Full Moon Taurus: Feeding Body and Soul

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Today  as the Moon shines Full in earth sign Taurus we are called to rekindle our sacred connection to Mother Earth - Gaia - the Grandmothers - the Great Mother.  This Full Moon contains a powerful capacity for manifestation and a golden opportunity to create new ways of being in the world.

There is a great awakening of the divine feminine energy, in both men and women.  The grandmothers know the phases of the moon and how the earth speaks through the elements.  They say we have forgotten the sacredness of the animal and plant kingdoms.  We are being called to honour the ancient pacts we made with the earth to be guardians and earth keepers. It is time for us to come back into balance. (from movie 'The Sixth Sun')

 The Full Moon in Taurus calls us to honour and appreciate both our physical existence - and the planet we live on. Vesta (an asteroid) sits at the same degree of the Moon -  representing the sacred flame of devotion and care -  calling us to care for ourselves and for the planet we live on.

To even begin to honour the earth requires that we come from a place of our own self worth (Taurus). If we have become separated from both ourselves,  and the very planet we depend on for our survival, how are we to honour her? Indigenous peoples walked on this planet for thousands of years without causing her harm - yet in a few hundred years our so called advanced society has used up her resources, killed off her creatures, and is destroying her ecosystems. How did that happen? It seems as we moved away from our connection to Gaia,  we became very un-grounded and began to live more and more in our heads. We bought into the myth of materialism (pun intended) that told us our satisfaction was somewhere outside of us. Then, when the outside world becomes unstable,  our (false) sense of self becomes threatened.

 The Full Moon polarity  (represented by the Moon/Sun opposition in Taurus/Scorpio) tends to stir up our survival fears: fear of lack, poverty consciousness etc. Right now there is a shake up going on  (Uranus in Taurus ) that can bring sudden unexpected change and instability, threatening our sense of security  and destabilizing our world. That makes it doubly important now to find ways to ground and centre,  to calm the fight, flight or freeze mechanisms that are being triggered. 

 The sign of Taurus calls on us to find a deeply felt sense of inner self worth. It seeks a connection to life through nature and through  the physical senses. We have the gift of this body - how can we best inhabit it?  Taurus at its best brings us a sense of fullness and abundance that helps us land in our physical form in a way that celebrates being human. Our sensuality is heightened under this Full Moon - it's ok to be a bit self indulgent at this time. Nature and  nurture are important as we take a break from the fray to eat, drink and be merry. 

"Fate comes when it will- and thus we are ready." (I ching) 

We could sure use a break from the relentless pressure and heavy karmic-reckoning (Saturn Pluto) - which is building  toward total impact in January 2020 -  not far away.  Thankfully, despite how dire things may seem to be in the world,  there has been a parallel energy available that is full of exceptional inspiration, creativity,  and grace - (courtesy of Jupiter/Neptune).  While the karmic forces (Saturn/Pluto)  try to wear us down - grace and bliss (Jupiter/Neptune) can lift us up. The polarity of these very different dynamics often sets up push-pull dynamics as we teeter between extremes,  swinging  from feelings of  cynicism and defeat  to unrealistic expectations or complete avoidance. Thankfully, and beautifully, this Full Moon is linking both those energies together with a positive and dynamic creativity energy that can help us break through obstacles and actualize our visions and dreams.

 Yay!

Picture a pregnant young woman , full to bursting. She's come and over the hills and though the desert and braved the thorny thicket  -  and is ready to give birth. What matters most now is finding a safe place to bring forth something new that has been gestating for a long time.

Where shall she go? Who is there to support her?

If not us - who?
If not now - when?

Full Moons bring to a peak the intentions planted at the previous New Moon. The last one  in Scorpio  began a process of seed planting that involved some weeding.  Scorpio brings us face-to-face with some of the more difficult shadow aspects of our psyche, and the two planets assocatied with Scorpio (Mars/Pluto)  were at odds as well  (conflicts, power struggles).  Like Step 5 of 12 step programs - we were being called to make a  ‘searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves’. This is not always a comfortable process,  as we journey into the underworld of our own subconscious. 

There are many myths and fairy takes where the hero or heroine must  face challenges and loss as she undergoes a deep journey that tests her faith, strength and fortitude. She is often stripped bare and left to call on supernatural help to find her way of the forest and into the light. Amazingly - help usually does arrive - if she asks with humility and is willing to follow instructions. It is often her innocence that attracts the help. If we do not believe in super-natural beings/forces, we can perhaps see them as inner resources/parts of our own higher self that arise to support  us in difficult times. The  innocence is the willingness to ask for help,  and to admit we do not have all the answers. The benefit, besides overcoming adversity,  is that we get to discover resources we never knew we had.

As the Sun (conscious self) in Scorpio takes us on an inward journey, and the Moon represents our unconscious mind, bringing us to a no- wo/mans land - that exists inbetween the conscious and unconscious mind. This is a liminal world - where  parts of our being exist that we don't even know of - some that have been buried a very long time. We may resist looking at these repressed parts that we were shamed into burying - our anger, our fear, our neediness, our despair. Some of us put on a brave face,  but underneath we are all a  bit afraid of our own shadow. Then again, some of us are afraid of how bright we shine - even in the darkness.

"It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'   Marianne Williamson

 Mercury in Scorpio -  helps us to be more curious than afraid; after all, it is only our self that we are exploring. The Taurus Full Moon can provides a sense of grounding and safety -  along with the message to take care-  as we deal with these tender parts of our being. Feed yourself, nurture yourself, make yourself strong for the inward dive. This may mean taking time out from the daily hustle and bustle to retreat, renew, review, with the intention to emerge even stronger than before.

Within the archetype of Scorpio is the image of the Phoenix, who  rises again and again. I’ve been reading a book called ‘Journey of Souls – Life between Lives’, where people under  hypnosis explore and review their past life experiences and choose the next lessons to learn on planet earth. Whatever your belief system around these things, it’s a very fascinating exploration of the possibility that we come here again and to evolve as human beings, and describes how we come from the source, then leave the source, yet continually long to return to the source (whether we’re conscious of that or not.)

Which begs the question why, if it’s so beautiful on the other side, why do souls even come here? When asked that, they say that it’s such a beautiful place and there so many amazing experiences you could have in a body. There's a recognition that this is a very special place where we get to experience creation and manifestation in concrete form.  Yet they do also complain of how hard it is here, due to human beings  being so out of harmony with themselves and with  the planet.  Unfortunately, once a human body, we can get so caught up in day-to-day struggle and survival that we often forgot where we came from.

It seems that part of our task here is to reconnect to something, whatever you want to call it, that lives at the core of our being, that a part of us remembers - yet has mostly been forgotten. Our task now it to re-member ourselves - and bring back together that which has become separated.

ln the midst of the darkness - let there be light! 

Mercury is called the messenger of the gods - he helps us travel between the dark and the light - and in Scorpio - brings us information from the shadows; what is normally hidden becomes revealed.  As Mercury journeyed backward - on Monday it passed directly between the Earth and Sun (it won’t do this again until 2032)  - sending a blast of illuminating clarity to our beleaguered brains.   Perhaps some new information came to light - and  you came to an understanding of what  is holding you back - or discovered a new angle to whatever you are processing (Look at the house as in tab at top of page to see what area of your life you are seeking new insights into. For a free birth chart go to astro.com).

I have had some health issues  which I  generally attribute to having Saturn (karma)  in the 1st house (in Scorpio). The 1st house represents the body,  and how we go into the world. Saturn is about the blockages, challenges and life lessons that lead us to Self Mastery (eventually, after a lot of hard work . Its position shows  where we are working out our karma (if you believe in that)  and where we have to come to terms our limitations.  This Mercury Retrograde began close to where Saturn sits in my own chart - and I sure have been deep diving! Body shut down/flu (or whatever) keeping me on an inward keel. Sometimes things get worse before they get better (sigh) - yet as Carl Jung beautifully put it - there is always 'gold in the shadow'. Interestingly  - Saturn is linked to lead - and lead poisoning was part of my health issues. In Alchemy - lead is transformed into gold.

Carl Jung saw the alchemical process as symbolic of the transformation of self - from deeply unconsciousness to becoming awake - as we move from darkness to light. The alchemical process involves a stage called the Nigredo- the darkening - where all is seems lost and everything is breaking down. At a key point - once the dark mess has fermented enough ( it is different in each case) - Mercurious/Quicksilver is added - to create the  Quickening - that eventually activates the process of deep transformation that turns lead to gold. The image at the top of this blog is called Aurum and represents that process.  I love that the symbol for gold is the same as the symbol for the self! It is our  own self we are birthing - out of the darkness and into the light.

Yesterday's conjunction of Sun and Mercury represents the alchemical  Quickening - and Awakening - where something that is of light emerges out of what was heavy and leaden. Similar to a New Moon - this joining symbolized  a seed time out of which something new can emerge,  and new visions and  ideas can be planted. This process  always emerges out of a dark passage - that is just the way it works.

So invite Mercury-  the winged messenger - to  fly into your dreams and into your thoughts.  He is the magical helper that brings new levels of understanding and insights that will help us on our way forward.  Mercury in Scorpio is here to guide us across the abyss.

“You cannot solve a problem on the same level of mind that created it.” – Albert Einstein.

The final message - and the most important one - is that there is always hope!   All is not lost. In fact -  we are just at the beginning. According to Astrology - we are at the beginning of a New Age. The Mayans call this the birth of the Sixth Sun.  In such times of transition from one age to another- there is always confusion and chaos - as the old age dies and the new one is just being born.  

 Jupiter, planet of  hope, expansion and good luck,  is currently approaching the Galactic Core, which lies at the center of our galaxy and around which our sun and planets orbit.  This central point is said to put out a beacon that reminds us who we are and why we came here. When a planet travels nearby by it picks up that message and broadcasts it outward. Jupiter in Sagittarius is the seeker of truth -  always on an adventure to find the true meaning of life. As it travels over the Galactic Core - it will amplify and expand that clarion call - so all can hear - and be reminded - that it’s never too late to wake up!

You know you want to :)

 

p.s. I just wrote about the need to remember who we are - and then realized that Remembrance Day was on Monday.  This is from a friend's FB post. Thank you Talloolah: Bone Whisperer!

"Lest we Forget isn’t an imperative to look backward: it’s an invitation from the collective to get personal with our Now. War is not “Out There”. It’s alive inside the invisible places in ourselves. We either acknowledge our own shadow or we deny it. Peace is the acknowledgment. War is denial. War is the inevitable consequence of externalizing responsibility for how it is for ourselves right now."

Amen