Full Moon in Leo weekend of Jan 26/27

This Full Moon in Leo says it is time to quit pondering the possible and instead take action on the probable. This Moon says that the world is transforming now, very quickly, and that we need to be ready for this change and participate in it. But to do that we need to look clearly at our lives, narrow our focus, and figure out what is the most probable action to take that will move us forward and give us some success. Steve Jobs understood the Dilemma of the Possible and addressed it by saying: “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”

by Denise Kester

This Moon in Leo is urging us to be leaders in our own lives, and take actions that come from the desire of our hearts, not the “could’ve, should’ve” demands of our minds. Moon in Leo, a fire element, wants us to be radiant in the world, to shine a light for those around us. And that light can be as big as a lighthouse beacon or as small as a birthday candle. That choice is entirely up to you.

For you: On this Full Moon ask yourself: What is one thing I can do in my life right now that is most probable to succeed? It can be any task,big or small. Close your eyes and see yourself taking action on that task. Ask yourself: Am I willing to be the loving leader of my own life? Can I commit fully to accomplishing this one task? Will my passion for it light up my life? Open your eyes and meditate on this beautiful image, which is titled “Well Being Holding the World Together.” Imagine that you and your one probable thing are being embraced with well being by the Universe, surrounding you with strength and protection. Feel your one choice, your one probable thing, as the calm center that grounds you in this ever changing world.

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See Moon and Jupiter conjoined in the sky

January 21, 2013  From around the world on the evening of January 21, 2013, the growing moon will shine right next to Jupiter. From North America, the pair are very close  – closer than we’ll see them again until 2026.  No matter where you are on Earth, look outside tonight for this wonderful pair of objects in the evening sky.  They’ll be the brightest objects in the sky and impossible to miss. They are exactly conjunct at 10:13 pm EST in the sign of Gemini at 6 degrees. Take some time tonight to go outside and make a wish upon the bright “star” by the Moon. With the Gemini energy, its a good time to ask for communication to be improved and conversations to become mindful, especially in our Congress, since today is the Presidential Inauguration, and the beginning of 4 new years of governance. And  anything at 6 degrees Gemini in your birthchart will receive a boost of great energy and momentum to expand.

For wonderful images of the pairing, and more information check out the EarthSky website.

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Align Yourself at this New Moon

Welcome to all 5 planets in Capricorn!! To be our most powerful and effective agents for change, we need to be engaged in something greater than ourselves and function at our best. During my meditation on the 2012 Winter Solstice I received the message to “Be a sparkplug in the engine of God.” Now, I admit that I was hoping for something a bit more profound! But, then I started thinking that an engine works best when all its sparkplugs are fully operational, and that if I was going to be a sparkplug in the engine of God, I needed a tune up. Fortunately, I also received instructions for the tune-up, which I now share with you.

To do: Take a few deep breaths and center yourself. With your imagination, see a column of energy running from the top of your head to the base of your spine. This is the column of the seven main chakras, your energy centers, as you can see in this picture. Take a moment and scan your chakras beginning with your Crown chakra at the top of your head, and moving down each chakra until you get to the Root chakra at the base of your spine.  Now that you are centered and aware of the position of each chakra, you can begin the alignment.
Align your Crown chakra to the sacred world of the transcendent. See your Crown chakra as the doorway opening to your spiritual energy and your connection to the divine. Once you have a clear sense of that connection, move the energy down to…
Align with your Third-eye chakra and see your spiritual self now aligned to your intuition. Once you have a clear sense of that connection, move the energy down to…
Align with your Throat chakra, bringing your voice and your communication in tune to your intuition and spirit. Once you have a clear sense of that connection, move the energy down to…
Align with your Heart chakra, bringing love to all your communications. Once you have a clear sense of that connection, move the energy down to…
Align with your Solar Plexus chakra, bringing forth your power and confidence. Once you have a clear sense of that connection, move the energy down to…
Align with your Belly chakra, bringing in creativity to all your endeavors. Once you have a clear sense of that connection, move the energy down to.
Align with your Root chakra to bring your physical manifestations into total alignment with your creativity, power, love, communication, intuition, and spirit.
Breathe deeply up and down your fully aligned column of energy. See each chakra connected to the next. See yourself connected to the heavens through your Crown chakra, and see yourself connected to the earth through your Root chakra. See yourself as the link between Heaven and Earth, a full charged and well tuned sparkplug in the engine of God.  Repeat as necessary.

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Full Moon in Cancer

This Full Moon in Cancer, Dec. 28, 2012, stands in the sky opposite the Sun in Capricorn, and as in every Full Moon, we seek to find the balance between them. The Moon in Cancer, a water sign, wants to take care of people through a gentle and compassionate heart that nurtures and loves. Capricorn, an earth sign, also likes to care for others, but does so through building structures that provide safety. But this is no ordinary Sun in Capricorn. This Sun has Pluto, God of the Underworld, standing near by and acting as the Sun’s bodyguard. Pluto brings a ruthless desire for control, determination to hold onto the past, and a relentless and uncompromising power that could easily daunt our more gentle Moon.

But you can see from this picture that the Moon is perfectly capable of holding her own, even in what looks like very difficult circumstances. And so are we. We need to learn from this Moon and realize that there is no greater power than love, and that we have no reason to be intimidated and controlled by fear. It is easy to see in this opposition the discussion of gun control that has begun after Connecticut. The NRA is taking an uncompromising stand and even suggesting that teachers begin to arm themselves, while others seek to find balance between the right to bear arms and the right to keep our children and society safe within our arms. In this Full Moon the balance occurs when we realize that the same quality that Pluto brings – desire, determination and power- can also be used in strengthening our own sense of compassion, fairness, and good will. There is nothing weak about the feminine qualities of the Moon and Cancer. The determined, constant flow of water can cut through even the most forbidding and uncompromising structures. Just look at the Grand Canyon for the truth of that statement. It is in our small everyday actions that this world will be transformed.

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Mayan Calendar and Galactic Alignment

Saturday, December 21, 2012 is the Winter Solstice and the day the Mayan long count calendar ends. We have been waiting for this day for many years, some anticipating the end of the world, some expecting the beginning of an new age. I’m very excited about the opportunity this event brings and I plan to spend Dec. 21 and 22 in meditation, prayer, and celebration. Many people are saying that this event (the combination of the Winter Solstice, Mayan calendar rolling over, and the galactic alignment) bodes great things. It seems to me as if the frequency of the planet is getting higher and moving faster. Ideas and events are happening more quickly. I think there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that we are creating ecological disasters and our communities are threatened by chaos. There is a sense of anticipation and an urgency, as if NOW! is the time to take the actions we have previously only thought about. Now is the time to take the leap of faith and now is the time to bring your full resources on healing the planet and helping in the transformation of humanity. This does feel like a make or break time in our history, and it is important to see clearly the challenges that we face and to find the solutions.

THE MAYAN CALENDAR

From what I have read from Mayan scholars and Mayan teachers, there is no reason to think that this ending cycle which occurs on 12.21.12 means the end of the world. Like our own calendar did in in 12.31.1999, the Mayan calendar reaches a point of ending and begins a new cycle. Just like our Y2K confusion over what would happen when the digits turned to 2000, this Mayan count is also creating confusion. It is the close of one cycle and the beginning of another, a new World Age. There is only one Mayan writing that mentions 12.21.12, and it does not mention an apocalyptic event. And there are many writings that mention dates past 12.21.12. Many cultures have myths of different Ages. Researchers have looked to Mayan myths to provide an understanding of what the Mayans thought about the end of this Age. These myths point to the belief that at the end of one Age, another Age begins that provides humanity with an opportunity for transformation and rebirth. I believe that anything that changes on our planet will be because we make it change. And I believe in the transformational power of both symbol and ritual. So I am fully participating in the symbol of 12.21.12 and the ritual of a rebirth for humanity. Because it is by our own actions, and only our actions, that change occurs. Check out the www.birth2012.com information.

THE GALACTIC ALIGNMENT

The 12.21.12 date has been linked by some to an alignment of our Sun to the Galactic Center on this Winter Solstice. This alignment is being discussed as a rare event that occurs only once every 26,000 years. A rare 26,000 year alignment on the same day as the end of the Mayan calendar would definitely up the ante of that event. For this reason I think its important to try to figure out exactly what such an alignment is and what it means. On the left is a drawing of our spiral shaped Milky Way Galaxy. Our solar system revolves around the center of the galaxy, known as the Galactic Center, in much the same way as the Earth revolves around the Sun.

This image is of the side view of the Milky Way. The horizontal line across the diagram of the galaxy is called the Galactic Equator, and the bulge in the middle is the Galactic Center. The diagonal line moving from lower left to upper right illustrates the ecliptic, the tract of the apparent position of our Sun (and planets) as it slowly moves towards the Galactic Equator and Galactic Center, a movement caused by the Procession of the Equinoxes. You can see where the Sun’s position was in the period of 1000 BC,  where it is now in the period around 2012, and where it will be at a period 3000 years in the future, around 5000. This intersection between the ecliptic and the Galactic Equator, this point where the two lines cross, is what is being referred to as the Galactic Alignment. You can see that there is an intersection, an alignment, between the Sun on the ecliptic and the Galactic Equator around 2012. The ecliptic never exactly crosses the Galactic Center, which does not lie on the Galactic Equator, but it comes really close! But this alignment does not happen only on the date of December 21, 2012. Actually this alignment takes place over a period of years, from about 1978 to 2019, with the year 1998 its closest point. But the Mayans did not have the telescopes we have now, and to the naked eye, this alignment could look exact.

To me, the extended period of the Galactic Alignment, as opposed to it happening only December 21st, 2012, points to the fact that this transformational period of new birth we are experiencing is not going to happen on a single day. It has been gestating for years, and will continue to unfold for years more. I think it is significant that the Galactic Alignment is happening during this place and time in our history. And I think the ending of the Mayan cycle is significant as well, and that together they point to an important period in our history. But the end of the Mayan calendar on 12.21.12 and the Galactic Alignment do not intersect on exactly at 12.21.12 as a grand finale to some glorious end. They point to the very difficult challenges of our time, of our Era, and encourage us to take the challenging, even disastrous events of our world seriously, as the make or break situations for humanity that they are. 12.21.12 can be the impetus to take actions that can begin to remedy the troubles of our world in order to bring about the new Age of transformation the Mayan calendar promises.

PARADIGM SHIFT

But we can take one day to join together and direct the high frequency of energy that we get from the universe and each other and use it to fuel the transformation. I have concluded that end of the Mayan cycle in 2012 and the Galactic alignment of our Era, opens up the possibility of a transformational shift during this time. This shift will not be forced on anyone, nor denied to anyone. It can be understood and accessed through any religious symbol system, be it Mayan, Christian, Hopi, Astrological, and others.  This shift will be a Paradigm Shift. A Paradigm Shift occurs when there is a such a fundamental change in the way that we view the world that life can never go back and be the same again. The Internet is an example of a paradigm shift. The Copernican solar system, which moved us from an Earth to Sun-centered Solar System, is a paradigm shift. This Paradigm Shift will occur in our understanding of both Space and Time. The Paradigm Shift in Space is about expanding our understanding our place in the universe from being part of a Solar System to being part of a Galaxy. Instead of orienting to the Sun as the center of our universe, we will begin to see the Galactic Center as our point of orientation. We will also have a Paradigm Shift in Time. We will no longer see ourselves as limited single-life beings, but rather as multi-dimensional beings who have lived many prior live-times and who live on multiple dimensions and transverse many worlds, whether we call these worlds shamanic, dream-time, fairy world, or imaginary.

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Full Moon Wed. Nov 28th

The Sun is in Sagittarius, which is a sign of expansive thinking and broad visions. It is symbolized by the archer, whose arrow is pointed high into the sky. Sagittarius is all about big concepts like world peace, social justice, and the meaning of the cosmos. During this Full Moon let your consciousness expand and consider things you might think are beyond your reach. This is not the time to put blinders on your vision for yourself or the possibilities for our world. It is the time to reach for the stars. The Moon is in Gemini which combines the visions you have in your head with the love you have in your heart. During this Full Moon, what you think and what you feel right now are one in the same.  Let yourself integrate the dreams and visions you have for yourself and the world (Sagittarius) and start taking small actions immediately, led by your heart (Gemini).  This connection between Sagittarius and Gemini is also the connection between Heaven and Earth. We need both these perspectives. We need to stretch our vision far into the future and out into space, and we need to take actions that effect us in the here and now. It is a perfect Full Moon to open the way to the visions and actions that will create the transformed world of 2013. This Moon’s energy is expanded by its close alignment with Jupiter, the bright light you will see next to the Full Moon, and will continue to light up the sky for months to come. There will also be an eclipse on this Full Moon, though it will be very subtle and a bit hard to see.

This image is from a virtual choir that represents the energy of not only the Full Moon, but also of the new birth into 2013. I hope you take the time to click on this link  VIRTUAL CHOIR and use it as your meditation for not only this Full Moon, but also for Winter Solstice. Make the Youtube video full screen and be sure your speakers are working. Take a few deep breaths and center yourself. Expand your mind and open your heart. Then let yourself be uplifted by the connection of humanity that this choir represents, and how, in spite of our differences, we really are one with each other.  I can’t say it any better than this comment left by one person who was moved by what he experienced.
This is a perfect example of how strangers all over the world, from different cultures, races and religions can create something beautiful. Now if the rest of us can follow their example, the world would be a better place for ALL of us to live in. We are all just people. Human beings that despite our differences are all part of the same family. I hope that one day we all, ALL OF US, can live in the harmony that was beautifully presented here. Thank you for the inspiration, and the HOPE.

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Full Moon in Gemini, Nov 28, 2012

The Sun is in Sagittarius, which is a sign of expansive thinking and broad visions. It is symbolized by the archer, whose arrow is pointed high into the sky. Sagittarius is all about big concepts like world peace, social justice, and the meaning of the cosmos. During this Full Moon let your consciousness expand and consider things you might think are beyond your reach. This is not the time to put blinders on your vision for yourself or the possibilities for our world. It is the time to reach for the stars. The Moon is in Gemini which combines the visions you have in your head with the love you have in your heart. During this Full Moon, what you think and what you feel right now are one in the same.  Let yourself integrate the dreams and visions you have for yourself and the world (Sagittarius) and start taking small actions immediately, led by your heart (Gemini).  This connection between Sagittarius and Gemini is also the connection between Heaven and Earth. We need both these perspectives. We need to stretch our vision far into the future and out into space, and we need to take actions that effect us in the here and now. It is a perfect Full Moon to open the way to the visions and actions that will create the transformed world of 2013. This Moon’s energy is expanded by its close alignment with Jupiter, the bright light you will see next to the Full Moon, and will continue to light up the sky for months to come. There will also be an eclipse on this Full Moon, though it will be very subtle and a bit hard to see.

Image from Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

A Full Moon, and lunar eclipse on Wednesday, November 28th at 9:46 am EST.  This image is from a virtual choir that represents the energy of not only the Full Moon, but also of the new birth into 2013. I hope you take the time to click on this link  VIRTUAL CHOIR and use it as your meditation for not only this Full Moon, but also for Winter Solstice. Make the Youtube video full screen and be sure your speakers are working. Take a few deep breaths and center yourself. Expand your mind and open your heart. Then let yourself be uplifted by the connection of humanity that this choir represents, and how, in spite of our differences, we really are one with each other.  I can’t say it any better than this comment left by one person who was moved by what he experienced.
This is a perfect example of how strangers all over the world, from different cultures, races and religions can create something beautiful. Now if the rest of us can follow their example, the world would be a better place for ALL of us to live in. We are all just people. Human beings that despite our differences are all part of the same family. I hope that one day we all, ALL OF US, can live in the harmony that was beautifully presented here. Thank you for the inspiration, and the HOPE.

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Happy Halloween and Samhain

The Wheel of the Year is represented by a circle, the universal symbol of wholeness. Each year we move through the cycles of the four seasons of birth (Spring), growth (Summer), decline (Autumn), and death (Winter), to be greeted again the next year with a new cycle and another birth. The Wheel of the Year is a promise that all life moves inexorably from birth to death to rebirth. In addition to the year’s division into these four main quarters we also have four cross-quarter days which take place at the mid-way point of each season. We are now midway between the Autumn Equinox and the fast approaching Winter Solstice of 2012, the date the Mayan Calendar points to as our opportunity for planetary transformation. The message of the season of Samhain is very similar to the message of this Full Moon in Taurus – transformation and renewal.

The Full Moon in Taurus and Samhain both call for the end of the old and birth of the new.  Samhain means “summer’s end.”  It begins at sunset on Oct 31st and ends at sunset on Nov 1st. It is the Celtic root of Halloween (All Hallows Eve) and is associated with All Soul’s Day. Samhain divides the year between the light and dark halves. We feel the darkness gain on us from this point on. To prepare for the upcoming winter it is a time of “taking stock,” examining what you have and what you need to survive the cold that will soon arrive. It was decided which animals would get slaughtered, both to save feed and to provide meat.

For You: Not only does the day of Samhain divide the light and dark parts of the year, it also divides the dead from the living, the old from the new.  Bonfires were set this night, and people would jump over them or walk by them as a cleansing ritual. The veils between the worlds are thin during Samhain, and it is a time when it is easy to contact your ‘ghosts of the past’ and get in touch with the things that scare you and keep you stuck. Even if you don’t have a bonfire, you can still use this important day to ritually transform the old patterns in your life that keep you stuck, and release the people in your life who seem to haunt you. Write down on a piece of paper everything you want to release in your life – the patterns, people, behaviors, attitudes, opinions, and habits. Then with a prayer of cleansing and release, set them on fire. As they turn to ash, realize it is from the ashes of your past that the new growth will arise. Give a thanks for your transformation and renewal with deep breaths of gratitude for a new day, a new season, a new year, and a new life.

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Full Harvest Moon brings in 12.21.2012

Sept 29, 2012. Exact at 11:19 pm EDT.   This Full Moon is in Aries, which puts the focus on new births and fresh beginnings. This Moon is super-charged, since it is joined by Uranus, a planet of expanded consciousness, global vision, and evolutionary changes. Together, the Moon and Uranus are like a team of tech developers who stay up all night on Red Bull creating new programs to revolutionize our world. Tons of energy to fuel their expansive vision and no sense of limitations. It’s as if they have the whole universe at their fingertips.

Every so often we have something called a paradigm shift, which is a fundamental change so monumental it transforms the way we see, understand, and engage in the world. In the 16th century, thanks to Copernicus, we went from thinking that the we humans were the center of the Solar System, to realizing that the Earth and all its inhabitants were actually just one planet among many that moved through space as we circled around the Sun. I think we are now birthing into another such paradigm shift. In this shift we will go from thinking our Solar System is the center of the Universe, to realizing that our Solar System is just one star system among many that moves through the Milky Way Galaxy as we circle around the Galactic Center. This shift will bring us into an intimate connection with the larger universe, putting us into a relationship of unity and interconnection with the cosmos. Once we make that shift, we will start to view the Earth we live on as the unique vessel it is, one upon which we depend for survival. Fighting among ourselves in our own communities, competition among nations, destruction of the environment, waste and greed, will all be seen as self-defeating acts that sabotage our planet and only life line. This paradigm shift will not only change the way we view the universe, it will also expand our consciousness to such an extent that we could continue on our evolutionary journey from Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo neandertal, Homo sapiens, to our current, Homo sapiens sapiens into a new species. I call this new species Homo Spiritus, but others have called it Homo Evolutionary or Homo Universalis. Big stuff, indeed.

Of course any birth has its labor pains, and this will be no different. The Moon and Uranus in Aries are in alignment with Pluto, the planet of regeneration, and we can expect that the birth of the new will follow the death of the old. This “death and rebirth” part is what gets taken out of context when people discuss 12.21.2012, and the fear mongering and bad disaster movies take center stage. But once we move past fear, I think its pretty obvious to most people that the world can’t continue on the same path it is going and not hit a major crisis pretty soon. Our weapon technology alone has the ability to destroy all life on the planet. Our weapons are advancing faster than our wisdom. The parts of life that will pass away are the parts that need to change in order to allow a new birth to occur. For example, our dependence on fossil fuels will change as we develop more renewable energies. And personally, if I really expect to evolve into a Homo Spiritus, I will need to let go of my fears and self doubts. Our history as been defined, both religiously and environmentally, by cyclical changes of death and rebirth. This upcoming paradigm shift will fit in with the same archetypal pattern.

One last note of interest. This same alignment of Moon in Aries conjoined with Uranus in Aries and aligned with Pluto will also be present on 12.21.2012. This is the explosive, powerful energy needed to bring about the new birth of human evolution and consciousness. Click here for the whole MOONLETTER.

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Happy First day of Fall!!

We just moved into my favorite season and I can feel it in the air. Here is some information about fall from one of my favorite websites: The Farmer’s Almanac. It is a great place to go to find out the rising and setting times of the Sun, Moon, and all the planets in your area. Just great.

Fall for 2012 begins in the Northern Hemisphere on September 22, 10:49 A.M. EDT. Here’s more about the first day of fall—the autumnal equinox—plus, facts, folklore, and some fantastic fall photos! (Say that five times fast!)

It is the summer’s great last heat,
It is the fall’s first chill: They meet.
–Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt

The Autumnal Equinox – The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night.” The fall and spring equinoxes are the only days of the year in which the Sun crosses the celestial equator.

Question: Why aren’t there exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on the fall equinox?

Answer: On the equinoxes, the very center of the Sun sets just 12 hours after it rises. But the day begins when the upper edge of the Sun reaches the horizon (which happens a bit before the center rises), and it doesn’t end until the entire Sun has set. Not only that, but the Sun is actually visible when it is below the horizon, as Earth’s atmosphere refracts the Sun’s rays and bends them in an arc over the horizon. According to our former astronomer, George Greenstein, “If the Sun were to shrink to a starlike point and we lived in a world without air, the spring and fall equinoxes would truly have ‘equal nights.'”

Question: The autumn leaves seems to be hanging on longer than usual in my neck of the woods. Is this an indication of winter weather to come?

Answer: There’s an old weather proverb that states, “If autumn leaves are slow to fall, prepare for a cold winter.” Or perhaps you just haven’t had the kind of wind or rain needed to shake the leaves loose from their branches. But look on the bright side—you get to look at the beautiful autumn foliage for a little bit longer!

Signs of Fall

In many regions of North America, the landscape silently explodes with vibrant colors of red, yellow, and orange. The leaves begin to drop off the trees, providing endless hours of jumping into leaf piles for kids and raking them back up for parents! Baseball season hits the homestretch, while football season is just warming up. Temperatures begin to drop, nights begin to get longer, and all the woodland critters are storing up for the long haul of winter.

You can track when the seasons change by recording animal behaviors and the way that the plants grow. Listen to the new sounds and observe what you hear and see.

How do you know that fall is coming? Share your comment below!

Autumn Folklore and Verse

Autumn days come quickly, like the running of a hound on the moor. – Irish proverb

Trees snapping and cracking in the autumn indicate dry weather.

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