Your editors, Curtis Lang and Jane Sherry welcome you to the Harvest Moon 2020 edition of our Cosmic Weather Forecast.
Fall Full Moon in Claverack, New York, by Jane Sherry
The first of two Full Moons this month occurs at 5:05 pm Eastern Daylight Time, at 9.08° Aries, conjunct Chiron, the planet of the wounded healer. We will be able to see the red planet Mars, retrograde in Aries until November 13, near the rising Moon.
This will be a tense full moon, as people around the world increasingly demand an end to the hard times this year has brought to all of us. Yet that end is not yet in sight. This month looks to be an intensification of the tensions, fears, and anger afflicting a suffering humanity.
On October 3, the Moon in Aries is in tense aspect to the outer planet giants Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, planets whose collective energy has been synchronistic with the global pandemic and with global economic and political crises this entire year.
Tarot Trump XV, The Devil, Crowley-Harris Tarot Deck
A tidal wave of PAN-ic, fear, anxiety, anger and helplessness has gripped humanity as Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, Saturn the Harsh Cosmic Taskmaster and Grim Reaper, and Jupiter the Guru, all conjoined periodically in Capricorn, the sign associated with Tarot Trump XV, The Devil, aka the Great God Pan.
Following the Full Moon, retrograde Mars in Aries forms a combustible square with Pluto in Capricorn by October 9, a time when escalation of negative emotions and political confrontations can be expected.
In the days after that, the Sun in Libra will form volatile squares with Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn.
All these difficult aspects challenge us to face our individual and collective problems with an unflinching gaze. This is extremely difficult for most people in the best of times.
During this time of global emergency, when the very existence of 21st century human civilization is in question, it is painful to see and read the news about the world. It is even more problematic when we are faced with a barrage of propaganda from numerous self-serving points of view and we must use our discriminating intelligence and discernment to uncover the truth of events unfolding around us.
Most people find the process of absorbing, digesting, analyzing and synthesizing the tsunami of conflicting reports and datapoints we are exposed to into a realistic model of reality to be exhausting and anxiety producing. One of the most important spiritual tasks we can undertake in today's world is to diligently continue to make the effort required to be well informed and to separate propaganda from factual information.
Trump Biden Debate Screenshot by Curtis Lang
If we can do this while remaining cool, calm and compassionate and if we can share our inner knowing with others in a way that allows for clear communication, we will be doing a tremendous service.
Since most individuals on Planet Earth are not fully individuated, their behavior is conditioned by lower chakra concerns, undigested, often negative emotions, and the promptings of the egoistic self and the rational mind.
For that same reason, most human groups, ideologies, religions, and other collective belief systems are motivated by herd instincts, raw emotions, preconceptions and dualistic antagonisms.
This month's cosmic weather patterns are set to stimulate the base emotions and the lower mind of the mass consciousness and will no doubt result in clashes between antagonistic, simple minded, divisive groups overwhelmed by toxic emotions.
This Full Moon week we are called upon to counter reactionary tendencies in the collective consciousness, negative emotions, and faulty mental maps of the world by increasing the flow of Love and Light in our lives, taking steps to release toxic emotions, elevate our focus from the rational mind to the intuitive intelligence, and act with compassion towards others.
Read on to find a meditation on Cosmic Fire designed to help us release our own toxic emotions, and to vaporize the seeds of karma stuck in our physical, emotional and mental bodies.
We also present a loving kindness meditation designed to guide us in spreading Love and Light far and wide.
The Full Harvest Moon in Aries this week will be opposed by the Sun at 9.08° Libra, as we celebrate the Libran Solar Festival.
On an individual and on a collective basis, humanity in the 21st century is called upon to establish right human relations, which are governed by the sign of Libra, which is ruled by the planet Venus and symbolized by the woman holding the scales of Justice.
On this potent full moon the Sun in Libra is opposite the moon in Aries. Aries is the sign of the individual and of individuation, ruled by Mars and symbolized by the Ram.
Aries constellation from Johannes Hevelius'
Prodromus astronomiae, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive Uranographia, 1687
This is a week of Celestial oppositions that requires us to take part in the difficult task of consciously harmonizing the conflicting claims of individuals and communities.
The Aries-driven needs and desires of the individual intent upon unfolding his or her unique personality and attaining the goals set by the personality for this lifetime come into conflict with the trans-personal realm of Libra governed relationships.
Libra catalyzes the loving wisdom that calls forth compassionate compromise and calls for shared intent to manifest a balanced give and take that characterizes right human relations.
Right human relations rely upon the attainment and maintenance of a dynamic equilibrium between all parties in relationship.
For individuals, this means working to achieve a dynamic balance between the narrowly conceived needs and desires of the egoistic personality and the trans-personal viewpoint of the Higher Mind and Higher Self, which often puts the needs of suffering humanity above the interests of the individual.
For intimate relationships, including family, loved ones, and those we consider part of our “tribe”, our self-selected family so to speak, right human relations means staying centered in a dynamic equilibrium characterized by a balanced exchange of energies between individuals.
In terms of the human collective, right human relations are achieved when nations, classes, races, and religions adhere to standards of mutual respect and equity, honor basic human rights, and work together to achieve goals that are beneficial for the entirety of humanity.
The Libra Solar Festival is the ideal time for all spiritual practices designed to foster right human relations.
Libra constellation from Johannes Hevelius'
Prodromus astronomiae, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive Uranographia, 1687
During this week of the 2020 Libra Solar Festival, and throughout the month of October, the cosmic weather patterns put a spotlight on the fact that we live in a time of unsustainable imbalance (retrograde Mars square Libra), which causes suffering (Chiron conjunct retrograde Mars) for billions of people around the world.
Unprecedented wildfires now ravage the Arctic, Siberia and the Western United States, recurring floods inundate central China, and the current global pandemic creates widespread economic damage, social unrest and uncertainty.
Sixty-eight percent of all vertebrate creatures on planet Earth died from 1970 to 2016 as the result of human activities, especially over exploitation of resources and anthropogenic climate change, according to a new study called The Living Planet Report released in September by The World Wildlife Foundation, in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London.
Two thirds of the sentient beings with backbones have vanished in only one half a human lifetime. What will happen in the next 50 years?
“Until 1970, humanity’s Ecological Footprint was smaller than the Earth’s rate of regeneration. To feed and fuel our 21st century, we are overusing the Earth’s biocapacity by at least 56%,” according to the report.
We would need one and half Earth planets to sustain human civilization in its present form, yet our population is expected to increase from today's 7.8 billion people to 8.6 billion by mid-2030, 9.8 billion by mid-2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100.
We are living in a time of unprecedented global climate emergency. All humanity is called to unite in a supreme effort to completely change our way of life and do whatever is required, individually and collectively, to limit the coming catastrophe.
The Living Planet Report proposes a “Bending the Curve Initiative” to reverse biodiversity loss via (1) unprecedented conservation measures and (2) a total remake of food production techniques.
“Where and how we produce food is one of the biggest human-caused threats to nature and to our ecosystems, making the transformation of our global food system more important than ever,” says the Report.
Some of the measures necessary to avoid a full-on extinction event include the end of rainforests obliteration, the end of industrial farming, the elimination of mono-crop farming, and “stopping dead in its tracks” the use of toxic, deadly insecticides, which kill crucial life-originating ecosystems.In order to Bend the Curve, humanity will have to change its political system, its economic system, its agricultural system, and much, much more.
This Full Moon our attention is being drawn to the suffering caused by the structural imbalances inherent in all current political systems, ideologies, and economic hierarchies at this critical time in world history.
These structural imbalances manifest as a result of the spiritual conflict taking place across the globe.
On the one hand we find the forces working for an increase in spiritual approaches to life and for the evolution of humanity to a higher level of consciousness, sometimes called Ascension.
These forces seek to create a global civilization characterized by a dynamic equilibrium, which would feature an environmentally sustainable post-carbon, slow growth economy, peace and co-operation among nations, and the universal recognition of human dignity and basic human rights.
Tarot Trump VIII, Adjustment, aka Justice from the Crowley-Harris Deck
These forces of Love, Wisdom and Light, aligned with the Spiritual Hierarchy throughout the multiverse, champion spiritual freedom for humanity, a just distribution of the world's resources for all peoples, social justice and equality, and a strong desire to create a global community of nations, peoples, and religions that will honor and respect communal differences while providing for a united global response to the current environmental crisis afflicting human civilization.
On the other hand we find the forces of rampant materialism, sectarianism, and selfish egotism which proclaim all life to be a contest and a competition in which the strong will be empowered, prosper and prevail and the weak will suffer, serve and die.
These forces place the immediate satisfaction of the powerful individual's material desires above all other considerations, even the long term sustainability of the planetary civilization and ecosystem, and these dark forces call this unbridled greed "freedom".
The forces of spiritual reaction seek to impede humanity's spiritual Ascent and impose a global civilization characterized by a sharp division between an empowered master class and a subservient enslaved class of expendable humans.
The time has come for all spiritual teachers, disciples and aspirants to make a clear choice between the contending spiritual forces at work in our 21st century world. Current cosmic weather patterns and current events on the world stage combine to draw our attention to the urgency of the situation.
For those who choose to stand with the forces of accelerated spiritual evolution, human unity, compassionate community, social justice and concern for our damaged environment, it is our task now to work diligently on all levels of existence to overcome the forces of rampant materialism and spiritual reaction.
On the one hand, this means increasing the intensity of our spiritual practices to flood the collective consciousness of humanity with Love and Light.
On the other hand, this also means paying increased attention to the tragic events playing out on the world stage and to engage in political action necessary to insure the victory of the progressive forces acting to institute a New Age of global governance, environmental balance, and right human relations.
All Lightworkers, meditators and spiritual aspirants are now called to support the efforts of the Spiritual Hierarchy to overcome the forces of spiritual reaction in every way possible.
We are called to elevate our own consciousness, to elevate the consciousness of those around us, to act with compassion in every area of our lives, and to engage in the difficult work of replacing our current imbalanced political, economic and social systems with just and equitable forms of social interaction that will prioritize spiritual freedom.
In these ways we can work with the Spiritual Hierarchy to ground the powerful forces of Peace, Love and accelerated spiritual progress currently being directed by our Guides and Teachers toward suffering humanity.
In these ways we can support efforts to ascend from a lower chakra preoccupation with personal power and profit to a more co-operative and sustainable heart centered, compassionate way of life.
This weekend is a great time to meditate with the intention that we allow the Higher Self and Higher Mind greater access to our everyday consciousness, providing us with the inner vision that we need to understand the limitations of our own egoistic personalities, and the grace and guidance to transcend those limitations through loving wisdom applied to all our worldly affairs.
This is a great weekend to perform a loving-kindness meditation designed to transmit loving energies to suffering humanity, and to those people best placed to advance the cause of peace, human freedom and human rights around the world-- using Reiki, prayer, or crystals to enhance the energy being radiated by the meditator.
Libra Solar Festival Loving Kindness Meditation
The recognition of the universality of human suffering is the beginning of compassion. But what can we do about this suffering?
First, focus on your compassionate heart, for this is the keystone of all true awakening.
Rose in Hand, Photo by Jane Sherry
Acknowledge the suffering of our parents, our family, our friends, our loved ones, our co-workers, who may be having a difficult time this year, and consider the suffering of the millions in the world who do not have food or shelter or medicine or the love they need to survive and thrive in the world.
Our natural response is to sincerely desire that this suffering should end.
Here is a meditation exercise you can do to stimulate the feeling of compassion and to send healing energy to suffering humanity.
If you are a Reiki practitioner, turn on your Reiki energy. Feel Reiki flowing from your hands.
If you have a crystal you use to receive and transmit Universal Life Force Energy, prepare that crystal for your meditation and hold it in your hand.
Relax the mind, center the consciousness, focus on the eternal now, this precious moment, the only moment in which we live.
Relax the body and become aware of the wrinkles in your forehead relaxing.
Become aware of the muscles in your shoulders and back relaxing.
Become aware of your breath. Focus on your breath.
On the in-breath, feel the breath entering the nostrils, passing across the roof of the palate and down into the lungs, filling the lungs with refreshing life force energy.
On the out-breath, feel the breath passing across the roof of the mouth and out through the nostrils.
Feel the relaxation in your solar plexus as you take another refreshing breath.
Reflect on this beautiful moment. Know that this beautiful moment is enough.
Connect with the Source of Universal Life Force Energy and turn your inner vision toward the hara center just below your belly button where you store Universal Life Force Energy, prana, or chi.
Visualize the Source of Universal Life Force Energy as a great ball of fire, a Celestial Sun, hovering above your head. Now, see the Universal Life Force Energy streaming down from this Divine Source into your own being.
Visualize this energy pouring into your crown chakra. Feel the warmth of the Celestial Sun on your head, and feel the warmth spread down across your forehead, your cheeks and into your neck and shoulders, streaming into your arms and down into your hands, until you can feel the energy tingling in your fingertips.
Allow this warm, nurturing energy to fill your entire body, as if your body were an empty vessel. With your mind’s eye you can see the energy filling your body, and you can feel the warmth streaming down through your chest and stomach, filling your heart with warmth, light and love, warming and healing your entire body along the way.
You feel the warmth and see the energy streaming into your hips, and down into your legs, pouring all the way into your feet, until you feel the warm brightness reach all the way into your toes.
Now visualize a person you know – perhaps the person you talked to on the telephone most recently, or whom you saw most recently at work or at home.
Feel the limitless stream of Universal Life Force Energy energy which has filled your being begin to overflow your heart and stream forth from your hands.
Visualize a rainbow colored stream of Universal Life Force Energy passing from your hands and your heart to the place where your reality intersects with this person. See that rainbow colored light connecting with that intersection, which is the place where your relationship resides, and fill that intersection between you with warm, healing energy.
Now visualize your best friend. Feel the limitless Universal Life Force Energy which has filled your being begin to overflow your heart and stream forth from your hands.
Double Rainbow Over Winston Salem, photo by Jane Sherry
Visualize a rainbow colored stream of Universal Life Force Energy passing from your hands and your heart to your best friend. See that rainbow colored light connecting to the place where your reality intersects with this close friend. See that rainbow colored light connecting with that intersection, which is the place where your relationship resides, and fill that intersection between you with warm, healing energy.
Now visualize your family and friends, gathered in a group around you. Feel the limitless Universal Life Force Energy which has filled your being begin to overflow your heart and stream forth from your hands.
Visualize a rainbow colored stream of Universal Life Force Energy passing from your hands and your heart to the place where your reality intersects with these friends and loved ones. See that rainbow colored light connecting with that intersection, which is the place where your relationship resides, and fill that intersection between you with warm, healing energy.
Now visualize an individual with whom you have been having difficulties. Someone who rubs you the wrong way, someone with whom you seem to have difficulty communicating, someone who seems to see the world totally differently from the way you see the world. Perhaps this is someone with whom you have quarrels, or even outright fights.
Imagine that this person is sitting next to you. Now imagine that this person is interacting with your Spiritual Teacher. You notice that your teacher can relate to them without conflict. Imagine that this difficult person is relating to their own friends and loved ones. Notice that they have no difficulty relating to these individuals. This is a clue to you that the difficulty in relating does not lie in the other, difficult individual, but rather in your own being. Allow that realization to sink into your mind, and rest with this new knowing.
Feel the limitless Universal Life Force Energy which has filled your being begin to overflow your heart and stream forth from your hands.
Now visualize a rainbow colored stream of Universal Life Force Energy passing from your hands and your heart to the place where your reality intersects with this difficult person. See that rainbow colored light connecting with that intersection, which is the place where your relationship resides, and fill that intersection between you with warm, healing energy.
Now visualize the entire world, filled with individuals who are all suffering from their own difficulties, their own wounds, their own fears, anger, unfulfilled desires, jealousy, impatience, and alienation. Imagine the three billion people who do not have enough to eat, or a place to live today.
Feel the limitless Universal Life Force Energy which has filled your being begin to overflow your heart and stream forth from your hands and go out to those who are suffering.
Visualize rainbow colored Universal Life Force Energy streaming forth from the Radiant Sun above your head. See this luminous, warm, healing energy stream forth, connecting with all those who suffer – with all of humanity. Allow this Universal Life Force Energy to pour forth from your heart, your hands and your mind into the world around you, enfolding those who are suffering in a stream of healing light.
Hold this image as long as you feel comfortable and simply feel the energy exchange as it continues.
Aries Full Moon Festival – Invoking Cosmic Fire
The Aries Full Moon Festival features a display of subtle energies that will magnify the effects of this Full Moon in all three worlds, physical, astral and mental.
This week, with Moon, Mars and Chiron in the Cardinal fire sign of Aries it is appropriate for us to contemplate the power of Cosmic Fire and to perform a Cosmic Fire Invocation to release anger, fear and panic, and bring more love and light into our lives!
Elemental or Cosmic Fire is known by many names in many traditions around the globe. In the Vedic tradition, Agni is the Lord of Fire.
Agni and his Consort, Swaha
“Agni is satya, true in his being;” explains Sri Aurobindo in his masterful treatise entitled The Secret of the Veda (p.62). “perfect possession of his own truth and the essential truth of things gives him the power to apply it perfectly in all acts and movements of force.”
“It is repeatedly said that the gods have established Agni as the immortal in mortals, the divine power in man, the energy of fulfillment through which they do their work in man. It is this work which is symbolized by the sacrifice,” Sri Aurobindo continues.
“The importance of the sacrificial fire in the outward ritual corresponds to the importance of the inward force of unified Light and Power in the inward rite by which there is communication and interchange between the mortal and the Immortal,” Sri Aurobindo informs us.
“It is a continual self-offering of the human to the divine and a continual descent of the divine into the human which seems to be symbolized in the sacrifice,” says Sri Aurobindo.