New Moon, Jupiter in Libra & Durga Navaratri: Balancing the Light

The New Moon was in 3 degrees 22 seconds of Sidereal Virgo on Tuesday September 19th at 7:30 pm Hawaii Time in the nakshaktra of Uttaraphalguni. Uttaraphalguni is the star of Aryaman, the god of friendly contracts and negotiations. It is said to be the star Parvati and Shiva married under and is auspicious for marriage and other lawful agreements. Coming right after the lusty star of PurvaPhalguni, it is a star that shows where our Fire is brought to Earth. It is at the end of Leo, beginning of Virgo bringing our power, higher vision and leadership skills into the more practical realm of facts and figures. In this new Virgo cycle, we will be focusing on the details and specifics as well as discerning between what is fact and what is based on potentially erroneous perceptions. It is much easier to do this with other people than it is to do with ourselves, but this new desire to get along has just birthed inside us as Jupiter made its way into Libra last week on September 11th. Here we feel as though the highest road is to compromise and make sure everyone's needs are met and our beliefs will begin to focus on ways to improve our relationships and relating skills. Jupiter in Libra can be a wonderful relief from the hyper-critical nature of our belief systems while Jupiter was in Virgo, bringing more peace and harmony to our partnerships and even our business relationships. The shadow of this is that sometimes we compromise beliefs we hold very dear or that are at the core of our personal ideologies and morality in order to make the moment more beautiful or bearable. We may hold relating in such high regard that we fold on issues that should be non-negotiable in order to find pleasure and happiness with our partner or other people. This is a Venus/Jupiter struggle that we often deal with as Libra's ruling planet of Venus rules our happiness, pleasure, beauty and relationships and that is often in conflict with our strong beliefs and ideals and even our teachings and spiritual practices.
The nine nights of the Goddess Mother in her myriad forms referred to as Navaratri begins on Wednesday, the first lunar phase, or pratipad, of this new waxing moon in the Hindu month of Ashwin. This is a time of harvest both physically in the fields and for each of us to reap what we have sown over the months leading up to autumn. In parts of India and Nepal this massive festival will be accompanied by pujas, prayer, dance and enactment of the great myth of Goddess Durga riding on her tiger (or lion, depending on the region) and saving the world from the buffalo-headed demon. This myth, like others in the Hindu tradition operates on many levels, the most potent being as a portal of consciousness. Devotees access their own darkness and demons and bring them to light. At the end of the epic battle between Durga and Mahisasura, the Goddess breathes even the demon back into her infinite being, indicating that she accepts even the darkest parts of her children (us) and that these shadows are also part of her. If you are interested in a very in-depth worship practice for this Navaratri, I can highly recommend Laura Amazzone's online course that gives a nightly practice and a lot of information and photos/video on the festivities as they take place in Nepal. You can also get a copy of her book “Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power,” from Amazon or on her website. It is an excellent resource for Navaratri and the Goddess in general!
The Nodal Axis finally made its shift into Cancer/Capricorn on September 8th, bringing our attention and focus to our feelings and emotions and perhaps our own and other's needs for unconditional love. This is a year and half cycle where the Mother will take center stage, after we just experienced a year and half of the King or Father and all the power and leadership this brought to the forefront. An especially auspicious year for Durga puja indeed! Depending on the house this rules from your Vedic Rising Sign or Lagna, this will affect your life quite differently. If you sign up for my email list (in the box to the right, or as it pops up on your screen) you will receive your FREE report on The Nodal Axis Shift for all 12 Rising Signs and if you go to these past forecasts you can read up on the shift in general more.
This past Saturday, September 16th, Mars and Mercury were in exact degrees of each other in Leo, perhaps giving a little extra fire to our speech and letting us snap a little if pushed. Venus had just entered Leo and the Sun moved out of Leo earlier that day, giving us a very crowded house in the earlier part of the day. Depending on what house Leo is in your natal chart, you likely felt a little overwhelmed in that area of your life (or if you are a Leo Lagna then maybe you felt overwhelmed in general as it was on your identity). Now that the our planet of communication and discrimination (Mercury) and our planet of action, anger and discipline (Mars) have parted and the Sun has moved into Virgo, we are still feeling a bit of the sting from that day. We may be both mentally picking apart the situation with the other person (or people) we got into conflict with and seeing the ways in which we could have handled it better (Jupiter in Libra). This is a good time to make amends if necessary, or let it go if not because in a couple weeks from October 3rd-12th Mars and Saturn are in exact dristhi or energetic gaze with each other mutually. This is a potential landmine for us as well, especially in the area of your life that Scorpio rules since Saturn has just been sort of sitting there at 27 degrees for over a month freezing over our fears with inaction. Mars' dristhi from whatever house Leo is for you may have a potentially explosive effect on this frozen lake of fear and Saturn's gaze upon Mars will likely accentuate the trigger to our survival instinct as it will encourage the part of us that fights to believe that there is actually a tiger in the room. This will be a good time to take space from anyone that is a surefire trigger for you or at least to adopt a policy of silence and meditation when you feel your temperature rise. Venus and Mars will be in exact degrees of Leo on October 5th, creating tension (and possible fiery passion) specifically in relationships so be extra careful with your partners on this day of the transit. If you know your Vedic Rising Sign you can figure out what areas of your life these houses (Leo and Scorpio) rule for you and do your best to mitigate the circumstances ahead of time. Mercury (which was the one that may have gotten us in trouble with our tongue on September 16th) will have moved on from “say what you think as loudly and authoritatively as possible” in Leo to “say only precisely what you mean and carefully” in Virgo joined our Sun, which is our sense of confidence and authority to begin with. Also, with Jupiter in Libra and this New Moon cycle being one that begins with friendly contracts, we may be able to keep the peace in our affairs by remembering to look at what we ourselves may be able to do to help change any situation or relationship that is not working as well as it could.
Navaratri Blessings and Jai Jai Ma!

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