Daykeeper Journal: October Moon Report

NEW WEBSITE FEATURE

by Maya del Mar

FRIDAY OCT. 20, LAST QUARTER MOON IN CANCER, Sausalito, California. With this final quarter we finish the Libra Moon cycle, which is all about balance. Cancer challenges us to find a balance between our relationships and our personal security needs.

At Last Quarter we let go of something we no longer need, either by choice or circumstance. For me, circumstance pushes me to relinquish old habits which are part of my security base.

I returned from Capetown this week with an enormous need to rebalance. For example, I found myself startled because it’s fall here, not spring, and because cars are driving down the right side of the road instead of the left!

I had expected that resuming my old busy habits would quickly ground me here.

But instead, at this Quarter Moon, I suddenly came down with a debilitating cold. I have indeed had to let go of the security of taking care of my life at home.

The last quarter of the Moon’s cycle is, in fact, always a week of reorientation. We are retaining what has been of benefit in this cycle, letting go of the dross, and developing visions of our next cycle.

I can see that this process of reorienting myself from Capetown to Sausalito is a huge challenge, involving many levels of living. This illness—imbalance—is a physical manifestation of that shift.

My challenge is to let things go, and simply let it happen.

Remember that a major event for me of the Virgo moon cycle was visiting the garden at Perelandra and becoming acquainted with Machaelle Wright’s essences? I have been using them ever since, and they have been enormously helpful, along with the MAP healing, in this current rebalancing process. I seem to be moving through this cold very rapidly.

The essences which have tested positive for me to use are very different from those I used before I left, and they are an amazing description of the state of my being.

For example, I was given one essence to take with me on my trip: Soul Essence No. 7, which "balances/stabilizes the refracted soul heart links and, as a result, solidifies the sense of home base."

Now I am directed to use two nature essences, one which balances virus within itself, and the other which balances virus with the body.

I’m also given Soul Essence No. 8, which "provides the support needed for understanding who one is and one’s relationship to the many different levels and activities participated in. Provides the internal support for maintaining that balance."

And I was pleased to take one rose essence: Royal Highness, which provides "final stabilization. The mop-up essence which helps to insulate, protect and stabilizes the individual and to stabilize the shift during its final stages while vulnerable."

And I do feel vulnerable!

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been featured during this Libra moon cycle. Talk about imbalance! The Palestinian frustration with its underdog status has erupted again, perhaps with a special despair this time as they have seen Israeli movement continue with "resettlement" and move away from a fair peace process.

Now, at Last Quarter, the UN has condemned Israeli violence of Sept. 28 (New Moon) The UN Human Rights Commission is asking for an investigation of that violence, but Israel has refused to cooperate.

Our next Moon cycle is in Scorpio. Regeneration through the merging of resources is possible. So is resistance, and a willingness to fight to the death.

This is the week when we surrender to a new, barely-formed vision. What will that vision be? With Mercury now retrograde, it is apt to be more idiosyncratic than communal. And with Mercury in Scorpio, it will relate to life and death issues.

FRIDAY OCT. 13, FULL MOON IN ARIES, Capetown, South Africa. From way back in Sausalito I had looked forward to this day. Yvonne had set up a luncheon meeting for us with Stuart and Audrey Gedrim, leaders of Kanyisa Sacred Site Tours in Africa.

From the very beginning it was auspicious. We drove through the gates of the luxurious Radisson Hotel, set like a huge white Mediterranean villa beside the sea. A modern, glass-walled elevator took us from the garage up to the main floor, and we stepped out into a spacious lobby with beautifully carpeted marble floors leading us right through to a red-tiled patio overlooking the blue sea. We walked past a gorgeous buffet, and well-set tables dotting the glass-walled dining room and under umbrellas on the patio.

Yvonne and I breathed in the fragrant sea air, and she oriented me for the thousandth time as we looked out at Table Bay. As we turned to walk inside, we met Stuart and Audrey, a warm, down-to-earth couple who exude spiritual health and strong nature connections.

Their mission is not only to "unite your sacredness with Mother Earth in South Africa," but to set up conditions in which people can be aware of their own destinies and develop the courage to pursue them.

Stuart has done this. He was once a corporation person, but he followed his guidance into developing tours which combined his three passions—golf, travel, and nature. Over time the golf dissolved, the sacred connections grew, and now he explores sacred sites. He is advised and mentored by spiritual leaders in Africa, of whom the outstanding one is Credo Mutwa, a Zulu spiritual leader and high wisdom keeper.

Audrey is an intuitive who has lived many years in Holland. She picks up energy readily, and functions as a bridge for tour members who are opening their own energy centers. Audrey is at home in the water, and especially loves swimming with the dolphins, which is a part of some of the tours.

Stuart and Audrey are delightful, stimulating people, and Yvonne and I enormously enjoyed our time with them. It felt like the four of us have worked together before, and we ended our long lunch with a powerful meditation around the table for peace in Israel-Palestine.

This meeting felt fated, one of those landmark life-changing events. I felt our energy vortex radiate round the globe.

"Coincidentally," I have just gotten well into a remarkable book which Susan recommended to me: Spiritwalker by Hank Wesselman. It is a sensitive scientist’s true story of being catapulted into the future, a story which opened his mind and expands ours. So far the locales have been Hawaii and the California Coast, and in my morning’s reading today, South Africa was added to the mix of magic and mystery!

Indeed, the universe moves in mysterious ways. I feel that today was for me a leap into the mysteries of Africa, which I’ve been getting primed for the last 10 days.

Table Mountain, always looming above us, is the main power center of South Africa. It is on a grid connected with Giza and, we believe, Iceland. Early tomorrow morning Yvonne and I will take the funicular railroad up there and hike and meditate on its flat top. It is surely one of the major power centers of the world, and is a transmitter for the cleansing now occurring in Africa.

Yesterday we took a ferry to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. Many people believe that world healing will start here and, in fact, groups are beginning to converge on the island to cleanse the darkness there. It has been a site for society’s rejects for more than 300 years, almost since the beginning of Capetown. However, nature’s power persists there, and we saw eland, springbok, bontebok, rabbits, ibises, and many many bird species. Yvonne and I sat and watched the fascinating penguins on the beach while others toured the prison. There we were treated to seeing a bunch of the rescued penguins being released and marching happily off down to the sea! Of the 50,000 penguins damaged by the big oil spill in June, 95% have been rehabilitated! This is a great omen of the healing possibilities of South Africa.

So, for me this Full Moon means connecting with another level of the enormous power of South Africa. We are on a Libra Moon cycle, and relationships and balance are the keys. However, at this Aries Full Moon I am getting a brighter glimmer of my own place in this mysterious continent and this mysterious universe.

The Sabian Symbol for this Moon is THE GATE TO THE GARDEN OF ALL FULFILLED DESIRES. If our desire is to live in harmony with the earth and with one another, this land may be the key. It is the cradle of humankind, and its wisdom is very ancient. At the same time, the people here have agreed to embark on a remarkable experiment in working to overturn old prejudices, and live and work together. I find my heart and soul very deeply touched by the hugeness of the energy I feel here.

This is a Full Moon potent with possibilities for conflict, and the Israelis and Palestinians have been seduced by the Warrior Moon in Aries. South Africa has a large Muslim population, and the conflict has spread to the streets here, with Muslims protesting the Israeli killings. Protests have been generally peaceful, but one incident of conflict between demonstrators and police has captured center stage in the news, and some people here are worried. This is a time of great challenge to peace-makers everywhere.

Yugoslavia’s revolution, on the other hand, is on track. Just after the Full Moon, Vojislav Kostunica was sworn in as President. His supporters say they have secured an agreement to form a transitional government during the interim until the vote for a new Parliament scheduled for Dec. 24. (There is a Solar Eclipse on Dec. 25 which presages many changes.)

OCTOBER 5, FIRST QUARTER MOON IN CAPRICORN, CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA. New Moon in Libra is when we work with rebalancing, particularly through relationships. At First Quarter we make breakthroughs in the projects initiated at New Moon.

Two outstanding global examples of efforts to rebalance are the elections in Yugoslavia and the conflict over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The Yugoslav elections occurred near the New Moon. The voting overturned the Mihailovic regime by giving a majority to the opposition leader, Vajislav Kostunica. However, it wasn’t until the Quarter Moon that Mihailovic renounced his presidency, and Kostunica began to take over. A Mars-ruled Full Moon will bring a culmination of this rebalancing.

Palestine/Israeli clashes over the Temple Mount, an area considered sacred by both Jews and Moslems, began with the New Moon. By Quarter Moon the conflict had intensified and incurred a number of casualties. Jurisdiction over this area is perhaps the most difficult balancing challenge of the peace process. It was purposely left towards the end of negotiations, but has now been set in motion. Libra is about war as well as peace, competition as well as cooperation. Mirroring through the other is its tool.

At Libra New Moon I began preparing and packing for my long-awaited trip to Capetown, South Africa. I am here now, enjoying the generous hospitality of my friend Yvonne Taylor. Regular readers may remember Yvonne’s reports about spiritual happenings in South Africa.

Talk about balancing and rebalancing! And partnership! I rebalance my whole world here: I’m on the other side of the globe, where U.S. night is African day. I’m in the southern hemisphere rather than the northern, experiencing spring rather than the autumn I just left. The earth here is verdant and blossoming instead of retiring and resting.

Even the night sky is reversed. Besides new constellations, I see the old ones "upside down." I come from California, a relatively new land geologically. This land is ancient, 3-4 billion years old. The plants and animals are different here, and the species far, far more diverse. The government, that venerable institution, is black, not white. And cast in a new mold as well.

And yet, all of this is balanced by my partnership with Yvonne. Yvonne is, like me, an Aquarian. Our interests are similar—astrology, politics, world affairs, and nature. We first met at a Chiron conference in Greece in 1996—and during the exact period of this trip Chiron in the sky is squaring my Moon! We joined again at the 1998 Iceland Journey, and it is special fun now to compare notes and photos about Iceland.

Yvonne and I mirror one another in many ways, and this partnership provides a pivot point, a centering, for the many shifts in perspective that I am experiencing now. Yvonne is helping me experience the Cape and South Africa in many ways. Our days are filled with exploration. And whether on the go or at home, we have many lively talks as we toss about information, ideas, and points of view.

Yvonne Taylor and Maya at the Cape of Good Hope

Overall, I am far less parochial than I was two weeks ago. I feel more understanding and accepting of people’s different approaches and motivations. My insights about the evolution of humans and all of nature are deepened. I myself am a more balanced person.

This experience of exchanging information and ideas in a healing fashion is a fine example of the Jupiter opposition to Pluto-Chiron which prevails during these autumn—and spring!—months. Pluto and Chiron together in Sagittarius encourage an expansion of vision.

Each of you can notice where you are getting increased perspective or consciousness now.

Full Moon promises a special meeting. Stay tuned!

go directly to Crystal's Moon Meditation for October