eclipse season coming to a close

I've been meaning to write about this eclipse season since the season started almost a month ago, but I have been so busy and stressed I haven't had the chance! We are about to wrap up an exciting eclipse season with tomorrow's Biblical blood moon, the third in a rare Biblical blood moon tetrad.

Eclipse seasons are typically about 34 days long, and while we are in them, we experience 2-3 eclipses. This season we have two: the solar eclipse that took place on March 20, and the lunar eclipse that will take place tomorrow.

Image here.

This is a great article on the energetic impacts of eclipses (emphasis mine):

Eclipse seasons are notoriously unpredictable in their effects. Even aside from the actual eclipses, once we’re in the season all bets are off and anything could happen. Life often takes on a feeling of speeding–up in some way. Pressure mounts and tensions bubble over when we least expect it. Alternatively breakthroughs can occur and unexpected progress can be made. Sometimes both things are happening at the same time, and more! Eclipses teach us that there are many other dimensions at work in our lives and we cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, control them all. We are subject to all manner of forces, influences and energies to which we must bow at times like this, recognising that, as the Dalai Lama once said, ‘Sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful piece of luck’. 

Studying the effects of eclipses over the years has revealed to me that they often condense a process that would otherwise take far longer. The relationship we were thinking we should end in the coming months suddenly finishes over night. Done and dusted and no going back. That work project we’ve been cooking up for the past year and were hoping to launch in the coming one suddenly finds its moment and must be born quickly to catch the tide. That niggling pain we’ve had for the past few months about which we know we should have gotten advice, becomes unavoidable over night and we find ourselves in the hospital emergency department. Eclipses circumvent the process and shift us along to another stage. Sometimes this can be exhilarating, other times extremely scary, but either way they show us that whatever we thought we had planned probably wasn’t actually how it was all going to work out! 

Image here.

I was planning to write about all of this before March 20, but as it happened, pressure was mounting and tensions were bubbling! About exactly as predicted, things in my own life started getting a little crazy in the two weeks prior to March 20. Here is what another article states about March 20, 2015:

20th March brings a Solar Eclipse in the final degree of the zodiac, the 30th degree of Pisces. Whenever we see this degree activated we are on notice of an ending. When a Solar Eclipse falls here the ending burns bridges and there is no going back. This is completion max! For some of us this eclipse and its following weeks may bring the realisation that opportunities once available but not taken are now lost to us. The cosmos cannot wait forever and there are times when it closes doors for good that we have refused to open wide enough to walk through. Whilst this realisation may come with sadness and regret, the unequivocal completion of this cycle of possibility clears the way for the beginning of a new one in due course.

So if anything big happened in your life lately, it may be interesting to see when it occurred in relation to the eclipse. Here is another article specifically about that eclipse.

The eclipse tomorrow promises to herald in some new fun things as well. Again, from Sarah Varcas:

Image here.

The eclipse occurs in totality just after midday GMT in 15th degree of Libra. As partner to the solar eclipse on 20th March which called time on paths not chosen, this lunar eclipse requests expressed commitment to our goals in this new creative cycle. Alongside this commitment it asks also for originality and fresh perspectives, for it is just such endeavours to be blessed in the coming years. This is not a time to reaffirm old hopes and dreams still unfulfilled but to distil new and more vibrant ones which reflect who we are becoming not who we once were.

It strikes me that this eclipse is happening during both Easter weekend and General Conference. This is a time to listen, to ponder, to commit to our new vibrant dreams that perhaps just weeks ago seemed too distant to take seriously--not to act rashly.

Conclusion

As this eclipse season comes to a close, spend some time listening to Conference and your heart. This may have been an eventful 30 days but hopefully it is ending on a higher note than it started on! The energy that comes with eclipses, unpredictable as it may be, is a blessing in disguise.

Signs and wonders: Draconid meteor shower tonight

The Draconids. Image here.

I just found out that tonight is also the Draconid meteor shower.

Oh, FYI: people who are having trouble sleeping lately, which is a lot of you--I would count that as the influence of the moon. It is seriously, biologically, measurably more difficult to sleep on a night with a full moon, which is tonight and last night.

Anyway, it is pretty unique that today would showcase both a Biblical blood moon and the Draconids.


A book available at LDS bookstores, Pattern of the Heavens by Timothy J. Adams, explains the significance of Draco, the constellation the Draconids are named after.

Adams quotes Moses 4:1-6, 20-21 (his emphases):

1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.
 2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will bedone, and the glory be thine forever.
 3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
 4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.
 5 And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.
 6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.
 20 And I, the Lord God, said unto the serpent: Because thou hast done this thou shalt be cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;
 21 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; and he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

He explains that from these verses we learn that Satan tried to usurp God's power and was therefore cast down. And then he explains that Draco is the constellation Job refers to in Job 26:13 when he says that God "hath formed the crooked serpent" in "the heavens."

He explains (my emphasis),

The celestial sphere experiences a movement known as the precession of the equinoxes. The Earth spinning like a top with an ever-so-slight wobble causes this precession. The precession moves one degree every 72 years, taking about 26,000 years for a complete wobble. In the course of this movement the Earth's axis points to different celestial bodies; approximately six thousand years ago the North Star wasn't Polaris but a star in the tail of Draco. The slow precession has since moved the axis so that it now points to Polaris--the footstool of the true king; not Draco and not Cepheus, but the Nazarene Jesus the Christ.

He goes on to cite two scriptures that seem to allude to this shift, Genesis 22:17 and Genesis 24:60 (the seed as the stars of heaven possessing the gates of his enemies).

The moon represents Israel, so a lunar eclipse represents
Israel's power faltering.

Long story short, Draco represents the serpent--Satan in the creation story. Over the past 6,000 years, the North Star has shifted from the star in the tail of Draco to Polaris, which is located in the footstool of the constellation representing Christ as King.

Traditionally, lunar eclipses represent hard times for Israel, followed eventually by triumph. Draco and his Draconids represent Satan and his followers. A torrent of Draconid meteors happening at the same time as a Biblical blood moon is notable to me--symbolically it would refer to Satan unleashing his minions and wrath just as Israel faced some tough times anyway. Just thought I'd share.

Signs and wonders in the heavens: Biblical blood moon tetrad

This morning is the second lunar eclipse of the final Biblical blood moon tetrad of the century. So let's talk about it.

First off, a link to my last post about reading the stars. Recap: we're not supposed to worship the stars or use them as an excuse to give up our agency. The stars are ordained to bring forth signs. Prophets have long read the stars (think of Moses and Abraham, and also the wise men following the stars to find Jesus).

Okay, let's go.

From The Mystery of the Shemitah by Jonathan Cahn:

The Scriptures speak of the sun and the moon and the celestial lights functioning as "signs." The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:14 is otote; it can also be translated as "evidence," "mark," and "omen." The same verse declares that they will be connected to days and years and "seasons." But the Hebrew word translated as seasons is moedeem. Moedeem literally means "an appointment," or "the appointed time" or "the appointed meeting." It is the same word used for the holy days of Israel. Add to this the Scriptures' emphasis on these celestial lights as signs of judgment and the end times, and we have to, at the very least, conclude that they may at times serve as signs of significant events. 

Moon. Shutterstock.

Indeed, scriptures such as Isaiah 13:8-10 and Joel 3:14-15 and Matthew 24:29 all refer to signs like the ones we are presently witnessing. The Biblical blood moon tetrad is significant.

What is the Biblical blood moon tetrad?

Biblical blood moon tetrads are groups of four lunar eclipses, separated by 6 lunar cycles each, in a row, falling on Biblical holy days. This Biblical blood moon tetrad is falling on Passover and Sukkot, twice in a row.

Traditionally, the moon represents Israel, so an eclipse of Israel is symbolically bad news. The upside is that traditionally, the bad news has been followed by good news. From the Blaze:

Blood moons surrounding the Crucifixion. Image here.

In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella “issued an edict of expulsion” kicking the Jews out of Spain, Hagee told TheBlaze. This happened during the Spanish Inquisition, which began in 1478 in an effort to rid the region of Jews and Muslims.

Blood moons surrounding the Jewish diaspora and plague.
Image here.

According to NASA data, there was a tetrad from 1493 to 1494 (there were three preceding tetrads that century as well, but they did not fall on Jewish holidays). 

And that’s not the only series of blood moons Hagee links to Israel, as NASA data shows that yet another tetrad unfolded between 1949 and 1950, a key time for Israel’s modern-day manifestation. 

Biblical blood moons surrounding Columbus's discovery of
America and the Spanish Inquisition. Image here.

“In 1948, that’s the year Israel became a state,” he explained. “The thing that happened prior to that was the tragedy of the Holocaust, which ended in the rejoicing of statehood.” 

Another tetrad happened between 1967 and 1968, a period which saw the Six-Day War — a moment of “triumph” when Jerusalem was reunified and became “the eternal capital of the Jewish people once again,” Hagee said. 

Clearly, there is a pattern for the Biblical blood moon tetrad. I expect that this one will be similarly eventful for the House of Israel.

Ebola and the blood moon

Biblical blood moon and the return of Jerusalem to Israel.
Image here.

So far I have personally noted how close the first Biblical blood moon of this tetrad was to the initial outbreak of Ebola in West Africa--the blood moon was only maybe two or three weeks after the initial diagnosis of it.

The second blood moon is falling right after Rosh Hashana of the Shemitah, which is something else I need to blog about--but suffice it to say, we are living in an economic judgment year, Biblically speaking, which is to say, according to the Biblical calendars set forth in Leviticus. We can expect major economic shut-downs as the year progresses, building up to 13 September 2015, the Biblical-calendar equivalent of 9/29/08 (the day of the 777-point one-day drop, the largest one-day drop in the history of Wall Street) and 9/11. But this Rosh Hashana was also notable because it was the day that Ebola Patient 0 for the US checked into the hospital with his beginning symptoms and was sent home.

Traditionally, how Rosh Hashana goes, as New Year's Day, is supposed to be a symbol of how the rest of the year goes. If that tradition is at all valid, we can expect lots of sickness and people being turned away from medical facilities, as well as medical personnel not seeming to take illness seriously. Hopefully I am just being a crazy person. But in case I am not, that is what I have been feeling.

Conclusion

We are living in a time of signs and wonders in the heavens. If you are not aware of them, it's not because they are not happening. It is time to wake up as they did in ancient days and be aware. Prepare.

We are currently at 10/8/14, approaching the midpoint of the most symmetrical Biblical blood moon tetrad in history.

the Gospel and reading the stars

 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

- Psalms 19:1-2

Stars. Public domain.

The term "astrology" is very loaded in Christianity in general and Mormonism in particular. And it's no surprise: the prophets both ancient and modern have cautioned against it--or more specifically, they have cautioned against putting our faith in the stars.

So I'm sure it probably looks "bad" that I write about things like the Saturn Return and my natal chart and so on and so forth. Isn't that going against what the prophets have taught?

Well, obviously I don't feel that is the case. But I'd like to explain why.

In LDS bookstores now, you can buy an amazing book called Pattern of the Heavens. It is an incredible resource for information about, well, "the pattern of the heavens." The idea contained in Psalms 19:1-7 is that the stars "show knowledge" every night; that "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Psalms 8:3 explains that the heavens, moon and stars have all been "ordained" (ordained for what??). 

Even in Genesis 1 (1:14), as God is creating the earth, He explains that the "lights in the firmament of the heaven" are not just to divide day from night and be for seasons and days and years--they are also "for signs." 

Well, signs for what?

Alma 30:43-44 explains that "the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." 

Job 38:32-33 has a reference to Mazzaroth, the Hebrew zodiac, and asks, "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?" Which obviously implies that there are actually ordinances of heaven. 

Stars. Public domain.

We know from the books of Abraham and Moses that both of those prophets were taught to read the stars. They were shown the "patterns" of "heavenly things." The wise men who came from the East to worship baby Jesus... weren't they led by a star? Perhaps a star in some sort of constellation? Was that wrong? Obviously not. So where does the caution against astrology come from? 

Timothy Adams, in Pattern of the Heavens, explains that the cautions in the scriptures are against worship of the stars. Deuteronomy 17:3, Deuteronomy 18:9-14, 2 Kings 21:3-5, Jeremiah 8:2--they all deal with people actually worshipping "the host of heaven." We are cautioned against making the stars our gods, worshipping them, using them inappropriately. 

Adams writes,

"After consideration of these Old and New Testament scriptures, it is plain to see that those who earlier consulted the stars did so following the pagan practices of surrounding cultures. Not only were they consulting, but they were also practicing divination [defined as "a superstitious method of trying to discover the course of future events," by the LDS Bible Dictionary], and they were even worshipping the figures of those constellations. 

Those who practiced virtue and understood prophecy looked to the stars as a manual for teaching. This added another witness of God's dealings with man, understanding symbols as the "language of righteousness." As long as we distance ourselves from those evil practices of consulting, divining, and worshipping the stars, perhaps we might see the original intent of the constellations of the heavens." 

As long as we are not worshipping the stars, or trying to somehow divine the future from them, it is okay and even right to search them as one would any witness of God. At least, that is my understanding. Many holy men and prophets have studied the stars and the signs in the heavens. Obviously, the wise men did it in order to come find Jesus at His birth. It is not wrong to do that, as long as you come from the proper (read: Christ-centered, Gospel) perspective.

The Zodiac also testifies of Christ. Enjoy
John Pratt's article on the topic.

Indeed, modern LDS astronomer John Pratt has found that heavenly calendars testify of Christ. The heavenly calendars include the movements of Venus, Mercury, Mars, and likely other planets as well. And obviously, the calendars based on the Sun and Moon. If you understand what you are looking at, it becomes clear that they all testify of Christ, His divinity, His mission.

Here's something fun: For Christ's 2000th birthday, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon all clustered together, and Mercury and Venus clustered together as well. Is it wrong to note that? I don't think so! What a testament of Christ!

Conclusion

The scriptures and modern prophets caution against worshipping the stars and using them inappropriately. They are meant to act as a witness of God, not as a substitute. The study of the stars is not a substitute for the study of the scriptures, but in conjunction with the study of the scriptures can add a beautiful second witness of God, Christ, and the Plan of Salvation.

Visions, the Zodiac, and Gone With the Wind

I just finished reading Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell for my book club, and first: it was great. Such a good read. And a timely one, too, since the movie is coming out in theaters for its 75th anniversary this next week.

Second: it had a bunch of really interesting stuff going on from an energetic perspective.

Here are just a few things I noticed.

1. Influence of Saturn. If you read Progressive Prophetess's blog, she's been talking a lot about Saturn and Jupiter, the planets of justice and mercy.

Saturn is the planet of justice, and the planet of the harvest. It is the planet that ensures people receive their just rewards. It runs on a 29.5-year cycle. Between the ages of 28-30 and 57-60, people tend to reap the harvest that they've sowed with their lives. Examine:

SATURN. Public domain.

As Lord of Karma, Saturn brings you what you've earned through your disciplined pursuit of goals and experience. You'll find out during the Saturn return what you've manifested up to that point, how well you've used your talents. No wonder it's a feared transition -- this is like the mid-semester exam! 

In myth, Saturn is also the God of the Harvest, and it's harvestime during your Saturn return. If nothing's been sown, and therefore, very little reaped, you'll realize it's time to get busy. The scythe of Saturn prunes, cuts away the useless bits, and that can feel like a death of the self. Saturn often brings a death to the old ways of doing things, but later on, you're likely to say, "Good riddance!" The death phase is never easy, but keep in mind that rebirth will come.

What is the ending of Gone With the Wind but this exact thing? Scarlett finally reaps what she's sown all along: she's been ugly at heart, no matter what Melanie sees in her, and in the end, she gets an ugly ending. I hope I'm not spoiling the ending for anyone--dude, has anyone in America not seen Gone With the Wind?--but in the end, she realizes that she's loved Rhett all along, but then he leaves her. Because she has been a super jerk to him the whole time. Sounds like a Saturnine comeuppance to me.

At the end of the story, during her retribution phase, Scarlett O'Hara is a perfect 28 years old--which perfectly fits with the Saturn Return.

FYI, my life is so weird now: I was just searching Google Images for the perfect pictures for this post, and I came across one of Scarlett and the Tarleton twins, and this was the page it linked to. Seriously? Seriously. Amazing. Go read it. Basically it's about how someone found Mitchell's notes on astrology that were connected to Gone With the Wind--Scarlett is a typical Aries, the Tarleton twins are Gemini, Rhett Butler is Leo, etc. Think of the name of the Wilkes plantation: Twelve Oaks. Duh. The book was organized around astrology after all--according to Mitchell's own notes. Bazam. What.


2. Scarlett's Out of Body Experience and Ancestral Visitation 

 At the end of Chapter 24, Scarlett O'Hara gets "drunk with fatigue and whisky." The chapter goes on: "She only knew she had left her body and floated somewhere above it where there was no pain and no weariness and her brain saw things with an inhuman clarity. She was seeing things with new eyes."

She then understands, again, with "inhuman clarity," the strength of her ancestors. She internalizes their stories, and then,

All of those shadowy folks whose blood flowed in her veins seemed to move quietly in the moonlit room. And Scarlett was not surprised to see them, these kinsmen who had taken the worst that fate could send and hammered it into the best. Tara was her fate, her fight, and she must conquer it.  

She turned drowsily on her side, a slow creeping blackness enveloping her mind. Were they really there, whispering wordless encouragement to her, or was this part of her dream? 

"Whether you are there are not," she murmured sleepily, "good night--and thank you."

Here, right here in Gone with the Wind, we have a description of an out of body experience (OBE) and ancestral vision! Bizarre and awesome!

Knowing that Margaret Mitchell had planned a connection between the zodiac and her characters in the novel, it kind of makes me wonder if she didn't write this scene based on some kind of personal experience with OBEs or ancestral visitation. People at church all the time bear testimonies and stuff about deceased ancestors helping them find genealogical records, or helping them in times of extreme need--why couldn't such an event have happened to Mitchell? Fascinating stuff.

When I read Chapter 24, and got to this part, I was totally shocked. An out of body experience in Gone with the Wind??? Seems kind of "out there" or "woo woo" for what is practically the most popular American novel ever. And true, during the scene, she is both literally and figuratively drunk. But it's kind of a cool validation that such an "out there" part of the human experience would make it into such a famous, successful book.

3. Yin and yang.

Now, nowhere in Gone With the Wind is the term "yin" or "yang" used, but there is a CONSTANT commentary on the differences and interplay between masculine and feminine energy. Overall, that is considered Scarlett's biggest problem: a yang imbalance--too much masculine energy. "Despite her pink cheeks and dimples and pretty smiles, she talked and acted like a man. Her voice was brisk and decisive and she made up her mind instantly and with no girlish shilly-shallying. She knew what she wanted and she went after it by the shortest route, like a man, not by the hidden and circuitous routes peculiar to women. [...] Scarlett was guided by no one but herself and was conducting her affairs in a masculine way which had the whole town talking about her" (Chapter 36).
Grandma Fontaine accuses Scarlett thusly: "You're smart enough about dollars and cents. That's a man's way of being smart. But you aren't smart at all like a woman. You aren't a speck smart about folks" (Chapter 40).

Scarlett ruins Ashley's life, turning him into a shell of what he could have been--he attributes this to "when [Scarlett] went to Atlanta, shouldering a man's burden." When Scarlett did that, Ashley said, "I saw myself as much less than a man--much less, indeed, than a woman."

Scarlett walks all over Frank.
He lets her.

Of course, Rhett mostly doesn't mind Scarlett's masculinity--but arguably, that's because he himself is so far masculine on the masculine-feminine spectrum. The narrator explains of Scarlett in Chapter 36, "She never could respect a man who let her run over him and the timid, hesitant attitude [Frank] displayed in any situation, with her or with others, irritated her unbearably." Rhett doesn't let her run over him, ever. He understands the truth about women--that they "[have] a hardness and endurance unknown to men" (Chapter 36). He knows what it takes to be on the masculine side of the spectrum compared to a masculine woman.

From Wikipedia.

The narrator writes of Rhett, "He never played like a boy; he was a man and no matter what he did, [Scarlett] could never forget it. She could not look down on him from the heights of womanly superiority, smiling as women have always smiled at the antics of men who are boys at heart" (Chapter 48).

Scarlett is only truly happy when she surrenders in her heart to Rhett, in the night following Ashley's birthday party and the drama surrounding it. But even though she's submitted to him in her heart, she refuses to submit in person--and their next interaction leaves them both smarting. If Scarlett had been submissive in that interaction with Rhett, things would have been totally different in the end. In other words, Scarlett's yang imbalance, since that is what prevented her from openly submitting to Rhett even when she wanted to, was directly responsible for him leaving her in the end.

I highlighted just about every reference to the yin-yang spectrum in the 1000+ pages of Gone With the Wind, but suffice it to say: the yin-yang spectrum plays a huge role in this book. And this role is directly explored in both dialogue and narration.

4. Scarlett's prescient dream.

Starting about halfway through the book, Scarlett begins to have a horrible dream that haunts her through the end of the book. She's running down a street, looking for something, something and she doesn't even know what it is.

It isn't until the very last chapter--or perhaps the second-to-last chapter--that we learn what it is she's been dreaming of the whole time. And she runs back home after witnessing Melanie's death, with a sickening feeling in her heart she realizes that she recognizes her surroundings--the mist, the lights, everything--it's what she's dreamed of all this time. And the thing she is searching for is no thing: it's Rhett. The man she loves, and has loved all along, even though she didn't know it.

... Scarlett had a vision of the future. And this recurring vision plays a role throughout the book.

Fascinating.

Conclusion

All in all, I loved the book, even though the end was so hard to read! So sad! It really shocked me, though, how very spiritually progressive the book was--if that's how you would term it. With veiled references to astrology, an out of body experience, a prescient dream and ancestral visitation, and constant yin-yang spectrum commentary, this book is surprisingly cognizant of the more esoteric aspects of human life.