New Moon in Gemini and Grand Cross

New Moons are always about letting go, change and transformation. This one in particular, intimately connected with the mutable Grand Cross, is about changing direction, changing perception, changing affection.... releasing anything, any little thing, inhibiting our deeper, truer Selves from showing up.

This New Moon, as it squares Jupiter, Neptune and the Nodes and opposes Saturn, lights our way to discerning the truth in our life and making decisions to release the past so the new can show up for us. We must relish our own self-love in order to express our love for others in the best possible way. We have to learn and experience and practice how to do things differently, to create new pathways in our very being leading toward that creation and creativity. We benefit from remembering our power is in embracing Mystery and Unknowing in order to shift our reality and create change by unlocking the alchemy of surrender. This New Moon also celebrates the facets of the Divine Feminine: instincts of the Moon, physicality of Venus, resistance of Lilith.

Because this New Moon is also activating many planetary energies, there is potent and potential energy in this New Moon, preparing us to consider the seeds we want to plant for the future. This is something we should take seriously ~ or find ourselves stuck in the patterns of the past. All the recent retrograde energy we've been rolling through (see my post on the Full Moon in Sagittarius and Other Wonders) has aided us in stirring up the past in order to release it. Gemini is all about communication and the throat chakra to express our truth and feelings and call forth what we truly want.

As we look for what has been cleared and released from our lives during all the retrograde cycles, the golden opportunity of this New Moon is to notice the cracks and seek clarity on how to proceed. Our actions and energies, current to the next eclipse season starting in September. will shape what is to come. As we clarify and set our intentions, in writing preferably, it would be wise for us to remember that when one door closes, another opens.

What are your intentions for the future? What are you willing to release? What do you wish to call forth? What do you wish to manifest? How will you speak your wishes? How will your intentions affect those around you? To whom will you speak your intentions?

Hair-pulling Stars

From the time I was a child, I would go outside alone at night to listen to the stars. Although some may have considered it odd, no one ever denied that the stars sang. Somewhere along the line, I simply stopped telling people why I was wandering alone in the dark staring up. It was becoming a common practice for many people. Enough so that people stopped questioning it. When sitting with a friend in a hot tub late one night, I shared with that I was listening to the stars sing. She sat quietly for several minutes, looking up at the stars. Eventually, she asked how she could learn to hear the stars. It was only then that I realized the stars didn't sing for everyone.

When I read this quote from Anais Nin, it brought those memories quickly to mind. Its words reverberate in a language I recognize. I'm restless. That's so very true. It's a restlessness born from the wild calling of the stars. I feel closed up after a time of being inside. Like a bud reaching for the light so it can to bloom. Things are calling me away.

The line that nearly brought me to tears was the final one. My hair is being pulled by the stars again. I love the terminology, the imagery. I can see the hair-pulling stars. When I wander outside, it is almost always at night. I am forever looking up, taking pictures of the moon, watching the planets gather and pass. For me, it's not my hair being pulled. It's the call of the stars and the planets echoing in my ears. It's my personal symphony; my music of the spheres.

What part or parts of nature call to you? How does that call happen? What sense experiences it? How do you respond? What happens if you don't?

Mama Killa

If you'd like a Goddess with strength to help you stay the course, try Mama Killa (yes, that's really her name). She's the third deity in the Inca pantheon after Inti (Sun god and husband) and Illapu (Thunder god), though in some coastal communities, She was considered stronger and more vital than the others. As Mother Moon, She regulated women's menstrual cycles and childbirth. She provided shelter, understanding and support to women; in return, they venerated Her.

One myth of Mama Killa was about the Moon's 'dark spots' or lunar craters. Once a fox fell in love with the amazing beauty of Mama Killa and rose into the sky to be with Her. When he came close, she squeezed him against her, creating the dark patches visible on the bright moon's surface.

Lunar eclipses were believed to be a mountain lion or a serpent attacking and attempting to devour Mama Killa and leave the night world in darkness. The Incas would throw weapons and make great noises to scare the creature away.

Goddesses operate from a very different strength than Gods do. Many Goddesses rely less on their physical prowess and show care for the people. Mama Killa took especial care of women in the Inca community. Showing that kind of care over time means that She is capable of guiding and staying the course under any kind of conditions ~ especially when changes occur.

How do you plan to 'stay the course' through any coming changes? How can myths guide you through them? Why would a Goddess be an ally for you? Who else could be one?

Christmas Night

Christmas night was dark and beautiful. There was a crystal glow around the moon. As I focused my camera and zoomed on it, I held my breath ~ exhaling slowly as I snapped the shot.

Involuntarily, a smile grew across my lips. I spoke quietly to the silvery glow. "You are beautiful tonight, Lady. Thank You for Your beautiful show."

I stood outside in the dark. Inside, family and friends ate, talked and laughed. My sense of contentment overwhelmed any other thought. I walked farther into the darkness, watching the show as clouds scudded across the moon then released Her. Stars winked through the wisps of cloud.

Gratitude washed over me ~ and continues to wash over me as I remember the moment. "Thank You, Lady, for family, friends and love. Thank You for memory and choice. Thank You for all who have passed through my life. Bring blessings to each."

For what are you grateful during this holiday season? Do you take moments to look at the night sky? What feeling does the night bring you?

Relax and Enjoy

My life of late has been busy and full. Work keeps me busy for five days of the week. Weekends are full of relaxation.

Although that phrasing ~ full of relaxation ~ sounds like an oxymoron, it is not.

The busyness of work is all about performance. Doing my best at a particular set of tasks. The tasks are defined by my superiors with little input from me. Creativity, encouraged on some level, is not always needed, useful or applicable. All that's okay on the job. I like what I do and I keep getting better and better at doing it.

The fullness of the weekend is creativity, which is singularly relaxing. It doesn't matter what I'm doing ~ gardening, walking, visiting with friends, shopping, reading, writing, photography ~ all of that, which encompasses and is encompassed by my creative energy, is relaxing.

While I was out today ~ watching a movie, wandering an art show, walking with a friend ~ I saw the nearly full Moon showing Her face in the daytime sky and snapped a picture. For me, today and often other times, the Moon symbolizes my shifting and creative energy. Any time She poses in the sky, I gladly take Her picture.

What do you enjoy? How do you define relaxation? Does it differ from your job? Where does your creative blossom?

Wolf Medicine

When looking for an energetic focus for the beginning of a new week, I pulled a card from Stone People Medicine. Wolf showed up.

From the book by Manny Twofeathers:
What you can expect from Wolf medicine:

• A dynamic and outgoing personality
• Ability to learn and teach easily
• Good communication
• Strong determination
• Alertness, good sense
• Thoughtfulness toward others

In the Celtic tradition, the Wolf is a source of lunar power. Celtic myths say Wolf would hunt down the sun and devour it at dusk each day so the power of the moon would come forth.

Both of these make sense to me for different reasons. Though in general, I am more at home in solitude, when the teacher/learner side of me surfaces, I can be very dynamic. I wonder what I am setting forth to learn as this week begins. When will it then be incorporated into what I 'teach' or share with others? Hmmm. My curiosity is piqued!

The Celtic Wolf tradition brought a grin to my face ~ perhaps a wolfish grin? ~ because I am, and always have been, enamored of the moon. Drawing Wolf medicine makes so much sense for me. I draw much power, learning and strength from the moon. It has taught me much about the cyclical nature of life ~ fullness through dark night and back again to fullness. The greatest gift has been the realization that each day will be different and fullness will always return. Always.

What does Wolf medicine mean to and for you? What tradition fits your way of being in the world? Is there another animal that attracts you? What is it? Why does it attract you?

First Seeing

To look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.
~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn







I have probably hundreds of pictures of the full moon. Every month, I'm out on my front porch taking more. I've wondered why the full moon attracts me so. Why every time I see it, I pause to look up into the sky with a grin on my face and a gentle "Thank you" on my lips.

For me, the moon represents that whole experience of seeing something anew ~ as though it's the very first time. The moon shifts through phases, just as I do, and in each phase, it's renewed and glorious.

I set my heart on seeing each day with a newness. Every moment fresh with wonder. I know I fall quite short of that desire, yet keeping desire itself in front of me or even beside me or in my pocket, provides the basis for gratitude and seeing as though for the very first time.

When I let it happen, each day, each moment becomes the very first moment.  Each flower, each blade of grass, each cloud reminds me of the grace and beauty of all of Creation. Yet it's not only the beautiful and wonderful that brings me closer to glory. It's the messiness. The scraped knee, the cat's vomit, the lost girl. All the things that afford a different way of connecting with glory ~ that open me up to love and caring.

What keeps you aware of glory? What represents your connection to renewal? How do you keep those moments in front of you?

Returning from New

James Joyce in Ulysses:
Her antiquity in preceding and surviving succeeding tellurian generations: her nocturnal predominance: her satellitic dependence: her luminary reflection: her constancy under all phases, rising and setting by her appointed times, waxing and waning: the forced invariability of her aspect: her indeterminate response to inaffirmative interrogation: her potency over effluent and refluent waters: her power to enamour, to mortify, to invest with beauty, to render insane, to incite to and aid delinquency: the tranquil inscrutability of her visage: the terribility of her isolated dominant resplendent propinquity: her omens of tempest and of calm: the stimulation of her light, her motion and her presence:the admonition of her craters, her arid seas, her silence: her splendour, when visible: her attraction, when invisible.

The incredible language Joyce uses to describe the moon! Many of the words, though gorgeous in the richness of their meaning, are not used in everyday speech. Yet I love the wonder and thoroughness of his description.

The current phase of the moon is waxing toward full ~~ or barely past new ~~ whichever best describes your point of view. I see Her as returning from New ~ as though the sliver of silver that is the moon enchants and captures the imagination, the dream, the heart. I love the moon in every phase ~ "her constancy under all phases" ~ no matter how bright or bold or quiet she is, she is always available for us, always in our night sky, whether we see her or not.

What does the Moon signify to you? What words of James Joyce strike you as the best descriptors? Is there another element of nature to which you are more attracted? What do you find special about it?

T.G.I.F.

What a glorious day! It's the Friday after the Spring Equinox. Daylight is extending itself more and more into the night ~ until it reaches the Summer Solstice. Green is springing up and out all over. Flowers are blooming. What a beautiful time!

It is also the beginning of Spring Break. The day is overflowing with celebration of both Spring and Spring Break. Travel plans begin for many. Others are doing Spring cleaning or gardening or simply relaxing. Most plan to s-t-r-e-t-c-h their winter-weary limbs in the outdoors.

More about the Practice of Lent ~~ the only season in the Christian traditions (for me, specifically Catholic tradition) based entirely on a seasonal quarter. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. So Lent is 40 days before that. Everything guided by the Lady Moon and Spring. I've always loved this season best. Even before I knew how it was determined. I liked that it changed, that it wasn't the same date year after year. But something about the rhythm of when it arrived felt natural and real. Which of course, it is.

How much of your life is based on natural rhythms? How much on artificial ones? How do you celebrate the coming of Spring? and Friday?

Hidden Glow

Did you ever feel as though you were a bright light in hiding? Or that the bright light of your interior self glows between the branches of how you choose to present in the world?

I had a fascinating experience of that today in two separate incidents.
In the first, a colleague took offense at my 'glowing light' as I mentioned a different way of viewing a situation in which the colleague was decidedly invested in personal POV. I found myself undisturbed by the dispute ~ not because I saw myself as 'right' but because I perceived that there were as many differences of opinion as people in the room. I felt open and shining and clear in my intention.
In the second, a different colleague was grateful for my presence at a brainstorming meeting. My input and ideas were appreciated and the flow of discussion was clear as the headwaters of the Metolius River. Crystalline, radiant and boundless.

Where do you find yourself hiding your glow? Where do you find others keeping you in hiding? Is either sense of hiding comfortable? Do you want it to change?

Lunatic, Are We?

The current moon is close to full. This really does look full, doesn't it? In another two days, it will be even larger and rounder. Amazing process to watch when it gets this close!

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the term "lunatic" came from the late 13th century and meant "affected with periodic insanity, dependent on the changes of the moon," from the Old French lunatique, lunage "insane." (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lunatic)

When standing on my lawn or in the middle of the street or on the balcony of a hotel or on a sandy ocean beach, camera in hand, snapping photo after photo of the various phases of Lady Moon, I ponder whether or not I fall under that definition. Personally, Lady Moon is one of my most photographed beings in the galaxy. Almost a year ago, I began taking snapshots of the Lady in her full or nearly full preen. She is absolutely gorgeous! Her poses in the night sky are awe-inspiring and I never tire of staring at Her either in the night or in my pictures.

What natural phenomenon do you like? Do you take pictures of it? Why? How do the pictures influence you?

Saturn's Moons ~ Mimas & Pandora

Saturn moons Mimas & Pandora taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

What a spectacle: Images of the moons of Saturn as well as its rings! How distant this truly is ~ approximately 830.1 million miles! ~ yet how immediate and intimate it appears.

Mimas, the larger of the two and having a visible crater on its right side, was first seen in 1789 by William Herschel. Over 200 years ago, this moon was 'discovered' with a 40-foot telescope. Today, this image comes to us across the span of space from an unmanned craft. More of those enchanting distinctions.

As I reflect on this, I am thoroughly fascinated by the span and intimacy of All That Is. Looking at this image strikes me dumb with awe. Love. Fascination. Awe. Hope. Power. Spaciousness. Vast. Spectacular. So many words flow through my mind. None of them enough. What do you think?

The Day the Earth Smiled ~~ View from Saturn

On July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured Saturn's rings with Earth and its moon in the same frame. Earth, which is 898 million miles (1.44 billion kilometers) away in this image, appears as a blue dot at the center right; the moon is a fainter protrusion off its right side. The other bright dots nearby are stars. Of 323 images, this is the only one that has the Earth-moon system in it.

Imagine that! This is the stuff science fiction stories are made of! Look at that image ~ and the arrow pointing to the itty bitty dot that is us. We look around our world and perceive ourselves as big and important. We create wars to prove who can be more impressive. In the vastness of the Universe, just how much do we matter?

Yet on this little dot of a planet, all our strutting and showmanship matters because this little dot is where we live and have our being. What emotions are stirred up by this image? Moving forward from today, what will you do differently because of them?