New Moon Wednesday, Venus Debilitated & Diwali Starts Today!

The Moon and Sun will meet together at 24 degrees and 57 seconds in Sidereal Libra this Wednesday morning, November 11th, at 7:47 am Hawaii Time. While the New Moon represents the beginning of a cycle that will continue for the month ahead, this is happening at the end of Libra and the Sun will spend most of the next moon cycle in Scorpio, so themes from both signs will be present. The cycle that is being struck by the New Moon falling in Libra is that of ourselves in relation to others. How much are we compromising of ourselves and our Soul Vision for the people around us? The Sun is our Power and Purpose and it is debilitated in Libra because we offer our Strength to others here and lose our own trajectory. Our Mind and Psychology is also be focused on others when the Moon joins the Sun. As the Sun starts to move away from this debilitation point, as it is now, we begin to pass through the gateway of taking the personal responsibility for molding our lives in a way where our energy is not going out into everyone else. At the beginning of the zodiac we start with Aries ruled by Mars, where our trajectory is more self-propelled, the Sun is exalted and we feel our Inner Power. From there we move into Taurus, ruled by Venus, where we learn to be more amicable and settle down and share. At this midway point in the zodiac in Libra, also ruled by Venus and directly across from Aries, we learn that spending all our time harmonizing with others is draining and not of real use to us or others if it is not integral to our being. Here we go back to the more selfish energy of Mars in Scorpio, but this time to fight the battle within. When the Sun moves into Scorpio on the 17th, we are reminded that the warrior's real work is within and that we must battle our own inner fears and projections in order to be of any use to anyone else. This is a marking point for us to begin to transform ourselves as individuals and to understand that relating to one other person is beautiful, but that our true work is to lift up all of humanity and we must do the work on ourselves first.

The specific star cluster this New Moon is happening in is Vishaka, the “forked one”, or “branched” depicted as either a tree with branches growing out offering shelter to others, a potter's wheel indicating patience and success after many years of perseverance, or as a ceremonious gateway under which a person passes as both a graduate of what was before and an initiate into what is ahead. The first three padas of Vishaka are in Libra and its final pada is in Scorpio. It's rulership by the planet Jupiter shows a strong principled and idealistic vision of the world and the intensity and power of this nakshatra is represented by both Indra and Agni as the presiding deities. The king of the gods who controls the rain and the god of fire bringing forth transformation. When the Moon is in the Scorpio portion of this nakshatra it is considered to be debilitated, showing how challenging it can be for us emotionally and psychologically to walk through our own personal fire and to lead lives patiently built upon on our ideals. The first couple days beginning right after the New Moon might be even more intense as the Moon moves through this debilitation point and continues traveling through Scorpio, joined Saturn.
Meanwhile, we are now operating with Venus, also debilitated, in Virgo joined Mars and Rahu. Venus is offering us an opportunity to purify and clarify our Relationships and sense of what brings us Pleasure and Happiness. This will not likely feel very good at first, especially if you are in a relationship and being forced to look in a mirror of self-criticism and constriction. The confusion and feeling of being the “other” that Rahu brings in, mixed with the differentiating and general combativeness of Mars can make relating a very nit-picky affair full of false projections and fraught with insecurity. The best use of this energy is self-purification rituals, steams, yoga, meditations (purify the mind and stop the projections at the source!), cleanses, and ceremonious ways of bringing your attention back to the big picture, which we so often lose sight of with planets in Virgo. On the plus side, Mercury is in an exchange of signs with Venus, offering a little assistance with our critical unhappiness by at least making our intellectual interchanges friendly, sweet and connective. The balanced and harmonious sign of Libra is helping our communication that surrounds all of our frustrations to reflect the sense of beauty and peace that we wish could truly be feeling right now. (more info on this alignment is available in my last report at www.alexiscoxyoga.com/words)
This New Moon also brings us Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated in India for 5 days, beginning with the two days before the New Moon of the Hindu month of Kartik (which is today!), with Diwali itself falling on the New Moon and then continuing the celebration for two more days. It is said to be a festival of celebration, joy and happiness. One of the legends of this festival, is that Lord Rama's exile to the forest ended on this day and the whole town of Ayodhya lit up their candles and lanterns for his return. The goddess Lakshmi is also worshipped for Diwali, as she was said to be incarnated out of the churning of the celestial ocean on this New Moon. Pujas (ceremonious rituals) are offered to this goddess of wealth and fertility to honor her for the bounty she has bestowed upon us this harvest season and gifts are exchanged to share that wealth. (more info on Diwali can be found at www.diwalifestival.org)

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