The Full Moon for April 2019 is also Good Friday. We look to the various nakshatras with this Full Moon, and attend to human energy in all its manifestations – for full moon times are times of maximum energy in the mind. In Vedanta, the Moon is the presiding deity of the mind.
The Moon is in Chitra nakshatra, ruled by Mars, in the 11th House. Moon in the 11th house means that the mind is very taken by social networks, meeting and making friends, building stronger networks and seeking balance between career and social life, getting a balance in building strength in these areas of our activities. Nonetheless, Chitra nakshatra – ruled by Mars so lot of energy – calls for balance in building the external world of networks and the internal world of spiritual advance via negation of ego. Moon in Chitra – while radiating full energy, strong mental energies and desires, nonetheless calls for balance.
The Ascendant is in Sagittarius, a Fire sign. The rising horizon is Mula nakshatra, ruled by Ketu and points towards the centre of the Milky Way, the star Sagittarius A, our own black hole.
Mula rising has the goddess Nritti, goddess of death and destruction – not passing over as in death of the body and the soul departing; rather – destruction of the material sheaths and attachments to that which cause dissatisfaction in life.
Jupiter rules Sagittarius, and Jupiter is in this sign, at 0.05° – sandhi (weak, on the borders between signs) and gandanta (particularly draining, challenging knotty zone between fire and water signs) … Jupiter is very weak in Mula nakshatra. Jupiter is retrograde, going backwards into Scorpio, where it will remain in gandanta for quite some time. The drishti – glance, aspect, energy there-from will be weak; some energy will flow to the exalted Sun, else, Jupiter will play the role of observer rather than guru or guide. Keep in mind, the planets can raise us up – they can drag us down – it is up to use how we utilise their energy. For instance, when Jupiter is going backwards (retrograde), there is an internal experience of its energy. As Jupiter is parama-guru (teacher of the highest spiritual truths such as dharma), this retrograde period focuses on the spiritual side. This period can be a good one for the introspective process, studying spiritual philosophies, and doing your internal homework, self-audit, like this.
Saturn is in Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter, who is neutral to Saturn. Saturn’s energy is pretty much the norm, work is worship, duty is god. Saturn however, experiences a struggle in getting this message out in Jupiter’s sign. Saturn has due diligence in ideological conformity, following the rules of dharma in an uninspiring fashion. He has the right conduct, the means, the aim, and the psychic explosions, inner resistance, rebellions among the stars or among the youth mean nothing to Saturn. Chop wood, carry water, work is worship, duty is god. Seek liberation. Along comes Ketu radiating the energy of Mars (a perpetual enemy of Saturn, they are NOT friends by any shake of the stick) … so we have Saturn and Ketu, who are nearly within degree conjunction, sending sparks upwards in adjoining nakshatras. Purva Ashada – where Saturn is – aims for moksha, liberation, using their experiences to uncover potential for moksha. Uttara Ashadra – where Ketu is – also aims for moksha, however Ketu seeks the inner depths and energy and produces the real psychological adjustment towards moksha. Ketu, normally inertia where energy is concerned, provides no resistance to the emergence of this energy for psychological change.
Venus and Mercury are conjunct in Pisces, the 4th house in Uttarabhadrapada nakshatra. Mercury is debilitated in Pisces at 15-20° of Pisces. Here, nominally debilitated, Mercury is 08:36° of Pisces. Kinda early days. The debilitation is cancelled due Mercury exalted in Virgo, at 17:24° Hasta. Mercury gets a “get out of jail free” card. This produces a situation of Inspiration (Jupiter’s sign) vs. explanation (Mercury still expounding on matters with a bit of tactless carelessness thrown in). Venus is exalted in Pisces, 4th house, which produces a feeling of home-based, cultural-roots harmony. People with Venus exalted in Pisces often develop into fine artists and musicians, with the human voice as a primary musical instrument.
In the 5th house, Aries, we have an exalted Sun. Sun in Aries is often a signal of strong personality buttressed by the energy of friendly-to-Sun Mars. Moreover, Sun in Aries produces invention and innovation – and as this is the 5th house of intelligence and creativity – we may expect to encounter radically new ideas, new social movements, new territory. Here, the Sun as giver of light energy, disperses high-vitality, forceful, initiating movement.
In the 6th house, we have Mars in Rohini nakshatra, the nakshatra of the Moon; Mars is friendly towards the Moon; the Moon is neutral to Mars. Rohini nakshatra is a favoured place of the Moon so the Mars energy here can be an intensely sexual placement. Human energy is sexual energy at times, but this energy is needed to be kept in balance. Life force – and Mars likes to use force freely, he is a warrior forever on conquest – has to be used responsibly so we need to be watchful of where energy is going, here in Taurus. Taurus is typically a wealth house, and Mars is capable of conducting wars of wealth and pleasure, rightfully taking the spoils of conquest, so to speak. Problem is, there is too much rape in war in the extant world in this day and age, and the victors are being called to account for sexual abuse. This is the sixth house, the house of service to the community, and transmuting excessive sexual desire and energy to community service – in humility and guru seva – is an excellent re-disposition of energy.
In the 7th house, we have Rahu in Gemini, in Purnavasu, the nakshatra of Jupiter. Here, Rahu – who has desire and thus causes reincarnation – is talkative, asks too many questions, and fails to focus on that which is important (the inner journey to self-awareness). Blathering Rahu misuses the life-force, the light within represented by this nakshatra, Purnavasu, and takes the Jupiter energy and gives out irregular instructions, pretentious narratives, and fraudulent explanations. Should discussion of social-boundary issues come up – particularly in social media of any kind, be aware that people can use people to get to where they want to be. Set your own boundaries with strong inner self-discipline and manage the inner talk, which Rahu can leap over with unconstrained ambition to experience – something which actually turns out to be worthless. This is what you get for misusing the light within. As we say, the planets can raise us up, they can drag us down. It is up to us how we use their energy, we do this using our discrimination and detachment.
Full Moon Meditation
The Hierarchy have advised us that the times of the Full Moon are times when energy is magnified, and multiplied. Groups sitting together in meditation on peace, harmony, goodwill towards all have a manifold affect on the energies surrounding our planet when they do this on the Full Moon day. If it is not possible to do so on the actual day, then, we have been told, the day before or the day after will also serve as days of excellence in sending out positive harmony, peace and helpful energies to all places on our Earth.
Meditating on light can raise the level of light within the individual. Meditating on light for our home, Planet Earth, can raise the level of light in places where this is needed. For LIGHT can be, as you know when you turn on a light in a room it has different voltages in different countries – in some countries it is brighter – sometimes it is darker. In a way, the Light in each individual on this Earth is the same. Sometimes it is brighter and sometimes it is darker. Such meditation is always of help to others.
Glowing Ember Meditation
(He) explained to us that when a person comes to Him, or starts to follow a spiritual path, the gold nugget in his/her heart becomes alive like a glowing ember. However, it must be tended and kept alive just as a fire must be stoked and gently encouraged to burn brightly with the help of a pair of bellows. He went on to say that we all have a built-in mechanism which can be used in a similar way to the bellows, namely, our own breathing, and that He would give us a breathing exercise use to keep our embers glowing.
First, He told us to simply to allow our lungs to fill with air without any effort on our part. He explained that the pressure inside and outside of the body will equalise if allowed to do so naturally.
When the lungs are full of air we should gently and slowly exhale the air, but direct the flow in the direction of the glowing ember within the heart to keep it alive. He demonstrated how the head can be inclined slightly down towards the heart to make it easier to visualise.
He made a point of telling us that the exercise can be done at any time and in any place; in a plane or a car; at work or at home; alone or with people, and that there is no excuse for not doing it. Neither can it be forgotten, for, he pointed out, no one forgets to breathe! He went on to say that no tools are needed but no-one can do it for another person, and added with another smile, that even He cannot do it for us. We must take responsibility for doing it ourselves. “Who says it has to be complicated?” he asked. “It is as simple as breathing. You will soon become addicted to it and then it will continue without your constant attention. You will also have more energy. If your fire is glowing everything will be much easier. This tiny little exercise will grow and have far-reaching results if you remember to do it. It will expand your capacity to carry more light. Instead of being like a twenty watt electric light bulb you will be able to increase it to forty, sixty watts and on up.’