The Consecration of the Lamb
by Jean Hinson Lall

It is lambing season here in Kent, where after weeks of dark, chilly, messy weather we are suddenly bathed in glorious spring sunshine. Humans and sheep alike are frolicking on playing field, campus, park and meadow. Not only the sun but Earth and all her creatures seem reborn. On March 20, at the vernal equinox, the sun crossed the celestial Equator, bringing its warmth back to the Northern Hemisphere. Day, now equal in length to night, will wax in influence until the summer solstice. Festivals of renewal and deliverance will mark the season in myriad places and ways.

The Full Moon this week falls on Good Friday, as Christians mark the crucifixion of Christ, the "Lamb of God," whose sacrifice redeems the world and washes away the sins of the people. This mystery is understood in the light of the symbolism of the Jewish ritual sacrifice of the Passover lamb, commemorating the deliverance of the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt. Also on the day of this Full Moon the Jewish festival of Purim will be observed, recalling Queen Esther’s deliverance of her people.

Sacrifice is appropriate to beginnings, whether the arrival of a growing season or a calendar year, the birth of a child, the enthronement of a ruler, or the inception of a building project. What is sacrificed must always be something of significant worth. In a herding or farming culture the offering up of a pure white lamb represents a giving back of precious life to Life, a dedication of the very symbol of renewed life – the first lamb of the springtime -- to the source from which it has come. Naturally enough, then, the Ram who fathers the lambs is the animal image for Aries, the Fire sign that opens the new zodiacal year.

Deities with rams’ heads, the ram as the steed on which a deity rides, and gods who tend sheep or carry a lamb are found in many cultures, associated not only with natural fertility and procreation but with immortality, salvation, sacrifice and spiritual renewal. The link between the Ram and Fire is seen not only in the Western zodiac but in other symbolic systems as well.

The ram embodies the hot procreative and regenerative force required for new beginnings: the male animal’s pursuit of the female and the act of penetration, the violent process of birth, the pushing up of green shoots through still-frozen ground, the budding out of trees, the bursting forth of new ideas, the exploration and settlement of new lands. Aries lives for action. It must discover itself by discovering the world through passionate engagement and intense experience. It hurls itself into the fray and batters down all obstacles to self-expression. By inclination Aries is individual, not social; active, not contemplative; excessive, not balanced.

At the Libra Full Moon, however, Aries looks into the mirror of its opposite sign and sees the possibility of finding balance, measure, reflection, partnership, and a place in the greater whole. Whereas Aries’ image is that of a rambunctious red-blooded animal, Libra is represented by an inanimate object: the Scales, a balance with two equal arms from which are suspended the two weighing trays or bowls. Aries’ blazing sense of "I" now confronts the reality of the other and the possibility of a "We". Aries wants satisfaction of its own desires, salvation from its own perils and demons, deliverance from the burdens and boundaries that limit its creative reach. On Libra’s scales, these individual desires and demands are weighed against the claims and needs of the community. Aries is asked to consecrate the best that he has – his passion, energy, creative spirit, even his ability to fight and kill -- to create a better life for all. At the most obvious and literal level, if he wants to procreate, society expects him to marry (Libra being the sign of matrimony). If he seeks a life of adventure and risk, he must find a career or community role that makes use of his courage, daring and strength – perhaps as a police officer, soldier or rescue worker – and dedicate himself to the laws and disciplines of that field of work.

We might look at Libra’s Scales as another form of the Cross, which is not only the central Christian symbol, emergent on Good Friday, but a timeless and universal image of the totality of the cosmos and our place in it. The horizontal arms represent our participation in the world, the working out of the balance between the individual and society. The vertical standard on which the arms are mounted represents the connection between Heaven and Earth, the sacred dimension of existence. Without this standard, there would be nothing to support the horizontal balance. Any idea of social order, proportion and justice is possible only because individually and as a community we belong to a larger cosmic order which is characterized by justice. The point where the two axes meet symbolizes our point of access to the intelligence of the divine order, which is not remote but immediately present, in the midst of our passionate engagement with life and our search for justice and community.

The sacrifice of the ram of Aries on the scales of Libra does not obliterate the passionate, virile spirit of Aries, but consecrates and elevates it. The mystery embodied by this Full Moon is that just as the ever-renewing source of life (both biological and spiritual) is built into the cosmic order, so too are the springs of intelligence, moral reflection, and just action.

© 2005 Jean Hinson Lall
All rights reserved

Look for the Aries New Moon
on April 8, 2005.