December 2003

There was quite the celestial event taking place as the full moon was eclipsed November 8, 2003 the likes of which has not happened in the last 3,000 years and will not in the next 3,000.

As the Earth slipped between the Sun and Moon, a Grand Sextile formed that involved Mars, Moon, Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and Chiron as the points of two pyramids, one moving upwards and one moving downwards, forming the pattern of a Star of David as they crossed. A number of astrologers describe this as a numinous event in the Earth's evolution. The dance of geometry at such a grand scale is certainly evocative. As we are all made of stars imagine how this might be effecting the quarks, atoms and other cosmic dust from which we are all made.

The Star of David shape has a great deal of meaning for me personally. I learned “a light body” breathing technique about twelve years ago, called the Merkabah, and will still practise it when the mood strikes. Part of it involves visualizing a pyramid rising up from the earth and moving through my body into heaven, on an in-breath, as a second inverted pyramid descends from heaven, through my body, to the earth. As the pyramids pass through my body they form a star of David.

When I meditated on top of Chichenitza at Spring Equinox, (where the days and nights are of equal length), that pattern kept repeating itself over and over again around the temple and then visually in space around the earth, which floated in a giant green ring carved with the Mayan calendar. So news of this geometric event perked my interest.

This event certainly instilled a lot of excitement with many astrologers; www.astrosite.com is filled with a wide rage of essays by astronomers and astrologers to physicists and psychics sharing their insights. Stones and crystals that represented the various stars and planets were listed there, which I lay out in the shape of the sextile aligned with the Taurus and Scorpio axis during the eclipse, to help me understand it better.

I also found myself on a Mayan site, calling up the calendar for November 8, 2003 and getting a poem about "as above, so below; as within, so without; as with heaven so with my soul". Gorgeous sentiments which I encorporated into my own observances, singing it quietly to myself during the lunar eclipse. These prayers and poems which the internet kindly placed before me, resonated with the insights of those astrologers who talk of the planets like old friends. They would use terms like, 'unencumbered communication', to describe the relationship between heaven and earth. Many referred to the presence of the 'spiritual warrior', the 'ascensional character of the moment', a numinous quality suggesting the presence of the divine. If we apply as above, so below, then these are qualities we should sense within ourselves when applying the principle of 'as without, so within'.

In order to form your own impressions here are some pieces to the pattern. The Star of David is the Hindu and tantric symbol of male and female. The grand sextile itself is made of compatible earth and water signs. No fate planets were present, suggesting individual freedom and choice. The characters: The Sun — will, masculine energy, the best of who we are, conscious aims; The Moon — archaetypal feminine, mother, subconscious, imagination, instinct, emotion; Jupiter — wisdom, enthusiasm; Mars — courage to act, spiritual warrior; Saturn — stability, structure, endurance; Chiron — wounded healer, Christ consciousness, bridge between god and godling.

At the lunar eclipse the earth grounds the solar yang and the lunar yin and this eclipse axis runs between Scorpio and Taurus — our sensual relationship with the earth and the processes of birth, growth, death and transformation (see Harmonic Concordance and the Transformation and Spiritualization of Consciousness: Gillam at www.astrosite.com) Make of this what you will.

For me the triangles within the pattern represent the relationship between earth, heaven and self, implying that those ties are strong, direct and affecting. It is inspiring to think that heaven and earth are reflected in myself. More poignant still is how earth and heaven are reflections of me. Helps to get rid of the negative self talk, imagining it being beamed out into the world!

Here is a beautiful Mayan prayer I chanted as we sat in lunar darkness: "The heart of heaven is in my heart, my heart is in the heart of the earth, the heart of the earth is in my heart, my heart is in the heart of heaven".