Greetings, Starry Eyed ones! I wish upon the brightest star, Tara, that this finds you well and awake!
Personally, I found the Mercury retrograde that is just now, as I type this, turning towards direct movement, very upending! How did you find the month of April and it’s retrograde Season? Did you feel stumped in some area of communication in your life? Was something having to go slower than your ego might have liked? For me, the retrograde transit of Mercury was very much showing it’s double-take in the key area we all have in our charts known as the PUBLIC 10th house of profession and authority and really being in the world, out and loud. I was feeling rather hesitant indeed to write and have published something that entails a fair degree of responsibility (another 10th House concern) in its composition and content and I was even uncertain about pursuing astrology as any kind of profession or publicly professing anything at all! But, whether it is just coincidence or not- as Mercury is now going towards his more direct main street – I find myself miraculously able to emerge and be here with you again.
Before I speak a little more about this muddy lotus lake experience many of us may have felt somewhat overly submerged in rather than blooming in, over the last month, let me just give an important guideline or perhaps even disclaimer.
It is very important that anyone reading this knows that what I am writing here is just my (more flexible than it may appear to be) provisional take on certain astrological factors that I have picked out (among many other factors) and chosen to share a certain perspective on.
It is just that, a way of looking. One color of a stained glass lamp. It may be interesting or relevant to you, and it may not be. It may spark you to inquire within and see for yourself what you are experiencing and what feels best for you. My main intention is to use astrological concepts (yes, it is just concepts and ideas and symbology), to spark your own intuition and common sense and maybe a wish to look into the choices you are making and how you are functioning.
Above all else, I want you to realise the Jewel Within You, and trust your common sense and if this is a jumping off point for you or can help stimulate an insight or assist you in any way I’m glad, but I am handing out grains of salt for you to take as needed as you read. The last thing I want is for you to blindly believe any of this, or anything at all really, or to take any of these concepts as ‘true’ and get fixated on it. It is just a possibility, hold everything with an open palm and see what happens. This proviso goes for anything I say here or in any other post or in a personal reading session with you by Skype. The onus is always, and must always be with you, and only you, to take responsibility for your mind, your words and your actions, this true responsibility and illumination are not held by the planets. Nonetheless, it can be helpful to be open to everything and see what arises. And I pray wholeheartedly that this is of benefit!
Now, if you dare to read on, you have been duly warned. 🙂
Mercury was retrograding back through Aries and into Pisces. So wherever those ruling dignitaries (signs) are placed in your own Natal Chart the shift was from the individual/leader charging forth into new areas, (the Aries factor, eg. me writing these updates for you) perhaps to teach, perhaps to be a warrior for a cause, or to in some way stretch or express or prove oneself’ there was then a change of pace and entire scenery of the play of life into the dreamy, idealistic, collective consciousness of Pisces. Pisces is about the vast all, and the sheer vastness can be quite a feat to ever put into words. Pisces is almost the exact opposite to Aries, being the last sign of the zodiac, she has moved through all the transformative alchemical lessons of every other sign, embodied them and dissolved them and is about no-self and selflessness rather than the healthy or unhealthy ego of the Aries confidence and sometimes foolhardiness. Pisces rules a particular area in all of our personal birth charts, and for me, She rules my 9th house of spirituality, religion, higher learning, things at a seeming distance/foreign travel/ overseas/religious organisations/foreigners/ the divine etc. So I was plunged by Mercury retrograde from the initiatory (Aries) new beginning of starting here at Levekunst into the collective consciousness of the oceanic realm Pisces and my own 9th house. During the planet of questions/curiosity ( Mercury) traveling through Pisces, I found myself scrutinizing whether doing these updates here was valuable or wise at all! All that being said, Mercury is turning direct and will be at his full speed by Mid May, and here I emerge again, to my own surprise, and so do you! Hello!
As mentioned, part of Mercury’s April retrograde happened in Aries. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and tends to be about me first, even though on an exalted level Aries is also the best leader and initiator and we all love Arian ability to enthuse, inspire, propel and fire others into action too, but his journey is bound to actualizing self.
So, where in your own life did you take a new leap of faith (Aries is also the Fool card in Tarot) around the end of March and then had to retreat and rethink a whole lot of things? Where did you take a gung-ho step and then somehow feel a door (outside or inside) close, maybe for a while, maybe for good while you took time to consider the larger whole and the greater good and the true compassion and wisdom of your actions and your moves ahead (mercury retrograding in Pisces). Where did you almost feel like just throwing it in and escaping (Pisces), where did you instead attempt to orient yourself to transcending selfish whims (Pisces), where and how did you and do you drown your sorrows for a bit? How are you emerging from that now?
What have you learned from April’s fun and games, or lack of them? What are you making of the things/people/ideas/inner qualities that surprisingly returned into your life in April? Are you feeling like you are coming back from a bit of a murky wetland onto shore/surer? Welcome ! Well-done!
The New Moon in April on the 26th steadily plods it’s Ox hoofs into May
We come into May on the back of the Ox-led Wagon of a Taurus New Moon on April 26th. This is a wonderful assistant to getting us more grounded and more practical as we enter May. If ever there was a sign of being on Earth and making the very best and most of it, it is Taurus, in all of her Venusian Sensory Loving Glory. Taurus WANTS us to build. Taurus wants us to gather and accumulate, the meaningful question for us all to ask now in the spring of this New Moon is, what do I truly wish to accumulate and gather, what do I truly wish to build? I am reminded of some wise words by Lama Rangbar at this point from a retreat he gave and I took part in during April:
This is not just a one-week affair.This is something you will develop and build. It’s like building a stupa inside yourself; this is your enlightenment you’re building, so you’re going to take this everywhere you go- including after you pass away. This is the view of more than one lifetime. And the building of enlightenment is the only thing you can take with you.
~Lama Rangbar
“If one’s heart doesn’t open in life- by whatever means, what is the point of living?
Seeming pain might not be pain if we face it and open to it. It might be the greatest bliss.
If we can’t find a way to be humble and open, we will never be able to melt into the arms of love.
And if we can’t melt into the arms of love we will always believe our pain and we will always shrink from bliss.
So there is this essential playful still dance between of humility and openness and grace- uniting beyond all duality.
Last night I was shown by the unspeakably immense kindness, that what I have been taking as pain might well be my resistance to the most enlightening bliss.
And that it is all the way I chose to perceive /misperceive or label … And I dropped the labels and opened to true devotion.
Then I saw how samsara and nirvana are the same taste.
I cannot describe the bliss of opening to pain I have been so adverse to all my life/lives. “
Shortly, I will tell you about a very significant North Nodal Shift we will all be experiencing, but before that let me touch in on the very special Full Moon of May and then the New Moon of May. These events each month are key clues to the culmination of energy used in the best way (full) and fresh bursts of intention, energy, and action (new) viewed through the astrological lens, in order to help orient ourselves harmoniously with the universe.
Sacred Full Moon of May ~ Happy Wesak
We are heading towards a Full Moon in Scorpio the 10th which is also the Full Moon Celebrating Buddha’s Birth Death and Enlightenment (Wesak). While Buddha’s Wesak always falls on the Full Moon while the Sun travels through the sign of Taurus, the Full Moon is always hanging out in a different sign each year during this time. This year for Wesak, the Moon shows her fullness in the underworldly sign of Scorpio, the sign where we face our own seeming darkness with most courage and even relish. Scorpio is the traditional archetype governing Life-Death-Life (sometimes called Lady Death or Skeleton Woman). Scorpio deals with yoga in the deepest of senses (not the shallow yoga studio or selfie on social media sense) and Scorpio is the great detective, delving into all mysteries, seeker of the real truth and nothing but the real truth – so help me god, no rug left unturned, no bullshit unseen. The Scorpion be the exorcist of clouded and seemingly poisonous states, revealing and protecting pure truth and the enlightened activity potential in all of us but usually mistaken for and labeled as ordinary emotions.
To realize this, however, one needs a fervent longing and dedication to a genuine method, tradition and a reliable Teacher who can guide us in such treacherous terrain. If we don’t have that yet, we can at least make aspirations to find such real providence in the future. Without an authentic practice and path and teacher we cannot possibly awaken like the Buddha awoke on this full moon we commemorate even now, over 2,500 years later on this Holy Day of Wesak. All the Buddhas of every Eon have relied on a Teacher, Path, and Practice. Of all the signs, this poem by Rumi, to his own precious Teacher, Shams of Tabriz, could have been written for Scorpio (or that which is Scorpionic within each and every one of us, our own awakening possibility.)
You come to us from another world;
From beyond the stars and a void of space
Transcendent, pure – of unimaginable beauty.
Bringing with You the essence of love.
You transform all who are touched by You –
Mundane concerns, troubles, and sorrows dissolve in Your presence
Bringing joy to ruler & ruled, to peasants and kings.
You bewilder us with Your grace;
All evil is transformed into goodness.
You are the Master Alchemist!
You light the fire of Love in earth & sky,
In heart & soul of every being.
Through Your loving, existence & non-existence merge –
All opposites unite –
All that is profane becomes sacred again.
~Rumi
This bodes well for such an auspicious day honoring full enlightenment! For without the courage to ‘go to the places that scare you’ (Machig Labdrön – enlightened Yogini), there is no chance for the liberation of self and others. A great meditation for us all leading into and upon this holy Full Moon is:
Approach what you find repulsive.
Help those you think you cannot help.
Anything you are attached to, give that.
Go to the places that scare you.
NEW MOON OF MAY in the Trickster Fast Talker of Gemini
The May 2017 New Moon is on 26th of May (my late mother’s birthday actually, may she be well and well-loved wherever she is now). This New Moon will beckon us towards new life (new moons always do) in the area of gathering information and imparting it in every way possible, messages of all kinds will come to light and be moving around in swift and most likely entertaining fashion on the Mercurial winged feet of Gemini. We will need to watch for information overload and communications that verge on superficial and unimportant (try to avoid gossip!) – we will need to use the brightness of mind that comes with this time to really work out what we want to communicate and how we want to communicate to get the message across absolutely best heading into June, and then we will be rewarded with transmitting this communication/communion with a sparkle in our eyes (charm and wit is a Geminian hallmark).
From this New Moon and through late May into June, it will be a highly favourable time for launching new websites, sending all those emails, having all kinds of talks, exciting ideas, meeting with people, (unless Gemini rules your 12th Natal house of retreat, in that case, all your communications will be behind scenes and through the realm of dreams and meditative pursuits and secret talks, but you can always consult me to see where Gemini dwells in your birth chart). For most of us, we will be wanting to be getting the word out and around, communications may almost be coming in thicker and faster than we can manage (but try just to enjoy it and stay focused and well motivated) Gemini is probably the best relayer and spreader of news, if that is what you are wishing for, launch such intentions and activities now and onward!
NORTH NODE SHIFT OF SIGN Heralding a BIG CHANGE OF STYLE, FOCUS, FEELING, and EXPRESSION
The North node in your personal astrological natal chart is very significant as far as it’s clear suggestions about the potential and hidden talents and direction you would be best to put the greatest energy into in this lifetime for your overall benefit and the benefit of others. It is not always what we are comfortable with following or orienting ourselves to, however, as our South Node exacts a very strong pull from possible past lives of what we are more accustomed to and what we have already built acknowledged strengths in and also established habits, and habits can trick us in many ways. Our North Node is less familiar but it is also like a whispered calling from life, that if we were to answer it and start stepping more in that direction we would find ourselves potentially more aligned with universal flow and grow in ways we could never have imagined if we stayed stuck in what we seem to know all so well (our South Node).
As there is a natal north node, particular to each individual, there is always a collective North Node transit happening. For the last 18 months, we have all been experiencing life under the North Node, the guiding light if you will, of Virgo.
This has been a much more mentally focused time, and sometimes stiflingly perfectionistic towards self and in our expectations of others. Being critical is a shadow side of Virgo, but its light side is service and patience and hard work. It is the sign more than any other that knows the value of being an apprentice and slowly working towards Mastery. It is the sign where the archetypes of the nurse, the cleaner, the naturopath, the dutiful secretary, the good friend, the craftsman, the student, the excellent service provider are found. Virgo has a heart of gold but asks no reward or attention for that, usually being humble and even a little shy.
Now we are moving into Leo North Node, collectively, on May 9th for 18 Months. In many ways, this is quite different to Virgo. It is also the heart gold, but out loud and proud. And Leo is all about heart, we are moving into a less mentally oriented time into a more emotional and perhaps even more egoistic time. Leo is not humble. Leo is proud and Leo wants attention and acknowledgment and a pride of cubs around to both lavish it’s generosity and warmth on, but also to be lavished in return.
Leo will be asking us over the next 18th months, ‘ yes, but what does my heart say/want?’. And it will be quite keen to have that.
Leo also is a sign of honor though, so it will probably go about its heartful messages and performances and desires with a degree of regalness, splendor, and radiance because the Lion is ruled by the sun.
Upholding our honor in whatever way that is meaningful for each of us will be quite a theme these 18 months, as will confidence or our difficulties with confidence. Being righteous about this honor (let us pray there will be no wars waged under the false guise of honor) and being overly dominating at times may be something we need to watch for. Yet in the ways in which we need to open into enjoying our talent and leadership capacities as well as our playfulness and child-like magicalness, Leo North Node will be very supportive for all. Given Leo is solar, we will be wanting to come out from backstage a little more and find the ways we enjoy shining. For some, this will feel very challenging to step up onto stage or to bare our hearts more, but this is what Leo will call forth with his roar within us. We will also feel a great responsibility to individually use our voice. Given the current world situation which some may say is at a crisis point, this may be a very fortunate and timely Nodal Shift for us all if we use our voices in the service of wisdom and not mere personal gain.
How this North Node shift affects YOU will be based on your own personal birth chart, and in particular what your ascendant sign (rising sign) is which is based on your birth time. If you would like to understand what area of your life will be most impacted by this Collective North Node shift and also look into your own personal Natal North Node and what indicates as far as your own life direction and it’s best paths of fruition, you may like to have an astrological Skype session with me or consult another astrology practitioner. It is well worth having some understanding of this.
What will we choose to Roar about? Ourselves? Our family (our pride), will we be overcome by vanity and nepotism or will we stand for something noble? These are the philosophical questions of the Lion.
May we all look towards the Lion Roar of Truth and Love and bring it forth in our own unique (Leo is a sign of individuality) sovereign ways for the benefit of all.
In closing this article, I would like to ask all of our hearts, do we really need to be liked and validated? ( A strong incline of the Leo makeup is a huge hunger for admiration and adoration and validation- the more the better. And what this will mean for certain political situations in the world will be interesting and potentially even more concerning to witness.)
For this big change over in celestial weather of Nodes, a need to be liked or celebrated at large in some fashion will come out of its shadow parts of the personal and collective psyche and shown the light of day. I make a small prediction here that such manifestations as reality tv celebrity and social media celebrity and political leader celebrity will reach its ( possibly utterly and totally ridiculous and somewhat devastating ) apex during this Leo North Node 18 Month period. But that after a year and a half we will see a disillusioned move away from it when the North Node moves into the sensitive and, home-loving,and nurturing nurturing sign of Cancer. When that happens people will be less interested in drama and more interested than ever in taking care of everything held dear.
I will share a fragment of something I wrote to myself today, which may or may not be helpful:
Sometimes we need to shake off our own thoughts like a dog shaking off water after a swim. The only thing upsetting us most of time is believing our own negative thoughts are true. We should be way more suspicious of our thoughts, and whether they seem glorious and sublime or terribly worrying, both are equally water on dogs backs. That is why it is a practice, a training, we need to get familiar with this letting be of all thoughts and not grabbing on to any or pushing away, small approaches to this, often. Ongoing. If people don’t validate our thoughts and emotions we can think they don’t understand, we can think they are stupid or don’t care, but that is not necessarily true at all!
They may be helping us more than we realize.
Good luck, dear Starry friends, and enjoy the coming of the Lion’s Roar within and around our Precious Earth!
And with blessings, I will be back with you next month.