By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
OUR SUPERMOON in Aries, in
perigee,
comes to us completing the manifestation cycle the New Moon set into motion at the Sept. 11 eclipse and finishing the course of action set at the last New Moon in Aries, six or so months ago.
This thunderous Moon is set to dominate the night sky as I write -- bigger, badder and more compelling than usual. The astounding astrological events of these last few years continue to amp up the energy without skipping a beat, without giving us a notable breather, without leaving anything untouched.
Luna figures into a Grand Cross including the Sun and Pluto, with Mars in Gemini at the difficult 29th degree. We've been crossed and crossed again, lately -- and when I think of the cross, I think of the metaphysical conceptualization of the horizontal line representing the material, intersected by the vertical expressing the spiritual. There is a gift at hand -- will we take it?
The chart for this Moon indicates Neptune on the MC creating fuzzy edges, but we can follow the cookie-crumb trail in our personal lives that has been encoded by these cycles. We have been asked to reconsider, reflect and surrender during these last months -- this should come as a relief to those of us who carry the weight of our personal world on our shoulders, putting down the burdens of the past and releasing us to a new beginning.
This is easier said than done, of course, if we've hit our internal walls of unforgiveness, unlovingness and control and failed to leap them. We fear, too often, that we will lose our power if we give up our grievances and our victimization -- like fear itself, these are shadows that keep us locked in place. If we have put off this important exercise, we still have opportunity to reconsider what has been mindless and habitual in our lives and give ourselves the gift of release. The work that we do in astrology is within -- as we mend ourselves, the energy of the collective changes the world. We heal Gaia, and ourselves, one mindful personal decision at a time.
With so powerful a Moon arriving in Aries, we're sure to want some action; the Libra Sun will argue for a more cautious path. Aries bellows for conflict, Libra counsels for boundaries -- Aries overflows with headstrong enthusiasm, Libra sighs with gentle cooperation. Mars and Venus are the age-old story, aren't they? The ancient prototypes of male and female energy, each with a different set of concerns, attempting to come to understanding of one another, merging the concerns of God and Goddess while meeting the needs of the whole. Heart and head, holding hands and moving forward. It's the challenge of the ages -- more importantly, it's the need of the hour.
The world stage has given us a remarkable example of this
grand experiment, happening in Burma, as we speak. Burma, contemporarily named Myanmar, is headed by a de facto military dictatorship propped up by the heavy hand of the People's Republic of China; for almost two decades, this arrangement has ignored the rightfully elected, remarkable and internationally beloved Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in human rights, has been under house arrest for more than 11 years. Desmond Tutu calls her the "only pinup" in his office; she is embraced by the Dalai Lama and an international community of those who love freedom. She has been likened to Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion, aptly named for her unwillingness to ascend to Nirvana while so many suffered on the earthly plane.
In the last few weeks, there have been protests in Burma that, notably, were joined by Buddhist monks, ignoring the monastic code that urges them not to involve themselves in mundane politics. Students and ordinary citizens flocked to this cause by the thousands, resulting in a crackdown by the military that has resulted in deaths and arrests.
The junta has now banned all public gatherings of more than five people and imposed a nighttime curfew, but they were not in time to stop the march earlier in the week by some 400 monks to the house where Suu Kyi was imprisoned, and where she gave them her blessing. They carried a banner with them -- it read, "Love and kindness must win over everything."
Our president, breaking his singular preoccupation with his wars, spoke to the UN this week, criticizing the Myanmar government and asking for harsher sanctions than we already impose -- this was likely encouraged by his wife, Laura, who has spoken out for the cause of the Burmese people and expressed her admiration for Suu Kyi.
Such measures will do little, however, while the influence of China, India and Russia continues to protect the junta. If you would like to support this cry for freedom, you can sign an emergency petition supporting the Burmese people
here which will be delivered to United Nations Security Council members at the annual Summit Meeting in New York this week.
The military junta in Myanmar reflects government everywhere -- it is the old paradigm authoritarian model, become transparent in these last years. Since they assumed power in 1988, the junta has become a pack of greedy influence peddlers, trading in arms and political favors with stacks of money changing hands and finding its way to the families and cronies of the major players, while the people suffer quietly. The flawed patriarchy of leadership across the globe is as worn and frayed as the dinosaurs gasping their last, but it still holds sway in this 21st century, awaiting the final shake and rumble of the earthquake that will doom it; a people's quake.
We don't know how this protest in Burma will end. It certainly looks frightening for the courageous petitioners, but we can be confident that it won't escape the world's notice and approval. Goddess is rising and she will not be denied now -- our heart chakras have been long closed but now they open, and all that was can no longer stand in the long-awaited demand for humanitarianism and freedom.
We're simmering in a broth, swimming in a soup -- floating in the amniotic fluid that precedes birthing into a new awareness and understanding. We can already feel the changes, the sharp shaking of the walls of reality, the contractions we endure as we outgrow our here and now and rush toward a new thing, untried in, some say, eons. We will collaborate on a new age, once this great labor is done and we emerge as new creatures.
Years back, I wrote a splendid little poem about the birthing process, one I could use now to convey my awe and appreciation for this moment. It's lost somewhere in my files, but the last line of it speaks to my wonderment at the paradox:
Now, crying for your death, come seize your life.
That's where we are today: confounded, confused, no longer held safely by what we knew and anticipating something that feels difficult unto death. It is not -- it is the natural progression of our times, and it takes us to life more fully expressed and honored than we hold in memory. It's the 21st century we've longed for, the leap we've yearned for and the new thing that beckons us on. It asks us to take responsibility in the moment -- do the baby steps, day by day, that will push our freshly sensitized consciousness out into a world anticipating our arrival. While we're all doing a bit of crying for our "death," it's time, now, to seize our lives -- and I can think of no worthier banner to wave than that which the Myanmar monks carried, at their peril.
"Love and kindness must win over everything." Amen...and amen.
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