Full Moon in Taurus: Samhain Illumination

 

Full Moon in Taurus:  Samhain Illumination

Moon opposite Sun- 10/31/20 @ 9:49am CDT

 

“Those who have died have never, never left.

The dead are not under the earth.

They are in the rustling trees,

They are in the groaning woods,

They are in the crying grass,

They are in the moaning rocks.”

-‘Breaths’ by Sweet Honey in the Rock

 

This Full Moon ushers in Witches’ New Year, and we begin what we call ‘the time which is no time’ from now till Solstice.  For those of us who celebrate it as such, the Full Moon closest to the Scorpio cross-quarter is known as ‘Lunar Samhain’, which just so happens to fall on Halloween this year.  There are few subtleties of cosmic timing in 2020, you may have noticed. 

Samhain Greetings from the Kavi House

And though the seasonal cross-quarter (‘Solar Samhain’, when Sun reaches the midpoint of Scorpio) is on Friday, November 6^th…Lunar Samhain initiates this week where the Otherworld is in closest contact with us.  Stepping beyond the veil of sensory consciousness, we invite the Ancestors in for an extraordinary celebration of life and death on Earth.  We may communicate with them, we may feast with them, we may put on costumes and perform for their amusement, we may pay our respects to the dead in ceremony.  No matter what you do, or don’t do, to celebrate this time of year…the vibration of this Full Moon will be felt one way or another.  Don’t let it spook you.  Seeing more ‘trick’ than ‘treat’ right now is part of the vibe this year.  However, the blessings far outweigh the unfortunate events surrounding us.  

'Taurus' by Cynthia Sheppard

Moon loves being cloaked in the earthy comforts of Venusian Taurus…and here she is, in full, to show herself in exaltation.  But at this Lunar Samhain, she is closely conjunct Uranus Retrograde.  This stirs many surprises into the cauldron of our High Priestess, Luna.  It is an improvised recipe bubbling within this strange brew when Uranus Rx is in the mix.  Since Uranus has been traveling through Taurus (May 2018), this earth sign has not felt as stable and dependable as it often is.  There is an electricity surging through solid earth…that’s what Uranus in Taurus feels like.  All of our sudden changes for 2 and a half years (so far) have been pushing us through our own resistance to change drastically.  It isn’t the easiest sign for Uranus to express, but no matter.  Innovation, currently through retrograde renovation, is inevitable where we least expect it for the next several years.  In the way of Taurus, you can’t force a flower to bloom until it is ready.  But with Uranus here, you also can’t resist the acceleration of awakening.  So where we see our strongest resistance, we may also see our necessity to change. 

And this is quite like Death…unpredictable, often sudden, not what we’d expect even if we thought we’d had a pretty good grasp on it.  Tis the Scorpio Season where we either greet or hide from Death, decay, darkness, loss, and transformation.  I choose to greet the season with open arms toward all that is dying and all that have passed beyond the veil.  And this year…there were so many deaths.  It seems fitting we have such cosmic synchronicity to attune us to the wisdom of the departed.  It is so apparent that we need their assistance to navigate this coming season as much as we need each other. 

Scorpio medicine, which Sun illuminates while conjunct the asteroid Astraea, is the path that brings us to the edges of what we have felt to find deeper truth beyond the liminal spaces.  This is a path of transformation and regeneration, brought forth through emotional catharsis.  It can feel intense, because it requires us to be ‘all in’ to reap the rewards of rebirth, even through the pain of separation.  It is Mars’s domain, where cutting away that which must die is the way to move forward. 

Astraea, the Star Maiden of Justice, may straddle that threshold…both aiding the transformation of what is being composted and what is being seeded for the coming year.  Astraea’s strength is in her compassion and her fairness.  Her influence right now tells us we must learn when to let go, but with grace and gratitude for what it was meant to be for its time. 

'Vesta' by Pamela Matthews

We also have a Grand Earth Trine with Taurus Moon-Uranus Rx as she harmonizes with the asteroids Vesta in Virgo and Hekate in Capricorn.  This creates a pattern called a ‘Kite’ with Sun-Astraea as the watery anchor for the earthy flow.  This kite vibration allows for creative manifestations rooted in the depths of our feelings.  Vesta the Priestess is the Guardian of the Sacred Flame, Goddess of hearth and home.  Hekate the Mother of Witches is Guardian of the Crossroads, Goddess of magic and night.  Together in harmony with this Uranian Full Moon at Samhain, they invite us Earthlings into a Sacred Passageway.  When we approach a passage, the soul of us calls out for ritual.  We may do this in varied ways during this time (which is ‘no time’)…but when we do this with reverence for the dead and gratitude for our Ancestors, we are fully supported.

'Hekate' by Kaysha Siemens

 

You don’t have to be a witch to do this, though many of us are.  Everyone has Ancestors and loved ones who have passed.  You may call it Halloween and think of candy, costumes, and creepy creatures first.  But Halloween has sacred origins, too.  Even the candy, costumes, and creepy creatures are part of the Rite. 

So, whether you’ve ever done something special in the past for this holiday or not…this particular one is uniquely magical.  You may simply find your awareness pulled toward the Moon on this night.  You might have already felt this as she’s traveled past Mars this week…and you’ll likely continue to be drawn to her brilliance in the days following the Full Moon.  Lady Luna is a visible reflection of what is wide awake within us now.  Sing to her, dance with her, bless the way she guides us toward swift change in her monthly cycles.  Join us witches in drawing her reflection down to our Earth, bathing in the radiance of her exaltation.  There is much to celebrate, even during the heavy chaos of this year.  And really, we could all benefit from a little magic right now.

Remember your Ancestors, and blessed be.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

New Moon in Libra: Patience in our Impatience

 

'Woman Holding a Balance' by Johannes Vermeer

New Moon in Libra:  Patience in our Impatience

Moon conjunct Sun- 10/16/20 @ 2:31pm CDT

 

Satisfaction, success, peace, and the ‘Aha’ moments of our lives are the very things that shift us into who we are as humans.  But they don’t happen every day.  For some, they don’t happen very often at all.  Sometimes it just is what it is, and sometimes we’re actually missing opportunities to shine.  In the latter case, we’re almost always standing in our own way to achieving the many things that make us happy with ourselves. 

And so we become frustrated, bitter, angry, and disappointed with ourselves or the world around us (often both).  For many, these dissatisfied feelings are more frequent and obvious.  It’s especially obvious because it often hurts to feel them.  We can’t miss what hurts. 

And, depending on the circles of voices you surround yourself with, you may hear so often how you have the power to manifest anything with intention at any time.  The truth is, not everyone is wired with that Manifestor Magic.  Most of us have different, but equally important, magical wiring.  Most of us have to wait for invitations to respond with our magic.  Some very lunar beings have to wait a moon cycle.

And in this culture of convenience…patience is a lost art. 

I bring all this up because we are all wanting to manifest dramatic changes in our lives and in our world…even those who want a change against these growing changes so that things can stay the same. And pretty much everyone is dissatisfied on some level…with the state of the world, with humanity, with ourselves.

For those who follow Astrological transits, we can see this tension pool into the heavy emphasis of the Capricorn Council at this New Moon…creating a sharp edge that demands a big structural change to outmoded operating systems.  The Capricorn Council (especially Saturn, Pluto, and Jupiter) have had a weighty influence on this year already.  And now they’re at the apex of a Cardinal T-square with Retrograde Mars-Eris in Aries and our luminaries in Libra.  We humans notice the frequency of squares, especially in activating Cardinal signs, whether we have technical terms for the feeling or not.  We notice them because, often, they hurt in some way.  They create enough dissonance with ourselves to provoke a change.  And creating a change to alleviate the clash is really the point of the squares…the dissonance itself is actually the invitation we’ve been waiting for.

'The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame'
by Georges de la Tour

So while our frustrated efforts to push forth our will to act have been getting many of us down lately…this Libra New Moon opposite the Retrogrades of Aries invites us to be patient in our impatience.  Mars Retrograde in his own sign shows us that there’s a perspective on activity that we’ve been missing in all our rushing.  And this Libra New Moon illuminates how peace grows patiently from a seed.  In these newly planted perspectives, there is also the death of old ones that we are asked to make peace with.  The amplified death cries of what is on its way out are so loud now and full of fight that it appears as if they are getting worse…getting out of hand…getting stubbornly fixed into the very fabric of who we are as humans.  This is an illusion.  What is real is that everything is changing.  We’ll all look back on 2020 as a crucial turning point between the way things were and what we were meant to become.

So, the opposition to this Libra New Moon clues us in that we may get increasingly frustrated in this long process of change we’re moving through.  Libra, full of consideration for others, teaches us to not react out of anger when we feel frustrated by having to weigh things out before we respond.  Consider that we are all feeling some level of this personally…even those you don’t want to relate with as human beings.  Libra New Moon points to the purpose of relating. 

In every New Moon, we don’t see Luna in our sky.  A potential is born from this darkness, but it takes some days to grow into our awareness.  If you notice you have been feeling frustrated, or continue to feel frustrated, with your desires being impeded lately…sit with that frustration.  Feel it.  Let it wash over you and finally dissipate…every time it arises.  It is not your natural state of being…it is a momentary indicator to realign.  No matter how long, or how many times, it takes.  This is how we adapt in these hard times.  This is how we make peace with our feelings.  We feel it so that it may move us onward. 

Things we couldn’t possibly plan for are coming our way in this lunar phase.  Some may seem good, some may seem not so good.  Ultimately, it’s all neutral…but still shocking.  Mercury (the Collective Mind) has just stationed retrograde in Scorpio a few days ago…and is now moving back into opposition with Uranus Rx in Taurus, the planet of Group Awakening.  By the Full Moon in Taurus (Oct. 31^st), these Uranian surprises will be fully illuminated, fully felt.  So taking the time now to rest in our potential for peace in these times of great change, as the Libra seed of this year is planted, is crucial to our adaptability in whatever changes are coming.  And with this New Moon at Libra 24, the Sabian Symbol is ‘a third wing on the left side of a butterfly’.  The very symbol carries the imagery of one of our most transformative (Pluto) creature teachers with a surprising and unique (Uranus) adaptation. 

And because Libra is a Venusian air sign, allow yourself some time to connect with others who help you to feel at peace with yourself and what you are experiencing.  It is true of humans that in our toughest times, we get by with a little help from our friends. 

 

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

 

Full Moon in Aries: The Healer’s Moon

 

'Gift of Healing' by Kirk Reinert

Full Moon in Aries: The Healer’s Moon

Moon opposite Sun- 10/1/20 @ 4:05pm CDT

 

This Full Moon is closely conjunct Chiron Retrograde in Aries, illuminating the wisdom of the Wounded Healer/Mentor archetype.  On September 29^th, about an hour before Mars Retrograde was exactly square with Saturn, the exact opposition between Sun and Chiron occurred.  In these aspects, much of the pain of our identity wounds (Chiron in Aries) was illuminated (Sun in Libra) as we felt the frustration of our will (Mars in Aries) being blocked, stifled, or altogether halted (Saturn in Capricorn).  And the feeling is still present with us, being further reflected upon now as we enter this Full Moon period. 

Where the Full Moon is will show us where our emotional needs can be met now that the initial seed of the New Moon is in full bloom.  And Full Moon in Aries shows us Chiron, the Cosmic Shaman, here to guide us through the healing process of re-membering who we are.  In the Virgo New Moon, we were feeling into the various pieces of what we were starting with in this lunar cycle.  We were discerning between what is essential now and what needed to be discarded to make room for the new we were ushering in.  Now we see, in the full light of Luna’s reflection of Libra Sun, how we have grown into our self-expression.  What is revealed in this lunation is who we are as healers, teachers, mentors, and guides for this larger process of healing that we are all moving through together.  The Healer within is illuminated now…as we heal our own identity wounds to better be able to heal the collective identity wound.

Whatever ‘who am I?’ process you have been going through internally through this Chiron Retrograde has reached a point of illumination now.  We are more conscious now of our own innate abilities to heal from whatever has fractured our sense of self in the past.  Chiron may bring up other healers, teachers, and guides into our awareness surrounding this time…yet, we now understand how crucial our own part in our healing is.  Aries energy teaches self-reliance and integrity…so this Chiron Full Moon illuminates the integral role we each play in the healing process (within and without).

To learn more about the themes of Chiron in Aries, you may want to retrograde back to when Chiron entered Aries in 2018.  Here is my post from that time:  Chiron in Aries:  Heal Thyself.

And if you missed this interview from June of this year, where Stormie Grace and I explored the many facets of the Chiron journey, it will help to illuminate the main themes of this Full Moon.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi