The Christ Festival
subtle meanings of the Full Moon in Libra 2005

Malvin Artley, our esoteric authority, outlines the subtle implications of the Full Moon in Libra, the Easter Moon for 2005. This great, spiritual Full Moon, known as the Christ Festival, is the Full Moon Festival for Aries. This year, for the Western Hemisphere, it occurs on the 25th of March at 2100hrs GMT, though for Australia, it occurs in the morning of the 26th

As I was sitting down to lunch the other day and thumbing through the paper, I happened to notice that it was the birthday of a hero of mine. I have always been a big fan of science, as most of you know, and I majored in physics when I went through school. So, when I saw that it was the anniversary of Albert Einstein's birth, I naturally started reminiscing on my adventures in science from times past and reflected on the direction of science and how far we have come along those lines in the past few hundred years. My interest in science and technology is such that it has been almost a compulsion of mine since I can remember.

My earliest memory of any interest in technology was when I was about 3 years old. Trains and big machinery always caught my eye as a young lad, so I got very excited one day when I heard a road scraper coming down the road past the house. I ran to the door to have a look and got a bit more than I bargained for. I tripped and put my hand through the plate glass in the door. I still bear the scar from that one. It scared my poor parents silly and they thought they had lost me. All came out well, though, and I would live to give them cause for apprehension many years after that due to my forays into science. The stories I could tell... Many scars later and much wiser from my experiences, I still have a fascination for all things scientific and technical. But, the thing I have come to realize through it all is that science is really simply a quest for truth more than anything else and, above all, it represents our efforts to wrest understanding from the Mind of the Creator. Science and esotericism are one and the same, so far as I am concerned.

Three Great Spiritual Festivals

We now enter the time of year that all occultists hang out for—the three great spiritual Festivals of Aries, Taurus and Gemini. I have written about these three festivals in years past as to their primary meanings and, if you want those letters for review, I can send them to you (or check out Malvin's articles here). This year, though, I want to approach the subject from a different perspective and fill in some gaps in information about which people may not be aware regarding this festival in particular. There are also some interesting planetary patterns that will present themselves this year with regard to all three of these festivals, and these reveal aspects of the inner life that would not ordinarily show through in your “standard” full moon festival—if there ever is such a thing as a standard one.

As we move into the Aries interlude at the equinox on the 20th of this month, the interesting energies presenting themselves are already in evidence. We will get to those in due course. One thing that stands out from the patterns presenting goes straight to the heart of Aries and the intent of all three of these festivals. The thrust of the spiritual Hierarchy of our world is geared toward three things: Purpose, Revelation and Right Relations. With Aries we see the inauguration within the Hierarchy of specific efforts for the yearly cycle, and there is thus a lot to say about Aries with regard to spiritual impulse. As we will see, though, Aries also carries a great deal of mental force and directed energy with it as well, and it is this latter aspect of the sign with which I will deal in this article

The Child of the Zodiac

We all know the typical Aries type—impulsive, full of fire and enthusiasm, peevish when opposed or frustrated, great at beginning things (but not known as the best of finishers), impatient, self-initiating, “the child of the zodiac”, independent, vital, the inveterate contestant and constant competitor, original or novel (but hardly ever both at once), self-centered, inventive and a constant thinker—although not necessarily a trained or careful one.

As with all signs, there is great goodness and extreme pettiness with Aries. People either love them or despise them, but the Aries type will always be memorable in some way, either for their originality or for their sheer novelty value. Most of what we know of the outer expression of Aries comes from a life imbued with its orthodox ruler, which is Mars. Those qualities are known well enough, so I will not go back over old ground. The Martian Aries type can be extreme in many things that they do, and there is rarely any middle ground with them. Beneath all the bravado and enthusiasm of the Martian Aries, though, lies the key note of Aries and the very thing that gives the sign all its energy—the Light of Life itself.

It is hard to be even-keeled when one is so full of the very essence of Life, is it not? But, as with all signs, Aries has its more subjective side, and some of the great strides in human endeavor have been made by Aretians under the influence of their esoteric ruler, which is Mercury. Whether they are a J.S. Bach or an Andrew Lloyd Weber, a Vincent Van Gogh or a Joseph Barbera, a Commodore Perry or an Otto von Bismarck, a Maxim Gorky or a Hans Christian Andersen, a Leonardo da Vinci or a William Harvey, a John Gielgud or a Russell Crowe, all Mercury Aries types (whether that way all the time or only occasionally) are driven by the same axiom: “I think, therefore I am.” (Rene Descartes, also an Aries).

A Mental Influence

In fact, aside from the orthodox ruler, Aries is a sign that is quite mental in its influence, which would seem to differ in many particulars given what we are lead to believe about Aries types. As well as having Mercury as its esoteric ruler, there is also the influence of Uranus as the ruler of the creative Hierarchy Aries rules. That group of Lives is far in advance of our humanity and passed beyond the necessity for incarnation in the seven planes of Earth existence long eons ago. There is next to nothing given out about that group of Lives, except that it carries the energy of “Unity through Effort” and it acts upon our worlds from the lofty realms of divine Desire, which realm was briefly touched upon in my recent Pisces article. Even in those little hints given, though, we can learn quite a lot about Aries and what it really means to us in terms of our spirituality.

As was said earlier, there seldom seems to be any middle ground or balance with the Aries type. It is a sign known most spectacularly in the orthodox for the self-centeredness it seems to instill in its natives. The Aries persona is anything but unified with others on most occasions, unless it suits the need at the time. Above all, however, the Aries has to act. It is never a sign that sits still. It is always involved in some effort, always going against the grain, always “on the edge” and “pushing the envelope”. The Aries is always the instigator, always seeking notice for their efforts, always looking for the very thing that will make them unique. In the lower phase of Aries, their self-initiated effort usually divides them from others as they seek to set themselves apart and show themselves as somehow “better” than others. In that case we see Mars in action, prompted from behind the scenes by Mercury.

A Pure, Intuitive Flash

In the higher Aries type, self-initiated effort tends toward eventual union with others as their efforts are geared more and more toward initiatives that will produce better conditions for the group in which they find themselves, all in response to a sensed idea. Of course, the initial impulse often still comes across as their idea, but at least there is then altruism behind their efforts instead of the selfish rushing around of the Martian Aries. In the very highest Aries type the motivation, or the pioneering impulse, comes from levels quite removed from any selfishness at all. That impulse would then be a pure intuitive flash, and thus a call from the Soul, to embark on a service to others that would institute a new order in things and eventually thus make things better for all people, whatever that new order may be.

So, what does all this say about the relationship between Aries, Mercury, Uranus and the Intuitive Flash? Malvin continues his discussion in part two of this article.

Click to read part two of The Christ Festival