Author Archive for Awen Labow – Page 3

Extreme Out-of-Bounds Moon Alert and Mars Conjunct Chiron

Posted by Awen Labow on

June 14, 2022

By Daniel Giamario

FACEBOOK JUNE 15, 2022

Following up on the powerful Super Perigee Full Moon yesterday, at 23Sagittarius25, the second closest Full Moon of the year, let’s tune in again to the Out-Of Bounds (OOB) Moon. The Full Moon being near the December Solstice degree (and Galactic Center) was more than 2 and a half degrees south of the Ecliptic (-25S58).

All through 2022, ever increasing each month, and leading up to 2024, the Moon is becoming increasingly out-of-bounds (OOB) every time the Moon is near the Solstice degrees: Gemini/Cancer and Sagittarius/Capricorn. These situations happen twice every lunation. Great examples of this happen this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with the Moon in late Sagittarius and Capricorn.

Tuesday: Full Moon in Sagittarius -25S58 South declination Sun +23N28 North declination

Wednesday: Moon in Capricorn -26S55 South declination Sun +23N19 North declination

Thursday: Moon in Capricorn -25nS49 South declination Sun +23N21 North declination

The ecliptic has a maximum declination of 23.26degrees at this present time. I consider that anytime the OOB Moon is more than two degrees beyond 23.26, we can become aware of the OOB Moon phenomena. When 3 degrees beyond or more, taking notice is essential. This is true on this Wednesday. The next extreme OOB Moon, which will be near the Cancer Solstice zone, will be June 27-29.

An interesting side note for these three days, beyond the OOB phenomena, is that there is a nearly 50 degree difference between Moon and Sun at sunrise and sunset, from an observational perspective. This is indeed an unusual situation. For example, the Sun will rise more than 23 degrees north of due east, and the Moon will rise almost 27 degrees south of due east.

What meaning can be proposed? Think of Mercury retrograde on steroids for 2-3 days. Relative to the signs of Sagittarius and Capricorn, be prepared for totally beyond the bounds of normalcy circumstances. Expect unexpected, and even un-thought of possibilities. Maverick and even bizarre events can be expected. It’s best to be at the front of the wave, not at the effect. Those with prominent planetary placements in Sagittarius and Capricorn are on the front lines now. Be one who either anticipates, or even creates out of the box experiences. This situation is even more powerful, if you have the Moon in these signs. Most profound of all would be for those of you with these Moon positions born near the years of 1931, 1950, 1969, 1987 and 2006. This includes those with Moons in Gemini or Cancer (the other Solstice). You will have been born with an extreme OOB Moon. Your basic nature usually implies a character that is unique and not capable of being assimilated into the mainstream of consensus reality.

There is another factor to be aware of in these coming days: Mars conjuncts Chiron at 7:17AM PDT on Wednesday, at 15Aries56. Let’s intend that these OOB Moons aid Chiron for the necessary healing of patriarchal Aries, so that an elder wisdom can be discovered.

Seeing Signs in the Elements

Posted by Awen Labow on

June 13, 2022

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Beginner’s Corner with Sheridan

Looking for the signs or archetypes around me deepens my understanding of them. As a spiritual aromatherapist, I look to the plants to teach me about life. As a Shamanic Astrologer I look to the sky and the earth to teach me how to better commune with the signs in my chart. Today, let’s look at the elements to further our education of the signs.

I recently heard a fellow astrologer Gemini Brett, who started his astrological journey at the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School, ask what part of the tree is Capricorn? What part of fire is Sagittarius? His questions got me pondering, what part of all the elements represent the twelve signs? Let’s explore together…

Which part of Fire is Aries, Leo or Sagittarius?

I wonder if Aries is the spark that starts the fire. It could also be the intense flames of a roaring inferno. Perhaps the creativity of Leo makes it the spark instead. Or is Leo the heat we feel, the radiance of the fire itself? Where would Sagittarius live within the fire? Perhaps it is the flickers of flame and smoke rising to the cosmos. Is Sagittarius the aspect of fire that mesmerizes us? Is it the heart of the fire that elicits the meditative yearnings to understand life’s biggest questions?

What part of Earth is Taurus, Virgo or Capricorn?

Taurus feels like spring blossoms that bring out our sensual sides. A field of wildflowers that invites us to lay in down the meadow, on the pale green sprigs of new grass and simply be. What about Virgo? Is Virgo the patterns in the stones or the striations of the various layers that built the cliff before us? Is Virgo the geometry contained within the leaves or petals of the Taurean blooms. Capricorn seems to be the mountain itself. Capricorn energy resonates with the ancient Pines who have been here for millions of years. Can we find all the earth signs in a single tree? Would Capricorn be the trunk that grows and feeds the tree from the roots? Perhaps Taurus is the roots, nestled into the warm soil. I can see Virgo, not only in the patterns of the leaves, but also in the fungal mycliea that interweave the entire ecosystem together.

What part of Air is Gemini, Libra or Aquarius?

I perceive Gemini in the tempestuous winds that bring a storm of change, keeping us from getting too comfortable. Aquarius is seen in the thermals that the eagle, hawk and raven soar upon. Maybe Aquarius is the atmosphere itself. Or the air that blows the clouds. Where is Libra in air? Can we detect Libra in the wind we can see blow the grass across the fields or the leaves in the trees? That reflection of the wind seen only by the movement of the plants it touches and affects. Maybe Libra is the wind on our skin, where we feel the air in our hearts, providing that reflection of the world around us.

What part of Water is Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces?

Pisces feels like the ocean itself, doesn’t it? The primordial soup out of which we all came. The depths, stillness, the encompassing all that covers most of our planet. The saltwater that heals our bodies, minds and hearts. Cancer might be the rain or the little streams that bring nourishment to the earth. Cancer could be felt as the flowing river that nurtures our souls and brings us peace or is that the Pisces part of water? Scorpio feels like the turbulent rapids on the river, thrashing us up and down, but giving us the ride of a lifetime. The crashing waves we surf for the thrill until we get caught inside the break and are fighting for air to breathe.

Perhaps Cancer and Aquarius meet in the clouds that build and produce rain. Maybe Scorpio and Gemini comingle in a hurricane. Do Leo and Capricorn unite in the wildfire that generates new life and renews the forest community once again? Some trees need fire to release their seeds. Is that where Aries and Virgo meet, in the seed of life released in the fire of creation? Do Pisces and Sagittarius meet in the lava reaching the ocean, releasing steam into the heavens as new earth is created, bringing Capricorn into the fold? Do Libra and Taurus enjoy each other’s company in the light breeze tickling our skin as we lay in the grass with our lovers?

It stretches our imaginations and understanding to ponder where the signs live within the elements. It teaches us to feel into our astrology and this deepens our knowledge and experience. Tuning into the natural world is how our ancestors learned. We can do the same when we allow ourselves the space to connect and wonder.

Blessings on your ponderings,

Sheridan Semple

https://sheridansemple.com/

Astrological News

Meet Our Recent Graduate – Sean Imler

Posted by Awen Labow on

June 13, 2022

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Hello SAMS,

I didn’t want my letter to sound like a bio so I scrapped all of my professional blurbs and am writing to you personally about who I am on a soul level. I was born in Hollywood, CA, 6/8/69, 6:57am.

I came here to express myself artistically, have adventure and travel, and study study study! So far, that’s come out in various ways. I learned to meditate when I was 17yo, and started studying astrology when I was 18yo. I got really interested in symbolism of various sorts including the tarot. These led me to studying esoteric philosophy at Manly P. Hall’s Philosophical Research Society when I was around 19-20yo. I got so into it that I traveled to London to visit the Theosophical Society’s library where I made friends with the librarian which led to various great adventures including working for the non-duality writer, Rupert Spira.

I have a deep passion for music and have played in a professional marimba ensemble, “Kuzanga”, written and engineered two singer/songwriter CDs as “Rhythma”, and have sung for a couple dozen sun dances and probably 100 Inipi ceremonies (sweat lodges). I love to sing and lead ceremonies. It’s where my life work has led me, and I get deep rewards from engaging in bringing music and song to people.

Professionally, I’ve been working as a coach / hypnotherapist / energy medicine practitioner for the last 10 years. You can see more at bluebearhealing.com. I do house clearings and actually was just filmed for a documentary in Santa Cruz, CA just yesterday. I do soul’s purpose astrology readings and teach shamanic practices. I’ve written a book called, “Living a Sacred Life: The Path to the Superconscious Through Meditation and Spirit Contact”, available on Amazon. There’s a web site livingasacredlife.com where my online classes are and I’ll be posting more classes there soon on Sacred Sound Healing and Compassionate Forgiveness.

Before that, I worked in tech at various startups in Silicon Valley, and did 8 years back at Yahoo! when it was still cool. I do all my own web site work and on occasion, still help others with the web sties and business. In fact, I have another mastermind called Building a Sacred Business where I have a group that I help with their businesses, and do bi-monthly ceremonies aligning people’s businesses with the cycles of the moon and their natal astrology and transits.

I love Shamanic Astrology! I found out about Daniel about 8 years ago through Cal Garrison, a great astrologer in Sedona, AZ. I waited WAY too long to actual dip my toe in but I’m happy to have become certified, and hopefully my life will settle down enough that I can devote more time to it. My partner and I just bought a house in Northern San Diego county and moved our 30 history from Northern to Southern California in the past 3 months, so my life has been incredibly busy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!! Blessings to you and yours!

=sean

bluebearhealing.com

livingasacredlife.com

buildingasacredbusiness.com

ig/fb @livingasacredlife

ig/fb @bluebearhealing

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twitter @seanimler

408-915-8087

sean_imler@yahoo.com

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In Memoriam: Margaret Curtis – June 7, 1941 — March 26, 2022

Posted by Awen Labow on

June 13, 2022

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By Daniel Giamario

Ramblings, Reflections and Ruminations

I recently received the sad news that Margaret Curtis, whom I think of as the “Keeper” of the standing stones of Callanish (Callanais) on the Outer Hebridean island of Lewis, had passed on March 26th. I am not the only one who has recognized her unique role and contribution over many decades. Some have deemed her the “Queen” of Callanish and its Guardian. Others have dubbed her its “High Priestess”. All titles are equally true. Margaret lived in the vicinity of the stone circles of Callanish since 1973, dedicating her life to learning everything she could about this remarkable and ubiquitous ancient site, much of it 6,000 years old. She was 80 years of age this spring when she died.

I witnessed a shift in Margaret over the years I knew her. When she was first living in the village of Callanish, she was very much a rational scientist, certainly not a “New Ager”. It was as if each year revealed to her greater and greater wonders and mystery to do with the site. On many occasions she was able to sense into where additional stone circles remained covered, including locating a key missing stone buried in the peat at Callanish I.

The Standing Stones of Callanish

Callanish is a massive ancient sacred landscape consisting of more than 20 separate locations woven together for a variety of ceremonial purposes. Margaret quickly learned about the many ancient mythic stories about Callanish that still permeated the area. With each successive year she slowly, but surely, became more and more open to the old stories. As I see it, her objective and rational scientific biases were incrementally being overturned.

Margaret’s Contribution and Legacy

The two main mythic perspectives that came to dominate Margaret’s research are:

A nearby mountain range was, for the ancients, the representation of the Great Mother Goddess. In Gaelic, she was known as the Cailleach, or “The Old Woman of the Moors”, or even more often, as the “Sleeping Beauty”. The stone circles were oriented in a variety of ways to her.
Due to the latitude of this part of the Island of Lewis (58N10), when the Moon was at its Southern extreme declination every 19 years, it would be seen to literally skim the horizon, passing directly over the body of the Cailleach, and then continuing its passage along behind the stones at many of the sites. At one site, the Moon would set into what would visually appear to be the pregnant belly of the Cailleach.

Other aspects of her research included continuing the great work of Scottish archeoastronomer Alexander Thom. Margaret was able to validate Thom’s discovery of the measurement unit known as the megalithic yard. She also discovered previously unknown solar alignments, as well as Minor Lunar Standstill back-sites. In concert with her ever expanding openness to the ancient themes of a Mother Goddess, she remained a diligent scientist, carefully documenting all her discoveries. She was ably assisted by her second husband, the amazing Ron Curtis, whom I had the pleasure of meeting on numerous occasions. Ron and Margaret married in 1989. He died, quite unexpectedly and tragically in 2008.

First Encounters

I first experienced the standing stones of Callanish in the summer of 1984, when my friend, Howard Hansen, and I explored Scotland. This was a time before the main site (known as Callanish I) was enclosed by a fence. We actually spent the night in the center of the circle. It was that night that we encountered a group of Scottish witches in full regalia conducting a Llamas ceremony. From them, I heard for the first time about the mythic event of the “Moon Walking on the Land”. Soon after, I met Margaret Curtis for the first time. We learned that the Moon would next walk on the land at a Major Lunar Standstill in June of 1987. Coinciding with the approach of the 1987 event known as the “Harmonic Convergence”, I was hired to co-facilitate a sacred journey to Scotland and England. I was able to convince the organizer to be at Callanish for the Full Moon closest to the Summer Solstice, when the most Southern Moon would skim the horizon. We would see first-hand if, indeed, the Moon would “walk on the land”. I coordinated with Margaret to be our guide. Our main intention was to see if the old stories were true. We soon discovered that they are! Those events will be detailed in future seminars that Gemini Brett and I will conduct later this year, as the next standstill season approaches.

Since that first visit in 1984, I have been back to my beloved Callanish more than a dozen times, often with groups of Shamanic Astrologers, and many times with Anyaa McAndrew and our Renaissance of the Sacred groups. Each visit always included spending time with Margaret and learning from her, often as a guest facilitator for our groups.

With Gratitude: Honouring Margaret’s Legacy

I consider Margaret to be one of my most important teachers. The experiences with her, and with the Callanish sacred landscape, as well as with the Lunar Standstill itself, have been foundational to the development of our school, and of the astrological paradigm that we use. I had hoped that Margaret and I would have been able to experience three lunar standstills together (1987, 2006, and 2024-2025). I intend to be there, and to carry on her work in any way I can.

Included with this article is Margaret’s natal chart, with no known birth time. Also I found it most interesting that on the day she died, March 26th, 2022, the Moon, in Capricorn, was substantially out-of-bounds at -26S13 declination, a very low Southern Moon! Margaret, to the end, as a Scorpio/Gemini blend, remained an unassimilated eccentric, and a maverick genius. She was largely unrecognized by the mainstream, yet I believe her contributions to be immense. I will always continue to honor her work and legacy.

To my surprise, I did discover that the Guardian offered a lengthy obituary that did honor her in a good way. The link is here: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/apr/07/margaret-curtis-obituary. I also discovered another fine article honoring her: https://www.welovestornoway.com/index.php/articles-auto-3/23922-passing-of-queen-of-callanish

Here is a partial list of her many publications. To note, almost everything she put out to the world was self-published. A potential source is Waterstones in the UK. I am fortunate to have all of her publications.

Callanish Stones, Moon and Sacred Landscape

Callanish Stones, Moon and Sacred Landscape, 2009 Extrapolation

Celebrations in Stone of the Sun’s annual Cycle at Callanish

The Stones around Callanish

With editorial and photo submission assistance by Beau Taylor.

Astrological News

Full Moon at the Galactic Center

Posted by Awen Labow on

June 10, 2022

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Full Moon at the Galactic Center

By Erik Roth

The Full Moon this month takes place on June 14th at 23°25’ Sagittarius, very close to the Galactic Center, which rests between the Scorpion and Archer constellations. The Earth is roughly between the Sun and Moon, each of which appear at opposite sides of the sky. The Sun is nearing the opposite of the Galactic Center, the Galactic Edge (or extreme) and about a week from the Solstice point.

This Full Moon helps us dive into the deep waters of the skyscape, the billowing star clouds and densest population of stars. It reflects the light of the Sun in Gemini in its own quest beyond our duality as the Moon’s placement activates the quest for a higher or greater truth in Sagittarius.

At the same time of this Full Moon, Mars is moving into a conjunction with Chiron in Aries, Mercury will have just moved back into the sign of Gemini and Venus with Uranus in the sign of Taurus. Combined, this shows a promise or intent for an opportunity to grieve (and gather the needed medicine) what was lost through destructive missions, an opening to the pleasures and treasures novel change and invoke one’s creative imagination to see beyond where we may be fixed.

The Full Moon activates this fiery archetype of Sagittarius. Its essence is the ongoing journey itself for meaning and truth. It is not to stop at one specific truth, but to be open to the unfoldment of the truth through the journey. This can be paved by actual roads, trails and pathways we travel along, including the inner ones in the subconscious and astral realm. The journey itself can be its own tangible, precious thing for the Sagittarian archetype, learning, exploring, and reaching out past the horizon into ever new territory.

Gateways could be opened during this Full Moon, to welcome the truth wherever it may come from and whatever it results in. Heavily inspired and drawn from the wisdom of Marc Edmund Jones and Dane Rudhyar, Lynda Hill’s book, The Sabian Oracle, shares about each degree of the zodiac corresponding to an image or symbol. For this Sagittarius Full Moon at 23°25’, we add one to come up with the symbol of 24 Sagittarius. This gives us the image of “A Bluebird, a sign of good luck and happiness, is standing at the door of the house”.

The keywords of 24 Sagittarius and hence, this phase of the Moon are, “Calmness and rewards. Promise of happiness. Love and happiness available by acknowledging its presence. Real estate. House boundaries. Reminders of joy. Cottages and picket fences. Waiting for invitations to enter. Omens of good luck. Front doors and back doors.” (pg 264)

The meaning of all of this I intuit is something of new breath of life appearing on wings of potential. Have we locked ourselves in or are we waking up to a longing beyond the door? The blue color of the bird can symbolize the sky and seemingly infinite vastness to explore. Sagittarius wants to hop onto the trail or cosmic pathway beyond where it is. And the bluebird could be a messenger delivering an open-ended message that invites us to enter a new phase of ourselves.

The Galactic Center at 27° Sagittarius, a mere four degrees from the Full Moon (the center of the great Galactic Bulge with its billions of stars) has been seen in a variety of ancient cultures as a “golden gate” where souls travel to after departing the Earth. They go to their next life to be rebirthed in the mysteries of the supermassive black hole residing there, where time and physics tend to break down into the unknown. This acts as a backdrop of this Full Moon.

In addition, the Scorpion constellation, a guardian of the Galactic Center, with its outstretched tail and stingers sitting below the Full Moon can help us pierce the mysteries if we surrender the mind and ego to experience the limitless of what could, perhaps, be co-created with Great Mystery and each other.

On the other side of the Galactic Center is the Archer constellation, whose arrow roughly points to that center. Bordered by the tip of the Scorpion’s tail and the Archer’s arrow, we can draw in imagery of creation as the Galactic Center region gives birth to innumerable stars in the fire that resides there.

The Full Moon activates all of this plus the Sagittarian quest for meaning. It is a great longing for humanity to find meaning and purpose on the planet. We are in relationship with all that is and we have a deep desire to know what that means for us personally and at times for humanity. It could be this Moon that offers us a little hope to light the way, revealing the shadow and the treasures that await discovery.

The Full Moon is an important marker this year but is also at the same time is small part of the much, much larger wave of cycles of planets this decade and more that guide humanity. Sagittarius is an archetype that can show us the way ahead and the territory we can yet to encounter. It lights the way ahead in the cradle of the Milky Way.

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