Full Moon in Leo Candlemass/Imbolc (Come on baby light my fire)

Did you see yesterday’s glorious Full Moon? It was snuggled up with Jupiter in Leo creating a warm, expansive, and dynamic  energy  intent on radiating into and expanding our deepest sense of self.  This is a call to tend the flame of the heart and celebrate our innate sovereignty and magnificence!

This heart celebration brings a boost of confidence to help us move forward into another intense and transformative year. 

This Full Moon is both celebratory and reflective,  coinciding with Imbolc/Candlemas/Groundhog Day, which mark the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

"In many [Celtic] or Wiccan traditions, Imbolc is celebrated as the point in the year when the Goddess recovers from giving Birth to the Sun [Winter Solstice]. The young Sun God grows from an infant to a child. It is a time when the growing light promises the return of springtime. The goddess, Brighid, is primarily worshiped because of her triple aspect as the patroness of smith-craft (fire associations), healing, and inspiration.  (http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/angelline/imbolc_lore.htm)

 In the Northern Northern Hemisphere where I live, we celebrate a large rodent!! ...

...  in hope that  s/he will choose to stay above ground and bask in the increasing sunlight (one can only hope!) Yesterday I went for a walk at 5 pm and the Sun was still above the horizon! Hurray!!

 I wrote in my last post how several planets in Pisces are creating a very  dreamy, intuitive atmosphere that is making it hard to stay focused on mundane reality.  Mercury Retrograde adds to the pull inward.  With such exquisite, languid fluidity activating our muse, we may feel drawn toward poetry or painting or dancing in the moonlight.  I could warn against the escapist side of this, but perhaps an escape now and then is good for the soul. 

Don’t worry you wont float away (unless you want to)  Saturn’s influence will keep us grounded (like the groundhog?) via blockages and rules and regulations that force us to make our dreams real or see them dissolve into the ethers.

Good ol' Pluto and Uranus continue in the background to wake us and shake us into new ways of being on planet earth. Some of us are not amused.

We, each of us, must face what it is that we need to change in our own individual lives, that we might live up to the potential that we have as human beings to make the best out of this individual incarnation, for ourselves and for the possibilities of service to the surrounding collective. This is a daunting mandate that can only be fulfilled by an increase in consciousness on the part of everyone. 

                                    Henry Seltzer Astro Graph.com

Sometimes that increase in consciousness comes via a few shocks and surprises. As the current madness of Mercury Retrograde continues,  the trickster is having fun confusing our communication and muddling our affairs (just enough to get us to stop and smell the coffee hehe). It’s path leads us back to where we were at the start of the year, making this a good time to reflect again on our intentions and commitments for 2015.

As I unpack from my recent move and sift through papers, artwork and photos etc., I find myself reviewing my whole life with a sweet sense of reflection and nostalgia.  My heart (Moon in Leo) is filled with  gratitude (Jupiter in Leo, Mars in Pisces) for the life I have lived (both the good and the not-so-good), mixed with anticipation for the adventures yet to come (Uranus in Aries).

Who knows the way the wind blows!

Soon Mercury will turn direct (Feb 11^th)),  and once it has made its way back to where it started from two weeks ago the energies will be  moving forward again. By then it will be a New Moon and another cycle will kick in. 

 Until then, we will continue a  process of two steps forward, one step back; dissolving and building, dissolving and building. 

Sometimes when we are in the dissolving part it can be a little bit scary.  Imbolc reminds us that  even in our greatest darkness, a light is shining.   There is powerful feminine energy available to us now (via Venus and Neptune in Pisces) that balances the dynamic fire of Leo... and helps us get in touch with our inner self.

There's still time to do a  Candelemas/Imbolc ritual  of lighting a candle, adding ( if you want)  some sort of prayer or invocation to the goddess… to guide us through the last days of darkness and help us contact our deeper realms.  We then refocus our intention for the future, all the while celebrating the eternal NOW. 

And of course if that ol’ groundhog sees his/her shadow we are in for six more weeks of winter (wink, wink)

Imbolc Prayer to the Goddess

Lady,

An echo of Winter lies
upon the land as earth
is made ready to receive
the seed of rebirth.
Your womb, the dark of earth,
remembers sweet innocence
and the flowering of unnamed days.
You rise majestic from the mist
of the soul
enfolding all in Your bright shadow.
Time becomes a mosaic of images
and promises yet to be fulfilled.
You engender the birth of Spring
and welcome life into the world