 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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Capricorn's Moon:
Capricorn Solar Festival
Subtle Meanings of the Full Moon in Cancer 2006
Malvin Artley, our regular esoteric commentator examines the subtle meaning of the Full Moon in Cancer for 2006. This is Capricorn's Full Moon, as the Moon is Full in the sign opposing the Sun.
Happy New Year Everyone!
I was taking a long walk through the neighborhood yesterday morning, enjoying the cool breeze and the lack of traffic. Weekends—you gotta love 'em! The early morning just after the sun rises and before the flies make their appearance (you have to think about such things in Australia, or choose to ignore them completely) is a magical time. It gives one a space when inner communion is much easier and when the world has yet to impinge upon the mind and weigh it down with cares.
I was thinking back over my life as I walked along. Walks often seem to have a theme, do they not? At this particular time of year, especially, there is definitely a strong urge to go back over one's life and to make major or minor adjustments to one's attitude toward life. On this particular walk I was given to musing over the sort of conditioning our society throws at us as we come along through the first twenty-one years (3 full etheric cycles) of life. Much of that conditioning has to do with performance and conformance with certain standards. For example, I can remember the dread that P.E. (physical education) class always held for me, especially in my teenage years. I was always a runt, you see, smaller than most of the other boys and always a bit on the nerdy side. As a result, I always tended to be picked toward the last for teams, always felt awkward in the team role I was handed and usually lived up to people's expectations as a result—by not performing particularly well. It always left a very sour taste. As is usual, though, there were other areas in which I did really excel—none of which were on the track or field—and I was respected for those other things as a result. Still, there was always the pressure to perform, to be a high achiever and to maintain high standards in my chosen areas. Some people seem to thrive on this sort of thing. I always rebelled against it.
As I was thinking about all those personal pains and triumphs, I realized how much I had bought into the social dynamic as I had grown up, and about how much the social fabric is based upon such ideology. Think about it. The pressure to perform and compete is upon us in every aspect of life—from work, to play, even to the most intimate moments with loved ones in life. We are always compared and judged as to how we measure up to everyone else. Quite frankly, I'd had a gut-full of it all.
Life Without Competition?
Then, I thought about what a life without competition would be like. For instance, what would the thinking of a champion athlete be if they refused to buy into the competition theme? What would their goals be? Well, it would simply be a striving for personal best—and the chips would fall where they may. Would it be a self-centered view? Maybe. Would it be conducive to team competition? No. Would it feed the public's thirst for victory against odds and team rivalries? Definitely not. I really liked the idea, though. I felt a point of peace inside about a world without competition, and about not having to live up to anyone else's benchmark. In the end—and I have always known this—the times in my life when I have been very successful are the times when I have lived only according to my own rules and shut out everyone else's opinion of what or how I was doing (within reason and respect of others, of course). Such an attitude makes one a loner in many ways. Capricorn is all about the sort of self-initiated dynamic just described, and about achievement in the face of personal obstacles. With that, let's have a look at what Capricorn means to us, for it rules the human persona in a very profound way.
It is customary for astrologers to do a forecast for the coming year in the period of Capricorn. I will no longer give a Western forecast, as such. There are already many on the net, including this website, and in various publications. Since much of my time is devoted to Chinese astrology these days, I will give a Chinese forecast each year, however. That article will be published on this site in about a week.
New Group of World Servers
We do need to address a bit about the year that was, though, so we can get an idea about where we need to focus our energies in the year to come. To begin with, we have just wound up the week-long festival of the New Group of World Servers, which comes around every seven years. There has thus been a very concerted effort at meditative and inner contact during the commencing week of Capricorn this year. Capricorn begins at the northern Winter Solstice, and the festival of the NGWS commences at that time as well. It runs from the 21st through the 28th of December on those years and its special work is the pointed intensification of the impulse toward goodwill between all groups and nations of the world. The next such Festival Week will take place in the now much-vaunted 2012. Frankly, the work of that group is vital at this juncture, especially given recent world events and the psychic quality of 2005.
The first recorded regular festival week of the NGWS was in 1942, and its impulse played no small part in producing a turning point in WWII. The Soul of humanity prevailed over the forces of materialism then. That is seen from subjective levels, of course. Now, we find the world in another precarious spot, and the energies playing upon and through us are every bit as potent and momentous as before. The forces of materialism are still very much with us and our need for spiritual practice is as great now, if not greater, than 63 years ago. We are now in a period that has been termed 'The Period of the Forerunner', which means that we are all being given a task to perform together-to ready the world for the re-emergence of the Kingdom of Souls as a physical reality, and not some fond spiritual notion. The date for the beginning of that re-emergence is set to commence sometime around the year 2025, and it will progress steadily over the decades to follow. So, what does that mean to us at a personal level?
Kingdom of Souls
Put simply, the only thing we have to do in preparation for the re-emergence of the Kingdom of Souls on Earth is to perform to our personal, spiritual best. That may sound simple enough, but rest assured—if you seek to do that, even in half-measures, then the entire weight of your own negativity will stand in the way of your doing so, as well as a portion of your family's, community's and national negative imprinting and conditioning.
How will that happen, we might well ask? We will judge ourselves and be judged harshly. Our own lower nature will try hard to maintain its status quo—to retain its current level of comfort and ease and its established habit patterns. The groups we are in will try to keep us 'in our place'. All of our early conditioning will come up for examination and some people will even try to strike 'the fear of God' into us for our efforts. Then, we begin to have some fun with it all. We were given some hard lessons in these sorts of things in 2005. Let's face it—there were so many highs and lows in 2005 all we could do sometimes was to sit back and have a good belly-laugh about it all. Nothing else seemed to do any good. 2005 was a difficult year for so many people and it challenged most of us at a very deep level. Now, the built-up frustrations and angst of the year that was will spill out into 2006. The valve will be opened and the repercussions of the shocks that came that year are to be felt in this one. I will have more about that in the Chinese New Year letter.
2005 will be a year that is remembered for disasters—Katrina, the 2nd Bali Bombings, the London Bombings, a string of air disasters, the Pakistan Earthquake, scandals in the Republican congress, a record hurricane season in the Atlantic, the Iran Earthquake, the death of the Pope and the installation of the new one (and possibly the last), a worsening insurgency in Iraq, revolutions in central Asia and several assassinations or natural deaths of major political figures, especially in the Middle East.
There were happier stories, of course, especially in the world of entertainment with some major blockbusters coming out. There was also legal recognition for same-sex couples in several countries. As in all disasters, there were heroic moments, and there appeared to be some movement toward conciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. There were many great stories of the heart that never made the papers, but the media portrayal of the 2005 was fairly bleak at times. It was a poignant year, made all the more so with the Saturn/Chiron opposition that was with us for a significant part of the year, and which will be with us again for the first half of 2006. There is growing frustration with governments, especially in the US and the UK. There is a growing call to pull the troops out of Iraq. There is continued frustration with the Palestinian/Israeli dilemma, and we will have to see what happens now that Sharon is no longer in the picture. So, this is the legacy that we bring with us into 2006.
The new year began with a very loose Great Cross, composed of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, along with two standard yods with Saturn and Uranus at the apices. This will be a year that has started innocuously enough, but it will build in tempo and intensity and produce foundational changes in the way people relate to one another. Politically, it will be a very volatile year with many power players coming unstuck and new ones emerging. We already see that dynamic with the Republican Party in the US and the illness of Sharon that has upset the Israeli leadership. Much of the energy of the year will depend upon Saturn, because it is by itself on one side of the zodiac and the remainder of the chart is focused through it. Personal, intimate relationships will fare better this year, however, but we will have to change the way we relate to each other in group fashion. On the whole, this will be a year to watch in politics, and there will be major shifts in several power bases, especially in the US. With these points in mind, let us take a look at the sorts of adjustments we need to make in life in order to best garner the benefits of 2006.
In part two of this article, Malvin Artley continues his exploration of the esoteric meanings of the Full Moon in Cancer for 2006.
Read part two of The Capricorn 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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