Equinox Timing And Tour Updates

Speaker 2 0:06

Hello friends and welcome to episode 14 of Darkness and Light. As always, I am your host, Wendy Rule, and this is a podcast about myth, Magic, and nature. When this episode lands, it will be just after the September equinox and one day before the Aries full moon. But I'm actually recording this just before I set out for my big Australian tour, kind of cramming to try to get some work in before I leave because it's a big tour and there's not many days off to record. I know I'll have to record the next episode on the road, but this one, I'm still here in New Mexico, but this will land when I am in Melbourne, and we'll have just done a big show in Melbourne for the Equinox, and we'll be heading to Perth on the day that this show is released. So that's exciting. And it's nice too that you know I'm recording this here in the lead up to the equinox, and it will be Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, and I will be flying to the springtime in just a few days. So it will be Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. I always love that seasonal shift when I move between hemispheres, reminding me, us, that the world is indeed a sphere, and that spring and autumn coexist, winter and summer coexist. Always this beautiful balance between these polarities, that the Earth can hold both at the same time. At the moment of the equinox, the Sun moves into the sign of Libra, opening the doorway to Libra season. And the opposite sign of Libra is Aries, so the Full Moon during Libra season is always going to be in the sign of Aries. That's the polarity. Half a sky away from each other, so the Full Moon, of course, will be rising at sunset, setting at sunrise, lighting the sky for the whole night. So beautiful and so powerful. So the Aries Full Moon will always be the first Full Moon after the September equinox. And I love how that Full Moon holds us together. I can talk about the energies of this Aries full moon, and it doesn't matter whether it's springtime or autumn, wherever you are. That Aries Full Moon shines over the whole world in the sign of Aries. So it's this beautiful unifying force. I spoke about the Moon being a unifying force in one of the early episodes, but because I do tour and move between hemispheres, usually a couple of times a year, the Moon is the thing that keeps me really anchored during all these seasonal shifts, although it's that same Moon in the same sign at the same phase, regardless of where I am in the world. So it's very stabilizing for me and hopefully for you too. So as this episode lands so close to the Full Moon, we'll be focusing our energies on that beautiful Moon for this episode and the Aries energy, and then diving deeper into Libra energy, the episode two weeks from now, which will be on the Libra Dark Moon. And with this being a special Full Moon episode, and with Aries being the first sign of the zodiac, I thought it might be nice to do a little ritual during this episode. That will be toward the end of the episode, and you might like to gather a candle and some matches, a pen and paper, and if you wish a tarot or oracle deck or runes or whatever you might like to use, none of this is essential. You can do the whole ritual just by listening and imagining, visualizing in your mind's eye, or you can just listen and enjoy. But if you do want to dive a layer deeper, you can push pause, go grab those things and know that we'll be using them toward the end of this episode.

Libra Sun Opposite Aries Moon

Speaker 2 5:04

I find it very helpful, when exploring one of the sings of the zodiac, to also explore its opposite. That line of polarity that runs through center and connects seemingly opposite points on the circle. So this polarity, Libra Sun and Aries Moon, and that will be the opposite in six months, Aries Sun, Libra Full Moon. I think this polarity in particular requires an acknowledgement of the other sign to really make sense of it. Maybe they all do, like Scorpio and Taurus, life and death, etc. But the Libra energy, so beautiful, ruled by the planet Venus, is all about balance, balance between self and other, within and without, action and stillness. While Aries is very much about the singular energy, the singular sense of I that emerges out of the collective of the final sign of the zodiac Pisces. With Pisces, we've all dissolved into that beautiful dream sea, merged with the collective unconscious. And then out of that the next sign comes along and goes, hang on a minute, I'm an individual. I'm me. I am. So with Aries being very focused on this sense of individual identity, Libra provides the balance of the opposite. Aries asks, Who am I? And Libra asks, Who am I in relationship? Where Aries says, What do I want? Libra says, What do we need? So there's always a sense of the other with Libra. This stepping back and recognizing the other person. And that's why you know the Libra energy is so diplomatic, holding space for the other, while the Aries energy is very much focused on that sense of the individual self. So they really need each other to bring balance. Aries without Libra is only me, and Libra without Aries is everybody except me. So between them, that balance brings a strong sense of individual identity while also recognizing the validity of the other person, of the other in general. So that Full Moon comes along and illuminates this need for balance between self and other. It's a very, very powerful, powerful time, very powerful Moon. And of course, in mythology, Mars, who rules the sign of Aries, and Venus, who rules the sign of Libra, are lovers. So that's Aphrodite and Ares in the Greek pantheon, or Venus and Mars in the Roman. So the fact that they are lovers really indicates this connection between seeming opposites. The goddess of love and the god of war are drawn to each other because they bring balance.

Aries As The First Spark

Speaker 2 8:20

That Venusian energy softens the Martian energy. And the Martian energy brings the spark to Venus. As the first sign of the zodiac emerging out of that dream sea of Pisces, if you think back to two episodes ago and that Pisces Full Moon, which was that epic eclipse and very emotional time for me, Aries now comes along the Full Moon and brings a lot of clarity, a lot of drive, a lot of forward motion and momentum. It's the sign of the leader charging ahead. First sign of the zodiac saying, “follow me”. There's youthful determination with this energy of Aries, a strong sense of independence and autonomy, of leading rather than following. So those three modalities that I've talked of quite a lot. The reason I talk about them is for me, it really helped me gain an understanding of the difference of the signs that are in the same element. How is Aries different than Sagittarius? How is Taurus different than Capricorn, etc.? So these modalities, these three modes of action: Cardinal, beginning things, Fixed, completing things or manifesting things, and Mutable, changing things, moving things along. I find these just so helpful. So Aries, Cardinal, Fire, fire that begins things. So then we can think about what is fire that begins things in nature, in its natural state. It's the initial spark. In a way, it can kind of be that lightning bolt too. That initial spark that sets everything in motion. So it's not the fuel that keeps the fire going, but it's that initial spark. To me, Aries is like the single candle flame. There's a lot of focus and direction and concentration of fire in this sign. If we think of Fixed Fire, that's Leo, like the golden Sun that stays put and everything comes to it, like all the planets circling around, you know, like the warm hearth. And then Mutable Fire is Sagittarius. I think of that as like the glittering starlight dispersed and magical, leading us into wonder. It's fire that inspires. So this Cardinal Fire is fire that leads. It's the lantern that leads us out of the dark. It initiates, it begins, it gets things moving. And it's driven by pure energy, by passion and enthusiasm, inspiration, will. There's a sense of spontaneity to this Aries fire of like, yep, here we go. So a shadow side can then be taking action before it's been fully thought out, jumping into a situation without fully considering all the implications, that excitement of like let's go, enthusiasm and action. There can be a recklessness to this Aries energy and impulsiveness and impatience. That initial spark that just wants to light the next thing and the next and the next and the next, that wants to get running. And for this episode, I really want us to embrace that energy of this enthusiasm of the initial spark of something new, of setting something in motion. We'll come to that in the ritual. But for now, let's really feel that pure, potent, fiery energy of this Full Moon.

Ares And Mars In Myth

Speaker 2 13:02

Aries is ruled by the planet Mars. Mars is the name of the Roman god, and the Greek equivalent is the god Ares. So the sign is spelt A-R-I-E-S, and the god is spelt A-R-E-S. Often there's a pretty straight parallel between the Roman version of a god and the Greek version. But with Aries and Mars, they're quite different. Ares is a war god. He's the god of the battle, not the strategic war like Athena, like playing chess and thinking who's gonna move next. Ares is the battle frenzy right in there. There's a bloodlust to that energy, and there can be anger and violence associated with the god Ares. So he was often feared in ancient times, respected, but wasn't so much loved and embraced like Artemis or Apollo or Aphrodite, has definitely a deep respect for that tremendous power of Ares, who is an embodiment of the terrifying and uncontrollable face of war. But there's evidence of rituals where a representation of Ares, like a statue, was actually ritually bound or restrained to help minimize the impact of that terrifying power. Ares is the son of Zeus, the great sky god, and Hera, queen of the gods, Zeus's wife and also sister, because this is myth, of course. But even Zeus acknowledges that Ares is a difficult god. In Homer's Iliad, Zeus actually tells Ares that he hates him. He says, I hate you worst of all the gods in Olympus, for you are ever fighting and making mischief. You know, so that's kind of reflecting how the Greek people felt about Ares too. Respected, but feared. But Mars, on the other hand, Mars was celebrated not just as a god of war, but also as an agricultural god. So if we jump ahead or back six months, at the moment of the March equinox, that's when the Sun moves into Aries. So astrology initially came out of the Northern Hemisphere, this version of Western astrology. So Aries, Aries the sign, and Ares the God are associated with springtime energy, which is this potent, driven force of renewal, of emergence after the winter. So Mars reflects that springtime quality more clearly than Aries does. As an agricultural god, Mars was also the green growing shoots pushing forward with the spring. It was that force of nature renewing itself and that potency of life pushing forward, of light coming out of the darkness. There was also those warring aspects, but it was tempered with this sense of life force. So for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, we can harness that Aries energy during the springtime, you know, the March equinox, but also during this Full Moon six months later. Even though it's the Autumn Equinox, that Aries Full Moon comes along and reflects the opposite energy of this fresh new start. I often feel that in autumn, and particularly around the Aries full moon, this sense of a whole new wave of fresh beginning. And for those of you who are living in the Southern Hemisphere, even though the September equinox takes us into Libra season, that Aries full moon holds that energy of that fresh new springtime beginning of Mars, of Aries. So in the southern hemisphere, we can harness those traditional energies of a sign and place them in their traditional season by honoring the Full Moon. So in the Southern Hemisphere, even though it's Libra season, which is associated with autumn in the northern hemisphere, that Full Moon holds that Aries energy of spring.

List Moons And Clear Intentions

Speaker 2 18:05

There is a tradition that I learnt long long ago, in my early days of discovering Witchcraft, and that is the tradition of doing focused ritual at each of the Cardinal Full Moons in the year, and there's going to be four of those, one for each of the Elements. So Aries, Libra, Capricorn, Cancer. And that Cardinal energy helps us to focus and then take action, to begin things, to get clear about where we're going and how we're going to do that. So these Moons in this practice or tradition, and I honestly can't remember where I read this. Someone came up with this, but I don't know who it was. It was years and years ago that I read about this. That those Cardinal Moons are referred to as List Moons. It's a time to make your list of your intentions, where your energy is going to be focused for the next three months, up until the next Cardinal Moon. So it's a nice chunk of time, that three months. It's a season, essentially. Where is my focus going to be for this season, for this three-month period, up until the next cardinal full moon? And the full moon, every full moon, holds this peak energy of possibility, of potency and clarity to help us to clarify our intentions. And really, to me, that's what Magic is all about. It's about clearly stating our intentions for what changes we want in our lives, because Magic is always going to bring change. What's the point in doing it if we're not going to embrace the changes that it brings? Creating focus around the positive change that we wish to actualize in our lives, and then sending that out to the universe, open to receiving what comes back. But that focus part is really important to get clear about what it is that we do actually want for the next stage of our lives, peace or prosperity or creativity or love, whatever it might be. So these List Moons are a great chance to consciously take a moment to go, okay, what now? And I think that a big part for me of doing these rituals is just getting clarity within myself. And we can support the energy of the ritual or the spell by surrounding ourselves with or including objects that resonate with the particular energy that we are calling in in our lives. And that can be really helpful for keeping that focus, but they're not necessary. We can also do all this Magic in our minds. Anyway, for this Aries List Moon, I would love us to spend a little moment in ritual, tapping into this energy of the Moon that unites the whole planet. So if you need a moment right now to gather your things, you can push pause and go and do that. And remember that all of this can also be done simply by visualizing and imagining and opening to the energies that we're calling in.

Candle And Moonlight Centering

Speaker 2 22:00

Let’s get started by getting centred, in the right here, right now, always our startling point here as earthlings, in our bodies, here at the meeting point of north, south, east, west, above, below. Breathing into our hearts, into our center, and taking a moment to center and slow down. And a little reminder, too, that this ritual is going to be helpful at any time. Doesn't have to be this Full Moon, doesn't have to be a List Moon. It's simply a ritual to help us focus and get clarity about our intentions, about what action to take next. And this Aries energy can really help us gain clarity around this. So we're breathing into our center. And if you have a candle, light that candle now and spend a moment gazing into its flame. And if you are working just with your mind's eye, visualize a candle now. Picture that bright flame anchored to its source, its fuel, yet rising upward, pointing upward, focusing, and feel the energy of this fire. This divine spark that inspires both action and focus. This initial spark that sets things in motion. Your bright flame to shine a light. The pure energy of the flame is also within you. This divine spark is in you. Ready to activate the next stage of being. And connect with the light of this full moon. Imagine her in your sky, or maybe you can even see her. Whether it's day or night, there she is circling the earth. And imagine drawing down a beam of moonlight to your heart, to your center, strengthening that inner light within you, that divine spark, bringing clarity to what matters now in your life, what needs attention. Where are you wanting to direct this sacred flame, this potent energy of renewal, of beginning, of get up and go? This is a fresh new start, full of potential and possibility. If you have that pen and paper handy, or you could use your phone or computer, or simply imagine yourself writing or visualize those words. ANd we’re going to write about what our intentions and what our desires are for this next three-month period, up until the next list moan, the next Cardinal Moon. We're going to consider where do I need to place my energy? What are my intentions? What am I ready to begin? What am I excited to begin? Where can we focus and channel this Aries Full Moon energy?

Write Your Three Month Focus

Speaker 2 26:43

I'm gonna play a couple of minutes of the track Fire from my Meditations on the Four Elements album, just so that we can trance out and maybe some of the words might inspire you, but mostly go into your own world for a couple of minutes and think and get clarity. Where does my energy want to go now? So whenever you're ready, begin writing or imagining this list in your mind's eye, just free form right, see what comes out. Put pen to paper or picture this in your mind's eye. Where will I place my energy? What am I ready to begin? Okay. Now take a moment to look over what you've written or consider what you have thought about. See if you can clarify one intention amongst all those possibilities, just one. What feels like the most important thing that arose during that time of contemplation, and write this down clearly. And it's always good magical practice to write our intentions in the present tense rather than the future, because the future always remains in the future. So rather than saying, for example, I will write a successful book, you can say, I'm writing a successful book, rather than I will focus on my health, you could write, I focus on my health. So choosing one of the most vital points that came up as you wrote or contemplated, and clearly state where your energy will focus for these coming months, beginning right now. And now we are going to harness some of that beautiful, bright, clear energy of the Aries Full Moon to help us see more clearly what action we can next take, because of course Aries is all about action, what action we can take to help move us along this path that we

Tarot Pull For Next Action

Speaker 2 31:50

have chosen, this new course of action, this new state of being. What's the first thing that we can do? And we're going to use our cards for this. So I'm going to pull a card, and that could be what you like to reflect upon, but you're also welcome to pull your own card, or you might just be super clear already what your next action might be. But I'm going to pull a card now. That's for all of us. But also be aware you might also like to pull your own card. So I am actually using a different deck today than my usual Smith Ride await deck because that's packed in my suitcase, ready to fly to Australia. So I'm using an old deck that is called the Aquarian deck. And it's beautiful, has a kind of Art Nouveau vibe to it. So let's see. Next course of action, next individual action. Ten of Cups. Such a lovely card. In this particular representation, we have two people. We could think of them as a man and a woman, but we don't have to, gazing into each other's eyes, depicted in profile, gazing into each other's eyes. And above them are ten cups, and out of a central cup emerges a rainbow. So beautiful. The Rider Waite deck has this couple staring at a house, joyously raising their hands with that rainbow arched over the house. This one feels in this deck, it feels very much, feels very personal. This coming together as equals. Maybe it's that Aries Libra quality. So the next step. So it might be that the next action is what makes us feel safe. And a home is a place that we can set out from for our adventures. So beginning with that sense of creating a leaping-off point in a way, knowing that we always have sanctuary to come back to. So consider what that might mean for you in terms of first action, the next step to take. It definitely involves that sense of connection with another. In both the representations I spoke of, this Aquarian one, these people are gazing calmly into each other's eyes as equals. So there's a sense of connection, a self and other, and it's joyful. Maybe the first action is the thing that really brings us joy, that feels exciting, that lights us up like a rainbow. And if you have pulled your own cart, take note of that now and what that might mean to you. And once again gaze at your candle flame or hold that vision of the candle flame in your mind's eye. And if you wish, clearly state your intention and what your next step will be. This is where you choose to place your flame, your fire. This is your next action, supported by the light of this Aries full moon, full of direction, power, and will. And so mote it be.com.

Patreon Support And What Comes Next

Speaker 2 36:36

And of course, I will talk more about this tarot card and reflect a little more on this ritual in my next Magic Monday episode, which are weekly videos on my Patreon page. And every episode that follows a podcast, we always go a little deeper into the energy of the card that was drawn during the podcast. So I hope that you will join me there. That's just www.patreon.com /wendyrule. And that is what keeps this podcast afloat. That's why there's no ads. Because of you fine folks over on my Patreon who are putting your money where your heart is. And you might like to consider jumping on board if you're not yet a Patron. I can tell you that every single person who decides to become a paid patron, I am just so grateful when I see that notification come. And it means the world to me a big financial help, but also a lovely energetic help to know that we're building community together. Alright, my friends, I will be back here in a couple of weeks' time for the Libra Dark Moon episode, and we'll be exploring the descent of the Goddess, and I'm going to tell a story about the goddess Inanna. I look forward to connecting with you then. Until then, Bless ed Be.