Mother in the Moon, Honey in the Heart
By Pythia Peay

This month's potent new moon in the critical last degree of Cancer continues the ongoing astro-drama playing itself out in the heavens above. The gods and goddessess, it could be said, have been carrying on a cosmic debate that has swept us up in their mythic dialogue. The Sabian Symbol here has great relevance for the times we are in, as each person must weigh the opposites within his or her soul, until a new outcome is reached. With retrograde Mars newly direct, there may be a release of energy. Decisions may be reached; goals set.  The mounting Saturn/Mars opposition, however, may cast doubt.  We may walk forward in a new direction only to look back with parting regrets.

Yet though the stars above may sometimes disorient, they never fail to offer a way through the labyrinth. Indeed, this new moon offers a spiritual perspective that can guide us toward the sacred center at the core of our being.  For while the ongoing planetary opposition between Sagittarius and Gemini has made for some head-swirling times, the four planets and north node now in Cancer - especially jovial Jupiter -  show that the secret to resolving our problems lies not in our head, but in our hearts.  Says the Great Mother speaking through the medium of the Cancer new moon, "Open your heart center and feel, don't think, your way through life's problems. Find the honey in your heart, the sweetness that arises from loving your way through life." 

For love, Cancer's keynote, is the magic, the alchemical solution that dissolves irreconciliable differences and heals into wholeness.  Many parents, for instance, perform the complex act of loving equally their different-natured children.  This is being played out in my own family right now.  As my oldest son heads off to Yale to study ecology, my middle son 
draws up business plans for wealth, and my youngest son works toward becoming a personal trainer. I love the dream in each; I am no less proud of one than the other. So, in the same way, does the Mother of the world love each of us with equal ardor. So, in the same way, does she embrace all the disparate parts within ourselves, in the process setting right our internal fractures. 

As the lunar crescent dawns anew in the sky, light a candle and meditate on the mother in the moon.  First, drop out of your head, and into the bottomless depths of your heart.  Set aside, for the moment, all expectations.  Feel the tension of those thoughts that chase each other round and round the brain dissipate.  Allow the honey in your heart to sweeten the 
sting of any harsh mental judgements.  Recall how it felt to be unconditionally loved, whether by your birth mother, grandparent, or friend. Bask in the warmth of that affection; feel the protection and care encircle you.  Then, bring each contradictory, odd, or rejected part of yourself out of hiding, and into the moonlight of this conscious, loving awareness. 

Finally, continuing to focus on your heart chakra, imagine an image of the divine mother reflected in the moon.  Perhaps it is the Virgin Mary, or Kuan Yin.  Perhaps it is the Greek mother goddess, Ceres. Or maybe it is the Egyptian Iris, the Hindu Laksmi or the Buddhist Tara.  Breathe her love in through your heart, infusing your whole being with the sweetness and largesse of her merciful heart. Then, breathe her love out, extending compassion outward in ever-widening circles, until the whole world is included in the embrace of the Great Mother. "Love is the Divine Mother's arms; and when those arms are outspread, every soul falls into them," says the Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan. A fitting invocation to this new moon, a prayer to which we can add "amen."