109: ALL CHANGE?
SUN 15 NOV 05:07 - Mooning Monthly putting in a sequinned shift....
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FORTNIGHTLY EMAIL MESSAGE HERE
Happy Scorpio New Moon dear lunar loving family
Are we simply imagining there to be an existential sigh of relief across our planet and beyond? Do the atmospheric skies appear a little less stormy? Do the northern birds sing their winter chansons d'amour a little less plaintively? Do the autumnal leaves fall more gently upon their earthy bed? Have normally hardened hearts discovered a brief, softened commonality with all other bleeding, beating hearts? Do the orbits of the planets and stars glide just a tad more serenely in the silken heavens?
This weekend's Scorpio New Moon is set to be a welcome breath of fresh air through the recently stagnant halls and corridors of our minds, bodies and collective consciousness. Big change has been heralded over the last three lunar months but the terrestrial reality has been a frustrating, irritating constipation of energy, desperate to be released but instead turning back on itself, blocking its own best interests. Anger, antagonism, rebellion have been the sour, congested order of the day.
Unblocking our most stubborn of back ups is never a totally comfortable process but we can be confident this week that relief is at hand. Many of us have been witnessing the breakdown of numerous systems and structures in our lives, quite often aspects of day to day living that we had taken for granted and assumed would last 'forever'. Under this Scorpio New Moon we can examine the debris, pick out that which remains useful and start to rebuild. We can clear the detritus that no longer serves our considered purpose to focus fully on realising our deepest desires, even the dark, dread inspiring ones that usually send us spiraling into denial.
A new moon is a dark moon and gives us unparalleled access to our dark side. Darth Vader and his Empire axis of evil give the dark side a bit of a bad rep. Darkness can be a vital, paradoxically positive, aspect of our dualistic, worldly existence. Without acknowledgement and acceptance of our fears and despair we can be held intractably in their inhibiting bondage.
Our greatest fear, that of the great unknown: Death, can receive timely scrutiny under a Scorpio Moon, itself ruled by Pluto - Lord of the Underworld himself! Without death there can be no rebirth to reconcile life and death as two sides of the same unified coin of existence. In such united reconciliation the root of our darkest fears can be brought out from the shadows into the light and dispelled - a transformative miracle of our own making.
This eternal cycle of death/rebirth is the embodiment of change itself. It could be suggested that Life is change. Nothing stands still. Everything is in motion. No one moment is the same as the next. Not one snowflake, leaf, cloud formation, hair, ant, grain of sand or person is exactly the same; has ever existed before or will ever exist again. All is in energetic flux, of which even the most advanced science has only the most rudimentary understanding. To embrace and mirror this unfathomable dance of constantly adapting flexibility is to align with its rhythm, to literally shake one's gold sequinned arse to its infectious, evolutionary beat.
This magnificent, mystifying dance floor has been graced, shimmied over and documented for ten decades by the acclaimed natural historian David Attenborough. Now 93 years of age, he has made a witness statement film "A Life on Our Planet"(trailer here) which details his observations of the effects rapidly wrought by unconscious human behaviour on the natural world that sustains us. He advocates a realignment of human behaviour with that of the natural world, of which we are a part, as a means to remedial reversal of the unabated, accelerating climate catastrophe. He advocates change, and urgently.
Under the solar circuit break of this Scorpio New Moon we can actively spend time within the immense shadows that haunt us all and resolve to make wide reaching, enLIGHTened change. Given time, our vision acclimatizes to the murkier conditions in those shadows and we are able to see further into the darkness. Hitherto looming shadows and terrifying monsters are eventually identified as the conditioned, inanimate objects and dusty thought forms that prevent our sustainable progress and growth. The ghostly illusion is dispelled and no longer spawns fear. What we expose in the darkness informs an expanded understanding when we return, as we must, to the light. In short: as we expand/change our own outlook for the better, the world is similarly transformed.
Change can not be avoided. As humans we can willfully obstruct its natural path but those impeding thoughts, words and actions generally wreak havoc. Covid and Donald Trump are merely symptoms of the cultural systems to which we have all contributed. They are great mirrors for our own intransigence; our own inability to see things anew in every moment and think, speak and act in ways that best benefit All.
As someone famously once proclaimed, "God Bless America!..." and as those beautiful lands seek a very necessary political transition, we wholeheartedly echo the sentiment. It may seem heretical but we would suggest extending that invocation to "God bless Donald!..." In his abject refusal to change, in his attempts to weave an impermeable fabric of self denial and falsehood, he points directly at the controlling, inconsiderate, willful denial in all of us. Bizarrely, for all his divisive faking and shady nepotism, we may find ourselves indebted for the dark lesson he provides.
In our revered lunar cycle, new moons are advantageous windows in which to set intents for positive change, so the intention here is to welcome the shadows of this darkest of Scorpio New Moons to initiate our own fear dispelling, orderly transition toward the service of All, not just the expedient. And, by convention of this column, we offer a few do's and dont's to help embrace this Scorpio New Moon's gracious call for change:
DO commit to a fossil free future. If you haven't already done so, change your electricity supplier to one that offers a green energy only tariff (info here). In the UK, these tariffs ensure your electric supply is sourced only from renewable sources. There are plenty of energy suppliers that now provide this option which, increasingly, is as cheap as a regular fossil fuel, CO2 emitting supply. It's a simple, well regulated process to switch suppliers and tariffs so this is a great week to support David Attenborough's efforts with our own.
DON'T fear the reaper. Change is coming. Everything dies but life rebirths and moves on in new forms. 'Twas ever thus. Retaining open flexibility to the shifts afoot can mitigate the discomfort involved. Moreover, embracing change can make the process wholly joyous.
DO spend time in the shadows. Make time to sit with the problematic stuff that you have the greatest desire to deny and avoid. Our most meaningful growth lies in its acceptance and forgiveness for having thought and behaved in the ways that brought ourselves and others so much pain. How? Light a candle and sit in silence somewhere you won't be disturbed for a few minutes. Concentrate solely on your breath until the busyness of your thoughts subsides. Once a calm, mindful clarity is achieved (3-5 mins) consciously contemplate those challenging aspects of your life that cause disquiet. Explore the feelings that are in attendance. Spending time in their presence is enough. No revelation is needed. No understanding required, just non judgemental acceptance. The discomfort will ease. It doesn't magically disappear, merely loosens it's influential grip on your present and future life experience.....itself a miracle. Regular practice brings truly radical transformation.
DON'T fear the opposition. (Does that sound too José Mourinho?) As you shift away from conventional thought patterns and actions there is likely to be inner (ego) and outer resistance from those still invested in intransigent, destructive mind sets and systems. Let folks have their say whilst not wasting precious energy by rising to confrontation. Be grateful (genuinely) for their individual insight whilst inwardly acknowledging how different it is from your own, then let Life have the casting vote in how things pan out without worrying about the outcomes or who is proved wrong or right. It's more interesting for a start. Hand the narrative over to the expansive, inclusive power of Love, trusting that under its intelligent purpose everything will turn out well.....for All.
DO shake your ass. Find your way out into nature and rejoice in its bass line. FEEL the groove and let it move you. Whether you're 17 and a dancing queen or an octogenarian with a zimmer, get out, get down and let your body shimmer. If the weather's shit, or lockdown pertains, put on the tunes and sway to that eternal dance in your personal kitchen disco. If you tune in, It will find you wherever you are, for Earth's bassline will never desert your feet, not even on the fourteenth floor! Mooning Monthly's very own DJ LunaTech has mixed up a playlist to ably get you into the groove....details below.
DON'T necessarily feel the need to exchange Goretex apparel for sequins. Autumn is nigh.
This one goes out to the good knight, Sir Dave
The champion of dance, his moves would put you in a trance And he never leaves the disco alone Arrogance but not conceit, as a man he's complete My creme de la creme, please take me home
Oh, what, wow He's the greatest dancer Oh, what, wow That I've ever seen (I've ever seen)
"He's the Greatest Dancer" - SISTER SLEDGE 1979
As mentioned, in order to aid the most reticent of disco divas onto the dancefloor, the in-house disc-jockey at Mooning HQ, DJ LunaTech, has compiled an unmissable, extra-terrestrial Disco Man in the Moon playlist, currently stomping its way across the universe on this Spotify Link. It's full of bass line bangers, so tune in, turn it up and cut some serious rug.....or kitchen tile, dependent on your contemporary floor finish. Woo...hoo..hoo..ooh (Mooners) ...... can you feel the force?
We obviously hope you continue to enjoy these moon led missives, unreliably composed from dubious source material, exclusively delivered every fortnight to members of our expanding international Mooning Monthly community. Please encourage friends of a similarly Moonish persuasion to subscribe for free so that we can share the lunar bounty, all of which can occasionally be found uploaded to the website www.mooningmonthly.com. Groove on.
With Love 'til next time.
THE GREEN KNIGHT, SIR DAVE circa 1955