The Moon reaches first quarter phase from late Pisces at 12:19 am EST Thursday, symbolizing a time of inner trial even as we are tested by external events. It will be the midpoint between the last New Moon of a season now departing, and the first Full Moon of a season about to begin.
It will also be a square aspect from the Sun to the Moon, the first of the lunar cycle, when we are at pains to wonder whether we can emulate Luna by becoming more luminous in the week to come.
The week just past concluded with unspeakable loss at a vulnerable time. It is as if everybody on Earth is being compelled to share simultaneous grief. The question now is what common and concurrent sorrow will do to those of us who remain to pick up the pieces.
The Sagittarius Sun will conjoin with an asteroid named after the ancient goddess Isis as it squares the Pisces Moon later this week. Central to the myth of Isis is a tale of how she was compelled to overcome sorrow and pick up the pieces so that life could go on.
As it has reached us, the story relates the murder of Osiris, brother and spouse to Isis. Following his death, Osiris was dismembered, and his body parts were scattered far and wide. Isis set out, even as she grieved, to recover and reassemble the body of her beloved so that they could conceive their son, Horus.
To know the myth of Isis is to know that human beings have always borne with devastating loss, and recovered, only to repeat the story again and again. To be aware that all of us, together and at once, are now in emulation of Isis’ suffering and predicament is to be aware that we have reached a tipping point. We can choose to depart from repeating ancient patterns and stories, amplifying and magnifying the horror with each turn of the cycle, or we can elect to remain on a path towards departing from life altogether, all together.
The first quarter Moon is also a tipping point. Unlike our current situation, each month the Moon passes its first quarter with a dependable outcome. For thousands upon thousands of years humans have come to rely on the outcome but have never seen fit to follow its example. Now is finally the time to pay attention and emulate the Moon.
At its first quadrature, the Moon is half lit and half darkened. We see it that way because we are at the ‘corner’ of Luna’s square from the Sun. Every month we reliably feel that corner, wondering whether we can get out of it. Most of the time we react, in the words of astrologer Bill Tierney, by constructing “blockages, barriers, shells and shields”, ostensibly to protect ourselves in the corner.
The Moon doesn’t do that. The half lit Moon does not struggle as though divided against itself, though, for a night or two it may seem that way. The Moon keeps on moving, opening the corner and opening to the light. Following the first quarter, the Moon expands the light to include its darker half, and continues to do so until it is whole. So it is time for you, and all of us, to do the same, for yourself and for everybody else, all together, and at once.
We cannot assuage our pain by designating a dark side, either within or without, to struggle against. To do so would only, once again, take us out of synchrony with the example set by the Cosmos. This is not easy for anybody to say, especially as we are tested further by unrelenting pain. Nor is it easy to do what no humans have done before, but it must be done lest we be done. We must, for once, come out of the corner without fighting lest we go down for the count at our own hand.
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Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Excellent Len 😉 I appreciated your thought on it to pick up the pieces. Did you read my article about Isis?
Here is the link to my article, made one pasted the link to paste it into the translator and send for the English translation.
http://lunesoleil23.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/isis-deesse-de-la-lune-la-sagesse-eternelle-et-magicienne-du-temps/
I know after reading this on the myth of Isis I will no longer perceive as before. Enabling keyword to the image of Isis of it give the right to pick up the pieces and I have lived a few days ago.
About Isis the mother, the father Osiris and Horus the son who is very often found in the same portion of the zodiac. In my map Isis, Osiris and Horus are together in my sky of birth. Have you look for you Len?
That’s for you avenues for research, thank you again for this spirit of awakening that you provide to us !!!
Thanks Len for bringing this aspect into the forefront.
I find the connection to Isis interesting at this time, but perhaps for a slightly different reason: Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn – the resurrection (Scorpio) of a form body (Saturn) after it’s destruction to become the Lord of the Underworld (Pluto) as a guide (Capricorn) to those who have died. Because Isis is connected to the resurrection of Osiris and the birth of Horus, an archetypal Phoenix, she represents perhaps the observation of this transformation as described by the Sun conjunction to Isis. But more importantly, how we choose to integrate our conscious self with our new life as we give birth to a new paradigm.
On 12/14/12, transiting Hermes was at 27+ Sagittarius, conjunct the GC and Terpsichore and opposite Ceres in Gemini. Transiting Mercury (trine Uranus) was square Adam’s Jupiter in Virgo, the apex of his natal yod with Mercury sextile Ceres.
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I’m remembering now that part of the June 5 Venus-occult-Sun story was that Hermes (another name for Mercury) and Chaos were also conjunct the Sun. “Hermes was a thief almost from the moment of his birth in a cave atop Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia.” So say authors A. Guttman and K. Johnson in their book, Mythic Astrology. “As the precocious infant emerged into the light [Sun], the first thing he beheld was a tortoise. From the shell of this creature he fashioned the lyre, a musical instrument. Continuing on his way, he stole the cattle of Apollo [Sun god], and, when found out, was hauled up to Olympus to be judged by Zeus [Jupiter]. In the final analysis, Zeus and Apollo were both impressed with this infant’s ferocious cleverness. Hermes returned the stolen cattle to the sun god and gave him the lyre as well.” Later the authors say this about Mercury (Hermes) “He is a thief and was later called the god of thieves. Why should the god of the mind, and of all literary activity, be a god of thieves? Because the human intellect, in and of itself, is amoral. Its function, which is rational thought, is not necessarily connected to any ethical code. The same mental process which leads one individual to write a book on home repair may be used by a different individual to break locks or defuse a burglar alarm – or swindle millions of dollars from an unsuspecting public through the sale of junk bonds.”
Last Friday as the massacre was taking place, transiting Mercury was trine station-direct Uranus. I’ve not yet checked the birthchart of Adam for any connections with transiting Mercury (or Hermes) but he surely stole something precious that day. Uranus also has the reputation of not being concerned about feelings. His mission is to awaken.
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Rob44: You are very welcome.
Green-Star-gazer: Thank you for your beautiful additional image. May it manifest from imagination into reality.
Mia: Thank you for your cogent and generous synopsis.
Chief Niwots Son: Thank you for the depth of your awareness, and for sharing it with us.
be: Thank you for your continued service (of which Vesta would be proud), and the weight of your wisdom (which the Great Attractor would envy).
Lizzy: You are most welcome.
Thank you so much, dear Len, and Be too.
This Friday morning at the Winter Solstice, the asteroid symbol named Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth, will re-create the story told by Venus this past June when she, Venus, occulted the Sun as they opposed the Great Attractor. This Friday at the Winter Solstice, Vesta will symbolize dedicated focus as she occupies the same degree where Venus and the Sun were in June, while she also opposes Mercury conjunct the Great Attractor.
This past Thursday the asteroid Aphrodite shared the same degree as the Sun and new Moon. Aphrodite is another name for Venus. Goddess energy is with us each step of the way through this evolutionary time, in fact the Moon was the original measurer of time, something we still experience in a linear way here on Earth. Aphrodite/Venus provided the love that got us through the ordeal of this week and now we see Isis with the Moon at 1st quarter taking the baton, and, as you say Len, we must emulate them by picking up the pieces and growing in light.
Vesta too in pre-Hellenic Greece was part of the worship of the Great Mother Goddess, symbolized by the Moon. It was Vesta’s hearth that held the sacred flame which represented the light of the moon. In the Winter Solstice chart she will repeat the story of how love (Venus/Aphrodite) must be equal in consciousness (Sun) with ego (Sun) in the mind (Mercury) as it is being drawn by an irresistable force (the Great Attractor) from an unseen source. Vesta will provide us with the focus of intent we need to climb out of the repeating cycle you speak of. We are not alone in this unprecidented attempt to make a giant leap for mankind, and the goddesses share their strength equally with the gods of mythology as a testament to the Universe’s desire to bring us to a higher level of consciousness. Thanks for clearing the path for us Len.
be
Thank you Len.
In most myths it is a male god who is torn asunder or dies, and restored by the goddess counterpart. These myths parallel our biological beginnings: during conception the sperm cell ruptures (dismembered and scattered) to release the DNA contained in the cell nucleus, only when this DNA combines with the DNA in the egg cell (goddess) can life continue anew. Death and resurrection is how we all (female and male) came into this world. Please note our biologist friends have yet to explain how the tiny strands of DNA, which have neither propellors or rudders, are able to navigate through the interior of of the egg cell to find one another and merge. Life is still a vast mystery.
People are able to experience their past through memory and the future through projection, increasing the difficulty of remaining in the present. If we could remain in the present, like the Moon, and experience the cycle of life, we would be living a different story, a different reality. The Moon accepts her own personal cycle, with increasing periods of darkness and light depending on the day with darkness and light not always being in balance.
In some ways, people have more to juggle and bring into balance than the Moon. Accepting our own shadow material is a good place to start.
Thank you, Len.
Dear Len, this is so beautiful…tender and true.
I would add an imagined image:
In the Temple of the Human heart, especially those who have been comfortable hiding in the shadows of the dark times, a Priestess and a Priest step in. Into the gloomy and fearful space they bring humility and determination. They remove all the sharp and shiny objects that have accumulated on the central alter where the cult of Death has been worshiped over the past centuries. They break them and bury them, ritualistically, outside under the sands of time. Then they tenderly wash and cleanse the alter….they sponge off centuries of grime, blood and fear. They work together Priestess and Priest to make this Sacred Space clean once again. They anoint the place with fragrant oils. It begins to shine.
A lit white candle is placed at the center. Fresh flowers, fruits and seeds are laid out in beautiful and delicate patterns upon the altar. A space above opens up. A beam of sparkling golden light emanates from the Heavens where the great wheel of the Galactic core spins and shines… down thru the opening the golden light shimmers to illuminates every nook and cranny with a warm and gentle glow… to give each heart the strength and courage to take up this Isis work.
Isis restored her Beloved because she knew that this was the only way out of her grief, that she could not let the dark forces win and leave her Beloved lost in pieces. Some primordial part of her knew that the Restoration *could* be done, if she was determined (enough). Love just does that.
Thank you for this beautiful reminder of shining Hope and what we can do now with our grief.
Thank you Len.