophia is Divine Wisdom and Jesus is Christ-consciousness – knowing we are Spirit as well as flesh.

Every time we journey or do active imagination with our inner guides and goddesses and gods, we glean new information to help us with our lives. What better time to do it than during Mercury retrograde?

This year, all three of the Mercury retrogrades are in water signs. That means we’re dealing with our emotional bodies. How do we heal the trauma that’s being inflicted on the people, animals, plants and landscapes of the world? How do we heal ourselves (so we can heal the world)?

We heal ourselves through the play of the creative imagination. Not the stuck ‘daydreams’ of unfulfilled desires, but the moving, active creativity that fills our hearts and whets our appetites. The imagination is where creation begins – the quantum field of dreams that creates the vision that only needs to be filled with our passion and our intentions to manifest.

If we could dream a collective dream, what would it be? What about a peaceful world, where war is a distant memory and creativity and beauty are the norm? Where love comes into its own and is no longer bought and sold, or held in ransom to make sure it’s returned in full measure. Where men and women are equally valued and honored for their different gifts and their cooperative endeavors. Where the community is at the center of the Circle of Life rather than the economy? Where humans are once more part of Mother Nature’s biosphere, taking up our rightful place as stewards of this amazing planet.

That's my dream.  What's yours?

This amazingly fertile Mercury retrograde waits for you to dive in and renew yourself in the life-giving waters of the Anima Mundi—the World Soul.

Bring back your treasure!

The Cosmic Story: The Wheel of the Year: Imbolc: Fire Festival of Light Returning

The Cosmic Story: The Wheel of the Year

Imbolc: Fire Festival of Light Returning

After writing New and Full Moon newsletters since 2007, I've decided to take a break from that monthly task. Instead, I'm going to write an astrological newsletter for each of the 8 seasons of the Wheel of the Year. The bonus is that I also get to write about different seasonal energies and goddesses we can turn to for inspiration and to find what archetypal patterns can contain the new life we're engendering.

Just as I'm in transition (most people I know are), we are all living in transitional times -- not only from one astrological age to another, but also a transition out of a social system that has dominated most societies for the past 5,000 years. Patriarchy is a system of the 'rule of the fathers', where a male/father's rule is law over his children, his wife, his goods, the laws. Patriarchy has certainly created good as well as evil. But the truth is, its day is over.

Patriarchy is in its death-throes and we are experiencing its last attempt to regain power. But just as the Sun inevitably sets in the sky, patriarchy's sun is setting.

We are entering into a new social order where first and foremost, men and women are equal. Where the gifts of the sacred feminine and sacred masculine are valued and it is understood that women's voices add something vitally different and important to the collective story. There have been partnership societies before. We will do it again.

This new partnership society is a society that gives equal value to women and men and our separate, unique gifts. A society in which all genders, all races, all beliefs are equal and free. If you've been living in that paradigm already, then you have the consciousness and tools to make it so in the world. Look around. Lots of people are responding and going out into the world to stand up for this truth. And people are waking up from our collective patriarchal dream.

Are we the change we've been waiting for yet? I think we are!

This change in consciousness is the Light we need to exhibit now to calm the fearful, stand up to tyranny, and recreate the world. Let's live conscious, compassionate, creative lives.

Speaking of transitions, January is really a transitional time between last year's ending and this year's beginning. Like the two-faced Roman god Janus who faced in two directions, January is a time to look back at where we've been and within for the new Light that was born at Winter Solstice. In reality, as in astrology, the new year begins on the Aries point of Spring Equinox, when the Sun rises North over the equator. (Those of you in the southern hemisphere, I'd love to hear how you experience our calendar, which forces you to make believe it's Winter when it's really Summer for you. It doesn't seem quite fair to you.)

In terms of the cosmic timing, things haven't quite begun -- things are in transition in January and February. Perhaps that's why so many of us can't keep our new year's resolutions. It just isn't time yet! It would serve us better to get back on track with cosmic timing, which we begin to learn from Mother Earth and then look to the Heavens for Father Sky's cosmic input. 

 

Mother Earth says it's time to withdraw from the surface cold and conserve life in the death time of Winter. It's a time to introvert, to go inside yourself, your home, your cave and be with yourself. During the dark months, it's a great time to read, watch and tell stories that inspire you to grow this year. It's a great time to meditate, dream and journey to find out what that spark of Light conceived on Winter Solstice is growing into. What are you going to do with the promise of this new year? What are you going to do with the present -- the NOW?

As we align ourselves with Mother Earth's seasons and the energies of these times, we will find ourselves really living our lives, enjoying the changes rather than fearing them and in the end, being more aligned with our Higher Self.

We're moving out of the deepest darkness (in the north) and into the time of year when we notice the days getting longer. Think Groundhog's Day -- a tradition of looking for the light's return as a promise of Spring's return.

We're entering the Gateway of the Wheel of the Year called Imbolc.

Imbolc: February 2-5, 2019

On February 2^nd - 5^th, we celebrate Imbolc, the second gateway of the Wheel of the Year. At this 2^nd gateway, we begin to envision what the new Light and energy born at Winter Solstice might become. We are still in the beginning times, so go gently. It's not a time of doing; rather it is a time of visioning.

Imbolc is the Celtic word for 'ewe's milk' because this is the time when spring lambs are born and the mother ewe's milk comes in. The lamb's birth promises returning life and light to the world, despite the snow and frost that still linger in the land. Spring finally arrives at Spring Equinox around March 20^th - 21^st, when the Light and Dark are equal and the Earth begins to warm up and then fully blossom at Beltane on May 1^st.

Since it is still dark and cold outside, Imbolc is a season of introversion, silence and vision. The unknown spark born at Winter Solstice is beginning to take shape and form. If we envision what this new life is growing to be, we can hold it in our intention and nurture it into being in the spring. This is our Ground Hog's Day ritual—the ancient prophetic signs in nature were seen and understood. Weather magic and prophecy are just a few treasures of this season to be relearned and remembered.

At Imbolc, Spirit lights us up so we can see the possibilities of our future. It is a fire festival, a time to light candles and make wishes and set intentions, visualizing what you intend to manifest this coming year. The vision is the foundation/intention of what you want to manifest. Honor this gift and grace that Mother Earth shares with us by re-dedicating yourself to your new purpose. Don't waste these cosmic energies. Put in the time and effort to seek your vision or watch the energy get dissipated and lost in the collective chaos of our times.

Since Imbolc is such an introvert festival, it's associated with women's mysteries, although it speaks to the feminine spirit within both women and men. It's a time to go down to the well of our inspiration and renew our creative spirit. It is the Divine Feminine Spirit that calls us to seek our vision in the imaginal world/quantum field so it can manifest.

Imbolc's Astrological Energies

Instead of talking about specific New and Full Moons in the next two months, I'm going to give a general outlook for the times, which you can then use in nurturing you vision. You can find many good astrologers writing about the New and Full Moons to get the finer details of the times.

I cast this chart for when the Sun arrived at exactly 15* Aquarius, the power gate of Aquarius, which is the astrological signature of Imbolc. It's just a few hours before the Aquarius New Moon on February 4^th, the Chinese New Year of the Boar. (Boar is the animal energy of the ancient Great Mother.)

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 15* Aquarius is: Two lovebirds sitting on a fence and singing happily. What's better than lovebirds singing? This seems to be a symbol of joy and inner happiness. And since it's in the collective, humanitarian sign of Aquarius, perhaps this happiness comes from helping our fellow humans and our animal/plant relations.

The Sun hits 15* Aquarius hours before the Aquarius New Moon. So the Moon hasn't quite caught up with the Sun. The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 7* Aquarius is: A child is seen being born out of an egg. This is a symbol of a primordial birth, an original birth, a mythic birth. Perhaps it implies that a new universe can be born now. If you're born out of an egg, you're not born of 'ancestors' -- so you're free of their karma. It's a great time to look at our shadow beliefs and prejudices bequeathed on us by our ancestors. Let's leave the fear behind and embrace the unknown. Perhaps it isn't as bad as we've been led to believe.

This symbol speaks of a new evolutionary pattern arising in the world. Perhaps souls from other planets and dimensions are incarnating here on Earth now. Perhaps these are the aliens who have come to help humanity. Perhaps we are the aliens. Either way, something new is being born in the imaginal world. How is it manifesting in you?

At the Aquarian power gate, new ideals and archetypes can be seeded in the collective mind/consciousness. The Cancer north node asks that new archetypes based on inner happiness and connection, contentment and commitment be energized. As we let go of old stereotypical beliefs, we replace them with new energy patterns that renew the archetypes that govern life. This is the objective Aquarian Mind, the Cosmic Mind that knows the ways of the universe.

We can channel this new archetypal energy, but it has to be filtered through our hearts. We don't own the energies. We are channels for their manifestation.

With Jupiter's expansive energy in his own home sign of Sagittarius, he's going to give us what we need this year. Plenty of hope and faith in the future. Embrace it fully.

Most of the planetary energies in this Imbolc chart lie in the last 4 signs of the zodiac: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. These are the social, collective signs -- energies that form our communities and societies. This is the time, in the dark of winter, when we look at our collective life and see if it is sustaining us or not. If so we honor and support it. If not, what will we do about it?

The lunar nodes have just entered Cancer and Capricorn, focusing our collective attention on timing and rhythm as well as conception and birth. It's a great time to take some movement classes and find your own rhythm. The question is, do we continue to hurry along at society's breakneck speed, or do we slow down and get entrained with Earth's rhythms? When a woman conceives a child, she has to allow it to grow at its own pace. We have to learn that lesson if we're to prosper in the new partnership society. North Node Cancer asks us to experience spiritual pregnancy and learn this uniquely feminine wisdom that is patient, enduring, nurturing and creative.

Both Saturn and Pluto are conjunct the south node in the sign of Capricorn, helping us release old karma, old rules, old forms of control and conformity. This death and rebirth of our social system is our karma, what we've collectively created together. And together we have to transform it. The old paradigms won't want to budge, but as we're seeing in the news, being stubborn and standing up for what's right can get big results. Now, everyone can see the man (men/women) behind the curtain. So take back your power of intention and imagination and realize that it's always been in your control. Just go home.

Venus enters Capricorn the day before this New Moon and will travel through it until March 1^st when she enters Aquarius. Venus is the archetypal energy of feminine wisdom -- the wisdom of the body, of the Earth, of the soul. Astrologically, She represents love and relationships, sexuality, beauty, value and worth, money and pleasure. For myself, I see her as Aphrodite, the divine teacher of Psyche, the human soul. She awakens us through love, through connection, through being fully embodied.

Aphrodite, the blessing of the union of Heaven and Earth.

What a great gift we've been given and look at how hard we find it to just love, just connect. Last year's north node eclipses in Leo gave us an initiation into our hearts. Did we learn to open our hearts and love and trust? Can we find our heart's truth and hope? If so, now we can nurture that love while the Moon's north node is in Cancer, standing opposite and daring the Capricorn south node, Pluto and Saturn to ignore Her. Mama Cancer has our backs. We can learn a lot about how to love and take care of ourselves and others in this next year and a half. Don't miss your opportunities.

Venus always asks us, what does your soul desire? What do you value enough to go after it? While Venus transits Capricorn, she'll connect to the values that can sustain society (and those that don't) and then go into Aquarius to renew those ideals to inspire us again. Freedom, equality, compassion, connectedness (the U.S.'s e pluribus unum - out of many, one) have to be meaningful and alive if we're going to have a peaceful revolution -- a revolution of values and objectives rather than one of warfare and chaos. And that goes for the whole world -- we are all one. And we all need freedom and peace and security.

Venus joins Saturn in Capricorn on February 18^th , the day the Sun enters Pisces and the day before the Virgo/Pisces SuperMoon Full Moon and then joins Pluto on February 22^nd. With Venus' retrograde in Scorpio last year and the MeToo# movement, I think she can stand up to the old patriarchs Pluto and Saturn. And maybe even soften their cold, hard hearts.

If Venus symbolizes connection and values, then Mars is the desire that gives us the passion to go after what we want. Mars is traveling in his home sign of Aries, along with Uranus, the great Awakener. Last year Mars went retrograde in Aquarius, renewing his idealism and his will to work for the good of all. He's free to create in Aries, the primal fire of life. And with his side-kick Uranus, he'll create things his own way. They know what their hero's journey entails. Cultural renewal and peaceful revolution.

While Mars and Uranus remain in Aries, they square the nodal axis of Cancer/ Capricorn, challenging us to do what's needed to leave patriarchy behind. We are reminded that we have to work for what we really want and need. Not for the job or the money, but for the family, for the community and for our own soul's life. Mars and Uranus urge us to be uniquely ourselves as we come up against both the old rules which have to go, and the new rules of Cancer, that we can be nourished for ourselves. What really nurtures us will enhance us -- we just have to desire the right things for ourselves.

Both Mars and Uranus soon move into Taurus: Mars on February 14^th, making for a sensuous Valentine's Day, and Uranus on the Pisces New Moon on March 6^{th --} which is conjunct Neptune, so make a really big wish! Both planets in Taurus will rock our world and help change our ways as they travel through the most earthy of earth signs. Expect to see new growth.

All the planets are moving in direct motion since January 6^th, and after last year's cascade of planets going retrograde, the energies feel very light and refined. Mercury starts this Imbolc season in Aquarius, conjunct the Aquarius New Moon, making for lots of communication with the archetypal planes. Then on February 10^th, Mercury dives into Pisces and goes retrograde there on March 5^th until March 28^th. This is Mercury's first retrograde of three in water signs this year. Mercury will be honing our emotional intelligence and imagination during these watery retrograde (unlike Mercury's fiery, intuitive retrogrades last year).

So this Imbolc season, work on the imaginal/quantum plane to imagine what it is you want to create, not only for yourself but for the world.

And now I'd like to introduce Brigid, this Gateway's Goddess Guardian.

Imbolc and Brigid: Goddess of Fire and Water

 Brigid ~ Emily Balivet

Imbolc is one of the four main Celtic Fire Festivals, sacred to Brigid, the Goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing. She is a triple goddess of Vision, Fire and Water. As Rumi says, “Love is the Water of Life. And a Lover is a Soul of Fire. The Universe turns differently when Fire Loves Water.” Brigid brings this passion to her creativity.

Brigid is the Celtic goddess of the fires of the forge and the hearth, of poetry, healing, childbirth, and unity. The name Brigid means either ‘Fiery Arrow’, ‘Bright One’, or ‘High One’ in the ancient Celtic language, referring to her solar aspect, as she is a solar goddess of Light and Flame. 

 

Brigid, Brigit or Brighid (pronounced Breed) is an important Celtic Triple goddess, appearing as 3 sister aspects rather than Maiden, Mother, Crone. She is the patroness of poetry, healing and smithcraft, all different forms of using the creative fires of life with practical and inspired wisdom. As a solar deity Her attributes are light, inspiration and all skills associated with fire. Although She is no longer identified with the physical Sun, She is the benefactress of inner healing and vital energy.

 

3 Brigids

Brigid's shrine near Kildare was located near an ancient Oak that was considered to be sacred by the Druids, so sacred in fact that no one was allowed to bring a weapon there. The shrine is believed to have been an ancient college of priestesses who were committed to thirty years of service, after which they were free to leave and marry. During their first ten years they received training, the next ten were spent tending the sacred wells, groves and hills of the goddess Brigid, and the last decade was spent in teaching others. Nineteen priestesses were assigned to tend the perpetual flame of the sacred fire of Brigid. Each was assigned to keep the flames alive for one day. On the twentieth day, the goddess Brigid herself kept the fire burning brightly.

Robert Graves calls her 'the White Goddess' but she's not all sweetness and light—she has her dark side, especially if we don't hold up our part of the bargain. She is a Muse that inspires, but can also be fickle if we prove unworthy of her gift. We must do something with that gift of creativity or we will lose it.

Brigid is a goddess of natural springs, those magical places on the Earth where sacred and life-giving waters suddenly flow out of the Earth. A gift of Life from Mother Earth. As Water deity, Brigid is the patroness of healers, with many healing springs and wells dedicated to Her throughout the British Isles. Symbolically, water is a portal to the Otherworld and a source of wisdom and healing. Water is also associated with psychic ability, music, and poetry. Natural bodies of water were also sacred to Brigid, particularly where three streams join together. 

 

Water and Fire are both associated with divination. Celtic Seers divine by both looking deeply into water or into the flames. Now is the time to practice this skill.

The goddess Brigid was also revered as the Irish goddess of poetry and song, the Muse who inspires. Brigid's fire and water nurtures our inspiration, our ability to 'breathe in spirit' which helps us create poetry as well as healing. She is the Muse who inspires our soul, providing the ‘fire in the head’ of poetic inspiration. The Bards are the surviving class of the Druids, keeping the ancient traditions alive until the present day. Poets are inspired by the Other World, and have the gift of prophecy. As the patroness of poetry and bardic lore, Brigid is the primal retainer of culture and learning. 

 

As patroness of Smiths, Brigid blessed the smith with creativity and vision. Smiths in any tribe were seen as holding a sacred trust and were associated with magical powers since smithcrafting involved mastering the primal element of Fire, molding the metal (from Earth) through skill, knowledge and strength. Concepts of smithcraft are connected to stories concerning the creation of the world, utilizing all of the Elements to create and fuse a new shape. This new creation is also within Brigid's power, for she inspires us to create our life anew each year by opening our vision to our soul's possibilities.

In many ways, Brigid carries the whole blessing of the Celtic psyche—its creativity, vision, memory and power. She has never been an abstraction but remains inseparable from daily life. The fires of inspiration, as demonstrated in poetry, and the fires of the home and the forge are seen as identical. There is no separation between the inner and the outer worlds. 

 

Brigid -- Goddess of Inspiration

 

Brigid can serve as a Muse and a Guide to us this season. Light the fires of inspiration and get creative. It's a great time to create a ritual around fire and its many blessings. Get your tribe together and celebrate this powerful Aquarian Gate.

That's all for Imbolc. I'll be back for the 3^rd gateway of the Wheel of the Year: Spring Equinox on March 20, 2019 -- the day of the 1st Libra Full Moon. This year, the Moon cycle flips back to its New Moon/Full Moon rhythm, creating a true Blue Moon, when there are two Full Moons in an astrological sign. More in the next newsletter.

Blessings of the Light Returning,

Cathy

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Copyright 2019 ~ Cathy Pagano.