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When you eat the forbidden fruit, when you open the book of Thoth, when you incarnate on the earth as a human being, you are enveloped into a dimension of cycles. You enter a realm ruled by spiraling energies: epochs, ellipses, eclipses and yugas. Spirals connect inner and outer worlds; just as the inward moving energies of the feminine connect the earth to the outward moving energies of the masculine and the upward moving spiral of the eagle is connected by the earth to the downward moving spiral of the snake. The equinoxes and solstices are connected to the cross of time and space in the cycle of the Great Year and precession of the equinoxes. All of these cycles are dual, they all occlude our true nature, they all reveal parts and versions of the truth and parts and versions of lies. One side of the cycle creates, the other destroys and we hold the line in the middle, sustaining our lives and cultures. The cycles describe an emotional, mental, physical and spiritual crisis of cause and effect that some call karma, but all can agree denies us access to our own true nature, the nature of reality and shrouds our lives in eternal mystery. We cannot be sure of our past, we certainly don’t know the future, all we can be sure of is a present moment that is constantly slipping away.
The Principle of One, the root of all Vedic teachings, is Sanatana Dharma: that there is no such thing as physical form, only energy in different states of vibration. Potential becomes energy, energy becomes awareness, awareness becomes consciousness, consciousness becomes life, life becomes human nature and the exact inverse is also true. Spirals of energy from life to death become spirals of energy from death to new life, but what is the vehicle of transformation? What moves us through the spirals? We experience life through the mind and in a physical body, so the transformation begins with division, with the experience of a vibration that is different from our own, then the differences become more specific: different qualities, elemental expressions, trajectories, goals and finally intelligences. My mind is certainly different from an octopus mind, yet Vedic thought maintains (and quantum physics confirms) that they are both part of one spectrum of energy. We need more information to help us grasp this reality and while we are awash in information, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, we cannot seem to access this gnosis at a collective level. Just as every one of us has lost sight of our true nature as the one source of energy that creates all the diversity we inhabit, we simply cannot see our fellow humans, the plants and animals and the earth as part of ourselves . . . yet.
The palpable pressure we collectively connect to at the dark of this moon is like the darkest part of night before the revelation of the dawn. Social and economic collapse, says Giovanna Andreotti, isn’t buffered in the global south, it’s not in the future, it’s in the present and it has been since colonialism. The north has been buffered from the reality of famines, floods, fires and wars, but the cycle of safety and comfort is ending for us too. In her book, Hospicing Modernity, Andreotti explains that the fires, floods, famines and wars are within us, and the coming collapse is internal. She likens our predicament to walking a tightrope with an abyss of desperate hope on one side and an abyss of reckless hopelessness on the other. Modernity has given us a compass of neglect for the land and each other. Modernity proclaims that anything “not me” anything “other” is not my responsibility. As we navigate the way forward on the wire we must find our honesty, humility, humor, hyper self-reflection and reflexivity. We must do more than react or respond. We have to become more than we believe we can be. Responsibility for the land and each other requires remaining balanced above the abysses that may force us to turn on each other and continue the violence that’s being visited on us. Even my beloved nondualism creates a reversal of binary hierarchy, where indigenous wisdom is supposed to pull our chestnuts out of the fire. What modernity has always considered sub-human is now required to become super-human and my imposed projection, my romantic ideal is mined and pumped for product: a solution to the cycle of epoch and ellipse. That’s violence, to use people in that way.
There’s no one practice, no one way to serve life. There’s no one thing that saved our ancestors from the annihilation that killed the giant sloths, wooly mammoths and saber-tooth cats. There were, I’m sure, many honest, humble, humorous, reflexive actions and ideas, but what they all shared was a commitment to the continuity of life on planet earth. Individuals acted to save their own hides, sure, but the collective consciousness, the oversoul of all that lives, endures and abides by some magic no one of us possesses alone, acted through them. Only together do we get a sense of sharing integrity toward a better life. Only as humanity have we been able to strive toward a healthier, stronger, more enduring existence on the surface of a planet moving through space. When I stop to think about our situation in space and time, earth really looks like the kind of place where we have the best chance to get rowing in the same direction, but the reason we don’t do that, Andreotti implies, and I tend to agree, is because we have not yet learned the value, breadth and beauty of the mantle of our responsibility here. When reality becomes clear to us in the north, the way it has long been clear in the global south, we will. May it not be too late.
Tropical Chart of the new moon
Life is the ultimate rebellion and this new moon’s symbols: Virgo the Virgin and Leo the King perfectly describe the path ahead: we must create from our own wholeness, from the nobility of what we are, a new way forward out of the end of the cycle of crisis. Virgo is the sign of the harvest and every harvest is a crisis of labor, of daylight, of preservation of resources. Leo is the royalty of the heart, the generosity and loyalty that inspires the work and the divine precision with which good works are executed. The equinoxial and solsticial megalithic monuments that are scattered all over the globe point to the importance of times like these in our ancestral past and celebrate their harvests. They did not drop the ball and neither will we, but between the desperate hope of vacating our pain by following some guru or ism and the reckless hedonistic hopelessness of “living our best escape”, we will have to get hold of the best that is within us, each and every one. In my view, this means fully embracing the mistakes we have learned the most from.
How we use what we have been given is of utmost importance and much has been wasted, we each have a personal harvest of errors that this pause (with every planet retrograde but Mars and Venus, there is a cosmic pause here) gives us a moment to reflect on them, to create some boundaries around them, maybe burn a few bridges so we won’t be tempted to stray back into old errors. Learning requires risking error, error is hugely human and deepens our relationship to the present moment and the resources inherent in it. Systems of natural intelligence require maintenance and service (good Virgo words) for efficiency, but natural systems cannot be forced to produce. To do so is violent and opposes the larger forces that organize intelligence on a grand scale. It’s an obvious mistake to oppose the larger universal forces of nature: they are already safe, controlled and working. Virgo encourages us to discern what they are and realign with them. This new moon is a moment to turn, swivel, spin, revolve and pivot back into alignment with what serves life. Some call that Dharma, dutiful service to life using what is at hand to serve this moment, then meeting the next moment on the terms of its context, some call it right relation.
Systems of sensitive energetic connection, nuance and integrity require frequent purification and paring down what’s superfluous to help those within them discern new directions, new meaning and fruitful devotion. Virgo is the keeper of the flame, it discerns and simplifies to achieve that one goal: illumination. We have to notice and respond to the fact that our planet is being destroyed from within and devise an elegant, sophisticated plan to return to simplicity, purity and ecological devotion. If it’s true that humanity is the poison in this scenario, as reckless hopelessness would have us believe, then we are also, in the right dosage, the cure. In the yogic practice tratak one stares at the candle flame, unblinking, until tears clear and clean the eyes. Our daily practice can be like that, for what we do daily is what makes up our individual lives and our collective relationship to the earth. If the eyes can clean the eyes, if they have everything they need to heal themselves and they are just one part of our sensitive, energetic system, surely the whole system would benefit from devoted efforts like that, small and local as they may be.
Deep care for the integration and integrity of collective knowledge, where all viewpoints are honored, each seen as whole unto themselves, can help us create from the innate healing resources of the body. This conscious creation of an autonomous “temple space” involves pairing down all the exterior distractions so the central nervous system is calm and whole, and a sort of internal sanctuary can be created that is sustainable and discrete. The body appears in awareness, awareness does not appear in the body. Awareness is primary, that’s what we keep overlooking: awareness comes first. This point seems accentuated at this new moon, since Virgo’s ruling planet, Mercury, is stationed and will go direct on Friday the 15th, and the messenger of the gods is opposing Saturn at 2 degrees of Pisces. Slowing down to pay attention to the details, asking appropriate questions about what supports the basic structures of our lives and severs unnecessary complications may yield new clarity and revelations about what feels right.
Among the many complicated formations in this new moon chart is a grand earth trine which gives way to a kite. The earth trine has the sun and moon at its apex (except it’s sideways, there on the DSC) while Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus form the base. To me, this says that our unconscious power will come into form through the senses of the body, that harmonious change and earthly abundance can be attained when we release attachment to the bean-counting, reductionist, abstraction and get our asses into the present moment. I could cite examples of lack of housing and healthcare for our own people while billions flow outward abroad, but I get the sense that Uranus’ presence here in strong tension with Pluto will make that point for me soon enough. With flooding in Massachusetts, enduring record high temperatures in Arizona and devastated trout populations in our own state, we cannot deny the earthly changes that are happening. They are bound to trigger more economic changes as well as earthly innovations that bring sudden fluctuations of consciousness and ultimately, harmonious support through unforeseen channels. That’s what earth trines do, eventually, they turn the bad beat around. Jupiter is also in Taurus with Uranus, so we can hope (cautiously, not desperately) that releasing old, complicated, weird patterns we haven’t questioned before that hide our true nature, will meet with beneficial, positive results.
Then, if you look to the left of the chart, to the part that says ASC, you will see Neptune, the cosmic fog machine, pulling the bow back on this triune method of refining spiritual sensitivity. Neptune is the “not Saturn” planet, so if we see Saturn as limitation, privacy and that which gives invisible structure to the world of form, then Neptune (which is the hardest of all the planets to perceive and apprehend, imho) is the oceanic, rising tide of biological life. To me, this looks like the merging of life and death, the space where the 2 spirals meet. Saturns’ articulation and hard lines balance out the illusory veil that is the mystery of lifeforce (Neptune). Pluto balances and purifies by destruction. The buried, unconscious beliefs that we have about our bodies, our lives on earth and physical incarnation that we believe are writ in adamantine may just disprove themselves. There’s magic in this, but it requires discernment to see it and it’s not easily put into language.
A more refined, elegant spiritual sensitivity, which I feel evolving, but cannot explain in my own life, has me questioning my Virgoan tendency to overwork, overcompensate, over analyze and basically over everything. When I notice myself falling toward those tendencies and neglecting my need to spend time in the mystery, my need for self-compassion and my need for time alone in quiet, I am responding more often these days, honoring the wounds of my heart by making time for best practices (that I develop from the wealth of experiences and experimentation I own and continually create). I absolutely have to slow down, jettison the crap and eliminate distraction to follow that thread though. The wounded healer, asteroid Chiron, opposes Mars and Trines Venus, newly become the morning star, and starting to inch forward in this chart. Her pre-dawn light show in the east is pretty impressive (stars twinkle, planets shine), and for the next week she’s accompanied by a newly discovered (and visible!) comet on the eastern horizon, north of Venus. It points upward, a cautiously hopeful good omen, and its tail is green. Saturn is due south at night, say 10:30-11pm and Jupiter is due East. I can tell you all about it, but there’s nothing like seeing it for yourself. To me, this speaks of novelty, innovation, creativity and just being purely loving and allowing what is true to bubble up over the next few weeks. Real action can come from what you allow to surface during the near future, when Mercury leaves its shadow in October.
Sidereal chart of the new moon
In the sidereal view of this Leo new moon with Mercury stationed in the fiery, active rulership of the sun, Mars in Mercury’s sign Virgo and the emphasis on communication and thought, there is a real sense of indignation toward authority and physical movement toward speaking truth to power. Mercury’s sawing retrograde here has seen more striking workers and record high numbers of violations of workers’ rights, but very little mainstream media reporting on the subject. In the US alone from 10/22 to 7/23, 4,474 children were found to be employed illegally, in violation of federal child labor laws in 765 child labor cases concluded by the Department of Labor. Child labor laws are under attack at the state level with families in poverty and immigrants suffering the most. Protections of all kinds related to workers’ rights in industry are under fire. This is not my opinion, it’s what is happening. At the same time, pressure to disband the free, public educational system in lieu of privatization is giving people in poverty fewer choices about their sources of income: hazardous occupations are often not accepted by choice. Student loans work against those who borrow, creating permanent debt, while many countries of the world subsidize higher education for the good of their constituency and the planet. This new moon suggests that there will be repercussions for this inequity in the form of more protests, strikes and public displays of dissent. I suspect they will reach a new level, like going global, or vast regions will collaborate to defy corporate and governmental will.
Jupiter trine the sun and moon here is a hopeful, harmonious aspect and Uranus trine the same luminaries suggests an unexpected class crossing, like Prometheus siding with the dying humanity and giving them the divine fire to carry on. It could be a boundary-crossing invention or innovation or discovery, but it looks like positive, action-oriented creativity in leadership being communicated and distributed to the working class. This is the influence of the nakshatra (one of 27 lunar mansions exclusive to Jyotish) Uttara Phalguni, one of the 12 sons of Aditi (who rules Punarvasu). The ruler of this lunar mansion is Aryaman, god of patronage and kindness. Much, much more on him later, but we should expect a noble, reliable, civilizing and sophisticated influence to respond to outspoken communication from the masses. It may even be a good time to talk to your own boss or people who have authority in your life.We can cautiously hope (not desperately nor recklessly hope) for a kingly, divine response toward the duty, responsibility and dependency of life on the planet and its stewardship.
The lunar nodes are stationed at 0 degrees of Aries (Rahu) and 29 degrees of Libra (Ketu) until they complete their 18 year cycle on the 30th of November. This is the gandanta point between fire (Aries) and water (Pisces), the karmic knot, the symbolic ‘drowning’, that moment of soul growth that we have all had so much experience with since late 2019 (groan). This passage will be marked by rebellion (see previous paragraphs) against some sort of technological innovation when Uranus goes direct in January of 2024. This is the nakshatra of Ashwini, the twin, horse-headed healers of the gods. Aries is completion for Rahu and also culmination of a trajectory in the Aries and Libra houses in each of our charts which relates to the axis of self versus others. Rahu represents deception. It’s the electromagnetic impulse that is invisible to the eye, but makes up the vibration we collectively call the material universe. In much the same way that radiation moves, we cannot apprehend the energy of Rahu with our physical senses, but when we are aligned (good Virgo word) we can find it in an extrasensory way.
Rahu is the rebel shaman healing the hunter gathering tribe from hyperspace despite the will of the gods. Like a reverse Prometheus, he sends a volley of spiritual fire back toward the deities in defense of his people. Rahu is the king of the Kaliyuga, the lord of reversal and he honors his desire above all else (reckless hopelessness anyone?). It’s his Dharma to create chaos and with a double Aries, double Mars signature here, he has the firepower to do it. Ashwini is Ketu’s nakshatra so there’s a vibe of disgust, descent and dissatisfaction in his out-of-control new beginnings at this new moon. We have seen the influence of Rahu since 2005 in the tension between the “old order vs. new order” across the societal spectrum. This is the head of the dragon’s game. Jupiter, retrograde since 9/4 will approach the shadow planet and aid us in bringing knowledge and wisdom to Rahu’s illusions, even as verbal arguments will increase and escalate until the most random (Rahu), nonsensical (again, Rahu) event opens the floodgates for the background shadow emission to flow forth. It’s always helpful to remember that Rahu is just the product of our own Tamasic energy within. There is even shelter in the shade if it is balanced with Sattva and Rajas.
While Rahu uses illusion to make us believe negative and “bad” mental states and can create the illusion of paranormal activity, Jupiter will help us to see the truth and Rahu can have a beneficial effect on researchers, innovators and any sort of technician. Rahu will surrender to a higher, holistic healing. After all he was beheaded and became a shadow planet for stealing Amrit, the nectar of the gods and desiring immortality. He can also help the meek, tired and overwhelmed make the leap of faith that can end poverty, oppression and violence. Rahu can break barriers with his mysterious shadow strength. He overcomes fear, since fear is the inner shade and Ashwini is the dawn. Though the battle within may increase tenfold between this moon and the 30th of October, and this double Mars signature may be violently severing, it is also transactional and it will bring these torments to a close. Closure and endings will mark these seasonal and temporary eras of darkness. Yoga shows us the way by reminding us to continually focus on the light within and let all other lights dim in comparison. Rahu challenges are well met by cleaning, detoxifying, fasting and praying to lord Hanuman. Ask the god of devotion or use whatever you are most devoted to, to guide you.
***INTERMISSION FOR CHANTING***
OM HUM HANUMATE NAMAHA
हनुमान चालीसा | Hanuman Chalisa Full | Shekhar Ravjiani | Video Song & Lyrics | Zee Music Devotional
(my favorite version)
So back to Uttara Phalguni, the first binary stars in the nakshatra Zodiac, (possibly) Delta and Theta Leonis in the rump of the Leo constellation (there are 3 stars and which constitute the Yogathara of Purva Phalguni is disputed). Delta Leonis has my vote; it’s double the size of the sun and emits 15 times more light. The 2 stars of the binary (trinary?) are differentiated by the terms Purva (early) and Uttara (later) but share the moniker Phalguni which means marriage bed. So Purva Phalguni is a symbol of the first spark of romantic love, but Uttara Phalguni is what makes love real, true and what makes it last. Bhaga, the deity of Purva Phalguni, is the Aditya of pleasure and the initial attraction of love, but Aryaman is the god of marriage, community and partnership. He’s a solar deity and his name means moving or progressing together to bring forth the truth in a way that persists. It has the sense of being true, reliable, devoted and dedicated. It means coming together to form a trustworthy unit and to build upon a foundation of trust and friendship, then build community upon that. It’s the way we take the first spark of love and carry that light to the end of our days. But what is the secret to devotion? How did Hanuman achieve it?
Krishna names himself as this Pitri, Aryaman, in the Bhagavad Gita and there it is translated as affection. Affection is the key to true family. Where there is affection but no blood relation, there is still family, where there is blood, but no affection, no family exists. The most important bond that holds family together is affection. Aryaman is never invoked independently in the Vedas, he is always invoked with his brothers and almost always with Bhaga. Pleasure and love cannot exist without each other. This is the secret to devotion, the commitment will not last without pleasure and affection. Affection is the essence of happiness. The Rg Veda says that this happiness is so supreme that it will never fail to provide pleasure, even at the end of the cycles of epoch and ellipse. There is no disaster it cannot withstand. True affection can endure any catastrophe. It brings pleasure even in pain and it smooths any path. Compatibility merely describes how few bumps are in the road, but affection speaks to how smooth you can make it, for each other, with each other and in happiness, together. Affection is the thing that makes any path walkable. The devotion, dedication and commitment to love is the very essence of beauty. Love is beauty and beauty is love. And affectionate, enduring, devoted love is what pulls our chestnuts out of the fire and keeps the cycles spinning. We don’t yet have it for each other, but we will.
Mind Your Heart, May it Guide You to What You Truly Love,
~L
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