Aquarius Full Moon, Sunday July 28, 2007

Aquarius Full Moon, July 29, 2007

Full moons are always magically energized times when I imagine that almost anything can happen. And often does! This Aquarian Full Moon is especially conducive to love, parties, moonlit sails and just being outside in the warm starry night. The summer is half over and the ancient Celtic festival of Lammas is just a few days away. (Read about Lammas: http://wisdomofastrology.blogspot.com/ ) The thing is, Lammas tells us that while the party is important for the enjoyment of life, there is a sacrifice that needs to be made. The first fruits of the harvest are always given to the gods to ensure the life of the people.

Many cultures named each Full Moon. The English called this Full Moon the Hay Moon, the Native Americans the Buck Moon and other names have been the Thunder Moon as well as the Mead Moon (the honey wine the Celts especially loved). In India, the Hindus call it the Guru Moon, when they honor their great teachers.

When we moderns call it the Aquarius Full Moon, we are honoring the great ideals and beliefs that teach us how we can all get along as ONE and create a better future. Aquarius stands for our ideals, our originality, and our sense of freedom. It wants us to cultivate the essential qualities of equality, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, patience, wisdom and courage that give rise to peace. I like to think of it as the Round Table Moon, since Aquarius calls us to gather together in groups as equals, while the Leo Sun calls us to acknowledge our own and each other’s royal nature. Our inner Leo King and Queen shine the light of our spirits out into the world, and we gather in like-minded groups to see how we can best serve our world. This Full Moon calls us to take action, not for ourselves, but for others - for the whole world.

The Sabian Symbols for this Full Moon suggest that we have the power of Spirit as well as the archetypes of the collective unconscious to guide us as we take a great leap forward in our evolution.

The Sabian Symbol for the Sun at 7 Leo: The constellations of stars shine brilliantly in the night sky. The power of basic spiritual values which refer to our common humanity and to all enduring archetypes.

The Sabian Symbol for the Moon at 7 Aquarius: A child is seen being born out of an egg. The emergence of new mutations according to the great rhythms of the cosmos.

The heavens are declaring the fact that a new life is being born within each of us. Let us honor this birth by nurturing the divine child with starlight and moonlight – and let the ego-Sun remember it is only one amongst many - its beauty is a necessary part of the Whole.

Right now, there is such an abundance of political and social issues facing us that I have to mention a few things. The Saturn-Neptune opposition that completed in June asked us to live out our highest ideals and our deepest dreams, and with Venus retrograde going back to revisit both planets in the next few months, that energy is still a big player in our lives. Look at your charts and see where 20 – 30 degrees of Leo and Aquarius are.

On a cultural level, this Saturn-Neptune opposition is breaking up collective illusions and showing us the hypocrisy of our present government and our pop culture. Whether it’s Lindsay Lohan drunkenly assuring the police that she’s too important to be arrested, or the two NASA astronauts who apparently flew the space shuttle drunk out of their minds (maybe because they know they’re just a public decoy for secret NASA programs? And not the Heroes they used to be), people are living in delusions and illusions. Then there’s the hypocrisy of our leaders. We have outsourced the making of our currency (yes, our US dollars!) to South Korea and now we find that the Russians, the Chinese and the North Koreans, to name just a few culprits, are printing their own – or our own – money. Vladimir Putin’s bodyguards tried to pass off counterfeit $100’s to local shop owners in Kennebunkport while visiting our President! No wonder the stock market, as well as the housing market, is down and the dollar is tumbling again. We have been living in a bubble (Neptune), which is being popped by Mr. Reality himself, Saturn.

And then there’s all the hypocrisy of the dirty little secrets coming out of Washington – about internal spying, lying to Congress, presidential re-writing of our laws, perhaps the murder of a war hero, how history will vindicate Bush as it did Truman, etc. etc. We are awash in dirty laundry. Who will clean it up? But of course, that job has been outsourced as well.

What’s a girl to do, except to go out, party, perhaps hitch a ride on a sailboat and fall in love for the night!

Or, perhaps it is time to take ourselves seriously as the Kings and Queens we can be and let the world see who we really are. The Sun in Leo reminds us that we have a divine mission (sorry it isn’t all pretty ball gowns and parade dress!) to be true to ourselves and our purpose. The Moon in Aquarius whispers, You are not alone. There are many people who share your vision and who want to co-create it with you.

Like our hero, Harry Potter, sometimes you just have to drop out of school and do the work that’s been asked of you. I believe it’s time for us to stop rebelling (as in our adolescent resistance to ‘those in power’) and start to be true Conscientious Rebels. We need to form our groups and get our vision out there into the world. We need to tell different stories – about ourselves and about the world. And we need to entice the lost people who are longing for a new vision to open up and perhaps co-create with us. The Ladies and Knights of the Round Table might have met at Camelot to talk about what was happening in the Kingdom, but then they went out into the land to right the wrongs they found.
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Now for some astrological facts surrounding this Full Moon.

There are two T-squares in the Full Moon chart, which can be energizing and self-motivating if we use the energy consciously.

One of the T-squares occurs with the Moon’s nodes and Jupiter at the apex point. Think of a 90 degree triangle. The Moon’s Nodes help us realign our emotional bodies. While each of us have different nodes in our individual birthcharts, collectively we are now sharing an emotional body shift from an over-analytical, worried, critical, anxious, judgmental Virgo attitude that stays stuck in an unpleasant situation to a trusting, opened, compassionate, spiritual Piscean attitude that welcomes change. How can we put our trust in the invisible world and offer our services to the visible one? Jupiter in Sagittarius, which forms the T to the nodes, asks, “ What do you believe?” “Stretch and open your mind.” That ‘s where your answer lies.

The other T-square involves the Neptune/Saturn opposition with Mars in Taurus squaring them at the apex. How do we step into our own wholeness, creativity and power while participating in the group? We do it by using Mars – grappling with the talents we have that will bring us the success and wealth – of money and opportunities - we want. We need to focus and concentrate on our next steps.
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There are also two inconjuncts - aspects which make us stretch, re-balance the desired against the practical, and create an adjustment in our attitudes.

Mars inconjunct Pluto: Desire meets power in tranformative activity. Analyze and revise procedures and avoid obsessive activity. Where there is a powerful fear of the Unknown we tend to maintain the status quo. We want to be forearmed with the knowledge that we are on the right path, instead of just trusting that it is the path we need to walk to get to our ultimate goal. This energy needs an outlet.

For example, in my chart, Mars and Pluto effects my Moon, turning the aspect into a YOD – called the finger of God or the Sword in the stone. It creates an opportunity for transforming some of my old emotional patterns by surrendering to Spirit. Something of my past beliefs must pass away for a new emotional freedom to be available to me. It creates an opportunity – if I’m not afraid of the change - for me to let go of old feelings stuck in my body since childhood so I can express my feelings appropriately. My Cancer moon makes me psychically sensitive, and this aspect of Mars and Pluto with my moon can clean out the old emotional fears that might keep me from listening to my feelings and acting on them. How does this powerful aspect effect your chart?

The other inconjunct from Mercury to Neptune involves the creative imagination. This aspect urges us to listen to our intuition, use imagination and inspire others with our vision. The best form of communication is through suggestion, metaphor or the arts. Add a brilliant trine from Mercury to Uranus, and we could see some very interesting, imaginative and original ideas floating around this month.

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Venus turned retrograde today, Friday, July 27 until September 8th. The Sabian Symbol for Venus Retrograde is 3 Virgo: Two guardian angels. Invisible help and protection in times of crisis. It is a degree symbolizing inner strength.

Venus rules values and assets of all kinds. Specifically money. On a more personal level, Venus also rules relationships, partnerships, and matters of the heart. Old lovers return. Or new love interests enter your life who resurrect issues and patterns of the past that you still have not mastered. If your love life has been going well with a significant other, be aware. It could reverse and head south now. On the other hand, if a relationship has been experiencing difficulties as of late, it is now possible that any misunderstandings can be corrected, and the relationship can now get back on track.

Venus also rules purchases and changes in appearance. Venus retrograde is not a time to make large purchases or changes in your personal appearance. You may find you wish you could return the purchase, or undo the new look.

A girl has the right to change her mind, doesn’t she?

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Jupiter turns direct on August 6th. What lessons have you learned since April 5th, when Jupiter went retrograde? How have you expanded your inner vision? What new possibilities lie open for you? Jupiter is in harmony with both the Sun and the Moon this Full Moon, and it adds its optimism, its sense of expansiveness and audacity, and its luck to the creative energy of this Full Moon.

The Sabian Symbol for 10 Sagittarius is:
Goddess with long golden hair spirals gracefully into the air. Ecstatic self-expression. Power of the image to attract opportunities for manifestation.

A LAMMAS STORY

LAMMAS - August 1st

The feast of Lammas, or Lughnasad as it was celebrated in Ireland, occures on August 1st, during high summer. It is the festival of the first harvest, the sacrifice of the first born. It is the time when the fruits of our labor are ripening and yet still to be harvested. It is the festival of the king who is willing to sacrifice himself for the good of his people.

Lammas is a festival of the fire - both the creative and the destructive aspects of fire. It is a time to let the fires burn away all that is ready to die, to make room for the new life to come. If we can allow the old life, which has served us well, to fall away within the transforming fires, we will be ready to discover the new life which has been growing within us.

At Lughnasad, all the clans of Ireland gathered under a truce, and held games of skill and strength for the young boys ready to enter manhood. It was a time to show off the beauty of their daughters, the strength and skill of their sons, and the bounty of their cattle herds.

Lughnasad also celebrated the great Celtic sun-god, Lugh of the Long Arm, mighty king and bringer of civilization. Lugh was a member of the Tuatha De Danann, and his name means, "The Shining One." He was skilled in all crafts, and possessed a marvellous spear. He is the good king, willing to face malevolent otherworldly beings for the sake of his people. And so Lammas is truly the festival in which we commemorate the King within us all.

LAMMAS BLESSINGS

The radiant sun beat down on the golden fields of barley and wheat, spreading rippling, hazy heat above their spiked heads. The open-air oven of high summer was baking the grain to its ripeness, but there were still weeks to go before the harvesting began. And there had been no rain for over a month.

A young man, Leuw, stood on the hillside, watching the fields and the sky. The brilliant blue of the sky held sway from horizon to horizon, burnishing the golden plains to a painfully bright glare. Shielding his light-dazed eyes beneath a hand, Leuw looked to the river flowing past the edge of the field, but its water had shrunk to half the width of its rocky bed. His hiss of apprehension was swallowed in the heat.

Leuw walked down the hill into the field of grain. Standing within the golden sea, he quieted his mind to listen to the whisperings of the wheat field. Listening, he felt the fire in the air around him drawing water out of his body, and he heard the wheat sigh for that touch of moisture. He heard the earth, dry and hard, crack apart as he shifted his weight. It sparked a memory. Alan and Rob, the best of friends, had quarreled last week and were still not talking to each other. They were as hard and brittle as the earth crumbling beneath his feet. The dryness of the land was echoed in a dryness of the Spirit. Alan and Rob weren't the only ones at odds. How much longer could this go on?

It was later that night, when Leuw and his father had stopped talking and where silently watching the stars, that Leuw knew what he had to do. His father listened patiently to him in the darkness, then rose silently and walked into the house. He heard murmurings, and a quick catch of breath, and soon the sounds of his mother gathering food and supplies. With a glad but heavy heart, Leuw went to find his horse.

His family gathered in the starlight to bid him farewell. His father handed him the ancient shield and spear (which had hung in the hall since he was old enough to remember), concrete reminders of his love and protection. Kissing Leuw on the forehead, he stepped back to allow Leuw's younger brothers and sisters their chance to say goodbye to their beloved brother. As they crowded around him, Leuw's heart lifted, for their love and confidence in him shone out of their eyes like a reflection of the starry heavens above.

Then, with a last sweet kiss from the baby of the family, Leuw turned to his mother, who waited quietly by his horse. As he approached her, she bravely held out a small packet to him. "Journeycakes. For the morning." Then she held him close, and right before she pulled away from him, she whispered, "Remember. The waters can carry as well as overwhelm. Look to the blessing, rather than the fear." And her tears fell on his cheek in blessing as she turned away and let her first-born ride out to seek his fate.

Leuw rode through the star-splashed night into a dull gray dawn. As he travelled through the sweltering night air, the dampened sounds of waters had enticed him onwards, but he never found the source of those thick, wet sounds. When the sun finally rose up behind him, Leuw found himself riding through the high, dry plains to the west of his father's lands. Although he rode across many dry streambeds which crisscrossed the land, the water was gone. It had all disappeared from the summer-struck lands.

Leuw rode on through dry, bright days and warm, stifling nights. His dreams, full of the sound of running waters, dissolved in the golden-red glow of many sunrises. He rode now without water, as dry and sear as the lands around him, letting his horse take him where he would. One day, coming out of a sun-daze just as the burning red sun touched the horizon, he saw a tree growing large and green before his eyes. And with the sight, he fell unconscious to the ground.

He awoke to a gentle touch and to cool, wet water on his parched lips. He painfully opened his eyes to a night filled with stars and dark shadows, and was helped to drink from a cup of the refreshing waters. Sinking back, he fell into a deep sleep. And he dreamed. He saw a beautiful lady standing beneath the tree, holding out a golden cup full of the life-giving waters he had just received. But as he reached for the cup, the lady sadly shook her head and spoke.

"The waters you seek are precious. They carry a great price. Are you willing to pay the price?"
"It is for this reason that I have journeyed through the fires of summer." And Leuw stood before the lady with his father's shield and spear. "I will pay any price to bring the waters back to the land."
The lady searched his face. "Any price? Even unto death?"
"Unto death and beyond, if the waters will come back to the land!"
"Then lay aside your spear and shield, and follow me."

Leuw stood still for a moment as the lady walked away. Without the shield and spear of his father, how would he protect himself from the adventure the lady was calling him to? But the lady herself turned, and looking in his eyes, said, "Will you go with the fear, or turn toward the blessing?" And remembering his mother's words, he cast the spear and shield to the ground, and followed the lady.

She led him around the huge trunk of the tree, and there he saw a large and deep pool. The lovely lady turned to him and smiled, and jumped into the pool and disappeared into its depths. Leuw looked down into the waters in alarm, but the lady was gone. He knew that he would drown if he tried to follow after her, but if he did not? His whole journey would be for nought if he stopped before his adventure began. As he leaped into the pool, he heard a voice brush through his mind. "Remember the blessing!"
Down, down, down he sank, through golden, azure and emerald waters. Down into the dark waters. His chest became a burning fire, as hot and brazen as the sun shining down on the fields of his home. As he sank, and the fire within him burned, he slowly lost all sense of who he was, where he came from and why he was there. All he knew was to remember the blessing.

But what was the blessing? The fire within his chest was an agony, but the coolness on his skin was a blessing! And then he opened his mouth against the fear, and the waters rushed in. What delight! And then the greater delight in finding that he could breathe in the waters!

And so he sank down to the bottom of the pool. Out of the darkness, he sank into a light-filled land of sands and water, all colored in blues and greens and golds. And there was the lady, waiting for him.

Taking him by the hand, the lady led him to a coral seat beneath a waving strand of kelp. Once he was seated, she stood back from him, letting him look at her closely for the first time. He saw a woman with the face of an angel, her hair a midnight cloud outspread around the pearly whiteness of her face. What he could see of her form beneath the floating veils of her dress made his heart beat faster. And then he let out a shocked breath! For where he looked to find the feet to match the pearl-like beauty of her face, he saw a fish's tail!

In his confusion, Leuw turned his head away; his heart beat loudly in his breast. The lady watched him silently. Slowly, as his heart quieted, Leuw turned back to confront the lady waiting patiently before him. And with the utmost courtesy, he said to her, "My lady, you have promised to show me the way to win back the waters that have departed from my lands. If you will tell me the price, I am ready to do your bidding."

Smiling sadly, the lady came and sat by his side. "To know the price, you must know my story. Once upon a time, there were many maidens such as I who were chosen as guardians of the springs and wells. We ministered to all who came, freely sharing the waters in our charge. The waters were abundant and their blessings were free to all who came for refreshment. But slowly, over the past years, the waters began to dry up and the maidens began to disappear. I am the last of the maidens of the wells, for all the others are gone. My well is guarded with my most powerful spells, but as you see, my form is beginning to change and soon I, too, will be lost to the world above. And then my waters will disappear forever from the land."

"Tell me how I might fight to save you, beautiful lady, for if this is the price of the waters I will gladly pay it! Only, I wish that you had let me bring my spear and shield, for the strength of my fathers are in them, and mighty is their power."

"To enter the well, you had to leave behind everything you held dear. If you had brought the weapons with you into the waters, their power would have made you fear the blessings of the waters, for their powers are of the sun and the fire. When you chose to leave behind the fire and accept the waters, you became one with them. Now, the weapons of the sun can be carried by the waters, instead of being overwhelmed by them."

And hearing the lady's words, Leuw remembered his mother's words, and knew that if he held true to his purpose, the waters would indeed soon return to the land.

And looking up, Leuw beheld two shadowy forms floating down into the depths. And when they had settled on the bottom of the well, there were his father's shield and spear, just as he had left them under the tree. Picking them up, he turned to the lady and said, "Now fire and water will act together. Where is the danger, that I might go and battle with it!"

Then the lady led him through deep caverns and along underground rivers until Leuw could hear the sounds of many waters running in a roaring cataract down into the center of the earth. And then the lady turned to him and told him what she knew of the theft of the waters.

"As the other maidens disappeared, I left my well and travelled far and wide to discover what had become of them. And finally I found out why the waters have disappeared. There is a mighty demon of fire who, sitting in the halls of the underworld, consumes the waters of the wells. He strives with the spirits of the waters, overpowering them with his heated breath. He has drawn the maidens of the wells to his cavern in the center of the earth, keeping them prisoner and forcing them to watch as the precious waters are drawn down to the depths. As I fled from his halls, he sensed my presence and put forth his powers to entrap me. But my powers were strong enough to help me escape, although not without the loss of my legs. He cannot find me yet, but the traces of his spell will slowly overwhelm me until I become the fish my tail proclaims me. And then he will have won, and I, too, will be his slave."

Leuw gazed at the roaring cataract, and gazed down into the endless chasm. Then turning to the lady, he demanded, "Tell me what I must do, for I have pledged my life both to you and to recovering the waters."

"The demon has but one weakness. His skin is harder than adamant, except for one soft spot on his chest. Your spear must find its way to that one spot, or else all is lost." And saying that, the lady kissed him, and her tears fell like a blessing on his cheek. And he heard a voice whisper, "The waters can carry as well as overwhelm. Look to the blessing.!" And turning, he jumped into the abyss.

He was enveloped in the roaring cascade, and swept down with the force of a whirlpool, yet held within the shapeless watery flow. He fell for an eternity. And then he fell no more, but became aware of floating on the water and drawing air into his waterlogged lungs. On his third breath, he was swept into a hugh shadow-filled cavern, and slammed into a boulder which divided the underground river into two streams which continued flowing past him. Exhausted, he pulled himself up onto the boulder and fell asleep.

As he pulled himself back up into consciousness, he remembered his dream of the lady. Thank the Sun that it had only been a dream, for he never imagined his task to be so hopeless! Before he opened his eyes, he tried to remember what had happened to him after he had come upon the lonely tree at sunset. But while he remembered the coolness of the water on his parched lips, he could not separate the image of the lady from the water. Sighing, he opened his eyes. . .
. . . Only to find that it was not dream, but reality. He lay on the boulder in the cavern, with his shield and spear laying by his side. He closed his eyes quickly to shut out the sight, but after a moment's denial, he KNEW that he was, indeed, in the demon's lair.

After he struggled with hopelessness, he sank down into the quiet depths of despair. There, at the center, he remembered himself, remembered his decision to reclaim the waters for his clan and for the land. And as he felt his mother's tears and his father's blessing, he knew that he could fulfill his task, even unto death.

Creeping to the top of the boulder, Leuw looked over the edge. By the light of hidden fires, he could see something of the large cavern and the swiftly flowing water running past the boulder. The flickering light was coming from his right, and the river curved off in that direction. He suddenly realized that the loud echoing in his head was the noise of the river falling into some further, unimaginable depth.

Slipping his father's shield upon his right arm, he took the ash spear into his left hand and felt its balance. A shiver of energy ran up his arm as he felt the spear find its own balance within his hand. Then, taking a deep breath, Leuw leapt off the boulder to the further bank of that dark river. He landed on hard rock, but quickly turned his fall into a roll which brought him swiftly to his feet. He searched the shadow-filled cave for a path through the boulders, and moved off in the direction of the light and noise.

The heat of that subterranean fire seared him well before he came within sight of its source. The river was turning to steam all around him, and he walked through a burning gray fog. Closing his eyes against the heat, he felt as if he once again stood on the hillside beneath the burnished sky. Then he heard the still-roaring voice of the river flowing at his left, and painfully opening his eyes, he stumbled toward the sound.

Unlooked for, he stepped into a space of cool, fresh air, as if the winds of Autumn blew through that deep, hidden cavern. As Leuw took deep, gulping breaths of the cooling winds, his mind cleared of the mists and his body stopped trembling. And he opened his eyes upon the end of his quest.

The demon sat enthroned within the fires rising from the depths, while the waters of the Earth fell roaring into its mouth. The demon itself was a shadow within the bright flames, flickering and growing with the shifting and dancing of the fire. The waters disappeared into the darkness of its heated breath.

Leuw stood within the cool breath of Earth's winds, seeing the demon devouring the precious waters, searching for the spot the Lady had spoken of. As the winds filled him with the clarity of the high mountains which were their true homes, his body moved of its own accord. The ash spear of his fathers sang out for the blood of the demon, and with a mighty shout, Leuw cast it into the heart of the fire.

In the moment before Leuw sent forth his spear, the demon felt his presence. Secure in its power, it never imagined its own doom. But it sensed an unravelling of its spell, and it began to open its hidden, third eye - the eye that brought annihilation to anything its glance touched. And as the spear sped toward its goal, the dreadful glance of the demon sought out Leuw. The spear penetrated into the darkness of that monsterous form just as the eye found its mark. But Leuw had thrown up his right arm as he cast the spear, and now the shield of his father deflected that dreadful glance back into the fires from which it came. And the fires stormed up and swept through the cavern, and the waters flowed there no more.

It wasn't until many days after Leuw left that the rains finally came to refresh the parched lands. Fine, gentle rains came in time to save the grains; sudden fierce thunderstorms came, reviving the Spirit amongst the people. And as friends and families gathered together for foot races, horse races and dancing to celebrate and bless the crops, their thoughts were on Leuw, who had disappeared in high summer, when the drought was at its worst, and who was never seen again.

Leuw's family mourned him all their lives, for they alone knew who had brought back the rains. Every year at high summer, they told the tale to each other of the first-born son who had sacrificed himself for the life of his people.

Many years later the oldest son of the baby who had kissed Leuw goodbye that fateful summer's night rode west until he came to a tree which sheltered a clear pool of water. It was sunset, and the sky was streaked with a golden light. And as the young man bent down to refresh himself, the last rays of the sun fell into the depths of those waters, and he saw a beautiful lady with a face like the full moon surrounded by flowing dark locks, and at her side sat a man with hair as golden as the sun and with a face that could have been his own.

COPYRIGHT: CATHY LYNN PAGANO

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This is absolutely the best movie of the series so far. I loved each of the others, but this film is the most intense, interesting, fulfilling movie of them all.

The story begins with Harry brooding, depressed and dreaming of Lord Voldermort's return and of Cedric's death. As usual, he is tormented by his cousin Dudley. His fear and guilt and confusion make him angry. And he's afraid of his anger. He is so angry he could kill Dudley. And yet he choses not to. In fact, he saves him from a dementor attack aimed at him. But as usual, his good deed is misinterpreted. It seems nothing he does is right, even when he does the right thing.

Welcome, Harry, to adolescence. J.K. Rowlings has taken Harry into his teen years with an understanding that few parents grasp. She has described the archetypal angst that we all experience as teens brilliantly, and the film has stayed true to her book.

The Theme of The Order of the Phoenix is: Can Harry learn to accept his darker emotions without fear that he will turn into another Voldermort? And it reflects the passage we must all go through when we first feel those darker emotions take over - are we bad? Is something innately wrong with us for feeling this way? Will we succumb to the 'dark side of the force'? Once the darkness was outside - someone and something that awaited us in the 'real' world. But now the darkness is within - and we have to find a way to battle it.

In this situation, we, like Harry, feel all alone. Dumbledoor ignores him, Hagrid is missing, the adults of the Order of the Phoenix want to keep him in the dark 'for his own good' and even his best friends don't understand. Or at least, Harry thinks that. And he retreats even further into himself. Who amongst us doesn't remember times like that! The darkness wants to separate us from all love. It wants to make us feel like we are all alone. That's how it wins.

More later.

Cancer New Moon: Time to return to the Womb!

CANCER NEW MOON:
TIME TO RE-ENTER THE WOMB OF LIFE

Viva Las Vegas! Forget about the Casinos! I’m living in a different Las Vegas. It’s been so hot – but as they say, it’s a dry 116! Today for the first time since I’ve been back from Los Angeles, I went out for a swim. I allowed myself to be engulfed by the cushion-deep heat of the desert air, the glorious richness of the greenery surrounding the pool of glistening water, and the sun-burnished blue of the sky. And I had a revelation! I am living at the Oasis of Las Vegas! And I felt awe and gratitude that I was being sheltered here for awhile. A Big Thank You to Bea, my mom!

That’s what Cancer feels like. A shelter, an embrace, a sustaining presence. We come, now, to the Cancer New Moon of a very auspicious year. After a very long year of disillusionment with our government and perhaps ourselves, we have hopefully realized the difference between our real dreams and our illusions.

This is the year that Pluto creates a doorway to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy (the second transit is on July 17th – the day to Fire the Grid!) A year in which some of us will perhaps grow into adults by allowing ourselves to be reborn according to the directions we were sent here with. Pluto on the Galactic Center invites us to be re-birthed by the Cosmos. And the Cancer New Moon is where it begins.

How do I describe a Cancer New Moon? The quintessential energy of Cancer’s power is birth and nurturing.

Cancer is the amniotic fluid that nurtured us into life. Wet warmth surrounded us in our mother’s wombs. We were sheltered and kept safe – emotionally secure for perhaps the last time we can remember. All of mom’s feelings fed us – even the darker ones. And we still felt safe and loved.

Now IMAGINE being cradled in the loving womb of a dolphin, delighting – along with mom - in every vibration she takes in from the surrounding ocean waters, leaping up to shout her joy to the winds of heaven.

Or, have you ever been rocked on the breast of the vast ocean? Have you ever surrendered your control to IT? (I’m a floater, so I guess you could consider me a witch. Perhaps the real reason is that I totally trust the waters to support me.)

Fluidity, wombs, dolphins, water, feelings, the ocean, joy! These images speak to how life nurtures us. The Earth sustains us and gives us life. We just have to remember it and surrender to trust. That’s the message of Cancer.

We learn to grow through our feelings. If we have the courage, we listen to ourselves: This feels right. This feels wrong. And when you are in transition: This feels bad and good. This feels like it will be a struggle. And yet courage tells me to engage in this struggle for the big prize – being born. Or re-born on that deepest soul level.

Can we trust our feelings enough to let them inform us of our next step? Life beckons to us, offering opportunities, which come in many unexpected forms, ready to meet many needs. Are you open to receiving the messages life is sending you? Which needs are being met by your life at this moment, and what are you learning? Do you know if you are done learning the lesson? Is it time to move on to the next lesson? What has your longing called forth in the world – and how are you answering the call?

We’re back to the Hero’s journey, which describes what is born through Cancer, the Mother. Always the child – the girl child to learn the creativity of birth. The boy child – to learn how to live fully. (Each Man and Woman has both within their psyches.) Together, they give us a life that is constantly growing and changing and a consciousness to get the most out of life’s lessons, thereby growing into our True Self.

And so this month we are thrown back into the womb of the Mother for another go around. Memories, such a Cancer gift, can drag us back into the past, or propel us into our future. You choose! Anabolic energy or catabolic? Life or death? If you choose life, you are resting in the amniotic fluid of the next stage of your life. So take time to relax and enjoy yourself. What conscious intentions do you want to make? What dreams do you want to manifest? Now is the time that the seed will be planted.

To help you make your choices: Go for a swim. In the Ocean if possible, a river, lake or pond, and if your intention is right – a tub or a swimming pool will do in a pinch. Float. Feel what it feels like to surrender to the waters. Let your body understand that the waters will sustain you, cradle you, as you were once cradled by your mother’s waters.

This new moon wants to birth our feeling bodies. Our souls. Our passions.

Ride the Energy. And Channel that energy through your desire to manifest it.

If you do, and your intention is true, you will be doing what you love by this time next year.

**********************************************
Sabian Symbol for 22 Cancer:
“A young woman awaiting a sailboat: the longing for transcendent happiness in the soul opened to great dreams.” Our feminine side is highlighted, and it is this part of us who will dream the new dream that is asking to be born. With the sailboat as a symbol, we are asked to pay attention to our daydreams and nightdreams – for the imagination is awake and wants to communicate. (Mercury is finally moving forward in Cancer.)


New Moon inconjunct Neptune in Aquarius.
Here’s where you need to get your head and your heart reconnected. This means that there is still a need to balance the desired against the practical, the ideal against the real. It requires us to find a balance between wish-fulfillment and responsibility. You might find yourselves caught in emotional ambivalence. Learn to communicate clearly and make some emotional commitments to yourself. Overcome self-doubt and escapist tendencies. Indulge yourself in your creativity and in your spiritual practices. It is time to work with the imagination and to accept the spiritual aspects of life.

**********VENUS RETROGRADE on July 27, 2007

Venus, the Great Goddess of Love – all kinds of love from the erotic to the spiritual – doesn’t turn her back on us very often. Venus is retrograde the least amount of time of any of the planets. Golden Aphrodite wants to connect us to life, so when she goes retrograde, there must be some internal need to reflect on our values and our sense of relationships. During Venus’ retrograde period (in Leo and the first few degrees of Virgo), from July 27 to September 8, it will serve us to look at and let go of any circumstances that are counterproductive to our growth and our ability to move forward in our lives. She will let us know what we do need to move forward as we release our old skins. New values and new needs will help us create the life and the relationships that will best serve us and make us happy. Aphrodite wants to bring us JOY – the true joy that comes from being connected to our TRUE SELF.


ONE LAST LOOK AT NEPTUNE & SATURN
We are just finishing up the final dance between Neptune and Saturn. Did you think about your ideals? Do you know the behavior that keeps you from living them? What can you do differently now?




Blessed Be.

Cathy Pagano
www.wisdom-of-astrology.com
www.9muses.biz

Sun/Uranus - The Art of the Peaceful Warrior

While watching The Art of the Peaceful Warrior, Uranus trined the Sun.
Uranus brought the power of freedom and originality to our sense of Self - the Sun. With both planets in water signs, this aspect helps put us in relationship with our feelings.

Do you notice how feelings are being emphasized lately? Finally! It's taken long enough to get us back into our hearts and out of our heads! A good Cancer motif.

The Hick's book, Ask and it is Given says that the way we know the universe is giving us our desires is through our feelings. So we are getting plenty of cosmic energy to acknowledge our feeling life and learn to use them to create our true life.

Back to the movie.
It makes sense to me that we're watching this now. The messages are all feeling toned. And my oh so practical mom is loving the movie.

Here are some of the messages:

A warrior does not give up on what he loves. He loves what he does.

True courage is feeling the moment. True courage is about absolute vunerability.

Socrates, his teacher, tells Dan how to use his mind, so that the mind doesn't use him.

When you feel fear, use the sword (of your mind). Cut away the past and the future. Be in the Now.

I'd have to give it 2 thumbs up!

Dreams

Dreams are the wisdom to the soul.

Today I saw the truth of it with my coaching client. She is on the road to knowing herself through her dreams.

I love dreams. They speak truth to our ego desires. They guide us like nothing else can.

I keep remembering my very first dream of therapy. The first part was the birth of the golden dragon. That was Zurich and my awakening to the Unconscious. The second part was the sword I got from my peers at Manhasset High. That was what I learned after I connected with the Unconscious. The third part was meeting the wise old woman who showed me the way, and now I have lots of wise old women in my life.

Dreams are the things I love the best.

Astrology Tuesday

Well, Mercury is beginning to move forward.

Mercury Direct - Finally

The Beehive in the constellation Cancer. There are over three hundred stars in the Beehive.

Once, my good friend Patrick, an astrophotographer, told me that the Crab Nebula was a nursery for stars. He didn't know at the time that in astrology, Cancer symbolizes the Mother.

Well, Mercury has finally turned direct tonight in Cancer. Whew! Did you notice how moody everyone was? Aside from the computer glitches, it was everyones' moodiness and touchiness that stood out to me. Cancer asks us to focus on our emotional bodies, and as Mercury retrograded back through the beginning of Cancer, if you haven't been taking care of your needs, you probably felt put upon.

What did you decide you need?