SEPTEMBER 2023
[Photo: Arun]
MOON IN PISCES, UTTARA BHADRAPADA *ೃ༄
How are the details of your life plan and purpose coming along — the routines and habits that support you in your big goals? Sun in Virgo highlights this theme during the time of the full moon which arrives on 29th September. In the mystical, watery and boundless sign of Pisces (Meena rashi) at 10:57 am BST, the moon will completely reflect the light of the Sun, highlighting the need to wash away or let go of all the details that no longer support one’s vision and soul path.
What needs to be let go of entirely, or perhaps just surrendered for divine timing?
Pisces is the final sign in the Kālapūruṣa, the time-bound cosmic body of the zodiac, which means there are themes of losses, detachments and endings taking place. Look for Pisces in your jyotish chart to determine which house or area of your life requires closure and deep tending to. Let’s not forget that these endings have a higher purpose, as Jupiter, the Guru, is Pisces’ planetary lord, who asks us to evolve, expand and grow, towards svadharma, our own unique purpose.
Moon moves into the lunar mansion of Uttara Bhadrapada, the nakshatra ruled by Shani Dev (Saturn), Lord of hard work and grief — and again for a reason — he offers containment for the grief process; for the expansiveness of our emotions, enabling us to go to our depths; which Pisces in Uttara bhadrapada reflects, for the purpose of clearing and releasing.
Saturn (who is still in retrograde motion) also reflects the health of our boundaries, and with Pisces in the mix, our attention is brought to our spiritual boundaries. Note that veils are beginning to blur between worlds, between Bhūloka, our earthly domain, and the netherworlds, Pitṛloka, the world of our ancestors; a significant moment as this Pisces Full Moon coincides with Pitṛ pakṣa, the fortnight of the ancestors.
This is an important time for Hindus to pay homage to their ancestors (three generations back) and undertake the Shraddha ritual and pujas which help to resolve ancestral karma and free the jīvātmā, which may still be attached and held between worlds.
Uttara Bhadrapada’s symbol is the back half of a funeral cot and its ruling deity is Ahirbudhanya, the cosmic serpent of the deep sea. His shakti is to produce rainfall, or even flash floods, and there is a spiritual warrior quality to this constellation as courage is required to swim to our inner depths, the subconscious, and face our long-held attachments and the grief that comes from letting go.
This moon cycle asks us to release so we can experience a ‘cooling’ — a sense of liberation for ourselves and our ancestors, so that we can move away from old familial patterns, and welcome new energy, new habits and routines, new behaviours and therefore new experiences for body and soul.
Moon in Pisces, in Uttara Bhadarapada is an otherworldly time.
Pay attention to dreams, symbols and synchronicities — important messages from those who have come before us. A practice of solitude or carving out time to quiet the mind and attend to our ancestral alters will be supportive.
[Photo: Rajesh Mishra]
Make sure to offer your recently departed family members or close ones their favourite foods and show reverence and gratitude for their sacrifices — your grief is an offering of itself, which supports healing and transformation. Let them receive your tears.
JOURNAL THIS
➤ What is no longer working in my daily life and routine?
➤ If my grief could speak, what would it say?
➤ What am I releasing?
➤ If you could convey a message to your ancestors, what would you say? (Place this letter at your alter).
FULL MOON INTENTION
Clean your home mandir and/or ancestral alter — bring special offerings for your ancestors during Pitṛ pakṣa (29th Sept – 14th Oct) and be open to receiving blessings and good wishes from beyond.
Remaining grounded and established within yourself, surrender to the unknown.
Rise Up, Warrior.
Payal
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