A Fiery Moon Lights Up a Cold Sky!

                            photo: Robert Fuhro 

Leo Moon faces a tightly packed crescent of planets!  Leo is the fiery representative of the Sun but in lunar form, so we might feel both packed with energy and confused about where to put all that full Moon drive.   A full Moon in Leo is always opposite an Aquarian Sun, a weak place for the Sun to be located.  Sunday, the Moon has to do some of the Sun’s work.   And unless there is cloud cover, this is usually a brilliant Moon. The Moon will be at her closest point to the earth (perigee) on Saturday, so even more light and magnificence are projected for Sunday’s peak moment.

                                           painting: Amelia Leonards

When the Leonic dragon Moon rises in your heart, in your stomach in your spine, how will you dance?   Aquarian Sun is full of new and strange ideas!   They are in exact opposition across the sky and the chart.   Leo Moon gives airy mental Aquarius the fuel to create new structures, new vessels from the tightly packed Capricorn crowd in the Sun’s neighborhood.   This is a cold season with a hot Moon, something has to melt!

Amelia’s beautiful painting is the perfect illustration of this combination of air, with herons in flight over a fiery dragon against the background of a very full Moon.

Just to ramp up the energy we have Mars in the fiery sign of Sagittarius and Eris, Aries’ wild and crazy sister in fiery Aries!   This means we have a fire ‘trine,’  a twirling pinwheel of light and energy.

                      photo: Sarah Fuhro

What to do with all of this light, Fire, whirling energy and airiness?

                                            painting: Amelia Leonards

Let’s talk about the Sun illustrated with falcons and heliotropic flowers circling the year’s turn.

There are animals: shrimps, fish, worms who have no eyes.  They live deep in the earth or the sea and never experience sunlight.  Eyes must be deeply connected to sunlight.  But we are told: ‘Never look at the Sun!  You’ll go blind!’ Only Falcon can fly between the Sun and the Earth and carry solar messages without burning his eye or his wings.  Falcon is Horus, is Hermes, is the Hawk of Dawn, one of the Oldest Animals. He is associated with healing…as the Sun is the ultimate healer.

The Sun’s journey creates the ‘ecliptic’, the route of the Sun through constellations we call the Zodiac! Sun never varies on that journey, moving back and forth from East to West each day and from North to South with the seasons.

Know where the Sun lodges over the year in your horizon. People who live close to the earth, like our ancestors, mark the Sun’s journey in stone and story.  Bring his rays at dawn and sunset into the stones of your circle, a favorite place in your garden or in a park or the woods near you. As the wheel of the year turns, and you return to meet the Sun at that marked place, he will be there, shining through a notch on the horizon or touching a sacred stone as marker.

Somewhere inside each of us is a flower that opens to face into the rays of the Sun.  For we too are Suns and our beams shine out to light up the world.  Find where the Sun is located in your astrology chart, for it gives you a clue to know where our most sacred efforts are directed.

Sarah Fuhro      The Wisdom Tradition evolved over the centuries to address our deepest human needs. Sarah Fuhro is a practitioner of its many forms; including Astrology, Tarot, Flower Essences and Druidry. For an appointment call 508 740 7039 or email her at sarahfuhro@gmail.com.  In addition to personal consultations, Sarah teaches workshops and private classes, offering both clients and students knowledge powerfully rooted in the past, presented in the language of the present.   

Amelia Leonards works with watercolor and graphite to create fantastical imagery.  She draws upon world folklore, mythology and her imagination  to create pieces imbued with sensitive and emotive storytelling. Throughout her work you will find an emphasis on feminine and natural elements, along with a hefty dose of humor and antlers. https://www.amelialeonards.com  and https://www.etsy.com/shop/amelialeonards.

A Council of Ancestors

‘A COUNCIL OF ANCESTORS IS SEEN IMPLEMENTING THE EFFORTS OF A YOUNG LEADER.’

                                The New Republic

When you think of your ancestors, what image comes forth?   Is it genealogical, specific to you, or more universal, ‘a Council of Elders’ ?   Friday, as they rendezvous to begin a new lunar cycle,  the Sun and Moon will be in the degree of Aquarius, which carries the Sabian Symbol:  ‘A Council of ancestors is seen implementing the efforts of a young leader.   The whole past of mankind stands behind any individual effort, especially in times of critical decisions.’ *   A stone circle carries the best image of the Council of Ancestors I can imagine!

photo: Clark Clements

 Interesting to me as an astrologer that both Dr King and Greta Thunberg were born with the Sun in Capricorn (the builder) and we are in a period of Capricorn energy with lots of players grouped in that constellation of structure and tradition.   We have come to a powerful place where the connection between racial and economic justice and environmental survival intersect.   Saturn and Pluto have made their exact conjunction and Jupiter is running to catch up with them.   Pluto clears the way….Saturn builds slowly and carefully and Jupiter adds a generous form of blessing!

Aquarius, like Capricorn is ruled by Saturn.  But the planet Uranus is also part of this sign’s identity.  Uranus was discovered at the time of the French Revolution and ushered in the Rights of Man, and the Age of Reason.   Both concepts changed the way people think of ourselves and our role in the universe.  Uranus has a relationship to this new Moon, which will add unexpected events and excitement to whatever is under construction.  It may feel like this: You focus on a project which will take many steps to create, with Saturn’s steady beat you start the step by step project.  Suddenly, like a bolt from the sky, (Uranus) steps in and  changes your focus to an entirely new construction.  This may be a wonderful new project, or general confusion, a health crisis or a family emergency.   But it may also be a wild burst of inspiration, which will change your life forever.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Here is Aquarius from the imagination of Amelia Leonards.   And, as with Capricorn she gives us a clue as to the next sign, Pisces, the Fish!

Aquarius the Water Bearer leads us to a new landscape, perhaps even a new planet!   This is a constellation located in a part of the sky called ‘The Sea.’   Neighbors are Cetus the Whale, Pisces the Fish, Eridanus the River and Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish. Despite the name and the company she keeps, Aquarius is an ‘Air’ sign, which gives a strange combination of wet and dry. Aquarius moves with wings, not fins. One of the first constellations identified in old texts, yet Aquarius is quite dim to us on earth now. Saturn rules this sign, with Uranus added to the mix, a deep connection to tradition  (Saturn) and to emerging human consciousness (Uranus).  Perhaps for this reason, Aquarius is closely associated with astrology, and technology, revolution and oddity.  Herons are a perfect Aquarian bird, for they hunt their food in water, yet never swim, or dive, but rather lift into the sky, and return home to nests on high trees over water.

Sarah Fuhro      The Wisdom Tradition evolved over the centuries to address our deepest human needs. Sarah Fuhro is a practitioner of its many forms; including Astrology, Tarot, Flower Essences and Druidry. For an appointment call 508 740 7039 or email her at sarahfuhro@gmail.com.  In addition to personal consultations, Sarah teaches workshops and private classes, offering both clients and students knowledge powerfully rooted in the past, presented in the language of the present.   

Amelia Leonards works with watercolor and graphite to create fantastical imagery.  She draws upon world folklore, mythology and her imagination  to create pieces imbued with sensitive and emotive storytelling. Throughout her work you will find an emphasis on feminine and natural elements, along with a hefty dose of humor and antlers. https://www.amelialeonards.com  and https://www.etsy.com/shop/amelialeonards.

Bruce Lhuillier Is a French artist and photographer currently living near Boston.   His ability to capture spirit in his photos and paintings is both unique and  visionary.  You can find his work on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Barknstone.

*Sabian Symbols are images for each degree of the Zodiac channeled by Laura Wheeler and transcribed by Marc Edmund Jones, revised by Dane Rudhyar.   http://www.mindfire.ca/.

 

 

The Moon

The first full Moon in 2020 is at 20 degrees Cancer across from the Sun at 20 degrees Capricorn.  Perhaps our vision will improve and we will all have 20/20 eyesight at this precious moment.  

This full Moon is an eclipse visible in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa and Australia,  It’s a wee bit of an eclipse, penumbral, a thumbprint of the Earth upon her rim.   Last July we had a solar eclipse during the new Moon in Cancer.  This full Moon in Cancer is the manifestation of something which was born then.   If you look back to that time, what seed was planted, which has now sprouted into visibility?

A FAMOUS SINGER IS PROVING HER VIRTUOSITY DURING AN OPERATIC PERFORMANCE.  The emotional reward accompanying cultural excellence.  This moment  invites us to focus upon  and stretch our skills.  What each of us creates now, has the potential for powerful depth and durability.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier     Abbaye en Broceliande

This is a moment of Capricorn building power.   We have the sun, Mercury, Ceres, Saturn and Pluto all lined up in that sign of manifestation.   Pluto’s contribution is the dire warning to construct on a firm foundation.  Saturn in Capricorn will build that structure to last over time.   Ceres says it must be in harmony with the earth.  Mercury and Sun in Capricorn shine upon our projects no matter how daunting they seem to us.

I believe this full Moon in Cancer, when so many powerful planets are meeting in Capricorn is a breakthrough moment, much like  the story of Vortigen’s Tower.   Vortigen, a tribal chief of Britain had invited the Saxons to enter his lands to fight off the Scots and Picts.  He wanted to build a tower to protect himself, leaving his people to fend for themselves.   Each night the work of the tower fell down, and Vortigen’s magicians told him that the blood of a young boy who had no father must be sprinkled on the foundation.   They fetched Merlin, who was fourteen years old and had no father.   Merlin told the court: There is a pond under the tower’s foundation, and beneath it is a stone and below the stone are a pair of dragons, one red and one white.  When the builders dug down they found the pond and drained it, and came upon the great rock beneath.  When they pulled back the stone, two dragons flew up into the air, entwined.  One was Red and one was White.  As the dragons rose, Merlin started to cry; he fell upon his knees and began to prophecy.  As Merlin foretold, Vortigen was driven from his tower by the Saxons he had invited in to protect him from the Picts and Scots, and the history of Britain was changed forever.

                                                           Smith-Waite Tarot Deck

At each full Moon this year, Amelia Leonards and I will feature the planet or luminary who ‘rules’ that sign.  For the first full Moon of the year, we celebrate:

                          The Moon

Remember when you were the village Moon watcher?  You gave the shout, the sound of a horn, when the new Moon appeared in the evening sky, so all might begin again. Lunar cycles mark our days and hours.  All movement is in sync with currents emanating from a light in the sky. The Moon marks the time for ritual and holiday celebration.  Where the Moon resides in the Astrology chart is a place of flux, because the Moon transforms before our eyes, travels across the sky or disappears all together.  The Moon’s sign at our birth defines our emotional tenor.  Water, tides, formless to form, the Moon pulls the ocean and a woman’s blood days. Sea creatures respond to her magnetism deep within the sightless depths.  Cancer is the Moon’s home place, but her pleasure is in Taurus. Her feelings are reality; she never states the obvious. She is an eye, the observer who weeps and smiles, and the face of solace for the lonely.  

The Moon:  painting by Amelia Leonards

Sarah Fuhro      The Wisdom Tradition evolved over the centuries to address our deepest human needs. Sarah Fuhro is a practitioner of its many forms; including Astrology, Tarot, Flower Essences and Druidry. For an appointment call 508 740 7039 or email her at sarahfuhro@gmail.com.  In addition to personal consultations, Sarah teaches workshops and private classes, offering both clients and students knowledge powerfully rooted in the past, presented in the language of the present.   

Amelia Leonards works with watercolor and graphite to create fantastical imagery.  She draws upon world folklore, mythology and her imagination  to create pieces imbued with sensitive and emotive storytelling. Throughout her work you will find an emphasis on feminine and natural elements, along with a hefty dose of humor and antlers. https://www.amelialeonards.com  and https://www.etsy.com/shop/amelialeonards.

Bruce Lhuillier Is a French artist and photographer currently living near Boston.   His ability to capture spirit in his photos and paintings is both unique and  visionary.  You can find his work on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Barknstone.

Sabian Symbols are images for each degree of the Zodiac channeled by Laura Wheeler and transcribed by Marc Edmund Jones, revised by Dane Rudhyar.   http://www.mindfire.ca/.

On the Goat’s Horns

 

photo: Sarah Fuhro

This morning at dawn, the day of the Solstice Sunrise, I saw the dark Moon crescent, a nail pairing of a Moon, shining in the brilliant sky.   How can such a tiny light eclipse the great power of the Sun?  How does something very small obliterate something very large?   How does the emotional, dark, lunar side of us, rise up and overcome the bright, logical, conscious solar side?  How do small vulnerable people or creatures exert pressure to make huge changes, Hobbits sent to conquer Sauron?   So it is with Moon and Sun at a solar eclipse.

 

The new Moon is in a crowded room with many other players, all in the sign of Capricorn.  One pair, Saturn and Pluto  are about to meet in this sign. When this happens every thirty years,  change ripples out.   Saturn, who represents structure meets deep, transformational upheaval: Pluto.  They will have one exact meeting, January 12.  The Sabian Symbol for that meeting is: ‘A Woman Entering a Convent.’

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

There is much more to be said about the moment of the new Moon.  We have the good fortune to be alive at this occasion of  cosmic  action.  The pot is stirred by the planet Uranus who is always delighted to inject the unexpected.  Uranus is in a close connection (trine) to Sun/Moon and Jupiter.   The solar eclipse, although not visible for those of us  located on the dark side of the earth, will be significant. Capricorn has everything to do with government and financial structures.  Mars, deep in his sign of Scorpio will add dark energy  in the mix for the Saturn Pluto conjunction.  Venus has an eye on Uranus. the asteroid Demeter is in partnership with the mysterious Neptune.  This is an oceanic moment in time.

Since so much is happening in the constellation of Capricorn, let’s take a closer look at this sign of the zodiac.   This new Moon begins a series of extraordinary paintings by artist/illustrator Amelia Leonards.  She starts with the sign of Capricorn.

painting: Amelia Leonards

Capricorn

At first, what  we know of Capricorn appears to be above ground: visible, tangible, safe from Water’s dark mystery.  This is a sign dedicated to the very solid Earth element, yet the symbol of Capricorn is a goat with a fish’s tail.  Capricorn retrieves what was lost from sight in Scorpio’s dark waters.  At the moment of the Solstice, we celebrate the promise of light and vision felt in spirit form during the long nights of Sagittarius.  Manifestation is the power of this goat/fish.  Keenly aware of darkness, Capricorn climbs to a high point to observe the return of the Sun’s light. Guided by Saturn, who will not tolerate anything without form, Capricorn puts water into vessels in preparation for the next new Moon, the Water Bearer, Aquarius.

Sarah Fuhro

Sarah Fuhro      The Wisdom Tradition evolved over the centuries to address our deepest human needs. Sarah Fuhro is a practitioner of its many forms; including Astrology, Tarot, Flower Essences and Druidry. For an appointment call 508 740 7039 or email her at sarahfuhro@gmail.com.  In addition to personal consultations, Sarah teaches workshops and private classes, offering both clients and students knowledge powerfully rooted in the past, presented in the language of the present.   

Amelia Leonards works with watercolor and graphite to create fantastical imagery.  She draws upon world folklore, mythology, and copious amounts of chocolate to create pieces imbued with sensitive and emotive storytelling. Throughout her work you will find an emphasis on feminine and natural elements, along with a hefty dose of humor and antlers. https://www.amelialeonards.com  and https://www.etsy.com/shop/amelialeonards.

Bruce Lhuillier Is a French artist and photographer currently living near Boston.   His ability to capture spirit in his photos and paintings is both unique and  visionary.  You can find his work on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Barknstone.

Sabian Symbols are images for each degree of the Zodiac channeled by Laura Wheeler and transcribed by Marc Edmund Jones, revised by Dane Rudhyar.   http://www.mindfire.ca/.

 

 

Yes, and No!

A stream begins in a spring underground.  The water bubbles up, and  follows a path where it becomes meshed with water from other sources. A river forms and then a human settlement is built around the river.  The city benefits from the river, but the water becomes polluted.  New sources of water are found at a distance, and soon the whole world is both connected and messed up!

 photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Gemini is about duality, a Mercury driven sign. Gemini Moon in a birth chart marks the tendency to scatter emotions, or to verbalize rather than feel when anxious. With a Gemini full Moon, there is always something to think about, a new idea to explore. We may all feel a special Gemini lunacy when the mind is busy at work trying to juggle contradictory concepts like hope and despair.  The United States was founded at the moment of a Gemini Moon.  We are a nation based upon the word ‘freedom’ with an economy dependent on slavery.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

But wait!  Mercury is much more than a crazy maker.  He once was the messenger of the gods, the magician, the healer, the guide at the cross roads, Thoth, Hermes, Merlin.  He moves between our every day reality, and an enchanted vision of the material world. As my head spins with this full Moon, as my heart beats faster, I try to breath deeply and slowly, until it all slows down.  Then I begin to feel the warmth of the Sun in Sagittarius, and the magical breath of Mercury.

  photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Every full Moon in Gemini bathes in the light of a Sagittarius Sun.  While Gemini is a perfect expression of the Air element, Sagittarius is the Fire we need to keep us warm until the moment the Sun returns to the Northern Hemisphere at the Solstice.  Sagittarius is noted for optimism, a basic belief that the Universe is benign.  Both Tarot cards which represent Gemini and Sagittarius feature an angel.  The card for Gemini is The Lovers and shows the archangel Raphael, the healer.   The Lovers is called ‘the Choice card.’  Gemini energy is sometimes distraught with the weight of a decision.

The Lovers  Smith-Waite Tarot deck

The card for Sagittarius is Temperance, with the archangel Michael as as he pours from chalice to chalice, a soul from body to body.

Temperance Smith-Waite tarot deck.

When the Gemini Moon and Sagittarius Sun come together, everything seems possible, but tenuous.  Air and Fire create warm flames to warm us in a cold season. These signs are called ‘mutable,’ and they express joy and sorrow around constant change.   Sagittarius honors the sacred nature of all things. Gemini is enthralled with possibility and mental movement.  May they nourish us with hope and vision.

Sarah Fuhro      The Wisdom Tradition evolved over the centuries to address our deepest human needs. Sarah Fuhro is a practitioner of its many forms; including Astrology, Tarot, Flower Essences and Druidry. For an appointment call 508 740 7039 or email her at sarahfuhro@gmail.com.  In addition to personal consultations, Sarah teaches workshops and private classes, offering both clients and students knowledge powerfully rooted in the past, presented in the language of the present.   sarahfuhro@gmail.com.

Bruce Lhuillier Is a French artist and photographer currently living near Boston.   His ability to capture spirit in his photos and paintings is both unique and  visionary.  You can find his work on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Barknstone.

 

The Swan

The swan moves closer

to her reflection, swivels,

to see her full image.

 

She admires the perfection

of her white and black form

as she rotates under the Sun.

 

The reeds hold her picture

in their green-brown folio,

where water and earth meet.

 

The swan knows

there is more,

but leaves that for later.

 

poem, Sarah Fuhro

photo Robert Fuhro

Owl Eyes

photo: Robert Fuhro   Barred Owl

AN OLD OWL SITS ALONE ON THE BRANCH OF A LARGE TREE.

The Owl flies through the night and doesn’t bump his head.   The New Moon for tomorrow ‘suggests the possibility of developing a wisdom beyond tragedy, a peace and poise beyond conflict.’  That is what the Sabian Symbol (verbal image for each degree of the Zodiac) says about the location of the Sun and Moon in Sagittarius.   The owl’s  ‘eyes see what men normally fail to perceive. He represents that consciousness which is active where the processes of life normally escape the attention of the personal ego and its intellect.’

By delicious chance, the meeting of Sun and Moon takes place very close to the asteroid, Pallas Athena,  she who is represented by an owl, and who personifies wisdom.  Some say that Athena is associated with owls because she is a descendent of the snake and bird goddesses who came before her.  She might be a link to a very ancient wisdom of human and animal connection.  Wise people are trying to reestablish this connection, to listen to animals, to remind us that we are not separate from other species.  Buried within us is the same consciousness which guides the owl through the forest at night.   

This new Moon begins the month of Elder/Ruis!   Elderberries and Elderflower make strong medicine to keep the immune system active and healthy.  Symbolically the tree represents regeneration.  When wounded, Elder regrows branches quickly.  Ruis represents the end that must come before the new beginning.  During this lunation the winter solstice will take place,  a deep turn from dark to light and from light to dark on the earth.  The dark and light aspect of the planet is a huge treasure chest of possibility.   When we consider the owl who flew into the dark woods, he gives us a clue that there is more than one kind of vision and more than one kind of light.  

 photo: Bruce Lhuillier

This particular new Moon offers a treasure…by way of a very dynamic relationship to the planet Uranus, we are promised a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  How to feel the energy of the owl who sees with inner eyes, to understand how wealthy we are?   This Moon also promises an alchemical fire which creates new elements deep within the earth.  Find something that worries you, and holds you prisoner to its discomfort.   In the next three days, that dark concern will finish.  By searching the dark instead of the light a new solution may appear.

 

Sabian Symbols are images for each degree of the Zodiac channeled by Laura Wheeler and transcribed by Marc Edmund Jones, revised by Dane Rudhyar.   http://www.mindfire.ca/.

Sarah Fuhro      The Wisdom Tradition evolved over the centuries to address our deepest human needs. Sarah Fuhro is a practitioner of its many forms; including Astrology, Tarot, Flower Essences and Druidry. For an appointment call 508 740 7039 or email her at sarahfuhro@gmail.com.  In addition to personal consultations, Sarah teaches workshops and private classes, offering both clients and students knowledge powerfully rooted in the past, presented in the language of the present.   sarahfuhro@gmail.com.

Bruce Lhuillier Is a French artist and photographer currently living near Boston.   His ability to capture spirit in his photos and paintings is both unique and  visionary.  You can find his work on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Barknstone.