Welcome to the August 2023 Cosmic Weather Forecast by Curtis Lang with Jane Sherry.
All Earthlings are experiencing a shock and awe moment as we traverse the dog days of this long hot summer. Here in Winston, we're back to smoky air from hundreds of out of control Canadian wildfires, and we are bracing for the impact of the Southwest US heat dome which is traveling East from Texas and will reach us in a day or two.
Image of the current day's average temperature
by the NOAA/NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS).
Courtesy of Climate Reanalyzer.com
The jet stream has been totally destabilized and four enormous, persistent heat domes circle the Northern Hemisphere, precipitating unprecedented heatwaves on land and at sea, droughts, uncontrollable wildfires and widespread smoke pollution, along with catastrophic flooding around the world.
I'm sure we've all seen the news and there's no need to go into details here. If you're surprised by the ferocity of summer 2023, you're not alone. Climate scientists are getting scared, and finally starting to admit that their climate change forecasts were painting far too rosy a picture of our future on planet Earth.
“I am very concerned," Professor Bob Watson, former chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told The Guardian." The IPCC is the group responsible for creating complex climate models used by governments and corporations around the world to generate climate forecasts used to craft international climate change agreements.
"None of the observed changes so far (with a 1.2C temperature rise) are surprising," Watson explains. "But they are more severe than we predicted 20 years ago, and more severe than the predictions of five years ago. We probably underestimated the consequences.”
Watson now says the world is probably on track for 3º C warming, a level that only a couple of years ago would have been derided as doomerism and scare mongering. The fact is that we are now exceeding tipping points that could destabilize Earth systems in ways that current scientific models simply cannot account for.
“Could anthropogenic climate change result in worldwide societal collapse or even eventual human extinction? At present, this is a dangerously underexplored topic … yet there are ample reasons to suspect that climate change could result in a global catastrophe,” wrote the eminent Australian climate scientist Will Steffen and his colleagues in August 2022 in “Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios.”
Steffen and his colleagues explored the notion that current models do not account for self-reinforcing climate feedback loops that “could prevent stabilization of the climate at intermediate temperature rises and cause continued warming on a ‘Hothouse Earth’ pathway even as human emissions are reduced. ”The interaction of these global climate tipping points could result in a rapid intensification of global warming, a phenomenon the scientists called the Hothouse Earth Scenario.
Pathways of the Earth System During the transition
from the Holocene to the Anthropocene
"Currently, the Earth System is on a Hothouse Earth pathway driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases and biosphere degradation toward a planetary threshold at ∼2 °C, beyond which the system follows an essentially irreversible pathway driven by intrinsic biogeophysical feedbacks," Will Steffen and his co-authors write in their scientific paper entitled Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene, published in August 2018 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It's worth noting that in the five years since this paper was published, greenhouse gas emissions have increased dramatically, extreme weather events have multiplied around the world, and there is visible pressure on key tipping points in global climate systems, including polar sea ice, arboreal forests, Amazonian rain forests, ocean currents, and more.
Image by Banksy
It is now a given that we are set to exceed ∼2 °C, and we now are at risk of triggering the Hothouse Earth Scenario -- not in 100 years, but in a couple of decades.
"If the world’s societies want to avoid crossing a potential threshold that locks the Earth System into the Hothouse Earth pathway, then it is critical that they make deliberate decisions to avoid this risk and maintain the Earth System in Holocene-like conditions," Steffen and his co-authors argue.
The alternative pathway, entitled Stabilized Earth "would require deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, protection and enhancement of biosphere carbon sinks, efforts to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, possibly solar radiation management, and adaptation to unavoidable impacts of the warming already occurring," explain Steffen et. al.
In layman's terms that means we cannot continue to plan for accelerated economic growth to pay for many trillions of dollars per year to transition to an electric future. We need to plan for degrowth, which means downsizing the lifestyles of those livin' large everywhere in the world.
Hvar, Croatia Yacht Basin, Photo by Geio Tischler on Unsplash
We need to protect crucial biosystems like forests and oceans, rather than continuing to exploit and destroy them in pursuit of a fast buck. So far, international treaties and exhortations by the United Nations have failed to protect these crucial natural resources.
There is no mechanism to hold countries accountable for their climate pledges at present, so there is no way to insure these protections can be implemented at all, much less at warp speed. And warp speed is what we need.
Even if we can protect crucial carbon sinks, these scientists warn, we will have to find ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and "manage solar radiation", reducing the amount of light and heat reaching the Earth's surface.
What is not mentioned is that the technologies required to perform those feats of climate prestidigitation do not exist today, and there is no clear path to deploying them in the next few decades.
"A critical issue is that, if a planetary threshold is crossed toward the Hothouse Earth pathway, accessing the Stabilized Earth pathway would become very difficult no matter what actions human societies might take. In other words, after the Earth System is committed to the Hothouse Earth pathway, the alternative Stabilized Earth pathway would very likely become inaccessible," conclude Steffen and his co-authors.
If the Hothouse Earth Scenario is triggered, temperatures could rise quickly well beyond the current mainstream worst case scenarios climate scientists foresee. "This cascade of events may tip the entire Earth system into a new mode of operation," says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In that event we could find ourselves suddenly on track for 4 degrees or 5 degrees of warming within a few decades.
The "carrying capacity" of a 4 C or 5 C degree world, could drop to a billion people, according to Schellnhuber. And if runaway climate warming reaches 6 degrees C, human extinction would become a relatively high probability.
"We suggest that a deep transformation based on a fundamental reorientation of human values, equity, behavior, institutions, economies, and technologies is required," say Steffen et. al. "Some signs are emerging that societies are initiating some of the necessary transformations. However, these transformations are still in initial stages, and the social/political tipping points that definitively move the current trajectory away from Hothouse Earth have not yet been crossed, while the door to the Stabilized Earth pathway may be rapidly closing."
As that door swings shut, a global competition to electrify the world's economy will surely generate new flash points in regions that supply crucial components of the new energy systems.
In the 21st century, nations supplying these key minerals will command the wealth and power oil and gas rich countries enjoy today. Soon, the global competition for these minerals will heat up, as great powers face off nose to nose in a no holds barred battle to secure these vital resources.
Chess Match, Photo by King Chess Sets on Unsplash
Consider the trillions of dollars spent on America's war machine over the last hundred years, and the millions of people in oil-rich countries who were killed, all with the ultimate goal of controlling the world's supply of fossil fuels, and using that choke hold to force other countries to pay for petroleum products in petro-dollars, cementing America's role as global hegemon. It's all part of the 4 dimensional chess game that is global balance of power politics.
When US global hegemony is on the line, American elites have shown they will stop at nothing to maintain their power and privilege. And that devotion to the status quo is as dangerous to humanity's future as global warming itself.
Obviously, a new round of resource wars could be in our future, and that dystopian future could be approaching much faster than we realize.
So where are we now?
This year we are seeing the sites of major global climate tipping points suddenly beginning to destabilize.
Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are at historic low levels, surprising climate scientists, who now predict much more rapid melting of polar ice caps than they previously imagined possible.
Aroboreal forests in Canada and Siberia are currently experiencing unprecedented fire seasons, which may extend from March to January. Smoke from these boreal forests is choking the United States and releasing unprecedented amounts of highly climate destabilizing methane greenhouse gases in the process.
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), considered a major climate tipping point, is slowly shifting its historic pattern of behavior, which could destabilize climate conditions from the Arctic southward through the entire Northern Hemisphere and further South. Scientists had thought until recently that any significant deterioration of this crucial ocean current would occur in the 22nd century. That's no longer true.
"We estimate a collapse of the AMOC to occur around mid-century under the current scenario of future emissions," climate scientists warn in a brand new article in Nature magazine.
The Jet Stream has been thoroughly destabilized and its sluggish behavior has allowed four heat domes of unprecedented heat and persistence to dominate the entire summer season around the world. These heat domes could result from a combination of factors, including this year's El Nino weather pattern and climate change. The pattern may be an anomaly or it may be the beginning of a new normal for summers on planet Earth. We'll find out in the next few years.
Since 2021, the Amazon rain forest in Brazil has been emitting more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, turning the largest carbon sink in our world into a source of more climate change fueling carbon emissions.
If this summer's extreme weather events do represent some kind of new normal, and there are, for example, five more summers like this in the next ten years, it's obvious to the layman that Spain, Southern Italy, Northern Africa, and much of the Middle East will be well on the way to desertification.
Food production is already taking a nosedive. No surprise there.
"Cereal production in southern Europe is expected to fall by up to 60% on last year in the wake of the Charon heatwave currently gripping the continent," reports UK food industry website The Grocer.
Not only the Mediterranean Basin, but huge swathes of China and India and Southeast Asia will also experience major disruptions to food production."From China to the U.S. to the European Union, rice production is falling and driving up prices for more than 3.5 billion people across the globe, particularly in Asia-Pacific – which consumes 90% of the world’s rice," CNBC reports. "The global rice market is set to log its largest shortfall in two decades in 2023, according to Fitch Solutions."
At this point, we have to wonder if we may be in the early stages of runaway climate change. We could leave the Stable Earth climate trajectory behind in our rear view mirrors within a decade or two, and we are obviously in grave danger of locking in the terrifying Hothouse Earth climate scenario.
It's long past time to unplug the perpetual motion hydrocarbon fueled economic growth machine, but our political leaders will never act against the interests of the world's transnational corporations and financial institutions, whose support keeps them in power.
The Biden administration favors subsidies for "green" energy producers, which can include some fossil fuel production, and for electric car manufacturers. Their plan is to maintain America's dependence on automobiles, freeways, and suburban sprawl rather than to invest in vastly more efficient mass transit systems such as are found in First World countries in Europe, and in China. Plus Democrats need to spend several trillion dollars to build a new national electric grid to make the transition to an all electric economy viable, and there is no budget for that at all.
Republicans, on the other hand, are preparing to implement Project 2025 if they recapture the White House and a resurrected Donald Trump reigns supreme. Hundreds of conservative organizations have united with the legendary Heritage Foundation to produce a battle plan to totally eviscerate any and all environmental protections in America ASAP.
Donald Trump, courtesy of Library of Congress and Unsplash
Project 2025 "proposes a sweeping deconstruction of government programs that goes far beyond what former President Donald Trump attempted to do by targeting deep state employees in federal agencies. And it’s designed to be implemented on the first day of a Republican presidency," according to Politico's E&E News.
Project 2025 "would block the expansion of the electrical grid for wind and solar energy; slash funding for the EPA environmental justice office; shutter the Energy Department’s renewable energy offices; prevent states from adopting California’s electric car standards; and give Republican state officials more power to regulate polluting industries," says E&E NEWS.
So if you're looking to either of America's two political parties to take a global leadership role in some way during the current existential crisis brought to you by our hydrocarbon based civilization, my advice is don't hold your breath. But you can bet that no matter who's President, American troops will be protecting those rare minerals in Africa, Indonesia, and throughout the Global South, wherever US diplomats can get access to put more boots on the ground.
Things are no better on the global political scene. We've watched scientists raise the alarm about climate change for about fifty years, while nations around the world formulated a series of utterly ineffectual collective agreements to reduce hydrocarbon emissions and slow the pace of climate change.
And we've seen over the last few years that the scientific consensus on climate change reflects an inbred conservatism among scientists, who are reluctant to extrapolate from their mathematical models, and who trust those models although they represent basically linear extensions of maybe a dozen chosen variables symbolizing current conditions and trends.
In other words, climate change models are inherently simplistic. They are reductionist because they can only calculate results based on a very limited dataset with very few variables. They do not include calculation of when tipping points are reached, nor do they account for the complex interaction of many variables that may suddenly throw results off by introducing exponential rates of change into a system based on linear changes.
As humanity continues to stress the sacred seasonal wheel of life with an increasingly unsustainable burden of pollution in air, land and water, all of us with heightened sensitivity can feel Earth systems straining to maintain a dynamic climate equilibrium that can sustain life on the planet. It's a buzz in the brain, a tug in the heart, a quiet long, slow inhalation that speaks of fear and loathing.
Our hydrocarbon fueled global civilization is slowly breaking that sacred wheel. The wheel is, in a certain sense, speeding up year after year, as the rate of increase in carbon dioxide soars upward exponentially, and the rate of climate change accelerates in tandem.
We have seen seasons migrate in time over the last couple of decades. Spring can start earlier, summers last longer, autumn may be hot with storms that scatter turning leaves before they reach their mature, blazing coloration.
Winters? It's really become a crap shoot. But in the Northeast, these days, you won't get a couple of feet of snow on the ground all winter to blanket the earth, kill the bugs, and revivify the soil. Instead it's freeze, snow, thaw, rain, flood the basement, rinse and repeat.
I have a strong feeling this year that climate change is accelerating much faster than anyone had expected. When climate scientists explored the Hothouse Earth scenario in 2018, I thought, well, there could be a turning point, an inflection point, a choice point for humanity coming soon, maybe around 2050, maybe 2075. Now I think we could be locked in to the Hothouse Earth scenario in a decade. The wheel is spinning faster and faster.
It's dizzying, frankly, and heart wrenching. Those climate scientists are right about one thing for sure though, when they said, "A deep transformation based on a fundamental reorientation of human values, equity, behavior, institutions, economies, and technologies is required."
We are beings of Light, we are stardust, we are one with the animus mundi, the Spirit of the Earth, and we affirm that we are the midwives of a new planetary consciousness.
Jane and I affirm that you all do now receive the grace and guidance you require to seize golden opportunities to be of service to struggling humanity during this time of global emergency.
Together, we send love and light to the collective consciousness of humanity, to elevate human consciousness and transform our way of living in the world before too much more damage is done. Now our minds are one.
Aquarius Full Blue Super Moon, Leo Solar Festival Cosmic Weather Forecast
The wheel of yearly transformation has come round to the Leo interval of the seasonal cycle, which brings us heightened inner heat, fiery personal relations, peak summer plant growth, intensified sexual tensions, and electrifying moments of sudden release in every aspect of our lives. Life force energy is at its peak in plants, animals and humans, while dramatic thunderstorms mirror the inner elemental landscape of all sentient beings.
Ancient Romans called July-August, the season of the Sirius-Sun conjunction, when the Sun is in Cancer and then Leo, the diēs caniculārēs, or “dog days” of summer. The combined energy of the conjunction of the two brightest stars in our sky was thought to create sweltering heat so intense it could drive dogs to madness. It is true that this period is often the hottest part of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and today we associate this period with intense heat and humidity.
At this time of year, we can sense the urgency in the air. Life calls to life and we recognize our kinship with other Earthly life forms working to capture the maximum amount of energy we can all gather from proliferating plant life at the zenith of its yearly life cycle.
We hear the buzz around us as pollinators pregnant with pollen rush to and fro. Birds call to one another across the garden, perch on fences and in the muscadine grape arbor, and hunt for worms, grubs and other insects in the rows between our vegetables and herbs.
The cycle of plant growth is accelerating, and in North Carolina it is full on harvest time. Each day is a new challenge, and each day there is grand new growth to surprise us and keep us fully engaged in the dance of life.
Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on Zinnia with Basil, Bethabara Park, Winston Salem, NC
Photo by Curtis Lang
In the garden during the Leo interval of the yearly seasonal cycle, we feel the same sense of connection to Universal Life and the vastness of the Cosmos that we achieve through meditation during the winter interval of the year, when initiates connect to the stars moving inexorably through the immensity of interstellar space, to the Christ Consciousness, and to the infinity of mirrors constituting Indra's Net. Those stars, that energy, and the element of Akasha, or Space are the womb and source of all life.
No matter what the weather brings, working in the garden, we bend down and focus on what's happening right at our feet, but somehow we feel connected to cosmic forces, sensing the outpouring of Universal Life Force energy that impels hordes of deer, foxes, bees, butterflies, moths, caterpillars, worms, ants and beetles to feast upon the ripening fruits, vegetables and flowers.
This is the same energy that pours out from the Sun and the distant stars as electromagnetic radiation, now alchemically transformed by Earth's plant life into cellulose, oxygen and an array of mineral rich organic compounds essential to the lives of oxygen breathing sentient beings.
Sensing this Cosmic connection, we also connect with our ancestors across the globe, who venerated the Dog Star, Sirius, at this time of the year. Sirius is a binary star in the constellation Canis Major, easily visible in the Southwest night sky.
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, 25 times more luminous than Sol. Seen through a telescope Sirius radiates blue, green, pink, and white light. No wonder the Dog Star has fascinated astronomers around the world for thousands of years.
Canis Major in Southwest Quadrant of Night Sky,
screenshot of SkyGuide software
Sirius conjuncts the sun from approximately July 3 through August 11, when the Dog Star rises at dawn. For the ancient Egyptians, this event, the heliacal rising of Sirius, coincided with the Nile river's flood season, a crucial moment in the agricultural cycle when additional valuable fertile black river bottom soil was deposited on the flooded fields, creating the conditions for a successful planting season to come. For this reason, the Egyptians called Sirius the Star of Isis, who was venerated as the goddess of fertility.
Echoes of that ancient Egyptian mythology can be found in the wisdom teachings of Western students of the Kabbalah, in Theosophical literature and among current New Age practitioners who view Sirius as the spiritual Sun that vivifies the entire night sky, enabling spiritual initiations on planet Earth by transmitting its uniquely powerful energy signature across 8.611 light years of interstellar space to Earthly adepts.
Winged Goddess Isis
Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain
According to the mother of Theosophy, Helena Blavatsky, Sirius was said to be Isis in the heavens and was called Isis-Sothis, for Isis was said to be in the constellation of the dog, as is declared on her monuments, and Sothis is the Greek name for Sirius.
Sirius is associated with Tarot Trump XVII, The Star. “The seventeenth numbered major trump is called Les Étoiles, (French for The Star), and portrays a young girl kneeling with one foot in water and the other on land. . .," recounts occultist and author Manly P. Hall in his book The Secret Teachings of All Ages. "She has two urns, the contents of which she pours upon the land and sea. Above the girl’s head are eight stars, one of which is exceptionally large and bright.
"Count de Gébelin considers the great star to be Sothis or Sirius; the other seven are the sacred planets of the ancients. He believes the female figure to be Isis in the act of causing the inundations of the Nile which accompanied the rising of the Dog Star. The unclothed figure of Isis may well signify that Nature does not receive her garment of verdure until the rising of the Nile waters releases the germinal life of plants and flowers.”
The Thoth Tarot Deck, a more recent deck than the Rider-Waite deck, uses a seven-pointed star to represent the Star Goddess Isis, and the symbolism of the Thoth deck emphasizes the Cosmic implications of the Sirius-Isis mythological complex, rather than the traditional references to the Egyptian mystery school tradition and the flooding of the Nile river.
Tarot Trump XVII, The Star, Thoth Tarot Deck
In the Thoth Tarot deck, the seventeenth Trump, called The Star, reveals Isis, the Virgin Goddess, pouring forth her cosmic waters from the transcendent realm into the material Universe, where they manifest as the energy called Shakti, materializing as the Milky Way, the array of stars that illuminate and enliven the entirety of the natural realm. Crystals dominate the near foreground by her feet. The luminous liquid poured forth upon the ground from her cup has crystallized into Platonic versions of the hexagonal natural quartz crystal wands we all know and love.
This symbolism resonates with the ancient idea that the Dog Star, Sirius, associated with Isis, is our Spiritual Sun, which infuses the entirety of interstellar space with subtle energy and energizes spiritual initiations on planet Earth.
The nature of the Virgin Goddess Isis is Total Unconditional Love, unconstrained by factors of time and space. The spiraling forms of liquid light being poured forth from her cups represent the Universal Life Force Energy which creates, nourishes and sustains all the forms of Nature we perceive in this Multi Dimensional Universe. The Virgin Goddess transfers that energy from the transcendent Source of all Creation into all forms that manifest in this material universe, and also returns that energy to Source when material manifestation of a particular, given form reaches an end-state.
Heptagon, Simple Approximate Construction
Petrus3743, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The seven pointed star, the Star of Isis, which derives from the heptagon, has a unique energy signature, which is related to the principles of sacred geometry.
The number seven is associated with the transcendent Virgin Goddess because seven is considered a "virgin" number. No number less than seven can be divided into it evenly, and no number can be multiplied by seven to produce another number, a "child", within the Holy Decad. The Decad, composed of numbers from 1-10, was considered to define the parameters of the original creation.
Every one of the ten numbers in the Decad can be divided evenly into 360, the number of degrees in a circle -- except for seven. The heptagon consists of seven literally unmeasurable, thus virginal, or transcendent, angles, and another elusive, virginal angle from its center to its corners. Thus the ever-virginal heptagon cannot be captured or constructed by the Cosmic Geometer. The regular heptagon is the smallest polygon that cannot be constructed using only the three tools of the geometer, the compass, the straightedge and the pencil.
Thus the heptagon is associated with the transcendent aspect of the Great Virgin Goddess known to the Greeks as Pallas Athena (or as Minerva to the Romans), who was said not to have been born from the womb, as other gods and goddesses, but rather to have sprung from Zeus' brow. When the numerological values of the letters of Pallas Athena's title "Pallas" or "Maiden" are added together, they total 343, which equals 7 X 7 X 7, the volume of a cube whose sides are seven units long. The cube is considered to be symbolic of material creation, so the role of the transcendent Creatrix as Cosmic Mother is alluded to in the sacred geometry of her very title.
Seven Chakras
Peter Weltevrede, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Seven is of course the number of colors in the rainbow, the number of notes in our Western musical scale, the number of endocrine glands in the human body, and the number of major chakras in the body.
The seventh, most elevated chakra is the crown chakra, which is associated with the colors violet, white or gold, and with the Higher Mind, Christ Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness or Krishna Consciousness.
In the yogic tradition, when, through arduous spiritual practices, the spiritual aspirant awakens the kundalini energy, which normally lies asleep, coiled in a spiral in the lowest chakra, near the perineum, the kundalini rises up the spine, slowly piercing each of the seven chakras until it reaches the crown chakra. When the spiritual aspirant succeeds in raising the kundalini to the crown, this is said to be the marriage of Shiva and Shakti, and confers enlightenment upon the yogi, who has achieved Realization.
The Union of Shiva-Shakti in the Self-Realized Yogi
The seven-sided star pictured in the Thoth Tarot is associated with the energy signature of the Goddess Isis, who is associated with divinely ordained synchronicities, the bliss of unconditional love blessed by harmonious constellations of stars, and the "mystico unio" of adepts on the path of meditation.
The seven sided star is sacred to lovers everywhere, because the seven sided star symbolizes the eternal yearning of the soul for Unity with the Source of all Creation, the unending desire of the incarnated Being for the Virgin Goddess who resides both within and beyond this Space-Time continuum.
Colorized image of a missionary from the Middle Ages
who found the point where the earth and sky touch:
from Camille Flammarion's 1888 book L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire
When a human being enters into a love relationship with another human being, whether that be a relationship based upon mutual receptivity and affinity, karma, or an unwavering desire for a partnership designed to accelerate the spiritual development of both parties, there is a magical moment when the Universe seems to signal its approval of the Union.
Lovers could tell a million stories about the crazy chain of coincidences that brought them together in this life. The synchronicities that manifest in the outer world to bring the two lovers together are a reflection of the pure inner desire for Unconditional Love that burns in the hearts of the two lovers.
Spiritual students around the world could tell a million stories about the amazing string of unusual events that brought them to their Teachers. It is quite common for the student to be "guided" to the Teacher when the time is right. "When the student is ready, the Teacher will come," as they say.
This type of synchronistic meeting is also the reflection in the outer world of a pure desire for Divine Love and accelerated spiritual advancement.
Sirius A and Sirius B
NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
So whether you desire a pure and uplifting love relationship with a soulmate or simply aspire to accelerated spiritual development in your life, the Virgin Goddess will oversee your efforts and respond to your desire -- if it is pure and free of the "lust of result". In other words, you must be willing to accept the Design of the Universe, and in asking for the Grace of the Virgin Goddess, you must be willing to accept her Guidance, even if it leads you to Realms far removed from what you picture in your mind's eye as an answer to your prayers.
If you desire a Greater Love in your life, lift your eyes unto the Night Sky this Full Moon as the Sun enters Leo in conjunction with Sirius and sing the praises of Isis, She who Illuminates the Night and Gives Life Upon the Earth, for she is also your Mother and She loves you dearly.
Prodromus Astronomia - Volume III "Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive uranographia"
Jupiter in Taurus makes an expansive square aspect to the Aquarian moon, promoting feelings of optimism, enhanced well being and magnified self-esteem.
However it is important not to be carried away by an exaggerated sense of self-worth. Think carefully before taking any risks or over-indulging at Full Moon parties.
Spiritually, this aspect generates generosity and compassion.
Jupiter in Taurus trines Mars in Virgo this Full Moon week. This aspect perfects on August 16, and the powerful energies will cycle through the collective consciousness for five or six weeks to come.
The Venus ruled signs of Taurus and Virgo combine these planetary energies in a strong positive flow that strengthens our physical stamina, reinforces our will forces, focuses the mind, and enables us to undertake challenging tasks without breaking a sweat. Now is the time to dream big, and to go bold by taking the first steps toward achieving our loftiest spiritual and material goals.
We can channel this powerful Venusian energy stream by connecting with the web of life in our gardens, in the mountains, or by the seashore, or in your neighborhood park. We can also achieve a peak transpersonal experience by focusing on our spiritual practices during this Venus ruled Full Moon week.
Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Sandro Botticelli , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Venus in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus, creating an atmosphere in which new relationships may be formed during an electrifying sudden attraction, and we may see that existing relationships suddenly and unexpectedly require a complete overhaul.
Under these Venus ruled aspects, we will enjoy spontaneous social connections of all kinds this week. Goddess oriented spiritual practices and rituals will be favored with success at this Full Moon, along with all group work of a spiritual nature.
If you're like me and have a long to-do list that's been sitting around all summer long, this Full Moon could provide you with the energy, willpower, creativity and stamina to start checking off one onerous task after another. Hopefully, it's a trend, and the start of a very productive Leonine Season this year.
Jane and I send you all Reiki blessings, and we invoke the energy of Isis, Goddess of Heaven that She may shower you with the many varied frequencies of her Divine Shakti energies this Full Moon week. Love and Light be with you always!
Meditation Moment: Aubade by Ranjit Hoskote, from ICELIGHT, a book of poems set in our age of climate catastrophe
Rumours of wind, banners of cloud.
The low earth shakes but the storm
has not arrived. You pack
for the journey, look up, look through
the doors at trees shedding their leaves
too soon, a track on which silk shoes
would be wasted, a moon
still dangling above a boat.
Wearing your salt mask, you face
the mulberry shadows.
The valley into which
you're rappelling
is you.
