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New Moon in Virgo I Ching Divination
Yesterday, September 5, 2013 at 7:38 AM Eastern time, the moon aligned with the sun in the astrological sign of Virgo. Of course this alignment is what happens when we have a new moon every 29 days or so. And whether or not you “believe” in astrology, there is no denying that the moon in its tracks and phases across our night skies has a profound influence on the planet and us. I pay close attention to the movement of the moon; I enjoy correlating its movements with its influences.
If you have been following this blog for a while you know that on each New Moon I cast an I Ching Gua, a 6-line hexagram of either solid (yang) or broken (yin) lines. There are 64 possible arrangements of these 6 lines into Gua. And there are many books and guides to assist in the interpretation of the intelligence contained in these 6-line arrangements. I use The Complete I Ching, The Definitive Translation by Taoist Master Alfred Huang.
For this New Moon in Virgo I cast this Gua:
Its name is Ding, which Master Huang interprets as “Establishing the New.” This hexagram follows a Gua that means “Abolishing the Old.” Essentially the meaning here is a new and stable situation must be established after over-turning the old status quo. For example in the event of a political revolution, as happened in China when the I Ching was codified, a new government had to be established to stabilize and manage the country.
So, what does this mean today, for us, and how does it inform the energies and influences we can expect in the coming weeks?
Both Rosemary and I have mentioned in our blogs that we are in the process of reviewing and restructuring our businesses. This is very much in line with our recent move and our need to reestablish all our possessions into their new home. In many ways we are “establishing the new” as Ding suggests. And this is certainly what a New Moon calls for. With the turning of the moon it is good to let go of things (objects, parts of businesses, relationships, habits, practices) that no longer serve us. The waning moon time is a great time for “house cleaning.” Then with the arrival of the New Moon it is good to bring in the new and fresh, whether these are ideas, processes, practices and even new things for the household.
I consider the casting of Ding for this month as very auspicious. It confirms exactly what we are in the middle of doing. It offers us the supporting energy to move through this process of assessment and then “establishing the new.” And the mutual Gua is exactly in line with what we are doing. The mutual Gua is formed by using the middle lines to form a new Gua, so the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines become the lower trigram and the 3rd, 4th and 5th lines become the upper trigram. This yields the new Gua, Guai, or “Eliminating.” According to Master Huang the mutual Gua contains a hidden meaning for deeper interpretation of the original Gua. And “Eliminating” is certainly in line with this directive to “establishing the new.” We are eliminating everything that no longer serves us, both for our household and our businesses. Those items and processes that no longer serve are not needed, in fact would only weaken, “establishing the new.”
For the initial Gua all the lines were strong, which means none of them were changing lines. This can be inauspicious because it points to a period of stagnation; there is no forward progress. But I am looking at this as a time for stabilization. I am glad there are no changing lines in this cast; after all the changes of the past month I am looking forward to this period of stability!
With this New Moon in Virgo and this particular I Ching divination, are there parts of your life that need to be examined, things to eliminate that no longer serve you, processes or practices that need to be reestablished? This is a good time for this review. The Moon’s energies and the energies of this time will support you through “establishing the new”!
Happy Birthday to YOU!!! – Richard’s Commentary
And I can also say Happy Birthday to the Moon today! She is new in Virgo. This just occurred at 7:38 am Eastern time.
Do you celebrate the New Moon each “moonth”? Are you aware of the phases of the moon and her travels through the night sky? The Ancients paid a great deal of attention to this goddess of the heavens. She lighted the way of night travelers, guided the seasons and times to plant, provided a calendar, effected tides and seafaring, and offered a rhythm to life and the basis of myth and wonder.
From modern research we know that life would be very different, if it existed at all, if it weren’t for our moon. Her influence on the planet and our lives is profound. So, I pay a lot of attention to her phases and my interaction with her. If you’ve been reading my posts for a while you’ll know, for example, that I cast an I Ching Gua (a hexagram of yin and yang lines) at each new moon to divine an energy for the up-coming month. (I’ll post that tomorrow.) I also celebrate the new moon as a new beginning, as a birthday of sorts, very much in keeping with Rosemary’s message this week. So, on this new moon day consider her advice:
Happy Birthday to YOU!!! Today is your birthday. You get to choose who you are today, right now, in this moment. You don’t even have to be the same as you were when you woke up this morning. OR you can decide that you like the YOU who woke up and you re-decide to celebrate YOU! Either way, it’s your birthday today.
It is a good time to start something new. I’m going to plant some fall vegetables in my garden today. And Rosemary and I are going to review our business plan and model to determine what’s working and what can be improved. It’s a new day as well as a new moon!
And this new moon is in the sign of Virgo. This too has special meaning. A dear friend and astrologer, Gloria Hesseloff, titled in her newsletter for the New Moon: Work is Love made Visible, using a line from a poem by Kahil Gibran. The Virgo Moon calls us to a higher work. Gloria writes:
Virgo energy challenges you to release any obstacles to finding your sacred work. Integrating this goal with the radical changes that Pluto and Uranus are demanding of us right now, ask yourself, “What changes do I need to make to my daily life routines and patterns (Virgo attributes) so I can be an instrument of the Divine?
Virgo energy asks you to become highly competent in a skill that is of value to others. Then generously offer it as your high service. Your specific gifts are truly needed at this significant moment in history.
Today is your birthday! Celebrate with me as I celebrate this New Moon and “the first day of the rest of my life”! We are always at choice. I choose to make my love visible through my work.
New Moon in Leo I Ching Divination
The New Moon in Leo occurred on Tuesday, August 6 at 5:51 pm EDT this year. We had completed the heavy lifting of our move to Severna Park the day before. We were united with all of our stuff for the first time in over two years. Of course we didn’t know where everything was yet (still don’t) as the job of sorting and searching, finding places for things and finalizing what we need and what we can store or purge in another round of down-sizing proceeds. As we look at the stacks and array of boxes to be opened and managed the task seems daunting.
With this background it is no surprise that I cast a highly appropriate initial Gua for the month ahead! At least I was able to find my yarrow stalks and my current favorite “bible” on the I Ching, Alfred Huang’s The Complete I Ching.
Here is the hexagram I cast as the starting point:
Notice it is made up of two identical trigrams; the name in Chinese is Dui or Lake in English. Master Huang says this word means something more like a swamp or marsh, similar to rice paddies. When put together the hexagram is also named Dui. The meaning of the hexagram is Joyful.
Notice that the initial, lowest line has a circle in the middle of it; this was cast as a nine and means it is the changing line for this Gua; it changes from a yang, closed line to a yin, open line yielding a new Gua with a very different meaning. So, as the month opens I have a joyful period to experience. I equate this to the joy of being reunited with all my stuff, of setting up a new household where everything is where I want it to be, even those items that need to be stored or purged. Rosemary and I are both in a state of great joy that we now have a new home to both live in and work from.
The specific meaning of the changing line gives another layer of meaning; the yao text refers to “inner harmony” as the basis for joy. This is excellent advice. Yes, while all the surroundings are lining up to bring joy, the primary source of joy is always inside. As long as I remain harmonious inside, all the boxes and frustration of sorting and deciding can remain incidental to the overall state of being joyful.
How are you being joyful this August? Seek inner harmony and all external circumstances can drop away.
Now for the approached gua, the one formed when the initial yao changes from yang to yin:
This is Kun or Exhausting. No surprise here! After the strenuous move and all the sorting, deciding, arranging and purging I do expect to experience a level of exhaustion. This gua also refers to other resources, like money. It will be easy to over-spend as we are joyful about settling in and enjoying our new spaces.
Symbolically, the lower trigram moved from Lake to Kan or Water. With Water under Lake the lake drains away, resources diminish.
According to Master Huang, the Sage rides out these periods of low energy and drained resources, realizing this time too shall pass. The advice here is conserve what little energy remains. Go inside to consider next moves. Wait out the period of exhaustion; there will be plenty of opportunity ahead.
How do you deal with exhausting states? The advice of this gua is to conserve and wait.
As another note the mutual gua for Kun is Jia Ren or Household! The mutual gua holds additional meaning for the reading. I am again not surprised that Household comes up; for me at this time my household is both the source of joy and exhaustion!
How is your household bringing you both joyful and exhausting experiences?
Cancer New Moon I Ching Divination
The New Moon in Cancer was Monday morning, 3:15 am Eastern Daylight Time on July 8, 2013. And as I like to do, I cast a Gua, an I Ching hexagram (6-line figure) to determine what the energies will be like during this next moon cycle, for the next 29 or so days. (The next Full Moon is on July 22nd, at 2:16 pm; and the Leo New Moon is on August 6th, at 5:52 pm).
For this divination I use the yarrow stalk method and I use Toaist Master Alfred Huang’s The Complete I Ching to help me with the interpretation of the Gua.
The divination on Monday yielded a complicated picture: the numbers I cast, from initial (bottom) to top were 6, 9, 8, 8, 8, 9. The hexagram this generates is pictured here:
The initial 6, and the two nines at positions two and six are all changing lines. This indicates a lot of change coming during the month – great potential for transformation. Master Huang’s advice when given three changing lines is to read the middle line only to simply the interpretation. The initial gua then is Meng which Master Huang translates as “Childhood.” The interpretation of this initial hexagram indicates the month begins with the innocence of childhood. Wisdom is covered or hidden and needs to mature. There is good energy in youth; strong energy to gain and grow in insight and ultimately wisdom. The image of the gua is of water flowing out of a mountain, or a fresh spring. There is vitality in this initial hexagram.
Then the second 9 (middle changing line), a weak yang line become a yin line. This generates a new, accomplished gua composed of five yin lines and a yang line at position six. The accomplished gua is pictured here as Bo, “Falling Away”:
The image of this hexagram is Mountain over Earth and represents a top-heavy, unstable and unsustainable situation. Energies may be fluctuating later in the month.
The key here then is to shore up the erosion and regain some stability. Support will be required; be prepared to ask for help.
Another key is to trust in the transforming energies. We’ve known for some time now that 2013 is a year for great transformation. And the only way forward toward transformation is through the gateway of change, of instability. Awareness and preparation of our energies here is vital to moving through the transformation process as smoothly as possible.
The bottom line for me is to be prepared for the coming changes and also, going back to the “innocence of youth”, trust in the outcome.
PS: Here is another form of divination, and a great way to prepare of coming changes! Rosemary’s next Conversation with The Other Side is scheduled for this Saturday, July 13. It promises to be another wonderful evening. For a sample of the depth and detail of the messages you can expect to hear, she has posted some samples on her website: Sample Messages. Go to the link to hear and see how this works and how you can benefit with messages from The Other Side! Attendance is easy from any where in the world! Get the details here
The Heart of Humanity – Richard’s Commentary
Yesterday’s post was a message, as channeled by Rosemary, from The Divine Feminine. There is little I can say that will enhance their powerful message. But I do want to offer some thoughts and examples, perhaps in my way to amplify the message.
My first thought in encountering the words of The Divine Feminine comes from my training and work in indigenous cultures and their understanding of this “Heart” especially as it relates to ancestors. We, as living humans, stand on the bones of our ancestors; but their hearts beat right beside our own. Many of you know Rosemary as a medium who can speak directly to our ancestors, those who have transitioned in the near past and even ancestors from generations past. They are right here with us! So, when The Divine Feminine speak of The Heart of Humanity and say: “This is not about the individual heart of a single person but, rather, the collective heart of the humans both alive and in spirit” they include our ancestors in this Heart. Why is this important? They are right here with us, watching us, cheering us on. So often their messages through Rosemary are words of pride in our achievements, words of encouragement to continue to learn the lessons and evolve, words of comfort that they are with us! Their hearts beat within The Heart of Humanity just as ours do. Live and love within this energy!
My second reaction to the message is a recall of a divination card I often receive from the Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue, PhD. Maat is a Goddess in the deck that 
carries the message of “fairness.” (I’ve pictured the card here.) The key to understanding the message of this card is in the definition Dr. Virtue offers for fairness: “It’s when all parties involved surrender their personal agendas in favor of the greater good for the entirety of the group. This requires trust in the wisdom of the group.” And I add this requires trust in The Heart of Humanity.
I like this definition of fairness a lot. And it is little wonder that I receive this card a lot! What if our justice system were based on fairness: what’s good for everyone, the common good? How did The Divine Feminine put it? – “For the good of all.” With no qualifiers. We are all in this together. Sometimes we may not like this inclusive approach to “all.” But we are all members of The Heart of Humanity!
My third thought goes to our “community supported agriculture” (CSA) farm. As I write this, today is pick-up day. Each week we get a box of organic produce fresh from the fields. During this past winter we purchased a family share in the farm. Now we are getting our return on that investment. We paid our local organic farmer in advance and now receive a share. This share means we are part of a community, part of the common good; and we are sharing now in the results, good harvest or poor harvest (and so far it’s been very good!); we share the benefit as well as the risk. Our community farm is part of The Heart of Humanity.
The Heart of Humanity is about our Ancestors and what they worked hard for, it’s about fairness, and it’s about sharing in the common good. I hope you are enjoying your share in this Heart!
PS: Come speak with your ancestors! They are alive in The Heart of Humanity. Your next opportunity to participate in a Conversation with The Other Side is July 13 at 7:00 pm Eastern. You can join the Conversation online via a video internet connection, or voice/phone; and if you can come to Annapolis, join Rosemary live! Get the details here.
The Cycles of Life
This week’s theme in Rosemary’s blog was Cycles beginning with her video message on Tuesday. Yesterday I wrote about the primary cycle in human life, human consciousness: Death. And as we move now into the energy of the Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere I am once again reminded of all the cycles that occur in our lives, from the most minute, the life and death of a single cell (we lose more than 50 billion a day to apoptosis!) to the solar cycle through solstices and equinoxes and all the solar holidays in-between, to human death.
As I thought about Glenn Smith, his early-in-life transition (he was only 55) I drew two divination cards (a daily practice, usually with the intention of divining the energy for the day); I wanted to tap in and see if Glenn had any messages for me through the cards.
First I drew Butterfly Maiden from the Doreen Virtue Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards. No surprise as this card is all about “transformation.” This is what I wrote about the card, pictured here:
Death is the big transformation for humans, only rivaled in grandeur and trauma by birth. And in a sense these largest of events in our experience of consciousness are one and the same. They are each part of the human cycle, a circle which has no end nor beginning. Birth, Life, Death, around we go always becoming, renewing, rejoicing in the knowing! And not knowing!
The second card I drew was from the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck; it was the 10 of Disks, “wealth.” This is what I wrote about the 10, pictured here:
Wealth. Fulfillment. The completion of human goals. Another “end-vibration” card showing me that endings are not only OK but need to be expected. We can never be sure when a life is fulfilled. Too often endings are abrupt and unexpected. A greater cycle, beyond human consciousness and understanding – the mystery – is playing out. We are but cycles within cycles adding our ounce of Oneness to the tidal ocean of consciousness. Rest, Glenn. We hold your ounce as precious!
We can measure so many cycles: the cycle of a cell’s life, the cycle of the sun as it appears to spin around the earth. But how do we measure the cycle of a man’s life? The span of time from birth to death, to fulfillment of one life, remains in the mystery. Yet there is so much to learn from each precious life.
I learned many things from Glenn in our too short friendship. He was such a gentle man and yet so deeply conscious. Read about him in the blog we wrote together: powerfulsensitivemen.com. And here’s something he wrote for Rosemary I want to share:
Having always thought I was a bit odd and different from the regular crowd, I was overjoyed to receive a message passed to me through Rosemary Bredeson that I was indeed ‘different’, during a group session I attended. In fact every message she passed to the twelve people gathered had some impact on me. The message I received could not have been more relevant for me even though I have had many readings by many different psychics over many years. Her joyful way of expressing heartfelt messages from The Other Side was a delight to witness.
This is how Glenn was in life; he always seemed overjoyed and delighted!
I went to my Svaroopa Yoga class tonight energized as I often am to take respite in my body, to bring my consciousness to my physical being rooted as I am in this life for now on the planet. For the evening’s contemplation my teacher used a quote from Aristotle:
Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.
Glenn was a happy man, passing to another phase of consciousness having fulfilled his purpose in this cycle on Planet Earth.
I Ching Gua for the New Moon in Gemini
It is my Mom’s birthday today; June 10, 1924. She would have been 89 had she lived beyond 83 years. She was a Gemini. My natal moon is in Gemini, always a sweet relationship having a moon in mother’s sun sign.
We had a New Moon in Gemini on June 8 at 11:58 am Eastern time. And with the New Moon I like to cast an I Ching Gua to get a sense of the energies for the upcoming moonth, the next 29 days or so. The initial Gua this moonth is Lü which means fulfillment according to Alfred Huang in his The Complete I Ching. This Gua is related to shoes and walking. For me it means “stepping out” into one’s duty, calling, purpose. And in a large way I have begun to step out. I’m off to a really good start with my two Qigong classes which I kicked off in the past week. I don’t have large groups yet, but they are already growing and the paying participants are more than covering my costs. I’m happy with these results. I also related in posts last week that I am no longer hiding my talents and my accumulated skills and wisdom. Now is a good time to move firmly into action, fulfillment and purpose.
How are you stepping out into your purpose? The energies of this moonth will support you as you do, especially during the first part of the period.
Note that the fifth line of the initial Gua is a changing line: the nine, yang line, changes to a yin line. This creates the approached Gua: Kui, which 
means Diversity according to Master Huang. This change impacts the energies and brings a cautionary note with it: the fifth position in the Gua is a yang position, which is proper, strong; its change to a yin line may bring adversity: being steadfast and holding to purpose rigidly can lead to adversity.
That said, in diversity there can be great harmony with the proper attitude. Find common ground on the big things and all the little differences will blend and disappear. In diversity there can be great strength.
How do you handle diversity in your life? Do you resist change? Do you back down from confrontation?
So as the moonth unfolds watch for the shifts from “fulfillment” to “diversity.” This may mean a strong purposeful beginning to the moonth with a gradual shift as the energies change to scatter that directed energy and bring about diversity. And as this happens watch for the opportunities for harmony, the strengths in diversity rather than the oppositions. Hold to an attitude of cooperation and resist the temptation for stubborn resistance. There will always be differences as long as there are two or more humans involved in any issue. Blend the small differences because they are inconsequential; harmonize the major differences and gain strength from the symphony of ideas!
Have a beautiful Moonth!
PS: Qigong continues this evening, Monday, June 10 at 7:00 pm. If you are in the area of Annapolis/Severna Park, Maryland, please join me: Details here.
I Ching Cast for the New Moon in Taurus; May 9, 2013
Yes, it’s Monday, but since I published a “Sunday Poem” for Mothers’ Day yesterday, I am publishing my “moonthly” I Ching reading for the Taurus New Moon (and solar eclipse) that occurred last Thursday evening (8:29 pm EDT).
As I enjoy doing on, or shortly after the New Moon, I cast a Gua, a hexagram, for the I Ching to see what the yarrow stalks had to tell me about the energies for the up-coming moonth. For me this helps put me in a frame of anticipation as I calmly manipulate the yarrow stalks to generate the 6 Yao, or lines, of the Gua. And, after the power of this New Moon, which included a solar eclipse, I really needed both calming and anticipation!
The hexagram I cast was Fu which means “Turning Back” in The Complete I Ching translated by Taoist Master Alfred Huang.
Note that the third line is a six, a greater yin line which means it’s a moving line. The energy of the moonth may begin with Fu, but the moving line generates a new Gua when the third line moves to a yang line. The new Gua and therefore the new energy coming in during the moonth is symbolized by the hexagram Ming Yi which means “Brilliance Injured.”
“Turning Back” is about the cycles of life. Everything turns and returns. Dawn follows the night. The Decision for this Gua is positive and ends with “Favorable to have somewhere to go.”
As I look at this in the greater context of the New Moon/Solar Eclipse I can see positive change coming as the result; the expected transformation is in its early stages of unfolding. The “turning back” is part of a cycle that may be repeating but the cycle is more like a spiral that rises with each dawn. There is a direction to the cycle: favorable to have somewhere to go!
There is a concern expressed here in the third yao, the changing line: the Yao Text for the third six (greater yin) is “Repeatedly turning back. Adversity. No fault. This “turning back” feels like spinning wheels. No progress can be made this way. And while this sense of being stuck may be excusable (no fault) I am glad to receive this warning that there could be some “wheel-spinning” energy the early part of this moonth.
There is a Chinese saying that helps with my understanding of “Brilliance Injured”: “tao guang yang hui” which means “hide one’s light and abide one’s time.” Here too is a message about the energy of the moonth: it might be wise to keep one’s head down and exercise patience. Yes, change is coming; the lower trigram is Li or Fire. But fire is under the upper trigram, Kun or Earth. This is like sunset; the light is hidden under the darkness, below the earth’s horizon. There may be some darkness, some shadow energy hidden in the change energy this moonth.
The advice I have taken from this divination is “don’t let the darkness extinguish the light; just turn your light down a notch and remain steadfast and upright. Remember the “turning back” – the sun will rise again.
There is one more piece of good news in this accomplished gua, Ming Yi: its mutual gua is Jie, Relief. Biding one’s time does lead to relief!
Have a good moonth and keep your head down!
Spiritual Practices: from Qigong to Prayer
The theme for the week has been Spiritual Practices, so I thought it would be good to close out the week with a laundry list of the possible. I’ll offer as examples my current practices that I do on a regular basis:
Qigong: Daily. I’m spending anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes every day doing either 5-Element Form or Jeff Primack’s Level 1 Form (which I’m also certified to teach and will be starting my classes very soon).
Yoga: At least every other day, at least 20 minutes. I also just returned from my Svaroopa Yoga class with my good friend Dharma, an excellent teacher. This is nearly a two hour class each week in this new to me style of gentle, yet very effective (I can feel tonight’s work already!) yoga.
Morning Pages: Daily. I write three long-hand pages every day in the style recommended by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I find this practice to be incredibly grounding, a way to purge, a way to jump start the day, a way to record feelings, events, dreams, visions, plans, hopes, basically just about anything that comes to mind (or heart). I sometimes channel consciousness that just comes.
Poetry: I often write a poem or two through each week. I publish one here on the blog every Monday. And I read poetry often. I love this other-dimensional way of writing and expressing.
Divination: Daily. Currently I draw two cards, one from the Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue, and one from the Crowley Tarot Thoth Deck. I use these cards to get an intuitive sense of the energies of the day. I write a page of notes about what they mean to me and how they relate to one-another.
As another form of divination, on new moons I cast an I Ching Gua for the moonth to gain intuitive insight on the energies for the upcoming moon cycle.
Chanting: I wrote in yesterday’s post about Mantra Meditation. I do this frequently, currently daily following Deva Premal & Miten’s 21-Day Journey.
These are my current daily practices. I spend about two hours each morning on these practices. And I consider them all forms of prayer. They are definitely forms of an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication. (from the Wikipedia definition of prayer).
OK, I may be stretching a point a bit here, but the “spiritual entity” I communicate with is the Universe, Source, the All, and other ways of expressing or labeling something greater than I and yet also inside me!
I do sometimes wonder if I am over-doing it; if I am spending too much time at my practices. But they do serve me in many ways. I feel we are all on a path of expansion, evolution and transformation. Why else bother with all these sometimes hard lessons we keep encountering and, hopefully, learning! My practices help me through the changes, support my struggles, offer ways to feel my feelings, stretch my intuitive sensibilities, open me to embrace the greatness of human consciousness and the Divine Consciousness that is there for immediate access if we sharpen our methods to encounter and listen to the wisdom available.
How much time is this worth? For me it is priceless. Maybe I am not devoting enough time to my practices!
Enjoy your weekend. Find time to practice!
ARIES and the I Ching for the “Moonth”
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my post yesterday. Is there a conflict between all the energies in the House of Aries and the I Ching which seems to be urging caution? I’ve received more astrological guidance and I’ll be sharing some of my musings on this conjunction of these energies.
First a “word” from dear friend, teacher and intuitive astrologer, Chris Largent, about Aries:
1. Spring is expansive, so it’s a great time to get out and celebrate. The winter brought with it unconscious and other-dimensional processes, and we worked hard – usually without knowing it. So, we need to rest and have fun. The symbols now are particularly good for getting out in nature – any kind of nature.
2. The ‘Big Transition’ aspect is back and will be with us through early 2014. Since this symbolizes a shake-up in collective consciousness, we may feel an urgency or an awakening relative to our destinies as culture changers.
In fact, a combination of present aspects symbolizes the Big Kid in us going out to play, the Contemplative Adult reflecting quietly, AND the Serious Change-Agent breaking free of oppressive programming to help liberate the world. This gives all of us plenty to do.
3. As a result, we may also experience a tension between the old world and the new one, out there where “the wind blows” and “wild things run.” We may feel an inner resistance to leaving the “medieval fort” of conventionality. And we may even find apparently good reasons for clinging to the old when new ways of being confront us – which they do constantly now.
So, it’s a time to be alert to our resistance and our destinies – along with resting and playing.
And here is more from Gloria Hesseloff, especially about that “medieval fort” image Chris conjures:
“The New Moon in Aries focuses on the energies of the Divine Masculine, which is very different from the patriarchy. … Energetically, this feels like a fortuitous time to invoke the Sacred Masculine to join forces with the Divine Feminine in putting a powerful hold on the old, less evolved, dominating patriarchy that has abused Mars/Aries energy with war and violence.
- Aries is ruled by Mars. Evolved Mars is more a protector than an aggressor.
- Mars is considered the Warrior.
- Let us be Warriors for Higher Consciousness…Peaceful Warriors, Spiritual Warriors, Wise Warriors, Spirit in Action.
- We can generate an “energy field” that contains the heart & soul of the Warrior.
- This can be sent to areas around the world to promote peace.
- This field can be applied to our daily lives where we courageously go after what we desire. This is the time to be the hero or heroine in your own life!”
And then there is the I Ching energy of “encounter” (especially with young, energetic women) and “retreat.” Note that for both the initial and approached Gua the yin lines are in an advancing position moving upward toward the yang dominated top of the Gua. My feeling is there is a lot of feminine energy in this Aries configuration; in fact Venus too is in the “warrior house” clearly influencing, not necessarily softening, the energy! Here’s what I wrote about all this in my pages:
“Encounter is with the Goddess! She is referred to as a “strong maiden” in King Wen’s Decision. Who is she? This is about feminine energy in this Aries House. Venus is in Aries along with Mars. She is strengthened by Mars’ presence, closeness (a bit over 2 degrees separation at this point). In fact it may be this Mars energy that is in “retreat” from the strong feminine. Balance remains a key word for this time within Equinox energy. Balance the masculine and feminine energy within and all around. And, yes, there may need to be a retreat before the strength of the feminine in order to achieve this balance. Gloria referred to the Divine Masculine as the powerful, generative King Archetype. Perhaps his retreat is into his feminine, creative power.
“There is strength in retreat. I visualize a time of gathering strength, building potential for what is coming (the “Big Transition”). I visualize the final stages of the worm within her chrysalis, a deep retreat into this desiccated state just before the emergence of the true creature in her brilliance and beauty. The Goddess emerges from her entombment to dry her wings in the light and complete the cycle of life, from cellular egg to crawling worm to gossamer flight.
“It is time to submerge into the energy of this powerful Aries time to gather strength for the emergence. The Goddess will empower this emergence. But there remains the cautionary note of Gou! This is powerful feminine energy to encounter. Treat it with utmost respect. Bow before the power or risk its loss and backlash!”
I think I have resolved any perceived conflict in my mind. How are you dealing with all this power both “out there” and within?
Men and The Goddess 