Planning for a Full Moon, under a Mercury Retrograde

So I should have known better.

I've studied astrology for thirteen years.  I took the name "Starlight" because I resonate so strongly with celestial energies. And, as a practicing Witch, I know what the Full Moon can do.

And, like a complete newbie to the Craft, I attempted to plan a ritual to take place on the Valentine's Full Moon.

Did I run a chart for it?  Nope.  Did I even spare a second thought for the Mercury Retrograde happening, which has a tendency to screw ALL planning up?  Not a chance.

So I was barely ready, we're getting set to walk out the door - and then I find out that one of our friends was out walking her dog prior to ritual and was attacked by another dog - who belongs to another circle member.  And we are the only folks available with a vehicle to transport her and her dog to the vet's emergency office.

During this same week, we also finally took that same vehicle in to get the brake maintenance done that we've been putting off for too long - a good activity for a Mercury Retrograde, good use of that energy - and find out that the dealership wants to charge us some $1500 dollars to change the brake pads and the rotors, with pickup not available until next week!  (Oh hell no: we got it done for a third of that price in less than a day elsewhere  We will see if Mercury's trickster side touches that at all.)

Mercury goes direct on March 1st at roughly 18'Aquarius (Sabian symbol for that degree is "A forest fire, finally quenched.")  I cannot wait.  It's been a rough ride.

Astrology - Grand Water Trine, two different views

Sun: 29'Cancer
Moon: 18'Capricorn
1 Day to Full Moon

So.  A friend of mine emailed a group we are both part of on Wednesday (good day for mass emailings, being that that's Mercury's day) regarding a major astrological configuration coming exact this past Thursday.  Specifically, Mars + Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces, all coming to trine one another for the Grand Water Trine pattern.

Now, the Grand Trine happens fairly often - I have one in my own natal chart, across the Air signs.  But usually when it happens it involves the fast-moving Moon and only lasts for a few hours, or it'll split elements (one planet sitting in a different element than the other two when it occurs close to a cusp).  It's a lot rarer to get the much-slower social and generational planets involved across the same element: Jupiter, as the fastest of those three, still takes about a year to transit the 30 degrees of just one sign, and they stay together for a bit when it happens both prior to and after the most exact point.

I find it interesting to hear how the same aspect patterns can spark totally different takes on it.

Mercury Retrograde - right and wrong

I find people cringing over Mercury Retrogrades more than any other planet, and really, it's not that bad.  In fact, we spend less time in a Mercury Retrograde per year than we do with any other planet.  (Pluto spends just shy of half a year at a time, grinding away in reverse...)  It's just that you can't fight the flow here: this time is meant for REVIEW, and for catching your balance again before you move forward again, if you leaped-before-you-looked.  It's all in how you look at it.  And so, at the risk of another shameless self-plug for GreenCorvid.com, here's my example of a Mercury Retrograde put to GOOD use:

Magickal waters

Sun: 03'Cancer
Moon: 26'Capricorn
Just Past Full

All right.  I admit, a big part of my practice is astrology.  But I also like the hands-on witchy work as well, and I am a biiiiig fan of charging water by the Sun, Moon, element or astrological aspect in effect for practical work.  (By "water" I mean actual dihydrogen monoxide, not oils or tinctures, those are for another topic.)

You see, while it's nice to be able to set your tools, talismans, crystals, self, etc. out under the Full Moon overnight for cleansing and recharging, that's not always possible or practical.  (People do steal, and not everyone has the privacy necessary for a skyclad Esbat - the neighbors probably mind, even if you don't!)  Charging waters, or the herbs to go into them, provides a standalone tool, a storage battery already tuned to the frequency you want that can be pulled out at any time.  You can make it as elaborate or as simple as you want: what you put into the water will catch the energies to which it is closest and radiate it into the water to hold.  It can be as easy as setting out a jar and a funnel during thunder snow (and use that water cautiously!), or as complicated as charting out the entire heavens at the specific planetary day and hour you want to capture.

The Cult of the American Flag?

Sun: 28'Gemini
Moon: 00'Scorpio
Sun Trine Moon - Waxing Gibbous

I will make no friends with this post, I am sure.  It is a mix of both theological thought and politics, fair warning, but it should be said despite the common convention.  (After all, you came here, and it's your choice to keep reading or not.)  And there's no better time to explore the deep-seated psychological thoughts and urges than under a Scorpio Moon.

What defines "sacred?"

This question came to my mind after noting the incident in which rapper Lil' Wayne stepped on, or was perceived to be stepping on, the American flag. 

Now, I normally don't give a flying rat's ass about what goes on in popular culture, and the rap "scene" is just really not my thing at all.  However, this caught my eye as both a Pagan and an active servicemember.  And my thoughts are not precisely what one might expect from either perspective. 

A discussion on Fire

Sun: 24'Gemini
Moon: 29'Leo

A burst of colorful flowers in the sky, fading away in smoke trails just before another illuminates the night.  A campfire crackling merrily away, toasting your marshmallows, before it escapes the confines of its coals and transforms into a raging wildfire.  A volcano spewing embers into the storm it generates to wreathe its own summit in rainless lightning a la Etna, or fountaining smooth streams of heavy basalt into the sea as Kilauea so iconically does  A candle, steady or flickering in the wind.  The scent of bread baking in the oven and meat roasting on the barbecue.  The light by which you read these words.  The fury of the nuclear fusion at the heart of the warm sunlight on your skin (and the painful red burn it may leave after)...

These are some of the physical manifestations of Fire.

Earth may give us form and Water life, Air is breath (or death).  But no element has brought people together again and again the way that Fire does.  It is as beautiful as it is dangerous, tough to contain but impossible to live without.

The Global March Against Monsanto

Today was the global March Against Monsanto.  While I don't expect that a march with the astrological configuration it had will have much effect anywhere in the world, and less here where it was begun and completed on a Saturday, entirely within the local planetary hour of Venus, it may yield some networking for those with the power to make the changes necessary.  (I addressed the astrological chart for the March in a previous post.)  But my husband and I marched anyway to offer our support for policies and legislation that will break Monsanto's hold on our local Hawaiian agriculture and help break its stranglehold on the nation's food supply, the first time either of us has really gotten into political activism.

May's Supermoon (Tales of Alohi)

Sun: 03'Gemini
Moon: 27'Scorpio
Full Moon

My sister Fyre, who owns and maintains her own blog at Tales of Alohi, just put up a new post of some interest with regards to the May 2013 Full Moon.

Not only is it a Lunar Eclipse, but it is also a "supermoon," and as the Sun is in Gemini and a Full Moon is always a Sun-Moon opposition, the precise Full Moon is at 04'Sagittarius.  (Sabian symbol: An Old Owl Sits Alone On The Branch Of A Large Tree.)  Excellent time to set your ritual tools out for a night or two to bathe in the light of Luna, or to charge some climbing vine seeds for late planting.  (Vines?  I saw my tiny little lemon tree sapling - barely more than four leaves on it right now, still in its starter pot, double its height overnight last night!)

I've noticed a horde of fairly significant earthquakes within the last 24 hours all around the Pacific Ring of Fire.  The Tsunami Warning Center usually doesn't say a word for weeks at a time, but they've pinged my phone more than a dozen times in the last 24 hours for over half a dozen earthquakes, none smaller than a 5.0 - the largest so far being an 8.3 in the Sea of Okhotsk.

While unrelated to the eclipse/supermoon, it should also be worth noting that there has been also significant solar activity over the last several days, culminating in a CME event (coronal mass ejection). 

No wonder my dog has been so on edge and protective of me during the last twelve hours or so!

 - Starlight

Astrology and the Oklahoma tornadoes

Sun: 3'Gemini
Moon: 23' Scorpio
Full Moon (within 1 day)

As a trained storm spotter, I understand something of the challenges faced by NOAA and the local Emergency Management departments in reacting to such a swift-paced and dangerous storm.  As a trained civilian search-and-rescue assistant, I also understand exactly what the communities across Oklahoma are going through right now and I extend my fullest sympathies for the all the great losses they have suffered.

As an astrologer, I have not yet gotten around to drawing a chart for the tornado event at Moore, OK.  However, I spotted this on Astro.com and found it to be a thoughtful piece on the effects of the outer planets on personal lives.  Often, the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are thought of as being only "generational" in effect due to their distance from Earth and the time it takes for each of them to make even a single revolution around the Sun.

Full Moon

Sun: 3'Gemini
Moon: 23' Scorpio
Full Moon (within 1 day)

What a moon, what a moon - just shy of Full and I'm already feeling the effects.  I don't usually go "looney" under the Full Moon, but this one seems to be an exception.  Maybe it's the Earth-and-Water nature of being pregnant being acted on by the Moon?  Or maybe it's just that, in the last two hours, almost every single one of my major natal placings has been immediately touched by this lunar cycle under a personal New Moon.

Reminder: there is a small lunar eclipse paired with this one, our last one for a while.

Who else is feeling it?  Anyone have plans?  I plan on attending the local March Against Monsanto on Saturday.

Water

The local Wiccan circle had a meditation last night on water.  I find myself in the unusual position of being able to speak with some authority on the subject.

The main correspondences are clear to anyone who's studied for a decent amount of time.  The Moon, Venus, Neptune.  Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.  Moonstone, aquamarine, opal, obsidian, silver and quicksilver.  Willow, yew, rosemary, lilies of all kinds.  Animals that live on or near the water: that's a pretty wide variety from dolphins to dragonflies.  Ocean magick, river magick, wishing wells and mirrors.

What could water magick be used for, though?

25May2013 Lunar Eclipse and the March Against Monsanto

There will be a penumbral Lunar Eclipse on that day at 04'08"Sagittarius. According to CafeAstrology, the Sabian symbol for that degree is:

"An old owl sits alone on the branch of a large tree."

I don't use the Sabians often, but I find they frequently have chilling accuracy with regards to eclipses, and the effects of an eclipse will reverberate for six months after a lunar or a year after a solar (until the Sun returns to the eclipsed degree and begins a new cycle).

On that day, a worldwide protest is scheduled to protest the use and development of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), which are at this point a large portion of our food supply and are showing devastating links to major health issues, the evolution of "superweeds" and the overuse of pesticides, which is contributing to the sharp crash in the global domesticated bee population (or, as some call it, the Bee-pocalypse) that threatens the global food supply.

Given the conjunction of these two events, and also in respect to the multiplicity of events and times on that day, I will explore the astrology of the march, without tying my interpretation down to any particular location.  (The chart is drawn for Greenwich, ENG for convenience and uses the time as given by NASA.  Though the Sun and Moon are about a degree off exact in the chart as shown, the difference is negligible and will not affect chart interpretation.)
I will join this March Against Monsanto and support it locally, but I hold out little hope of it actually creating the change that needs to be made. Astrologically, it's just not there.  The symbol does not support it - wisdom (owl) goes unheard (alone) by the world (tree), nor does the chart carry the powerful indicators of a sea change.  See below the jump:

Spring Cleaning

20 April 2013
Sun: 01' Taurus  Moon: 0'Virgo (Waxing Gibbous)

Spring cleaning - I have yet to meet anyone who actually enjoys this activity.  But from a magickal perspective, not only is it necessary, but this is a great time to do it and it can become a family activity as well.

Let's face it: there really is no "bad" time of year to get rid of clutter, though working by sun or moon phase can help keep it from building back up again.  By sun phase, I mean what time of year it is.  Starting at Yule, the Solar energy builds through Candlemas, Ostara and Beltane, reaching its peak at Litha.  At Litha, growth energy begins to fade, the cycle drops to resting phase through Lughnasadgh, Mabon and Samhain, ultimately reaching its lowest "peak" at Yule: a full sine wave is completed, one cycle finished.

April is the cruelest month

1605, 14APR2013
Sun: 25'Aries  Moon 17'Gemini

April is the cruelest month, they say, and I know it.  The Sun has entered Aries, bringing with it the hard-charging energies of the Ram and the gods of war (collectively called "Mars,") and in synchronicity the Northern Hemisphere's pursuit of new life and reproduction takes over in full force and flower, with all the beauty and mercy of a diamond.

Nothing is born, without something dying to make way for it.

The obligatory self-introduction

1455, 14APR2013
Sun: 25' Aries  Moon: 17'Gemini

First post on what is to become a public weblog devoted to the study of Witchcraft and astrology.  What to say first?

I could say that I am a Witch and a Thelemite, that I have looked to Athena for almost twenty years, that I have practiced witchcraft, astrology and tarot for almost as long. 

There is much that I could say, actually, all of which ties in with my magickal life in one way or another and takes up a lot of space, but which does not really mean anything.  I will not call myself a lightworker, though neither am I a black magickian.  I do not shy from the shadows, nor am I blinded by light: all must walk in balance.  It is said that a Witch who cannot hex, cannot heal: I have known truth in this statement.

I will let the mind and the heart and the spirit decide what needs to be said, though the topics may ramble.  For now, the most important thing I could say is that I go by Starlight, and I make the conscious choice now to follow the guidance I have been given by my Polaris.  What I know, I must teach, without forgetting that I too must always continue to learn.  This blog will serve as a training tool for myself as well.

 - Starlight