Today is a new moon. And a very special one too.
New moons are the dark night that marks a new beginning, a new cycle of light. And as we know, light, is just another expression of consciousness.
Like the moon, our mind and our body too flucutates. And right now, we are in the dark.
This particular moon happens to be in the constellation of Leo, in the Nakshatra of Magha. And if you are thinking, but I heard someone else say it is in Virgo, then that person is using a western, tropical system, which wants to keep our seasonal and astrological cycles aligned. Eastern, Vedic Astrology uses a sidereal system that orientates itself toward the actual movement of the stars, as they are. That means that there is an approx. 23 degree difference between the two of them. And it means that our new moon is actually in Leo.
Leo is in itself a fire sign, a sign of rulership and grandiour. Ruled by the sun, it likes to inspire the world. The moon, although in itself dark, is flavoured by this. But even more so it is flavoured by it‘s lunar constellation of Magha.
Magha is, like the new moon itself, a nakshatra that denotes a new beginning. It is the first of the second cycle of Nakshatras, at 0 – 13.20 degrees in Leo. It‘s ruling Planet is Ketu. Ketu isn‘t actually a planet, but there isn‘t a better translation from the word Graha that is understandable enough. Ketu is the bottom half of a demon.
In Vedic Mythology, the gods and the demons once worked together to churn the nectar of immortality out of the milk ocean. This could only happen when the dual forces merge and work together, so they did. But the gods only tricked the demons into thinking that they would share the nectar. In reality they had never planned to do so. When one of the demons realised they had been tricked, he quickly grabbed the bottle of nectar and drank it, before Vishnu threw his disc at him and cut him in half. Having already drunk the nectar, he became two immortal demons: Rahu and Ketu. Astronomically, they are the nodes of the moon, the intersecting points of the earths eclipse around the sun and the moon‘s around the earth. Rahu, the head, stands for the north node, and Ketu, the body, for the south.
While Rahu has the mouth, and is always hungry, greedily wanting things, searching for things, becoming addicted to worldly things, he has no body to digest all of these things. He is like a hungry ghost, always wanting. He has intelligence and so he usually gets what he wants but it is always attached to some kind of dissapointment.
Ketu however has no mouth, no intelligence, no wanting, no desire at all. He is all about letting go. Eliminating. Detaching. And exactly that is why he has the potential to lead us to freedom and enlightenment. He is a moksha planet, he can, if we let him, empty us out, let us rise above things, lift us up.
On a day like this, when the new moon is in Magha, it is a good day to leave things that have been bothering us behind. It is a good thing to let go and start new. To cleanse ourselves, to empty our mind, our heart, and also our bowel. Detoxify. Rest. Relax. Let go. Detach. Let go.
Another theme of Magha Nakshatra is Ancestry. Like a royal king is made a king usually by their ancestors, by inheritance, we also can elevate ourselves by acknowledging the gifts of our ancestors. What have they given us that can help us free ourselves from obstacles? What challenges have they given us?
If we are holding on to grudges against our ancestors, including our parents, (maybe especially our parents…) then we automatically close ourselves off to the gifts they have for us. Even the most abusive father has, underneath all of that, also a soul, a light that wants to shine. Even he has probably passed on traits to us that are helpful and can lift us up. But only when we have let go of the bad, can we accept the good.
Of course, letting go isn‘t always so easy, so I have a little gift for you today.
Here is a guided journey to help you to trust, let go and surrender, while honoring your ancestors gifts to you. Go to my astrology page to find the link to the audio file:
It is a journey through your deepest Chakra, Muladhara, the root chakra.
Please enjoy this recording in your own time, I hope it will assist you on your own journey.