Friday, October 21, 2022

The Cosmic Story: Samhain, Eclipse Season and New Venus Star Point Part One

 

The Cosmic Story: Samhain, Eclipse Season

and New Venus Star Point

Part One


The Wheel of the Year: Samhain: Death Aspect of the Cycle of Life




As we enter the season of Samhain (October 31-- astrological Samhain at 15* Scorpio on November 7), we begin the six weeks of greatest darkness in the northern hemisphere before the rebirth of the Light at Winter Solstice. (I’m going to stick with the seasons in the North but I want to shout out to those of you down South to have a merry Beltane!)


We are entering the season of Death, with nature dying off and the light dimming. Westerners celebrate this season with celebrations of Halloween, The Day of the Dead, All Saints Day/All Souls Day. At Halloween, we begin to let go of our usual ‘ego-selves’ and take on imaginary ‘selves’ in an unconscious mirroring of the needs of the season – to let go of what is no longer viable – what is dead – and to begin to imagine the new life to come next year. Who will we dress up as?


Samhain is last gateway of the Wheel of the Year, the time to learn to become comfortable with darkness, to accept Death and change in our own lives. By accepting Death psychologically, we’ll begin to let go of our fear of DEATH. Otherwise, we will surely create even more death in the world. (Look at Putin – instead of letting go of what is no longer viable, he’s going all in on death and destruction. Scared, fearful, silly little man.)


We are a culture which fears Death. Most masculine cultures do. Made worse because Christianity made the afterlife a fearful thing of fire and damnation. Who is ‘saintly’ enough to make it to their heaven, especially if there’s only one chance to make it? Most people imagine going to purgatory or hell-- both places of fire and torment. Who came up with this religion? Who would worship a divine being that condemns most of us to one gruesome afterlife? And who condemned women as ‘evil’ ‘soulless’ and ‘the cause of death’. Sometimes I despair of the male religious imagination, which took the Goddess’ promise of continual death and rebirth and turned it into a nightmare of masculine linear thought of beginning, middle and the End. In refusing the gifts of feminine wisdom, these churchmen gifted us with FEAR of death instead of acceptance of life and death.

 

 
Elana Gibeault ~ Samhain


At Samhain, when the gates between life and death open and the souls of the departed sometimes return to comfort or confront us, we have the opportunity to face our loss and fears and let go of them. Life will have its way with us – but we get to make choices about how we meet it. We ourselves choose to make life a blessing or a curse. We don’t need to fear life. We just need to respect her and know how to meet her demands. Samhain demands a death.


This unconscious fear-based belief about death has given rise to a death culture – a history of warfare, death and destruction that is still being played out all over the world, but most symbolically in Ukraine. What will Putin accomplish with his war? More deaths. The threat of nuclear destruction? The end of all life? For what? His pride. His power. His legacy? This is the delusional state of the patriarchal mind, this unconscious fear of death, should not be running the world. For those of you old enough, Dr. Strangelove.

So how do we stop it? 

 

climate change 


First, by realizing deep down in our souls that our world is DYING. On multiple fronts – the environment is in crisis, with around 90% of the animal species dying out, with our waters poisoned by chemicals and pharmaceuticals, our air poisoned with too much CO2 as well as other hazardous chemicals, our food poisoned by hormones and chemicals which cause disease --- shall I go on? Then there’s the social, wealth, resources and gender inequality. And now – again – there is a renewed threat of NUCLEAR WAR.


The thing is, we can’t let these facts freeze us and leave us feeling powerless. There is a power in Mother Earth that can fill us and give us the power to accomplish what is needed. The issues facing us are our task, our purpose. It’s up to us to determine what kind of future this planet and our people will have. We are the grandmothers and grandfathers of the future. How will they remember us?


We can stop this craziness, and bring patriarchy down by not buying into it anymore. (I think women need to strike for 3 days all over the world – we’d stop the world, since we hold up more than our share of it.) At least we can look to something different to guide us. Let’s stop doing the same thing over and over again with the same results.


We need a guide. So let’s look to the ancient Mother Goddess for answers. 

 

Mother Earth


The problem of Death: The divine Feminine is tied to the Earth and her cycles, not some heavenly afterlife. Just as Spring brings new life, Summer growth and Autumn harvest, the last weeks of the year, when the darkness is greatest, bring us the lessons of Death. Which in turn, leads to Re-Birth at Winter Solstice. And the cyclical process begins anew. Mother Earth is a tidy mistress – we get recycled.


The truth is, Death is a needed and natural part of the life cycle. Without death, how can there be new Life? It is our souls which never die; they get recycled into new bodies and new experiences. It’s our individual egos that are afraid. (Pro-life people, you don’t seem to believe in souls, only bodies. A very one dimensional belief.) Patriarchy has tried to take control of this process and stop Death (keeping people alive past our expiration date for money), which is probably why the world is stuck in the Death aspect of the life cycle.


It’s especially important at this moment that we all learn to face Death without fear, because we’re also going through a big transformation of the world ages. The old world paradigm (patriarchy) is dying and a new world view is being birthed. But the old is ‘afraid’ to die and let the new vision come into being. As we can see, it’s not going down without its usually bullying response to its fear – a fight.


Because there is so much darkness and chaos in the world, the old is trying to maintain control all over the world, but the new energies of life are rising up. Young women in Iran and protesters in China and Russia are defying authority to demand their freedom. In the US, we are asked to reject a false narrative of lies and deception and conspiracy theories bankrolled by the wealthy to protect their power. Entertain this possibility: Perhaps they know about these conspiracies because they’re the ones doing the horrible things, hypocritically pointing the finger at others, just as perhaps Trump tried to cheat on the election and got outmaneuvered by voters. Could be.


Perhaps the lesson is to learn to make up our own minds about what we value. We stand on the brink of true freedom when we make our choices with our free will. It’s time to embrace our freedom, which includes everyone else’s freedom.


The way to begin this dying process for patriarchy is for each of us to let it die within ourselves. It doesn’t have to be a battle. Just a gentle farewell. A slow shedding of unnecessary waste. A turning away from being a consumer to being a citizen. Becoming a conscious co-creator of our world.


Ask yourself: How has capitalistic patriarchy colonized your beliefs, your values, your ideals and your needs? This season of Samhain is the time to shed your old skins so that your authentic light can shine through by Winter Solstice.


Part of the issue the world faces is the rapid development of technology in the last century, causing dramatic changes in our society. We are the forerunners of the Age of Aquarius, potentially a more technological and idealistic society. (think Star Trek! These stories always showed our future as one of equality, freedom, curiosity and unity, as opposed to Star Wars and others where most of the worlds are desert worlds full of junk, ruled over by despots.) It’s up to us to begin to understand what our technology is and what it can helpfully be used for. And what it shouldn’t be used for. It’s important to ween people off their constant use of technology and back into personal contacts and communication. We can find ways to use technology without destroying our humanity. We’ve gone overboard with our new toys, and now it’s time to re-balance.


We are entering unknown territory. Going where no one has gone before.


The Wise Crone and Death


We re-balance by re-connecting to the Divine Feminine energy of the cosmic laws of life and death. In ancient times, when the Mother Goddess was worshiped, people saw death as an intimate and important process of the life cycle. Just as the Divine Mother gives birth to us, she also takes life away when it is no longer sustainable. This is why women have been the caretakers of children and of the dying. The divine Feminine fosters caring, community and change, even in death.

 

 

This fear of death extends to our society’s disregard of older women, for the ancient Goddess often had 3 forms – the Maiden, the Mother/Lover, the Crone – the Creatrix, the Preserver and the Destroyer. The Crone was the aspect of the Goddess who understood and dealt with Death. So men feared her, and now fear death. Isn’t it interesting that it was the ancient gods that had to die to be reborn?


Men have to face their fear of death and surrender to the inevitable. That’s why a return of the Goddess and her natural laws can heal our fears. The Crone (which means crown), knows the wisdom of life and death. The Crone was the judge and lawmaker, since she understood what is necessary to promote life.


In facing death and facing fear, the Crone becomes the Maiden who creates the world again. It is all one cycle of life and death. And we are part of it, whether we know it or not. When we connect to the seasons and cycles, we make those times sacred and magic happens – the magic appropriate to the season’s needs.


Our modern culture loses a valuable resource when it devalues older women and our wisdom. All ancient cultures valued their elders, especially the grandmothers. It’s too bad that our ‘founding fathers’ left out the need for a council of grandmothers in our government, since they looked to the Iroquois’ Great Law of Peace for ideas on how to establish their experiment in freedom. The Native Council of Grandmothers decided if and when the tribes went to war and who could be chief. They were the Clan Mothers who held the people together. It would have been wiser to add this aspect of governance to our constitution instead of a Supreme Court that could be politicized by one group. The Grandmothers stood for all the people. Because they were the Mothers of the Tribe.

 

 
Grandmothers


We need our wise crones now more than ever. Christianity burned old women for their ‘evil eye’ – which was basically just a knowing look that saw how idiotic the men were acting. The male ego is often afraid of that disapproval. And so they suppressed the aspects of the divine Feminine that would call them on their s**t and only kept the loving and nurturing mother and spouse who they felt they could control.


So men’s fear of death and their fear of older women seem to go hand and hand. (of course there are men who are not like this, but in general, this has been the male attitude.) And yet the Wise Crone sets the moral standards of her clan and culture. The one who gave birth and gave nourishment, warmth, protection and survival skills to her children also created culture for those children. The Crone made moral and legal decisions for her people. The Church called these wise older women ‘witches’ and burned thousands of women over 5 centuries, wiping out the old pagan Goddess religions and its beliefs – that we belong to the Earth and its cycle of life and death, that sexuality and pleasure are sacred, that we are part of Nature, that women’s wisdom is more important than man’s knowledge.


With so many post-menopausal women alive today, we have a wealth of Crone wisdom to call on. Isn’t it time we did?


I’ve been re-reading a book from the late 80s The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom and Power, by Barbara G. Walker. It’s a powerful reminder of how the patriarchal religions have persecuted women’s religions and powers for thousands of years. And why it’s so important for women to reclaim our ancient purpose so we can bring a wise vision of life back to the world.


The second part of this Samhain newsletter will be out next week, where I’ll discuss the goddess Hekate and the upcoming total lunar eclipse in Taurus, conjunct Uranus – the planet of surprises – which occurs on the morning of the U.S. elections. Surprises are in store.


Venus Conjunct the Sun: New Venus-Star Cycle begins: October 22, 2022


Ever since we saw Venus cross the face of the Sun back in 2004 and 2012, astrologers have again been working with the Venus cycle, which makes a 5-pointed star in the heavens every 8 years as Venus moves from being a Morning Star to Evening Star and back to Morning Star.

 

The next Venus Star Loop – Capricorn/Libra/Leo January 2022 - August 2023 -  Cosmic*Intelligence*Agency
 


When Venus moves retrograde between the Earth and the Sun, she begins her Morning Star phase, which last occurred on January 8, 2022 19* Capricorn. Now she travels behind the Sun in her underworld journey (furthest away from Earth) and will conjunct the Sun tomorrow, October 22 at 29*27’ Libra. This is the first time Venus starts a cycle in her own sign in about 150 years. The last degree of a sign indicates it’s time to work out the issues of the sign.

 

 
Venus makes this pattern over years

 

Venus is the great connector – she teaches us about what we love and value, be it beauty, truth, a relationship, art and life itself. In Libra, Venus loves balance and harmony, truth and fairness, equality and justice. Beginning this new phase in her celestial journeys, Venus can help us take a stand for those things we hold dear. She elevates the divine feminine qualities that are so sorely needed in our society now. Love, connection, care, community. Let’s hope she restores diplomacy to the world instead of war.


This Venus/Sun conjunction is challenging Pluto in Capricorn to listen to her ideas and ideals. With Eris opposing Venus and squaring Pluto, we have to trust our heart wisdom. The divine feminine speaks to us through our hearts, minds and most especially through our imaginations. Change your perspective, change the world.

 


 


The Sabian symbol for Venus/Sun at 30* Libra is: Three mounds of knowledge on a philosopher's head. Dane Rudhyar states that philosophers are people who understand life and its issues. I would substitute (3) wise women and knowledgeable men. Three is the number of process – of something working its way to completion. This symbol urges us to understand life’s needs and find the wisdom to know what we need to do.


The Gene Key for this Venus/Sun conjunction is interesting in that it repeats the message. Gene Key for 30* Libra is Number 50 – Cosmic Order.


The shadow for this Gene Key is Corruption. But not just corruption of ourselves, and our political and religious leaders, but a corruption of data. The knowledge we’ve been raised on no longer serves our consciousness. It has cut us off from our natural wisdom and we suffer for it, because the data inspires our fears. This is what the South Node solar eclipse is about. (See below)


The Gift of this Gene Key is Equilibrium. This equilibrium comes from our own inner peace and security (since we were raised on fear and insecurity), and the recognition that our group, our nation, our world can come into equilibrium if each of us do. Each of us has to take responsibility for the gift we can contribute to society, creating a greater whole.


The Blessing of the 50th Gene Key is Harmony, which occurs when all elements in a system are in perfect and permanent resonance. We are creating this new society and vision now as we begin to reach a critical mass of change. If we ever accomplish this, we will become Conscious Earth.


If this is the potential that the new Venus Star Point will birth in the coming years, its energy will certainly help us create a better world for us all. So Mote It Be!


Saturn in Aquarius turns to direct motion seven hours after the Sun/Venus conjunction, slowing us down to really pay attention to what those values are for us and for the collective. We are at the last stage of the waning Saturn-Uranus square that began in 2021. We might see the outcome of this struggle between the Old vs the New with the upcoming Scorpio Solar Eclipse and Taurus Lunar Eclipse.


These two eclipses in Scorpio and Taurus confront us with the question of our Values – isn’t it time we really looked at ourselves and our lifestyle and recognized that it isn’t sustainable. Can we let go of the past and look to the future with curiosity and imagination? Isn’t it time to imagine a different way to live? A more balanced and simple way, with basic needs met and time for personal creative expression. Not life based on survival and fear, but enjoyment and commitment. Work that feeds the soul with purpose because it’s needed for life to prosper and grow.


The Sabian symbol for 19* Aquarius is: A forest fire quenched. Since we’re still in the tension of the Saturn/Uranus square between the old and the new, I would say this signifies the end of the craziness the old is trying to exert on the world. Let’s hope so!


Scorpio partial Solar Eclipse: October 25, 2022


The Scorpio New Moon solar eclipse occurs on Tuesday, October 25th at 3:49 am PDT/ 6:49am EDT and 11:49 am GMT.

 


 


This New Moon is conjunct Venus, who has just started her journey as an Evening Star of Wisdom, although still hidden from Earth’s sight until December 3, 2022.


The Gene Key is the same as the one for the Sun/Venus conjunction, Key 50. The theme is repeated with the Sabian Symbol. Equilibrium and Harmony.


The Sabian symbol for the Sun, Moon and Venus at 3* Scorpio is: A house raising party in a small village enlists the neighbors’ cooperation.


I’ve always loved this image – because it does take a village not only to raise a child but to make a home and community. With COVID and our dependence on technology to ‘reach out’, we are losing our community feeling. We have to let go of our isolation and re-connect with where we live. This is an image of both Equilibrium and Harmony, the gift and blessing of the 50th Key.


So what keeps us from doing that?


This intense partial solar eclipse on the New Moon in Scorpio is called a south node eclipse, meaning that like the south node’s shedding of old habits that are no longer viable, we need to shed our skins and let go of old trauma, lies, deceits and relationships that are toxic not only to us but to the world.


We humans have so much fear in us. It keeps us from cooperating. This eclipse says – why not drop the fear? What else can happen? We’re all in this together.


Scorpio doesn’t shy away from the taboos in our culture. Whether it’s sex, drugs and rock & roll, investments, taxes, and death, Scorpio deals with the things we usually don’t want to deal with, let alone look at. But this Autumn, we all have to face the music – it’s time to deal with our Shadows, both personally and collectively.


As we enter the dark of the year, it’s a perfect time to look at our shadows and see where we aren’t living aligned with our values. These Shadows are behavior patterns and ideas & beliefs that once protected us as children, but which no longer reflect or serve our needs. Once we face our wounds (which birth shadows), and name them, we can change things. The collective naming of our wounds has picked up speed over the past two years. Now it’s time to see if we can transform those shadows into the gold of awakened cultural consciousness.


Scorpio is the sign of emotional stagnation, a fixed water sign that holds onto emotional trauma. This thick dark soup is the result of experiences of death, terror and pain, causing us to feel mistrust, betrayal, resentment, fear, and hurt. These repressed emotions can give rise to power plays, deception and control issues.


This eclipse season heralds a time to take the lessons learned and put those emotions back into the Goddess’ cauldron of regeneration. They use up too much of our authentic energy and so no longer serve our life’s growth. This south node eclipse’s lesson is to let go of the past, learn its lessons, and let the natural dying process transform our consciousness.


Because the upcoming Taurus Full Moon total lunar eclipse is conjunct Uranus, the master of surprise and sudden change. More on the upcoming lunar eclipse in the second part of this newsletter. Be ready for much needed Surprises!


This solar eclipse is interesting, because a New Moon is a time of new beginnings, while this south node eclipse calls us to let go of something that needs to die. But since we can live in paradox, why not see that the new seed planted is for the old to leave without too much pain, while the new rejoices in the hope for the future.


The solar eclipse and Venus make an inconjunct to Jupiter retrograde at 0* Aries – the World Point. This marks a point of great world importance. An inconjunct is an energy of adjustment – like a scale trying to come into balance. What is needed is great delicacy in achieving that balance. Jupiter in Aries is daring and can often be reckless. Don’t let him be now! Our Scorpionic energies are concerned with inner decisions.


Mars in Gemini is slowing down to turn retrograde on October 30th. Ruling both Aries and Scorpio, perhaps he will slow down and think (Gemini) things through, seeing multiple ways to proceed.


The Saturn/Uranus square is still activated. But now direct Saturn in Aquarius forms an air grand trine with Mercury in Libra and Mars in Gemini (slowing down to turn retrograde Saturday, October 30th). This alignment could hopefully open up the ‘old’ (Saturn) to accepting new ideas (Mars/Mercury) without fear.


I think that’s enough for now! More next week in part Two of Samhain’s Cosmic Story.


Blessed Be!

Cathy

 


 

Fall Song


Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,

the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back

from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere

except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle

of unobservable mysteries - roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This

I try to remember when time's measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn

flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay - how everything lives, shifting

from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

(American Primitive)









Thursday, September 22, 2022

The Cosmic Story: Autumn Equinox 2022

 



The seasons are changing. The Wheel is turning.


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


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


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

 


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


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


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


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

 

 

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


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


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


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


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

 

Aphrodite Urania -- Queen of Heaven


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

 

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


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


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


Autumn Equinox/ Mabon: September 22, 2022


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


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


Onward we go round the Spiral

Touching darkness, touching light.

Twice each year we rest in balance,

Make choices on this night.


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

 

 

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


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


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

 


 

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


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


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

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


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


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


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


There are two strong T-squares at this Equinox.


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


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


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


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


Wheel of the Year: Mabon

 

The Sun and The Moon on dual composition as concept of spring and autumn equinox The Sun and The Moon on dual composition as concept of spring and autumn equinox. Annual seasonal natural phenomenon in march and september Autumn Equinox stock vector 

 

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


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


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


May your harvest be plentiful – and shared!

Blessed Be,

Cathy





The Wild Geese

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


~ Wendell Berry ~


(Collected Poems 1957-1982)






Friday, August 26, 2022

The Cosmic Story: Virgo New Moon 2022

 


Letting Go of the Past to Embrace the Future




The last weeks of August are always bittersweet.


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


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

 

 

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


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


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

 


 

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

 

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


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


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


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


The Virgo New Moon 2022


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

 


 


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 


 

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


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


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


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


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


Blessings on your harvest!

Cathy