Full Harvest Moon of the Autumn Equinox
GODDESS as UNIFYING FORCE
Autumnal Equinox, also celebrated as Mabon, is a Balancing point – one of two throughout the year when the hours of light and darkness are equal upon the Earth.
It is a time to pull in our energies, storing, continuing to prepare for the Winter months ahead.
It is the Space Between, the top of the breath before the exhale, the moment of radiant stillness where All Potential paths are simultaneously present.
All of our current astrology indicates that we are in a moment of transition, transformation and ultimately illumination. Being on the path seeking to live with the Earth as Sacred, we are drawn into a dialogue – a contemplative and investigative study of Venus, the morning star, the light bringer.
We are at the threshold to the mysteries of the above and below.
We pause here, looking back at the fullness of our Summer season and the fruits of our expansive energy output. We honor, celebrate and give thanks for the Golden Sun – the heat, the intensity, the connections, the growth.
We breathe. We find stillness. We take this moment in the space in between.
Full Moon Meditation
Find a comfortable meditation position. Feel your sits bones root down into the ground. Let the crown of your head reach up towards the Full Moon above. Let your breathe deepen, and feel your central channel – the core of your being. As you inhale, draw the breathe down your central channel along the column of your spine and let your awareness splash into and fill your pelvic bowl. Pause and hold your breath in, filling the container of your pelvis with your awareness. When the exhale comes breathe your awareness back up through your central channel along your spinal column and let your awareness reach all the way up through your crown into the space above your head. Pause again with the air released from your body. Again, draw the inhale down your central channel and into your pelvic bowl, and then continue to feel downward into the Earth and send an energetic grounding chord down through your root chakra all the way to the center of the Earth. Linger here. As your exhale comes, draw your awareness up your central channel, through the crown, and extend your awareness all the way up to the Full Moon above. Linger here until your inhale draws you back down. Continue for several minutes feeling your central channel, your grounding chord, and the Full Moon above.
Feminine Mystery of MA – The Space Between
Interestingly – MA – a word referring to Mother throughout the world, also means “the space between” in Japanese.
This Equinox Full Moon we reflect on MA and how we can cultivate this quality in our lives.
It is the space between lines on the canvas, the space between musical notes, the space between movements.
In 1999, I was co-founder and director of a 6 woman dance collective. We called ourselves The Movement Alliance as a presenting organization, which quickly became MA Dance. For our first Repertory Concert we commissioned works by three choreographers of varying styles of contemporary dance. I too, was given the opportunity to create a piece for this performance series. The work I crafted for the complete company was based on a vision. I saw the 6 dancers upstage left facing down the long diagonal to the upper right hand corner and beyond and the promise of a great journey. Moving from slow, almost tai chi like full body gestures the dancers assembled themselves in collective mission. Each dancer would go through a passage – showing a moment of emotion or turbulence and each one would make it through this moment of upheaval back to stillness (sometimes with the help of fellow travelers). And as stillness was achieved, and the dancer returned to join her peers in facing into that great journey, everyone would take a step forward together – in unison. And thus would define the process of integrating individual and community in the esoteric and exoteric planes.
Some words on MA…
“I thought perhaps
we could
do with …
a little
more
ma,
‘cos so long ago
our Ma
wandered off …
… and we don’t know where to find her.”
~ ~ ~
“Ma does not exist between sounds,
but sounds exist to define ma“
~ ~ ~
“the space and time between the movements
when something unknown or unplanned can emerge and be felt“
~ ~ ~
“a consciousness of place, not in the sense of an enclosed three-dimensional entity,
but rather the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form
deriving from an intensification of vision.”
~ ~ ~
“Ma is not … created by compositional elements; it is the thing that takes place in the imagination
of the human who experiences these elements“
~ ~ ~
“In his 2001 book The Art of Looking Sideways, Alan Fletcher discusses the importance of
exemplifying “space” as a substance“
~ ~ ~
“The Taoist philosopher Lao Tse wrote extensively on the concept of Ma
including his poem The Uses of Not :
Thirty spokes meet in the hub,
but the empty space between them
is the essence of the wheel.
Pots are formed from clay,
but the empty space between it
is the essence of the pot.
Walls with windows and doors form the house,
but the empty space within it
is the essence of the house“
~ ~ ~
As we deepen into our personal meditations at our altar at this time, we invoke this principle of MA – the Space Between – the top of the breath, where All Potential paths are simultaneously present. Enjoy, relish in it. And if you’re feeling really bold… later in a private moment when you’re all alone enjoy this… watch the whole thing… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3stsDXki__U
Read the words after you watch, if you’re like me, you’ll want to watch it twice. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pink/glitterintheair.html
Goddess Trio to Invoke Balance
For those of us who are deeply curious about Goddess lore… we are invoking the Goddesses Durga, Gaia and Ma’at to assist us in attaining balance.
Durga
Durga was summoned as a unifying force to defend the Gods themselves – her name meaning “invincible”. She can be called upon to counteract the impulse towards war when we invoke her unifying strength. If we can do so as an act of complete unification of energies – not just unifying against a common enemy – our prayers will have even greater impact for the greatest good of all. http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/durga.htm#.UjleK-BBJ9k
Gaia
Gaia, is Herself, Mother Earth. To invoke Her is to align with harmony in all of nature. To embrace Her possible history is to claim the descent of Sophia – Divine Feminine Source of Knowledge that emanated out of the ONE due to Her Compassionate Heart longing to serve humanity by physicalizing into matter as a planet, as Earth Herself. Our Mother’s Love to give us a Home so we might get this experience of evolution in a human body. Whew!
And Ma’at, Goddess of Justice upon whose scales our hearts are weighed against a feather. The story in the Egyptian Book of the Dead is often considered confusing, yet there is nothing simpler than the notion of Right Relationship and Ma’at provides the guidance to following Natural Law. It is in our taking an action that moves us out of alignment with Natural Law that weighs on our conscience and makes our hearts heavy. In modern interpretations of Christianity, this is also what it means to ‘sin’. We ‘heal our separation from God’ when we ‘repent’ and ask for forgiveness. In our day to day lives, this means sincerely saying you’re sorry when you hurt someone, asking forgiveness and taking action to make things right. It is the taking action to make things right that has been overlooked for centuries feeding a war based society more consumed with being victorious over our perceived enemies, as in an eye for an eye, than in truly establishing peace through authentic reconciliation with ourselves and others in alignment with Natural Law.
“According to the Anubis oracle Ma’at is beyond right and wrong. This makes sense to me as truth is beyond right and wrong, and sits somewhere rather abstractly often out of our own reach. It also suggests that morality is something that fluid and ever-changing. http://thepurplebroom.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/maat-and-balance/
Preparing for the Descent
And as we sit in the Space Between, we also look ahead and prepare for what is to come. The Autumn Equinox signals the shift into the darker days when the nights grow longer and the days colder.
We prepare for the journey of the Goddess into the Underworld and the stories of Inanna, Persephone and Ishtar. We prepare for our own descent into the shadows and our encounter with the Dark Mother.
So, now, at this time of Balance in the Harvest Full Moon, we invite your to prepare for the descent with a simple practice of Resourcing. We must bring our light with us to navigate the dark, and so we remember and gather our resources close to us.
Resourcing Practice:
Open your journal. Grab a pen, and begin to list what you consider to be resources for yourself. Resources are anything that help us to feel safe, comfortable and at ease. Make a list of Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual resources. These lists will have many crossover components and that’s ok. Please list anything and everything that comes to mind. You can always go back later and highlight the ones that are most helpful to you. A walk in the park may be a resource, or a comfortable couch, or a movie with a friend. So, may be your guardian angels, your relatives alive or deceased, your guides of many traditions, your meditation practice, your altar. Take a few minutes, as many as you need to write a thorough list of resources. You can always go back and continue to write as you feel inspired. Refer back to your list of resources on a daily basis, incorporating at least one activity from your list into your day.
So, as we seek Balance at Mabon and in rising red, orange and gold of the Full Harvest Moon, call in these Unifying forces of Durga, Gaia, and Ma’at. Appreciate what it means to be peaceful with a light heart and sitting in a space of pure as yet undefined potential.
Take a breath and see if you can feel into the glorious moment of infinity … make it last …
Please continue to keep a journal throughout this process, adding to your resources list. You will need these as we enter the realm of the descent Oct-Dec 2013…
Keep your guides and angels with you. And pick a buddy – who is the one who will be there with you? Who is the one who will hold the space for your journey? Who is the one who will pull you out of the underworld if you are caught there vulnerable and robeless?
Stay tuned for our next Full Moon Mystery Exploration:
Descend into Light, October 18th, 2013.
Goddess Bless! Dayna & Shannon ~ 13 Moon Mysteries of the Goddess
