Our condolences and love go to the victims of the tidal waves and earthquakes that have devastated the Kashmiri, Central American and Gulf areas. May they and their families find strength and courage.
 Malvin Artley has been a practising astrologer for more than 10 years. He is an
accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers.
Malvin is the author of Bodies of Fire: An Exploration of the Lesser Chakra System. He has authored numerous articles and was a member of the faculty of the University of the Seven Rays, a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of the Trans-Himalayan tradition as expressed through the books of Alice Bailey, Helena Blavatsky and others.
His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His
special interests are the human subtle energy system and all
the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all
aspects of Chinese occultism. He has done extensive work with Chinese
astrology and the cycles they use and seeks to synthesize the great
Western and Oriental systems on such matters.
Malvin lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He also works in the engineering trades and sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.
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Libra's Moon:
Libra Solar Festival
Subtle Meanings of the Full Moon in Aries 2005
Malvin Artley, our regular esoteric commentator – and a Libran himself - examines the subtle meaning of the Full Moon in Aries for 2005, a Lunar Eclipse. This is Libra's Full Moon, as the Moon is Full in the sign opposing the Sun. Malvin is especially interested in Chinese astrology (he has just released a computer program that is designed for Westerners) and so explores this lunation in the light of the Chinese lunar approach. We are now in the Chinese month of the Sleeping Dog, and at the high point of it at that, so there is more than the usual need for rest in the intervening days, and for sharing. The possibility is there for forming strong alliances and for calling up powerful associates. The main indicator for this period, however, is the presence of a very potent energy of revelation, of being able to experience other realities and of getting in touch with the inner cycles and meanings of things. As always, Libra carries the tone of choice, of partnership and of living according to higher Law.
I have always been fascinated by trains. Sundays were a special day for me when I was a little tacker (small child). Every Sunday after church my parents would take me down to the rail yard in Burlington and let me climb around in my Sunday best on the big diesel locomotives that sat idle on God's day of rest. After a time one of my parents would board a passenger train with me and ride with me to the next town while the other would hop in the car, race across the city to the next train stop and meet us both there. A ride on the train-how good was that!?
Of course, the days are long gone when one can just walk around such a place as a rail yard without asking permission or having to show that one is insured for millions of dollars. It was always a thrill to me to do things like that, and today I guess one would say I still do that sort of thing in my day job. Big machines have always been a part of my life in some way, and the little boy in me still enjoys hearing a machine hum into life and go about its appointed task after I have had a play with it. Nowadays the “play” is serious business since I make my living from repairing those machines, but it still speaks to something deep in my nature when I do so. To this day I can still sit mesmerized as a train rolls past and I watch the long caravan of rail cars clatter and rumble towards their final destination.
The Virgo full moon last month was quite effective in its work. The Pluto apex t-square to the full moon did its job of bringing things to the surface and clearing away psychic debris. Aside from the world disasters, it has been a month of wrestling with inner things for me and for others since then, and there has been a lot of psychic turbulence since the last full moon. I will get to the disasters in due course, but I want to address a more personal note on the fallout from the last full moon in order that we might get a sense of what is happening for a lot of people. As for me, I found myself in a situation where certain questions and possibilities had been put to me that was causing more than a little consternation. My entire life up to this point had come under scrutiny and I had to ask myself some hard questions about certain choices I had made in life. I had been going at all that pretty hard for about a week there when I had one of those moments you get sometimes-you know, the “Ah Ha!” sort of moment. Those sorts of realizations often come to me when I am driving and my mind is otherwise distracted by traffic. The crux of the matter was that I felt as though I was having to make major life decisions and that there were some parts of my life that I had been just totally mistaken about for most, if not all, of my time in this body. I had been given to reflection and had looked hard at where my choices have lead me. Some decisions have put me in good places. Others have not been so fulsome in their outcomes, to understate the matter, and those things had gnawed at me for decades (I'm dating myself here.).
But when the realization came, it was a very simple statement, yet so far-reaching in its ramifications for my life. The gist of it was that all the questions that were being directed at me, that I was having to make choices about and which were causing me so much angst were but the machinations of my own mind and thoughts that I had somehow appropriated over the years. Many of my doubts, fears, guilt, insecurities – and on and on – were constantly being thrown up to me and I had really worked myself into quite a state about it all. It was a classic Pluto phase and experience. When the realization came through, though, everything clicked into place and the madness I had felt suddenly stopped. I thought “What in the hell am I going on about!? There is no need for all this. The only voice I need to hear is the voice of my own conscience and inner direction. In all the times I have done that, I have made the correct choices.” It is the only way we ever learn and learn correctly, even if (and especially when) we make mistakes in the process.
Choice Must Be Made
Choice must be made. If there was ever a theme for Libra, that is it. It has been discussed at length in past Libra letters. There are two basic ways in which we choose-with desire/mind or with inner knowing. The latter involves faith if we cannot see or directly sense what is on our path. However, that faith springs from self-knowledge and from capability that has been built up over many lifetimes of experience. At some level, we always know what is best in any choice presented to us when we operate in a strong sense of faith in ourselves. The average Libran type chooses according to desire or mind and the results speak for themselves. The Libran type who chooses in such a manner will often be extreme in some area of their life and will be the bane of everyone's existence as their mind jumps from one delectable possibility to the next – always on the fence and ready to drop the present choice for a “better” one. This is the lower Venus phase in the rulership of Libra. There is a higher Venus phase of choice in Libra that is marked by a much truer sense of discrimination and a refinement of mind. The lower Venus phase will still evidence from time to time, but the choices in the higher Venus phase are more motivated toward the refinement of life rather than the gross satisfaction of some desire or curiosity.
When the Libran is truly living their spiritual path, though, there is no longer the lower Venus phase in the decision-making process. Choice comes in an instant and it comes with a certainty that no external influence can shake. This is the Uranian rulership of Libra, and it carries with it the symbolism of “the iron fist in the velvet glove”. Uranian choice is Soul-choice, which is conscious choice. Such Libran types can be powerful manifestors in their sphere of influence, and they bring the new and sometimes disruptive influences that lead to better conditions for themselves and all around them. These Libran types are rarer, to be certain, but one will always know them when they are encountered, largely because things are never quite the same afterward. Yet, they are better somehow due to the Libran influence. Conditions are more balanced (perhaps aligned would be a better term) after a good Libran encounter. With the preceding being said, it is my hope that everyone has made some good conscious choices out of and as a result of the dishevelment of the recent Virgo t-square. This brings us to the present state of the world.
We seem to have had some rather major natural world “events” (disasters from the human perspective) over the past couple of months – first Katrina, then Stan and then the earthquake in Kashmir. We also have the constant specter of terrorism thrust at us nightly in the news reports and the powers that be would have us believe that we stand the chance every day of some attack. The toll on life in recent years has been high and people in the affected regions have suffered terrible loss. Our hearts go out to everyone affected and we have given much collectively to those areas to help them rebuild their lives and even simply to survive. The world response has been unprecedented. There is great hope that comes from that, but we should be mindful that many sources have told us there are more of these events to come-in fact that they have only just started. Terrible though these have been, they are all part of nature's balancing act. So far we have been very lucky in western countries, but eventually these things will affect all of us in some way if they become more frequent and potent. Would we be ready if they happened in our regions? The US has had two major wake-up calls (9/11 and Katrina) and we are starting to realize that no one is immune or out of harm's way. Nature plays no favorites. The fact remains, however, that the majority of people usually survive these disasters and go on to rebuild their lives.
The point I am getting to with the preceding paragraph can be stated as a very simple question and goes to the very heart of Libra because it involves fundamental choices about life-paths – How are we to live or lives in the coming years? Or, we can word it a different way. What choices will we make with regard to our individual and collective future? I know people who live in a constant state of apprehension about what might happen in life – worrying about possible futures that seldom, if ever, eventuate. Their entire lives are based upon another simple question always prefaced by “What if.......” This sort of thinking and choice is a classic example of the mind getting in the way of truth and paralyzing progress. There are a few people, however, who live by another axiom. They live “as if” – as if life is good, as if what they conceive will happen, as if the Creator is with them always and as if life will go on, no matter what happens. To live “as if” is to live in and by faith and inner knowledge. To live otherwise is to live with a mind sometimes (if not always) tortured more by the very possibilities it creates than by the events that actually come. I put my hand up. Yes, I have indulged in such mental self-immolation from time to time. Living “as if” has distinct advantages, though, and I have found that sort of thinking to open doors to whatever is needed. I may not be able to move the mountain by faith alone yet, but at last I can see my way over and around it now instead of seeing it as an insurmountable or impassable obstacle as was the case in the past. To live “as if” is to make a conscious choice about one's own destiny.
In part two of this article, Malvin Artley continues his exploration of the esoteric meanings of the Full Moon in Aries for 2005. It would pay us to be mindful that we have an opportunity here to tap into the higher aspects of conscious soul choice, and in a way that is not normally in evidence at the Libra festival.
Read part two of The Libra Solar Festival
 Malvin Artley is an accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers. His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His special interests in those fields are the human subtle energy system and all the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all aspects of Chinese occultism.
He sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. These letters are sent out as a gift and a service. If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list please let me know. If you feel inspired to pass them on please do so, but do so without alteration or charge. They are sent to people of many persuasions, not just astrologers. Blessings. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.
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