March 2010

The full moon of March takes place on Monday, March 29, at 7:27pm Pacific Time. This full moon occurs in the lunar sign of Hastha, a sign associated with the hands and the things connected to them and by them.  Notice your own energy. Notice the energy in your hands. Notice how energy can be wasted in having the linear thought of the mind overly determine the energy of the hands.  Notice also, that vital energy can be replenished through tuning in to a subtler stream of awareness (which requires temporarily disengaging from linear, rational thought.) This subtler stream of awareness tends to guide the hands in activities like cooking mindfully, gardening gently, putting food up to the mouth and eating with relish, touching loved ones with affection, creating a song or a painting with joy, and soothing a friend's anxiety with a caress. For an inspiring look at hands, visit photographer Lenny Foster's website or visit his magical gallery in Taos, New Mexico if you happen to be in the area. Write this day/time into your calendar: Wednesday, April 14, 2010, at 5:29am Pacific Time. This new moon occurs in the lunar sign of Ashwini.  If you have a garden or even a potted plant, this is a great day to connect with "plant medicine," in other words, give gratitude and awareness to the very real, symbiotic relationship that humans have with the plant kingdom. As a suggestion, go outside into your garden (or even into a public park,) and plant your bare feet deeply into the earth, envisioning the nourishment coming from the soil, entering your body's energetic and physical fields. You will need this vital life force energy in the months to come.

Planning & Scheduling   :::Living in Accord with the Seasons:::  Mercury is retrograde from April 18 until May 11. The spirit of Mercury retrograde is Mercury as a trickster. You may find that things involving scheduling, technology, and communication besieged by a mischievous prankster energy, causing confusion, and the need to re-do things. On the other hand, this period is great for editing, reviewing, pulling out old projects that need to be organized or things that need to be fixed, and also for contacting old friends.  Mercury is in the sign of Aries all month, assuring our enthusiasm and possibly impatience to get things moving forward, so Mercury retrograde will get us to slow down and cross all our i's and dot all our t's. Venus has been opposite Saturn since March 3, symbolizing a movement inside the human ability to love and create beauty, to define its boundaries and its intention. This is what provides the "work" of relationships. It is also what sometimes ends relationships that have run their course. On March 30, Venus moves into Aries until April 21. Here our springtime exuberance finds spontaneous outlets - this will be a bursting forth of creative, affectionate, enjoyment energy.  Mars moved into the sign of Cancer on October 4, and will be staying in his sign of debilitation for almost eight months, until the end of May. Mars resumed direct motion on March 10. Defensiveness and aggression will have been at a high over these last couple months. Now Mars is under less pressure to act out and will allow us each to find more productive ways to deal with the feeling of being threatened. Jupiter moves quickly through the end of the sign of Aquarius, and on May 3rd moves into the sign of Pisces, approaching a conjunction to the planet Uranus. One more month of "push" energy around personal and collective change is in store, before experiencing a nice wind in the sails. Whatever new awareness you've been cultivating lately will receive some friendly assistance in May. Just keep applying yourself mindfully until then. Pluto stations retrograde on April 7, not far from a square to the Saturn Uranus opposition. When the Saturn/Uranus opposition tightens around the end of April, we may see the polarities of established orders versus other ideas undergo a fight for dominance. (i.e. Opposition to the newly passed healthcare reform bill.) Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto keep up their T-square configuration, getting particularly charged in July and August. This setup guarantees global, social reorganization. Notice what doesn't change, even when everything around you does. Coming from this place of what doesn't change - this is one way of apprehending enlightenment.