VIRGO NEW MOON FRI 30 AUG 11.37
Happy Black Super Moon dear Mooners
We've got a witchy Virgo New Moon shrouded in darkness late this Friday morning. This is August's second new moon which grants it the slightly foreboding title of 'Black Moon'. It also occurs at the closest point (the perigee) on its orbital trajectory around Earth making it a 'Supermoon'. Those of us with a Pagan bent will recognise this as a particularly potent moon for planting seeds for future manifestation.Â
We here at Mooning HQ hope that such seed planting is firmly centred on the best interests of All but, nonetheless, this is a strong moon under which to propagate one's own 'selfish' agendas and desires for imminent realisation. We would counsel that the most harmonious manifestations are always those in which the desires of the individual coincide and align with the unified desires of an intelligent Universe but this Virgo New Moon really is one for the witchiest amongst us, whatever their motivation. One should be doubly wary this week of starting new relationships with people in pointy hats offering free toad soup.
The Virgo New Moon is steeped in meticulous attention to detail. It carries a practical intensity that can be applied effectively to problem solving and future planning. There is a natural intelligence at play which, at best, aligns us with the intelligence at work in the bigger picture. This might encourage us to become more consciously focused participants in the ongoing process of planetary and universal evolution - an often underestimated feature of humanity's purpose.Â
On the flip, the negative influence of this Virgo New Moon might lead to fussy, harsh and judgemental behaviour. A propensity to be overcritical of self and others could lead to an overblown sense of isolated self righteousness in the unchallenged security of one's own bedroom. Not necessarily renowned for his magnanimity, that patriarchal master of intolerance, Morrissey, has the message for the next few days just about right:
"It's so easy to laugh; it's so easy to hate: it takes guts to be gentle and kind." (I know it's over - The Smiths 1994 Spotify link here).
The past week has seen a summit of the G7 nations in France. Not the most democratic of institutions, the G7 grant themselves authority on the basis of being the 7 biggest world economies. They occasionally invite representatives of other 'would be' economies but the conspicuous lack of black faces in the collective 7 speaks plainly of the pillage and rape exacted upon certain peoples, wildlife and areas of the planet epitomised by centuries of colonial invasion. The current model of capitalism has failed spectacularly. The short term gains for a few wealthy individuals in the wealthiest of nations have largely been at the expense of everyone else and have caused untold damage to our precious biosphere that is only now coming to light.
The wealthiest nations are still amongst those least likely to take action addressing the unpaid humanitarian and ecological debts for which their industrial development and warring dominance are obviously liable and continue to incur. We were interested to see the announcement this week that Glasgow University are to pay £20 million of reparations for its part in the transatlantic slave trade (article link here). Let's hope that it's not an isolated example of colonially established institutions acknowledging their part in the bloody, historic divisions wrought between peoples and nations in the pursuit of wealth and self interest.
The great inequities of this planet chiefly rely on the economic idolatry of competitive market forces. Markets intrinsically pit one force against another; nation states against nation states; institutions against institutions; brothers and sisters against brothers and sisters. For every winner in the market place there must be losers. Competition is inherently divisive and it hurts. If we call to mind some of our deepest emotional pain, it often stems from moments where we believe we have lost out or been defeated by someone or by circumstance, particularly if we sense the competition has been rigged against us. Life, we are told, just isn't fair.
"It is the character of very few men to honour - without envy - a friend who has prospered."Â -Â Aeschylus, 'Agamemnon'
How can Mooning philosophy bring a different perspective to what seems to be an intractable malaise of human misunderstanding? 2019 has seen widespread celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landings and, despite that mission being an extension of the ongoing desire for colonial dominance - even in the heavens, some wisdom was born from the well documented exercise. The expedition offered the first colour images from space looking back towards Planet Earth, our Great Mother, and granted humanity a new vision of itself and its home. The third, least lauded, member of the Apollo 11 team of astronauts, Michael Collins, stayed on board the lunar orbiter whilst his more celebrated colleagues, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, were making their giant leaps for mankind. In interview, some years after the mission, Collins recalled his thoughts looking back toward Earth from his tiny tin can floating in space:
"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a unified façade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogenous treatment. The Earth must become as it appears: blue and white, not capitalist or Communist; blue and white, not rich or poor; blue and white, not envious or envied. Small, shiny, serene, blue and white, fragile."
Hats off to Michael, now 88, a true, inspirational Mooner with "balls bigger than King Kong." (In the Name of the Father - Black Grape 1995 - Spotify link here)
Under this meticulous, practically charged Virgo New Moon let's envisage and enact less divisive approaches to living in an attempt to heal the separatist wounds rendered by centuries of inculcated greed and hatred.
In place of hatred, whether consciously acknowledged or not, there's a case for loving the self as the epitome of equity and the only domain over which we can ever have true sovereignty. It's essential Mooning practice. In loving the unified Self we recognise the equal value of everything in creation giving us a half decent shot at loving others as we might love ourselves. The boundaries between 'us' and 'them', 'here' and 'there', blur. Our vision of life becomes one of interconnected dependence in which we are the other, whether friend, foe, dog, tree, sky, pavement or pudding.
If we commit to finding ways of living with acceptance and loving respect for people and planet in our daily lives, consistently seeking the best for All in thought, word and deed, there would be a seismic shift in the behaviour of our institutions and politicians who are merely an accurate reflection of our currently fractured misunderstanding.Â
From space, from the Moon, there is no separation perceptible on Earth. The boundaries of our own creation, between nations, between fellow humans because of colour, culture or religion, are invisible. Under this Black Virgo New Supermoon, when social divisiveness is being championed on every political and social media corner for material gain, let us provide, in living form, an alternative ideology - that of Love and the desire to share. It's a benevolent witch's most potent brew, the natural order of creation and an enduring win win. All else will follow harmoniously.
With love 'til next time