The Full Moon for May 2019 is the Vesak Full Moon, celebrating the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha. Other festivals for this day are Vaishakha Purnima, Anvadhan and Kurma Jayanti. Divine inner light is strong at this time and meditation is beneficial.
Saturn (26°05′) conjunct Ketu (26°08′) in Sagittarius, a fire sign. Kuja vat Ketu rule applies, indicating Ketu will behave like Mars, and we know the enmity of Mars and Saturn. There is heat in the kitchen. Water is needed to cool things down, and as all this is occurring in Purva Ashada nakshatra, we look to the goddess of Purva Ashada, Apas, the goddess of water. This conjunction will remain in place in Sagittarius for the remainder of the year. Things will be heating up on our planet, and we need to look to the warnings about biodiversity and life in water, as recently issued by the United Nations. Saturn is duty, task, responsibility – so here we have Saturn issuing a challenge to every nation, every continent, and those coalitions and bodies responsible for transformations and the future. Take heed, matters will heat up, and life is at risk, particularly, life in water.
The following is from the UN Biodiversity Report issued 6 May 2019, and alerts us to challenges to species and life forms. Note the risks for species what live in water:
Saturn is the driver warning us of melting ice-caps, sea-level rise, warming of the oceans and other water-related environmental issues. Ketu (normally scattered, unconcerned) v. Saturn is expressing the need for those who take no responsibility for the climate to become painfully aware of the need to make an effort.
Venus is in the 12th house, Aries, which is the strongest house for energy at this time. Venus in Aries normally suggests fire in the hearth, the sexual hearth. The 12th is a house of closure, imprisonment, retreat, withdrawal, preparation for the end of life. Venus in Aries (fire sign) as 12th house at this time is more about withdrawal from excessive sensual desires and attachments: desires for intimacy, passion and commitment need to be balanced with the goals of life and tempered by a good willpower to drive towards these goals without getting distracted by desire. Sure, these desires are good – they ensure the human race will continue to propagate and multiply – however the quality of life is more important. What good is it to bring children into a home filled with harsh domestic violence or an environment of sexual abuse? What profit do you get when children and youth languish in poverty and unemployment? What are the things you can do for others when you practice ceiling on desires? This is the drive of Venus in the 12 house, in Aries, directing these fires to good and beneficial community action.
In the 1st house, Mercury is sandhi, within 1° of the sign border and thus depleted of vim, vigour and drive, the normal effervescence we know of Mercury. We also have the Sun here, and Sun in the first betokens a strong lagna, a strong ego, strong personality and strong drive. Conjunct a sandhi Mercury, Sun will not express the drive and vigour of Taurus; it is a weak lagna at this time of full moon. Strongest sign has Venus, Mars and Rahu in the next sign promise much: we need to be careful and check that these can actually deliver what they promise. The Rahu-Ketu Axis (RKA) is actually an affliction of malefics, so while Rahu may well promise much at this time backed up by the shakti of Mars, Rahu is in fact a slippery eel and needs to be held to account. In other words, this is not a time of bragging rights; don’t promise what you cannot really deliver. It is not dharma, right conduct. (Rahu hates dharma!)
The Navamsha
For those aged greater than 48, we look to the Navamsha chart, the 9th division, as this expresses the tasks of the second half of life.
The first thing we notice in Navamsha is that Saturn is conjunct Ketu (again) in Scorpio – a water sign – which indicates that the need to attend to issues relating to heat and water remain pronounced. Expect secrets and matters kept away from the public view to be disclosed here. Ketu can plumb the depths, and Saturn, manda – the slow one, plods away and pursues a proper goal of life with Ketu: sathyam anavesham, excavation of the truth. The truth about climate change needs to be taken on board at all ashrama – all stages of life.
Mercury is once again in the Lagna, albeit aspected by Saturn, Ketu and Rahu. Saturn and Mercury are friends, Mercury travels well here, with the Aruda of 10th and 11th houses, so delivering messages on purpose, goals, duty and responsibility. Rahu’s aspect can magnify this and make older Mercury types somewhat annoying or like a 78rpm record repeating the same message over and over. Sun is in the 2nd house, Dhanishta nakshatra, oversighted by Mars energy. Here, Sun is in a water sign, that of Saturn, so Sun will somewhat behave like Saturn in this sign: duty and responsibility are the call in among the Mars nakshatra Dhanishta, Sun is radiating heat in a water sign, again reminding us of the need to attend to warming of the waters, the ocean temperature rise and its effects for all who live on Earth. Sun is a royal planet, a luminary, the message must be heeded!
Can we escape to unique graciousness of Venus, or perhaps, the magnanimity of Jupiter? Venus is sandhi in Cancer, indicating that the home front has the possiblity of lack of pleasantness, manners, graciousness, and lighter energies. A weak Venus in Cancer means the welcome and atmosphere in the home needs some attention at this time. Jupiter aspects by way of trine, somewhat magnifying this lack (Jupiter is a multiplier of energies); so just like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, attention needs to be paid to the feelings on the home front. We need to feel safe and welcome in the place we call home.
We have Moon in the 8th house at this time of full moon. While Moon looks like it is expressing the home comforts adjacent its own (home) (Cancer), it could also be a time when we need to respect the boundaries of others. It could be a time of making enemies or disaffecting others by transgressing their boundaries and telling them what they really look like to you. The key to getting around this and avoiding disputes is to keep in mind that there is only one race, the human race (we are all the same), there is only one language – the language of the heart, and there is only one religion, the religion of Love. These principles can steer us away from hurting those whom we feel closest to.
Divine inner light is strong at this time – it is the Purnima of Vaisakhi and the life of the Buddha (Buddha Purnima). It is the Janma of the avatar Kurma which is represented by Saturn, patience and stability. It is a time when meditation is beneficial.
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.’