Capricorn Moon

The first New Moon of 2011 will be tomorrow, January 4. At 4:03 am a solar eclipse will occur in 14 degrees Capricorn. Wherever Capricorn is in ones chart the eclipse will deliver you there. For me it’s in my first house, so issues of personal growth, independence and self will be in the forefront along with a new way of bringing myself to the world, forging a stronger identity. Sounds like emotional bootcamp especially since I have Venus sharing the first house, a regular people pleaser who asserts indirectly. I'm not sure if I like this roller coaster but I'm on it. Anyway, it is a hardcore indicator of new beginnings for all as each of us have Capricorn placed somewhere in our soul contract called a natal chart. There is an excellent free site at www.astro.com where you can have your chart drawn if you’re inclined and brave enough to look into Saturns hold on you. Meanwhile all this New Year New Moon inspiration re minds me of a beautiful song Susan Werner wrote which I was lucky to hear live at last years APAP Conference as she shared a Showcase with Vance Gilbert. She’s alone here but with it I wish you all Happy New Year with a song that has a timeless echo in each of our hearts…….Go ahead and hit play, it may have been written with Venus in Susan's heart...... but it's for you.

Here Comes the Sun

One day to the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe which is my one-year anniversary of writing Serendipity! Fourteen days until Christmas. Thirteen days to my son’s 19^th Birthday. Eleven days until the Winter Solstice. Today is the first day of a Mercury Retrograde that will last until December 30^th. And so it goes for the month of December…I had hoped to blog each week this past year however I am still happy that I’m writing this now with the intent to post even though Mercury is Retrograde. I have stories spinning around in my head however finding a way to get them out without setting off friends and family can at times be my challenge. I am becoming more courageous although it may be sometime before I can write about who sent what to my PO Box after working the Lennon Tribute. As I wrote that sentence I was smiling with a heart that still beats in disbelief. I am looking forward to Eric coming home from school next week. I am looking forward to Christmas because my shopping is half done and my house inside out is sparkling with lights. The lights are current day remnants from ancient Solstice bon fires that were lit everywhere on great Mother Earth since prehistory. Ever notice how you just need to switch the H to the beginning in earth and it becomes heart? She is a real living thing. This years Solstice will also bring a lunar eclipse to the heart of the human universe. To be a watcher of the stars, this stellar drama is a huge event. I am including some of Bob Bermans writing for Astronomy Magazine because he says it all.

The oddest celestial event? This year there's an easy winner. It's the millennium's first total lunar eclipse completely visible from all of North America and Hawaii. And whoa, beat the drums; it happens right on the solstice. 

This was exactly the kind of spectacle that inspired the fun-loving Mayans to push their most annoying relatives off pyramids. (Does any scholar actually know how they selected people for sacrifices? "Annoying" seems logical.) These days, our own citizenry is much too overweight to engage in such energetic rituals. But if you're tempted, be sure to first check local ordinances before you perform even a single goat sacrifice.

At midnight December 20/21, we'll have the highest Full Moon until 2020. From the West Coast, that Moon will be in total eclipse at midnight — how cool is that? Observers in Key West will see the magical Moon straight up, an imperceptible ½° from the zenith. Count on crowds blowing conches at Sunset Pier at that overhead moment of 12:17 a.m. But like all Eastern time-zoners, they must wait 'til 1:32 a.m. for the eclipse's umbral beginning.

We'll also get a rare chance to gauge the Full Moon's brightness. During the night's first half, it defiles the sky with a creamy glow that obliterates everything fainter than 3rd magnitude. Then, if you live in the country away from streetlights and other light pollution, behold the metamorphosis. Drink in the glory of the winter Milky Way after the Moon's been reduced to a coppery phantom, with the visible star count boosted from 120 to 2,600.


The magickal moon turning into a coppery phantom…sounds like an occasion to party to me. My friend Stacy and I are going to plan some Solstice festivities however one or two of my annoying relatives are not inclined to participate in this sort of revelry. I could get their goat by writing some of the tales they’ve inadvertently shared with me or included me in. That was just a fun loving throw them off the Ramapo Mountains Mayan type of thought. I found out recently that there is sacred Indian land in Ramsey, which Stacy and I by chance(?) happen to live on though I am not aware of any pyramids. I intend on acknowledging the power of the lunar eclipse, the Winter Solstice, which is the rebirth of the sun in 0 degree Capricorn, celebrating the birth of the Son several days later on December 25^th and celebrating my own son’s birthday on the 23^rd. My astrological chart has Mercury in Capricorn at 0 degrees in the 12^th house and it was at my astrologers advice to begin to open up and have the world hear my inner dialogue so it was her suggestion to blog. Here I am back again at the beginning, my one year anniversary of speaking my truth. Sun, son, sun here it comes……

Fire, Earth, Air and Water

In the Astrology class I began in March it was suggested that we meditate on the four elements ~ fire, earth, air and water ~ to gain understanding of how they influence and affect the sun signs of the zodiac. The month before I had read a book I picked up at the Rubin Museum in New York by Tibetan Lama Gehlek Rimpoche that discussed the Buddhist beliefs of life, death and reincarnation. To my surprise the elements were integral to the understanding of these Buddhist concepts. And now, this Lenten Season, I noticed my favorite blog devoted to spiritual practice, the Abbey of the Arts, is offering an e-course on the Christian practice of praying with the elements.

Three signs pointing in the same direction and then I remembered Anam Cara. Anam Cara translates from Gaelic as soul friend and refers to the Celtic Spiritual belief of souls connecting and bonding. The Celts believe when you are blessed with an Anam Cara, you have arrived at that most sacred place, home.

My deepest frame of reference for all that the elements encompass is within the heart of Celtic Spirituality, a spiritual practice woven with nature and its oneness in relation to religion. My ancestors are from Western Ireland, which may explain my emotional connection. I’ve never visited Ireland yet have been profoundly touched through my Grandmothers love and music. Simply transcendent, Van Morrison’s lyrics in ‘Into the Mystic” convey and channel Celtic spirituality, the elements and Love. Written in the 60’s the language is a bit archaic although even when he wrote the words it was. My belief is that he was speaking of the timelessness of being and so it served his song. It occurred to me out of the blue that this song that I, like so many others, hold dear to my heart contains my knowing. The understanding of how the elements are within the universe, uni-verse, one verse and that verse is Love. Listen with your heart.

We were born before the wind

Also younger than the sun

Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic

Hark, now hear the sailors cry

Smell the sea and feel the sky

Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home

And when the fog horn blows I want to hear it

I don't have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul

Just like way back in the days of old

And magnificently we will flow into the mystic

When that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home

And when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it

I don't have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul

Just like way back in the days of old

And together we will flow into the mystic

Come on girl...

Too late to stop now...