Welcome to the September 16, 2016 Full Moon in Pisces, Virgo Solar Festival edition of the Satya Center Cosmic Weather Forecast.
Warm greetings from your co-Editors, Curtis Lang and Jane Sherry.
The Full Moon Eclipse this Friday occurs at 3:05 pm Eastern Daylight Time at 24º Pisces, opposed by the Sun at 24º Virgo, with Mars in Sagittarius square both Moon and Sun, creating yet another T-square in mutable planets.
This Full Moon Eclipse in Pisces square Mars in Sagittarius provides energetic support for the Piscean Christ consciousness residing within each one of us. This Full Moon feeds our courage, enhances our inner spiritual strength and offers us access to creative outlets for our desire to transcend the dying social strategies that threaten to strangle new ways of life in their cradle.
As our readers know, the last several months we’ve seen numerous iterations of the mutable T-square and even an occasional Grand Mutable Cross. These potent mutable aspects trigger powerful energetic cross-currents in our lives.
The Grand Cardinal Cross that dominated cosmic weather patterns for several years prior to 2016 put many of us on hold. It was extremely difficult to initiate new projects, although there was a sense of urgency to transform many aspects of our lives.
This became excruciating after a time, but it did force us to take the time to evaluate our current life path and analyze what we need to change in order to create a sustainable lifestyle that will be in harmony with the web of life that surrounds and nurtures us.
Now that the excruciating time of re-evaluation of our life choices has come to an end, the Mutable Cross and the T-squares that form and re-form from time to time this year challenge us to move forward in multiple areas of life simultaneously while remaining centered and balanced in all that we do.
This year Cosmic Weather patterns are dominated by the square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces, and we have often felt like we are on a merry-go-round that accelerates so rapidly from time to time that we are taken way out of our comfort zone.
During this year of mutable madness, we have been challenged by Saturn to create clear boundaries with others and to bring clarity, form and substance to Neptunian ideas, insights, hopes and dreams that have tantalized us with fleeting and often vaporous visitations.
Do our dreams of a new life, which we have begun to manifest in response to the deep analysis triggered by the Grand Cardinal Cross, have any hope of being realized in physical reality, or are they doomed to remain stuck in the astral realms, a mere glamour that distracts us from the important business of our day to day life, and from the work that will move us forward on the path of Spirit?
It’s extremely hard to say at this point, but we are all asked to perform the difficult Saturn work of crystallizing these Neptunian dreams and manifesting them in the physical plane of existence, even though we cannot be certain of a positive outcome in any area of life where we are re-forming the way we think, feel and act.
Mars in Sagittarius square the Sun in Virgo and the Moon in Pisces activates the theme of righteous Martian anger directed at Saturnine social structures that limit us and prevent us from implementing the needed reforms in our lives and in our society. We continue to experience a tremendous upswelling of rebellion against the status quo, and against conventional politics as usual around the world.
That same fiery Mars energy also fuels the less evolved manifestation of Neptunian dreaminess that we see played out on the public stage when politicians knowingly cast astral glamours designed to confuse us and trick us into giving them our support.
These Neptunian politicians are performing what might be called black magic, because they are attempting to bend our free will to their own nefarious ends.
They do their utmost to direct our righteous anger aroused by a myriad of social ills at innocent scapegoats rather than at the leaders who have led us astray.
These politicians attempt to substitute vaporous dreams of glory that will never be manifested in reality for the practical plans that can help us to reform our society and improve living conditions for all people while preserving the Goldilocks environment that sustains human civilization.
These manipulative politicians, whose path is firmly on the dark side, arouse tremendous anger in the people who are unfazed by their astral glamours, and who recognize a serious threat to freedom and democracy when they see it.
The current cosmic weather pattern unfortunately supports the casting of astral glamours of all kinds, especially the illusion of religious and political fundamentalisms masquerading as universal truths.
Saturn in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces provides a supportive atmosphere for authority figures who promote divisive religious and political doctrines that pit us against one another rather than unifying us at a time when we need to find common ground with one another so we can address pressing financial, political, social and environmental crises that threaten to undermine our entire global civilization.
It is fair to say that we have entered a new phase of the crisis of civilization that marks the end of the Industrial Age of Cheap Hydrocarbons, and the end of the Age of Pisces.
We can imagine a new sustainable civilization based upon renewable energy and energy conservation measures, but we cannot yet manifest the dream.
We can imagine a new Aquarian spiritual dispensation in which each one of us connects with inner spiritual guidance and all of us share the awareness of Higher Mind, Higher Self and collective Higher Purpose. We can imagine a post-patriarchal culture in which the individual chooses to align with the needs of the whole, and with the highest and best good of the entire bio-system on planet Earth, but we cannot yet manifest this Golden Age of spiritual renewal.
We are in a transitional zone in which the old ways of life no longer serve us, and new ways of being have yet to fully manifest.
If this American Presidential election season demonstrates anything at all, it demonstrates that we, the people, cannot expect our leaders to blaze a trail for us into the new Age.
They are focused on maintaining and extending their power at the people’s expense. And that is why these leaders are so unpopular.
Meanwhile central banks around the world continue to implement policies that create unsustainable financial bubbles in stock and bond markets, penalize middle class savers and middle class job holders and enrich parasitic wealth holders whose financial assets continue to rise in value. These policies are creating a world of financial inequality that has not been seen for centuries.
No wonder central bankers and Wall Street financiers are held in such low esteem.
We cannot depend upon our current leaders in either political party. Nor can we depend upon external authority figures. We are asked to become the leaders that will blaze a trail into a new age of civilization.
We understand that leadership is not about the egoistical thrill of assuming power, but rather is about submission to the responsibilities of collective need.
That is the failing of both Presidential candidates. Both misunderstand the nature of leadership. It is not about them and their personalities nor is it about a contest of wills or a horse race, as the election is depicted in the mass media.
No wonder they are both disliked by a large majority of Americans.
With all this angst, fear, astral glamour, emotional upset, ambient collective anger and social conflict it’s no wonder that each of us feels challenged, frustrated, frightened, guilty and depressed from time to time.
The good news is that this Full Moon Eclipse in Pisces square Mars in Sagittarius provides energetic support for the Piscean Christ consciousness residing within each one of us.
This Full Moon feeds our courage, enhances our inner spiritual strength and offers us access to creative outlets for our desire to transcend the dying social strategies that threaten to strangle new ways of life in their cradle.
This Full Moon week Mars in Sagittarius trine Uranus in Aries empowers the spiritual warrior within. Be on the lookout for exciting new opportunities, relationships, activities and partnerships that will propel you along the path of Spirit and support the creative manifestation of new ways of living that will make this transition to a new human civilization a little smoother.
Venus in Libra sextile Mars in Sagittarius at this Full Moon festival offers us the opportunity to channel the extremely combustible energies in the sky into a harmonious flow of loving sexual expression with a loved one, friend or partner. Male and female energies come into balance.
Jupiter moved into Libra on September 9th, promising that harmony between male and female energies will be a major theme for the next year.
Jupiter in Libra has also historically been a time when the desire for peace, love and understanding percolates throughout the world, so we must continue to trust that although problems proliferate, politicians obfuscate, and leaders abdicate responsibility, humanity will move forward to establish the needed reforms that will bring us safely into a newly revisioned human civilization during the 21stcentury.
Here’s what happened during previous transits of Jupiter in Libra:
* Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
* Statue of Liberty dedicated
* United Nations created
* 1969 Peace Moratorium that brought millions to Washington to protest the Vietnam war, the largest ever gathering of this kind
* Facebook launched
Themes of community, love, peace and understanding will be foregrounded during the year to come, despite the machinations of those in positions of power who work ceaselessly to divide and conquer. Libra is a cardinal sign, and cardinal signs are known as the initiators of all that is new, so be on the lookout for new initiatives that will spread a 21st century version of 60s style counterculture far and wide around the world.
Curtis and Jane’s Garden Report
Here in South Florida, Jane and I are being stretched to work on numerous fronts simultaneously. We know that’s typical of the Mutable T-square that dominates the Cosmic Weather Forecast all month long.
We are only a couple weeks away from re-launching our Satya Center website and we have been proofreading tens of thousands of pages we ported over from our old website as we prepare for the big event.
With Mercury still retrograde until September 21st, the day before the Autumn Equinox, which is our wedding anniversary, we are navigating the typical technological glitches that accompany Mercury retrograde and which accompany any large scale web design project. So far it appears that the mysterious Mercury retrograde glitches all have roots in definable and correctable programming issues and basic human error. So we anticipate a launch very soon after Mercury goes direct.
Later this month, Jane and I will have a visit from our new ally Farmer Jay, who is bringing us three new raised beds for the garden, and who has both exotic and familiar vegetable and herb seedlings to share.
Now is the time to plant vegetables and herbs in South Florida. It is exactly the opposite timing from what we experienced in upstate New York, where we last had a large food, herb and medicinal herb garden.
It is more than a little disorienting to be planting instead of harvesting here at what is called the Harvest Moon in the Northern Hemisphere!
Over the last month and a half we have planted indigenous Florida herbs, spices, veggies, and wildflowers, along with several fruit trees, and we have been amazed at how different gardening is in Boca Raton.
Several of our newcomers have been afflicted by diseases, and a few pests, but Jane has succeeded with some organic remedies that restored most of our plants to health.
In a few cases Jane had to cut plants back nearly to the ground, and they grew back healthy so fast we are astounded!
The perennial chinese red noodle beans we planted are like Jack in the beanstalk beans. They have grown to the top of the trellis already and are spreading wildly in our raised bed. Areas of the back yard garden are already starting to look like a mini-jungle. Small plants have grown a foot or more already, and we aren’t anywhere near finished installing raised beds, amending soil, and planting!
We have begun to meet our neighbors, and are taking on Reiki clients, preparing to open our home for workshops, Full Moon gatherings, Reiki circles and more.
So if you are feeling stretched, scattered and challenged by the need for constant multi-tasking under a wretched Cosmic Weather pattern, we feel just the same way!
We go full speed until we hit a wall and then take short breather before slamming the accelerator again.
This is probably why Hillary fell over the other day. Working seven days a week, flying nearly every day, and dealing with the stress of a Presidential campaign while battling walking pneumonia have taken their toll.
I for one, speaking as a voter, would prefer a much shorter version of the Presidential campaign. This one has gone on for two years and it has been a massive time suck, an emotional drain, and a polarizing social nightmare.
Surely politicians would also prefer a shorter election cycle, more focused on issues, where candidates would have to come to the arena prepared and could not take a year and a half to find their voice and produce a clear set of policy proposals.
Anyway, don’t get me started on politics. Not a happy camper.
Jane and I are about to shift gears again. We are preparing for a private ritual for our 30th wedding anniversary on the Equinox, one week away, while continuing to work crazy hours.
The Libra Equinox
September 22nd is the Autumnal Equinox, which takes place this year at 7:21 am PDT or 10:21 am on the East Coast.
We hope you will join us in celebrating the Autumn Equinox, which celebrates a moment of equal day and equal night and equality between male and female.
This is the Libra Equinox and it is a celebration of the dynamic equilibrium that characterizes all life in the Universe.
This Libra equinox also celebrates the harmony between the individual and the collective that exists in a society which has achieved a dynamic balance among citizens of all races, classes, religions and sexual orientations.
The Autumn Equinox inaugurates the season of the year sacred to Archangel Michael.
Read our article Autumn Equinox: The Archangel Michael Meditation for a guided visualization we created which is a beautiful meditation you can do to surround yourself with the sacred blue flame of Archangel Michael.
In this meditation we ask for Michael’s help in cutting the cords that bind us to unhealthy relationships, toxic friendships, and all social commitments that have endured long past their sell-by date. In this way we hope to achieve balance in our lives and in all our relationships with others.
During the Libra month, Michael redirects the summer’s fecund sexual energies that drive plant growth to a climax (in the rest of America) into the higher chakra activities that fuel the seasonal movement toward the birth of Christ consciousness at the Winter Solstice and at Christmastime.
These themes of social harmony, restoring the balance of nature, and elevating lower chakra energies into the higher chakras by sublimating sexual energy into spiritual practice can be found in seasonal festivals worldwide that celebrate this Libra month of the year.
Read our article on the Libra Festivals: Michaelmas, Rosh Hashanah, & Navratri for an overview of the Esoteric spiritual meaning of these powerful festivals.
The Equinox is one of the four cross-quarter days of the year.
The solstices and equinoxes were the highly sophisticated preoccupation of the oldest civilizations we know to have inhabited the Earth – in both East and West.
All great spiritual traditions that have left written records behind, from the Sumerian, to the Egyptian to the Greek, tell the story of seasonal cycles of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth, corresponding to the spiritual cycles of the immortal gods and of the immortal souls of men and women living on planet Earth.
Read our Autumn Equinox article for a detailed overview of the historical, scientific, agricultural and spiritual importance of the Equinox.
That same article provides an explanation of the deep spiritual meaning behind the esoteric Christian community’s celebration of Michaelmas, which occurs on September 29th this year.
May Michael be your Defender and your Liberator from this day forward!
May the Autumnal Equinox bring you and your loved ones the Divine gift of Balance this autumn season!
May you and your loved ones be blessed to receive the grace and guidance you most require to meet your loftiest spiritual and material goals.
Meditation Moment
FOR THE MICHAEL AGE
"We must eradicate from the Soul
All fear and terror of what comes towards Man
Out of the future
And we must acquire serenity
In all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward
With absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes
Is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this age,
Namely to live out of pure trust
Without any security in existence.
Trust in that every present help of the Spiritual World.
Truly, nothing else will do
If our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within Ourselves
Every morning and every evening.
Rudolf Steiner Nov. 1917
Photo & Illustration Credits: Moon Night Photo by Curtis Lang, "The Lovers" tempera mixed media by Jane Sherry, Michael Painting Byzantine Art