Wesak 2020 Taurus Solar Festival, Scorpio Full Moon Cosmic Weather Forecast

 

This Thursday's Wesak Full SuperMoon occurs at 6:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time. The Sun will be at 17° Taurus with the Moon at 17° Scorpio. 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 17° Taurus is "A symbolic battle between Swords and Torches -- Refusing to depend upon the past, the seeker turns warrior, fighting anew the eternal Great War."

                                                                      Atlas Coelestis. Johannes Hevelius drew the constellation in Uranographia, his celestial catalogue in 1690. 

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.

The Swords represent the analytical power of the rational mind, which dissects and analyzes and is associated with the egoistic personality. The Torches are associated with the purity of fire and represent Universal Life Force Energy, the Source of Cosmic Consciousness. The eternal Great War is the war between the Egoistic Personality and the Higher Self.

As a young man, Siddhartha Gautama turned his back on his privileged life as a princeling, refusing to participate in his family's traditions or take up the social role his bloodline mandated. Young Siddhartha sacrificed his birthright as a kshatriya or warrior caste nobleman, and rebirthed himself as a spiritual warrior, determined to subdue his own base instincts and desires in a quest for higher consciousness. Siddhartha chose the Torch rather than the Sword.

After spending decades as a spiritual seeker and practicing many advanced yoga techniques received directly from renowned Gurus and teachers, Siddhartha still labored in vain for spiritual liberation. Gautama realized that the traditional wisdom teachings, for all their power and beauty, fell short, unable to empower him to fulfill his quest for spiritual liberation.

Bodhi Tree, Bodhgaya, India
Neil Satyam / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Finally, Siddhartha resolved to find his own way, by searching within himself.  He resolved to sit in contemplation under a Bodhi tree in the town of Bodh Gaya until he achieved his goal. He had to fight a prolonged spiritual battle with his own karma and with powerful demonic forces that assaulted him. Through his perseverance, strength of will and power of discernment he was purified and conquered the demonic forces arrayed against him.

He experienced a series of powerful revelations that culminated in the experience of Nirvana. The spiritual warrior prevailed, and Siddhartha reached his ultimate goal, leaving behind his egoistic personality and the limitations of his rational mind. Gautama Buddha was born again under the canopy of that sheltering tree, the tree of eternal life. At that moment, the spiritual warrior attained final victory in the recurring eternal Great War between the Ego and Higher Consciousness.

Gautama Buddha achieved his liberation from the bondage of the egoistic personality by meditating deeply upon the true nature of human existence. These meditations led Buddha to understand that the perception of the egoistic self as an individuated being, separate from and at war with the rest of the world around us, is simply an illusion.

The true nature of the Self is revealed in the act of procreation and birth.

Human procreation is a microcosmic version of universal creation.

"Nature as it is currently portrayed in science consists of energy, which can take any form, and fields, which are the formative principle in all realms of Nature," explains visionary scientist Rupert Sheldrake.

But the notion of these two animating and organizing principles as fundamental powers creating and sustaining the Universe is anything but new to mystics in both Eastern and Western traditions.

The polarity between Father Sky and Mother Earth is ancient and widespread. Native American traditions emphasize humanity's primal connection to Father Sky and Mother Earth and it is through these connections that we come to know and walk our path of Spirit.

The marriage between these Divine Lovers is indeed eternal, and we and our universe are their offspring.

In Hindu Tantra, the Divine Mother is Shakti, the energy that infuses and sustains all the many forms of creation. The Divine Father is Shiva, the Logos, representing the forms of Nature, which are fields that act as receptacles for the divine energy of creation.

Human procreation is a microcosm of Universal creation. At the conception of a human child, Father and Mother co-create an embryonic being that then grows within the Mother's body. Then the child lives an intensely interdependent existence for nine months within the Mother, and is born physically connected to her. The child inherits qualities of both Father and Mother, and remains connected to the parents by blood ties, through spiritual links and via karmic connections that transcend time and space and affect parents and child on the physical, emotional, mental and auric levels.

Yoni Tree by J.Sherry

We are born as wholly interdependent beings, and we live an interdependent existence. Nowhere in our conception, birth, or life is there to be found a permanent, separate self, isolated from the rest of creation. The child instinctively understands the interdependent nature of human existence and joyfully participates in the dance of life, at one with the Universe, at home in the true Garden of Eden, which is the state of Unity Consciousness.

In this we are greatly blessed, for we are truly children of the Divine Father/Mother Source and we inherit the Divine qualities of our Heavenly Father and of Mother Earth, who connect us to the web of life and sustain us through a myriad of interrelationships necessary for our continued existence.

But as we grow up, we forget our true origins and begin to focus upon our egoistic personalities, and eventually to assume that the ego is the center of the universe and the sum total of our true nature. We exile ourselves from that blissful Garden of Eden which is our birthright.

In our everyday lives, we normally act as though we are isolated, alone, separate from one another and from nature, alienated from the world around us. This everyday consciousness is very destructive, engenders fear, and denies love. This everyday consciousness we can call the illusory self, the egoistic self, or the egoistic personality.

Gautama Buddha explored the illusory nature of the egoistic self 2400 years ago and achieved liberation. Buddha found the way back into the Garden of Eden. 

Buddha's explorations of the nature of the self were an extension of the traditional Hindu practices of jnana yoga, the yoga of understanding and knowledge.

By understanding what the self is, and especially, what the Self is not, practitioners of jnana yoga seek to obtain liberation from the illusion of the separate self and attain Self-realization.

To understand the true nature of the Self, sitting under the Bodhi Tree, Buddha determined to seek the origin of the separate self in the physical, emotional and mental realms.

As we all know, the body reconstitutes itself continuously. Our cells die and new cells take their place. We are literally not the same person today we were last month or last year. Buddha meditated upon this fact of life.

Ficus Roots photo by J.Sherry

Thich Nhat Hanh in his brilliant biography of the Buddha, Old Path White Clouds explains that, "Beneath the pippala tree, the hermit Gautama focused all of his formidable powers of concentration to look deeply at his body. He saw that each cell of his body was like a drop of water in an endlessly flowing river of birth, existence and death, and he could not find anything in the body that remained unchanged or that could be said to contain a separate self.

Intermingled with the river of his body was the river of his feelings, in which every feeling was a drop of water. These drops also jostled with one another in a process of birth, existence and death. Some feelings were pleasant, some unpleasant, and some neutral, but all of his feelings were impermanent: they appeared and disappeared just like the cells of his body."

Buddha discovered that nowhere in his emotions did anything remain unchanged, and there was nothing that could be said to contain a separate self.

Buddha examined his thoughts and found that although both positive and negative mental states appeared and disappeared like leaves in the wind, none of these mental states persist over time, none are permanent, and nothing within the mind could be discovered that constitutes a separate self. In his meditations, Buddha also discovered that although mental states such as fear, anger, greed, hatred, jealousy, and ignorance are the sources of our suffering, the mind is incapable of penetrating to the heart of reality and removing these sources of suffering.

Equinox and the Iron Sun
Credit: NASA / Goddard / SDO AIA Team
Consider this view of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light from the Sun staring Solar Dynamics Observatory. Recorded yesterday, the false-color image shows emission from highly ionized iron atoms. Loops and arcs trace the glowing plasma suspended in magnetic fields above solar active regions.

"Mindful awareness blazed in him like a bright sun, and he used that sun of awareness to illuminate the nature of all these negative mental states," Thich Nhat Hahn recounts.

When mindful awareness blazed in the Buddha like a bright sun, Buddha achieved enlightenment. Buddha had used a certain aspect of his egoistic mind to transcend the ego altogether. We can call this aspect the "watcher" and it is the source of mindful awareness. Mindfulness is a keystone of Buddhist practice, and of ancient Hindu wisdom.

The Bhagavad Gita discusses the watcher in great detail. The Bhagavad Gita is an ancient Hindu poem and the most prominent sacred text in the Hindu tradition. Thousands of years old, the Gita recounts a series of battles between two opposing groups of royal relatives in India, warring over control of a precious kingdom.

Krishna Painted

The central character is a Prince named Arjuna, who is very ambivalent about taking part in the battle. Although he is a peerless warrior of great renown, Arjuna does not want to fight his relatives, and he asks his mentor, Krishna, an Avatar of Vishnu the Protector of the Universe, for advice.

The entire poem is a metaphor of course. Arjuna is the typical human being. The battle is being waged within his person, which is the precious kingdom. The opposing forces are the warriors under control of the King of the Mind, who represents the illusory self, the egocentric personality, and the warriors under the command of the Higher Self. These virtuous Princes are allied directly with Krishna.

Krishna advises Arjuna to take part in the battle, and of course, Arjuna, Krishna and the forces of the Higher Self ultimately emerge victorious. The poem is told as a report to the King of the Mind, given by one of the Ego Mind's servants, named Sanjay, who is the watcher. Sanjay is totally objective, and he can always be counted on to give an accurate report of anything that happens. 

Om & Snake Eye

Sanjay, the watcher, is that aspect of us that is detached, that observes. He is our undiluted consciousness, uncontaminated by the egoistic personality and its roiling thoughts and emotional states. When we can merely observe ourselves without attachment or consideration, as in meditation, Sanjay comes to the forefront. This is why many meditation practices focus on simply observing the breath and banishing other thoughts. Observing what happens in the body. Observing the play of our emotions.

Because the more we identify with Sanjay, with pure consciousness, with the watcher within, the more we can detach from our own ego, our own karma, our own mental considerations, desires, and negative emotions.

We can utilize this tool of the mind to achieve liberation if we have an extremely highly developed watcher within. This is very difficult for most people, but it is at the heart of yogic and Buddhist practice. Buddha demonstrated very clearly that this path, the path originally called jnana yoga, is one clear path to total liberation of the mind.

Upon achieving liberation through mindful observance as brilliant as the noonday sun, according to Thich Nhat Hanh, "[Buddha realized] People were caught in endless suffering because of their erroneous perceptions: they believed that which is impermanent is permanent, that which is without self contains self, that which has no birth and death has birth and death, and they divided that which is inseparable into parts," explains Thich Nhat Hahn. "He saw that they all [these illusions] arose due to ignorance."

Our egoistic illusions that we are separate from the rest of the world, in conflict with our environment and all those living within it, and alienated from the subtle energies of the world of spirit can all be overcome through spiritual practice. The mindfulness of Buddha, the love of Christ and the will of Arjuna can all be employed to achieve union with the Higher Self, and subordination of the egoistic self to its rightful role as watcher.

Krishna and Arjuna 

When we have won that spiritual war within ourselves, the Great War between Swords and Torches, we will become fonts of love, and we will have so much love to share that we will attract love from all quarters of the world and even from subtle spiritual sources of love and wisdom beyond our present comprehension.

We will have the power to relieve suffering through the clarity of our consciousness, the diamond bright insights afforded us through penetrating discernment, and the warmth of our compassionate love. 

Then we will have completed the preparations required to tread the Ascension Path in this world and in subtle realms beyond the reach of our present powers of vision.

As we celebrate the spiritual festival of Wesak this May Full SuperMoon, in the midst of a global pandemic, let us meditate upon our true nature.

Much of humanity has thought that our unsustainable global civilization, based upon continuous economic expansion, unlimited consumption of fossil fuels and other natural resources, and a Darwinian war of all against all for survival of the fittest is the natural order of things, a permanent fact of life. These ideas have suddenly been proven to be mere delusions of the egocentric personality.

The large purple rectangle in this colorized image is a chip feature about 40 by 150 nanometers in size, surrounded by encapsulating material.

The magnified section shows the planes of silicon atoms used to calibrate feature measurements.

National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain

Many of us have thought that the scientific method and rational materialism in general have produced a steadily increasing ability for humanity to dominate and control nature. Many have thought that this apparent trend will continue indefinitely into the future. Indeed many in Silicon Valley look forward to a day when human immortality will be a fact of life. These ideas have proven to be mere delusions of the egocentric personality.

Our 21st Century technology has not provided us the power to overcome a novel virus pandemic. Our medical tools to combat the virus are not significantly different from the methodology used by scientists one hundred years ago, during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. We are using similar methods to combat the current health crisis. Masks and social distancing. Quarantines and lockdowns. 

The pandemic reveals that only by acknowledging our true interdependence with one another and with nature can we understand the nature of the pandemic. We discover that only by acting in solidarity with all of humanity in compassion and love can disaster be averted. 

I wear a mask so that you can be safe. You wear a mask so I can be safe. And so on.

Even billionaires rely upon delivery drivers, farmers, health care workers, and other essential but undervalued people for their very survival. 

We all know now that industrial agriculture, environmental destruction of wildlife habitat, global food supply chains and unlimited global air travel created this pandemic. We all know that denying the reality of the pandemic at its onset has resulted in extremely bad outcomes in countries like the United States and England. 

We now know that we must leave behind the conventional wisdom of our culture's egocentric, me-first, winner-take-all myths and traditions, in a search for new, more healthy, sustainable ways of living co-operatively in a world village where we are all intimately interconnected. We know now that we must set aside the Sword and take up the Torch.

This could be the next big step toward humanity's ultimate enlightenment. 

This Wesak let's all gather in meditation, visualizing the congregation of Ascended Master Guides and Teachers and spiritual seekers in Shamballa and celebrate this ongoing crisis as a golden opportunity to reflect upon our interdependence. Let us express our gratitude to all those around the world who contribute to our continued well-being.

For a complete history of Wesak as both traditional Buddhist festival and 21st Century global celebration of human enlightenment, read our article entitled Wesak: Buddha's Birthday & the Shamballa Gathering. You'll find instructions for participating in the global Wesak meditation this Thursday as well. 

May 2020 Cosmic Weather Forecast

The energetic signature of this week's Taurus Solar Festival and Scorpio Super Full Moon sets the tone for the coming weeks up to the New Moon on May 22, 2020. 

There are no major outer planet aspects this month, which is a welcome relief from the ongoing barrage of heavy energies that have marked this year so far. This Full moon week does exhibit some beneficial Neptunian energy which can stimulate our involvement in spiritual practices and indicates increased sensitivity to subtle energy and trans-personal experiences.