Full Moon in Aries 26th September, 2007

Hi everyone,

The moon was so big and gorgeous last night, I hope that it is inspiring you and filling you with deep peace and love!

Calling the circle
We summon the fresh breath of the spirits of the East, spirits of springtime, new beginnings, new starts. The promise of the sunrise, the strength and energy of youth – the cool air, blowing away doubt and stagnation. The power of life. We call the spirits of the East and ask them to join our circle.

We call now to the spirits of the South, spirits of summer – the power of the sun at midday as it creates passion, motivation, energy, movement. strength, power, warmth, clarity, motivation, energy, movement. The power of light, illuminating us. The fire that is our passion, burning deeply within is always. We call the spirits of the South and ask them to join our circle.

And we call to the spirits of the West. The power and truth of our deepest intuition – our love, our emotions. A sunset over a calm ocean, a still lake reflecting back the sky, the still waters that run deep, deep within. Element of water, emanating the power of love. We call to the spirits of the West and ask them to join our circle.

Now we call the spirits of the North. Spirits of midnight, dark moonless skies in winter, places where truths are told. Element of earth, grounding us. Power of law, karma, ancestral wisdom, we call to the spirits of the North and we ask them to join our circle.

And we call to those spirits above us, the moon in her many faces, angels, stars, heavens, light beings everywhere, those souls not yet incarnate. Children of our children. We call the spirits above and ask them to join us.

And we call to the spirits below us, to the earth that grounds us and keeps us steady, the green kingdom with its deep roots and to the lava beneath the crust that impassions us. We call the spirits below and ask them to join us.

Finally, we call to the spirits of the center, where all the directions meet and merge and where they meet and merge in each one of us. The central flame. The sacred spirit. This circle is closed, a safe and sacred circle where everyone is welcome and free to express themselves.

Where is the Moon?
The full moon is now in Aries, a bold and truthful moon, somehow this one is making me feel fresh-hearted. I love autumn anyway but this moon is really making me feel alive and invigorated. Hope you are enjoying it too!

Talking stick
Appropriately, with this being the first full moon of autumn, I find myself thinking about the autumn and the attributes of the west, which I tend to rattle off and not pause to think about, one of which is love. So I’ve been thinking about love. All the different kinds of love that I’ve felt over the years – that really crazy in-love, the intimacy of a long relationship love, the love I have for my friends, my family, and perhaps the one that I am often the most poignantly aware of, the love I have for my son. The other day when he was sword fighting with Gary (yes, they do this a lot – I am feeling very outnumbered in this house) I heard him stop and say to Gary, “Mummy says that love is the strongest thing there is, even stronger than fighting, but that’s not true, is it?” And Gary, hopefully not just because he thought I was listening, told Owen that I was right – that love was very, very powerful, more powerful than fighting (and then I loved him all the more for saying that too.) because didn’t Owen love me more than anything? Wasn’t it stronger than power rangers? I am pretty sure Owen disagreed with this by the way, but that’s not the point. And I tried to think of a way to demonstrate the power of love to him metaphorically, but I couldn’t think of anything concrete, I just imagine that in time, as he got to understand the depth of his own heart better, he will come to understand it more and more.

Then I started thinking about how love is a double edged sword as well – how people have gone mad and killed and died for love. The wars in the world have undercurrents of love about them – love of God, love of country, love of a way of life. Bringing it home, in the course of my life I’ve cried countless tears for love, been driven to lie and cheat for love, and sometimes even wondered if I wanted to go on carrying the pain of lost love. It would be easy to say, well, that’s not “real” love. Real love isn’t those things. It is something good and something higher and something more spiritual. And sure, there is some truth in that – sometimes it isn’t love at all. But sometimes I think it is. Maybe love is really just that powerful. Maybe it is so powerful that sometimes we can’t handle it. Or, better yet, maybe it is so powerful that all of those manifestations of love are all required and necessary in order to get to an even deeper love. Maybe deep love creates a kind of a birth and birth is not easy or pleasant. I do know that whatever I have been through or felt or experienced as love, I have absolutely no regrets. Love has made me what I am and I am so grateful.

Owen and I do a visualisation at night sometimes as he is going to bed and it always ends with him feeling deep love, so deep that it is too much to contain it bursts out and surrounds him and everyone he loves and the whole earth. I prefer that vision of love. And, in the fullness of this autumn moon, it is that energy that I want to embrace and encourage for myself, the people in my life and for the world.

Meditation
Imagine yourself lying beneath the magic of a sliver birch tree. It is a crisp autumn night, and as you look up, you can see the light of the full moon reaching between the branches, playing off of the silvery leaves and shining down until it is touching you, reaching right into your heart. With each breath, the moonlight feels as though it is reaching through you, deep into the earth, then upward into the sky again. As it moves through you and into the earth, you feel it spiraling deep below you, into something of a staircase. You stand up, and begin to wind your way down the staircase of moonlight, beginning on the thirteenth step, the step of transformation, then spiraling around to the twelfth and the eleventh, then around to the tenth, then spiraling down and around and inward to the ninth, then the eighth, and around and inward to the seventh, then the sixth. You pause for a moment on the sixth step, leaving anything behind that you don’t choose to take along with you. Then continuing to spiral down and around to the fifth step, then the fourth, then the third. And around and inward to the second, and then finally the first step. You step off the staircase onto firm ground and head out toward the west.

You step out into an autumn day in a meadow just before sunset. The light is low in the sky, the field peaceful and calm as you make your way across it. As you walk along you look out for any messages carried by the animals, insects, and plants along the way. You feel very receptive to those messages in this place. You can see now that the path is leading to a dwelling on the other side of the field – one that is familiar as it is ancient. You make your way to it, the house of your wise woman.

As you are about to knock, the door opens, and she greets you with a warm embrace as always. She brings you into the kitchen, where she is cooking for you, and you talk freely about whatever comes to mind, maybe asking questions, maybe just listening to her thoughts for you. When you are ready, she leads you down a hallway with many doors. You walk to the end of the hallway and when you are ready you open the door and enter the room.

You enter the room and find that there is an open fire in the centre of it. You go to the fire and sit or stand in front of it. You realize that the fire is alternately many things: hot, dangerous, warming, comforting. You decide what it is that you need from the fire. If you need purification, you are able to enter the fire, burning away all that you choose to release. If you require comfort, the warmth of the fire reaches deep into your heart, filling all the cold places. If you have any questions about how you might need the fire, your wise woman is there to answer. When you are finished, you prepare to leave the room but before you do, you see that the fire has produced something for you – a gift – something to take along with you to remind you of this particular experience. When you are ready, you leave, knowing that this is a place to which you can always return.

Your wise woman leads you back to the front of the house, back to the path that took you here. She gives you a big hug goodbye, and while in her embrace, she whispers one word or phrase that will help you to remember your intention for this moon, or just something that you need to hear. You thank her and then head back out into the meadow making your way across again, this time in full sunset. You see the doorway on the other side, and you make your way across, pausing for any messages along the way. When you reach the doorway, you step back through.

Stepping back up onto the first step, spiraling upward and outward to the second step and the third, and upward and outward to the third step and the fourth. Then spiraling around to the fifth and the sixth step, and pausing now on the sixth step, retrieving anything that you left behind before, or just leaving it behind in that perfect moment in infinity. Climbing now to the seventh and upward to the eighth, upward and outward to the ninth, then the tenth, and around to the eleventh and the twelfth and then finally to the thirteenth step, the step of transformation, then lying back down onto the earth where you began, under the beautiful autumn willow. And when you are ready you open your eyes.

Prayers for our circle
No calls for prayer in particular this month. Much love to all of you, enjoy the moon!

Tara