Tammuz: Total Eclipse of the Heart

CHODESH TAMMUZ TOV!

"Sartan" / Cancer the Crab, from the Michael Mahzor, illuminated parchment manuscript, Germany, 1258

Chodesh Tammuz 5779: TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART 

Chodesh Tammuz (July 3 – August 1), associated with the mazal of Cancer (Sartan) the crab, is the only month of the Hebrew calendar whose ruling planet is the Moon. This year the Moon plays an even more important role as Chodesh Tammuz 5779 features two Eclipses! 

This month during “Eclipse Season” light, which is consciousness, is hidden and then re-revealed, and it’s never quite the same as it was before. It’s now upgraded awareness, a higher consciousness. These powerful cosmic events underscore themes of security, family, tradition and respect – all of which are associated with Tammuz’s Tribal ruler Reuven, the emotional and sensitive first-born son of Jacob and Leah. 

The Solar Eclipse / New Moon in Cancer on July 2 initiates “security” issues. Ideas like “food, home, mother, money” trigger powerful, primal gut reactions. The Lunar Eclipse / Full Moon in Capricorn on July 16 is a faceoff and smackdown between the Divine Feminine and old, outworn images of a punishing, patriarchal god. Venus and the North Node join the Sun in Cancer, eclipsed by the opposition of the Capricorn Full Moon with Saturn and Pluto. 

Cardinal Water sign Cancer is concerned with the honor and the memory of the mother as illustrated by Reuven’s relationship with Leah. Mother Earth is powerful this month and disrespecting her brings serious consequences. Honoring the natural creation and respecting her power and majesty honors our Creator and strengthens our own roots! 

What can’t you live without? What’s your absolute red line, your most basic, primal desire? We all need to love and be loved. This month we confront our most essential need during what may turn out to be a total eclipse of the heart. When the darkness lifts, a new light shines – may it illuminate our way during this Moon-month of Tammuz!

Click HERE for Tammuz Horoscopes in The Jerusalem Post

Lunar Eclipse / Super "Blood" Moon of Tu b'Shevat 5779

Lunar Eclipse / Super "Blood" Moon of Tu b'Shevat 5779

The upcoming Lunar Eclipse / Super "Blood" Moon on Tu b'Shevat (January 20) will be visible all over North and South America. The Eclipse occurs at 9:16pm Pacific time (12:16am January 21 Eastern, 7:15am Israel time).

Lunar Eclipses happen predictably every year, only during Full Moons. Any given Jewish Year includes between six and seven Full Moon holidays: Tu b'Shevat, Purim (Purim Katan during leap years as well), Pesach, Pesach Sheni, Tu b'Av, and Sukkot.

The Talmud discusses eclipses and their effect on the nations of this earth. From the Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 29a:

When the sun is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for the whole world. This may be illustrated by a parable. To what can this be compared? To a human being who made a banquet for his servants and put up for them a lamp. When he became wroth with them he said to his servant, ‘Take away the lamp from them, and let them sit in the dark’. It was taught: R’Meir said, whenever the luminaries are in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel since they are inured to blows. This may be compared to a school teacher who comes to school with a strap in his hand. Who becomes apprehensive? He who is accustomed to be daily punished.

The basic idea is that lunar eclipses are trouble for the Jewish nation, while solar eclipses mean trouble for the non-Jewish nations - yet Israel still suffers, as the non-Jewish nations take their troubles out on their convenient scapegoat, the Jews. This is the Talmud's poetic way of saying that the Jewish people experience trouble in this world in predictable, regular patterns - just as predictable and regular as the eclipse cycles themselves. The writers of the Talmud were simply managing expectations rather than making prophetic statements.

For those who are all tied up in anticipatory knots from reading predictions about the impending eclipse, keep this in mind: There was a full Lunar eclipse on Tu b'Shevat in 1999, 2000, 2009, 2018 as well as this year. There was a full Lunar eclipse on Purim in 2007 and on Purim Katan in 2008, as well as on Sukkot 2014, Pesach 2015, and Sukkot 2015.

With anywhere from six to seven Full Moon Jewish holidays per any given year, and anywhere from four to six (depending on the year) eclipses (solar and lunar) per annual eclipse cycle (there's NEVER a year without eclipses!), the statistical likelihood of an eclipse falling on a Jewish holiday is predictable and normal.

Lunar Eclipses ONLY happen on Full Moons. The term "Super Moon" is used when a Full Moon is at perigee (the closest it comes to Earth during the year). But not all "Super Moons" come with an Eclipse. A "Blood" Moon occurs during an eclipse when sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere. This eclipse is also being called a "Wolf Moon," which is one of the Native American names for the mid-winter Full Moon of January. Some tribes call it the Full Snow Moon. Not all "Wolf Moons" (or Full Snow Moons) or any other name for a Full Moon feature a Lunar Eclipse.

January's lunar eclipse comes two weeks after the Solar Eclipse / New Moon which inaugurated Chodesh Shevat. This year (5779) Chodesh Shevat began smack in the middle of Solar Capricorn, it was kicked off with the Solar Eclipse / New Moon conjunct transiting Saturn on January 5th and 6th. Less than a day later, Uranus stationed Direct at 29 degrees (the “ultimate” or “critical” degree of any sign) of Aries after his latest Retrograde period, which began last August. This makes Chodesh Shevat 5779 extra-powerful.

Shevat is the month associated with Aquarius. Both Uranus )the modern planetary ruler of Aquarius) and Saturn (the classical planetary ruler of Aquarius) are exerting pressure in the effort to bring about change – Saturn in his slow and steady way, Uranus in his abrupt, sudden, and surprising way. These Celestial Titans are tag-teaming in the Cardinal (initiating) signs of Capricorn and Aries (aided by Mars’ recent ingress into his home sign) to overcome the tectonic pressure generated by fear-based resistance to what we all know in our heart is inevitable change.

Comfort zones will be shaken, concepts about security upended, definitions of both “ally” and “enemy” will be reconsidered, ideals will be challenged. The universe is sending a memo: did you receive it yet? The times, they are a-changin’.

Astral Weeks July 29 - August 4, 2018

Astral Weeks

July 29 – August 4, 2018

For everyone who survived the longest and most-hyped by the media full lunar eclipse of the 21^st century on July 27^th, Sunday July 29’s void of course Moon in Aquarius feels like a little bit of breathing room in a dizzying schedule. Inhale! Exhale! Focus on hope and reject lingering fearful thoughts. Let some of the tension that has built up around all the energetic activity dissolve. Practice the Aquarian superpower: detach and keep moving.

The Moon moves into Pisces Sunday evening, enhancing sensitivity and empathy. Last week’s planetary activity was so jarring, we need tender connection to each other more than ever right now. Monday’s Moon in Pisces trine Jupiter in Scorpio invites deeper intimacy, followed by the Moon conjunct Neptune in Pisces in the wee small hours of Tuesday morning. That’s when boundaries and borders between intimate partners become porous and dissolve. If you are smart and you are lucky, you’ve had a pajama party with your most beloved partner going on since Sunday night. 

Take advantage of the relative down time because mellow turns to fierce and fiery when the Moon goes into dynamic, courageous, impulsive, brave, energetic, and sometimes headstrong Aries on Wednesday morning. The emotional energy gets ramped up but may run into a log jam when Retrograde Mars and Uranus make a direct square Wednesday evening strongly in the fixed signs of Aquarius and Taurus, respectively. 

Uranus is the modern planetary ruler of Aquarius, so square his Fixed Air (Establishing Thought) home sign in the Fixed Earth (Establishing Manifestation) sign supports the possibility of revolutionary energy come up hard against the status quo of the establishment. Uranus is also called by some “the higher octave of Mars.” The connections between Uranus/Mars/Aquarius continue to ripple through the end of the week, energizing (perhaps shocking, perhaps merely surprising) the comfortable out of complacency. 

Thursday might feel like power struggles of the heart when Aries Moon trines Mercury Retrograde in Leo, and squares Pluto in Capricorn. Pushing and bullying others to get your way will only result in a complete system shutdown. When you’re tempted to be forceful beyond the spectrum of customary politeness, realize you’re about to cross the line of perhaps not such a quick return. 

Friday sees the Moon enter Taurus, making a conjunction to Uranus in Taurus in the evening, joining Uranus’ supportive trine to Retrograde Saturn in Capricorn. The Last Quarter Moon in Taurus on Saturday, August 4^th marks Shabbat Parshat Eikev, a recount of the many blessings the Israelites were receiving as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, and exhortations to remember that their blessings were because they were beloved, not because they were deserving. 

This consciousness of humility and dependence on Divine Grace is important to keep in mind always, never more so than during this time in our collective history. Saturday is also Shabbat Mevarchim, during which we announce the molad, the date and time of the upcoming Rosh Chodesh, the new Month of Elul, which will occur on Shabbat, August 11^th, at 7:33 (and 9 chalakim) PM, Jerusalem time. 

A Closer Look at the Skies:

During this week, Retrograde Mars and Retrograde Saturn are inconjunct in Aquarius and Capricorn, respectively. In classical astrology, Saturn is the ruling planet of both Capricorn and Aquarius. Saturn (“Shabbtai” in Hebrew, from the same root as the word for “Shabbat,” meaning Sabbath) is said to be the ruling planet of the Jewish People. 

Symbolically speaking: Mars (aggression) in Aquarius (humanitarianism, idealism) inconjunct (on a completely different wavelength, invisible to each other) Saturn (the classical ruler of both Aquarius and Capricorn) in Capricorn (traditionalism, ambition, assertive persistence, materialism). It’s like a perfect symbolic picture of the simmering struggle between American and Israeli Jews over the direction the State of Israel is taking, politically and religiously. 

The total lunar eclipse in Aquarius on July 27^th conjunct Mars in Aquarius stimulated a series of events that may climax in December of 2020, when Jupiter and Saturn make their conjunction in Aquarius. Following this event, Saturn and Pluto will make a conjunction in Capricorn in January of 2021. The events of this month are the kickoff to the developments climaxing at that time, which according to Jewish astrological tradition (see last week's edition of "Astral Weeks") have a direct bearing on the nation of Israel.

May the One Who keeps Israel neither slumber nor sleep!

Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye My People...

Mars in Aquarius conjunct the Full Lunar Eclipse tonight - the longest eclipse of the 21st Century. It will be fully visible from Israel.

The discovery of liquid water on #Mars was announced just as Mars in Aquarius (the "Water Bearer" in Western astrology, the "D'li" ( דְלִי ) or bucket of pouring water in Jewish astrology) stationed directly across from the illuminating Sun in Leo ("revealing" by its light previously unknown mysteries). 

Aquarius is NOT, however, one of the three signs of the Water element (those are Cardinal Water sign Cancer, Fixed Water sign Scorpio, and Mutable water sign Pisces). Aquarius is the Fixed Air sign, whose symbol (the bucket pouring water), according to the B'nai Yissachar's discourse on the month of Shvat (the Hebrew month associated with Aquarius) represents the outpouring of Torah. 

The three modalities in astrology (Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable) combined with the four elements (Fire, Air, Earth and Water) produce 12 energetic permutations of the Zodiac. Aquarius is Fixed (Establishing) Air (Thought). 

May our thoughts be fixed and established upon that which is good, and may the stars in their course always do the will of their Creator, Who has in times past commanded them to fight for Israel, and in times to come will do so as well.

Tonight: Shabbos Nachamu, Tu b'Av, Total Lunar Eclipse.
May we all be empowered to both give and receive the full measure of comfort and consolation needed by all right now.

Astral Weeks for July 22-28, 2018

Astral Weeks

July 22-28

Sunday, July 22^nd sees a lot of movement as the Sun at the final degree of Cancer moves into Leo at 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 12am (Monday) Israel time. The day starts out with the Moon in Scorpio, but by mid-afternoon and early evening in the US and early morning hours in Israel, the Moon has moved into Sagittarius. We start the day with Water/Water energy and end it with Fire/Fire.

Venus in Virgo sextiles Jupiter in Scorpio, expanding the capacity for deeply analytical introspection which is just about what the doctor ordered as today is the Fast of Tisha b’Av, commemorating the destruction of both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem as well as other devastating historic calamities which befell the Jewish people. 

Morning is the best time to look inward and perform an extremely thorough, if not ruthless, moral inventory. By evening it’s time to forgive yourself and others and re-calibrate your inner compass to your own True North. Those who have not yet discovered the location of either their own inner compass or their own True North are left at the mercy of the direction and opinions of others. 

By Monday, you’ll be so glad Sunday is over you’ll just be grateful to take a deep breath and exhale. The Moon enters Capricorn on Tuesday, shortly after Venus in Virgo opposes Neptune in Pisces. Neptune is sometimes called the “higher octave” of Venus, and this opposition tests Virgo’s practicality against Neptune’s idealism (read: fantasy). It may be beautiful, but is it useful? Moon in Capricorn comes down squarely on the side of material manifestation. 

Wednesday the Sun in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus. Leo/Taurus is a “power square” (the two signs are at a 90-degree angle). Queen Elizabeth II and Barbara Streisand are both Taurus Sun / Leo Moon. and Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton are both Leo Sun / Taurus Moon. Fixed Earth Taurus is indicative of wealth, stability, and status-quo, while Fixed Fire Leo is pride, royalty, and a dramatic/theatrical flavor. Uranus is the planet of instability, unpredictability, originality, and erratic behavior. In Taurus, Uranus brings disruptive change to the status quo. Squared to the Sun in Leo, this may be a challenge to existing leadership. Communicative Mercury stations Retrograde late Wednesday / early Thursday morning at 23 degrees Leo, making an uncomfortable Quincunx (150-degree angle) to power-player Pluto in Capricorn. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing – in this case, the right side of the mouth doesn’t know what the left side is saying. 

Thursday might be the best day of the year to take a temporary vow of silence, maybe just until Friday, which starts out with Sun in Leo opposite Mars in Aquarius in the wee small hours, followed by the Lunar Eclipse / Full Moon at 4 degrees Aquarius. 

The Lunar Eclipse / Full Moon is the longest (104 minutes total) of the 21^st Century. Retrograde Mars in Aquarius conjunct the eclipsed Moon fuels the moral indignation and public passions of “the people.”  Mercury Retrograde in Leo will surely roar when pride is wounded, or gravitas offended. Fresh on the heels of Wednesday’s Sun/Uranus square, likely manifestations are rebellion, revolution, and revulsion against perceived threats to personal and corporate freedoms. Soundtrack? “Blows Against the Empire” by Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Starship. Play it loud. This will NOT be a quiet day for anyone. 

Friday is also Tu b’Av (the 15^th of the Hebrew month of Av). The Mishna in Ta’anit 4 tells us: “There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)?” The Mishna continues: “On those days, the daughters of Jerusalem would wear borrowed white dresses -- everyone would borrow someone else's dress, to not embarrass someone who didn't have one -- and dance in the vineyards.” The Talmud in Ta’anit 30:b fills in some of the backstory, telling us that “tribes of Israel were permitted to mingle with each other.” Men from every tribe were free to marry women from other tribes after the restoration of Benjamin after Israel’s civil war (Judges 21). 

The democratization of the daughters of Israel (Moon in Aquarius) who borrowed white clothing from one another so that none would be embarrassed by her poverty while dancing in the vineyards under the full moon (Leo), on display for potential husbands from various tribes is a perfect symbolic antidote to Friday’s frenetic energy.

Just in time, Shabbos Nachamu begins Friday night. We’ll read Parshat Va’etchanan on Saturday, hear the repetition of the 10 Commandments, and during the Haftarah, the magnificent verses of Isaiah: Nachamu, Nachamu Ami (Comfort ye, Comfort ye my people) will lift our souls and revive our sagging spirits if the rough-and-tumble celestial energies of this week have left us feeling forlorn or just plain worn-out. 

A Deeper Look into Friday’s Full Lunar Eclipse

Friday’s lunar eclipse occurs at a very sensitive point (4 Aquarius), within a -3-degree orb of the upcoming Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction at zero degrees Aquarius in December 2020. This is important because in classical astrology, the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction above is thought to reflect changes in religion below. The role of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in world history as understood by the great 8^th century Persian astrologer Abu Ma’shar was brought into medieval Jewish thought by 11^th century Spanish commentator Abraham Bar Hiyya, who emphasized the religious implications of this transit in historical astrology.  

 Important: This Friday’s lunar eclipse is the energetic prequel to the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction of December 20-24, 2020, which itself is preceded on December 14, 2020 by a Solar Eclipse at 23 degrees Sagittarius – the companion Solar Eclipse to the Lunar Eclipse of June 14, 1946: the day Donald J. Trump was born. 

Yes, let that sink in. Trump was born on the Lunar Eclipse of June 14, 1946. The Sun in Gemini at 23 Degrees opposite and eclipsing the Moon in Sagittarius at 23 Degrees. During the Solar Eclipse of December 14, 2020, the Moon at 23 degrees Sagittarius will eclipse the Sun at the same degree. Bookends? Portends of a parenthetical beginning and ending? The Full Lunar Eclipse this Friday, July 27, 2018, is the kick-off which climaxes in December 2020 – six weeks minus one day after the Presidential Election on November 3^rd, 2020. 

The greatest conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, the conjunction maxima, (Hebrew: ha-dibbuq ha-gadol), was thought by medieval Jewish astrologers to be the indication of new religions ascending to prominence. Bar Hiyya links the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius and Pisces to the emergence and re-emergence of Israel, just as he associates the conjunction of the two planets in Virgo/Libra to portend the birth of Christianity and the conjunction in Scorpio to signal the birth of Islam. 

Bar Hiyya explicitly associates the dibbuq ha-gadol with messianic expectations in his Megillat ha-Megalleh. Yehudah ben Nissim ibn Malka (13^th century Morocco) and Abraham Zacuto (14^th century Portugal) both wrote about the conjunction maxima as a prophetic messianic portent. Friday’s Full Lunar Eclipse at 4 Aquarius as a kick-off to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at zero Aquarius in December 2020 escalates the global and ever-growing sense of urgency underscoring the common understanding that a profound change of some sort must happen and happen soon. 

May we only hear good news, and may the One Who created the heavens and the earth and everything else imbue us with mercy, grace, and love for one another and for ourselves.