Grand Trine in Earth Signs and the Crow Full Moon

Wednesday, March 7 a Grand Trine in Earth signs forms in the heavens as the Moon in Virgo aligns with Jupiter in Taurus Pluto in Capricorn. At 9:18 A.M. (PST) Luna makes her perfect 120 degree trine to Jupiter, followed at 10:56 A.M. (PST) by her alignment to Pluto.  Jupiter, the archetypal energy of benevolence, abundance, good fortune, and optimism, combines with the power of transition and transformation characterized by Pluto, creates a potent period of time.  Now is the time to gain the kind of support you need to gather resources needed for major projects.  As you made your intentions known and cast your nets out in search of resources in the past, you now begin to gather in support for your ideas, encouragement for your creativity, and resources to back and carry you forward.  Whereas you may have felt that your efforts have been thwarted recently, you will now feel a release of the energetic dams...movement forward is signaled. It’s a powerful time to step out of that which may have been binding you in fear, self doubt, frustration, anger, or an under-appreciation of your own gifts and assets. 

Reading Emily’s Virgo Magic will give you great insight into what may have been holding you back recently.  We cannot afford to stay caught up in self pity and false modesty.  Sitting on our gifts is like burying our money in the backyard while letting our family starve to death.  Further energizing us at this time is the Moon in Virgo’s conjunction (exact alignment) with Mars this afternoon (3:30 P.M., PST). Mars, which has been at its closest orbit to the Earth this last week, shines bright in the night sky and perfectly connects  and energizes with the solid, pragmatic, emotional influence of the Moon in Virgo. Mars’ aggressive energy currently being grounded and contained in earthy Virgo, finds emotional release which may result in somewhat over-assertive reactions to very complex issues.  Note this, and avoid overreacting to complexities and insecurities that may be triggered as a result.  Instead, use personal containment to maintain a grounded perspective.
Venus entered her home sign of Taurus just a few days ago, so is also lending her energy to the building Grand Trine. Emphasis on beauty, inner and external, helps us create, connect, and make peace in all areas of our lives.  What was set into motion at the time of the last New Moon (Pisces, February 21), continues to be nurtured, built upon, created, and shaped by the thoughts, feelings, actions, and spiritual investment we give to those areas of our lives we say matter most to us. 

This morning I read a quote, “If we only knew the power of our thoughts, we would never again allow our selves a negative thought.”  While we cannot control every thought that enters our mind, we can control what we do with those thoughts. When the energies of the Universe are acting with such quick and decisive response to our energetic impulses, it behooves us to practice all forms of non-violence, including the Buddhist practice of Ahimsa.  Ahimsa, often translated as non-violence, is  a powerful spiritual practice calling us to pay attention to our thinking, our words, our actions towards others, but equally as important, towards ourselves.  How many times in the day do we berate ourselves, underestimate our capacities, dishonor our bodies or ethical values?  How many times a day do we dismiss our intuitive senses, devalue our ideas, or waste our time and energy on actions, thoughts, and behavior that is harmful to ourselves and others? Notice, as you go through your day, what your internal chatter is, and when you find yourself in the depths of self pity or self deprecation, make an intentional choice to turn negative, harmful thoughts into more positive, affirming ones. 

This is the call of the energy that is rising to the surface among all people everywhere.  No longer asleep, no longer numb to suffering, no longer tolerant of inhumane actions toward our fellow human beings, no longer accepting of the destruction and waste of the Earth’s resources, we are going through the process of metamorphous. Our lives are constantly changing and evolving. We are fated by the limitations of our species, our DNA, and our levels of age and experience, however we are gifted by the bounty of our free will and ability to choose, think, create, appreciate, change, and form ideas and life choices of our own.  We do this in symphony with a host of unseen and unknown actions active both in the world of concrete manifestation (other people, their lives and choices, and the rhythms and synchronicity of those with whom we relate), and in the mysterious realm of Divine movement, energy, and mystical connections. 

As much as we all seem to want to control our lives down to the last detail, understanding that much of what happens to bring us what we desire, happens on an energetic level, much of which is beyond our control, understanding, or imagination.  Allowing ourselves to develop as best we can, according to the highest principles we can live by, and with respect for what is going on in the lives of others that a.) may have absolutely nothing to do with you; b) is beyond your control, but not your influence and energetic input; c) does not eliminate our right, responsibility, obligation, and desire to create beauty, light, love, and good in our lives; d) is beyond your knowledge or understanding, but within your energetic field (thus capable of receiving love, prayers, and the energy of your thoughts--negative as well as positive). 

So what does this mean for us, when we want to make choices about our lives? When we desire something that seems to depend on someone else? When we feel thwarted, frustrated, blocked, lost, or at the end of a road?  Yesterday, I read a friend who was upset because she felt her education had been all about interests she had in the past, but held nothing for her where she was at this point in her life.  Like many of us who have committed ourselves to a choice early in our lives, we often find that the life of a commitment has a limit.  It can be disconcerting and disappointing, however it is far from uncommon, especially when we are at the beginning of our life journey. Graduating from university, completing a cycle in life, getting a divorce, or getting married, having a child, or having your children leave home, losing a job or starting a job---all of these major life changes bring us to the gateway, the threshold of our life path. At the threshold, we look back at what we had, what we completed, what we accomplished, and we realize, we have finished some part of life that has helped define who we are. What lies ahead? The big questions never seem to be nearly as apparent as the judgment of what has been accomplished, or the shock of finding out how different life is that what was expected. 

Our expectations often start as our dreams, our wishes, our desires, or our plans. When we move into life believing that the expectation will become the reality, we are bound to be disappointed. At the threshold points on our journeys, we are once again thrown back to the point where we ask ourselves who we are  or who we’ve become, and what is the next best step? 

Many of us wander around in the valley of our expectations, bemoaning our fate or trying to figure out what we need to do to get things to work out right. What may be needed instead, is a reliance on the journey, a surrender to the life that awaits us rather than the life that is disappearing into the past of yesterday.  How do we do this? We look to our passions. We look to our gifts. We look to the blessings in our lives right now. We look to what was completed, with an eye on what new questions, what new interests, what new leg of the journey could be calling.  

When I am given the gift of time, rather than fill it right away, I allow myself to go into prayer, meditation, rest, and time. Since so much of  our lives is about fulfilling obligations, attending to business and survival, providing and caring for, taking care of daily life, having time is a gift.  Watch what you do with your time, the next time you have some. Time may arrive because the car breaks down and you have to walk, take a bus, or sit home more. Time may come due to ill health or an accident that sidelines you for a while. Time may come because you can’t find a job. Time may come because you are stuck in a traffic jam or are behind someone in line who is taking too long. 

Pay attention to the little pockets of time or the longer stretches of time, and see if you can be more productive, more appreciative, more aware, and less anxious, stressed, or impatient with the lack of movement in your life.  Use the time to focus inside and to connect to the Divine, the energy that powers and infuses life. Use your meditation practice, your prayer time, your reading time, your contemplation time, your walking and exercise time to become more centered on living in the present in full appreciation for who you are, what you have accomplished, and in patient acceptance that the thoughts, actions, and beliefs that shape you now, will manifest in the life you will live from this moment on.  Whenever I have been caught up in a pity party with myself, I have made a concerted effort to get outside myself, outside my small realm, to support, help, learn about, or participate in something that has nothing to do with me and my perceived problems. 

Following my intuitive hunches, paying attention to the messages and symbols popping up in my dreams,  honoring my gifts and accomplishments, and recognizing my responsibility to use the gifts and fruits of my knowledge, enables me to create, to share my knowledge or ideas, and to live my life with a better understanding that despite my plans, despite my dreams and expectations, the best things in my life have always been a total surprise. I don’t mean you shouldn’t make plans or avoid expectations; I do mean that we need to be open to the mystical nature of life that moves into our hearts and homes despite the challenges, blocks, and armor we have donned to prevent our own happiness.  Open your heart, let go of your negative patterns, and embrace the journey.
With this Grand Trine in Earth signs (doesn’t come along but once in a great while), we are enjoying the grounding energies this beneficent aspect.  Tomorrow’s full Moon in Virgo at 18 degrees, called the Crow Moon or the Sap Moon, provides the impetus and focus for those dreams and plans set forth on the Pisces New Moon.  Fortunate enough to have my own Virgo Moon in opposition to my Sun in Pisces, I have lived and learned about the power of using opposing energies to strengthen and focus my life and choices.  Mercury in 5 degrees of Aries, is preparing for its retrograde phase, and this enables us to turn our attentions inward. It also enables us to enter a period of reflection, release, reevaluation, and reassessment.  Rather than seeing the retrograde phase as a negative or delaying phase, understand the importance of this phase as a time to allow ideas to root, encourage creativity to deepen, and for perfecting plans and ideas for future manifestation and success. 

Gird your loins, prepare for the journey, expect the unexpected, and go forth with an open heart, a willingness to learn, a commitment to create, and an appreciation for the abundance of life. Set out, if only in your mind and heart, in search of a life that allows you to do what you most desire.  Remember what the Cheshire Cat said to Alice in Wonderland. When Alice observes that the cat is doing what should be impossible, the Cheshire Cat replies, ““Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”  Live the impossible life that is waiting for you.