Full Moon, Lunar Eclipse & Spring is Here!

Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse, Spring Equinox and Holi!

Sunday, March 20th is the Spring Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere, where we come into equilibrium with the balance of Day and Night, and Light and Dark. In the Southern Hemisphere, this will lead into the Fall and Winter and more darkness than light and in the Northern Hemisphere, we will experience more and more daylight as we now officially begin Spring. This is the precursor to a Full Moon and Penumbral Lunar Eclipse which will take place on the night of March 22nd into the early morning of March 23rd here in Hawaii. A penumbral lunar eclipse is when the Sun, Earth and Moon align in an imperfect straight line, and the Earth will block some of the Sun's light from reaching the Moon's surface, covering a small portion of the Moon with the outer part of its shadow. The rest of the Moon will receive direct sunlight and may even be just as bright as a normal Full Moon.  (reference: http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html) Here in Hawaii, the actual phase of Full Moon, or Purnima will begin on Monday, March 21st at 11:43pm and will continue through all of Tuesday into the wee hours of Wednesday, culminating in the fullest moment, where the Sun and the Moon are in exact same degrees of the opposite sign at 2:02 am.  So we will get two nights to bless up under the Full Moon….and the eclipse will last from 11:39 pm March 22nd to 3:54 am March 23rd, with the peak time being at 1:47 am.

This Full Moon & Eclipse is happening in the sign of Virgo, while the eclipse point, Rahu, is itself in Leo, joined Jupiter, still Retrograde. While two weeks ago, the Solar Ecliipse in Aquarius by the South Node, Ketu, marked an ending of karma with this area of our life and our bigger humanitarian vision, this Lunar eclipse will mark the opening of new karma with the north node opening its jaws to our Power and Authority in this world. Jupiter is helping us maintain a sense of Justice and alignment with our principles, but the retrograde motion is making us less certain as to what are ideals and beliefs truly are.  (Check out the last New Moon report and Sign up for my newsletter to receive your FREE Report on both of these eclipses for all 12 signs-if you haven't already!) The full moon and eclipse will be in the Nakshatra of Uttaraphalguni, the "later red one", which is symbolized by the two back legs of a cot. This star cluster bridges Virgo and Leo, bringing our leadership and nobility into the detailed and intellectual world of contracts and power through Union, marital or otherwise. This is said to be the star in which Shiva and Shakti were married and is considered an auspicious star for weddings.  It is also a place where we experience healing and use our compassion for humanity to fight for what we believe is right. The influence of the Sun, the ruler of this nakshatra and the deity Aryaman, who is the up keeper of our honor and societal rules, make this a place where we maintain and uphold current structures of power.  The influence of Mercury, through the rulership of Virgo, allows for us to use discernment and knowledge to attach our power and authority to that which is practical and true, according to the facts. (reference: "The Nakshatras" Dennis Harness, PhD)

Virgo is where we focus on the details and the facts and information in order to use our buddhi, our intellect, to discern fact from fiction, pivotal from mundane, etc. However, in Virgo we can be super critical and so bogged down in details that we forget the big picture of why we are compiling information to begin with. This is strongly contrasted to the Sun in Pisces, joined Virgo's ruler Mercury in his place of debilitation. Swimming in a sea of endless possibility, the footless fish comes and goes in and out, also collecting data, but of a different sort. This data is anything that streamlines to the big picture. Unlike the worldly, practical information Virgo seeks, Pisces seeks information of the soul, the other planes of existence and metaphysical reality. Pisces is not interested in the mundane, earthly concerns of the pre-pubescent girl (Virgo, the Virgin) who is just discovering the cold harsh reality that life doesn't always fit into our neat little rows and boxes...the fish is the oldest soul who is getting ready to depart this earth and this realm and is detached from these practical, earthly concerns. The Sun is joined Mercury, who is debilitated in Pisces because sometimes the fish struggles to find the right communication to express tangibly that which is quite surreal. Expect communication to be emotional and dream-like, without clear boundaries or facts and details for this transit. However, joined the Sun, there is likely to be a strong connection between what information you are actually processing and how your Soul (Atman) is tuning into the bigger Soul (Brahman). Your words may not be crystal clear, but your deep understanding of the big picture is likely to be. During the phase of this Full Moon, we might find that we are connecting on a Soul Plane to Source and to our more spiritual reality, but on the earth plane we are nit-picking through the details. As the eclipse rolls in, we will feel a slight re-set (not a full reset because it is not a full eclipse) on this detail obsessing and pull our heads out of the grains of sand, so that we might examine the whole beach and find our stake on it.

Saturn and Mars are closer int he sky now and still giving us a run for our money in Scorpio, whereever that may fall in your life. Hopefully we are learning something from each one of our struggles as we move through this alignment and are strengthening ourselves by really diving deep into our own emotions and psyche. Saturn will begin his Retrograde motion early on March 25th, beginning a 5 month period of deep reflection on our Commitments, Time, Hard Work, and Fears. This is a time to really marinate on whatever explosions you have been having with this conjunction with Mars. It has likely stirred up your anger, as well as your sense of action and strength to battle what's in front of you....just don't lose sight of the fact that what is in front of you is little more than a reflection of your own self and what you need to battle in yourself. This is the truly hard work.  Mars will actually be going retrograde himself April 17th, giving us cause to pause before we Act:) This may be the saving grace of this situation, as the period between Saturn going Retrograde to Mars joining the Retrograde motion will likely be one where we are feeling uncertain about anything we've committed to, and keeping those fears to ourselves while we ruminate. Mars may make explosive, angry bouts come from all these suppressed "withholds", so Mars also slowing down is important for the "think before we act" motto to kick into play and save us from wrecking our relationships with others (Personal, Career or Romantic, depending on where it falls in your chart--again, check out the Eclipse Report for all 12 signs because I mention the Saturn/Mars conjunction there). Try to do a lot of physical exercise and disciplined activities (Sadhana, daily practice, Yoga is our friend:)  to channel your excess energy especially from March 25th to April 17th.

This is a great time for Ceremonies honoring the balance of power in the cosmic realm as well as here on Earth. In India, the celebration of Holi will take place on March 23rd, marking their burst into Spring. Holi is a festive event that takes place all over the country where the main affair is colors and throwing them everywhere! It is a massive party that everyone is invited to that involves throwing paint, powdered or other brightly colored substances onto one another's faces, murtis (statues), and all over the place in a wild frenzy in the streets, towns and villages.  One of the many legends associated with the holiday illustrates the equinox and coming of Spring with the victory of "Good" over "Evil", which is of course, Light over Dark in the seasons…In this legend the dark demon Hiranyakash is trying to kill his son Prahlad, who is a devotee of the light (the Vedas and specifically Lord Vishnu, who sustains life on earth) and refuses to learn the demon ways. Hiranyakash's sister, Holika, has a special boon where she can sit in fire and not be touched. He convinces her to put Prahlad on her lap and enter the fire, thinking she will be saved but Prahlad will burn. However, her boon only works when she is alone and Prahlad chants and prays to Vishnu while they are in the fire and while she dies in the fire, he is left untouched by the flames, due to his reverence and devotion to the light. Holika's name is said to be how the holiday got its name. There is another myth of Radha and Krishna associated with Holi. In this story, Krishna is sad that he is so dark (blue) and Radha, his love, is so light.  His mother, Yashoda, suggests to him to color the face of Radha so it looks like his own. He likes the idea and paints his lovers face to match his own. He then applies color to the other gopis too and a huge party breaks out in Vrindivan in celebration of Love, Peace and New Beginnings. Thus begins a tradition that people continue to express their love to each other and the start of Spring. (reference: http://www.holifestival.org)
Happy Holi! Have a blessed and happy Spring Equinox and Full Moon/Eclipse!!  Hare Ohm

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