April 2006

A Sparkling Gem: The Full Moon of April 2006
happens on Thursday, April 13, at 9:40am Pacific Time, in the lunar sign of Chitra. According to vedic astrology, this full moon takes place in the ending degrees of Virgo, bringing with it, a focus on health, mental clarity, and the elegance of simplicity. This is the second full moon in Virgo in a row, helping us to process the lunar eclipse/full moon in Virgo of last month.

The moon's brightness in Chitra brings the light of the celestial architect, Vishwakarma, into earthly affairs. Be tuned in to all your "designs", both physical and cerebral, around this time. Chitra is symbolized by a sparkling gem, so wherever 29 degrees of Virgo lands in your chart, things will shine, look good and attract attention.

Rx: Living Yoga Today
Beginning in ancient India, astrologers prescribed "upayas", or remedial measures, for weakened planets in a person's chart, knowing that "taking" the remedy would help the person balance the energies of their chart and live more balanced, fulfilling, prosperous and intelligent lives.

For example, if a person has a weak Saturn in their chart, they may have an above normal aversion for working hard. This may bring difficulties to the person when they come upon a spell in their lives that requires their hard work or endurance. Their sense of entitlement may not allow them to face life's challenges with the strength of character they admire in others. Or, their life may be presenting them with an unusually strong set of difficulties, in which a transit from Saturn or a Saturn dasha is scheduling troubles for the person.

So if a person wants to "appease Saturn", meaning open themselves up to learning the lessons of that planet and having their troubles lessened as a result, then a traditional astrologer would prescribe an appropriate upaya, or remedy. He or she might prescribe an expensive sapphire gem to them, or tell them to recite a Saturn mantra, or tell them to feed a black cow.
Now feeding cows is fine if you can find one to feed, and a gem is powerful if you can afford one, and a mantra is superb if you have great Sanskrit pronunciation and the time to chant, but if you can't and don't, well then there are other things that can be done. Another Saturn remedy for the modern yogi might be to go to the beach on a Saturday and pick up garbage as a public service to their community. And while doing that, they might think of all the laborers in the world, and send them their blessings.
Now if said Yogi's challenged Saturn gawks at the idea of doing this then we could find something easier for their lazy bones. ;) The yogi could donate some money to a non-profit assisted living organization for the underpriviledged elderly.
One excellent activity that I find has all the remedies for all the planets built into it, is gardening. To appease Saturn, pull weeds and thank them for their service, dig your vegetable beds or do any of the other hard labors of love/ gardening, and turn your compost. As you're doing this work, do it in a spirit of offering. Offer the work to Saturn. This simple stance of offering will strengthen Saturn's virtues in you.
From month to month I'll attempt to list all sorts of alternate planetary remedies here in this column.

Planning & Scheduling: Living In Accord With The Seasons
All older cultures had their form of an almanac or calendar, and they understood the value in working in accord with the seasons.
In our age of information, we have an unprecedented opportunity to observe earth's seasons with sophisticated instrumentation. These seasons are determined by the movements of the earth with her moon around the sun, and the relationships between all the heavenly bodies sharing our central star. All of this affects life on earth. Farmers have known that since they began farming. So by all means, if you can, just go outside and sense it. And here it is for you in black and white, too:

Full moon on April 13, New Moon on April 27
The two weeks of the waxing Moon leading up to Thursday April 13 are good for initiating important projects, and doing things for which you'll want support and blessings from others and through which you want to make a good impression. The two weeks of the waning Moon from April 13 to April 27 are a time to stand back, take stock, go inward, tidy up, rebuild, and gather energy. The day of the new moon, April 27, is particularly powerful for meditation, and silence.

The astrological landscape includes Mercury moving into Pisces, it's sign of debilitation, on April 12 until May 3rd, which makes linear thinking harder to access, and opens the door to intuitive and inspired thinking.

The sidereal Sun moves into Aries on April 15 and stays there until May 15, bringing spring bursting through the gates, both in nature and in our own minds.

Mercury is direct from March 25, 2006 until July 4, 2006.
(Mercury goes retrograde from July 4, 2006 until July 28, 2006.)
Do while Mercury's direct:
Initiate new business ventures; sign contracts; get things printed and released; get all dealings with bureacratic institutions finalized before Mercury goes retrograde.
Wait to do until Mercury's retrograde:
reconnect with old friends; revisit old ideas; edit and review art projects, writing projects, photo albums.

Transiting Saturn square transiting Venus and transiting Jupiter opposing transiting Venus:
Monday, 5 June through Wednesday, 7 June, 2006
Energetically, there is support during this time for getting the legwork done on projects that will bring your creations into manifestation. Venus and Jupiter may want to gang up on Saturn, call him nasty names like "spoilsport" and "partypooper" in favor of enjoying the beginning of summer, but if you can just let Saturn influence the situation and get the work done, you'll likely even have fun in the process, and have something to show for it in the end.