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.

October 2008

Greener Pastures Conversations with the Moon The full moon of October takes place on Tuesday, October 14 at 1:03pm Pacific Time, in the vedic lunar sign of Revati. This is a time of massive transition. (Is that stating the obvious?) Revati is associated with a shepherd deity, who leads his flocks from pasture to pasture, in search of nourishment. Revati is the last portion of the zodiac, and as such is a volatile place. It suggests in-between times - moving from the ending of one thing to the beginning of another, from one pasture to another, one paradigm to another, even one life to another. What nourishes you? Pay attention to the simple little things that engender well-being. Write this day into your calendar: Tuesday, October 28, 4:14pm Pacific Time - the New Moon in Swati. The Moon in this part of the sky will highlight broadcasting of all kinds. People the world over are paying attention. Swati is associated with the wind, and the wind is thought to broadcast ideas, reputations, rumors, threats, viruses, wildfires and rain. Be careful to choose your information sources wisely. Be selective about what and how much information you ingest. One widely employed meditation technique reminds us to "return to the breath" when the mind is taking you down a rabbit hole. See if you can remember to "return to the breath" again and again, for the full two weeks after the new moon.

Planning & Scheduling Living in Accord with the Seasons Mercury goes direct on Wed. Oct. 15. Any logjams of the past 3 weeks in information, machines, technology, scheduling, and contractual agreements should open up and flow more now. The Sun joins Mars in vedic Libra on Fri. 10/17, symbolizing the human ambition to bring things into balance. Mercury joins Sun and Mars in Libra on Sat. 11/1. Opinions are vehement. Contention. Venus moves through Scorpio from Oct. 14 to Nov. 8, exchanging signs with Mars in Libra. The contradictory human urges to wield power, and to be liked, are experienced by us all. November's Presidential Election promises to be a dramatic time, with Saturn opposing Uranus on Tues. Nov 4, (a clash between the old authority and the new); a distribution of planets between the Moon's nodes spanning the 8th through the 2nd houses of the U.S. chart, from Oct. 23 - Nov. 3, showing intensified events in the global financial markets deeply affecting the U.S.; and Venus conjoining Pluto in Sagittarius on Wed. Nov 12 (underhanded uses of power and popularity). On election day: Moon is conjunct Rahu in Capricorn. Government losing its mind? Mars aspects Moon/Rahu. Angered officials. Saturn aspects Mercury, Sun, Mars. Disagreements, delays, deadlocks.

The World Is Too Much with Us by William Wordsworth The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

October 2006

Light on the Path
Watching the Vedic Moon

The Full Moon of October 2006 happened on Friday, October 6, at 8:13pm Pacific Time, in the lunar sign of Revati.

Revati is gentle, tender, soft and nourishing. The
energy during this full moon, if we can drink it in, will be
profoundly nourishing to our inner contentment and sense of
security.

This sign is associated with the deity Pushan; a shepard for
flocks, a guide for travelers, a protector for those going
through transitions, a Light on the Path. We may feel, during
this full moon, little hints about aligning with the Path that we
started out on ages ago, whether that's a career objective, a
financial goal, a self improvement mission, or a spiritual
journey. Opening up to this particular full moon's energy can be enormously psychologically replenishing.


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Planning & Scheduling
Living In Accord With The Seasons

The astrological landscape includes:
Venus and Mars sharing the sign of Libra with the Sun
during the 2nd half of October (exact on Wed. October 25)
, which brings out the passion in each of us for
socializing with flair, fashion & style, bringing out our own
inner "pretty people", and design. This is a time when we're
all apt to feel a little more flirty.

Saturn in exact opposition to Neptune
from Aug. 29 - 31: This transit point is the first of three
oppositions made by these two planets with very opposite
energies. (The next two exact oppositions occur from Feb. 21
- Mar. 4, 2007; Jun. 17-27, 2007.)

Where this transit occurs in your chart, will represent an
area of life in which you may feel a little stretched by your
own, inner, conflicting needs for right brain vs left brain
approaches.

Venus is debilitated in Virgo from Sept. 26 until Oct.
19, exposing any of our hidden tendencies to be critical,
with ourselves, with our friends and associates, and
especially with those whom we dearly love. This placement
of Venus also motivates us to look at any blockages in giving
and receiving love and affection, and critically apply
ourselves to behavioral change.

Ketu (the South node of the Moon) travels in the same
sign as Mars from Sept. 1 until October 14 creating
dissatisfaction with our actions, with our ambitions; this
conjunction can cause the most committed of us to doubt our
own goals, or at least our methods. Ketu and the Mars
together, if they are triggering any sensitive points in your
own horoscope, can create impulsive, rash actions motivated
by unclear, hazy objectives. If you're considering some
sweeping changes right now, try to wait until the 2nd half of
October to act - let your impatience simmer a bit first.

Ketu (the South node of the Moon) travels in the same
sign as the Sun, from Oct. 18 until Nov. 12 creating a
nebulous, unidentifiable feeling of malaise that stems from
uncertainty about Who We Are, on the deepest levels. This
lingering trace of the eclipsing of the Sun, has the potential
to send us into radical, spiritually productive questioning
about ourselves and the nature of our existence.

Mercury goes retrograde from Oct. 29, 2006 until
Nov. 17, 2006
Do while Mercury's retrograde:

* reconnect with old friends
* revisit older ideas
* edit and review art projects, writing projects, photo
albums
* clean up your hard drive (back it up first!)

Avoid signing contracts, embarking on journeys, or
scheduling yourself too tightly, until Mercury's direct.
(Appointments tend to change, events have a higher chance
of being canceled, information gets lost..)