Posts Tagged ‘blue’

December's Blue Moon - Image courtesy of Benedict Yeoman

Perhaps you heard, the 2009 New Year’s Eve Full Moon was a blue moon. The rarity of such an event falling on such a symbolic night - New Years Eve - got me thinking. A blue moon comes only once every 2 - 3 years. It occurs because, while there are 12 months in a year, there are 12 lunar cycles plus an extra 11 days. A blue moon then is when there is an extra full moon in any one month. In December the two were on the 2nd and the 31st.

December 2 Full Moon - reflected in Danube

Blue or Betrayer?

Why blue? The theory is that the name was not originally “blue” the colour, but an old English word “belewe” which means “to betray”. This makes sense for example when we consider that in olden days the moon was an important time keeper for farming cycles, each season having three full moons: early, mid and late. An extra full moon in the year will create confusion in the timing. For example: “Three winter full moons already but still too cold to plant our seeds – shouldn’t Spring be here by now?“  It is ironic that this use of blue as a corruption of “belewe” would mean that blue here represents the very opposite of its usual association - “trust.”

Whether this is the real origin of the phrase “blue moon” or not, one thing is sure - a blue moon year carries the energy of 13. And traditionally 13 certainly does coincide with untrustworthiness. 13 is superstitiously unlucky, just as Eve was the temptress, black cats are to be avoided and wise women are witches! Yes 13 is all things feminine and therefore to be put down.

The antidote - a positive wise woman

And so it was wonderfully refreshing that this New Years Eve the BBC aired a radio programme entitled “Blue Moon” which shared one wise woman’s project to honour this special event.

Elspeth Owen is an artist, and although she is 71 years old, she is spending the whole period from the first December full moon (on the 2nd) to the blue moon on the 31st, living entirely outdoors. Her project is to bury 14 white necklaces, one each night, for the 14 nights of the waning moon - the period when the moon shrinks. With the beginning of the New Moon she then retrieves each of the necklaces again, one by one, one per night. Her focus throughout this process will be “taking care” – both of herself and the necklaces.

She was a vibrant woman refreshingly unconcerned by any need to be rational. It was delightful to listen to her with her wonderful laugh which reminded me of Claudia Booth’s. The programme was a great antidote to the traditional negative associations of 13 and the feminine.

Tzaphkiel as Mother

And it seems to me that Elspeth’s story provides an insight into the nature of Tzaphkiel, just as did the film Avatar which I wrote about in the previous post. In the case of Elspeth’s project I believe it is an enactment of the Divine Mother aspect of Binah. Let me explain …

Elspeth began by making the 14 white necklaces – here she is Mother as creator.
She then births her creations into the world. She does this by burying them through the period of the waning moon - now she is Mother as birth giver.
Finally she retrieves and resurrects the necklaces - she completes the process as Mother the nurturer.

This project can be seen as a metaphor for the Creator’s relationship with the created. Souls are created through Binah, the Divine Mother, in order that consciousness may be enter into matter. Souls then travel further from the Divine by entering Matter in our case the human experience. It strikes me that at both the level of soul and the human being our deepest need and desire remains the same. We wish to be loved and remembered. What could be worse than being forgotten by your mother? I have seen film of grown men in orphanage / institutional homes in eastern Europe saying that all they want is to be reunited with their mothers. I have also heard that when soldiers call out with their dying breath it is invariably to their mother. Why would souls be any different in their relationship to the Source? Binah is the sphere of the mother and Tzaphkiel is its presence. It seems to me that Elspeth’s project re-enacts the archetypal mother myth of creation, dispersion and reunion.

The perpective of the Divine

Most satisfying of all, the  aspect of Elspeth’s project that bothered me the most is actually the key. Elspeth started her process on the Full Moon. This is the absolute opposite of my normal way to approach lunar cycles. Usually I associate beginnings with the New Moon, the process reaching a fruition with the Full Moon and then suffering a decline again with the waning moon.

Elpseth began her project in the totally opposite place!  But I see now that by burying the necklaces first and then resurrecting them again she is providing a metaphor for the process of consciousness entering into form, from the Heavenly perspective rather than the earthly. Brilliant. How Tzaphkiel!

B107 Tzaphkiel

Conclusions and a link

Though the film Avatar will probably grab me more – I am sure this radio programme will be the more heart-warming, humbling and enriching.

If you would like to listen to the radio programme - it is 30 minutes long - you can follow this link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00pdjy1

Don’t delay too long, like a blue moon it may not come around again for a while.

I wish you all a happy, feminine and wise New Year.

In a recent class a student asked “What can I say to customers who say “Give me another of those bottles - without them my life gets so bad.” Is there a danger of dependency with Aura-Soma?” This question prompted the following thoughts for me.

Look within the sequence of Equilibrium. The first Master is El Morya – Pale Blue. Blue is the opposite colour to orange. It is in orange that dependency issues lie. The first Master is opposite to dependency issues. El Morya shines the light into the blue grasping tendency. It inspires the realisation “I need nothing to be at peace”.

Equally, B1, the first bottle (after the 0 which is the nothing before the something) is also a blue energy – Blue / Deep Magenta. It is a rescue for the blue. This is the Magician in the Tarot. It carries the message “Come to realise that what you say becomes true”. Knowing this you will no longer depend on anything outside. The power to create derives from the magenta that lies within. It is enough to say “I will be happy” or “I will be at peace.” No more dependency on external circumstances, no product or drug we need.

In both these significant places in Equilibrium we find a message that is the opposite of dependency. The Aura-Soma energies nourish the being within; the soul consciousness, which is our greater power. Just as a child growing up on earth needs support before it is ready to stand by itself, the growing of our soul consciousness within this physical world also benefits from nourishment in its first steps. As time passes then, whether with or without the support of the Aura-Soma products, we attain the consciousness of the colours and the strength of the light. The Aura-Soma way is a bridge to this state of freedom.

71 and 1: a No and a Yes

In Numerology 1 (see previous blog) I looked at the 171 steps of the Statue of Liberty from a numerological perspective as a combination of a 17 and a 1 : B17 (the path of The Star) and B1 (the path of The Magician). It is however more orthodox to see the 171 as a combination of a 1 and a 71. This article explores the implications of this view. Since in numerology we read numbers from right to left we shall start with the inside number - 71.

B71: Born out of No

The Pink / Cear combination brings the intensity of the light to the red in the top fraction a very strong way. Pink is primarily the energy for love of course, but the red hidden within the pink has further themes related to it. Themes such as the tendency to say “No” (introduced in the Level 2 course); and also themes of separation and grounding (finding one’s place to stand on the earth).

Those who initially left the Old World of Europe to the New World of North Americas did so out of a “No”. It was the lack of religious freedom that led the Founding Fathers to sail from Boston UK (just down the road from Tetford). There was no Statue of Liberty then of course but the principle of No was present. Later waves of immigrants separated (red) from their homelands (red / pink theme of mother country) because of hardships at home such as poverty, famine, persecution and war. Notice too that red is about struggle - red’s complementary colour - green - is about flow and harmony. In green there is no struggle, no pressure to change. Red drives change.

In B71 we find the suffering (clear) that leads people to say No, separate from the mother energy and search for a new place to put down their roots.

B1: Inspired by Yes

Where red is No, blue is Yes. As much as emigrants from the Old World were pushed by No, when they arrived as immigrants they held a strong Yes for a new chance. A desire (blue) for something better. As discussed in the previous blog Numerology 1 - there is a resonance between B1 and the American Dream - the chance to achieve your dream.

Evolution

Reading numbers from right to left is like travelling from East to West. This numerological interpretation of the Statue of Liberty’s 171 steps begins from the inside (the eastern side) with the 71, and travels towards the outside number - the 1 - which is on the far left of the 171 (and so the western-most number). This is how the USA was born. Out of a No and towards a Yes.

Now the USA has extended all the way to the West Coast and the energy has settled there. In contrast to the the East Coast of the USA which looks back across the Atlantic to Europe the West Coast is definitively American and looks out to the Pacific. The West looks forwards to the future rather than back to the past.

Conclusion

In the Numerology 1 blog, I unconsciously started with the 17 and the 1 - reading uncharacteristically from right to left. But I now see that this choice reflected something about the USA itself. The USA has reached its West Coast where the quintessence of the American Dream may be found. For example Hollywood, the creator of dreams is situated here. The American message of freedom and dreams is now able to travel back from the West towards the East! This interpretation sees the 1 - The Magician - the power to create the American Dream - firmly rooted within (the 1 on the inside). And this inner 1 expresses itself through The Star - 17 which represents the freedom to flow and live one’s truth in the world.

Stars and Stripes

A fascinating confirmation to all this comes from the American flag. Known as the Stars and Stripes it is another key symbol for the USA. On its right hand (eastern) side are the 13 red and white stripes (B71 Pink / Clear) that represent the 13 original States that rebelled (red!!) against the British Empire of the Old World. In the top left (western) corner of the flag are the 50 white stars on the blue background which represent the current states of the Union (less Hawaii). From red to blue, from right to left, from east to west.

Can you believe there is yet a third way to interpet the 171. There is. It is creative and original and you can read about it in Numerology 3.