March New Moon
The March New moon occurs in the sidereal zodiacal constellation of Aquarius in the lunar nakshatra of Purva Bhadrapada. AEST 13/3 2121 MST 13/3 0321 GMT 13/3 0521.
The New Moon enters its amavasya phase following the Mahashivaratri celebration on the dark moon night of the Chaturdashi tithi, the evening prior, when a crescent moon is visible in the night sky.
The heavens remain dominated by Saturn’s influence, who rules the first and twelfth houses of the Lunar chart. The point of greatest light in the horoscope. Indeed Purva Bhadrapada’s presence here as the Moon's light enters into spring or autumn is a profound reminder of the mysteries of transformation, and transcendence of the natural world.
Purvabhadrapada’s symbol is a funeral cot represents the purification of fire. The deity Ajaikapada, is described in the Vedas as “the unborn one” or “the one footed one” is a form of Rudra, the storm god associated with Shiva. On the dark moon we celebrate on the night of Mahashivaratri the dance of Shiva, in the form of Nataraj who stands on one leg surrounded by fire in an ecstatic dance of creation and destruction. Nataraj is the archetype of anyone in radical change in their life. Shiva teaches us to embrace life with joy and a sense of wonder. We surrender through practice and the mysteries of suffering and the grace is given to us.
The Coronan virus is a form of unborn agni, an atmospheric storm, like lightning, striking the earth suddenly and burning down the house. Its time to stop saying are we there yet? Is there more to come? When will life go back to normal? We are always at the intersection of the timeless with time, past and the future, with birth and death. The journey of suffering that we have all felt the past months, seeks a deeper surrender to express our embodied light as our gift to the world.
There is a striking contrast between this intense Vedic star striving for fullness through the vale of suffering and the stellium of planets, Mercury, Venus, Moon and Sun all gathering together in the communal sign of Aquarius, soon to break out under a partial Kala Sarpa Yoga.
As the dark night turns towards the dawn, Lord Shiva dances a storm of light, our very existence into being.
Om Shiva namah
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
“Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.”
Naomi Shihab Nye (edited)