Tuesday night we will have a Super/Full Moon in Libra. Super because the Moon, in its elliptical orbit, is closest to the Earth. Her illumination will be brilliant and a blessing. We are all seeking illumination now.
The darkness is not over for us in our physical reality, but this week – Holy Week – offers us an unprecedented opportunity for enlightenment. I don’t mean that by next week we’ll all be spiritual gurus. This evolutionary process takes time. Change happens slow enough for us to experience it, work with it, learn from it and grow. That’s what makes it so exciting – knowing that these dark times are going to grow us up.
Good old Saturn has been hard at work waking us up, helping us realize our boundaries, our vulnerability; causing enough friction between reality and our concept of it. Uranus is intensifying the need for change. Uranus prompts us to take back our freedom. And orbiting between them, Chiron brings our attention to healing. Whether or not we have the virus, collectively we are ailing, we are sick and dying. We have exhausted the positive potential of our way of life and, like anything that has been around too long, it’s turning rancid.
We need to stop deluding ourselves that this is the perfect way to live. We are indentured servants to a system that is sucking the life and joy out of us. And now our sickness has manifested as a virus, but there were signs of decay long before this virus appeared. And we have ignored them, denied them, repudiated them, legislated them out of existence. There are gross inequalities in our sick society. There is pain and suffering everywhere – at all levels. Rich or poor, black or white, christian or muslim, male or female, we’re all in the same boat. It’s time we stop squabbling over the oars, pull ourselves together and come up with a better idea.
And so the Universe has issued a time-out. My mother used to make us sit on chairs and think about whatever bad thing we had done. As a child I had no interest in doing that. I preferred to stew in my anger and righteousness. Life changes when we decide to sit on that chair and think about things, take a good look at ourselves and, without judgment, admit the parts of us that are out of sync.
We have developed a habit of ignoring our faults. In fact it’s a pandemic. But at this time we are being squeezed into an oven. The heat has been turned up to high and we are cooking. It’s time to examine the ingredients and discover how to assemble a palatable brew. It’s alchemy time.
I have written about Ilya Prigogine before, but his Nobel Prize-winning theory of dissipative structures is applicable here. Transformation happens when energy is added to a system until the container can no longer accommodate it. The structure breaks down and something totally new emerges. Our paradigm can no longer accommodate our evolution. We have outgrown it.
What’s happening now is as dramatic as Copernicus’ discovery that the Earth was not the center of the universe. What a metaphor for the Ego! This is what we are discovering once again on a psycho-spiritual level. Our egos are too small to contain our consciousness. Our social and political structures no longer meet our needs. Our paradigm is cracking open at the seams. Once we get over the fear, we can ride the flow of excitement.
The Full Moon in Libra happens in the USA chart in the 10th house. It is lighting up the house of career and interaction with society. It is the first house in the final quadrant of the horoscope. If we look at the Zodiac as an evolutionary process which begins with the “I Am” of Aries and matures into responsibility on the collective level through the work we contribute (10th house), the associations we form (11th house) to surrendering ego in service of the Collective (12th house).
In the 10th house we turn our focus to where and how we operate in the world. So here we all are, cozied up in our homes – 4th house where the Sun, the source of the light, resides – being asked to reflect on our lives in this world. Is this the way we want to live? Are we fulfilled? Even happy? Are we conscious? Are we contributing our best?
How mature and integrated are we? This is what Capricorn is challenging us to answer. And this is what we each have to figure out for ourselves. Full Moon in Libra is broadcasting at top volume right now. This is a holy time for our world’s religions. Passover begins Wednesday. Friday is the day of Christ’s passion and Sunday is the Resurrection – Easter, when we celebrate new birth. This week has it all and if we are willing to believe there are no coincidences, we can harvest insights from this synchronicity.
This week potentially could bring us the most deaths and the greatest amount of grief. It can be a really painful week but it comes with a promise. After suffering comes rebirth. This is what Jesus was showing us, I believe. He wasn’t asking us to worship him. He wasn’t offering to take on our sins. He wasn’t promising to save us, he was showing us that we have the power within us to resurrect. After this time of gruesome death, there will be a rebirth. That’s what I focus on – where we’re going to land.
So for this special time of spiritual potential, I offer a practice that gives me strength, equanimity and courage. It is the practice of stillness. Our minds are racing, our adrenaline is pumping, we’re emotionally charged. The best gift we can give ourselves, and consequently others, is to take time every day to become completely still. Sit in stillness for 30 minutes. Do not move your body. Take some deep breaths and release all the tension, all the worry and fear. Exhale and simply Be, in the center of your stillness. All the answers lie within. Listen to the silence until you hear.
Libra is about relationship, balance, harmony and the scales of justice. Ruled by Venus, it’s also about love and beauty and inner peace. When that Super Moon brightens your night sky, open up to its beauty, receive its light into your heart and surrender to your inner peace.
This is my prayer for you all: Deep Peace.
Julie vance
Truth!