Astro Weather October 2008

New Moon September 29, 2008, Mercury Retrograde 9/24/08 - 10/15/08

October begins under the influence of Monday's new moon in Virgo accompanied by a retrograding Mercury. Usually the sign of Virgo is described as discriminating and exacting, just the kind of energy one needs to look at the proposed bail out plan here in the US. However, as I mentioned in my previous blog, Mercury, the planet of commerce and trade, is retrograding in its own and exhalted sign rendering it debilitated and confused, like the US economy and Wall Street. In addition, this new moon lineup occurred in the 8th house of the US Scorpionic chart, the house of debt and hidden matters. It is difficult to sift out the truth from fear-driven rhetoric.

What is truly amazing is that proposed bail out was rejected after hundreds of thousands of phone calls and emails voiced the peoples will to Congress. As Michael Moore wrote,

The Corporate Crime of the Century was halted by a vote of 228 to 205. It was rare and historic; no one could remember a time when a bill supported by the president and the leadership of both parties went down in defeat.

The markets lost 1.2 trillion dollars and the media went on a fear blitkrieg. Again, as Michael Moore points out:

Sane people know that nobody "lost" anything yesterday, that stocks go up and down and this too shall pass because the rich will now buy low, hold, then sell off, then buy low again. But for now, Wall Street and its propaganda arm (the networks and media it owns) will continue to try and scare the bejesus out of you.

Perhaps it was the new moon in the nakshatra Hasta that gave clear insight. This asterism consits of five stars representing fingers of a hand. It corresponds to the constellation Corvus, the Crow. This nakshatra belongs to the Vaishya, or merchant/business, class. Hasta's power is the ability to manifest what we are seeking and to place it in our hands, hasta sthapaniya agama shakti. It is a healing nakshatra. I find it interesting that a "hand"out to Wall Street was rejected -- leaving political proponents like the President eating crow. A new revised bill will be up for Vote this evening when the moon will be in Libra associated with Mars and Venus. The deal has been sweetened, but Mercury retrograde is not good for signing any deal as important information and details are often overlooked.

During this Mercury retrograde period our brains, ruled by Mercury, will not be able to perceive clearly. One remedy that Vedic astrology suggests is the repetition of planetary mantra. In this case Mercury's mantra would be om bum budhaaya namah (see sanskrit above for visual). As the most recent new moon fell in Hasta, the hand, it's power may be magnified during this lunation cycle. Other remedial measures might include yoga poses on the hands such as bakasana, crow pose, or hand gestures such as buddhi mudra. In mudra practice, hand gestures are used to direct energy from the heart to the hand. In Chinese medicine the heart meridian flows from the heart thru the palm of the hand to the pinky finger. It is believed that the heart is the only organ that can recognize truth, thus mudra becomes an intensive focus on a truth or intention. I would suggest using the three m's -- meditation, mantra, and mudra -- to connect with the heart field hear you inner truth during this Mercury retrograde period.

Namaste!

Future Posts
Full Moon in Pisces 10/14/08 1:02 pm pdt
Mercury Stationary Direct 10/15/08 1:06 pm
Mercury returns to point of retrograde 10/30/08
Venus Mars exchange 10/13/08 - 11/6/08