Leo New Moon, After Eclipsing

Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

All this week, in every venue, talk eventually turns to the eclipse. Every news outlet, all social media, each conversation on the street begins with some comment about it. "Did you see?" "Where were you?" "We seem to have survived..." "Didn't realize the temperature would drop so significantly!"

With the Leo New Moon and the solar  eclipse happening at virtually the same time, the energetic effect of each increased with the power and impact of the other. Leo is all about the will, specifically, choice and action. After our experience of the new moon and eclipse, what action will we choose to take?

One of our most significant choices in life is whether we choose to see an experience as happy or miserable, as positive or negative. Our first reaction may be anger or upset or angst or fear. We cannot change the feeling. What we can change is how we move forward with it, how we see it in the larger perspective, how long we allow ourselves to sit in the stew of those emotions. We have the opportunity to use our will to move forward in whatever manner we desire.

The solar eclipse not only brought up emotions, some sensitive people had physical reactions as well. Like when we fall in love or we lose a job or someone leaves or dies, our system may respond with restlessness, a lack of appetite or an upset stomach. It's how we experience and cope with rapid change. Prior to the eclipse, discussions focussed on whether to be outside during the event, be with large or small groups, or be alone. People had celebrations, camped out, created rituals. No matter where we were or with whom, the expansive eclipse was a communal experience.

We are moving through one of those liminal places where what we choose as our focus ripples out to help form our communal future. The eclipse and this Leo New Moon are not only about our desires but also about our will to create and co-create the story of our future. Choose concisely, wisely and with care.

What did you do for/during the eclipse? What emotional responses did you have? What physical reactions did you experience? How did you choose to respond? What action are you choosing to move forward into? How do you want your future to be? What part of the story of our communal future are you willing to write?

Capricorn Full Moon 2017

©2017 ML Monroe

If your favorite thing in to remain secluded at home, the Capricorn Full Moon may not be your best supporter. Even though the sun is in Cancer and home base is easily and completely the focus, Capricorn is going to tug you out for all the world to see.

Cancer is all about beginning; Capricorn is about the making it to the goal. Neglecting either of these will not work. The best path during this Full Moon would be to find a place of balance between the two. There's a strong flow of emotions between these two extremes and we are in the space to express our feelings and see where they lead. Something is about to be birthed.

This Full Moon is also called the Blessing Moon. Even though it may not herald a changing season, it is calling forth change. With July as the start of the second half of the year, that call for transformation is fitting. It's a good time to breathe deeply and look for every possible chance to express gratitude.

Alongside the Full Moon is a Moon-Pluto conjunction. This is the particular point of that deep summoned transformation. It's also where a sense of solitude or even loneliness can show up. We are being called to identify our tribe as well as define our place of safety.

A curiously strong aspect of this Capricorn Full Moon is that balance point between home and work, inner and outer pursuits. We have the opportunity to choose how we are going to present ourselves and our being to the private and public aspects of our lives.

Think about what is happening in our world today. The G20 meeting recently completed, we found ourselves facing decisions and agreements made without the overarching influence of the current President of the United States. There are actions being discussed in every region of the world that will influence every facet of our future environment ~ natural, political, economic, educational, physical, etc.

This Full Moon, with its polarizing focuses of the Cancer home/internal and the Capricorn work/external, also affords us the chance to connect with others in an entirely new manner.  We can choose to yell and scream and call others out on their 'stuff' ~ whatever that may be ~ while ignoring our own or we can choose a quiet one-on-one chat about our differences.

Drawing people in to conversation grows from the Cancer home quality. Consider the shaming and name-calling and how it shatters the tribe. Drawing people in gets past individual, systemic or privileged identities as well as beyond oppressive, limited and limiting definitions of ourselves and others.

For the past several years, Pluto has been residing in Capricorn, the sign of the Middle World, of established institutions. While it's been digging up the foundations for that entire time, the Cancer Moon makes it personal. The Capricorn Full Moon shines its glaringly bright light on both the large and small aspects of our world and asks us to pay attention to where we would like it to go from here.

What cracks are showing up in your world? In which aspect of the world (personal/private or work/public) are they? How are others influencing or affecting your current sense of the world? How are you affecting or influencing those around you? How do you want to see and experience the world in the future?

Looking Back, Looking Forward

This is the time of year when we reflect on the past and plan for the future. Stephen Hawking provides his own perspective on it.

It's easy to think of the future as a spectrum of possibilities because we understand the opportunities we have to choose our next step on a forward-moving path. We perceive time as linear: from our point on the timeline back is the past; from our point forward is the future. The point itself is the present. Is it truly so cut and dry? Or are there bumps or cycles or turns in that timeline?

Have you ever, when first being introduced to a person, discovered you already knew they had three siblings? Has an unknown person sitting next to you on a plane voiced a question you just thought? Have you walked past a stranger on the street and turned back to find them turning to look at you as though in recognition? We've all experienced moments like these. We brush them off with comments like:

He kinda looks like my ex.
I must've muttered my question.
Her coat is the same color as my boss's.
Maybe we saw each other in the parking lot before
It couldn't be anything more than a fluke.

Because, of course, the past is fixed on that timeline. It already happened so what we're seeing now, what we're thinking, what we're experiencing, can't be real. Reality fixes time in a linear, clearly-defined path, doesn't it?

If Hawking is correct, and the past is also indefinite, then perhaps we have met that person before. Or that sense of having experienced this moment before? We have a phrase for that: deja vu. We shake our heads, smile with embarrassment and mutter an apology.

When we look back at our lives, we rarely think of it in linear terms. One story reminds us of another that happened years before. Or the scent of cookies takes us back to several childhood holiday baking memories that run together like watercolors. Did I burn my hand when I was six? or eight? Did we make marzipan with cousins or alone?

2016 has been labeled by many people as a year of troubles to leave behind. Was the entire year that way? Or was it only sections of it? Are our feelings accurate? And what does accurate mean when it comes to emotions?

My personal experience of the year was a bit of a roller coaster. I had several high points, including submitting my resignation and beginning the next phase of my life. Several low points, including a distressing election season and a broken toe, happened closer to the year's end and made leaving 2016 behind much easier!

What were your high points in 2016? What were your low points? Did they balance out? Did their proximity to the end of the year change how you viewed 2016? What are you looking forward to in 2017? What experiences of deja vu have you had recently? How do you feel about them? How do you perceive Stephen Hawking's comment on time?

Darkness Dreaming

Our dreams are the place where we meet each facet of who we are. Our past arrives there with all its regrets, joys and lessons. Our future peeks in with all its possibilities. Our alternate universe self shows us the 'what ifs' continuing on elsewhere and elsewhen. Our angst, fear, grief, anticipation, elation, and every other emotion creates the background music. Dreams carry us deeper and farther than thoughts.

Over the past several nights, I've awakened from strange and somewhat disquieting dreams. In many of them, I am leading or herding people ~ sometimes through a woods, sometimes through a crowd, sometimes through a dark room.... the settings were all different, the movement similar, always through. Relating these to a friend, we joked that I was either Moses or an Australian shepherd.

I call the dreams somewhat disquieting because when within them, I am happy. That juxtaposition of setting/action and emotional response lead me to the conclusion that there is a deeper movement happening. I see an outcome or source or destination that creates true joy within me.

This morning's was no different ~ I was seated, leaning against a brick wall. A basket of gleaned apples was being passed around. The apples were bruised and wormy, but mostly edible. I nearly let the basket pass when a voice nearby said, "Ya might wanna take one and eat. Ya never know when food will come our way again." So I took the basket, grabbed one of the apples and joked, "I guess the worm could be counted as extra protein." A few chuckles ran through the people around me. Through this entire exchange, I was feeling content ~ as though I knew something better was in the offing.

The disquieting part of these dreams is waking from them with the sense of peace within me along with the mental images and the logical recognition that the scene should be disturbing. I thought, What's wrong with me? That quiet voice nearby calmly replied, Not a thing. More to come. So I wait. Acknowledging as I do that stars can't shine without darkness. Ready for the next installment.

What images surface in your dreams? How do you determine if it's a dream or nightmare? What do you feel within the dream? Does it match what you see or hear? Do you listen to what comes in the Darkness? Why? or why not?

Another Dystopian Trilogy, part 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood

In Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood writes a stark future. She herself refers to the genre as "speculative fiction" ~ meaning, in her definition, that it could happen. Not that it will. Some have referred to Oryx and Crake as science fiction; others as horror. My personal preference? Dystopian. One view of what the world may look like if we continue our self-destructive, and/or earth-destructive, path.

One element of the novel that fascinates me the most is that it takes place entirely in the life and mind of the main character and narrator, Snowman. Oryx and Crake are both figments of his memory and imagination. As his memories tumble forth, so do the characters develop. Atwood's clarity of style makes this work.

There remains a frightening element to this book even though it was published over a decade ago, in 2003. Much of what is intimated as causing the global devastation (overpopulation, destruction of species, blithe separation of the wealthy and those without less or no access to wealth, lack of a true moral compass, etc.), continues to bounce us forward to this day. Other causes (genetic and bio-engineering of new species of everything from animals to plants to viruses and cures, etc.) remain firmly in the speculative arena, yet tug the reader toward the sense that they are possibly happening.

I'm currently in the midst of the second in the series, The Year of the Flood. The title flood is a waterless flood, more of a vast barren wasteland. I'll continue the tale when I finish the story.

What do you speculate will the future look like? What do you see happening now that causes you to fear? What causes you to hope? How can you affect change in one direction or the other?

Build Windmills

I recently dreamed about windmills. I walked up the rise of a grassy hill. Although the sky was a swath of deep blue velvet with scattered twinkling sequins, the land was lit with an ethereal blue-white glow of the Full Moon. The earth sparkled with diamond dewdrops.

As I topped the rise, an expanse of mostly flat land lay before me. A river ran from the northeast to southwest, its banks lost from sight below low, chiseled cliffs. I caught glimpses of white-capped waves swirling along the line of cliffs.

The land was dotted with windmills of all ilk:

Old World brick buildings

They took a significant amount of space on the wide plain. Their large blades churned methodically, rhythmically, visible only as the large crossbeams slipped through the dark air. Their varieties were plentiful, amazingly beautiful across the land.

Midwest/Great Plains farm/ranch towers

These towers were most familiar to me. I spent my youth in the North Central states and saw them dotted across fields with dairy cattle gathering near their bases. Memories of that youth flooded through me as I watched the rotors blur in the moonlight.





new wind power generators

These triple-bladed giants towered over the other windmills across the open space. Their mobile white blades taking on the appearance of tilting praying mantis heads and upper appendages in the flashing dark-and-light.








As I watched, the wind strengthened, pouring forth with great gusto, until all the blades of all the windmills became a blur of intermittent light. I recognized this burst: the Winds of Change. This is a year of Change. News from across the world echoes that notion. My dream insistently prodded me to form the Distant Past, the Recent Past and the Present into a Windmill of Change to power me into the future.

What changes are blowing through your life now? Are you building walls? or windmills? Why have you made that choice? Do you experience one choice as more valid than another?