 Native American Woman selling Handicrafts
Taurus' Moon:
The Wesak Solar Festival 2011
A Needed Adjustment
at the Full Moon in Scorpio 2011
Malvin Artley, our regular esoteric commentator, presents the Wesak Festival, 2011, the celebration of the Buddha. This is Taurus's Full Moon, as the Moon is full in the sign opposing the Sun. The Full Moon of Taurus (the Full Moon at Scorpio 26º 13') took place on the 17th of May 2011 at around 11:10 UT (GMT). Malvin tells us that he started this article several weeks ago, but decided not to send it until now for a variety of reasons. The reason it is sent now at all after the fact is that the coming Full Moon ‘distributes’ what came from it, so it is worthy of a look, besides which Wesak is one of the three great Festivals, astrologically considered. The blessings of Wesak last for the year.
Greetings Friends,
Much of our lives pass by day by day with little ceremony, our consciousness absorbed in the minutiae of things that must be done on a daily basis, and the constant stream of diversions and interruptions from our daily routines and necessities. I see this in my own life all too clearly, and at the end of each day I often find myself with a sense of frustration or even self-chastisement that I have not fulfilled the needs of the day, that I could have done things so much better, more effectively or efficiently. Yet, how often does a 'diversion' or 'tangential thought' or even an 'annoying interruption' by another person or even a friend provide the very thing that we have been seeking or that we have needed to awaken us from the sleep of our supposed lives? I say 'the sleep of our supposed lives' because most people—even very 'old souls'—live lives so conditioned by culture, upbringing and the memories of the past, buried and conscious, that we do not really live according to a true consciousness of what we do and why.
What is the Light that guides us? Is it the culture from which we emerge as adults? Is it a dream or vision of what we had in our younger years of what life should be for us? Or, do we live fully in the moment-by-moment passing of the flow of events that make up a life? Better still, do we dwell in a state of being in which we observe all the happenings—the phenomena—which pass us by, noting their significance or lack thereof and responding only when we see something of possible benefit for the greater good of ourselves and those close to us, or even farther afield?
Most Potent Time
We are in that time of year, a most potent time indeed, where we are given over to examination of the Light which has shone upon our path, imagined or true. In its higher manifestation, Taurus yields the Light of the Path, the Light of dharma, the path which leads to our liberation from those things, people and events which have held thrall over us for so long, frequently over many lifetimes. Literally, in the Taurus interval each year we are given opportunity to observe and really incorporate an impulse that can lead us to the next needed steps toward our freedom, not just from inhibiting conditions in our present life, but from the necessity to even to have to return to life on this Earth at all. The latter may seem a fantastic statement to some readers, but if we could truly see the causes that have set up the edifice of our lives (the samasara of countless lives) then to pull the key stone out of that edifice means that we need suffer no more, no longer to be bound to the need for rebirth in a physical form. What we have perceived as 'life' would collapse around us and we would stand freed, fully conscious, a most terrifying concept to many people—yet truly alive. We have forged that keystone over many lifetimes, and every Taurus interval or life, especially if one is born with Taurus Sun or Ascendant, gives one the opportunity to find the gift of removing the binding stone, and of thus discovering the 'Philosopher's Stone', that unique formula or key which gives mastery over one's life and lives.
A few salient points are in order about Taurus. Taurus is ruled in its higher essence by Vulcan, an esoteric planet between the orbit of Mercury and the Sun, that planet being a vehicle, or transmitter, of will and power in this solar system. Vulcan was the god of the forge in mythology, the forger of weapons and fantastic implements and armor. These 'weapons' and 'fantastic implements' are allegorical terms for what in Sanskrit are the siddhis (super-physical powers) or in Buddhism the attainments or realizations, common and uncommon (lower and higher, resp.). The type of will or power in consideration here is not the personal determination to make one's way in the world. It is far from any personal consideration at all. Vulcan, being an esoteric planet, never operates at a personal level of perception. It is only ever sensed when one is squarely focused upon the good of the greater whole, when one's own self-interest is subsumed in consideration of the welfare of others—and this means not the fulfillment of the desires of others, but their spiritual advancement. Because this sort of motivation has been such a rare thing for humanity as a whole in times past, the planet itself has not been observed by modern astronomy. In short, Vulcan is not a physical, or dense, planetary body so far as we know. It only becomes observable when one begins to work with subtle essences instead of dense forms.
The Symbolism of the Forge
The symbolism of the forge is of great interest from the standpoint of one 'on the path'. If planets in astrology represent aspects of life and various types of consciousness, what exactly would the god of the forge represent to our life and mind? Literature, art and the media always give us clues in this regard. The following are some rather suggestive quotes regarding the god of the forge and his actions:
Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience, and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. – James Joyce
The farther behind I leave my past, the closer I am to forging my own character.
– Isabelle Eberhardt
We forge the chains we wear in life.
– Charles Dickens
And, having been a tradesman for most of my working life, the following are particularly close to my heart:
For all your days, be prepared, and meet them ever alike: When you are the anvil, bear—and when you are the hammer, strike!
– Edwin Markham
If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer! – Alan Lewis
Sometimes I wonder whether or not life has taken a bigger hammer to us these days. I look about at my friends and associates, at myself and the world in general and it seems as though we are being pressed in directions we would rather not go, or where we would go, but only reluctantly. Perhaps we are being exposed to the 'uncreated conscience of our race', or perhaps leaving somewhat of the past behind, or taking a chisel to the chains we have forged in the past (lives, that is), or perhaps it is just a case that our discontent is a recognition that we are not in the best relation with universal laws. Maybe most days we feel like the anvil, but we need to remember that a hammer is useless without something to strike against. Maybe we just feel as though we need a bigger hammer. There have been many days for me on the job when using a bigger hammer would have felt most satisfactory, but the customer would not have been happy with the result!
Diverging a bit from Taurus, speaking of hammers and forges, we have not two but three eclipses this summer/winter, which is not entirely unusual, but also not the natural order of eclipses. We looked at the first two in the most recent letter, but I saved the third one for this letter, as it will have a particularly Vulcanian effect on the world—not immediately, but in the coming centuries. It takes place on the 1st of July and may affect the US, Canada and Australia, falling on the US Sun/Jupiter midpoint, the Canadian Sun/Uranus conjunction and opposite the Australian Sun/Saturn conjunction. It also falls opposite Egypt's Pluto, on France's and Ireland's Moons and on Lebanon's Sun. The solar conjunctions would affect the leadership of those countries implicated (Australia, the US, Canada and Lebanon). The lunar conjunctions would affect the populace of France and Ireland. Keep an eye on Egypt, because there would be a particular intensity that pervades that country with the Pluto involvement. There is something brewing under the surface there and I feel they will be in the news again soon. When I say the 1st July eclipse 'may have an effect', I refer to the following points:
Far Reaching Effects
In research I have undertaken with regard to eclipses and the Saros series, from what I have seen thus far it is only the middle third of any Saros series that seems to be productive of results in any major fashion. Eclipses are at their most powerful when they are very close to the Moon's nodes—the closer, the more productive of change. From this we could surmise that the lunar eclipse which marks the Goodwill Festival this year may thus be far-reaching in its effects, especially since it coincides with that festival. The Sun and Moon are within a degree of the nodes in that figure. However, there is another factor to consider with regard to the strength of eclipses, and that is the number and nature of activations they receive by planets transiting over the eclipse point or the point opposite. For example, with the Saros 130 series that the 15th of June eclipse belongs to, there have only been minor activations over the past 50 years or so, save for one instance, and largely by Mars and the Sun. There were a few events to be seen on those activations, but nothing 'earth-shattering', shall we say. However, with the lunar Saros 130 eclipse in 1975, there was a double simultaneous activation of it on 26 Nov 1976 by the Sun and Mars, and two days before that there was a major earthquake in Turkey in which close to 4,000 lost their lives. Therefore, for total eclipses, double or even triple simultaneous activations bring the strongest effects, the nature of the activating planets determining the sort of effect—unless the eclipse is on an Aries point, in which case all effects are magnified.
In part two of this article, Malvin Artley continues his exploration of the esoteric meanings of the Full Moon in Scorpio, the Wesak Festival for 2011. He asks: What is the Light that shines upon our individual and collective paths? Is it longing desire for people or things, worldly ambition, or is it the simple wish that everyone should be well and happy? We are at a crisis of trust in the world, but the chief lesson in it is not to point the finger when we suffer, but to root out the causes of our own short-sightedness and set matters on a more viable course as a result.
Read part two of The 2011 Wesak Festival at the Full Moon in Scorpio. 
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 Malvin Artley is an accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers. His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His special interests in those fields are the human subtle energy system and all the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all aspects of Chinese occultism. Malvin has just announced that he now has his own website! Check out www.malvinartley.com/
He sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. These letters are sent out as a gift and a service. If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list please let me know. If you feel inspired to pass them on please do so, but do so without alteration or charge. They are sent to people of many persuasions, not just astrologers. Blessings. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.
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