Scorpio Full Moon - April 28, 2010

Once again we approach a Full Moon. I don't know about you but things seem to be moving faster all the time. Sometimes it feels like every day is a Full Moon in terms of intensity and the amount and rate of change that is occurring.

Perhaps I am feeling the coming of this next Full Moon more intensely because it will be conjunct my South Node and my natal Chiron. Which, of course, means the Sun will be conjunct my North Node, which is great!

I certainly have been having many opportunities to relive, review and heal past traumas both internally and in my relationships.

This is one of the keys to developing our consciousness. Rather than seeing these upswellings of the past as 'bad memories' to be forgotten... see them as toxins rising to the surface to be released and exhaled out of your being.

When we acknowledge them, recognize them and see how they have affected us as objectively as possible, then do something different, we experience miracles.

We need to feel, not numb out. The reason past traumas stay inside us is because we are not willing to feel their pain. We put off feeling it as long as we can, but it doesn't go away. Once we are present to the pain, it goes away. It's kind of like monsters in a dream. If we run, they will chase us forever. When we turn and face them, they vanish in thin air, never to return. Many people develop illness because they are unwilling to experience emotional pain. Instead, they experience it as physical pain.

With the Sun in Taurus and the Moon in Scorpio, which both relate to security issues such as food and money, many of us are feeling a lot of fear about the future. On Earth Day, KPFA had many special programs about the effects of climate change. One of the issues that directly affects all of us is FOOD. So used to having food easily available at the local supermarket (even if we don't have the money to buy it), we tend to take it for granted. We know it is there. But at some point, the changing climate will affect crops. It already has in some areas of the world.

Yesterday I had a booth selling my herbal products at the Harvest for the Hungry Plant Sale. (See my herb blog) Next to me was a woman selling plants including berry and grape vines. She was also promoting IGrow and the upcoming 350 event. I think she was dismayed at how many people had no idea what 350 referred to - especially since we were in the part of town where more affluent and educated people live and they were there to buy vegetable starts for their gardens. I heard her explaining it all day. By contrast, I didn't have to explain 2012 once (I make and sell a flower essence blend called 2012 - see my 2012 blog)

When no one was there, I asked her if she really thought we could do something about it in time. She admitted that while she thought it was probably impossible, one still had to try, "What else can you do?"

I agree, working toward a sustainable future is the only game in town. As I have seen with energy work, intention is possibly the most important element in the process. The mere act of setting intention, which focuses one's attention in a particular direction, propels you halfway there.

Taurus, although ruled by Venus, is more closely associated with Earth and there are some astrologers who suggest we should change the rulership. One thing about Taurus is that it is slow and steady - sometimes boring in its adherence to patterns and routines. Let us not get bogged down with this idea of slowness when it comes to change, however.

While the forces that create earthquakes and volcanoes take time to build up, once they have arrived at a particular threshold, the shaking and explosions are felt quickly in the moment. Drip drip drip in the bucket until it overflows all at once.

There are those who say that the climate change we are now experiencing began with the first agriculture several thousand years ago, because it made it possible to sustain more people. This is the major cause of climate change - overpopulation. Many of the inventions that create pollution came as necessary developments when managing the growing population.

I hate to say it folks, but sustainable means small not mega. In our own lives, we see that while our imaginations may make anything possible, the restraints of time and energy means that little actually gets done.

In my house, I have enough cross-stitch patterns to keep dozens of people busy all day for their entire lifetime, yet when I was into it, I kept acquiring more. Now, while I rarely touch cross-stitch, I still can't part with my patterns because "maybe someday I will get to them." Yeah, right. Probably not in this lifetime. Not unless I stop doing all the other things I do, or I figure out a way to do it while I am online.

Yesterday at the sale, I spoke with other vendors about how difficult it is to set up and take down shows. We all need to have more venues to make more money, but our backs could not take anymore lifting. The limits of the body are real (at least on this level).

So too, are the limits of the Earth's carrying capacity. Scientists like Michio Kaku say we have always had massive earthquakes. The difference today is 1) our communication systems allow us to hear about them and 2) people live in densely populated areas and so there is more loss of life and destruction of property. Tremendous explosions of volcanoes which have destroyed whole cities have always been part of Earth's history (remember Pompeii?). The difference is that cities are now larger than ever and there is little space between them.

The "San Francisco Bay Area" stretches from the northern border of the state of California to the southern. (Some would prefer to call it LA.) There are few areas of the coast of California that are uninhabited. Certainly there are no areas where humans have not affected the environment in one way or another.

Taurus deals with personal resources and Scorpio with shared resources. We are under the illusion that there is a difference. In astrology an axis - say between the 2nd and 8th house does not so much deal with differences as with perspectives on the same issue. As Above So Below... a matter of perspective and focus... the inner and the outer...So our personal resources are related to collective resources.

We need to begin to identify our inner resources and to bring them out into the collective. I refer to such things as our "character" a seldom-used term in the modern world. Who we are as people. What kind of people we are. Rather than what we do or what we have.

Anyone who has been in a crisis where they had to live in a shelter or on a lifeboat or something like that.. knows that that type of situation (where no one has anything) can bring out the best and the worst in people. In the next few years, earth changes will show us all that we have always been living in a lifeboat and that we have soiled our own nest.

What we do about it now will reveal who we really are as individuals and as a species. Some will get busy and clean, others will complain and blame, still others will just go to sleep. Which one will you be?

It is time to assess your inner resources. Not just how much money you have because what is needed now money cannot buy. In fact, money and stuff might cloud your judgement since it will provide you with a false sense of security.

Being prepared now does not mean stock-piling canned goods and batteries, for they, too, will eventually run out. Being prepared now means being calm and still like the Buddha while events swirl around one. Finding the center of the storm and abiding there.

In her article on this month's Full Moon in Scorpio in The Mountain Astrologer, Stephanie Austin quotes the Sabian symbols: Sun at 9 degrees Taurus: "A fully decorated Christmas tree; the ability to create inner happiness in dark hours" and Moon at 9 degrees Scorpio: "A dentist at work; overcoming the negative results of social practices and ego-cravings." She encourages us to release the fears that are holding us back.

I would add that we need to stop worrying what others think of us. As a friend once said to me over and over, "you wouldn't worry as much about what others think if you knew how little they think at all." Unfortunately, true. Most people are "asleep at the switch" as my mother would have said. For those of us who strive to be awake, this means that we can accomplish much, since no one is really paying attention. No one is at the controls of the "machine." Intention, focus and energy will accomplish much toward the Shift that we are seeking.