The Moon delivered her gifts at fullness a week ago. Today she squares the Sun. She is half-lit and waning, heading back into the dark for her next reunion with the Sun – the New Moon in Gemini next week. It is up to us now to reflect on our experience, to actually comb through the last three weeks and gather the gifts.
We’re looking for meaning. What experiences helped us grow, become more aware, more responsible, more loving? What do we know about ourselves now that we didn’t then? We’re seeking out the significant moments that have something to teach us. Incidents, challenging moments, joyous and happy moments. There are treasures that we want to gather and take with us. This is the process of integration.
It’s not enough just to go through our experience as spectators, or directors, or actors in a play. We are Spirit incarnated in bodies. We are one cutting edge of evolution through which Spirit is experiencing itself, evolving through exploration. We can participate in that flow. We can pay attention to it and slip into its stream. And when we do that, life becomes more easeful, more wondrous, more delightful than we can imagine.
For over a century we have been exploring consciousness. With the discovery of Pluto came depth psychology, a new interest in symbolism and the unknown. We learned we had an ego, and an id and a super-ego. We went into therapy to help us understand these parts of our psyche. We learned about our inner child, saw how our wounds had set boundaries on our potential, discovered that we had integrated our parental egos and they existed within as our inner parents, telling us what to do, what’s taboo, triggering our infant obedience and adolescent rebellion. We began learning about impulse control, that we don’t need to act out every offensive or defensive compulsion.
This is an important stage in the evolution of our consciousness but there’s only so long we can wrestle with our demons. When we wrestle, we empower them. We might even elect them into office. We can just be aware of them, say “no” to them and move on. It’s time. We have a new task now and that is to remember who we are and what we came here to do: to evolve, to disengage from the past, come fully into the present and look to the future.
Those of us who have already done this work have bush-wacked into new territory and laid a path for us. All we need do is follow it and pay attention along the way. Moment to moment our world is informing us. The more attention we pay, the more messages we receive, the more we discover the true wonder of life. Mystery reveals itself daily.
At the Third Quarter Moon we pick through the harvest of our experience, find the treasures and leave the rest behind. As we recognize meaning and value, we integrate them into our psyches, we grow, become more whole. This is the culmination of the lunar cycle. If we tune into this lunar rhythm, allow ourselves to be in the dark at the New Moon, welcome the sliver of light as she re-emerges, grow with her in awareness, embrace the harvest of evolving wisdom and integrate it, we come to appreciate our lives as the gifts they are.
The main focus of this month has been the Sun transiting Taurus. We got a break actually, a time to come home to ourselves, be in our bodies, find pleasure in our daily routine. Taurus teaches patience and hopefully we all took care of ourselves and met our needs because next week the energy shifts to Gemini. Things will pick up speed. Before then, however, we focus on the treasures of Taurus. Get ourselves fully grounded before Mercury takes off with our minds.
This phase of the Moon is reinforced by the Sun’s trine to Pluto. This is an opportunity for transformation. Pluto is helping us clear away the past to make way for something better. It’s a chance to let go. We don’t need to take all that baggage with us. In the USA chart the Sun is at the beginning of the 6th house. The focus is on our routines, our habits, our family lives and work as well as our health.
The Aquarian Moon is on the cusp of the third house. We open up to new information, loosen the laces on beliefs, find new ways to communicate. Allow yourself to not know. Paradoxically the only way to learn is to not know. We have an education system which emphasizes knowledge. But the system is restrictive. It holds a certain body of knowledge together and creates a monument out of it. It views knowing as a noun, not a verb. Knowing must be free to evolve and if we think we know everything, we won’t learn anything more. This is one of the pitfalls of Aquarius, by the way.
I spent the last two days in retreat, virtually attending a symposium called “Practicing in the Midst.” I was introduced to so many beautiful people, inspired by their authenticity and vulnerability and their commitment to service. It gave me a boost of faith in our future. I’m excited to explore their work and looking forward to sharing what I discover. Next week I hope to explore the Archetype Gemini and the significance of Venus turning retrograde and beaming from this sign for the next four months – almost to the end of summer.
It’s going to get harder to remain isolated. Many places are opening up again. There are resurgences of the virus in China and Korea. I expect we will see the same here. Our own Midwest is about to hit a peak. This is not over and our precipitous attempt to return to our old way of life is only going to prolong our suffering. Listen to the wisdom of the Heavens, build your inner strength and capacity for patience. Get to know yourself. We’re developing the tools of consciousness necessary to build a better world.
Barak Obama is giving a commencement address on Saturday, May 16th at 8 pm EDT. It will air on all major networks. I’m glad that the Class of 2020 will be honored collectively. My grandson is among them. I’m sure our former president will have inspiring words for all of us as we graduate from our old way of life and step into an unknown future.
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