Dear Friends,
On Sunday the 29th, we’ll find the waxing Moon above Regulus, the star at the Lion’s heart. Within Leo dwells the origin of the formative forces of the human heart; its sense (among the twelve discussed by Steiner) is life. Indeed, life is defined by the presence of a heartbeat! The Moon was aligned with Regulus at the raising of Lazarus. From Tomberg:
The exceptional aspect of raising Lazarus was that it constituted a repetition, in a new form, of the ancient Egyptian mystery process. What was typical is the fact that, in the future, ever-increasing numbers will experience this process, but in such a way that the gradual death and the new life go hand in hand. The symbolic sign for this concurrent process of gradual death and new life is the black cross with the seven, shining red roses. The spiritual movement that consciously nurtures this process is known (and misunderstood) as Rosicrucianism. True Rosicrucianism, through all its centuries of existence, has simply been the world stream that worked toward a renewal of the impulse to life. And it does so in this sense: that human beings should live not only by means of the instinctual life forces of the ether body, but even more so by means of the spiritual-moral forces of the life spirit. [Christ and Sophia, p. 266]
Continuing its journey through Leo, the Moon aligns with Rho Leonis (12°) on Monday. (One of Leo’s megastars, Rho Leonis can be identified as the back paw of the Lion that is closest to bright Regulus.) Here the Moon will meet Mars—however, because these planets’ distance above the celestial equator is nearly the same, Mars will be briefly hidden from view.
A few hours later, Venus, in the last degree of Aries, will rise at 0300. Not long thereafter (when she’s high in the southeast), Venus will enter the cosmic domain of the Bull: Feel growth’s power. Taurus is one of Venus’s star-homes (the other is Libra), a zodiacal sign in which she works easily, happily following the zodiacal river whither it goes. We associate with Venus a superlative sense for balance and beauty: shared qualities of Taurus as well as Libra. It could be said that in Libra’s domain, beauty and balance are most likely to find expression in the social realm—whereas, in that of the Bull, we look instead to the natural world and to the arts.
The Moon (16° Virgo) will reach its First Quarter on Wednesday, while the Sun (ninety degrees ahead) finds 16° Gemini. Today, the Sun and Moon unite the cosmic memories of the conception of the Solomon Jesus (Sun) and the conception of John the Baptist (Moon). Both luminaries thus shine from within the sacred ground of the central decans of the four mutable signs. (Zodiacal signs in the same modal group—cardinal, fixed, mutable—are always arrayed like the points of the compass, ninety degrees apart.) Everything is recorded in the stars!
By way of the hermetic rule, which establishes astrological connections between the birth and conception charts, Robert Powell has determined that the Sun shone from the center of the four mutable zodiacal signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces) at the conceptions and births of the Blessed Virgin, of both Jesus children, and of John the Baptist. We can go a step further and place the Sun at these events within the central five degrees of these decans! Indeed, the correspondences found within the cosmic cross of the holy family expresses their entwined destinies.
On Friday, Venus (5° Taurus) conjoins Uranus. This is an aspect that returns us to the raising of Lazarus from the dead—for these planets were side by side in Leo at the moment of this miracle. (Uranus was in Leo throughout the ministry of Jesus.) Perhaps it would be reasonable to imagine that this conjunction is a cosmic expression of an awakening—which, in the case of Lazarus, returned him to life. Tomberg wrote that Lazarus, through his ‘death’, participated in the most essential aspect of Christ’s work (i.e., his death and resurrection).
This participation in the work of the way of Jesus Christ went well beyond mere believing acceptance and understanding; it went so far that he would himself actually undergo the . . . experience of death, entombment, and resurrection that Jesus Christ would later undergo. . . . [From his own experience, Lazarus] was in a position to comprehend the mystery of the way, the truth, and the life revealed through Jesus Christ. In order that the mystery of Christianity could be comprehended . . . , humankind was gifted—in the person of Lazarus—with a “receptive organ” for this mystery. [Lazarus: The Miracle of Resurrection in World History, p. 121]
Venus at this degree bears the memory of the birth of Mary of Nazareth, daughter of Joachim and Anna. Anne Catherine spoke of the miracle of her conception:
[Under Jerusalem’s Golden Gate, Joachim] was met by Anna, radiant with joy. They embraced one another with holy joy. . . . They were in a state of ecstasy and enveloped in a cloud of light. I saw this light issuing from a great host of angels. . . . I understood that, as a result of the grace here given, the conception of Mary was as pure as all conceptions would have been but for the Fall. I had at the same time an indescribable vision. The heavens opened above them, and I saw the joy of the Holy Trinity and of the angels, and their participation in the mysterious blessing bestowed on Mary’s parents. [Chronicle of the Living Christ, p. 117]
Born with five planets in Leo, the Nathan Mary became the counter-movement to the world of the serpent—for, through her, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us as the Lion of Judah.
Many blessings on your week.
~ Julie H.
Image: Giotto, 1304–06