Full Moon July 3rd @ 2:52 pm edt

When the Moon’s feminine energy  is combined with Capricorn’s discipline and drive for success, the result is a powerful, successful and disciplined female. The Greek goddess Athena immediately came to mind as a feminine archetype that knows her own worth and is not afraid to engage in the affairs of the world. Athena is known for her courage, maturity, and sense of responsibility. Born fully armed and seen carrying a shield, she is known as a warrior goddess who protects those loyal to her. Yet she does not like to fight. She prefers to use wisdom and strategy to settle conflicts and only goes to war when necessary. The city Athens is named after her, and her temple is the Parthenon which held her 40 foot tall statue. She gave the people of Athens the olive tree as a symbol of peace and prosperity. She oversees the basic necessities of life including agriculture, industry, and the arts and crafts, particularly weaving. The owl is her bird, symbol of vision and wisdom.

Certainly we can not aspire to be like the goddess Athena. But we can realize that women are just as smart, driven, strategic, wise, crafty, and protective as men. The marginalization of women is one of the great losses in our world’s history. But fortunately that is changing, and more women are stepping up to a larger and more powerful sense of themselves. We see women as world leaders, like Hillary Clinton the the U. S. and Angela Merkel in Germany. There is also the rise of powerful woman leaders in Africa, and in Afghanistan Fawzia Koofi, a mother of two girls, is running for President, in spite of threat by the Taliban. Her inspiring story can be read at CNN.com. And there are thousands of unknown women taking actions in their own communities by starting schools, businesses, and giving their time and energy to build a better world.

To Do: This Full Moon in Capricorn is a perfect time to feel the power that exists within you to be a bolder and more courageous version of yourself. The planet Pluto conjoins the Full Moon to bring an extra boost of fearlessness and tenacity. Take some time over the next few days and quiet your mind and still your heart. Use your imagination and get a picture of what you would be doing in the world if you had no fear of failure, ridicule, or risk. Imagine that you have the goddess Athena on your side and she is using her spear to forge your way and her shield to protect you. What would you do differently if you were your most powerful version of yourself? See yourself doing it, being it, acting it out. Practice in your mind the job interview for that position your thought was more than you could handle. See yourself add your name to the city council election, volunteer to build a new playground, teach gardening to the inner city children. If you could be the power, what would you look like and what would you do? The world needs all your positive actions, large and small.

Super Full Moon Saturday May 5 @ 11:35 pm edt

Katniss from The Hunger Games

The Full Moon in Scorpio is a powerful place. It combines the nurturing quality of the Moon with the fierce and unforgiving energy of Scorpio. Artemis represents the Moon as a strong female, at home in nature and confident within herself. We can see a modern interpretation of Artemis in the portrayal of Katniss, the main heroine of The Hunger Games.  Katniss has an integrated balance between yin and yang. She carries her bow and arrow and is a fierce and skilled warrior, but she kills only to protect those she loves. Her goal is not to win for personal glory, but to save her family and friends. There is even an Apollo figure in her close companion Peeta, who is engaged in what could be seen as more yin pursuits. He is a baker, a cake decorator, and when called on to protect himself, he uses his skill of camouflage and disappearance. He is an artist who is motivated by love and devotion as he finds his way through the game of life. This movie that pits violence, superficiality, and oppression against values of love, family, and sacrifice has struck a note in our national psyche. The combination of balanced masculine and feminine energies create the shift that Katniss and Peeta’s society so desperately needs. This is a modern day myth, pointing the way to our own personal and societal transformation so that we might never see the fractured world of The Hunger Games.

To Do: This entire weekend, from Friday to Monday morning, will be filled with the light of the Moon. During this weekend try to slow down. Take deep breaths, engage in your body, eat more mindfully, let others go in front of you in line, and allow yourself time where you have no agenda. Imagine that you are in a perfect place of balance; not a static rigid place that you need to defend, but a flexible, moving point of balance that rises and falls like the ebb and flow of life. When you find that place of balance within yourselves you can find a way to be a creative, musical, healer who is in touch with your inner knowledge. When you find that place of balance you are powerful, clear, and directed, taking aim with intention to bring your goals into manifestation. You might be thinking that such balance is too much to hope for. But in fact, it is the natural order of things. Day and night find their moving point of balance, Sun and Moon dance through the month as they come close and then move apart again. Life is always changing. Take this Full Moon as a time to slow down, and participate in the flow of life

Perseid Meteor Showers Thursday Aug. 12

The Perseid meteor showers peak on Thursday night, August 12th .and the morning of August 13th, showing up to 60 meteors an hour. Meteor showers as caused by debris that is shed by comets as the travel in their orbit. If we pass them in their orbit, we see that debris as it streaks into our atmosphere, burning up as it falls to the ground. Sometimes called a shooting star (if it streaks across the sky) or a falling star (if it falls to earth) they are wonderful to watch. The meteor showers are named after the constellations from which they appear to occur, in this case, the constellation Perseus. If you miss the peak, you can still see some meteors until August 22nd.

To view the meteor shower, go outside around midnight, after the Moon has set, and the constellation Perseus has risen. Perseus can be found in the northeast, and is named after that famous Greek hero who slay the Gorgon Medusa, and rescued the beautiful Andromeda, a constellation you can find very near to his. (Two recent movies featured Perseus, “Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief” which was very fun,  and “Clash of the Titans” which was horrible, in my opinion.) It is best to have a lawn chair, so you can watch the sky in the direction of Perseus, without straining your neck. Make a relaxing night of it.