the notion that the universe is an interwoven fabric. The astrological concept of a celestial-terrestrial connection has been with us throughout the ages, reflected in diverse spiritual traditions the world over and epitomized by the Hermetic maxim, "As above, so below."
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So Many Kinds of Yes
THE ARIES EQUINOX March 20, 2019
When the Sun enters the cardinal fire sign of Aries each year, it signals the official start of spring, the beginning of a new season of growth and fertility — here in the north. For south of the equator, it is the start of autumn with the harvest season in full swing. The Aries equinox also marks a brand new astrological year, no matter where you call home on the planet, marked by the Sun's entry into this initial sign of the zodiac wheel.
The Druids refer to the vernal equinox as Alban Eiler, which means "Light of the Earth." One of the four alban or "light" gates of the year that correspond to the equinoxes and solstices, Alban Eiler is considered a time when the energies of fertility are at their highest. "Alchemists once went out at first light," John Michael Greer writes in The Druidry Handbook, "during the time from Alban Eiler to Belteinne [May Day] to gather dew from the wet grass, knowing that, at this time of year, it was charged with powerful energies of renewal and life." At Alban Eiler, Coel, god of the hidden life force, is honored, and Aengus Og, the Irish God of Youth and Love, is also remembered.
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Transforming the Ghosts of the Past
THE LIBRA FULL MOON OPPOSITE CHIRON March 20, 2019
Luna is waxing towards a full supermoon — and a particularly potent relationship mirror it is. Falling across the Aries-Libra axis on the very day of equinox, with Venus and Mars, the Moon and Sun's rulers, in an almost perfect square, with Mars, currently striding through Venus's own earth sign of Taurus. Chiron is here too, tightly opposed the Libra Full Moon adding a significant subplot to this key illumination point in the lunar cycle.
Aries and Libra, ruled by Mars and Venus, are the archetypal lovers; but they are also antagonists as well. The astrological significance of Libra's seventh house parallels this as it is also the house of "open enemies." Adversaries, brutally honest friends and other challengers who test us, make us face ourselves in often painful, and sometimes wholly unwelcome ways, are equally symbolized by the seventh house. Our partners — and our enemies — reflect important knowledge back to us, but to gain this wisdom, we must first have the courage to peer into these mirrors.
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Till Human Voices Wake Us
THE PISCES NEW MOON CONJUNCT NEPTUNE March 6, 2019
This week's Pisces New Moon is especially noteworthy with Neptune, God of the Deep Blue Sea, tightly conjoined a New Moon it rules.
The Pisces New Moon, even without a Neptune conjunction, signals a time each year when the creative juices flow. Pisces and Neptune mark where our muses reside, where the soul and spirit flies — here images, sensations and feelings take precedence over tangible, mundane reality. Pisces is the rabbit hole, the other side of the looking glass, the rusty gate that opens to a wild, overgrown path leading us deeper into our own mystery.
A sensitive water sign, ruled by both horizonless Jupiter and misty, otherworldly Neptune, this mutable water sign is the 12th and final, culmination point of the zodiac wheel, the last astrological stop in the human journey towards higher consciousness. Pisces is where we learn to connect with the eternal.
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Deep Adaptation
THE VIRGO FULL MOON QUINCUNX CHIRON February 19, 2019
At every full moon, our two luminaries gaze at each other across the wide expanse of the zodiac wheel, highlighting a different pair of complementary signs each month. This time around, a Pisces Sun will be reflected through a Mercury-ruled, feet-firmly-planted, eyes-wide-open, Virgo Full Moon.
A combination of earth and water, Virgo and Pisces form a polar pair that symbolize no less than the intersection of the mundane and the sublime, the real and ideal, the temporal and the eternal. These are the springs from which full moon insights are currently flowing. Are you struggling with any of the more adverse aspects of Virgo? too self critical or too critical of others? rigidly earthbound? working too much or too hard? Or perhaps overly practical and reliant on the mental-intellectual? too much in your head? Conversely are you struggling with the more harmful aspects of Pisces? escapism, impracticality, over-indulgence, and a lack of self-discipline?
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Benedicto JUPITER ENTERS SAGITTARIUS November 8, 2018
Tomorrow, Jupiter will emerge from the deep waters of Scorpio, dry off and enter his very own sign: "sunny-side-up" Sagittarius, represented by that hybrid creature, half-man, half-horse, the Centaur-archer, a symbol of the quest for wisdom and enlightenment.
Sagittarius and Jupiter both represent the search for the meaning of life, but in a horizon-expanding, active and adventurous way. Where Scorpio finds her answers in the deep caverns of the soul, Sagittarius meets them like a friend on the open road. The Archer rules all hope-filled and inspiring, vista-widening experiences, including religion in its higher function as a source of divine guidance. Sagittarius is the eternal traveler, in mind and body, the ever-restless spirit, Odysseus taking the long way home.