VIRGO SOLAR FESTIVAL 2009
“MOTHER OF THE VICTORIOUS ONES”
4 SEP 2009
By Malvin Artley
Greetings All !
When I was growing up my mother used to come out with some statements
at times that would just floor me. One that I particularly remember
was said several times, especially just after I graduated high school,
and I will get to it in a few lines. When we are teenagers our parents
can often seem daft or a like they couldn’t have a clue at times, but
I have since come to see the wisdom she had, and my father too for
that matter. Quite naturally at that time I was questioning what I was
going to do in life. I was at university and had not yet decided on my
major. I was thinking about where I wanted to be and the direction my
working life would take after school. I was still living at home,
whereas a lot of my friends from=2 0high school seemingly could not wait
to leave home and get on with their lives. I was happy at home,
though, and my dad taught at the uni, so I had a pretty good deal
there. Still, the questions about my life would roll around in my head
and there was a part of me that was concerned about leaving home and
how mom would feel about that (the sign Cancer is prominent in my
chart). My mom picked up on it. Mothers always know, you know? So, one
day when I was at home between classes she sat me down and had a heart-
to-heart with me, looked me in the eye and said, “You know, we raised
you kids so you could leave home.” Then she just sat and looked at me,
waiting for a response.
Once I got over my initial disbelief, I thought about what she said.
She made a lot of sense, and after that time I never worried about my
mom any more, at least not for a long time. After her statement I
obviously looked a bit stunned and she just smiled at me, but I
thanked her for her words, at which point she got up from the table
and got about the rest of her day, leaving me there to contemplate
what had just transpired. I don’t know why it affected me so strongly,
but it did. She said the same thing on a few other occasions as I was
going along in life, but I will never forget the statement. I think
the thing that really got to me was the fact that she had faith in me.
I didn=E 2t have so much in myself at that point. That would come later.
Of course, then my mind kicked in and started with the “Is she trying
to get rid of me?” routine – and she was in her way, like a mother
bird pushing the fledgling out of the nest. I was grown. My life was
my own then, and I had to make a proper go of it. Of course I was
always welcome at home and I stayed there all through university and a
little after, but at least I knew how she felt and I knew she had
faith in me. She and dad trained us all well (I have siblings too) and
we went on to have happy lives for the most part.
As we enter the Virgo interval of the year it feels appropriate that
we look at mothers and the Mother (Earth/Nature/Goddess – whatever we
want to call Her). Our mothers nurtured us in their wombs and gave
birth to us physically, and Virgo does the same with us spiritually,
hence its association with the Mother. Virgo is the sign that
describes the process of what would best be called ‘spiritual
gestation’, for it is through this sign that we receive the spiritual
‘tools of the trade’ as it were, and begin the long process of
training and work (for which Virgo is renowned) which leads us
ultimately to the door of liberation from this world, or the cycle of
life and death. ‘Liberation’ is but another term for ‘birth’ into a
higher=2 0state of being, even though that state of being has been with
us since the very dawn of our days so many eons of time ago. Virgo is
a difficult sign to understand in some ways, but in doing so we come
to understand ourselves much better: The Mother shows us the intimate
workings of our mind. So, all hail the Mother (Virgo) and her peerless
care and nurturing!
What follows is a longer than usual look at this most august of the
zodiacal signs. There is a lot here and a lot of it is technical, but
I feel it is necessary in order to get a firm handle on what Virgo is
really all about. Most people associate Virgo with work, precision,
healing, a critical nature and the like, and the sign is indeed
associated with those things. However, the truth is that the outer
action and expression of the sign is but the façade of what is
actually one of the most profound of the signs in the zodiac – and one
of the most human. It confers the method by which we all eventually
arrive at the feet of the Master, our own higher Self. Ultimately,
Virgo represents the hardest work that anyone ever has to do, and that
is to actually fathom the entirety of the human mind and to then turn
that mind toward service to others instead of one’s own self-interest.
Much of what follows will have a strong Buddhist leaning, but this is
only because Buddhist practice – specifically meditative practice -
gives the clearest indication of what this sign is really all about.
Virgo is said to be the oldest of the zodiacal signs, predating even
this present solar system. It is connected with matter and with the
evolutionary process, “…which is to shield, nurture and finally reveal
the hidden spiritual reality.”, hence its connection with the Great
Mother. Virgo is said to be the guardian of the Light of Wisdom. The
sign stands for the ‘womb of time’ and symbolizes “..depths, darkness,
quiet and warmth…wherein secrets are discovered and eventually brought
to ‘light’.” Hence, there is a strong emphasis with Virgo upon
gestation – but gestation of what? It is said Virgo gives care and
nurturing to the Christ-child (the wisdom-being or indwelling Soul)
while the path to full enlightenment or realization is trod. What
exactly does that mean, though? The key to understanding Virgo begins
in understanding that the process started in Gemini (the union of calm-
abiding and insight, as we saw in the Gemini letter this year) finds
fruition in Virgo, if we can use such a symbolic description of the
quality of the process. Whereas Gemini ultimately gives us the method
to liberation and full enlightenment (initiation into the Mysteries),
Virgo provides the vehicle (application) to get there. In other words,
in Virgo we have the full implementation of the processes begun in
Gemini, leading the practitioner/disciple right to20the door of full
enlightenment – the ‘birth of the Christ-child’.
The preceding paragraph opens the page on what I have found a most
fascinating exploration of mind and the human psyche as it seeks to
undo itself. In a way, the life of the spiritual path is a paradox. On
the one hand we seek to come to what might be considered an ultimate
understanding of our purpose in life, why we were born here, and to
make meaning of this life that we have the privilege of living. Then,
on the other hand as we progress on that path we more often than not
come to understand that we actually understand very little and that
much of what we thought had real meaning in life (much that we have
chased after) actually has little meaning at all, if any. What we find
is that our worldly life is in a constant state of change and that
nothing of the world really has any permanence. We unlearn so much of
what we are conditioned to perceive either through environing
conditions or by karmic predisposition and what most people call the
spiritual path is more often than not simply a long process of
purification until we have finally removed all the obstacles that
stand in the way of our full realization. Virgo plays a big part in
the process of purification and purity has always been associated with
the province of Virgo – purity in all aspects of life. So, we have
purity, revelation, matter, the Mother and gestation, all key words
associated with Virgo. The preceding points set the framework for our
discussion.
Starting with matter, it has been defined in occult terminology simply
as ‘condensed ether’, understanding ‘ether’ as primordial substance
(akasha). The key phrase for Virgo is, “I am the Mother and the
Child, I God. I matter am.” We know from modern physics that the
primary physical characteristic of matter is space itself. Science has
shown pretty well conclusively that there are similar corresponding
spatial relationships between the constituents of atoms and of solar
systems, star systems and galaxies, ad infinitum. For instance, if we
were to scale our solar system down to the point where the Sun was the
size of a soccer ball, then the Earth would be a little speck about
half of one millimeter in diameter roughly one hundred meters (328
ft) away. The same sorts of relative distances are involved when we
start looking at the constituents of individual atoms of substance.
(In case you are wondering, Pluto in our condensed solar model would
be about 4 km/2 ½ miles away and be no larger than a tiny grain of
sand – barely visible.) We think of matter as being solid, yet the
defining physical characteristic of it is largely empty space. If
matter is, in essence, empty, then what exactly is it? As it turns
out, science has also conclusively shown that matter can be described
as either ‘solid’ or as waves of energy - the occultist would call
them standing waves in the ether (‘fabric of space’)
We are told in occultism that “…space is an entity and is but the
phenomenal appearance [not material experience] of that entity.”
Further, “It forms one unbroken field of activity in constant
ceaseless motion – an eternal medium for the exchange and transmission
of energies.” So, we have matter = space = phenomenal appearance.
Space is an appearance, a phenomenon, an illusion of materiality. If
matter is an illusion, then, and only a phenomenon, we are suddenly
faced with the fact that all we see before us – all experience in the
material realms - is illusory. This is a very important point with
regard to Virgo, for Virgo is known in human expression as assign that
‘cuts through the crap’. Illusion is dispelled through analytical and
focused attention. Furthermore, since all matter is phenomenal, then
all material phenomena have a certain duration in time and space and
are thus impermanent. Now, before we start giving ourselves over to
nihilistic thinking, we are also told by the Great Ones (the ones who
have gone beyond the veil of mater and know the truth of the matters
we are examining), that nihilism is an extreme view, that we do in
fact and indeed exist, as does all before, within and around us, but
that we simply misperceive thing s as they truly are.
When it comes down to it – and any realized yogi/yogini can tell you
this – matter is a concept, a mental construct. As such, then, we only
exist within it so long as we are mentally attached to it or
functioning in those realms. This recognition lies behind the basis of
siddhis (yogic attainments or powers), for once we understand how a
thing works and we can get at the constituents and mechanisms behind
them, then we have power over the phenomena. We can literally change
the world in an infinite number of ways. We also come to realize that
our very thoughts have a profound effect upon the materials or
phenomena around us. Thought, and thus knowledge, is indeed power in
the hands of those who are able to direct it.
Stop and consider for a moment that if our thoughts have effect on the
matter within and around us then our thoughts are what bind us to our
material circumstance. Yes, we all know this intellectually, but to
put it in terms of a subjective understanding of the matter (pardon
the pun) we soon realize that every current of thought must somewhere
manifest an effect. If our thoughts are pure, then the effects will
not bind us. If our thoughts are coarse and grasping, then we further
bind ourselves to the material (phenomena) in which we move and have
our being. Virgo teaches us control over materiality. It teaches us to
be pure in our thinking. It teaches us to tra nscend the coarseness of
our minds. It teaches us to ultimately realize the emptiness of
phenomenal life and to take us to the portal where we can step through
and realize that true emptiness is simply the ceasing of the
machinations of the mind and the full realization of Being. In a sense
and allegorically, the Mother trains us and takes us to the doorway,
but we must step through the door of liberation on our own and leave
the Mother behind.
In Buddhism the Mother is sometimes called ‘the Void Sphere of all
things’ – Prajnaparamita, the Mother Consort of all the Buddhas (who
are genderless, by the way). Virgo is where one realizes ‘pristine
awareness’ (awareness unstained by conceptual thought of any sort). It
is this pristine awareness to which Virgo refers – the purity that
lies beyond all thought. Experience in Virgo “…confers mental
introspection and critical analysis and stabilizes the fluidity of
Pisces [representing the dualistic nature of the human mind in its
lower aspects].” Virgo “…produces that interior struggle between the …
self, form consciousness and soul within all forms.” “Virgo represents
the caves, out of which the Christ emerged…” My recent experience in
Tibet has really given me insight into this last statement.
Typically, in the Himalayan region when one had reached a certain
point of attainment in their practice in the old days (and it still
goes on today, but in far lesser numbers) one would be sent to a
retreat center or to a lone place away from everything and everyone
and they would spend a certain term of time in solitary meditation,
usually in a cave in Tibet as there are quite a few of them there,
during which time they would be seeking certain realizations and
attainments (siddhis). They would, in effect, be engaging in this
mental introspection and critical analysis referred to before with the
expressed intent of stabilizing the fluidity of the mind to the point
where obstacles to the yogi(ni)’s desired attainment would simply fall
away and they would realize what they had sought. In essence, they
would ‘retire to the bowels of the Mother’ and therein engage in the
struggle to ‘wrest themselves from the grasper’ –the mind, only
emerging when they were victorious in that phase of their work. This
would typically happen many times in the course of one’s evolution,
over at least several lifetimes or even within one life.
What the yogi/yogini would emerge with from their cave experience
would be a further or full realization of the View – Emptiness. This
term ‘emptiness’ has an unfortunate connotation for Westerners and is
little understood in the West, being seen somehow as a negation. In
effect, emptiness is negation – the negation of the grasping self
(lower self) and the c onsequent cessation of human thought – but it is
not annihilation or the cessation of being. Rather, it is the
emergence into the fullness of being, the emergence of and union with
the higher Self (Monad, Tathagatagarbha, etc.). It is a state of
absolute Bliss (what one might call ‘divine bliss’) beyond all
description. One of the closest conveyances of the direct experience
of Voidness I have seen could perhaps be as follows, from Gopi
Krishna:
“……I was now all consciousness without any outline, without any idea
of corporeal appendage, without any feeling or sensation coming from
the senses, immersed in a sea of light simultaneously conscious and
aware at every point, spread out, as it were, in all directions
without any barrier or material obstruction. I was no longer myself,
or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small
point of awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle
of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light
and in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to describe.”
This “…vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a
point...” which Gopi Krishna described sounds suspiciously like what
one might surmise to be an experience of the highest part or our
being, the Monad or higher Self. That ‘highest part of ourselves’ to
use such a clumsy and dubious term, is actually th e purest part, the
part untainted by thought and it is that purest part toward which
Virgo leads us. The Monad is also, as we have discussed in past Virgo
letters, ruled by Virgo, hence again the emphasis in Virgo upon
purity. The Causal Field, as some people call the monadic sheath or
body, is the individual ‘sphere of voidness’. It is where abides what
is known as the ‘mind of ultimate example clear light’, which is not
‘mind’ as the average person understands it. Mind itself is but a
label, in the words of Nagarjuna. In the Monad the experience is of
the mind ‘abiding concept-less’. We have the following, to finish our
discussion here, regarding mind, emptiness and space. From Nagarjuna’s
Bodhichitta Vivarana-nama:
“The character of …enlightenment itself is indivisible from space.”
“The mind abiding concept-less has the character of space.”
“Emptiness is but the ending of the stream of good and evil thoughts.”
Purity and pristine awareness – these are the qualities toward which
every Virgo type unconsciously strives and why the Virgo type can be
so critical of others at times, when in point of fact they are
actually projecting onto others what they should be doing with their
own minds. To have a mind unstained by concept is a type of mind
beyond all but a few at this point in the Earth’s history, certainly,
to me, seeming a far way off. Yet, once we consciously take up the
spiritual path, it is our ultimate goal. Virgo is a very important and
powerful sign in the evolution of the human psyche and it is the
revealer of the good, the beautiful and the true, hence its connection
with healing. Is that not what we expect from our mothers – the good,
the beautiful and the true? For those readers familiar with Buddhism
and who study the relationships between the zodiacal signs, the axis
of Virgo-Pisces is what I would call ‘the union of Voidness (Virgo)
and Bliss (Pisces)’. It is indeed the axis of the birthing of the
World Savior, the Mother and the Son, of non-abiding Nirvana. The
preceding has been a long exposition but it was necessary, I feel, to
get to the real crux of what is actually represented by the sign
Virgo.
The full moon of the Virgo Festival takes place on 5 Sep 2009 at 2:03
AM AEST (4 Sep, 4:03 PM UT). The symbol for the degree of the Sun
reads as:
“A powerful statesman overcomes a state of political hysteria.” 13
Virgo
There is a lot of ‘spin’ in the world at the moment – Financial
disaster, deadly swine flu pandemic, forced vaccinations, the rising
threat of terrorism, etc. Yes folks, it looks pretty bleak out there
and it is going to get a lot worse – riots, civil war, coastal towns
inundated by tsunamis or rising sea levels, the in-laws20coming to live
for a year, green M&Ms giving you incurable cancer… Well, maybe some
of these things could happen (I doubt the one about the M&Ms and I
don’t have in-laws, so at least I’m safe!), but I say we have more
important things to worry about. How do we get people off the
networking sites, away from televisions and get them to think for
themselves? Whatever happened to visits and phone calls? Why can’t
kids go roaming outside without fear for their life and limb like I
used to be able to? (Dated myself there, didn’t I?) How do we get the
one-armed bandits out of the hotels? How do we build a better
community? Maybe we could start with some of these things instead of
worrying about things over which we have no control.
This symbol indicates that we need to pull ourselves up, look at
things in the clear light of day and be sensible instead of giving in
to all the hype around us. The ‘powerful statesman’ is our own better
nature, although more white knights could appear in the political
arena. The admonition here is to use the cognitive powers to see
through the illusions that will confront us this year and, believe me,
there will be a lot of that with which to contend in the next twelve
months. Don’t believe a lot of what you hear in the media. Spin will
be big for the next four months and then we may well just have a few
little items to d eal with in the world. The symbol for the degree of
the Moon reads:
“An ancient sword, used in many battles, is displayed in a museum.” 13
Pisces
It is good to remember history. It is better not to have to repeat it
in many cases. The sword is often used as a symbol for discriminating
wisdom, which Virgo confers. Hopefully the battles referred to are
battles with our own nature over which we have prevailed and grown in
wisdom. The discriminating wisdom will be needed in the months to
come, too, in order to see past much of what will be presented in the
media. If you currently undertake a spiritual practice, especially a
meditative one this year will be a good time to recap the times when
you have needed your own ‘wisdom sword’ and cut some of the cords that
had hold you stuck in certain ways, ‘cords’ meaning currents of
thought, of course. Both of these symbols speak of strength of mind,
focus and of the need to stand up and be bold in thought and action
when called upon to do so.
In the middle of the month we have the first eclipse activation of the
7 Jul 09 eclipse by Mars, accompanied by the fist of three Saturn/
Uranus oppositions to take place over the next twelve months. The
activation might bring some conflict with it, but it will instigate
new starts, especially emotionally. The last two of those will
activate the Sep 06 eclipse, starting in April. Sat urn/Uranus brings
instability with financial markets, as well as changes in the status
quo (the old vs. the new). The Saturn/Uranus opposition is well within
orb in this figure, meaning it is time to get out the old wisdom sword
and start applying it to financial matters and any political
instability in the world. Western nations are fairly good with regard
to the political end of things, but finances might be a real worry,
especially in the first part of next year. Cool heads and straight
thinking now may just help avert harder times later. Saturn and Uranus
are both planets that cut through the crap, so-to-speak and if there
have been poor decisions made in any area of life, they will be shown
up under the impress of Saturn and Uranus.
The full moon axis forms a Hard Rectangle with the nodal axis
indicating struggles between instinctive and spiritual impulses,
difficulties with people in one’s life if significant degrees are
activated in one’s own chart and a general malaise about the direction
things are taking until one sorts out what is actually going on (the
wisdom sword again does wonders for that). The Moon is in a separating
trine with Mars, which in and of itself will not bring much. However,
Saturn is linked to the Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune conjunction and has
been so since mid-August, and that has thrown a wet blanket on
people’s enthusiasm. It has also brought out unresolved or hidden
issues between people. This is what the Magi Society calls a classic
heartbreak clash, although it can be very good spiritually because it
cleans out a lot of emotional dead wood – perfect for the Virgo
interval. Saturn will pass over the link with that conjunction until
mid-September. Other than that, the only other aspect of note in the
figure is the Mercury/Mars square, which is also perfect for Virgo,
esoterically considered – productive of the interior struggle
mentioned before which Virgo conveys. People should also think ten
times before they fly off the handle at anything. It can be an aspect
of great recklessness in speech and movement. Be careful with speed
and transport. This concludes the analysis of the solar festival.
___________
After I left university and eventually left home I was able to see the
truth in what my mother had said to me that day those years ago. So
much of what I had learned at home really had prepared me for life in
the world, and one of the best things my mother ever did for me was to
allow me a lot of space to explore things and to make my own mistakes
as I was growing up. She was always there if I needed her, though. Mom
helped me to learn to think for myself, and that is a great gift
indeed. We all had a lot of laughs, too. She is gone now, but I always
take those words of hers to heart when I feel things are not going so
well and I remember the faith she had=2 0in me. It reminds me to have
faith in myself. I have had a lot of successes and some failures since
then. It is kind of like I am still at home, in a sense, learning my
way with things. My ‘home’ is just a lot bigger now, as is my concept
of ‘mother’.
In this International Year of Astronomy, when we get a chance, take a
step outside in the night and look up at the starry sky. In doing
that, consider the vast order and boundlessness of the empty spaces
between and within the stars and galaxies. Each of those points of
light was once a human of some system or description and is now a
‘Grand Man of the Heavens’, (to borrow the term) and each of them had
their ‘Virgo experience’ which eventually led them to their present
attainment. Each of them still resides in the womb of the great
Mother, striving toward even greater realizations, birth into ever-
greater awarenesses. To adapt the old saying: “Behind every great
person is a great woman” – and it is probably their mother, at least
to start with. Attainment comes though nurturing our good qualities
and hard work – and nobody does that nurturing better than Mom.
You did yourself proud, Mom. Thanks.
Blessings,
Malvin.
1 Sept 2009
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