Perfection

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite."

- William Blake

Total Lunar Eclipse of December 21, 2010

Elegance defined.

Photos

Solstice Moon

Solstice Moon

A great moment of truth approaches.

Over the next seven days, our Sun aligns with the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. On Monday night, just hours before the Solstice, the Earth's shadow will cross the face of the Full Moon, collapsing time in a dimensional portal of infinite possibility.

Welcome to this year's Solstice. Standstill. Night of creation, ancient home.

The total eclipse of the Moon will be visible throughout the Americas. The effects will radiate beyond time and space to all sentient life, everywhere, carrying our hopes and prayers into the next millennium.

The alignment of the eclipse with the galactic core is a rare cosmic phenomenon and not a coincidence. It's connected with 2012 and the Mayan calendar, the cycles of Venus, the Earth and the Moon. This opening in the heavens signals a time of great change on Earth, of purification and enlightenment.

Deep, unmasked truth lies at the heart of this eclipse. Whatever darkness remains within our own hearts will be revealed. Within the interplay of shadow and light, secrets from the individual and collective unconscious are exposed in tones of raw emotion. Suffering is transformed by the caress of perfect love.

This is likely to be an uncomfortable passage through the heart of darkness and into the ultimate bliss of self-realization, the galactic consciousness that awaits our embrace.


The Serpent

Right now the Sun is transiting a part of the sky that connects us with the Great Beyond via Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer.

The medicine of this great healer is truth, a potent elixir that heals the wounds of many lifetimes and helps us find our way home to love. The serpent initiates our becoming.

Each year, the Sun aligns with this region of the heavens, and divine cosmic frequencies stream to Earth on the galactic cross. This is the alignment that religions and spiritual traditions around the world celebrate as the return of spiritual light to Earth.

As 2012 approaches and the Mayan calendar comes to a close, the feathered serpent symbolizes our ascended state as fully realized, galactic humans.

Out of darkness we are reborn.


The Eclipses

A most auspicious event happens this year as the lunar and solar cycles dovetail in a special eclipse series that coincides poetically with the dawning of the next world age.

These eclipses echo the Grand Cardinal Cross eclipse series earlier this year and yet another series a year ago. This entire period marks a turning point for humanity and the Earth.

Eclipses happen in six-month and 19-year cycles. Issues that surfaced over the summer months will be back, with higher stakes this time. Themes will also relate to 1991 when eclipses previously happened in the same place in the sky.

Both individually and collectively, we're ending and beginning important cycles along these timings, within the context of the great cycle shift known as the Turning of the Ages.

The December 20/21 event is the first total lunar eclipse in three years. There will be two more in 2011.

In the Americas, where the eclipse is visible, it happens overnight December 20-21. Here's the timing:

Partial eclipse begins 1:33 AM Eastern December 21
Total eclipse begins 2:41 AM Eastern December 21
Mid-eclipse 3:17 AM Eastern December 21
Total eclipse ends 3:53 AM Eastern December 21
Partial eclipse ends 5:01 AM Eastern December 21

As the Moon appears to darken, it will actually turn a deep shade of red. The entire event lasts three-and-a-half hours. Within that, the period of totality is 72 minutes. If you live in North, South or Central America and have a clear sky, you can watch from beginning to end.

All the phases of a 28-day lunar cycle will be condensed into three-and-a-half hours. Beyond the Moon-Sun opposition, 26,000 light years away, lies Galactic Center, the heart of the Milky Way in late Sagittarius. Gazing in this direction activates your cellular memory, awakening wisdom codes deep within your being.

The Sun enters Capricorn later that day (3:39 PM Eastern December 21), as lunar and solar energies bathe the Earth in divine love.

This is a Solstice to be remembered, a galactic initiation offered to all who are open to receive it.

The December 21 lunar eclipse is paired with a New Moon Solar Eclipse on January 4. As the Sun and Moon meet in Capricorn, the new year begins.


The Potential

The ongoing galactic alignment in December and the 2009-2011 eclipses bring to completion millennia of spiritual darkness on Earth and mark the beginning of a new era of enlightenment, peace and prosperity. Our divine hearts are awakened.

Each year, the Sun appears to rise and set in the same place for three days surrounding the Solstice before turning south (or north, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere) for the next six months. Time seems to stand still, creating an extended moment of silence designed for quiet reflection and review in preparation for the next cycle.

Timed within the Solstice gateway, the December 21 lunar eclipse expands the potential to infinity. The effects of prayer and meditation are magnified exponentially through this portal.

Energetically, humanity is poised for a quantum evolutionary leap. We're invited to step into our power as divine co-creators who will shape our destiny and craft a remarkable future for humanity and the Earth.


The Experience

Each of us needs to find our way through the maze of meaning within this rare alignment. Issues central to this experience will be:

- Addictions, the ways we numb ourselves and limit the actualization of our highest potential

- Emotional and physical healing

- Alignment with the soul, the cosmos and our deepest purpose

It might seem easier to ignore the vastness of this opportunity, yet the consequences of denial are far more devastating than facing the truth.

There are many ways to attune to the celestial frequencies to embed and direct the transformative effects of eclipses. My favorites include:

- Time in nature

- Communion with the planets and stars

- Healing work with exceptional practitioners

- Purification of body, mind (thoughts) and emotions

- Journaling

- Celebration with loved ones

- Creative activites (art, music, dance, drumming, chanting, etc.)

- Devotional practice (prayer, contemplation, meditation, drumming, chanting, etc.)

- Movement (yoga, t'ai chi, xi gong, walking, running, swimming, etc.)

- Eating foods that grow in and close to the Earth (especially root vegetables and dark, leafy greens) plus mineral supplementation

- Crafting intent

Ceremony is most potent in the hours before, during and after the eclipse alignments, and at sunrise and sunset during each day of the Solstice gateway. As the energies are building, then disseminating, our prayers expand and multiply.

I'd like to offer, for the benefit of all beings, a prayer that we might carry in our hearts through this eclipse passage.

A Solstice Prayer

Beginning now, I choose to walk in a new way on planet Earth, to attune to her as I remember cosmic truth and embody my divine purpose.

I forgive myself and others and open my heart to receive the infinite blessings of divine love flowing throughout the universe and coursing through my very veins.

As I attune to the Earth, the Moon, the planet and star beings in the heavens, I breathe with universal forces of creation. Divine Source enters me, filling the cells and spaces of my being with pure love and light. I am healed, whole, and renewed.

May I be gentle with myself and others as pain, fear and suffering are released. I bless all I encounter and embrace my fellow beings, all situations and circumstances, all thoughts, feelings and emotions, as reflections of my own divinity.

I joyfully claim my destiny as a force for positive change at this turning point in Earth's history. Together with my brothers and sisters of all colors and faiths, I will shape the future in ways that serve humanity's highest evolution and fulfill the needs of generations yet to come.

Aligned in truth, I am.

Astro Forecast & Solstice Celebration

Details about Ophiuchus, the Solstice and eclipse series, the Venus cycle, Mercury retrograde, the galactic cross and Turning of the Ages are featured in our Astro Forecast and Solstice Celebration held live via teleconference on December 7. A special group attunement meditation is also included. The audio recording is available here: http://www.starpriestess.com/events.html#forecast


Ophiuchus: 13th Sign of the Zodiac
A special initiatory journey with the Serpent Bearer is also available by mp3 download. The powerful event was held live with callers from around the world on December 8 during the Sun's transit of Ophiuchus (which continues through December 25). Enter the ancient Temple of Aesclepius and attune to your inner healer. Details: http://www.starpriestess.com/events.html#ophiuchus


Cosmic Time
Personal and planetary transformation within a cosmic context is the subject of my book, Cosmic Time. The book is potent reading during the Solstice season. Excerpts and ordering information: http://www.starpriestess.com/time.html#timebook


Solstice and the Serpent
http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/12/holy-light.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/11/tales-of-serpent.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/11/triumph.html

Eclipse Timing and Visibility
http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar-eclipse-december-21-2010.html

Mr. Eclipse
http://www.mreclipse.com/LEdata/TLE2010Dec21/TLE2010Dec21.html

NASA Eclipse Page
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2010.html#LE2010Dec21T

Eclipse Animations and More - Shadow and Substance
http://www.shadowandsubstance.com/

Copyright 2010-2011 Allison Rae/StarPriestess.com

All rights reserved

Holy Light

"Understanding is a kind of ecstasy." - Carl Sagan

This Solstice season is draped in garlands of holy, sacred light.

Today's New Moon initiates a potent lunar cycle that will culminate two weeks from now in a Total Lunar Eclipse on the December Solstice. That's just a beginning.

As they meet in Sagittarius/Ophiuchus today, the Sun and Moon align with the Great Attractor, a massive deep-space anomaly that's sucking in galaxies at an alarming rate. On December 21, the Lunar Eclipse aligns with the Galactic Equator, primordial birth canal of ancient myth.

Embedded within this sequence is the promise of the ages, true wisdom, and hope for the future. Something profound, life-and-consciousness-altering is taking shape right now in the periphery just outside our view.

Over the next 28 days:

The Sun ventures through Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, then into Capricorn.

Uranus goes direct.

Mercury turns retrograde.

A very special Full Moon eclipse coincides with the December Solstice.

We begin a new year with another eclipse.

The next five weeks are a magical, creative, healing time. The journey will be intense with lots of fluctuating energies. Expansion follows collapse. Darkness gives way to light, and vice versa, in a rhythmic yet unpredictable dance.

Throughout this time, expect the unexpected. We're bubbling with excitement one moment, diving into the abyss of the Great Unknown the next. We taste the bliss of higher truth then plunge headfirst into the depths of grief. Life will be full of contrasting experiences, in no particular order.

Within the Solstice eclipse field, time stands still. We sample the moments simultaneously, layer by layer, as the world we have known slips away. All that remains is love.

This is the ending of what has been, and the beginning of what will be, the essence of Cosmic Time. It's the wisdom encoded in the sacred architecture of the ancient world, echoed in the geometries of crop glyphs today. Divine intelligence is at play all around us, hoping we'll pay attention, especially during the holiday season.

With Jupiter conjunct Uranus in late Pisces, there's a deep mysticism in it all, a sense of coming home. As vast cycles come to an end, we breathe with universal forces of creation.

New Moons are endings and new beginnings. This cycle carries us through the Solstice season, another galactic eclipse series, and into a new year. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, many lifetimes, to consciously reshape reality in new and exciting ways.

Let's make it count.



Join Me this Week

Find out more with two teleconference events I'm hosting this week.

Join with others around the world for a special StarTalk Astro Forecast and Solstice Celebration on Tuesday, December 7. Details and registration: http://www.starpriestess.com/events.html#forecast

On Wednesday, we'll explore Ophiuchus, the mysterious 13th sign of the zodiac. Details and registration: http://www.starpriestess.com/events.html#ophiuchus

More about the transformative potential of the December planetary alignments: http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/11/tales-of-serpent.html

Personal and planetary transformation within the context of the Turning of the Ages is the subject of Cosmic Time: http://www.starpriestess.com/time.html#timebook

Copyright 2010-2011 Allison Rae/StarPriestess.com

All rights reserved

Triumph of the Spirit

In this season of thanksgiving, tonight's Full Moon marks a key passage of the solar year. The phoenix rises. Death gives way to life.

We harvest the blessings of this creation as we attune to celestial rhythms.

Venus' six-week retrograde passage culminates with the lunar alignment tonight. The Sun-Moon opposition is exact at 12:27 PM Eastern on Sunday. In Scorpio-Taurus we celebrate transcendence, the triumph of the human spirit. The soul is laid bare, bathed in waves of milky light. For a moment, we see.

Next, we go deeper into the spiral.

Venus and Jupiter

Over the past six weeks, the planet of love and abundance has traveled in reverse, transiting parts of Scorpio and Libra in her quest for truth, healing and sacred union.

Earlier this month a shamanic journey led her into the underworld where she transformed away from our view. She has re-emerged as Morning Star in the the pre-dawn sky.

Now Venus reigns in the east, awakening our hearts, minds and bodies to the tasks at hand as we are reborn more fully into our purpose and power.

The new Venus cycle in Scorpio carries us through 2012 and the end of the Mayan calendar. This is no coincidence. The ancient Maya observed Venus and synchronized their sacred timekeeping system with her cycles.

Jupiter has returned to forward motion, too. In Pisces, he continues to expand our consciousness and ideals. Uranus, the Awakener, travels with Jupiter in late Pisces, although he moves more slowly and is still retrograde.

We have about 10 days to integrate the lessons of the Venus passage, lessons around relationship and love, money, passion, our creativity and values. We've faced our fears, plumbed the depths of the psyche. We're exploring new options and making choices.


Year-End 2010

Another round of intense transformation begins November 30 when the Sun enters the mysterious 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer. Known to ancient astrologers and depicted in the Temple of Hathor at Dendera in Egypt, this mysterious sign is re-emerging as a transformational gateway in these transitional times.

In mid-December, the Sun crosses the Galactic Equator near the Solstice. Within deepest night, light returns to Earth. This galactic alignment is punctuated by a potent eclipse series beginning with a Total Lunar Eclipse on December 21. Two weeks later, the Sun and Moon meet in Capricorn and we begin tending to the seeds we planted in 2010.

In my astrological preview published a year ago, I wrote: "In 2010, humanity arrives at a crossroads. Individually and in groups, we will initiate a sequence for the times to come, not only through our intent, but with our actions. This is a chance of a lifetime, many lifetimes, and the effects will radiate throughout the cosmos."

The pivotal year of 2010 now draws to a close. What are we harvesting?

As we gather with family and friends, I pray that we're mindful of the deeper rhythms pulsing through this holiday season, that we'll pause to commune with the galactic forces at play in our lives and our world. I pray that we open more deeply to love as we celebrate this holy season.

Namaste.



December Astro Forecast

We'll preview the astrology for the next two months during my StarTalk Astro Forecast Teleconference on December 7. Highlights include the Sun's transit of Ophiuchus, the Solstice Galactic Alignment and the December-January eclipse series. Details and registration: http://www.starpriestess.com/events.html#forecast


Ophiuchus: The Serpent Bearer

Enter the ancient healing temple as we gather for a special initiation during the Sun's transit of Ophiuchus. Details and registration: http://www.starpriestess.com/events.html#ophiuchus

Venus and the Underworld

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/into-spiral.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/spinning.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/turning-of-wheel.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/11/love-reigns.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/11/awakening.html


My Journey with Venus

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235245&id=631748611&l=f91cf61fe7

Awakening

Silently, Venus stirs me from sleep.
Hanging as a jewel above the crimson-orange horizon she beckons, guiding her initiates to this day, a new beginning, deeper love.

Venus' shamanic journey has come to an end. She metamorphosed as she met with the Sun away from our view, returning to the sky in early November as Morning Star. Like Venus, we are reborn.

During her retrograde transit the past six weeks, evolutionary forces took aim at relationships, values, creativity and finances. How have these shifted for you during this time?

Traveling with her since early October I am wiser, more aware, conscious of my flaws and fears, and eternally grateful for the simple gifts of abundance that fill my life. Family. Friends. The natural world. Infinite love.

Venus returns to direct motion today. She begins a 584-day cycle in Scorpio, her playtime in Aries complete. Now we learn the ins and outs of personal power through the 2012 gateway.

Jupiter also stations direct today. In Pisces and conjunct Uranus, the Awakener, Jupiter invites us to reach new depths, and heights, of consciousness.

The celestial passage culminates in the Full Moon this weekend. In the last degree of Scorpio-Taurus, the Sun-Moon opposition illuminates the wisdom of the soul. Reach in. Dive deep. Seek the treasures of enlightenment.


Venus in the Underworld

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/into-spiral.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/spinning.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/turning-of-wheel.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/11/love-reigns.html


Fall Travels

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235245&id=631748611&l=f91cf61fe7

Love Reigns

She's back.

Fresh from her underworld journey, Venus returns to the sky today as Morning Star. She reigns in the east, bathing us in love.

From the dark sky of the New Moon, she rises, transformed.

We emerge in a new beginning, too, with Venus, the Sun, Moon and Mercury as our guides. In Scorpio, they invite us to dive deep, face our fears and re-emerge as creator beings fully empowered to shape our lives and our world in exciting new ways.

As Goddess, Quetzalcoatl, the Queen and Empress in the Tarot, Venus embodies love, abundance, creation, courage, the warrior spirit.

Her journey is our journey. Her radiance, our own.

Reign in peace.


Venus' Journey

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/turning-of-wheel.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/spinning.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/into-spiral.html

Turning of the Wheel

The night kissed the fading day

With a whisper:

"I am death, your mother,

From me you will get new birth."

Rabindranth Tagore

In this season of death and rebirth, transformational energies reach a peak next week with the Samhain-New Moon gateway. Venus' heliacal rise on November 5 amplifies the mystical, healing qualities of this shamanic passage.

Enter the void, the depths of the soul. Prepare for rebirth.

We're dancing with the shadow during Venus' shamanic journey of the Underworld this Halloween season. The Samhain fire burns away pain, suffering and outdated beliefs as Venus continues her retrograde transit, away from our view. She'll reappear next week as the morning star in the east and initiate a new eight-year cycle in Scorpio.

Every year I count the days to Halloween, a celebration rooted in the cross-quarter sabbat called Samhain. What a powerful time it is, our connection with the netherworlds strengthened, our night vision more acute, extrasensory perceptions finely tuned.

With the Sun in Scorpio, Samhain (pronounced 'sow-in' or 'sow-een') skims the boundaries between the living and the dead. This is a special time when we honor the Ancestors and loved ones who have crossed into spirit. We're especially attuned to their guidance, love and wisdom through this portal.

Samhain Season

The seasons are turning, toward winter in the northern hemisphere, toward summer in the south. Fall is a time of harvest and gratitude. We prepare for winter and turn inward as the nights grow longer. The sabbats honor the turning of the wheel within the solar year, marking the mid-points between the equinoxes and solstices.

Samhain begins with Halloween on October 31 and continues through "true" Samhain on November 7 when the Sun reaches 15 degrees Scorpio. All Saint's Day is November 1 and Dia de las Muertas (All Soul's Day) is November 2. The alignments create a bubbling cauldron of possibilities fueled by Scorpio's promise of transcendence. Prepare for the cycle of death and rebirth embedded within this change of seasons.

The energies are especially potent on November 5-6 with a stellium of planets in Scorpio at the New Moon. From the darkness of this creation womb Venus will rise on November 5 as the phoenix, recreating herself as morning star. The old dies to make way for the new. Ignite a path of personal power with the New Moon and Venus.

Light a candle and invite the Ancestors and departed loved ones to your circle of prayer, healing and manifestation. Be clear with your intent and notice messages from beyond the veil. Mercury's transit in late Scorpio facilitates otherworldly communication.

Commune with the Earth herself, the animal and plant kingdoms. Open to receive their medicine and the visceral sensations of this creation.

Tune in, ritualize and create during this sacred, soulful passage.

Halloween Treat!

Astro-Tarot Readings during Samhain

I only offer these special readings once a year. Details:

http://www.StarPriestess.com/services.html#samhain

Venus' Journey of the Underworld

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/spinning.html

http://starpriestess.blogspot.com/2010/10/into-spiral.html

The Sabbats

http://www.starcraftswest.com/timing-of-sabbats