Full Moon Astrology in May 2006 - It's the Wesak Festival, a.k.a. A Happy Buddha Birthday!

by Robert Wilkinson

The Full Moon begins the fulfillment phase of the pulse born at the preceding New Moon. This Full Moon occurs at 3:09 am PDT May 2, 2007 at 12 degrees of Taurus-Scorpio. We enter a time of needing to meet others at a fairly high level of social dignity, grace, and style while surveying greater possibilities and seeking to secure what we need to play a more enjoyable role. It's also the Wesak Festival, celebrating the Full Moon of Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death which I'll discuss a little more in tomorrow's article. For now, let's analyze the essential astrological elements of the coming Full Moon.

The Sun and Mercury septile Mars in this Full Moon shows it's a critical fork in getting what we need at the end of an old cycle of manifestation. It will begin a period where old resources and values begin to crumble under the pressure of our future that beckons whether we want it to or not.  Many will receive just what they need to know they've been rewarded in ways that will support that future.

This Full Moon fulfills the seeds of the New Moon in Aries that happened April 17. We're busting illusions, putting a new light on cherished ideas, taking responsibility for having to come through on some things, and finding a sustainment in a larger reality while sensing a new selfhood that is emerging. Monitor your expectations, as you may see them come true by August.

In this Full Moon, Venus is in Gemini, showing our ability to use skill to demonstrate our mastery over "binding conditions." The Saturn in Leo quincunx to Mars conjunct Uranus in Pisces is a major force. Saturn and Jupiter build, while Jupiter releases through Pisces. Expect unusual developments thanks to the Lunar trine to Uranus helping express the energy of the square from Jupiter. Many will see the need to seek distant lands and perspectives to prosper the way they feel they need.

Be alert to unjust conditions and unfair privileges, as well as the protection available as a result of you having taken responsibility in some area. Let consequences move you toward an established wisdom, keep putting yourself out so others may see your talents, and know that when things are done, you'll find what you need for nourishment and well-being.

Regarding the New and Full Moon sequence, we're in an interesting period right now, when the New Moon falls in the final degrees of a sign. That means that the subsequent Full Moon is in the sign after that of the New. It may further the securing of the energies, but also dynamically polarize energies that will only be turned into seeds at the next New Moon.

We are still in a time to cultivate Compassion due to the stellium in Pisces. While the New Moon of April 17 did feature the "Bucket" Jones Pattern we've been living within for a long time, this Full Moon in early May shows a more spread out irregular pattern known as the "Splay." This implies there will be some jagged edges to conditions, and many will find themselves dealing with a lot of things, some of which mesh more easily than others.

There will be equally intransigent forces pulling at cross purposes, testing us to cultivate our ego by seeing greater ways to express who we are. Appreciation will go a long way, as will loosening up a little (or a lot!) Get an unattached outlook on the bigger picture, especially when confronted with ugliness. You'll only be as chained as you decide you are, given the degree points and aspects of Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.

So go deep, and even deeper. Views and relationship and centers of power can be changed, but the Well cannot be changed. It is the source of nourishment, and is available to all through the ages. In the next few weeks, see who is deep and who is shallow, who draws to nourish the Soul and who is reckless, thoughtless, superficial, or too self-satisfied. This is a time to go beyond conventional thinking and point of view.

Make use of the opportunities you're presented to purify and strengthen whatever you need to. Meditate, and encourage others to do so, to achieve clarity of mind and purpose, go with the unifying tendencies, and pour your gifts forth as you spread the word about others' gifts. Flow on, do not shrink from any "rapids" you find yourself in, never lose your essential nature (even if you must change state from solid to liquid to gas) and make consistency your standard as you "walk in lasting virtue and carry on the business of teaching."

The Water element in our lives may get a lot more intense the next few weeks, but by being sensitive, alert, and inventive, we can grow. This is the time to practice the skills we've rehearsed since this time last year, anchoring them simply, efficiently, and in a focused way.

© Copyright 2007 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Bryan]

Hi Robert,

Interesting. I had studied Budhism in my late teens. Kind of stopped(along with a lot of other good things unfortunately) around 1997/8.

I was having breakfast last Sunday. I got drawn into the converstation from the table next to me. He was retelling the story of Trungpa & Snowmass. A pretty screwed up incident that I do not condone, but it got me thinking about detachment again.

It is has served me well this past week. The hardest thing I have needed to do lately is let things run their course without interfering out of fear or selfishness. A little off topic but it is interesting timing considering I have seriously thought about Budhism in almost ten years.

Thanks,

Bryan

[Svetlana]

Dear Robert,your warning "Never lose your essential nature even when you must(have to/are to/ought to/should/would:) change (a/the:) state..." sounds like a milestone on the Life road. And the business of teaching can only follow the need of learning as constituency:Live and Learn.
As I turned 50 on the New Moon night,I feel this period as if with naked skin; though going deep and beyond is smth like a hobby for me:),in crucial periods it becomes rather difficult and to definite degree dangerous,I would like to confess.
Tomorrow,April 26, is the 21st anniversary (1986)of the event which caused great changes not only for my motherland but influenced different strata in the world as well: Chernobyl disaster. What is worth mentioning on the terms of looking at things at different angles(from variuos corners:) and putting a new light on some phenomena, after the very moment of the explosion the sight itself was miraculous,the sky was of e-norm-ous(ab-normal) beauty, as witnesses said.There were unusual,cosmic,unearthly colours above. I hope you thought about the Mystery of Chernobyl too,keeping in mind that it gave the mighty impulse to numerous (anumerable?) (trans)mutations...

[Robert]

Hi Bryan - Well, even when we stop studying Buddhism, a lot of stuff sticks with us, whether we know it or not. As for Trungpa, well, I gather he did some really messed up things despite being brilliant and a pioneer. His truly was the school of "do as I say not as I do," though his own approach was the opposite of that. Crazy wisdom indeed. Detachment is always a benefit, even when it would seem attachment is the better course. Sometimes one must be both at the same time. As for "interfering," I've always wondered how we determine what that is, since if something presents itself to our senses, how do we know we would be interfering rather than manifesting our purpose within that circumstance? (I know it's a rhetorical question, since each determines exactly what their duty is or is not in each discreet moment of perception, and even then it's a perception.)

Hi Svetlana - Yes, some moments in time require us to become transubstantial despite the shifting densities around us. Happy Solar Return, Buddha person! Deeper and beyond are good to the degree we experience reality ourside of ego-controls and not lose our contact with our core integrity, which can be clarified or obscured when we're outside of familiar references.

Chernobyl should be an international shrine to human folly, a place of grieving for our mental arrogance, since nuclear anything is bad for all living things. I saw a documentary taken of the place, and it still looks phenomenally grim, as do all the lands around it. Very hauntingly grey landscape, despite the growth of life forms. Empty buildings, invisible radioactive death concealed over time, traps for the unsuspected wanderers who search for what they don't have and will never know.

It was a moment in the life of Earth and humanity when we should have awakened to the folly of the sorcerer's apprentice and immediately stopped nuclear everything everywhere. I was a part of the nuclear freeze movement for most of the 70s into the mid-80s, and while we succeeded in stopping the building of new plants here in the US, we still could not end the folly of Montgomery Burns disciples who wish to perpetrate death for over a hundred thousand years on those not born. Even now the public discussion poses nuclear energy as safe and the answer to our energy needs. Pure insanity.