posted May 02, 2012 04:39 AM            

Happy May Day! Blessing and abundance on Beltane! This week the merry, lusty month of May begins ~ marking the cross quarter day between Spring and Summer! We are half way through Spring! Beltane, a fertility holiday, was celebrated in earlier times with dances around the Maypole, lighting bonfires and getting naked with someone you liked in the forest or fields to help and encourage Mother Nature to grow those crops, and create abundance. It is a great week to create or celebrate with ritual and support abundance in your own life. Beltane is when the cattle were driven between two fires to purify them and bring luck. Then the cattle were released into the summer pastures and mountains. Some cultures celebrate Beltane on May 11 or 15 because of the calendar change from Julian to Gregorian. Take time to gather flowers, bake cakes for sweetness and dance between two burning candles to further invoke all the fertility energy flying around in the heavens. Or you can always dance naked under the light of the waxing Moon around the lilac bushes or under the cherry tree blossoms ~ all in support of Mother Earth’s and your own creativity

During the week ahead, we still have that Grand Trine in Earth which IS a time of maximum productivity and creation. Admittedly, the trine is starting to separate but the Sun will catch up to Jupiter in a few weeks reigniting the energy so take advantage of it. Plant, plant, plant. Push, push, push. Ask, ask, ask!

We have a full Moon in Scorpio on Saturday, culminating the story from November 2010 when the New Moon took place starting the current cycle and continuing the story from the crisis of action in August 2011 when the opening quarter took place. Now, under the Full Moon with Earth in Productive Taurus, we see the results of what we began 20 lunar months ago.

The Sabian image for the Moon is A WOMAN, FILLED WITH HER OWN SPIRIT, IS THE FATHER OF HER OWN CHILD. Lynda Hill’s interpretation of the image is:

Commentary: ‘A Woman, Filled With Her Own Spirit, is the Father of Her Own Child’. She radiates a sense of certainty and self-sufficiency about who she is. There is the feeling that she could accomplish almost anything, as she is ‘Filled With Her Own Spirit’. This Symbol indicates the ability one has to be able to cope with being on their own, looking after the details of life without another’s help. She can look after the everyday needs of her own life and those of her family.

Oracle: This situation may reveal the sense or the reality that you need to be totally self-sufficient at the moment, regardless of those around you and their input into your life. Alternatively, there can be the feeling of having been “left with the baby”. It can indicate single parenthood or bringing up the young without outside help. This Symbol can indicate the loss of the males in one’s life, such as the husband or father. However, it can also indicate the feeling that one’s life is full enough as it is and the path ahead doesn’t seem to include the desire or the need to have children. Be wary of isolationist and prohibitive emotions, though. Is there a situation here where others are not being invited to share or be included in your life? How are you coping with the more complicated tasks and chores that you have to get on with in life? Try to remember to include others respectfully, however, although we are all blessed with our own unique and individual qualities, it is often the combination of ourselves with others that helps to create greater balance and depth in life. Confidence in the future and ‘Filling’ yourself up ‘With Your Own Spirit’ can lead to wonderful possibilities. Creative projects can be birthed more fully when one has an infinite and total connection with what one wants to produce.

Keywords: Single parenthood. Being proud of one’s individuality. Feeling capable of anything. Spiritual experiences that fill one with one’s own spirit. Self-reliance. The lack of a father figure. Invitro fertilization. The complications of adoption. Self-sufficiency. Facing the world feeling whole. Having the right to determine one’s future. The story of the conception of Jesus.

The Caution: Uncompromising feminism or chauvinism. Feeling like one has to be responsible for everything. Unrealistic independence. Being left alone and abandoned. Having no one to turn to for support. Being an adult before one’s time.

I don’t need anyone to rectify my existence. The most profound relationship we will ever have is the one with ourselves. Shirley MacLaine

The consuming desire of most human beings is deliberately to plant their whole life in the hands of some other person. I would describe this method of searching for happiness as immature. Development of character consists solely in moving toward self-sufficiency. Quentin Crisp

At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you’ve left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent. Golda Meir

One of the most obvious facts about grownups to a child is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child. Randall Jarrell

It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father. Pope John XXIII

If one is not going to take the necessary precautions to avoid having parents one must undertake to bring them up. Quentin Crisp

The other features of the week include oodles of aspects from Mercury. He’s moving fast, having left that nasty retrograde behind, he travels from 16 to 26 Aries. During this week’s movement of Mercury, he is talking to all the questions, comments, concerns and thoughts you’ve had about the various relationships in your life since last fall. Mercury’s traveling along the path that Saturn has been plodding through in Libra, in opposition, presenting opposing opinions. Mercury in Fire will set those Libra Air questions you have alight! The comments heard or made about the energy and choices made of relationships will flare in your being. The concerns about relationships will burn in your heart. The thoughts about relationships will glow like embers blown on gently by the wind. It is an “ah-ha” week. Lots of “ah-has!” can be expected. Mercury has crabby aspects with the Nodes of Fate ~ we or they will say SOMETHING. Perhaps we’ll get a message from Mercury, perhaps delivered by a friend, frenemy or enemy about our relationship.

It is the kind of week where people are likely to say “Look at ALL I DID for you!” to only hear the OTHER person respond “It is not like I asked you to do that!” Or “I never wanted that.” Or “I only agreed to it because it seemed important to you!” Or “I never cared about that any way! It might have been important to YOU but it was NOT important to me!”

Often we do for the other person WHAT WE WANT THEM TO DO FOR US! This week those kinds of “relationship deals” are exposed and left out in the spring sun shine to be aired out and de-molded. See the deal for what it is ~it is what YOU wanted. It was not what THEY wanted. It is or was a projection. It is the shadow of your chart that you asked them to carry for you. And I mean shadow in a kind way. We form our relationships because we need and want each other. But sometimes our stuff in relationships gets messy. This is one of those weeks when we experience clarity about what exactly we are in that relationship for ~ expectations met or not met. We will NOTICE what is going on with our expectations. And if your expectations are NOT met, no worries. Now that you know the other person is NOT going to meet that expectation, you can satisfy it yourself, by yourself or with some else who is interested in the same expectation that you have or want.

At times like this, I recommend the Khalil Gibran poem:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, ‘Speak to us of Children.’

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

And He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Now change the words in that poem to be about ALL your relationships instead of just about children. Listen to what people say to you this week about their expectations in relationship and from relationship.

Saturn in Libra asks us to be in mutual relationships where we are with them but they don’t belong to us. Where we give our love, share our thoughts and they can give their love and have their own thoughts. You can sleep next to their bodies but you do not own their body or their soul. Nor do they own your body or soul. What an amazing and CONFLICT FREE world it would be if we applied that to all the relationships in our lives…

Mars in Virgo squares the Nodes of Fate ~ choose the wise course, the one that challenges and excites you. Venus and Mercury both aspect Eris the Goddess of Discord ~ often discord propels us forward to new avenues of life. Eris can also keep us STUCK in a resentment or irritation. Think of Eris as an irritant that illuminates. And then let go of that grudge Eris brings up. Just put the irritant down. How much easier would your life be if you didn’t hold on to that old grudge of yours? So thank it for being your grudge and then go do what you want to do. Don’t carry that grudge any further. Or if you HAVE to carry your grudge, at least re-frame it so you see the good part of why you want to hold on to the grudge. But, honest, deep in your soul, don’t you want to let it go? Can you see how the grudge and situation will never change? Can you see how the grudge and situation actually gave you an enormous gift? Figure out the gift that the grudge or discord gave you… freedom, independence, responsibility, creativity? What did the grudge from Eris give you? Can you let it go now? Imagine you are a bow ~

And He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Let that grudge go. Let the arrow of your life fly true and far to a new place.

Void Moons this Week

Lots of DAY LONG VOID MOONS….

10:17 am EDT April 30, Monday to 7:02 pm EDT All Day Void Moon

6:58 am EDT May 2 Wednesday to 10:04 pm EDT All Day Void Moon

2:02 pm EDT May 4 Friday to 10:20 pm EDT Most of the Day Void Moon

8:14 am EDT May 6 Sunday to 9:39 pm EDT All Day Void Moon

Moon day, Monday April 30 finds us a long void moon in Leo with productive working aspects meaning the events you began or undertook over the weekend make you feel quite proud, confident and like you achieved something good or added a beneficial component to your being. While you are adjusting to a new way of perceiving the world today with Saturn’s inconjunct to Pallas, Moon in Virgo tonight and Tuesday and Wednesday will be quite productive if a bit overdone with her square to Venus in Gemini. You will be rocking and rolling with energy. The blind spot about desire, value and money is activated in the late afternoon. What IS it really worth to you? Mars offers you a choice at of direction as he squares the nodes today. Take the wild and exciting choice rather than the tried and true which can frankly be a bit boring or gossipy. Don’t TELL anyone, just do it.

Mars day, Tuesday May 1 Moon in Virgo is productive and hardworking, if a bit critical. Get the stuff organized and out the door today as tomorrow’s day long void moon is for continuing on existing projects. It is Beltane so bring flowers or fertility enhancers ~ chocolate (Check out the chocolate sold at www.FineandRaw.com for an AMAZING chocolate experience!) , oysters, candles and lust into your life tonight. Mercury’s semi-square to Neptune suggests a bit of depression, gloom or overcast feelings or weather as the fire of words tries to dry up the wetness of Neptune. Mercury in Aries impatience with the inability of the other person to change is letting you know that even if YOU want to move forward, someone else may be incapable of the same shift. No hard feelings. No I did all this for you and this is what I get… You had the ADVENTURE. You had the EXPERIENCE. Nothing more was guaranteed or even able to be promised really. You may have promised it. We try to keep our word to the best of our ability as it is all we have but sometimes…. Sometimes it is time for a change. There is a recognition that we are at a turning point in the road you have traveled along together. Chiron’s sextile to Ceres suggests the only thing, truly the only thing, you can be sure of is the Sun will rise tomorrow and a new day will dawn. Your choice is how you want to spend that day.

Mercury’s day, Wednesday May 2 has a whole day long Virgo moon, making it productive for working on existing projects or kicking back and doing nothing but contemplating the growing and changing world around you. It is still a bit chilly to lie in a hammock here in the North East but taking some time and sitting back silently gazing at the heavens is suggested to connect with a deeper space internally. There is an energy of having to leave the group that you’ve loved and been a part of… remember to everything there is a season. This is the season to notice the groups, families or tribes that have been part of your life and determine if you still want to continue to be part of them. You CAN stay but perhaps shift your involvement. Or maybe it IS time to pack up that saddle bag and make this spring be your last cattle drive. Where does an old cowboy go when the cattle drive is over? Where does the former warrior go when there is no more war? Where do you want to go that is different from the place you are now? Moon in Virgo square to Venus in Gemini can’t imagine a different reality. Or perhaps the choices you think you are facing are not to your choosing. No worries. A whole new life starts in June. Take the risk. Entertain possibilities.

Jupiter’s day, Thursday May 3 Moon in Libra is going to join Saturn as her last aspect suggesting a finality, ending and a new beginning on Friday afternoon. Mercury has stressful aspects to the Nodes of Fate. So here comes the “I did all this for you!” and the reply, “I don’t care about that. (or you! whispered sotto voice!) It never mattered to me!” Pluto has a trine to his old enemy, his sister Ceres in Taurus. There is a certain satisfaction involved in telling someone to bugger off, drop dead or the wonderfully satisfying “I’ll get you and your little dog too!” Try to refrain from going there. Just notice the harsh but frank words exchanged. Yes you DID do all that. And you profited from it too. And you had a great time. However, the person before you who doesn’t care, whether because of jealousy, greed, anger, ignorance, or some other Pluto emotion setting them off such as obsession, compulsion, addiction, drive for power and control, or domination wants to make you a victim or example of how in charge they are. Be careful. Proceed with your agenda in mind. Don’t resign. Make them fire you. Watch for people who are not your friends doing things behind your back if they smell your weakness in this situation. Your job is to look out for YOUR best interest. As in all critical negotiations, the person who moves or acts first, loses and reveals their hand. Proceed with caution and watch your left flank for Mercury to whisper bad instructions into your ear. Now you may NOT be having this level of drama in your own life but you will be observing it in the world around you ~ where ever Mars or your Virgo house is. Partnerships will shift and dissolve in the afternoon. Act strategically. And if you are counseling someone going through a tough time, tell them to act strategically too. Think back to November 2010 for what started then. This story is tied to that time. There ARE two (or more) paths out of here. Make sure to notice the exit signs. In the scramble that takes place over the next few weeks, you want to know where they are.

Friday Venus’ day May 4 Moon is void in the afternoon offering us a strategic time to process all that has been going on. Be careful about accepting offers in the late morning to middle of the day, especially if it looks like it might be a Trojan horse of sorts. Ceres is opposite Poseidon ~ there a blind spot running now that will prevent you from seeing the true story. Mercury joins up with Eris the Goddess of Discord to fuel your or their anger. It is taking place on a public degree so the whooooollllllleeeee world will know what is going on. No worries. Time for a new chapter to begin. There is a gift under all this of healing and connection to your deeper soul and path. Look for that gift of brilliance ~ they can’t take that away from you. There is an ending to the tribe that you’ve been part of for so long. Jupiter is inconjunct to Cupido offering a last, visionary whoosh of energy. Sun’s dance with Neptune invites you to trust the process. Let go. Let it flow. Trust that the energy before you and in you is urging you toward the next dream. The old dream is dying or dead. The new dream needs your help to grow, flourish and become tall and strong in the world. Go work with your new dream for the rest of the day.

Saturn’s day Saturday May 5 finds Moon in Scorpio going towards full late in the evening. This is a strong energy the Taurus/ Scorpio axis. While the Moon’s Sabian image is described above, the image for the Taurus Sun is A SYMBOLICAL BATTLE BETWEEN ‘SWORDS’ THE DISCIPLES OF MIGHT, AND ‘TORCHES’, THE DISCIPLES OF ENLIGHTENMENT.

Lynda Hill’s interpretation of the Sabian image for the Sun is :

Commentary: ‘A Symbolical Battle’ is pictured here, between the ‘Swords and Torches’. The ‘Swords’ are pictured to be ‘The Disciples of Might’ and the ‘Torches’ ‘The Disciples of Enlightenment’. The ‘Swords’ show weapons and strong-arm tactics, whereas the ‘Torches’ are instruments that bring truth and light. This suggests a split between using power and strength and using reason and intelligence. Arguments over ideals can easily lead to battles and war.

Oracle: At the moment there is a struggle between practical needs and the underlying reasons for having those needs. It can be that someone has become so caught up in “what” they are trying to achieve and have probably lost sight of “why”. The endeavor to bring ‘Enlightenment’ to people often meets with resistance, particularly when this ‘Enlightenment’ will disrupt the usual process of things. One can see examples of this in places where the media has a stranglehold on information. In some instances it is for political agendas and in others it is for commercial reasons, but the effect is the same: to achieve or to maintain a particular agenda by persuasive force. ‘Battles’ are only truly worth fighting when the ideals behind them are clearly believed in or understood. To do this it is often important to pause and reassess why you are doing what you are doing. When fighting becomes a habit and loses its purpose, the soul of a person can become confused and therefore weakened. This confusion inside you is a powerful indicator that the outer world needs to be reconsidered. How can things be transformed and brought into the light of acceptance and understanding so that the ‘Sword’ can be dropped?

Keywords: The battle of “might versus light”. The Spear of Destiny. Spiritual differences. Arguments. The story of Hitler. The Inquisition. The Crusades. Bringing love and light to war zones. The pen being mightier than the sword. Peace marches, Candles, torches. Weapons.

The Caution: Controlling those around with rational or brute force rather than with inner enlightenment or knowledge. People arguing over ideals. Forcing opinions on each other. Religious conflicts. War rallies. Propaganda.

Let us have faith that right makes might. Abraham Lincoln

A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword. Robert Burton

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes. Abigail Van Buren

Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength. Phaedrus

Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. Jules de Gaultier

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. Jerry Garcia

Truth is a torch that shines through the fog without dispelling it. Claude A. Helvétius

Bring on your tear gas; bring on your grenades, your new supplies of Mace, your state troopers and even your national guards. But let the record show we ain’t going to be turned around. Ralph Abernathy

A simple act of faith in reason over might. To blow up his children will only prove him right. History will teach us nothing. Sting

The Full Moon takes us back to November 2010 and August 2011 when we faced the start of and the test of the journey culminating before us now. We are clear on what is going on even if we are unable to actually do anything about it. Full Moons illuminate. Combining standing in your own creative space with the recognition that there is a battle going on between swords and torches ~ might and enlightenment. Might can rule for a while but eventually, enlightenment steps in to say “Not so fast!” Sun’s biquintile to Cupido offers us a brilliant understanding of what you’ve created and done. No one can take that away even if they are jealous and acting underhandedly. It was yours. It was and is your legacy. Sun is semi-square Hades so there is a stressful hell that you seem to be inhabiting lately. It will shift shortly but notice the difficult energy swirling around you. Creative but at the same time difficult. Mercury is semi-square to Chiron offering stress and anxiety through words. Don’t bite if you can help it ~ even if the bait seems sooooo tasty. Venus is sextile Eris ~ there is a desire to work with the Goddess of Discord in a harmonious fashion. How does one do that? You go along until you find the perfect moment to NOT cooperate any more. And with these aspects, you will be offered it sooner rather than later. You can also take it provisionally, as so much is shifting above our heads that it can feel like true clarity is an illusion. Mercury’s opposition to Saturn culminates a week where he’s been traveling over the same points that Saturn has traveled since November 2011. Mercury’s opposition to Saturn is illuminating all sorts of relationship issues, dynamics and concerns. They need to be aired out. Vesta’s inconjunct to Juno the planet of partnerships suggests that if you move your stuff out of the apartment this weekend, it REALLY IS over. Changes in the home, changes in the heart. Don’t quit, threaten divorce or resign, even in jest, if you don’t really mean it. This week people accept your resignation, agree to the divorce, or don’t take you back if you change your mind.

Sun’s day, Sunday May 6 has a long void moon in Scorpio with separating closing aspects ~again, an ending and moving on Moon, accompanying the aspects of culmination and completion. Gemini Venus and Mars in Virgo both answers to Mercury in Aries. That makes the fire energy of this lunation and the week well near impossible to control. Mercury, Venus and Mars are all working in service to the Sun’s desires and ego needs. Sun in Taurus and Moon in Scorpio also zips back to Mercury in Aries as the ultimate ruler or incorporating that fire energy into the equation. Lots and lots of fire and passion. Don’t bite. Moon is also opposite Jupiter in Taurus answering to Mercury in Aries so the energy can get fueled very rapidly. The patterns are all pointing towards endings. Mercury’s square to Vulcanus allows the energy to flow up and flare up quickly.

Lynda Hill’s work appears with her permission. Check her out at Sabiansymbol.com

Copyright © 2012 A. C. Ortelee