Spiritual Astrology in May 2015 - It's A Happy Buddha Birthday at the Full Moon of Taurus-Scorpio, a.k.a. The Wesak Festival!

by Robert Wilkinson

We have a very important Full Moon coming soon! The Full Moon of Sun in Taurus and Moon in Scorpio is a very special lunation, since for millennia it has been celebrated as marking the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, said to be the first human to attain full higher awareness and then teach the truths that show all sentient Beings how to transcend suffering.

So this year, we’ll kick off the Buddha’s birthday now, which can help you prepare for the great global celebration called “the Wesak Festival,” or in some places, “the Vesak Festival.” To me, any birthday celebration should be a span of time, and certainly in celebrating the Buddha’s birthday we can take more than a day to be At-One with this very special energy. At the end I’ve included some links that may help elaborate on what’s happening, and what’s going on around the world.

While some believe that the Wesak is always the Full Moon of May, because of its associations with the Buddha, it must be the Full Moon of Sun in Taurus and Moon in Scorpio. So while it was in late April in 2013, last year and this year we’ve gone back to the usual pattern of celebrating our “Happy Buddha Birthday” in May.

A Full Moon represents a potentially enlightened state, where the Moon, which symbolizes form, perfectly reflects the greater light of the Sun. It marks a time when the seeds of the previous New Moon begin to manifest. This particular Full Moon is one where there is a great teaching sent forth, helping the world to become wiser in some way throughout the rest of the year.

The Wesak is said to be the 2nd of the "Three High Moons" of Spring, anchoring the outpouring of life into forms of awareness that can help us transcend suffering as well. This year the very dynamic regenerative Wesak Full Moon falls on May 3, at 8:42 pm PDT, 11:42 pm EDT, and May 4, 4:42 am BST.

This one falls at the 14th degree of Scorpio and Taurus, marking a point where the light of a “live and let live attitude” finds focus in creating and maintaining lines of communication, whether within ourselves or with others in the outer world. Clearly this one will bring illumination from some Jupiter in Taurus truths that will acquire focus related to Saturn in Scorpio lessons.

I'll go into more detail about the astrological factors of this Wesak Full Moon in the next article in this series. Hopefully this article will whet your appetites about the Spiritual nature of this Full Moon, while offering explanation about why this is a very special Lunation each year, along with the Aries-Libra Full Moon just past and the coming Gemini-Sagittarius Full Moon, a.k.a. "the Christ Fest."

I've offered explanations of what the Wesak Festival actually is in previous posts. To that end, rather than re-invent the wheel, here's what this global celebration is all about. From the past for the present-future:

Each year the Wesak Festival is celebrated at the Full Moon of Taurus-Scorpio in May. This global festival celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and teachings of Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha, said to be the most enlightened human ever to walk this planet.

He taught the doctrine of compassion and the ways to end suffering around 500 BC, and his teachings have spread through the entire world since then. This is the largest spiritual celebration in the world, and has nothing to do with religion, since the Buddha was focused on how to live, not what to believe.

Supposedly when He left the Earth plane, his blessing for all time was a thought-form of “Buddha Nature,” which would renew the loving-compassion on the Earth whenever it was sent forth. It is said that the Wesak Festival is when Shakyamuni, ("Sage of the Shakya clan"), through his eternal Buddha Nature, “opens the treasure chest” and sends out a new global energy form of compassion to end suffering every year. So this is the time when these energies are renewed for another year.

As a friend of the site offered previously, it is said that every Wesak the Buddha actually briefly descends from the Heavens to return to the secret valley in the Himalayas known as Shamballa. There, surrounded by Adepts, Disciples and others, he pours out an annual blessing for all sentient beings on this planet.

He taught the 4 Noble Truths about life on Earth, and the 8 Fold Path as a way to live to end suffering for ourselves and others. While this is not the forum for an exhaustive discussion of the 4 Noble Truths and the 8-fold Path, if you haven't already seen it, (and even if you have!), please get a copy of the extraordinary movie "Little Buddha" to know more about the life of this most amazing man for the ages. His life and teachings were dedicated to shine a light on the Way beyond suffering.

Though there are many ways his teachings have been stated and interpreted, anyone who actually practices the techniques will in fact find they are lessening suffering in their lives, and finding peace in a higher way of doing their Being. To quote HH Dalai Lama, “There is one thing we can all agree on. More suffering is bad. Less suffering is good.” This is the time of the renewal of energies that can lead all of us to less suffering in our life, and maybe be of service in lessening the suffering of others we know.

The Wesak Full Moon is the 2nd of the 3 "Three High Moons." The so-called "Three High Moons" of Spring relate to the teachings of the Tibetan Master D.K. as written by the venerable Alice A. Bailey. Briefly, they are the three Full Moons of Spring each year when the life force reawakens, is poured out, and refined into a higher vision and understanding by the World Teacher.

The Full Moon of Aries-Libra is the awakening of Nature Herself, with life blooming everywhere there is a living process occurring. The Full Moon of Taurus-Scorpio is the Wesak, the anchoring of the awakened life force in a form of compassion that will lessen suffering for all Earth's creatures for the next year.

The Full Moon of Gemini-Sagittarius is said to be the "Christfest" where the World Teacher takes the new outpouring and through multiplication and distribution, spreads the teaching in infinitely varied ways according to local conditions. I’ll do another article elaborating on this subject soon.

So these next days meditate, open, feel the global compassion becoming stronger and more evident, and purify your life and consciousness however you need to in order to open to the timeless truths offered long ago by the one who set the pattern for the Ages. A Happy Buddha Birthday to you all, and may you all find a form of Buddha nature which increases your wisdom and compassion throughout the next year!

You can find out more about the Wesak legend and festivities at the Souled Out site here. Last year I had a link with many more celebrations assembled in one spot, but no more, so I’ll give them to you here.

It turns out that there is a major event going on at Mt. Shasta right now through the weekend! Find out more at Wesak.us

Buddhanet – The Significance of Vesak

Buddhamind – How to make Vesak Lanterns

Vesak in Sri Lanka

Lucis Trust – The Teachings of Alice Bailey and her Tibetan Master D.K.

Wesak in Italy

This celebration is happening all over the world, so enjoy this Happy Buddha Birthday however you can wherever you are. It's all good. Aum Mani Padme Hum!!

© Copyright 2015 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Nic]

Thanks Robert and happy and enlighten Wesak to you too.
Ready for the next post on the subject.
Blessings be

[kevin cannella]

Aloha Robert,

Thanks for the insights...

The Buddha said there were "countless buddhas before him and there will be countless buddhas after him"
I am not sure who you are referencing that said he was the first human to attain enlightenment, or where that idea came about!

That is all :)

[Robert]

Hi Nic - Thanks for checking in. I figure you're one who holds the light in Scotland.

Hi Kevin - Actually, we do not know exactly what the Buddha said, since there are no direct records. We only have what He allegedly taught that was subsequently written down by His students. And yes, He did allegedly say that there were countless Buddhas before Him and after Him.

What I accept from the esoteric teachings is that He was the first human born as a baby to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha. There is a distinction between a Buddha who is not in a body, and a Buddha who is in a body, as well as a "semi-enlightened" Buddha and a "fully enlightened" Buddha. There are Buddhas who were not born as babies, but as fully enlightened mahavatars. As such, they're not really "human" in the sense that you and I are.

Gautama Siddhartha was said to be the 39th and last Buddha. He also said more than a few contradictory things throughout his life, with some things He allegedly stated in his older years directly contradicting what He taught earlier.

That's why though we are told He believed himself to be the Bodhisattva of the Age, at some point in Cosmic Time (after his body checked out) He eventually came to the realization He was not the Bodhisattva of this era, and "moved on," leaving his "Cosmic Buddha Nature" to pour out energy from time to time for the benefit of all sentient Beings.