New Moon in Libra and Diwali Celebrations

Happy Diwali!

New Moon October 26, 2011 12:56 pm pdt

Wednesday's new Moon in Libra initiates the five-day Hindu festival of Diwali, or Deepawali. This Festival of Lights gets its name from the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) that Indians light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects us from spiritual darkness.



Celebrated at the Libra new Moon in October or November each year, Diwali originated as a fall festival that marked the last harvest of the year before the sun lowers into the winter skies. It was a time to give thanks and to ask for future blessings. Today it also marks the beginning of the Indian business New Year. Indians celebrate with family gatherings, glittering clay lamps, festive fireworks, strings of electric lights, bonfires, flowers, sharing of sweets to worship and welcome the goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi, into their homes. It has become a national festival that is celebrated regardless of faith. People of all casts and class participate in it with delight and exuberance. Though celebrated for different reasons, it has evolved into festivities uniting multicultural diversity with worldwide cultures.

This year the new Moon in Libra occurs in the nakshatra of Swati which means "the sword" and reflects the double-edge quality of balance. Swords can kill or protect depending on how the balance is tipped. Like the Libra card of the Tarot in which Justice holds a sword in the right hand and balance in the left, the sword indicates the ability to discriminate and bring objective balance through reason or natural force. In Tarot Swords are associated with air and the mental field, and Swati is ruled by Rahu whose vata nature amplifies its restless quality. The scales represent the balance between dualistic forces and this nakshatra sits in the middle of all twenty-seven nakshatras at the tipping point where the soul becomes conscious of its higher self and begins to focus on unselfish service. Saturn, the planet of service, is exalted in Swati.

One of the deities associated with Swati is Saraswati, the goddess of learning, knowledge and wisdom. Saraswati is represented in Hindu mythology as the divine consort of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the universe. She helped Brahma bring order out of chaos through knowledge and is said to reside in the single star of Swati, Arcturus. In the Rigveda, Saraswati is a river as well as its personification as a goddess -- the name Saraswati comes from saras meaning "flow" and wati meaning "a woman." So the goddess Saraswati is a symbol of knowledge which flows like a river and is captivating like a woman. Saraswati is also worshiped along with Lakshmi and Ganesha during Diwali celebrations.

Swati's primary symbol is a single plant shoot blown by the breeze indicating its ability to bend with the wind in order to survive the forces of change. Just as a young plant strives to grow towards the light, it requires determination and adaptability ,also associated with the air element, to grow and mature. The deity associated with Swati is Vayu, the demigod of air and wind who pervades the universe and sustains life through breath. Astrologically air and wind symbolism also reveal the power to move things and Swati's power to "scatter like the wind," pradhvamsa shakti, may send seeds of change across the atmosphere. Mass trends spread wildly under this energy and require Libran balance to serve the the highest good.



Whether in October or November, Diwali often takes place during a new Moon in Libra, which means the Sun is in its sign of debilitation, and this year near its exact degree of debilitation. Libra rules the 7th house and descendant, where the Sun sets in a chart. The glyph of Libra is in fact a representation of the setting Sun or Greek letter omega as in the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. Here the natural effulgence and individuality of the Sun dims, and allows the influence of Libra's ruler, Venus, to shift the interest of the individual from self to others. Venus is the planet of relationship, but Libra is not merely the sign of partnership, it is the sign of other people in general. It is literally the "balance" between the individual and society. When the Sun is debilitated it can no longer shine its power on leaders and authority figures, and instead may allow the Venusian vibration to bring compromise on behalf of the collective.

As we have seen during the Sun's current sojourn through Libra, the masses across the world have been inspired to join in the Occupy Wall Street protest that began on September 17, 2011. Both the balanced dancer (Libra) and raging market bull (Taurus) represent aspects of Venus and its signs. At the start of the protests Venus was debilitated in Virgo and still hidden in the light of the Sun because it was only 30 days past its superior conjunction. Venus in this position is viewed by Western astrologers as returning from her shamanic journey to the underworld where she was seeking justice from Hades/Pluto and transforming from Venus morning star of war to Venus evening star of peace. Moreover, the planet Pluto had just stationed making a square to this debilitated Venus that provided the power to release the repressed emotions and stress of the collective -- the so-called 99% -- to finally push back against an unfair system of wealth distribution. Later in the month, as Venus approached Saturn, it became clear that this movement was justified and was not going away, and in fact may indeed lead to significant change for the current structure of world financial markets. Moreover, once Venus entered the sign of Libra on October 4 and re-emerged as the evening star, its power to bring peaceful change was restored and amplified spreading the Occupy Wall Street movement to cities across the US and around the world. Its alignment with Mercury under this new Moon and will only heighten the call for justice and bring power to the people. Many believe this unrest and move to social change will culminate on Friday (Venus' day) October 28, 2011, the final day of the Mayan calendar according to Carl Calleman. As Barbara Hand Clow poignantly points out:

This New Moon is unusually influential because it arrives two days before the end of the Mayan Calendar on October 28, 2011. We have reached the evolutionary turning point of our species -- and we must each consider becoming intentional keepers of Earth. Those who continue to use Earth for their own desires with no consideration for the planet's multidimensional fields of creation are going to crash and burn. Those who accept their eco-sensitive creative mantle -- the new aura of Gaia -- are the new seeds for our planet's beautiful future. As October 28 arrives, the Nine Underworlds of Creation will rebirth many Earth Keepers. This exciting New Moon in Scorpio [ tropical] sets the field for the simultaneous culmination of the Nine Underworlds. The period from the New Moon through midnight on October 28 will probably be remarkable and mystical, so I will examine it with great care. [Please read the whole article for more fascinating observations!]

As we have seen in previous posts on the end dates of the Mayan calendar, Calleman proposes that we will see the culmination of a series of nine waves of increasing frequency which have influenced, and continue to influence, the development and evolution of both the physical universe and human consciousness. In one of his last articles he wrote: What we are witnessing is thus not another recession, but the end of the world capitalist system and the protests in the US against “Wall Street” may be an indication as good as any of this.

Thus this spin-off movement called Occupy Yourself which takes place on the final day of the Mayan calendar is a fascinating development!



The Occupy Yourself movement calls for us all to peacefully step out of the system and step back into our true selves by turning off all lights, unplugging electrical devices, abstaining from any digital media, abstaining from any purchases and doing do NOTHING that generates money into THE SYSTEM. Instead we are being asked to indulge in our greatest wealth: our inner light. Nothing could be more appropriate for this year's Diwali celebrations than to unite and celebrate the true meaning of prosperty: having health, family and the knowledge that there is enough for all if we join together in the light of human community and birth of a new level of consciousness that is in balance with mother Earth.

Namaste!