Happy New Astrological Year! Yes, in case you didn’t know, the astrological year begins with the Spring Equinox, the beginning of the sign of Aries.
This year it is particularly powerful since in coincides (within a couple of days) with the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse.
Opening portals to new energy. Of course, in order to have room for the new, you have to release the old. From what I detect, many of us have let go of a lot this winter, whether intentionally or not.
One of the hardest things to let go of in my experience, is our suffering. We hold onto it as if it were a badge of some sort. “Hey, I earned this suffering …it’s mine.”
Suffering can serve a purpose, but not when it is clung to. It is a means, not an end. In order to fully get the teaching, you have to let it go. For many, all they have is their suffering. I forms their identity.
"Another thing that people must sacrifice is their suffering. It is very difficult also to sacrifice one's suffering. A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering. Man is made in such a way that he is never so much attached to anything as he is to his suffering. And it is necessary to be free from suffering. No one who is not free from suffering, who has not sacrificed his suffering, can work. Later on a great deal must be said about suffering. Nothing can be attained without suffering but at the same time one must begin by sacrificing suffering. Now, decipher what this means." G.I. Gurdjieff
 A parallel to this is one of the teachings of Caroline Myss who coined the term of ‘woundology’ to describe how some people define themselves by their physical, emotional, or social wounds.
Clearly, I have thought a lot about this. I believe the difficulty lies in that since dealing with suffering requires so much of us and our nature is to strive towards survival, when we do survive, we think we have done something incredible and we leave it at that. But…the true accomplishment is to go the next step which is to give it up. It is not enough to survive, you have to flourish.
I believe this is the teaching inherent in the death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection, known as Easter, which comes up next weekend. He went past the suffering part of his ordeal to show us that just hanging on the cross and dying is not enough. You have to go beyond that. Resurrection – coming back to life.
The earth does this every spring. We see all that was dead and bare come back to life. Do we see that in people? They go through some ordeal and most of them die inside, never resurrecting. Walking dead. They are all around us. People who gave up their spirits due to suffering.
The movie “The Lady in the Van” shows what happens when your spirit dies due to trauma, loss and fear.
Mind you, I am not judging… I have my own issues to deal with believe me, but learning how then practicing resurrection within ourselves is a goal we might consider striving for.
Currently the nodes are in Pisces/Virgo considered in EA as the axis of Christianity, victim/victor and service. Right now we have SN, Neptune, Venus, Ceres, and Chiron in Pisces. The SN represent the familiar, habitual and oh so well-known ways we have been doing things. On the other hand, NN in Virgo is conjunct Jupiter – god of happiness, fun, bounty, luck, excess – the good life we are moving toward. How do we get there? More what? What do you think you need more of? Money? Love?
Well since it’s the 6th house, which represents methods, practices that develop new habits, health, service to others, perhaps we might consider a ‘New Astrological Year’s’ resolution, that we will develop new habits that move us towards resurrection. Faith (a Pisces virtue) might be needed as we do these new things not knowing if they will work. I’ll tell you this: standing still and doing nothing does not work. Not now. Now is the time for some kind of action.
Among the attributes of Aries, which began on the Spring Equinox, is to act impulsively with no idea of the outcome. When Aries fails, it just picks itself up and tries something else. So, if you embark on a path of resurrection and you don’t see any results, try something else. Keep trying until you find something that puts spring in your step and makes you want to go on joyfully.
 

You have to wonder what the message could be when you have the Full Moon on your Ascendant, followed by a New Moon Solar Eclipse on your natal Moon.
Well, that’s the case with me. One thing I can say is that things keeps shifting. One minute it looks like this, then it shape shifts into something totally different…sometimes opposite. It’s interesting and you know the supposedly Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times”.  I looked it up to see where it originated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times. Apparently no one can trace it to a Chinese origin.
If you read that link, I wouldn’t mind being a dog in a peaceful world, especially an American dog, who live better than most people on the planet at this time.
We certainly are living in interesting times. If you thought it couldn’t any worse after Shrub (what I ‘lovingly’ called our last president Bush), along comes Trump. Is it possible that he really is a presidential candidate? Goes to show that anything is possible in America. I heard a caller on KPFA say Trump is popular because people want to BE him… Oh dear. I fear it’s true. Another caller who lived in Italy when Mussolini was elected, said Trump sounds exactly like Mussolini. Yikes!
But here we are, the sane people and what do we make of things these days? And how can we navigate these times so that we are able to continue our spiritual development?
What comes to mind is the poem I memorized in the 6th grade If by Rudyard Kipling. Although I don’t know it all by heart anymore, some of the phrases have echoed through me all this time.
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,...”  
    If you want to read the whole thing here’s the link http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175772
I am not in favor of some of Kipling’s ideas, he was a member of his class and times…but this poem has good advice we can all use.
In general, New Moons are considered new beginnings. This one is even more so as it comes near the Spring Equinox and occurs as part of a Solar Eclipse. That being said, one might feel the need to start something new but having no idea what, where, when or even why. Sometimes all that is required is a renewal a rededication to what we are already doing. Not to change anything, but to reaffirm that we are just fine where we are, who we are with and what we are doing. Just stepping back and seeing the good we already have, and being in gratitude.
Some say that eclipses are portals where the souls come and go, incarnating or leaving the planet. My last Uncle died yesterday. He was the youngest of his siblings. A Cancer, he was very sensitive but grew up in a time and place where sensitivity in men was discouraged, and he over-compensated. He had a tough life working on the railroad, the sole supporter of a family with 5 children. I’m sure he never went more than a few miles from where he grew up except when he was in the Army. I don’t know what his dreams were or if he even had any. I don’t know if he had many options given his temperament and background. I many ways he had a full life. A long marriage, four children, numerous grand-children. He bought a home and had a long term job. Many would be satisfied with that, but somehow, I don’t think he was. I think he wanted more, but never let himself think about what that could be or would entail.
I think he represents most of humanity. They don’t allow themselves to want anything because it would only make them feel worse about what they have. Now he is released from his body and his soul can fly free.
It’s not about wanting,  it’s about creativity.
As some of you know, I make jewelry www.silkroadsoutache.com. Recently some of my work was purchased by men for their wives. In both these cases, the wife wanted to return the item. They had seen my work in the window of a local art gallery where my work is available, had expressed interest, desire etc., and then the husbands came back secretly and hoping to please their wives, purchased the item. At first, being single for these many years, I was envious that the women had such loving husbands to surprise them in this way. But then, when the husbands brought home the trophy, the women reacted negatively. The men were disappointed, thinking they had done the right thing in purchasing the supposedly wanted adornment. But, they apparently did not know the first thing about women and jewelry…just because a women expresses delight at seeing something in a store window, does not mean she wants it. Men forget that a piece of jewelry is not worn alone for no reason. There has to be an outfit to go with it and an occasion where one can wear it. If these are not present, the piece, no matter how expensive or lovely, is in a way, a cruel reminder that the other requirements are lacking. Few women in this culture buy things ‘just because’ they like it. Having a beautiful thing may remind them of things that are not present in their lives.
I have always felt that ‘if you build it, they will come’ and have therefore treated myself to clothing, shoes, or jewelry I loved, because I trusted that the occasion would arise. I have many unworn items in my closet. But, having them made me feel that my life was larger than it appeared at the time. It gave me something to dream about. I acted ‘as if’. Beauty for beauty’s sake. Something to fantasize about, something to give me hope and get me through tough times. This could be a possible meaning for having my Moon in Pisces and therefore a mantra for this upcoming Sun/Moon/Earth conjunction in Pisces aka New Moon/Solar Eclipse….
Act “as if” the life you want already exists. You know what they say about the Law of Attraction. If that doesn’t work for you here are some other choices:
Dream Big
Fantasize
Let your Creative Imagination go where ever it wants.
Neptune’s conjunction to this New Moon, adds depth to the energy that is available. Listen to Divine Inspiration. Let the Angels guide you.