January 05, 2001

Ah hah! Of course! The impact of the abundance of Moon cards finally penetrated my thick skull! Come Tuesday, January 09 the sky will host another eclipse event: this time a Lunar Eclipse!

Lunar eclipses are the augury of change. As the shadow of the Earth moves across the face of the Moon the glory of the full Moon is removed from our sight. Psychologically, this can be related to an over-sensitization of emotions, a lessening of our self-awareness and an overshadowing of our carefully crafted and tediously maintained emotional defense-system.

My astrology friends tell me that an eclipse can create a turmoil of exposed irrationality or an otherwise unexplained bout of emotional insecurity, depending where the eclipse occurs in relationship to our natal charts. Solar Eclipses and their locations are a pointer to what we are aware of, Lunar Eclipses point to where and what needs to be changed. Further, the effects of a Lunar Eclipse are longer lasting than that of a Solar Eclipse, about six months!

I was going to talk about the Moon card from the Goddess Tarot, who is represented by Kris Waldherr as Diana. However, on reflection I find the card to be unappealing and Ms. Waldherr's description to be neither sympathetic nor particularly inspiring, "...Diana was honoured as the goddess of the moon...The changing moon reflects the cycle of nature and of life."

So, I went to Susan Seddon Boulet's extraordinary paintings for inspiration about this Goddess associated with the Moon. This time to the Goddess Knowledge Cards where 48 of her magnificent magical paintings have been put together in a deck of cards, slightly larger than a poker deck. Combined with the inimitable words of Michael Babcock these cards are a treasure.

The card shows a frosty northern night, a full Moon casts silvery shadows in the forest. The birch trees are illuminated into weird and slightly mocking stick figures. Front and center is Diana in all her pagan beauty. Nothing weak and cloying about this female! Boulet has clothed her nakedness in furs against the cold, but left her breasts bare in full appraisal of her womanhood. Upon her brow is a diadem of antlers replete with a diamond-like coating of hoarfrost. Babcock tells us, "Diana is the ancient Lady of the Beasts, called by the Romans Lucina, Goddess of the Light. As mistress of wild things she is especially responsible for anything young and vulnerable, be it wild or human. She is goddess of solitude, comfortable with the wilderness and with the great silences of nature. She represents the mystic, primitive identity of the hunter and the hunted..."

With this information available it should be possible to combine the wisdom that can be garnered by the reflected light of the Full Moon with the knowledge of where and what requires changing for the Lunar Eclipse. Gird your loins and prepare for battle against ignorance and misinformation! BE Diana!

Remember, it's in the cards!

__________________________________________________