Image of the Goddess Brigid

By Daniel Giamario

Every year there is a Full Moon in Libra.  What is not so well known is an ancient connection to a less known relationship with the star Spica, and connection with the Sacred Feminine, and the Imbolc/Candlemass cross quarter date.

April’s Full Moon occurs April 16^th at 11:55AM PDT, at 26Libra46.  That evening and the previous evening, as the Moon rises as the Sun sets, the Full Moon will be about 4 degrees South of Spica by declination.  Adjusted for precession, Spica is now at 24Libra10.  There is a rich back-story to this Full Moon.

Spica, a bright star along the ecliptic, has a magnitude of 0.95, and can be seen even with the Full Moon so close.  This star is right in the waist area of the Priestess constellation (astronomical Virgo).  Projected imagery has seen the priestess holding an ear of corn or a shaft of grain.  In Bali a goddess holds a rice paddy.  1500 years ago she is holding at her waist a balance beam (as found on the Justice Tarot card).  At that time the September equinox (0Libra) was found there.

A number of Northern European and Celtic traditions have seen Spica as the primary star of the Sacred Feminine mysteries.  She was the veritable stellar stand-in for Venus.  In the late Summer and early Fall,  Spica’s disappearance into the Underworld, her conjunction with the Sun (the current Catholic Feast of the Assumption) and her rise in the morning sky each year mirrored the times when Venus would descend into the underworld, and then rise reborn.  Later day Christianity never adjusted any of this with reference to precession.  The Sun/Spica conjunction used to happen in mid-August, and now in mid-October.  In our times now, Spica rises in the morning sky at Samhain!

What is less well known is that an equally important event would happen each year with Spica as the stellar stand-in for Venus.  To understand the importance of this, we again have to take precession into account.  A good 5000-6000 years ago, the Full Moon in alignment with Spica happened at the cross-quarter of Imbolc, in early February.  This important ceremonial time often celebrated the goddess Brigit, and her many variations.  As the antipode to Spica’s underworld descent , her yearly conjunction with the Moon was the celebration of her radiance, not the surrender of the death and rebirth journey. Brigid (also Brigit and Brid) was said to be a member of the mythic Tuatha de Danann, and the daughter of the Dagda, the Irish Bull God.  She was the goddess of wisdom and poetry, and the etymology of her name reveals “radiant beauty”, “high one”, and “exalted one”.  Once seen as a Triple Goddess, she is said to have two sisters: Brigid the healer and Brigid the smith.  In post Christian times, she was transformed into St. Brigid or St.Bridget.

As we gaze at the Libra Full Moon aligned with Spica, let us remember the deeper significance of this event.  Here is the most significant celebration of the radiance and exaltation of the Sacred Feminine; not as mother nurturer, not as wife, not as a Scorpionic journeyer to the Underworld, but as an exalted Goddess of Wisdom.  The imagery is reminiscent of the Hindu Saraswati, and Sophia of the Gnostics and non-patriarchal Christianity.

FACEBOOK April 14, 2022

By Erik M Roth of Inspiral Nexus

In the early morning of April 14^th in North America, the Sun moves into its annual conjunction with planetary body called Eris at 24°20’ Aries.  Since 1922, Eris has been in the sign of Aries and this will continue until transitioning into Taurus between 2044-48.  So, every year since 1925, the Sun has met Eris in Aries (1922-24 they were conjunct in the sign of Pisces).
Eris is one of the most distant planetary bodies from the Sun in our solar system, taking over 550 years to orbit, which is more than twice the duration of Pluto.  Because Eris moves very slowly Eris and the Sun will be in conjunction again on April 14^th in 2023, 2025, 2026 and 2028.
Eris lived up to its general mythology when its was discovered and named in 2006.  It was this discovery that prompted the IAU (International Astronomers Union) to redefine what it meant to be planet, reducing Pluto and Eris to be classified as dwarf planets and Ceres “promoted” from asteroid to a dwarf planet.  Eris is the goddess of chaos and discord and certainly this symbolism divided the astronomical community as many still consider Pluto as a planet.
Looking deeper into the mythology of Eris and what she was famous for, we find that it was the Olympic gods and goddesses projecting upon Eris and blaming her as the cause of the Trojan War in ancient times.  But Eris, while not entirely innocent, got the gods and goddesses to face their issues (and what we can’t control) and the result was a war.  Eris is a catalyst and has a potent mental strength, intelligence, and wit to go along with a mischievous/playful side.
Eris can be found prominently featured in many natal charts of feminine activists, including Susan B Anthony and her work in the women’s suffrage movement in the 1800s.  Eris brings empowerment of the feminine into the chart, particularly if Eris has a hard/dynamic aspect to a personal planet or point.  Eris can also have a Uranus-like effect as a theme in a person’s life.  However, Eris’s qualities in the charts need more study to fully comprehend the variety of impacts in can have in the chart.  Though, astrologer Henry Seltzer in his book, The Tenth Planet – Revelations from the Astrological Eris, is insightful.
With this conjunction in Aries, we can tap into our own strengths, our aptitude and try rocking the boat of our own life when it needs to be shaken up a little in order to help us see and/or face our issues.  The Sun helps brings these things to light and understand the shadows of it all.  Eris has disrupt but also illuminate at the same time.

FACEBOOK APRIL 11, 20

By Daniel Giamario

The much anticipated exact conjunction of Jupiter with Neptune is tomorrow, April 12^th, at 7:42AM PDT at 23Pisces58.  There is a great deal to share about this, and I refer you to the Equinox seminar a few weeks ago for the larger story– https://shamanicastrology.com/march-equinox-2022.  I will share some of the highlights here.

This is the first Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in PISCES since March 17, 1856.  The pattern is every 166 years.  The next won’t happen until 2188.  Their last conjunction at the turning of an astrological age was in 113BCE, seeding a 166-year period through 54CE.  I feel that the exact conjunction (following the influence of Dane Rudhyar) is the seed point, like the “new moon” of the historical 166-year time-frame.  Like any new moon, this conjunction establishes the archetypal pattern for the 166 years to come—a Jupiter/Neptune in Pisces epoch.  If the one in 113BCE was part of the zeitgeist of the transition to the Pisces Age, this will be part of the even greater transition occurring now, that is of a greater order of magnitude than a shift into an Aquarian Age.  1962-2034 is a “Great Turning”, which also includes the convergence of many timelines: the end of Kali Yuga, the end of the “Fifth Sun” of the Mayan calendar, the end of a “Fourth Turning”, the 6^th mass extinction, as well as the end and beginning of an entire 26,000 year precessional cycle.  What an amazing time to be alive!

Jupiter expands, activates, and amplifies whatever it forms a relationship with.  In itself, this characteristic? Process?  is neither good nor bad.  In the current case, Neptune in Pisces is the recipient.  What can expanded Neptune in Pisces mean?  Celestial world Neptune connects us with the universal Love force of Ananda.  When present, we can feel as though we are being ‘held’ by that Love emanating and pervading all that is, from the One Reality, in harmony with the Law of One.  The connection can be felt, not just imagined or thought about.  From this place, all is well, and the Universe is unfolding as it should.  From a Middle World perspective, however, confusion and delusion can also greatly increase.  Ungroundedness and unrealistic idealisms can lead to extreme spiritual bypass and light polarization.  The Piscean hunger for expanded and altered states of consciousness can lead either to self-realization or delusional madness.  This is particularly true if one is not remembering that our journey includes both evolution but also involution.  The Underworld part of this equation is, as always, surrender; here it’s the surrender of the limited egoic self, akin to the Buddhist perception that the “Self” is empty.  In Vedic language the Atman and Brahman are one.

As with any monthly New Moon, the ceremonial significance of planting a seed of intention is quite important.  The intentional visioning of this seed point can be seen to extend for 166 years.  This visioning process, that includes the creation of a new narrative, is so important now.  Various names have been given to this: “The Great Awakening”, The Greater Reset, Prime Earth, 3D to 5D, etc.  Our school uses “The Turning of the Ages”.  Each of us has a part to play.  For me I am not visioning the so-called “Great Reset”, as being promoted by a small group of scientific and corporate elites who think they know what’s best for us.  This is a delusional vision lacking any Piscean compassion or empathy, rather connected to the shadow of Aquarius.  Let us not be deluded.  I love the words of a song from 1967:

“I opened my Heart to the whole Universe, and found it was Loving”  –Roger Mcguin, the Byrds