Zorba the Greek, Rosebuds, and Saying Yes: Beltaine under a Waning Moon

Opa!

Disseminating Moon in Sagittarius
April 28, 2013 10:27 pm EDT
Last Quarter Moon in Aquarius
May 2, 2013 7:14 am EDT
Beltaine (Sun at 15 Taurus)
May 5, 2013 4:18 am EDT
Balsamic Moon in Aries
May 5, 2013 10:25 pm EDT

We've come through the eclipse gate of the Scorpio Full Moon, antennae still quivering from all the messages arriving. Does the world look different? It does to me! I'm still sorting it all out, and I imagine you are too.

Now we're in the waning cycle, the time of sharing, sending things out into the world, winnowing what we keep from what we don't need any more, and letting go of what's ready to leave.

This waning cycle is full of paradox. We've moved from the fiery, go-go-go energy of the Aries party into the slow, sensuous dance of Taurus: As we've seen since the Fall, there's a whole lot of energy concentrated in a single sign.

Right now, at today's Disseminating Moon. Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, South Node and Pallas Athena all rest in a Taurean garden full with green and growning things. Taurus is the patient gardener, Gaia, lover of Earth. At this waning time, the energy of the Earth is broadcast far and wide, signs of Spring after a long and difficult winter. This is something to welcome, to celebrate!

And yet ... the North Node, the path ahead, is across the way in shadowy Scorpio, along with Saturn still retrograde in Scorpio. Reminding us it's not all hearts and flowers. Reminding us of limits and responsibilities. Reminding us that the cycle of life includes death. Not what we want to hear on a lovely Spring morning.

This is the paradox, perhaps the key paradox of life on Earth: We don't last. We change. Things slip away from us. We love life, and it goes away. How do we cope?

One option during this cycle is denial. Taurus can be very stubborn, and the South Node, place of the past, is right in the middle of the garden. We can refuse to change,  refuse to acknowledge the inevitability of loss.

Or we can refuse to participate––we can do what Brené Brown calls "foreboding joy" –– not allowing ourselves to feel too happy in the hopes we won't feel too let down later when it all doesn't work out.

Guess what? None of that works. We just miss out on the joy part, which kind of sucks. This is a paradox we want to embrace, no matter how painful it looks at first. This is Zorba the Greek, dancing through life, the life he describes as "the full catastrophe." 

During this waning Moon cycle, we hold both joy and pain, growth and decline, stability and change and the yes/and improv that is the dance of life.

Today's Disseminating Moon is in happy-go-lucky, adventurous Sagittarius. At the Last Quarter, the Sun–Moon square, the Moon is in uniquely revolutionary Aquarius. We're in the territory of "yes" here, finding the heart to laugh, celebrate, and let go as we need to.

Then comes a really amazing Beltaine, on the day of the Balsamic Moon, a coincidence that captures the theme of this waning cycle perfectly.

Astrologically, the four great fire festivals of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasad and Samhain, occur when the Sun reaches the middle 15th degree of the four fixed signs. This year, the Sun reaches 15 Taurus on May 5, the same day as the Balsamic Moon, the time when we moved deeply into letting go, as the dark of the Moon draws near.

Beltaine arrives early in the morning (EDT), with the Moon in mystic Pisces, sign of the Fae folk, and of magic of all kinds. During that day, the Moon moves from Pisces, the last sign, into the fiery passion of Aries, the first––more than metaphor, this is exactly the shift we celebrate at Beltaine, the miraculous emergence of new life.

By late evening, we reach the Balsamic Moon, when, perhaps, the energies of the Beltaine fires are being released. This year, those celebrations are likely to be felt with special power, as we all tap into the deep mystery of the full cycle of life. 

Gather ye rosebuds, one and all. This life is fleeting and eternal. We are always the same and ever changing. The loveliness of this Earth, so present and abundant at this time of year, is the very thing we celebrate and let go of, both/and.

This year, in this cycle, we are shown the way to celebrate life without denial, without regret, accepting joy. This year we say Yes!