Issue 2, February 2007

   Moon Magic
   Chasing the Dragon's Tail
   Revise! Mercury Turns Retrograde
   Astrology Primer

There's a lot going on of astrological significance this month, with an eclipse of the Sun coming up  and a Mercury retrograde period already begun.  We start with our regular feature on the upcoming Full Moon which leads naturally on to a look at the eclipses on March 3rd and 18th.  Mercury turned retrograde on February 13th (I hope you all receive this newsletter!),  so we honour Hermes with a revisionary look inward. Finally, for new astrologers, our series of lessons on basic astrology continues.

Enjoy!
Ingrid and Barry.

Moon Magic

“Out of the chrysalis,
In its first moment,
Perhaps in first flight,
The butterfly voids
A drop, frequently red.
We, too, may sacrifice
A drop of the past,
Turn to the future,
Unfold our wings,
And say,
I am.”
Marion Woodman.

Like A Virgin

Imagine yourself standing on a mountaintop, far away from light polluted city-stained clouds. Above you, a rhinestone star-swirl set against a backdrop of black velvety sky. It is here you might see Virgo, the Virgin, a large constellation in the night sky, with the diamond-bright Spica, considered by some writers to be the hand of the Virgin, holding the top of the grain shaft, or the ear of wheat.  

‘Virgin’ Goddesses are powerful archetypes in the collective consciousness – they were never abstractions, but integral to daily life in ancient cultures. Their virginity was symbolic, they were ripe, fertile, ‘maidens’ belonging to no man and owing allegiance to no tribe or nation. To our ancestors, a ‘virgin’ was not asexual, she just did not ‘belong to any man’ – she was her own person, the human interpreter of the Divine Will of Goddess. She was a vessel for sacred sexuality – A Sacred Prostitute.

‘Holy Virgin’ was the title given to the Harlot-Priestesses of Ishtar, or Aphrodite, the female aspect of Divinity. This title referred to a woman who was unmarried, and who would dispense the healing Grace of Goddess through sexual worship, healing, sacred song and dance, and prophesy. These women were given the name qadishtu, literally translated, means ‘sanctified women’ or ‘holy women’,  according to Merlin Stone (When God Was a Woman, Barnes and Noble, 1976).

Virgo Full Moon 

“It’s a funny thing about life.
If you refuse to settle for anything less than the best, that’s what it will give you.”
W. Somerset Maugham.

The Virgin Moon asks that we are more discerning are we about what we ‘take in to our lives’ on a daily basis – the food we eat, the people we interact with, the thoughts we think – what we assimilate. (She’s holding an ear of wheat remember?)  The intestinal tract – the duodenum, the pancreas and the spleen fall under Virgo’s domain.

How we connect with our bodies through dance, joyful movement,  yoga, sensuous massage, healing modalities like reiki or cranio sacral therapy or body stress release. 

Use this Full Moon time to go within. Where in our lives do we prostitute, defile, and betray ourselves in the choices we make? Toxic relationships that leach the life force from our Spirit, dead end jobs where we stay ‘only for the money’? Lifestyle choices that reign in our natural biological rhythms, straight-jacket our Joy, and mummify our Spirit?

At  this time of the ripeness and harvest, let us honour,  Hestia,  virgin goddess of the Hearth where the fire was never allowed to die; Artemis, the lady of wild things and protector of the young, hunted with shining silver arrows; and the Irish virgin aspect of the Great Goddess, Brigid, associated with healing, vital energy and Light. She lives still in the sacred heart of the untamed landscape of Ireland and cool dark depths of the holy wells.

Chasing the Dragon's Tail

There is a way from your heart to mine
And my heart knows it,
Because it is clean and pure like water.
When the water is still like a mirror
It can behold the Moon.”
Rumi ~ Whisphers of The Beloved.

The Virgin Moon will be eclipsed on March 3rd, the first  lunar eclipse of 2007 – at 13°00' Virgo, conjunct the fortunate Fixed Star, Coxa , which augers well for voyages and gain by merchandise. In Europe and the Far East, an eclipse has traditionally been viewed as a bad omen, portending of a natural disaster or the death of kings.  Another pervasive myth involves a giant celestial dragon which devours the Sun bringing darkness to the earth.

But different cultures have different world views:  The people of Arctic America believe an eclipse shows a divine providence: the Sun and the Moon temporarily leave their places in the sky and check to see that things are going well on Earth. And in Tahiti, eclipses are celebrated as the ecstatic lovemaking of the Sun and the Earth, an evocative image, to hold in our imagination, and bring into gentle heart-space as we marvel at the Sacred Dance of the celestial bodies in the skies above us as the warmth of the Sun embraces the Earth.

Because the Moon symbolizes our relationship to Spirit, our Authentic Self, a  New Moon signifies a start of a new personal cycle each month.  It is always an appropriate time to go quietly within. Renew or re-vision our dreams, our heart-felt desires… The Moon turns her face from the Light of the Sun remains hidden. If we attune to the Celestial Dance, and go within, we may discover much that is hidden… The Greek word for Truth, Aletha, means hidden. So New Moon times are times to withdraw, claim the events of your life, renew, or re-vision. This New Moon in watery Pisces emphasises the dreamy translucent energy of infinite possibility, the sense of wonder and mystery beneath the mundane, ordinary events of our lives.  On March 19th,  Pluto, dark god of the Underworld,  makes a dramatic entrance in a fiery cloud of  Sagittarian arrogance, challenging the  Dreamy-Dance of the Sun and Moon, igniting subterranean passions, wrenching to the surface our anger, sorrow, and pain.

Sun and Moon merge on March 18th, at 28 degrees Pisces, and we have a Solar Eclipse which belongs to the 9 New North Saros Cycle, which is a physically expressive Saros Series, according to Bernadette Brady (The Eagle and The Lark, Samuel Weiser, 1999). This, she says, can be experienced very positively, for instance, starting a new form of physical exercise, or negatively, in the form of accidents, so be mindful and present when you are physically active and of course especially when driving!

Focus and intention are themes for the interplay of the Virgo Full Moon and the New Moon in Pisces to counteract the unsettling energy of the eclipses in mutable signs. This is a month to clarify purity of intent, honour our bodies, and align the impetus of Spring – seeded by the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Pisces. Be open to possibility to magic, to unlimited potential. Allow yourself  a hiatus in your busyness.  Get to bed early and rest in the arms of Sleep. Give yourself permission just to Be.

Lunar Lore:

Cut your hair during a waning Moon for slower growth. If you are having it coloured it will last longer on a waning Moon. If you have your hair cut on a waxing Moon it will encourage faster growth.

Our two featured pieces of art this month are:

Golden Centre, which carries a strong sense of infinity, and Salmon, representing in its colours wisdom, potent strength and the great enfolding Mother

by Dublin born artist, poet and teacher, Deborah O'Brien,  who draws her inspiration for her exquisite Celtic artwork from her Irish lineage.

Decorative arts in the Celtic culture are world-renowned for their beauty, intricacy and depth of meaning.  These beautiful designs inspired by ancient sources, are from Deborah's book Celtic “Decorative Art, A Living Tradition”, O'Brien Publishers, 2000. 

Revise! Mercury Turns Retrograde

“It is never too late, in fiction or in life, to revise. ”
Nancy Thayer 

Mercury is retrograde this year:

• February 13 - March 7, 2007
• June 15 - July 9, 2007
• October 11 - November 1, 2007

Astrology Primer

Last month, we introduced the horoscope as a map of the sky at a particular place and time.  We looked briefly at two of the basic components of the horoscope – signs of the Zodiac and planets – and showed a very simple view of how planets in signs are interpreted, looking at Marilyn Monroe’s chart as an example.  This month we’re going to continue working with Marilyn’s chart to illustrate another way of dividing up the sky – the angles and houses.

The Horizon – where earth and sky meet

If you think of the sky as you stand out under the stars, you’ll very soon become aware that the stars of the Zodiac and planets rise, move from east to west and finally set.  You know well the place where these bodies rise and set.  It’s called the horizon, and its importance in astrology springs from the symbolism of this rising and setting.  In a horoscope, the horizon is shown as a horizontal line across the centre of the wheel with an arrow on the left pointing east.  That’s the Ascendant, and the sign on the ascendant is known as the Rising Sign. The Sun, Moon and ascendant comprise the three most important points in the horoscope and often allow you to get a quick entry into the meaning of a chart.

Let’s use this method to look at Marilyn’s chart again.

• Leo ascendant:  The bright, shining star
• Sun in Gemini:  Talkative, humorous, inquisitive
• Moon in Aquarius:  Somewhat cut off from her emotions

When looking at a Natal Chart, the ascendant is interpreted as the face that the person shows the world.  Marilyn was very clearly seen as a queen, her screen presence that of a brightly shining star, as shown by Leo, the lion, rising.  Even today, more than 40 years since her death, she continues to have pop idol status, a level of fame that would satisfy even the most attention-demanding Leo.  Often, of course, the face you show the world is not your true self, but rather a mask you hide behind.  And Marilyn, as we all know, was deeply vulnerable as well. 

The Sun stands for the person’s identity – how they shine in the fullness of their being.  Marilyn’s identity is represented by Gemini, associated with versatile, talkative, sociable and inquisitive personalities.  We see this in Marilyn, especially in the comedy film roles she played, but, as we’ll explain a little later in the series, Marilyn found it difficult to fully live up to the true meaning of this Gemini identity.  For Gemini is not about just talking; it’s really about communicating. Not inquisitiveness but really a quest for the other half of the story – the signs that will lead back to the lost Twin. Marilyn tended to lean towards the more negative expression of Gemini: for example, she was notoriously unreliable, often turning up late on set.

Finally, the Moon stands for the emotional, reactive part of the psyche.  Aquarius, however, is an airy, intellectual sign, and a person with a Moon here often has difficulty in accessing their emotions directly or distrusts their own and others’ emotions as irrational or unpredictable.  The Moon also represents the way that mother is viewed; and Marilyn’s mother was far from a stable influence in her child’s life, eventually suffering a nervous breakdown, leaving Marilyn to be declared a ward of state and to grow up in a succession of orphanages and foster homes.

The opposite end of the horizon line is called the Descendant; it’s the setting point for all the planets and signs.  While the ascendant represents the part of ourselves that we most likely display to the world, the descendant is the part of which we are most unconscious.  In many cases, of course, we then project it out onto our partners in relationships and it is in this unconscious sense that the descendant often shows the type of partner we attract into our life.  In Marilyn’s case, her descendant is, like her Moon, in Aquarius, showing the men she attracted – men who were largely incapable of giving her the emotional support she needed. Her first marriage, at the age of sixteen, was arranged to ensure she wouldn’t have to return to an orphanage.  Joe DiMaggio, her second husband, was reputed to have been jealous of the sexual attention she received; they divorced within a year of marrying.  Her third marriage to playwright, Arthur Miller, lasted less than five years, and seemed to provide little emotional support for her.

Together, the ascendant and descendant form the personal axis of the chart, running from who we declare ourselves to be in the eyes of the world to the part of ourselves with which we are least comfortable and tend to project on significant others in our lives.  This axis also divides the chart in two.  Above the axis lies the visible sky at that time and place; from a psychological view, we can be objective about the characteristics represented by the signs and planets lying above the horizon and this part of our psyche is visible to and shared with the world at large.  Anything below this axis is invisible in the sky and is thus hidden, internalised and subjective.  Somebody with a preponderance of planets above the horizon tends to be more influenced by external events and wants to be more out in the world, than somebody whose planets hide below the horizon.  For the latter type, the inner, subjective world is where they live and growth comes through solitude, introspection or meditation.

The Meridian – where east meets west

 The second major axis in the chart is the red line running from top to bottom.  At the top of the chart is the Midheaven, sometimes called the MC (from the Latin for Midheaven, Medium Coeli).  The other end of the line is called the IC (Imum Coeli, Bottom of the Sky) or sometimes the Nadir.  This is the Meridian line, connecting the points directly overhead and directly beneath us.  At midday, the Sun crosses the MC; at midnight, the Sun is on the IC.

As the lowest point in the chart, the IC represents our roots, where we come from, our home.  This is the most hidden part of self, the part of the psyche seen by very few.  The Midheaven, in contrast, is where we want to shine out to the world, representing our vocation in the broadest sense of the word, be it our job or our visible role in life.  In Marilyn’s chart, we see Taurus on the Midheaven, emphasising material things and security as a key to her vocation, while Scorpio sits on the IC, suggesting that Marilyn tended to keep her deepest passions and emotions well protected and hidden.

Before closing this month, let’s take a quick look at the other lines in the circle.  These show the houses.  Like the signs of the Zodiac, the houses are a way of dividing the sky up into twelve parts.  Where the Zodiac divides the sky based on the yearly cycle of the Sun, starting at the spring equinox, the houses divide the sky based on the daily cycle, with the starting point defined as the ascendant and the houses numbered from 1 to 12 anticlockwise around the chart.  Over the history of astrology, many methods of division have been devised, but in this series, we use the system known as Placidus, which is widely favoured by astrologers.  The houses are another key tool in astrology, but we’ll have to wait ‘till next month to explain how they are used.

Next month:  Understanding the houses and how they relate to signs and planets.