The Cosmic Story: Beltane and the Libra/Aries Blue Full Moon, April 19, 2019

The Cosmic Story: Beltane and the Libra/Aries Blue Full Moon

Our Pandora Beltane Tree

This is going to serve as my Beltane newsletter as well as a short summary of the energies at play this upcoming second Libra Full Moon. Beltane, the fourth gateway of the Wheel of the Year and the beginning of summer for the Celts, is the time when the veils between the worlds grow thin and the Faeries come out to dance under the moonlight, bringing their magic and mystery back to our mundane world.

Beltane is the climax of the Spring Equinox energy. Although we celebrate Beltane nominally on May 1^st, it really occurs when the Sun is at 15* Taurus, the power gate degree of the fixed signs, which this year is on May 5^th.   So happy Beltane and Cinco de Mayo.

Since my birthday is during Beltane, I can admit that this is my favorite Wheel of the Year gateway celebration. It’s near Earth Day, when we have a collective opportunity to honor Mother Earth for the blessings, the beauty and the blossoms of May. And don’t forget the Faeries! They’re the spirits of the Earth, who come forth from the hidden realms to bless us each year with growth and sustenance.

To really get in touch with this hidden realm of spirit, we need to use our creative imagination. Since the Enlightenment, patriarchy has tricked us into believing that imagination needs to be left in childhood. When we all found out it just isn’t possible to live fully without using our imaginations, we let our mass media colonize our collective imaginations through advertisements, movies, sports, video games and TV. 

Linda Olson

 

Lucky for us, both Venus and Mercury have just connected with Neptune in Pisces in the past few weeks. (Mercury on April 2, Venus on April 10.) While Neptune can open us to deception and illusion if we are un-grounded, it really is the archetype of the Creative Imagination. And with both Venus and Mercury connecting us to our hearts and our minds, we can begin to work with this imagination, especially as both planets move into the more dynamic sign of Aries (Mercury on April 17, Venus on April 20)

We need to have a revolution of the imagination, where we take back our unique imaginative capacity and use it to interact with Mother Nature and with our souls. I’m not saying that the right stories aren’t important for us – they shape the energies of life. But when we are confined to only the stories of our mass media, which are often violent, we lose out on an important facet of life.

The fact is that we can use our imaginations to connect to and communicate with the other species in our own world as well as spirits from other dimensions. To imagine our souls into our lives, we need to interact with the archetypal energies that shape life. We do not have to live on Pandora to live in a magical, mystical world. We have that world right here. Right now. Within us. And around us.

Let’s dedicate this year’s Beltane blessings to our collective good – we are learning hard lessons in community as the weather continues to overwhelm large parts of the globe. We need to create strong communities to deal with the issues we face. This would be a good project to put the creative imagination into practice. Bring calm weather to your community in whatever ways you can, using your creative imagination to speak with the nature spirits and see what they need. Or take the temper of the town you live in and see where you can contribute something. With the lunar nodes in Cancer and Capricorn, we are called to be Caretakers: of the Earth and of each other.

With everything going on in our world, from the mysterious synchronicity of fires breaking out at Notre Dame in Paris, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, to extreme weather devastating much of the world, it seems a good time to step back and get a bigger perspective on life now that Jupiter is retrograde (April 10^th). For every instance of political uproar around the world, there are people doing interesting, innovative and important things to take the world into the future. Why not be one of those future-oriented people? 

Notre Dame, Paris

 

This 2^nd Libra/Aries Blue Moon is asking us to balance our perspective as well as our relationships. Seeing the problem is only half the process. We have to be open to finding solutions. This is where the creative imagination comes into play. We literally can play around with ideas. Who’s to say you might not be the one to come up with a truly innovative solution to our collective problems?

We’ve arrived at the literal crossroads where we have a decision to make: do we hang on the past and try to keep the old boat afloat, or do we step into the future and re-design the boat. The future is depending on our response.

I just listened to a group of master astrologers talk about the upcoming astrological cycles ending/beginning next year and we are in for more intense times, depending on your perspective and standpoint. If you’re future oriented, you’re in for a wild ride of inspiration and hope. If you fearfully hang onto the past, you’ll get tossed and tumbled.

The only way forward is . . . forward. We’re taking evolution to a whole new level.

So how do we go forward amidst the chaos and uncertainty of our times? Take your cue from Mother Earth and the heavens. The Cosmic Story has been reflecting/shaping our world since its beginning. It’s time to look within and get to know ourselves, to look at our values and to take a stand on them. To do this well, we have to unplug ourselves from our mass media and listen to the Earth’s voice with our imagination, and then work to create a new world that reflects those values.

The Libra/Aries Blue Moon

The second Libra Full Moon occurs on Friday April 19, 2019 at 4:12am PDT/ 7:12am EDT and 12:12pm GMT. This day is celebrated by Christians as Good Friday, with the Jewish Passover on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. And on Monday, April 22^nd, we celebrate Earth Day. This is a powerful weekend, so spend time meditating on what you want to birth this year.

This second Libra/Aries Full Moon is a Blue Moon, switching the lunar cycle back to its normal New Moon/Full Moon flow. And it’s the second chance we have to get our relationships on track. It occurs at the last degrees of Aries and Libra, fulfilling the purpose of those signs just as it also releases what we’ve learned from those signs.

Aries and Libra form the relationship axis of the zodiac, the dynamic energy of Self vs. Other. Who am I? And who are You? If we don’t know ourselves, we unconsciously see ourselves through other people’s perception of us, which can set up a power struggle. If we do know ourselves, we’re more available to accept other people and their differences.

This Full Moon brings back the revolutionary/evolutionary energies of the 2012-2015 Pluto/Uranus square. The Aries Sun is conjunct Uranus in Taurus with the Libra Moon opposing it. The Aries Sun is quite independent on its own, but with Uranus there tends to be a further pull toward independence. If we’ve done our Aries work in the past years as Uranus transited Aries, we are grounded in our archetypal purpose, our bigger self identity. When we know ourselves, we can enter into a real relationship with others, because we have something true to share. So the Libra Moon will reflect that for us in our relationships.

We have to remember that Libra is not about giving ourselves and our options over to another. Libra demands that we have our own standpoint (Aries) so we can balance the scales (Libra) when we interact with others. The gift of Libra is the ability to hold the tension of opposites until a third option arises. Libra knows how to compromise.

So in all your relationships – with a lover, a family member, a friend or a stranger – this Full Moon asks you to relate from your deepest truth. But please learn to do it in a graceful, courteous and kind way (Libra). Let Uranus bring you surprise awakenings about your relationships. Perhaps you have to open up to new forms of relationship, bringing in new ideas and/or new people. The old patriarchal form of relationship has a lot of ownership/possessive energy attached to it. We can never own or possess another person, and if this energy is getting in the way of being intimate and truthful, it won’t work any longer.

The reason for that is this Full Moon is also squared by Pluto, Saturn, and South Node in Capricorn. With both Pluto and Saturn slowing down to turn retrograde in the next week – Pluto on April 24^th and Saturn on April 29^th – their energies are stronger than usual. This dynamic combination is releasing old karma, asking us to let go of old forms and rules that no longer apply to us as conscious, adult human beings.

What is emerging is a new consciousness about relationships, where we begin to understand that ‘going it alone’ is harder than joining with others who can help and support us on our journey. As a relationship coach, I see the biggest and most basic need is for better communication between partners. The ability to speak our truth as well as the ability to actively listen. The poet Rainier Marie Rilke says Love is work, and we have to work on our relationships if we want them to be deep, intimate and fulfilling. A great relationship brings out the excellence in each partner.

This is also about being able to speak and listen to people who don’t hold to our political ideals. We have to listen to each other – and when we do, we’ll probably find that we agree on most things, perhaps just not on how to and who can carry those ideals forward. Most disagreements come from unconscious fears and when we know who we are, our fears do not rule us.

“Do you not know the Mystery saying that all the gods are one god, and all the goddesses are one goddess, and there is one initiator? Do you not know that at the dawn of manifestation the gods wove the web of creation between the poles of the pairs of opposites, active and passive, dynamic and receptive, positive and negative, and that all things are these two things in different ways and upon different levels. . .?”

“The ancients . . . said the soul is bi-sexual and that as one or the other aspect manifested in the world of form (as a woman or a man), the alternative aspect was latent in the world of spirit . . . – the side that is forth-flowing by its own dynamism, and the side that lies latent, awaiting inspiration, and that come not forth unless it is evoked. And this is the greater side of each one of us: and in a man it is his spiritual nature, and in a woman it is her dynamic will.” Dion Fortune The Sea Priestess

Regardless of our gender identification (rebelling against our patriarchal conditioning) we are composed of these two types of energies. And the rulers of Aries and Libra symbolizes these two cosmic currents: Mars and Venus. Mars is desire, the fire in the belly. Venus is connection, the hope in the heart. We need to connect with our desires in ways that grow life instead of planting death.

Venus is at the last degrees of Pisces, opening us to compassion, imagination and wholeness. Mars is in Gemini, focusing his will on what interests him. Water and air can stir up storms or bring calm breezes and beautiful days. It’s up to us to create the weather in our relationships.

So if you’re wondering how our April Fool is doing on his journey, he’s about to meet The Lovers, the two who become one, for his first initiation under this magical, mystical Blue Moon. He needs to learn the balance between these two forces (dynamism and latency) within himself and with others. If he can find his inner balance and stay open to the world, perhaps he’ll meet the Other who can help him on his journey.

Crowley's The Lovers

As a relationship coach, I’ve discovered that the one thing everyone in the world wants is to be in a good relationship – where it’s with our family, our friends or one specific person. And ironically, it’s the one thing we don’t teach our people. While we’re all ‘engaging’ in relationships, none of us know what the rules are or how to do it naturally.

And to make matters more confusing, we are living at the end of a very restrictive patriarchal version of relationships, changing and growing as we stumble against each other. For many of us, there’s more pain than gain in being in a relationship.

No man is an island. It all begins with our relationships. This isn’t just a man-woman issue – it’s a mother/child issue, a co-worker issue, a friendship issue, a trans issue. How do we maintain balance in all our relationships? And that includes Mother Nature and her other children.

So this is where our Fool finds himself. He’s been given the assignment: set off on your journey and find what makes your heart sing, what makes you feel accepted down to your very bones, what will keep you strong and balanced. Some of us will find this initiation with an actual person, while others will be meeting their Inner Other for the first time.

To imagine a better possible future takes self-awareness. Let’s try something old and new. Let’s learn how to communicate the truth in a kind and courteous manner. Let’s have compassion for each other. That will begin the process. Nobody gave us a guidebook on how to live free. We’re here to learn how to make love, not war. That’s a big shift in collective consciousness, since our species has been at war for at least 5,000 years under patriarchy.

Let’s become the grandparents of the future and exemplify how to be truth speakers and collaborative visionaries. Our people and our world need us.

May the blessings of this bountiful and beautiful season bring joy to your hearts. Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again!

Cathy

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copyright 2019 ~ Cathy Pagano

The Cosmic Story: Aries New Moon 2019

The Cosmic Story: Aries New Moon, April 5, 2019

The Fool’s Journey: Just Begin

Take the whole kit
with the caboodle
Experience life
don't deplore it
Shake hands with time
don't kill it
Open a lookout
Dance on a brink
Run with your wildfire
You are closer to glory
leaping an abyss
than upholstering a rut

~ James Broughton ~

(Little Sermons of the Big Joy)

April. Such a trickster month. The Sun shines higher and warmer. The air is either bright with light or stormy. In New England, the inside of houses are colder because of warmer moisture. If you go outside to bask in the warmth of (finally) 60* weather, you get smacked in the face with a winter wind. Cold and hot. Dry and moist. Anything is possible or probable.

April, come she will / When streams are ripe and swelled with rain.

April Simon and Garfunkle

In April as in Aries, streams are juicy with the run-off energy of winter snow and ice, waters free at last from winter’s chill. Do you know where your emotional currents are heading? Maybe. Maybe not.

Isn’t that what new life is all about? Vulnerability and possibility. 

 

Aries. Such a strong sign. The fire couldn’t be brighter or more intense. Like a runaway forest fire in California. The will and desire to BE overwhelms everything else. Where do we put all that energy? It’s the fires of creation, coming to the inner theater in you.

Just sit back and enjoy the movie. See it. Own it. It’s your story. You don’t have to have a full blown plan. You don’t need to have anything up and running. You just need to take that first step. First baby step! Aries will want to run with things, but it’s better to go slow and build to last. That’s the instructions from Saturn’s square to the New Moon. Slow down and go deep (that’s Pluto take on things).

You have to imagine your new story into being. For now. The action called for now is to gather information and make plans. Your Aries action is in the realm of ideas – since Mars, as the ruler of Aries, is moving through Gemini, an air sign. Fire and Air mix easily. Let Mars gather information. Use it to feed your imagination for possible answers to your questions. 

 

Everything starts in the Imagination.

Three planets are swimming together and generating energy that can help with this. Venus, Neptune and Mercury direct are gathering together (in the middle degrees) in Pisces. Mercury joined Neptune for the 3^rd time on April 2^nd. Venus joins Neptune on April 10^th. Both Venus and Mercury help us connect with others as well as connecting us to our inner guides. This is a great time for bringing out the artist within you. Try your hand at writing and painting, dance and play music. Tune in.

This trio of energies is woven together in a harmony of compassion, deep insight and Imagination – the imagination of positive possibilities. Don’t waste your Imagination on worries. Worry is the negative use of the Imagination. Use your imagination to create – that’s what it’s for.

This Aries New Moon is potent for many reasons. It’s bursting with new life. The new life of Spring. Aries is the exuberant Ram who butts head with life and most often wins. But because of a square from the South Node, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, this Aries New Moon energy offers each of us a choice. Aries is big on Free Will. Build a new structure (Pluto/Saturn in Capricorn) that supports you future life, or butt heads with the old habits, patterns and outer authorities who ‘stand in your way’. Old karma needs to be released. Set down the burden.

This combination of energies calls us to release the karmic past, to restructure our lives so we can begin our new story. There’s a death involved – the death of the patriarchy within each of us which distorts our soul’s truth. It’s a great time in the days before this New Moon to set our ghosts and shadows to rest and trust that we are indeed ready to live our soul’s assignment. 

 

What we might have to leave behind is a belief or an attitude we’ve carried all our life and through many lifetimes. These are the limiting beliefs that stop us from evolving. Maybe these beliefs helped us in the past. But do we still need them? We have to ask ourselves, what do I believe in now? What’s my guiding vision? Do I have faith in myself? Do I trust my own instincts enough to follow my bliss?

In my case, I tend to live out a 12^th harmonic, karmic theme of the Suffering Servant, here to help save the world. This is my past life mission. Now I am a Taurus, with Venus and Mars in Taurus. This is not the signature of a suffering servant! Lately, I keep getting the message: let it go. No more suffering. Have some fun. Enjoy life. You’ve done well so far! I think that’s the key ingredient – we have to feel that we’ve done our job so far. So we can let it go and find another fit that takes us to a whole new level of engagement.

This hope in the future is sent to us by way of a trine to the New Moon from Jupiter in Sagittarius, both planet and sign the archetypal energies of cosmic order and truth, journeying and teaching. What a great gift to own as we begin our journey! Every new beginning needs hope and the imagination of possibilities. And Jupiter will be extra potent, since Jupiter is slowing down to turn retrograde on April 10^th just shy of the Galactic Center.

The Universe supports us in our evolution. Take advantage of her gifts! Ride the cosmic energies. It will take the courage of Aries to do it. To begin again. Without the baggage.

It is The Fool’s journey. 

 

If you know the Tarot, you know the image. The Fool is totally free. A young person stands on a cliff, head raised to a vision seen in the sky, ready to move forward despite the cliff edge. The Fool takes a step away from the ordinary world and plunges into the Unknown. That’s such an Aries move. Aries are the explorers, scouts and pioneers of the zodiac.

You are closer to glory leaping an abyss than upholstering a rut.

With the New Moon in Aries, we all intuitively know how to take that step into the Unknown. We’ve all been Aries in one life or another. We all have Aries in our charts. That Aries house is where our adventure begins.

So are you ready to play the Fool? Are you ready to trust yourself and go on the journey your soul stamped on your heart before you were born? If you have the courage to keep going, the journey can bring you joy, wisdom and liberation. Who wouldn’t want to journey if these are the gifts we discover along the way?

One of the gifts of the Fool’s journey is speaking the Truth. In this way, the Fool is also the Trickster, the shapeshifter who mimics our shadows and tricks us into consciousness.

The Fool, you see, is the Wise Child. The Innocent who sees the world in truth, like a lover, like a saint.

The Fool travels with his animal guide, sometimes a dog or cat, the instinctual wisdom of the body. We need to be embodied if we’re going to travel. Especially now. In some decks, the Fool is a mis-shapened dwarf, an image of scorn. Interestingly, the King’s Fool was the only one who could speak truth to power. Sometimes you have to be outside of things to see clearly.

The Fool always carries his bag of tricks over his shoulder. His baggage is the essence of experiences from his old life. Action, eagerness and instincts are available when needed. That’s the task. To know when to take action.

So who’s a Fool? Anyone ready to start the journey? It’s up to you to stay or go.

Aries New Moon, April 5, 2019

The Aries New Moon occurs on Friday, April 5 at 1:50am PDT/ 4:50am EDT/ 9:50am GMT.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 16* Aries is: Brightly clad brownies, dancing in warm dying light. Brownies are household spirits said to come out at night while the owners of the house are asleep to perform various chores and farming tasks. They are helping, sometimes mischievous, spirits who make your life easier. To see them brightly clad and dancing lets us see them for who they really are – nature spirits who need to be asked for help. These might be dream messengers as well as external spirit helpers.

So ask for help from unseen forces. The help will be there if you respect it – people always left milk by the hearth for the brownies as payment for their help.

This New Moon in Aries is setting us up for the second Aries/Libra Full Moon on April 19^th. This is the Blue Moon, that comes once in a blue moon to switch up the Moon cycle. We can take this time to explore new ways of relating to ourselves, to each other and to Mother Earth. But first we need to have a sure sense of who we are and be brave enough to stand up for ourselves so we meet the Other in truth and with purpose.

This year, Earth Day (April 22^nd) follows both Passover (April 20^th) and Easter (April 21^st). These two religious celebrations speak to us of freedom – not just the freedom of the body, but the freedom of the soul. Let’s take that freedom and do something with it for Earth Day.

This Earth Day, let’s stand up for Mother Earth. Leave work, band together and show the world that our lovely Earth needs protection.

That’s Aries most important work – to protect and defend life.

Aries is bursting with life energy. Get out and do something physical – start working the dirt in your garden, go walking and hiking, start dancing, go play!

Walk in the Light!

Cathy

For Freedom

As a bird soars high
In the free holding of the wind,
Clear of the certainty of ground,
Opening the imagination of wings
Into the grace of emptiness
To fulfill new voyagings,
May your life awaken
To the call of its freedom.

As the ocean absolves itself
Of the expectation of land,
Approaching only
In the form of waves
That fill and pleat and fall
With such gradual elegance
As to make of the limit

A sonorous threshold
Whose music echoes back among
The give and strain of memory,
Thus may your heart know the patience
That can draw infinity from limitation.

As the embrace of the earth
Welcomes all we call death,
Taking deep into itself
The right solitude of a seed,
Allowing it time
To shed the grip of former form
And give way to a deeper generosity
That will one day send it forth,
A tree into springtime,
May all that holds you
Fall from its hungry ledge
Into the fecund surge of your heart.

~ John O'Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)

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Copyright 2019 ~ Cathy Pagano's The Cosmic Story

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.