Issue 9, December 2007

   Moon Magic
   Astrology Primer
  

Hello %1%,

Well, if you're like us, it seems like we looked away for a moment and suddenly Christmas and all its modern, commercial trappings were upon us like a plague. So, even though we've finished our fairs and shows until February, it feels like we're not really getting a break!

As we're sure you know, the Christian church "borrowed" the pagan festival of the Winter Solstice, not to mention the Roman feast of Saturnalia, and adapted them to their own needs. Ingrid's regular feature on the upcoming Full and New Moons takes up the themes of Solstice and the Christmas Full Moon. Barry continues his explanation of the signs of the Zodiac in this month's Astrology Primer.

Until 2008, we wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a prosperous New Year, irrespective of what banner you choose to celebrate them.

 Enjoy!

Ingrid and Barry.

Moon Magic

“Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hoch heilige Paar.
Holder Knab' im lockigen Haar,
Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!”

Lyrics by Josef Mohr, ca. 1816-1818. Music: Franz Gruber, ca. 1820

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For the journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”

TS Elliot

Winter Solstice

It is now that we can take time to grow within ourselves new seeds of psychic strength, gathering within all that is nourishing and warm, so that we can greet the sunrise with hope and with joy. This is a time of rebirth, with the winter Solstice on December 21^st/22^nd marking this new cycle of beginnings, and the promise of warmer days to come. As if on cue, the Sun ingresses into the earthy sign of Capricorn on Saturday, December 22^nd, to oppose the fecund Full Moon in Cancer on Christmas Eve, aligning solar masculine and lunar feminine archetypes.

“Solstice 2007” is by Susan Eleanor Seddon Boulet.

Full Moon in Cancer

This feminine Full Moon on December 24^th symbolizes the return to Home. The motif this season is Family, Food, and Home. Many of us will be journeying long distances to re-connect with those we love. Cancer energy is about Mother Love, Nourishment and Nurturance. And it is Self-love and Self-nurturance. How we fill our well, fuel our creative fire, so we can give generously to family, friends and colleagues.

The shadow of the Cancer Moon this Christmas Eve is an over-identification with the Mother Archetype that binds us into a web of Self-sacrifice and repression of our own creative needs.

Being fully conscious of our balanced relationship with Great Mother, we no longer obey the Inner Judge, the Whining Victim, the Condemning Tyrant, the Patriarchal Church or State. No more do we scatter our physical energies, sacrifice our soul songs. No more do we dissipate our creative juices to dark obsessions, our life-sapping addictions.

So, return Home this Christmas. Spend a few minutes amidst the busyness of shopping, cooking and wrapping presents to gift yourself. Marvel at the sunset, read a prayer or poem that touches your heart. Drive out into the countryside where the city lights do not dim the bright scatter of sparking stars, and wonder. Pot a plant. Get your hands really muddy. Witness the beauty, the grace, the frailty in the family of those human beings who gather at your table of abundance this Christmas time.

Allow your heart-light to shine brightly, as you connect once more with old acquaintances and loved ones to celebrate the coming of the Light.

Crystal Wisdom: Jasper will support giving to yourself this festive season, and pink beryl will help in connecting with your emotional needs. Moonstone is attuned to the Moon, assisting in attuning to lunar cycles to process emotions and tapping into your intuitive abilities.

New Moon in Capricorn

Jupiter combines with the Sun and Moon in Capricorn on January 8^th, bringing an enduring pragmatic energy to our interactions. The theme today is responsibility for our own thoughts and perceptions. Mastering emotional blocks that prevent us reaching out to others from Heart Space, releasing the need for actions that inflate our sense of self-importance in an attempt to overcome feelings of not being “enough”!

“The Secret” brought old teachings into mass consciousness, endorsed by Oprah Winfrey in February 2007, and the Laws of Attraction suggest that we can create the life we want to live… Back then, Jupiter in ever optimistic, expansive Sagittarius made all things possible. On December 19th Jupiter moved into the earthy get-real sign of Capricorn for the first time in 12 years. Jupiter, signifying Hope, Faith, Grace. The ability to make all things possible… The earthy Capricorn energy this month, and in the coming year, offers us all the opportunity to pluck hopes, dreams and visions from the heavens and bring them down to earth. To walk our talk!

Crystal Wisdom: Self-control, ought, should, must-dos are all aspects of the emotional make up of those with Capricorn Moons. Straight-jacketed emotions, cool logic, conforming to authoritarian mores or family expectations, are all steel traps to the feminine intuitive lunar energy. Pyrolusite helps to connect to your own inner voice. Magnesite is an aid to Self-love for those with a Capricorn Moon who may feel unable to express their feelings, or who sublimate their emotions into material things like career, status, and dutiful activities. Magnesite helps in opening to receiving love from other people, and is said to overcome the melancholy which often afflicts those with a Moon in Capricorn. If the Moon is in Capricorn in your birth chart, you may feel a need to be in a relationship that is solid and dependable, with a commitment to your partner, which will be re-enforced by wearing garnet.

Mid winter: the time of the longest darkest, coldest night of the year. It is out of our darkness that we give birth to new life. So take time now to reflect on the year gone by. Set a clear intention to what it is you want to give birth to this new solar cycle. What dreams are you incubating? Celebrate the Darkness out of which grows new Life and Hope.

What does 2008 hold for you? Contact Ingrid and Barry for your personal birth chart analysis.

“Moon over Lough Inagh” is by Paul Guilfoyle.

Astrology Primer

If you cast your mind back to last month’s lesson (or go read it here!), you will recall that we discussed the signs of Zodiac grouped by element. Thus, we saw that there are three Fire signs (Aries, Leo & Sagittarius), three Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo & Capricorn), three Air signs (Gemini, Libra & Aquarius) and three Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio & Pisces). What you may not have noticed was that each group of three signs in an element were distinguished by the adjective Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable—terms that we didn’t explain then.

This month, we describe these modes and show how they add further valuable insight to the meaning of each sign and how the mode of a sign filters the reactions of any planet that occupies it. Contrast this to the element of a sign, which filters the energy of a planet in that sign.

While the elements describe the basic forms of energy and consciousness that are the foundation of the cosmos, the modes speak to the dynamics of change, how it occurs and how it is handled. Modes describe how psychic energy flows, indicating how a sign reacts to external stimuli as opposed to the element of the sign, which defines the type of energy it is. Note that these energies and reactions are actually only made manifest through planets in the signs, but for ease of description, we will speak of the signs having the energies and reactions to change.

(Modes are also called qualities, modalities or quadruplicities.)

Cardinal Mode

Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) direct psychic energy outwards. They are active and assertive in the face of change, often initiating or triggering change themselves. Cardinal signs thus have a driving energy, often self-motivating and self-starting. Clearly, the extent to which a cardinal sign can be active in its energy flow is modulated by its element. Fire and air are more active to begin with, and so the cardinal-fire (Aries) and cardinal-air (Libra) combinations are more initiatory than cardinal-earth (Capricorn) and cardinal-water (Cancer). Cardinal signs are most comfortable when leading, particularly towards short-term goals. In excess, they tend towards hyperactivity and rashness.

Fixed Mode

Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) draw psychic energy inwards. They have an inward focus and tend to withdraw from change. Typically intense and determined, these signs preserve and intensify the existing situation, leading to stability and containment of energy. The fixed mode of operation finds itself most comfortable with the elements of earth (Taurus) and water (Scorpio). Fixed energy signs find their greatest success in situations where perseverance and long-term commitment are needed, but may tend to stick too long at a failing enterprise.

Mutable Mode

Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) correlate with harmony and show a spiral pattern of energy that is adaptable and open to change. They are impartial, restless and versatile. Mutable-air (Gemini) and mutable-fire (Sagittarius) tend to lean towards the future implications of change while mutable-earth (Virgo) and mutable-water (Pisces) lean more towards the past. Being so flexible to change, mutable signs all show a tendency towards inconsistency and an inability to decide what they actually want. Mutable processes are also fundamentally about dissolution, as that which was created (cardinal mode) and then solidified (fixed mode) must finally be released (mutable mode) in order that reality may be created (cardinal mode) anew.

Shaping the wheel

Visualising the patterns of the elements and modes on the Zodiac wheel helps understand why modes are sometimes called quadruplicities and elements triplicities.

You can see from the following figures that the mutable signs, like the other modes, are arranged in a cross formation in a combination of signs that are opposite and in square to one another. As you may recall from Issue 4 of our Newsletter, these aspects are often described as challenging and are inherently related to the process (and challenge) of change.

The fire signs, like the other elements, on the other hand, are in trine relationship to one another forming a tripod shape. Trines are renowned for their ease and simply are. This reflects the more solid and unchanging nature of the elemental energies in the chart.

Spinning the evolutionary wheel

Another way of looking at the signs is to trace them in sequence around the Zodiac. This approach provides an insight into the symbolic evolution of life as follows:

1. Aries – As I first emerge into the physical world, I am purely and solely myself, creative and assertive of my will and my will alone
2. Taurus – I stand in the world of matter and seek to have and build that which I value
3. Gemini – Gathering information about the physical world, I think and communicate what I have learnt
4. Cancer – I establish an emotional base for myself, allowing myself to feel the spectrum of emotions

Having now experienced all four elements for the first time at a deeply personal level, I am now ready to practice them in the context of relating to another.

5. Leo – Stepping out on the stage of the world, I am ready to birth my own creations, to express my true self
6. Virgo – I analyse the reactions of the world to my creativity and perfect my creations, hone my skills, craft myself
7. Libra – Assured in my sense of self and ability to create, I enter into the concept of relationship, seeking mutual balance and aesthetics…
8. Scorpio – And plunge into the passion and intensity of complete merging with other through which I experience another level of what I can feel

Having experienced all fours elemental energies again, now in the context of another soul, I am ready to embrace all humanity and the entire cosmos.

9. Sagittarius – Tiring of intensity, I seek freedom to explore and understand the broad canvas of life, philosophy and faith
10. Capricorn – Building on what I’ve learned, I utilize all of my creation to exercise my power in the world and attain my highest status
11. Aquarius – Realising that I am no better than anyone else, I seek equality with my peers and the utopia of all humanity working for the common good
12. Pisces – Until, I now intuit that the spirit is part of a bigger cosmos, I believe in a higher order and long to merge back into the soul of the universe, to return to the womb of creation

Next month: Planets and signs together