........CURRENT MOON....moon cycle........
Full Moon in Pisces
Harvest Moon
Monday, September 15, 2008
2:13am PDT
The Full Moon in Pisces is a celebration of tireless dedication to the enlightenment of all sentient beings. This effort is undertaken through two paths of action: the Bodhisattvic vow to seek wisdom and apply compassionate action toward self and others. Two truths: We are all connected and there is no security; for all things are uncertain. We are nothing and everything; full and empty.
It is time we relearn to care for each other and start living communally in love and peace. Pisces wants to transcend all perceived separations. This is an evolutionarily demanding Full Moon. But you tell me, what huge challenges in your life have not, in the end, provided the most profound growth? So I ask each of you to consider the necessity of rising to the challenge of this Full Moon by reading on with serious intention.
The Bodhisattvic intention represents a revolutionary call to bring awareness to the condition of your emotional mind in an effort to uplift all other minds on this planet. With Mars/Venus/Mercury conjunct in Libra, trine the transpersonal conjunction of Neptune/Chiron/North Node in Aquarius, the great triune of personal action, love, and intelligence can be applied from a spiritually awakened concern for the welfare of the other. Add the Uranus (awakening)/Moon conjunction in Pisces, and we have ideal conditions for natural enlivenment of the awakened, compassionate mind.
This awakened compassionate mind requires that we understand the true nature of our emotions. Every emotion is sourced in the mind and mediated primarily through the production of neurotransmitters and enzymes in the brain. Thankfully, the human body is wired so we feel our emotions in the heart. But actually the quality of what we feel rests solely with how the brain’s synaptic and neuronal pathways are wired. The good news is the brain is plastic. Mindfulness opens the pathway to the wise heart, through the moment-to-moment recognition of our internal condition and it’s interaction with eternal causes. So mindfully attending to the quality of our thoughts, feelings and interactions actually enlivens compassion, empathy, and depth of intention—and rewires the brain.
In fact, the Uranus/Moon conjunction creates the conditions for a beautiful ritual to direct the power of mind toward the most evolved form of the Pisces/Virgo axis: sacrifice, service and enlightenment. Pisces is known for its desire to let go of self-identification thereby allowing the soul to merge with its source; pure consciousness. What a finish to the last two weeks of waxing Moon work on our individual desire for health, healing and service to others. This is the night to put into action all of your intentions for health and well-being and to offer this effort in service to the enlightenment of all other sentient beings.
So, no messing around with those devolved Neptunian/Piscean hedonistic fantasies of getting wasted on drugs or alcohol. This is the Full Moon to join with others and be lifted out of denial and ignorance. The world is suffering and we all need to wake up and do what we can to relieve suffering. Take responsibility for your own suffering and the suffering of others. Love yourself by loving others. Do what you can to stay in the present and in your heart.
This Full Moon comes at the height of our harvest season. On this Full Moon it is important to recognize the fundamental relationship between gratefulness and non-attachment. Use this Full Moon to look at what you cling to and your fear of letting it go. Do you spend most of your time grabbing and craving for more things; trying to fill your inner emptiness with a multitude of possessions? We come here with nothing and leave with nothing. Why then do we hold so tight to things that will not last? This is a great time to ask, “What can I freely give away? What can I share?”
Tackling the issue of non-attachment makes a great group ritual. Ask your guests to bring something they truly love that they feel ready to give away. During the ritual allow each person to openly express his or her desire for, and attachment to the object they brought, and talk about what it will mean to no longer have it in their lives. Some groups decide to exchange items with each other, while others donate everything to a favorite charity or thrift store. Either way, this giveaway ritual becomes a wonderfully freeing and very Piscean experience for everyone involved.
Use this Full Moon to create a group ritual for your family, friends, and/or community that centers on healing anger and pain. Acknowledge your own anger and pain, take it in your arms like a baby, wrap it in compassion and let love work its healing magic upon your soul. Know that your pain does not define you. Find your true self in your compassionate heart and create the conditions for peace to grow within and without. Then seek to acknowledge the pain of others while acknowledging your part in causing them to suffer. Wrap them up like a baby with your compassion, allowing love to work its healing magic. Go to them; tell them how sorry you are. Allow them to reciprocate these compassionate feelings to you. Realize that what is done to one is done to all, and create the conditions for peace to grow.
The Pisces Moon uses an intuitive recognition of truth; a direct (finally!) Jupiter in Capricorn gives us the ability to face our fear of what is painfully true about ourselves and our relations with others.
This is the Full Moon to practice compassion and selflessness by radiating peace and calm through group prayer and meditation. Unlike Virgo, its opposite sign, Pisces knows no distinctions or differences: it perceives the unity within the diversity. Pisces acknowledges our essential connectedness and realizes it through the practice of unconditional love and unwavering compassion. Because Pisces represents unconditional love and compassion, it must also deal with anger and hatred. If we waste our lives holding onto anger, resentment, and hatred, we will continue to create a world that reflects our own inner violence. Be aware that the hatred and anger in your heart is helping to feed the violence we see all over the world.
It is time to stop the senseless killing we create all around us. Give up the label of victim and embrace your own part in continued killing. It is the first step to becoming a peacemaker. If you fearlessly open your heart and let compassion be your guide, you will automatically become an active peacemaker. Love is the language of selflessness. If each of us would practice this language daily, violence would surely end.
Here is the Bodhisattvic practice of the Eight Verses of Though Transformation to help open your mind to the full meaning of compassion and humility. If you wish to read more about it, I recommend the book “Transforming the Mind”, by HH the Dalai Lama ©2003. The Eight Verses Soundartwork ©2007 Lisa Dale Miller can be downloaded for free.
The Eight Verses on Transforming the Mind
With a determination to achieve the highest aim
For the benefit of all sentient beings,
Which surpasses even the wish –fulfilling gem,
May I hold them dear at all times.
Whenever I interact with someone,
May I view myself as the lowest amongst all,
And, from the very depths of my heart,
Respectfully hold others as superior.
In all my deeds may I probe into my mind,
And as soon as mental and emotional afflictions arise,
As they endanger myself and others,
May I strongly confront them and avert them.
When I see beings of unpleasant character,
Oppressed by strong negativity and suffering,
May I hold them dear—for they are rare to find—
As if I have discovered a jewel treasure!
When others, out of jealousy,
Treat me wrongly with abuse, slander, and scorn,
May I take upon myself the defeat,
And offer to others the victory.
When someone I have helped,
Or in whom I have placed great hopes,
Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways,
May I regard him still as my precious teacher.
In brief, may I offer benefit and joy
To all beings, both directly and indirectly,
May I quietly take upon myself,
The hurts and pains of all beings.
May all this remain undefiled
By the stains of the eight mundane concerns (gain and loss; pleasure and pain; praise and blame;
fame and obscurity)
And may I, recognizing all things as illusion,
Devoid of clinging, be released from bondage.
Can you imagine if everyone committed to practicing this humble, heart-opening, mind-transforming way of being in the world? So much would change. The Eight Verses Soundartwork can be downloaded for free.
So on this Full Moon, join with others to pray and work for peace. Allow Uranus, the awakener, in Pisces, to open your mind to alternatives. Utopia is a mindset that finds it source in the transcendent bliss of the nothingness/everythingness. This is your source; call it what you wish, but use this Full Moon to dive deep into source and open yourself to the interconnectedness of all things.
©2008 Lisa Dale Miller
All rights reserved
Also, this is hilarious:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/34465/saturday-night-live-palin--hillary-open
