November Full Moon 2016

'To risk all is the end all and the beginning all To risk all is the end all and the beginning all' - Bjork ‘moon’

'The unthinkable is only unthinkable until it happens. Then, like the sack of Rome, it can seem historically inevitable' - 'The Guardian' 9/11/16

We are experiencing the after-quakes of the closest moon to the earth since 1948, impacting not only the tectonic plates of our planet but also of our collective global structures. The moon in Taurus aligned with Chiron and Uranus is challenging us to wake up and heal the way we use our power so that it's not motivated by unconscious fear or unconscious grasping so we stop hurting ourselves or others with its misuse. The world around us needs our absolute consciousness at this extraordinary time.

'Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly And wants to rip to shreds All your erroneous notions of truth

That make you fight within yourself, dear one, And with others, Causing the world to weep On too many fine days'. ~ Hafiz 'The Gift'

Since Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 we have been dealing with a breakdown of the structures that govern our world, most obviously the meltdown of the banking (gambling) industry with their burden of debt shifted to the public purse. This provocation was exacerbated during 2012 - 2015 by revolutionary Uranus in Aries aligned in standoff with Pluto fighting longstanding oppression, creating a gear-grinding tight turn of drastic reaction leading to fragmentation of the reference points of much of the world as we knew it. Pluto has arrived at exactly half way through its journey in Capricorn which ends in 2023.

We are now at the end of a year of Saturn-Neptune encounter in which Saturn, like King Canute, tried to stop the tide from coming in, in this case the tide of refugees and of suffering. The bending of rules, erosion of security, and sacrifice of the dispossessed all are expressions of this archetypal process. Saturn-Neptune also perfectly symbolises authority assumed on the basis of deception and illusion, such as a president who is a reality (unreality!) tv star.

There is another myth that also underlies the current unfolding drama. This is symbolised in three meetings between fiery Uranus in Aries and the largest dwarf planet, Eris (June 9, September 25, and one final time on March 16, 2017.) Eris, called ‘Discordia’ by the Romans delighted in strife and furnished the provocation for the Trojan war. The story goes that she was excluded from a gathering of the gods and seeking to cause discord she threw an apple labelled ‘for the fairest’ through a window towards the three goddesses Aphrodite, Athena and Hera. Paris was given the hapless task of deciding which of them received the prize. Aphrodite offered him the clinching bribe, the most beautiful woman in the world, who just happened to be someone else’s wife. And the rest is history.

Each of these archetypal processes can manifest on the collective level but also within each of us: How does our sense of rejection create discord or animosity? How do we load the burden of our own mistakes on a part of ourselves least qualified to bear it or on others? Where have we built walls in our lives to keep the sadness and suffering out? And where has vanity or self inflation taken a secret seat in our heart?

Pluto is still a heavy player in this scene as it enters a phase of three standoffs against the inflated fundamentalism of Jupiter between now and next August; the dates are 24th November, 30th March and 4th August 2017. Jupiter can at best bring a flash of opportunity to meet Pluto’s bid for power or if they negatively provoke each other a bigoted, extremist reaction and large-scale intimidation may ensue.

Jupiter might make a secret pact during its first encounter with Pluto on the 24th that remains unknown till later or is sabotaged or never revealed. We have no idea of what is happening behind the scenes but we can be sure that nothing is what it seems to be and the charade goes on.

By mid December Jupiter moves forward to exactly oppose Uranus, suggesting sudden exposure, antagonism and consequent drastic reaction. At this point Uranus ends its long retrograde period and it starts moving forward with unpredictable and inexorable force. By early January every single planet is moving forward, a rare phenomenon which may feel collectively like a lorry heading downhill with no brakes…

'Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity' – WB Yeats ‘The Second Coming’

Neptune (chaos or spirituality) is the most dominant influence at this time and is now exactly on the south node of the moon, also known as the Dragon’s tail, which represents a global destiny point connected with past karma, unconsciousness and unfinished soul learning. Through this portal on 20th November Neptune starts moving forward after six months of backtracking. The question is whether we have we learnt to see through and beyond the surreal landscape woven of spin, paranoia, illusion, hopelessness and mind bending. Realising madness without giving in to despair takes immense courage and inner balance. The processes happening around us are far bigger than us but we can still empower ourselves through our connection with the cosmic energy which is far bigger than any of these processes.

'Clowns to the left of me! Jokers to the right! Here I am, stuck in the middle with you! Trying to make some sense of it all but I can see that it makes no sense at all'. - Bob Dylan

There is no way to sidestep the transformational power of pain, the spiral of emotions, but there is a way of tuning into the centre of the spiral: Neptune represents chaos and deception or stillness and compassion. The choice is never absent because choice is consciousness! The more we can rest in stillness, the less we are caught by desperation and panic which may dominate the airwaves. By tuning into the feeling rather than the content of our fear we catch the fear before it catches us! This is our constant work. In this way we can keep dissolving fear-pain back into sadness-compassion, both for ourselves and for world. Our inner work is the alchemy for the outer world’s wounds.

'If your mind can stop reacting to fear, suddenly the fear will disappear and only awareness will be left'. - Manuel Schoch

'If we really face our sadness, we find it speaks with the voice of our deepest longing. And if we face it a little longer we find that it teaches us the way to attain what we long for'. - Peter Kingsley

This is the karmic choice point that is stretching our world to absolute capacity. Underlying every aggression is fear, and under fear is such a deep well of sadness (personal, transpersonal, ancestral, global) that we need all our power to bear the charge of this, all our compassion for it to melt back into the centre, love.

So this is the message of Neptune now exhorting us to build a new future out of healing our past: that we find a way, whatever way, to live from the heart, that we absolutely permit our hearts to be touched. What else are we here for?

The question is whether we have enough inner stillness and grace to bear being touched or not. Either we are touched or we react with fear, helplessness, irritation, rage, all the familiar defenses we are seeing constantly around us if not in us. To bear to be touched is the disorientating leap with a movement beyond our control, to not bear is another turn in the wheel of personal suffering, maintaining the illusion that we are in control…

'Sadness is the bridge from duality to non-duality. Love is the atmosphere in which this movement takes place. It is always present when thought is not trying to control something'' - Manuel Schoch

'And then there are those who know how to work in perfect stillness, imperceptibly bringing the future into being'.- Peter Kingsley

As we plant the seed in stillness the invisible world comes to meet us with its abundance of healing magic. We can finally rest our mind in the mind of God, infinity.

'When illusion dissolves un-deluded wisdom is simply present, where it has always been' – Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche

Blessings to all!