Thứ Hai, 31 tháng 12, 2012

Becoming Friends With Yourself: You Deserve Your Love


Becoming Friends With Yourself: You Deserve Your Love





“You, yourself, as much as anyone in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” ~The Buddha

Bodhicitta. Metta. Loving-kindness. Compassion. Whatever you call it, this is what spiritual practice is all about, right? Long story short, the teachings instruct us to generate these vast motivations and wishes that all sentient beings be free from suffering and experience true and lasting happiness.

It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

So why is it that so many of us are still unhappy, even after years of sitting on the cushion? Why do we still struggle with depression, anxiety, fear, and even self-loathing?

Now, I’m not the first practitioner to point this out, but the main reason is that we forget the most important word in these prayers, aspirations and practices: all.

This, as they say, means you.

This would seem easy, wouldn’t it? To include ourselves in this great wish for limitless happiness seems to be nothing short of the most common sense. After all, you want to be happy, don’t you?

But the truth is, this is very hard for us here in the west. At a very deep and wounded level, we don’t really think we deserve any of that. So even though we might spend a great deal of time thinking about others, we wholeheartedly neglect ourselves.

At least I do.

You see, before I discovered Buddhism and meditation, I was a drug addict. During those twenty-three years of madness, clinging, and sorrow, I hurt a lot of people. But mostly, out of self-loathing and shame, I hurt myself.

When I finally made the choice to give recovery a real shot, I had to begin the long, slow, and always painful process of making amends, not only with my friends and family, but also with myself.

I started this process by making a whole-hearted effort to care for myself. I swallowed my pride and sought out the help I needed.

I went to therapy and recovery meetings. I started to take care of my body through diet and exercise. But most importantly, I learned how to tell myself three simple words:

I love you.

This was the most difficult thing of all, but once I got used to the idea that I was worthy of my own love, I began to get the strange and wonderful feeling that I was becoming my own best friend.

Five years later, I’m still building this friendship and, like any other relationship, it takes work, care, mindfulness, and patience. I have to remind myself every day that despite all my shortcomings, I truly am worthy of love and kindness.

This new relationship with myself hasn’t always been easy. There are still days when the old reflexes kick in.

Without even thinking about it, I find that I’m being too hard on myself and that I’m not giving myself enough room. Then I feel tight and tense as I start to sink and feel that old unworthiness creeping back in.

But over the years, I find that I’m more able to catch myself before I fall too deep down that hole.

Through mindfulness and habituated practice, I’m now able to remind myself of the truth: I’m not a terrible person. I’m not unworthy. I’m not unlovable. And it’s then that I can begin the relatively easy climb out of a hole that used to always go so much deeper.

This has not been easy, but I’ve found that the practice of loving myself has not been impossible either. And gradually, I’ve realized that all the effort I’ve put into it has been worth every drop of sweat.

So give this a try:

Before you sit down to meditate or do any kind of spiritual practice, find yourself a mirror and a quiet place. Use whatever techniques you know to get yourself into a relaxed state.

Now take a good, long look at the person there in that mirror. Who is s/he really? Look deep into his/her eyes and find the human being there, the person who is, like all sentient beings, just doing the best s/he possibly can.

Be gentle. Be kind. Be soft. Be friendly. And as you do all of that, generate a feeling of warmth and love for that person and tell him or her with all your heart:

I love you. May you be happy. May you be at ease. May you be free from suffering.

Say this again and again, all the while looking deeply into your eyes.

This practice is not always all fuzzy-warmie-happy-time. It’s possible that many hurt feelings, shortcomings, and fears will come up at this point. It’s okay. Cry if you need to, then just let it all go as you remind yourself that you are deserving of love, just the way you are.

We can’t expect to go from wounded to healed and whole overnight. It takes time, work, patience, and a lot of help. We have to put in the hours and make the effort to care for ourselves.

We have to find the ways and methods that work best for us, seeking out the best help, kindness, and guidance that are available.

But if we stick with this practice of loving ourselves, I think we’ll find that we’ve built ourselves a solid foundation for deep and truly meaningful spiritual lives.


Sitting in Stillness



Find Peace: Take Power Away from Your Thoughts and Emotions



Editor’s Note: This is a contribution by Dr. Amy Johnson

“Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.” ~John De Paola

My almost three year old, Willow, is obsessed with playing doctor.

She lies on the couch, hands down at her sides. She hands me a small flashlight and a toy frying pan (which I’m told to pretend is a stethoscope) and orders, “Check me out, Doctor Mommy!”

She methodically points out every scratch, scrape, bruise, and freckle on her body. She tells me how much snot she feels in her nose and how many times she coughed, sneezed, and hiccupped that day so that I can give her the most comprehensive treatment possible.

After I go through the doctor motions to her satisfaction, she wants to know how her scratches, bruises, and hiccups will really go away. Since we’re only playing and mommy is not a real doctor, how will her perfect health be restored?

I tell her there is nothing she has to do. Her natural state is perfect health. Her body will tend to return there with no effort on her part.

That’s often, but not always, true of the physical body. Bodies always attempt to heal, but they don’t always return to how they once were. A body is a machine with a roughly 80-year warranty. It is amazing and largely self-correcting, but it’s not foolproof.

Minds, on the other hand, are different. I believe mental health and mental clarity are present in all of us, all of the time.

Sometimes we experience mental health and clarity and sometimes we don’t, just like sometimes we experience sun and sometimes we don’t. The sun is always there behind the clouds. Mental clarity and wisdom are always there, behind our thoughts.

Just like the clouds will always part to reveal the sun, thoughts roll in and thoughts roll out.

Your healthy mind will always return to a state of well-being if you don’t interfere. 

As it turns out, not interfering is easier said than done.

Stepping In

Just shy of three, Willow already buys into the notion that humans can “do” life better than the divine intelligence that created us.

She wasn’t always this way.

Nine months ago when her brother was born, she was completely unconcerned when he cried. She looked at the adults in her life—tripping over ourselves to quickly calm the crying baby—as if we were crazy. She seemed to be saying, “Babies cry, you know. What’s the problem?”

But Willow’s brain is rapidly changing. Nine months later, she’s in a different stage of development—more intelligent, more verbal, more logical, more action oriented.

Now she wants to know why he’s crying. What outside, external event caused his emotion? (She already mistakenly believes that emotions are caused by external events—a misunderstanding she learned from every adult around her.)

She wants him to stop crying, and she believes there is something we can and should do to make him stop.

When she looks at me hopeless and frustrated and says, “Can you pleeease make Miller stop crying?” I tell her to just wait a minute. Unless he is hungry or in physical pain, he cries only as long as he feels genuine emotion, which is never longer than a minute to two. Then a brand new emotion rushes in to take that one’s place.

At only nine months old, Miller isn’t verbal; so when he feels emotion, it’s clean. It swiftly runs its course through his body, unimpeded by thought.

He doesn’t hold grudges. He doesn’t have a hard time forgiving. He doesn’t remember the past or worry about the future. He just exists in the now, feeling what he feels, before moving on to whatever is next.

Stepping in and “fixing” a thought or emotion is rarely necessary. There is nothing to fix when you allow them to simply roll in and roll out, just like the clouds.

There is simply nothing to do but wait.

Beyond Thought

Nearly three-year-old Willow has a lot of advantages over nine-month-old Miller.

She can communicate verbally. She can solve more complex problems. She is starting to understand jokes and sarcasm. Her brain can coordinate jumping and running and cartwheeling.

And nine months old, Miller has a lot of advantages over Willow.

He is more tapped into the wisdom that lies beneath thought. His true state is more accessible to him.

He lives entirely in the present moment, in a perpetual state of readiness to respond to whatever comes his way.

One isn’t better than the other. I’m certainly not knocking the importance or the fun of having higher intelligence.

It’s just that ideally, we could use our minds in both ways. We could use logic and words when we need them, and then wipe the slate clean and return to our natural state of innate wisdom when clarity and peace are what we want.

Using intellect and wisdom gives us a much deeper connection between mind and spirit.

Wiping the Slate Clean

How do you tap into the clarity and wisdom that lies underneath thought? How can you wipe the slate clean?

Some people meditate. Some people take a walk, practice an art, or take a nap. Any of those can do the trick if you enjoy them, but you don’t have to do any of them.

In my experience, the best way to return back to that default state where my baby boy lives is to simply understand the nature of thought.

Understand that thought is fluid and that you are not your thoughts. You are something much, much bigger.

As many spiritual teachers say, you are the one noticing your thoughts. You are the nonphysical force that is able to sit back and notice life happening around you. You can observe thought happening inside of you and remain aware of and detached from it all

When you lean back into your spiritual nature and allow your human psychology (thoughts and emotions) to simply do what they do, you are free. You can watch the endlessly fascinating movie that is your life taking place without getting emotionally hooked into it. You’re much bigger than that movie.

When you don’t cling to thought as if it is true, the slate is wiped clean and your mind goes back to its natural, peaceful state.  

You have to be willing to be wrong about everything you know.  

It’s then that you catch a glimpse of the innate perfection in the system. You tap into the peace and clarity that lies beneath thought, and you find yourself there.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or how long you’ve been away.

It’s effortless for Miller, but it’s accessible to all of us. Whether you were there just months ago, like Willow, or it’s been decades, peace and clarity are always only a thought away.

Vive la Revolution! Le Petit Jeu De Lenormand



Vive la Revolution! Le Petit Jeu De Lenormand










From The Lenormand Revolution by Carrie Paris and Roz Foster http://lenormandrevolution.com/

I have been working with The Lenormand Revolution for about a month and I have received intriguing messages from the deck.  Yesterday, I came across my first question and spread in my journal.  Although I have many decks and different relationships with each one, my question to the Revolution deck was:  What type of relationship will we establish together?

Above is a picture of my spread and below are the card descriptions:

6 Les Nuages/Clouds-King of Clubs

26 Le Livre/Book-10 of Diamonds

33 La Cle’/Key-8 of Diamonds

29 La Dame/Lady-Ace of Spades

18 Le Chien/Dog-10 of Hearts


Clouds, Book, Key, Lady, Dog – My message from the cards:  To situations that need clarity, this deck is the key that becomes the lady’s loyal confidant and friend.

The Essence card for this mini-reading is 13 L’Enfant/Child-Jack of Spades.  All my decks are like my children.  Each bring their own gifts and blessings and are unique unto themselves.

“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.” -Albert Einstein

Blessings,

Maggie

“Children tell stories, but in their tales are enfolded many a mystery and moral lesson. Though they may relate many ridiculous things, keep looking in those ruined places for a treasure.”  Rumi

 maggiemoontarot.com


2013, the year of the Water Snake






2013, the year of the Water Snake



According to the Chinese horoscope, 2012 is going to be an interesting combination, the snake is a sign of the fire element and is the elementoagua 2013. The water sitting over the fire. On top off water (destroys and has relationship conflict) fire, unless the power and magnitude of it consumed the vital liquid.

It will be a year where negative energies, disasters and conflicts deplete ostensibly, compared to the previous year. That concerns us, to the detriment of the negative, please.

The December 21, 2012 there was a planetary astral alignment will effect everyone will enter a new era and a change of consciousness and energy for all inhabitants of the Earth.

The year 2013 is a year in June, a year full of new formulas. The number 6 expresses activity and abundance, while also indicates power and decision. Therefore, considering only these pillars can construct new realities making, yes, a more collective than individual effort. We leave the conflict expressing 5 to strive for balance and approach the fulfillment of things.

It may be a year exceptionally suitable for all family matters and heart. Love, family and responsibility are the keynote of this period. For most people bring harmony, happiness and balance in social and domestic issues, and can even recover your life friends or people I had not seen for a long time. There will be family and emotional ties are broken, but this will happen when the relations of the previous years have been badly damaged (by balance forward).

Legal issues can be resolved favorably and being under the influence of this year it will be possible to solve everyday problems and obstacles with good judgment and good sense.

This will be an excellent year for investing in real estate or to promote material affairs. Negotiations and agreements are good vibrations, but must be careful before committing or signing.

Good time to make changes or improvements in the home, at work or in personal appearance, because everything related to beauty is under great vibration.

It depends on each person if the end of the year shows a surplus or not, will have opportunities for improvement and progress, but as a social or family life will be found tempting with nothing if you can not balance both ends.


Chủ Nhật, 30 tháng 12, 2012

Light Purple Rose Flower









Shine brightly, Holy Light; shine brightly in my life. Let your light in my light burst forth, warming my heart and the hearts of all I meet. Let every breath be praise and every word be love. In Christ’s holy name I pray. Amen.

-Bruce G. Epperly
Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living


Eight Tall Towers that mark your path through life




The door of paradise


Eight Tall Towers that mark your path through life

by Madeline Montalban

Whenever I come to the four eights in the Minor Arcana, I always think of the quotation from the Slayer of Souls which runs: "For eight tall towers guard the route of human life, where, at all hours, Death looks out, holding a knife, rolled in a shroud."

If you haven't read this shuddery and thought-provoking novel by Robert W. Chambers you've missed a treat. It went out of print years ago, so if you want a copy secondhand booksellers are your only hope. Mind you, like all novels with evil magic as a theme, there is only a minute grain of truth wrapped up in a lot of fiction, but novelists who write about black magic never pretend it is the real thing. They make it up as they go along, and don’t expect you to take it seriously. In fact, if it weren't for novelists, the "wicked black magician" would take his place as a mainly fictional character, and so would the so-called Secret Brotherhoods of Great White Masters. The evidence for the existence of both, in my opinion, is very slight indeed.

But if there does exist a league of secret Masters who can save the world, now is the time they should emerge from remote Tibet – or darkest Wapping, or wherever they hang out. This planet has about arrived at that phase in its history where anybody with any wisdom, secret or otherwise, is badly needed!

If there are (as novelists love to assure us there are) gangs of wicked black magicians engaged in plots to destroy mankind, they seem to be having it all their own way. It's about time the other side emerged from their secret pavilions and came out for their innings.

Whether we study the occult as an accepted thing, or only from curiosity, it is necessary to keep a sense of proportion about it. Much of this secret art has never been proved, and those things that time and use have proved to be true don't have set rules, like the Tarot itself. Though the meanings of the cards have been given in books and articles over and over again, there still remains the fact that each skilled interpreter places his or her own meaning on the cards, and associates certain events with certain cards.

Take the Eight of Swords, for instance. The meaning of this card in a spread is "quarrels, rivalry, also illness" and, when reversed, “a calamity or an accident resulting in bloodshed". According to the other cards that lie with it, this card can be interpreted as "a tiff, and some small digestive upset in consequence", or in its worst aspect can go so far as predicting sudden death! It all depends on the Querent, the lie of the other cards, and your own interpretation of the card. Personally, I regard the Eight of Swords as one of the most evil-omened cards in the pack, perhaps because I know what lies behind the doggerel of Eight Tall Towers. It is this.

In every life we must pass through ordeals, and these are usually called the Dark Towers. There are eight times, in each of our lives, when we are in great danger of some kind or another. The first is when we are born – for some babies are born dead, they fail to pass the first Tower. The last Tower of all, the eighth, which we all fail to pass, comes to us in the hour of death. Between the tower of birth and the tower of death there are six other towers, or danger points in our lives. These are the times of initiation when, on this plane, working itself out in the events of our daily lives, we are either paying off karma, or learning some bitter lesson. These are the times when the spirit quails. Our testing can come as either personal suffering; illness of great gravity; some emotional or nervous upheaval; accident, or any one of the many unpleasant things that disrupt our lives.

The more important we are, judged by worldly standards, the greater the ordeal and the risk. The less important we are, the less the ordeal and risk. For instance, we can all get into disgrace of some kind, and do, but nobody hears much about it because we are not in the public eye. But let the same thing happen to a prominent figure, and the story rings round the world. The suffering is greater, because the worldly prestige is greater.

Everything in Occultism, from reading a Tarot spread to studying ritual and practice, needs a sense of proportion. You must adapt all you hear and learn to what is feasible in your own case. So, if the Eight of Swords falls on your card in a spread, don't jump to the worst conclusion. Think it out. Bloodshed can mean as little as cutting yourself with a razor, or pricking your finger with a pin, just as easily as it can mean the other thing if the circumstances of your life warrant it. If you were a gangster, for example, the same card could well presage murder and sudden death – because you would be living in that kind of atmosphere. Ordinary folk don't, so their Towers of Ordeal, though stiff enough, work themselves out in the events of their daily lives, and in proportion.

Do you know the classic test whereby students of old gained admittance to the schools of occult power? It was the natural ability to learn, plus the ability to keep a sense of proportion about what they had learned. You can have one of the qualities without the other, but that won't be enough. If you have both, it is rare, but the fortunate possessor will never come to any harm in studying the occult, in any of its branches. Therefore, it implies that the person who can learn, apply what is learned, and keep a sense of proportion is unlikely to become a "black" magician. For that is only one branch of the occult, and to become really skilled you need to know about every branch. Equally so, the "great white lodges" in their fastnesses are too remote from the problems of mankind (if they do exist) to do any practical good! Both types have got the thing out of proportion.

The best type of occult practitioner is one who plugs along, learning all he can, discarding what is useless, retaining what is workable, and keeping a sense of proportion. It is this sense of proportion that enables you to judge in a flash whether folks are talking occult truths or not. Everything must balance, must add up to something, as I learned the day a very wise man told off a woman who thought black magicians wanted to get her in their power. He looked at her, then said quietly: "Madam, you are not beautiful and young. You are not rich, and you have no great position. Now, can you explain why any black magician should think it worth while bothering?" Offended she might have been, but that straight talk dispelled her silly fears, because she was shocked into seeing her problem in its true perspective.

If the Eight of Swords has another message, it should be "by this you will learn a sense of proportion". For there is one thing that trouble does teach us, and that is what is worth while, and what is not.

Now to a happier Eight! This time the Eight of Cups, which in a spread means "happiness, laughter and gaiety" or, when reversed, "disinterested love rewarded". Yet these, too, imply a tower passed, for "disinterested love" means that those of you who have spent your life serving others for no reward, expecting and hoping for none (which can be a Tower of Ordeal in itself) are due for an unlooked-for reward from an unexpected source. When the card is upright, and the Querent is, at the time of the reading, encompassed by trouble and worry, it means that "happiness, laughter and gaiety" will be the ultimate result of the Tower. It does not mean that whatever the inquirer is worrying about will necessarily end happily, but that something else will bring joy when the crash is over.

Don't fear the ordeals of life or the ill-omened cards in a spread, for experience of all kinds is part of life, and we survive and get through somehow. It is only the last ordeal, the last Tower of all that kills, and after that there is a reward. We are transported to a happier sphere where we can really enjoy ourselves, until the time for rebirth rolls round again.
[Prediction, December 1958]

If Miss Montalban's mention of Robert W. Chambers' The Slayer of Souls has given you an appetite for the book, be warned: it is very much of its time. I read this article when it first came out in 1958 and yearned to read the novel. I finally came across a copy in my local library after I had relocated to Bradford, a small town in the north of England. Chambers writes in the style of Sax Rohmer and the book is something of a pot-boiler. While not the worst of novels, it contains little occult lore; although, as Miss Montalban indicates, it points the esoteric student in certain directions and if the hints were followed up the dedicated researcher might uncover some interesting facts. I was disappointed by the book, but then I had high expectations of it. Read with lower expectations, it could be a satisfying read. T.W.




the watchers










6 Dec 2012 05:17 PM PST

The Watchers, or Grigori, are ancient angelic beings associated with stellar lore that watch over witches. They are sometimes envisioned as the Watchtowers of the witch’s circle.

In the stellar cults of Mesopotamia there were fourstars known as Lords or Watchers. Each of these stars “ruled” over a cardinal point of the compass, circa 3000 BCE. Aldebaran was the star of the Vernal Equinox, and was the Watcher of the East. Regulus, star of the Summer Solstice was the Watcher of the South. Antares was the star of the Autumnal Equinox and was the Watcher of the West. Finally Formalhaut was the star of the Winter Solstice and Watcher of the North. Seven-stepped pyramid towers were constructed bearing symbols of each of these four stars and times of year. These ziggurats formed the first instance of the Watchtowers. 

The Watchers are echoed in the four winds of the ancient Greeks, and in the four Archangels of Christian belief: Michael (Fire), Gabriel (Water), Raphael (Air), and Auriel (Earth). However, the Watchers are also mentioned as fallen angels in the apocryphal  Book of Enoch. These Watchers are said to have instructed the daughters of men in certain magical arts. The usual associations are as follows:

Araqiel: signs of the earth
Armaros: enchantments
Azazel: masking, smithing, and witchcraft
Barqel: astrology
Ezequeel: signs of the clouds
Gadreel: making weapons
Kokabeel: stellar lore
Penemue: written spells
Sariel: lunar magic
Semjaza: herbal magic
Shamshiel: solar magic

These Enochian Watchers were said to have mated with the daughters of men and produced a race of giants, the Nephilim, who were gifted with magical powers. These Nephilim possessed odd genetic traits that are similar to the “Witches’ Marks” of old, such as giantism, extra teeth, polydactylism, and supernumery nipples. Indeed, some modern witches still claim descent from certain specific fallen angels. 

American Folkloric Witchcraft


THE LIBRA NEW MOON



holy-dove









THE LIBRA NEW MOON

Monday, October 15, 2012 at 5:03 am PDT

The Moon and Sun Conjoined at 22.32 degrees Libra

Posted Monday, October 15, 2012

It's the Libra New Moon, the beginning of a brand new lunar cycle governed by this Venus-ruled sign of harmony, balance and relationship. Along with Gemini and Aquarius, Libra is one of three air signs, associated with the "mental plane." All highly sociable and relationship-oriented, the air signs are the supreme information and knowledge gatherers of the zodiac, they carry a strong mercurial signature.

So the "Queen" of today's Libra New Moon, the planetary ruler of this lunation, is Venus, the Goddess of Love. Astrological significator of what we cherish and value, and the ways in which we form important bonds of affection, our Lunation Queen is currently traveling through Virgo, a practical, reasonable earth sign ruled by cognitive agent Mercury. At the same time, Mercury, currently moving through Mars- and Pluto-ruled Scorpio, forms a favorable aspect back to Venus. This thrice-stated Mercury-Venus signature, occurring at this critical stage in the monthly cycle, implies that over this next month opportunity may arise only when we are courageous enough to open the heart and put the mind where it belongs: in a subordinate role to the heart.



"The heart has its reasons which reason knows not."

— Blaise Pascal


Mercury-Venus, when combined in happy aspect, also suggests a lovely combination of creativity and intellect. Associated with social grace, easy creative flow, and heightened aesthetic response to life, Mercury in harmony with Venus indicates the ability to experience and express love, and to appreciate beauty in all its forms: visual art, poetry, music, and dance. Connecting with the inner muse should be much easier over the next few weeks.

Yet this Mercury-Venus message in this New Moon chart is certainly not all champagne and roses, for when Venus falls in Virgo, "heart and mind disorder" can be itself a central problem — the ability to express affection, to support and empower those we love can become distorted by our own critical processes. When minds meet, how often they forget to invite the heart! Esoteric astrologer Isabel Hickey felt Venus in Virgo to be the sign of someone who had been unloving and superficial in past lifetimes, an individual who hadn't yet learned the basic lesson that love withers in a critical environment. "Virgo may make an excellent housewife," Hickey noted, "but doesn't always remember that it is love and warmth that make a house a home."

This heart-over-mind message is further supported in the New Moon chart through Venus's quintile to the North Node of the Moon, significator of soul growth and evolution. Associated with life events that propel us forward, the North Node is currently traversing, along with Mercury and Saturn, investigative, depth-of-feeling, Pluto- and Mars-ruled Scorpio. The quintile is itself a Venusian aspect. A 72° geometric measure, it represents the division of the zodiac wheel by five, a Venus number. Venus, whose orbiting cycle itself inscribes the pentagram: the five-pointed star, a geometric shape that is shaped by this same quintile aspect, Robert Hand noted that the quintile seems to possess qualities we usually associate with Pluto, with overtones of Venus and Mars. They seem to "link planets in such a way," Hand wrote, "that some kind of concrete creation or destruction is brought about." This message of creation and destruction is also carried and amplified by this late degree Libra New Moon that falls just one week before the Sun shifts into Scorpio and one month before the New Moon and Solar eclipse in this sign associated the task of releasing what is dead and dying in our own lives. Scorpio works much like a composter, transforming the discarded, stale contents of our lives. Under cover of winter, what we release is transformed into gold: rich black earth for the seeds of spring. It's the necessary counterpart to vernal gestation, this Scorpionic creation of a fertile ground that supports new life. Persephone goes to the Underworld for six months of the year, embracing her darkness, but she reemerges, transformed and renewed as the May Queen, the Goddess of Spring, every year.

Grand Trine in Sensitive Water

This New Moon also forms a wide, out of element conjunction to Saturn in early Scorpio, which is, in turn, part of a dissolving but still potent grand trine in the water element that includes Ceres in early Cancer (archetype of Mother Nature falling in the sign ruled by the Moon), and Neptune strong in the sign it rules. Grand trines in water are emotional-psychic channels of energy flow, inscribing a beautiful, perfectly balanced, equilateral triangle on the zodiac wheel, and connecting the three signs that fall in this same element.

In sacred geometry the triangle represents the holy trinity: spirit into matter, and biological synthesis: father, mother, child. With this particular tri-combination of celestial Neptune with terrestrial Saturn and Ceres, it is in particular a strong message of channeling and manifesting spirit and soul. This special grand trine suggests that throughout this next Libra lunar cycle, we may very well be able to utilize divine inspiration in a much more effective, practical, and realistic way. Avenues that open up for us over this next month may provide us with better ways in which we can sustain and nurture ourselves and our loved ones. Unusual opportunities, surprising portals can open up with this kind of linkage, but as is the case with all trines, we must be vigilant and observant — the motivation to do something with these cosmic goodies must come from us. As is always the case with easy trines, we have to supply the initiative.

New Moon Opposite "Monkey-Wrench Goddess" Eris

There is an entirely different, highly contrasting message in the New Moon chart which suggests we may be required to upset the apple cart in some way over this next month. Eris, a brand new astrological archetype in the early stages of delineation, a dwarf planet just discovered in 2005, forms a powerful aspect to the Libra New Moon.

Pulling information from classical sources, Eris, seems to represent action that goes against the grain of convention — having the courage to rock the boat when rocking the boat, making waves, is necessary and justified. In particular, it seems with Eris, it is agitation that expresses personal ethics or values that are centrally important, yet not recognized by society in general, not embraced by the dominant culture.

Eris will form a hot-blooded, almost exact opposition to the Libra New Moon, and moreover comes at the same time that Mars forms an exact trine to freedom-loving, rebel planet Uranus (3:34am PDT). Perfecting just 90 minutes prior to the New Moon conjunction, this Mars-Uranus plus "Eris-opposition-New-Moon" synchrony is a second strong theme that will play out for the duration of the lunar month.

Eris falling in opposition to the New Moon in polite, diplomatic Libra, seems to be asking us to contemplate the extent to which we sacrifice personal integrity for peace and harmony. In what ways do we censor ourselves too much, hide in the shadows? Do we worry too much about losing approval, of being shunned? What is happening in your world that goes against the grain of your own personal ethics and values? What influences are undermining these same values and what do you need to do about it? In what ways do you need to stem the tide of external pressure to conform in favor of expressing your own internal truth? These are the kinds of questions we may be asked to evaluate over this next month.

So Eris is quite active right now and will be over the duration of this entire lunar month. Look for her in issues that arise relative to self-determination, dissent, independent action, critical thinking and the courage to act outside of cultural mores. Scapegoating and shunning due to clashes in values and opinion between yourself and the community in which you live may become evident, and may draw you into conflict. Eris is not a "team player" and for GOOD REASON. Flowing passively with the "local drift" is not always a good idea, especially when we are not paying attention to where that tide is leading us. We need our agitators, people who are brave enough to operate outside of the safe enclosure of community, people who function as our truth-tellers, yanking those ostrich heads out of the sand and warning us about what's coming down the pike.



The Sabian symbol* for the degree of this Libra New Moon underscores the need to acknowledge and deal with what's on the horizon:

CHANTICLEER'S VOICE HERALDS SUNRISE — Keynote: A creative and joyous response to life processes.

The cock's crow heralding the dawn, astrologer Dane Rudhyar notes in his book on the Sabian symbols, represents the ability to recognize what is coming, to "give voice to what is, as yet, unmanifested, but is clearly on its way. On the flipside, as Rudhyar points out, one of the ego-traps this symbol also alludes to is that all too human tendency to think WE make the sun rise in our lives, when in fact any creative act is merely a revelation and recognition of what essentially, already is. The cock's crow is a symbol of our role as channel for creative flow. We are not the source, only its humble messenger.

 chanticleer-elvis


WHAT IS A BLUE MOON?




The 13th Moon, Venus and Sacred Geometry

WHAT IS A BLUE MOON?

"Once in a Blue Moon" — we've heard the phrase and know its colloquial meaning implies something improbable, something rare, absurdly rare even — an event with the probability of occurrence falling at slim to none, as likely as pigs taking wing or hell freezing over.

Yet a Blue Moon is more than just some improbable event. Officially — and yes there is an official Farmer's Almanac definition — a Blue Moon is the third Full Moon in a season that contains four. Seasons usually sport three Full Moons, one each month, but every couple of years or so we get a bonus Full Moon due to the roughly 11-day difference in the number of days between the natural, lunar month (28 days) and the calendar month, which is, as we know, on average 30-31 days, excepting February of course.

Nature is so darn messy!

But why is it the third Full Moon and not the last one designated as Blue? The answer is complicated and due to the Christian ecclesiastical calendar which relies on the identification of each month's Moon to set the date for Easter and other Christian holy days, the moveable feast observances calculated in reference to the Moon rather than a set calendar date. A year with an extra, 13th moon skewed the calendar, and so the solution was to call it "Blue" and not count it in order to keep their calendar on track.

Based on an Inaccurate Assumption

In researching the meaning of a Blue Moon — when I first decided to call my astrology business by this name — I discovered in an article published by Sky & Telescope magazine, that the most commonly held definition of a Blue Moon, a second Full Moon in one calendar month, is actually based on an interesting misreading of a 1937 issue of the Maine Farmer's Almanac.

In his 1946 article, "Once in a Blue Moon," for Sky & Telescope magazine, amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett cited some of the comments from Laurence J. Lafleur's 1937 almanac article, but added the following: "Seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon."

Turns out this is not what Lafleur meant at all and the mix up was due to which "year" Lafleur was referring to — and it wasn't the calendar year, but the tropical or seasonal year which is measured from one winter solstice to the next. Problem was Lafleur did not identify this detail and Pruett assumed wrong. Pruett's article, published in a popular scientific magazine with a large circulation, was from then on cited enough over the following years that this mistaken definition became the accepted one.

A Possible, Astrological Definition

Astrology is concerned with natural cycles and the cosmological, rather than man-made, measurement of time. Astrological time is metered out in the perpetual motion of the cosmos, and the natural cycles of the seasons here on earth which are reflected in the 12 tropical zodiac signs. Therefore an astrological Blue Moon would be more meaningfully defined as a second consecutive New or Full Moon that falls in the same astrological sign, not necessarily falling in the same calendar month. These back-to-back, same-sign "lunations" increase the influence of a single zodiac archetype, its special qualities are magnified and intensified, doubly emphasized in our lives. These are the "Blue Moons" relevant to astrologers.

These Astrological Blue Moons are important in another way too, for they shift the soli-lunar (Sun/Moon) pattern of New and Full Moons. The shift is significant from the astrological perspective in the sense that the Full Moon symbolizes the high lunar tide, or culmination of the cycle, the fruition of the astrological month; while the New Moon is the genesis or seed point of the cycle. A particular New-to-Full Moon pattern proceeds for roughly 18 months, then a Blue Moon occurs, and the pattern shifts. The two patterns are:

The Full Moon falls in the sign opposite the previous New Moon
The Full Moon falls in the sign quincunx (150°) the previous New Moon
For example, a New Moon in early Libra will fall before a Full Moon in its polar opposite sign of Aries; but a later degree Libra New Moon falls after the Aries Full Moon and before the Full Moon in Taurus, the sign quincunx to Libra, or "one off" opposition. The significance is the fact that this "inconjunct" Full Moon is the culmination of the Libra lunar cycle, rather than a Full Moon in its oppositional pair, Aries. An inconjunct aspect indicates the need for conscious adjustment in order to integrate two energies that do not share common assets: the element (fire, earth, air, water) is not the same, nor the mode (cardinal, fixed, mutable), nor polarity (positive/negative). So a Blue Moon greatly changes the "progression energetics" from New to Full Moon each month. Until the next Blue Moon comes around and the pattern shifts once more back to "normal." The New Moon falls in one sign, with a subsequent Full Moon falling neatly in its oppositional pair.

Visible Blue Moons

When I was in college, my astronomy professor did a very simple, but super nifty little demonstration to show how light is scattered by particles, which in turn — this bending of the waves of light — affects how we perceive color. Placing a beaker filled with a solution of water and powdered milk on the overhead projector, he flipped on the light and the pale white solution in the beaker immediately glowed a luminous, sky blue. At the same time, projected on the overhead screen, appeared a perfect circle of yellow-orange — a crowd-pleasing demonstration that showed how particles scatter light, which in turn results in how and why we see color.

Which explains why the Moon actually did turn blue in 1883, when the Indonesian volcano, Mt. Krakatoa exploded. Its dust turned sunsets green and the Moon blue all around the world for the better part of two years. Here's an interesting description excerpted from a Discovery Channel episode on Krakatoa:

On August 27, 1883 the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history took place on the Krakatoa Islands. Located between Java and Sumatra, the islands themselves owed their existence to a massive eruption early in the 5th century AD. In the wake of the 1883 eruption over 36,000 lay dead and the entire island detonated with a force unknown in the pre-atomic age. Krakatoa, which stood some 6000 feet above sea level on August 26th, had simply ceased to exist twenty-four hours later. Some three-quarters of the island had been blasted away or sank beneath the ocean into the crater where the volcano once stood. The eruption bundled together a catalogue of individual disasters: massive explosions, earthquakes, toxic clouds of superheated ash and gasses, and a tsunami whose 140 foot waves decimated 165 villages in the region. A ship in a nearby bay was lifted by the ensuing tidal wave and deposited two miles inland. A volcanic hail of stones rained from the sky while shrouds of ash turned the daytime sky pitch black.



According to a Wikipedia article, four enormous explosions took place on August 27, 1883, so strong they were heard 3,500 km away in Perth, Western Australia and on the Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues, 4,800 km away. Each explosive eruption was accompanied by very large tsunamis, which are believed to have been over 30 meters high in places. Krakatoa's eruption propelled tons of ash into the sky and generated climactic changes as particles blocked sunlight and reduced temperatures. Created and then destroyed by the very same geological forces, the blasted remnant of the island stood for half a century as proof of the volcano's power and fury. That is until 1927, when a new volcanic peak began to rise out of the ocean where part of the island had once been, which now stands 2600 feet above sea level! Its name: Anak Krakatoa, the "child of Krakatoa." Last year, this child's "tantrums" displaced tens of thousands of residents in nearby South Lampang district, when explosions and eruptions necessitated evacuation.

Lucky Number 13



Thirteen is a number strongly associated with Venus through the golden mean, that divinely perfect, mathematical ratio of 1.618. Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras all considered it sacred, the divine proportion. It is found in objects that we perceive as beautiful and pleasing to the senses, such as a handsome face, built into Gothic and Renaissance cathedrals, and even that old hardback edition of Winnie-the-Pooh employs this pleasant length-to-width ratio. The cycles of Venus herself, the planet we most associate with beauty, proportion, and harmony, reflect the golden mean and the number 13.

Venus polishes off five complete cycles (584 day intervals) in a total of eight years and five days. Eight divided by five happens to equal 1.6, our golden mean, and of course 8 plus 5 equals 13. Moreover, 5, 8 and 13 are in the "magical" Fibonacci sequence: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on. The sequence is derived by a simple formula: each number is the sum of the previous two. The ratio between each Fibonacci number is this same golden mean. This divine ratio is found all over nature from the patterns of growth spirals we see in pinecones, sunflower seed heads and spiraling mollusk shells to galaxies spinning in space. Medieval and Renaissance design and construction of sacred buildings commonly applied the golden ratio. Here is an interesting article by a builder who noted the golden ratios, including the pentagram, evident in the design of his nearby parish church.

The ratios in a pentagram, the five pointed star, include the golden mean. An ancient symbol of wholeness and protection, the pentagram is associated with Venus, present in her 584-day cycle. Inscribed on the zodiac wheel by marking the degrees of critical stages in Venus's movements in concert with the Sun, every time Venus completes five of her cycles, a new pentagram is drawn. The other interesting connection between Venus and the pentagram is the fact that when you slice an apple in cross-section, you see tucked away in the core an interesting five-point seed pattern in the shape of a pentacle, shown here. The apple, whose botanical name is interestingly malus, is a plant ruled by Venus and an old fertility symbol, reflecting in the old pagan custom for brides to wear apple blossoms in their hair.

So 13 is associated with Venus, the golden mean, the principles of beauty, symmetry, and heavenly proportions — and the Blue Moon. The number's association with witchcraft arose from attempts to turn older, nature-based wisdom systems into evil things. The witch, with whom this number, the pentacle and the apple are all associated, is really the crone of course. The young, fertile goddess in her sage aspect, which is itself a symbol for the astrological combination of Venus and Saturn, through Saturn's associations with old age and wisdom. Even the witch's most common familiar, the cat, relates back to Venus in her Norse guise of Freyja, the Germanic Venus, for whom Friday is named. The Queen of the Valkyries and Goddess of Love, Beauty and War, Freyja flies through the heavens in a chariot drawn by two cats, but was also sometimes depicted flying on a broom.

bluemoon.bz

Participation in the Sorrows







Participation in the Sorrows


THE LEO NEW MOON
Friday, August 17, 2012 at 8:54 am PST

The Moon and Sun Conjoined at 25.08 degrees Leo

Posted Friday, August 17, 2012

When I was in college, I bought a little pad of white post-it notes inscribed with the pessimistic statement, "Life's a bitch and then you die." I actually thought it was funny. I wasn't a nihilist, and too young to be a full-blown cynic, but after losing my Mother to cancer, a couple years later my Dad having a major heart attack and triple bypass surgery, and moving three thousand miles away from my familiar hometown network of supportive cousins, friends, and a boyfriend, with whom I had just fallen in love, I could, unfortunately, relate to the dark humor expressed on those little nondescript notes. Life did indeed seem to be a bitch intent on taking away everything I cherished.

It's one of the greatest challenges in life to not allow ourselves to fall into that pit of self-pity that's always right there waiting for us, isn't it? Making the best of what is happening right in front of us, appreciating our blessings, and remaining humble, hopeful and positive even when life gives us a good thrashing can be difficult. The recent discovery that a local timber corporation has been dumping two tons of a super potent scary herbicide every year, for years, all around my home here, is my personal challenge right now to keep head above the water of despair, and work for positive change, all the while trying not to let the bastards get me down — nor let the fight ruin my life! When faced with callous evil of this ilk, that could justify poisoning the environment for profit, it can be hard not to be carried away by outrage or let depression drag me down.

"Those who make us believe that anything's possible and fire our imagination over the long haul, are often the ones who have survived the bleakest of circumstances. The men and women who have every reason to despair, but don't, may have the most to teach us, not only about how to hold true to our beliefs, but about how such a life can bring about seemingly impossible social change."

— Paul Rogat Loeb, The Impossible Will Take a Little While


Today, we begin again with a fresh new lunar cycle in sunny, creative Leo, the lion-heart. Ruled by our very own central star, one of the primary lessons with Leo is learning how to hold fast to our own center of gravity. Leo's greatest contribution is the courage to release the fears we all harbor of being unlovable and unworthy, which can weaken our resolve. Leo challenges us to be more self-determined and autonomous, to develop the confidence to evaluate our progress and performance according to our own personal criteria, to be satisfied and pleased with the work and effort we have made regardless of whether or not we receive roaring applause and attract "standing-room-only" crowds. Ultimately, if we do not achieve enough Leo autonomy, we are living by someone else's standards and neglecting our own. And to gain what? Power? Attention? Fame? But at what cost?

"I don't expect life to be easy." I once told a friend of mine, a substance-abuse counselor, and she immediately shot back with: "Good, you'll never be an addict. Life IS hard work," she stated emphatically, "it is undeniably painful and heart-breaking at times, when we are engaged with life, that is. Addictions come from avoiding that basic truth, thinking we can somehow escape the demands of life."



"In a time of destruction, create something."

— Maxine Hong Kingston


Kingston's statement above has been a truth reverberating in my life and a source of inspiration. It is also very much a statement of Leo creative courage. Life really is a tough challenge, and then, yes we all die. The statement is true, but incomplete. For we have a choice of what we make of it. There is also joy and happiness, wonderful potential along the way, and a way of participating in life, engaging with it despite the ugliness, the inevitable pain and suffering, the corruption and evil. To keep going even though things don't turn out the way we want them to, even though people do horrible, unspeakable things to each other, despite the bad guys winning and the good guys losing over and over again, life demands that we get out of bed each morning and put ourselves out there once more. Regardless. Finding a way to make this fun — to find joy in the fight — is the trick.



The Leo New Moon in Aspect to Saturn in Libra:

Joyful Participation in the Sorrows of the World



With the Leo New Moon in aspect to Saturn, the concept of "joyful participation" seems very applicable. Yet, it's a concept often misconstrued. It's the invitation to face the harsh realities of life with both Saturn resolve and Leo joy — not apply a false patina on ugly, pretend that "it's all good." It's not peace at all costs, that wrong-minded, pollyanna-naiveté of "no enemies." Saturn reminds us we do indeed have enemies, and to make no mistake about that. There really are poisonous, dark and wounded souls out there who are dangerous to life, your life and your loved ones. No matter how often you clear your aura, or wish them away, they are out there.






Life puts us in the ring with the beast whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we live up to the challenge, or try hard to avoid it. The living is in the participating, doing whatever we can to make our precious life worthwhile, all the while somehow, someway figuring out how to enjoy the ride. Life is engagement.

Engagement is a funny word, isn't it? It means both agreeing to marry someone or to fight them in battle, a description of many relationships! This dichotomy is reflected astrologically in the 7th house of the chart, the zone that represents both committed partnerships and open enemies. Friends and enemies alike have important lessons for us, which doesn't mean we cozy up to dangerous people, but that we learn more about ourselves, our resolve, our reservoirs of courage and energy when we face (sometimes wisely from a safe distance) what's out there.

With both "relationship" planet Mars — the astrological principle of forceful physical energy, how we move through life, deal with others and assert ourselves — and somber Saturn together in Libra, the Venus-ruled sign associated with the 7th house, aspecting the New Moon degree, Mars-Saturn sorrows and difficulties, challenges and roadblocks will no doubt be part of what we are meant to face and deal with over this next month.

Sun-ruled Leo and conservative, status-quo Saturn are not energies that mix well. They are antithetical in many ways. Leo is ultimately about the task of opening up the heart and expressing ourselves in true form, breaking out from behind those ego-fortresses. While Saturn is simultaneously intent on building and maintaining these same protective structures. The tarot card for the Sun offers a perfect visual example of this dynamic relationship. Here's a description, pulled from an earlier essay I posted when the Sun entered Leo in late July:

The Leo archetype closely correlates with the courage and openness represented by the Tarot Sun, shown here from the Rider-Waite deck.

On the card we see a brilliant Sol taking up the entire sky. In the foreground, a cherubic child rides a horse just outside a walled garden. The child has left the safe enclosure and is out in the open, completely naked. There's nothing to hide and nothing to fear. The sunflowers in the garden face the child rather than the sun itself, for the child possesses an equally attractive radiance and power. A red feather is perched on the child's head and a red banner is held in the left hand, both symbolize vitality. The child too rides a powerful horse bareback, no saddle or reins, with hands up in the air, in a gesture that reminds us it is in the letting go that we are able to connect with this great flow of life force from the Sun.

The Sun is our nearest star, it represents wisdom, enlightenment, and all things warm and rousing: being inspired to greatness, setting a glorious example, shining our own individual, unique light — believing in our worth. The Sun is euphoric, unselfconscious, gleeful delight at being alive, something we tragically forget to pack in our bags when we depart childhood. The Sun and Leo are reminders that we are, every one of us, young and old, made of this same infinite, vital light.

"All life is sorrowful; there is however an escape from sorrow; the escape is Nirvana — which is a state of mind or consciousness, not a place somewhere, like heaven. It is right here, in the midst of the turmoil of life. It is the state you find when you are no longer driven to live by compelling desires, fears, and social commitments, when you have found your center of freedom and can act by choice out of that. Voluntary action out of this center is the action of the bodhisattvas — joyful participation in the sorrows of the world. "

— Joseph Campbell