I often think of my friend Anna Raphael during the Taurus season.  A former MoonCircles contributor, Anna died from cancer a few years ago.  Her Taurus Moon had a deep appreciation for the delights of living in a body on earth. Savoring a cup of tea with her was transformative. I am pleased to share one of her Taurus teachings below.

We in the West we have a wound in Taurus.  We suffer from a deep unconscious power complex that cuts off our connection to earth and body. This cripples our capacity to cultivate chi (which is abundant during the Taurus cycle). Adrian Harris speaks of our collective wound in a paper on Sacred Ecology:

What we in the West have inherited from the great philosophers & theologians of the past, Plato, Aristotle, Saint Paul, is a split in our reality that alienates us from ourselves. Our languages, our culture, & our ‘common sense’ all conspire to convince us that we are self contained entities, divided from the rest of the universe. Each of us occupies a little box, & most of us remain shut up inside our heads for our entire lives. … But this analytical & divisive way of knowing the world is not the only one possible, as anyone who has been part of a powerful ritual or experienced good sex, can tell you.  …  At such times we come to the wisdom of the body; knowing that all things are ultimately one.*

Having a healthy relationship with Taurus means that we know this oneness. We live with this innate, fully natural (nature-based), body knowledge. Taurus is an earth sign, and represents relating not to the body but instinctively from the body. During the season of Taurus we should treasure our physicality and oneness with the beauty of nature as springtime flourishes and chi abounds. Take it in!  Walk in the sunlight on dewy grass!  Absorb prana (chi) through your breath and skin!  Never forget: it is here for you!

*from ‘Paganism Today‘ (1994). (Ed.Harvey and Hardman). HarperCollins.

It’s Spring!  When the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano–except these birds no longer visit the Capistrano Mission on the first day of Spring.  Urban development around the Mission has driven out the tasty insects that swallows love, so the birds have gone elsewhere. Tourists now flock to the town instead; they party without the swallows.  One of California’s most celebrated rites of Spring has lost its authentic connection to wild nature.  I take this as a cautionary tale for Moon work as well, especially in the blogosphere, where the Moon doesn’t literally shine. 

At MoonCircles we honor the fabled Moon just as the Capistrano Mission still honors its swallows.  We hope we inspire a good celebration each month.  And we hope that, just as the Capistrano tourists may be inspired to head out for the wild lands and locate real swallows after the party, our readers will likewise be moved touch the unfolding, living textures of each Moon cycle.  This real-time real-life connection is the most important part of Moon work and the hardest part to share.  Whatever I might think or write about a particular New Moon, the actual experience of it will always include something new.  It’s this continual surprise that makes me feel most connected to the Moon and her abiding lessons of change.

So of all the Moon practices I keep, this is the most important one:  to continue seeking real nourishment from the Moon, instead of just resting in what I already know.  If at the New Moon I forget to light a candle or weave a meditation of relevant imagery, I’m still alert to the living texture of this Moon time.  I look forward to that moment two weeks from now, when the Full Moon comes, and I’ll reach a simple, unexpected revelation.  My Full Moon enlightenments are often as subtle as moonlight itself, and easy to miss if my senses weren’t tuned.  When the cycle begins again at the next New Moon, I will wonder again at what mystery is unfolding.   This is the tasty meal that is still being served by the Moon.

Neptune has recently entered Pisces.  How should we respond? My guest blogger Bekah Finch has some great suggestions:

On February 3^rd (just one day after Imbolc, 4 days before the Leo Full Moon and two weeks before this New Moon), Neptune, the planet of mysticism, returned to its home sign of Pisces.  Neptune has not been in Pisces since 1861 (except for a short time last year as it prepared to leave Aquarius) and will sit on its own throne until 2025. Its last 13 year reign in this sign brought many artistic, spiritual and cultural transformations—from the birth of the Impressionist movement, to the abolishment of slavery, the creation of anesthetics, the declaration of women’s rights and the invention of blue jeans.

Besides the Mayan prophecies, much of the 2012 chatter has been based on three powerful planetary alignments: the Venus/Sun transit, the Pluto/Uranus square, and this shift of Neptune into Pisces. All are considered  catalysts in creating the new era. I think Neptune’s transition, coming in so close to the Pisces New Moon, is a beautiful and blessed opportunity to give us a taste of what the next 13+ years might hold.

My favorite ways to explore Pisces/Neptune are through dreams, intuition, meditation and working with water. You may have already noticed your sleep shifting in the last couple of weeks; perhaps your dreams got really good or really bad. Building up what the shamans call a “dreambody” and spending more healing time with water are tasks that will not just support an interesting month, but tools that can assist you (and others) in moving towards a higher realm of consciousness that will support our planet’s much needed shift.

Not all of Neptune’s shifts will feel wonderful. At times we may feel like we’re lost or drowning in the downpour of Pisces. That’s when we need to look for an umbrella and decide that we will dance and sing in the rain.  Our constant ally, the Moon, is offering just such an umbrella. This Moon cycle, our Grandmother is giving us 28 potent days before Spring Equinox to really drop into our emotional and dream bodies, to cleanse, shift our consciousness, open our creativity and set the intentions needed to ride the coming waves. This is the month to keep a dream journal by your bedside table and commit to writing in it every day, not just dreams, but any message or intuition that comes up through your day/night.

 Meditation is another way to open up the unconscious. Sitting by water is a great way for new and old meditation practitioners to deepen their practice and tune more deeply into Pisces’ frequency. Working with the water element is recommended. I am ever the fan of hot baths, and cold dips in oceans and streams.

 Other helping hands that are reaching out to support us are healing herbs. For thousands of years, mystics have sipped, bathed in, and slept with sacred herbs to enhance the benefits of water, meditation and dreaming. Consider accepting the guidance of mugwort, wormwood, chamomile, valerian root, rosemary or lavender in your Pisces journey. I don’t ingest many herbs (and don’t recommend anyone trying them without guidance), but I do love to put them under my pillow while I sleep or let them steep in my bath before meditation or bed.  Bring the same intelligence and reverence to the herbs as you do your water and dream work, and you will find yourself becoming a more sensitive, creative, intuitive, and connected being in an era in which such consciousness is desperately needed.

Bekah Finch is a Yoga teacher, shamanic practitioner and moon devotee. For more information on her work and writing please visit www.sacredwayyoga.com

 

 

Eclipses signal moments of transition, and often disorientation, when things are revealed to be other than what they had seemed. This week’s Solar Eclipse falls in Sagittarius, the sign of higher education, sports, and beliefs.  In the past two weeks, two scandals involving universities have sent shock waves through the media.

First, a former defensive coordinator for Pennsylvania State University’s football team was accused of engaging in sexual abuse of children, and his behavior appears to have been covered up by his supervisors. The story has stunned the nation, but has had a particular disorienting effect on the Penn State community, where university football and coach Joe Paterno have long served as a unifying social and even moral nexus. Reporter Michael Winereb, who hails from State College, Pennsylvania (home of Penn State), summed up the stunned reactions of the town in a piece for Grantland (italics mine):

When I saw those televised shots of [coach Joe Paterno's] house on McKee Street, something caught in my throat, a conditioned response to a man I’ve been raised to believe was the moral arbiter of our community. All I can say by way of explanation is that there are people here who will cling to iconography because this is what they’ve always done. That’s what I think is happening here: It’s not that we are condoning child rape, and it’s not that we don’t recognize our obligation to the victims above all else. It’s that we are condemning all that Jerry Sandusky is accused of and trying to make it right while also dealing with this involuntary response to the death throes of a way of life.

Second, videotape emerged of campus police using pepper spray on peaceful Occupy demonstrators at the University of California Davis. The videotape (and waggish collages, like the one above, that insert pepper-spraying cops into works of art) went viral over the weekend, and UC Davis’ Chancellor has met with angry shouts from students and protests, demanding her resignation. The shocking footage of the incident has made UC Davis the latest focal point of the Occupy movement. As an employee of UC San Diego remarked to me yesterday, “I thought campus police were supposed to protect the students, not pepper spray them.”

You may not be involved with a university, a sports team, or the Occupy movement – but with this week’s eclipse in Sagittarius, you’re asked to examine your core beliefs. When people and institutions that we trust are revealed to have feet of clay, what is left for us to believe in? Fortunately, Sagittarius the optimist offers this:  We can always trust what we know to be true and ethical in ourselves.

###

Guest blogger April Elliott Kent is the author of The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology and Star Guide to Weddings. Visit her website to learn more about her eclipse report, Followed by a Moonshadow. April is a regular contributor to MoonCircles.

 

If your Inner Lion is snoozing, wake him up with this infectious mantra of delight and pride from Leo Guru Jessica.

It’s as easy to catch feelings from other people as it is to catch their colds, especially if you’re an energy sensitive. That’s why developing good boundaries is crucial. But there are some feelings worth catching–which may be why certain videos go viral (in spiritual circles, this is known as “transmission”). Recently, along with a few million others, I found this little guru who had just learned to ride his bike. With the supportive witnessing of an encouraging parent, the boy’s exhilaration blossomed. It’s delightfully infectious. If you like infusing your New Moon rituals with positive qualities, let this coach lead you in a wonderful practice for this Cancer New Moon. Ground yourself into the center of the earth. Open to the vast possibility in the sky. Tune into your heart. Then watch the video and catch the joy. Let it flush through your system. Send it around the world. And repeat this mantra in the coming week: “I am happy of myself!” I know it’s eclipse time. All the more reason to practice your joy.

Postscript: Your energy practice is working is when it initiates a new conversation between your own rivers of memory, emotion, and energy. Notice what happens hours later. You may feel suddenly joyful–or you may begin weeping. You may feel more spacious, opening to new possibilities–or a dark cloud might descend (read my “Calling Cancer” piece on the Dark Mother). There is an art in trusting whatever appears. Know that it is the perfect next step for you in gaining emotional maturity. Be the encouraging witness. Keep observing the flow. Receive its wisdom.

How auspicious! On the day of the Solar Eclipse, Jupiter and Uranus meet. They’re conjunct in dream-weaver Pisces. Together Jupiter and Uranus bring growth, change, expansion, and breakthroughs. Their conjunctions, occurring every fourteen years, coincide with discoveries and great forward leaps. What an inspiring way to begin the year! These are challenging times, but like cheerleading guardian angels, the two sky gods are sending a message. They want us to dream big. They want us to imagine ourselves excited and brave as we set sail, individually and collectively, towards a new world. Soon both Jupiter and Uranus will enter Aries: the sign of adventure and courageous initiatives. This Spring I suspect we’ll be seeing a plethora of action movies with plucky heroes and heroines. That’s one way our collective unconscious will be dreaming us into bolder versions of ourselves. Next year, Uranus and Pluto will begin their explosive, revolutionary square. If we raise our courage in 2011, we might lasso that energy and accomplish something amazing.

Each time the Sun entered Virgo during my schoolgirl years, I’d take out a clean sheet of paper. With a bold, optimistic hand, I’d write at the top: “The New Me.” Below it I would list all the wonderful qualities I was determined to adopt in the coming school year. (“Smile,” “Be helpful,” “Always say something nice.”) One year I read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and following a suggestion in the book, I made note cards of its winning slogans and strategies. Each time I conjured my New Self, I felt like this act was itself new. I wasn’t aware I did it every year, cycling with a zodiac I hadn’t yet discovered. I did something creative and self-expressive during every Leo month, and in Virgo, I was always inspired to improve myself.

Virgo brings a precise, analytical, and useful energy to our September New Moons. We’re invited to survey our lives and sort what’s useful from what’s not—like the Virgin, separating the wheat from the chaff. Virgo brings a humble willingness to work. We feel an urge to get newly organized. Sometime in my middle years I gave up on “New Me” lists. My goals are more modest now: “Virgin, I pray, please help me clean out my garage.” At the least, my refrigerator might get scoured. Or the shed at the back of the house cleared, or maybe a bathroom drawer. Whatever it is, I know I’ll enjoy that delightful moment when the space sings with new energy. That’s my Virgo New Moon ritual. May the Virgin make something new for you too!

It’s arrived. The Cardinal Cross astrologers have been talking about for years. First taste: the lunar eclipse in late June. Second taste: end of July/early August as warrior Mars entered Libra, quickly opposing Uranus, stomping on Saturn, and charging at Pluto. These aspects make astrologers shudder. At their best, they foster great determination and effort. At their worst, they’re explosive, violent, and combustible. Mars is a fiery lord. It’s hot here in the Northern Hemisphere. Six hundred fires are raging across Western Russia, elsewhere too. The skies in my Oregon town are smoky. Throughout this week, we’ve all been wicks, ready for igniting. Yet how we’ve blazed depends on what’s gone into the candle.

Someone who’s been feeling victimized may have exploded like Omar Thornton, the truck driver who brought weapons to his disciplinary hearing and became an instrument of death and mayhem. Those who’ve been hiding dark secrets may have suddenly been exposed, like Dominique Cottrez, who admitted to smothering eight babies, burying some in the garden while hiding others in the garage. Those filled with the importance of an urgent mission and allied with like-minded others may have seen a great success, like the team working in the Gulf who finally, after months, capped that leaking well. The name of their mission, “Static Kill” is an appropriate nod to the gods involved. Superhuman efforts are possible with the Cardinal Cross, given you enter the scene with focus, preparation, and a willingness to do your best, as did Masato Akamatsu with his amazing catch. Of course it’s much easier to simply lose your cool, as did New York state Senator Pedro Espada who threw money at angry protestors.

My own candle burned on a much smaller stage. No big dramas. No big efforts. Just a busy schedule and an asteroid belt of small events that threatened to undo me… missed appointments, client crises, emails that weren’t answered quickly enough. Many times I felt an inner mob collecting, eager to start a riot. But gratefully, my inner constable worked overtime, patrolling the corridors of my psyche, offering “Calm down, move along, no big deals here.”

It is the Leo New Moon. It’s our annual opportunity to celebrate our individual star power. During times like these, being a star may simply mean holding ourselves together, offering a kindness when we’re stressed, or digging deep inside our pain to finally extract an old psychological thorn. The celestial picture is always a reflection of our personal picture, which leads to my simple recommendation for this New Moon. With fresh eyes, observe the dramas in your life and say “Yeah, this is my action movie.” Maybe you don’t feel particularly big or handsome or sparkly enough to sell tickets and popcorn. But understand that you’re still a hero. All you need do is rise up and meet your life with the Best Self you’ve got at the moment. And don’t forget to applaud.

New Agers proclaim that New Ages are launching all the time. I confess I’m a little skeptical at the flurry of emails each week, proclaiming how Great Cosmic Forces are opening Windows, or spiriting us along like Soul cattle across some Mystic Prairie. But this year I can’t deny it. Yes… what you’ve been sensing is true. Things have been moving faster. The karma you’ve been sending out is bouncing back with lightening speed. Everyone’s issues have been rising up with a greater-than-usual intensity. It’s time to get on with it. We’re embarking on a spiritual revolution that’s very personal and immediate. Over the next three years, Pluto and Uranus, joined by Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, will be triggering the contractions that birth a new world.

Before the new world comes, there’s always a “clean-up” period, preparing us for the future we might be sensing but can’t quite see. The bumpy ride of the past few weeks has hopefully scoured some of the rust off your armor. You’re being called up for a starring role in a new and personally relevant epic. Mars is finally direct. Trust your desire to get moving. Feel like a warrior with a sturdy jeweled sword. Sense the moment when this sword is in your hands and you know exactly what to do with it. But before that, remember that great warriors always take their strength from the higher forces they serve. Preceding the Aries adventures coming this spring, the Pisces New Moon calls us into our temples first, to commit ourselves to a higher purpose and to strengthen our faith. This is the month to get right with yourself.

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