October 2009

This Year's Harvest Moon Conversations with the Moon The full moon of October takes place on Saturday, October 3rd, at 11:11pm Pacific Time, in the lunar sign of Revati. This constellation is known for its power to provide nourishment. What makes all the cells in your body sing? Do you have activities or little rituals that invoke that state/feeling of being totally taken care of? This full moon is a good time to do them. While Saturn's placement during this full moon may make it seem that the lifestyles we want and need are being denied, there's no better time for experiencing that nourishment than now. This is a good time for the "fake it 'til you make it" approach - notice the sense of contentment and gratitude, keep putting attention on it, and watch your feeling of being nourished grow. With the Sun and Mercury exchanging signs this full moon, our nations' leaders will attempt to solve problems of providing nourishment (stimulating the economy) through more efficient distribution, and through better dissemination of information. Write this day/time into your calendar: Saturday, October 17, at 10:34pm Pacific Time. This new moon in the vedic lunar sign of Chitra is about designing your life. This is a great time to get creative with visuals or words or sounds, to manifest a vision statement of where you see yourself, one year from now, five years from now, ten years from now.

Planning & Scheduling Living in Accord with the Seasons Venus joins the Sun, Mercury, and Saturn in Virgo on October 9, indicating the need to clean things up: the world economy, as well as our own checkbooks. Venus and Mercury together like this will be interested in doing the math. Exactly conjunct Saturn on October 14, Venus will now go to work on solving problems of value, (watch markets correct) relationship, aesthetic, manners, sexuality, sensuality, and healing, through structured and methodical discussion. Mars moves into the sign of Cancer on October 4, ending his face-off (mutual square) with Saturn, but beginning a ten week period of opposition to Jupiter, in which both planets are weak. This doesn't bode well for the U.S. economy for the next ten weeks. Also, as a nation, we will likely experience renewed interest around homeland security. Individually over the next ten weeks, we can put some attention to creating warmth and comfort for ourselves in small, physical ways - a cozy quilt, a glowing candle or fireplace, a sensual bath, your favorite warming scent like vanilla or cinnamon... Jupiter resumes direct motion on October 12, also for the next ten weeks staying in the sign of Jupiter's debility, Capricorn. Unemployment will throw curve balls into economic equations, mandating the need to create jobs in new sectors. Hope for economic recovery wants to resume, but there's still some work ahead in awakening to collective response-ability. Now in the sign of Virgo until November 2011, Saturn can already be seen at work on issues such as unemployment and healthcare. Individually, we can each utilize Saturn's placement to make efforts and set plans in motion to improve health. Uranus retrogrades backwards into Aquarius on October 4, also leaving the face-off with Saturn behind, (mutual opposition) until January. This gives us all a respite from the tensions of "revolution" or change, with the knowing that we'll get to it soon enough anyway (end of Jan. 2010, May/June 2010). 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.

April 2009

Social Design Conversations with the Moon The full moon of April takes place on Thursday, April 9, at 7:56am Pacific Time, in the lunar sign of Chitra. I Am You. You are every living thing you meet. This is the awareness behind this full moon. We are attempting to design and build social structures that reflect this understanding. Many are recognizing separateness as an illusion. Yet, this understanding of the interconnectedness of all life does not need to be legislated, taught, or designed. Unity is the "material" of all life, whether our designs reflect it or not - in other words, it is not possible for us to fail. Write this day/time into your calendar: Friday, April 24 at 8:24pm Pacific Time. With the new moon in the lunar sign "Ashwini," there's plenty of opportunity to flirt with new beginnings. Conditions are in your favor during this waxing moon, to work on healing your relationships.

Planning & Scheduling Living in Accord with the Seasons The Sun in Aries: new life, renewed hope, vitality. Mercury is retrograde in the sign of Taurus from May 7 - 30, receiving a square from Saturn until May 24: reconnect with old friends, edit papers, review contracts. Build solid conceptual frameworks through writing, rewriting, and rewriting, and rewriting. Venus resumes direct motion in the sign of Pisces on April 17: compassion is not about pitying someone else. It is about noticing that their pain is your own. Mars joins Venus and Uranus in Pisces from April 15 - May 24, bringing explorations in sexual connection and new, unique formats for creative expression for many, here in the U.S. Jupiter briefly tours the sign of Aquarius, from May 1 - July 30, forming a touch and go opposition with Saturn, which fully completes its cycle two years from now in May 2011. The United States learns that to lead is to serve.

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.