November 2008

It Takes A Village Conversations with the Moon The full moon of November takes place on Wednesday, November 12 at 10:19pm Pacific Time, in the vedic lunar sign of Krittika. Once upon a time the demons had wangled their way into control over the heavens. So the gods asked one of the most powerful among them, Shiva, for his help. Shiva was unable to act on behalf of the gods directly, but he did promise to produce a son who would restore justice. The demons learned of Shiva's promise and set out to destroy this child of Shiva. So Karttikeya was sent into hiding, and there, was fostered by the seven wives of the seven seers. (Sound a little like the Moses story?) When Karttikeya was old enough, he destroyed the demonic forces and gave the heavens back to the gods. So goes a story from the ancient Indian classical texts called the Puranas. The seven wives are collectively represented in the sky by the constellation we in the west call the Pleiades, (called "Krittika" in vedic lore.) There's more energy available around this full moon, for discerning mental analysis, especially the kind that questions its own assumptions. Write this day into your calendar: Thursday, November 27, 8:55am Pacific Time - the New Moon in Anuradha. This new moon day is a time to celebrate friendship. Anyone you send positive energy to, will benefit: your best friend, your lover, your mother, your president, your president elect.

Planning & Scheduling Living in Accord with the Seasons The Sun and Mars travel together in vedic Scorpio for most of this lunar cycle, highlighting our human fascination with power. Mercury joins Sun and Mars in Scorpio from Nov. 20 - Dec. 9. Leaders make demands. Those in power express themselves with force. Venus joins Jupiter in vedic Sagittarius from Nov. 8 to Dec. 3. Venus forms an exact conjunction with Pluto on the night of the full moon - expect to see Obama's popularity be an international obsession. Also expect to see all those with popularity use it as a platform from which to proselytize their views. Here in the United States we like to think we are isolated individuals and that our actions have little consequences other than for ourselves. These next few months will bring increasing evidence of the contrary. On election day, Saturn and Uranus squared off in the first of three oppositions. The next two come in Sept. 2009, and in Jul./Aug. 2010. Expect to see big clashes between those who would spread wealth and those who would keep it in the hands of a few, over these next two years. Watch our understanding of money change.

Salman Rushdie on Stories "Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, power to retell it, to rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts." ~Salman Rushdie