Violets, Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron

"AMID RARE BOOKS, AN OLD POTTERY BOWL HOLDS FRESH VIOLETS"

Tonight, in Byron Bay, Australia on 16th May 2009 at 10.50pm(AEST), the waning Moon will rise, followed shortly after by **Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron in conjunction.  

By midnight (AEST), these heavenly bodies will all be above the horizon, in the eastern sky. If you were to stand at the Eastern most tip of Australia, at Byron Bay, you would see the Moon rise first, then not long after, bright Jupiter will rise. 

** Neptune and Chiron are not visible to the naked eyes, but trust me, they are all conjunct at this time (appear together) in the sky, at almost the same longitude. 

Jupiter, Neptune and the Moon are also very close (17th May 2009), by their declination. (approximately 15 degrees south of the celestial equator).

Tomorrow night, (Sunday 17th May 2009),  at about 11.30 AEST, these bodies will rise in the Eastern sky again, but this time, the MOON will rise just after Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron.  

THIS heavenly configuration will ALSO occur again, in one month - on 13th June 2009, just after 9.30pm (AEST)

Just before the WINTER SOLSTICE  

**This conjunction is a rare event. Occurring last time, in September of 1945, this conjunction, in 2009, will be a longer conjunction, and last until the end of the year. This means that the MOON will pass by Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron each month, in conjunction, until the end of the year. 

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The Sun is heading towards the winter solstice, with the DARK of the MOON occurring (AEST ) on 23rd of June 2009, about two hours before dawn, through to almost sunrise.

This is a powerful time, for alignment of many of the  things, that these solar system bodies represent.

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Let's have a look at what these "planets" represent.

Firstly the Sun:

Your individuality, essence, the vital forces in life. The positive , masculine forces of life.

The Moon?

Your emotional centre, the rythm of earthly life, the nurturing energies and our feminine receptive sides.

Jupiter?

Jupiter is about knowledge, expansion and management of that knowledge, philosophical boundaries and widening of horizons. Great luck, both "ill" and "good", are associated with Jupiter. Jupiter will take you on a journey to your higher mind.

Neptune:

Neptune aligns, in life, with matters of faith, inspiration and vision, serving to the whole, secretive associations, multiplicity and subconscious activites. Neptune rules the great age of Pisces, that has occurred during the past 2000 years. Neptune rules alcohol, oil, narcotics, death process and sleep.

Chiron:

Chiron is associated with healing and journeys through spiritual discovery, in the earthly realm. Part of Chiron appears to be about learning to be human. Taking all the inherited human failings and abilities, and learning how to apply spirit, to assist soul transformation, in our earthly states.

Chiron, is in part, a teacher, and a healer. Often that part within us, that is waiting to be heard, as a small courageous voice, constantly reminding you to "grow beyond", "get over" learn that lesson", change that habit".

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Now, all of these planets - the Sun (SPIRIT) ; the Moon (emotion); Jupiter (expansive knowledge); Neptune (spiritual vision and faith); Chiron (our inner healings) are forming a harmonious trine, at the end of the air signs - Aquarius and Gemini, over the coming month.

This helps us get our little "thinking caps"on, and apply ourselves with some ease. Mysterious providence prevails, lost opportunities are glimpsed, possibilities abound, and some chaos can be found. 

However, prevailing over all of this is the symbolic Masculine (creative) becoming less and less, toward the point of the Winter solstice.   The Dark of the Moon coinciding with it, veils the symbolic femine (receptive).  

This can be a deeply pivotal point -  of change, life and death - at this time.   Harmonious flowing of Vision, Knowledge and Healing come with this HEAVENLY configuration and the stories it releases.

This coming month has endless possibilties for re-writing old ways, faith-testing moments of luck, institutional fortitude and some fantastic opportunities for "natural magic".

The monthly moon cycle, as it decays into the dark of the moon, this month, will do one more round, of the earth, and then? It's WINTER SOLSTICE. 

MAGICAL!!!

waiting for symbolic rebirth

quiet stillness in the deep of night

dark

a key Sabian Symbol for this time?

"AMID RARE BOOKS, AN OLD POTTERY BOWL HOLDS FRESH VIOLETS"

colours to consider?

BLUE , VIOLET and PURPLE. 

the KEY CONSTELLATION to consider?

THE SWAN - Cygnus  

Resources:-

What Watch Astrology program - PaperTV

Molly's Astrology 

Constellation of Words - Etymology and symbology of constellations and fixed stars

WINTER SOLSTICE info at the Sydney Observatory , Australia (Part of the Power House Museum)

Times of Solstices and Equinoxes at Astrology on the Web

Articles & Links mainly for 2009 Jupiter Neptune Chiron conjunction

• Jupiter  Neptune  Chiron - in May 2009 - astrology articles by Pam Younghans**
  
• http://www.astroalchemy.com/articles/JupiterNeptuneChiron.html
  
• Jupiter Neptune conjunct in Aquarius  at aquariuspapers.com
• A Direct Hit from Neptune Jupiter
  
• May 2009 at Aquamoon Astrology  
• Planetary Energies Beltane - Earth & Sky Wisdom by Lara Owen
• Jupiter Neptune Chiron Conjunction - astrological musing by Lynn Hayes
  

Stewardship - the Balances

Land, Water and Air Stewardship , to be fully understood, can be strengthened via bonding with nature at early ages in growth of the child. Children can perceive contradicting messages, within their surrounds, as they gather information to help them through their early childhood days and beyond.
Respect of all living things, and beyond, to the very air they breath, the water and land they live upon and the ecological contexts : all these things are best tended to , at an early age. However, therein lies an issue or two.

Firstly, if the very mechanisms that are instruments for education (parent, family and teacher groups, community and government) uphold social patterns that contradict sustainable, natural stewardship issues, then the dichotomy could, in time, become rather apparent to the youth and earlier childhood group. The teacher, perhaps not even able to pass on truly sustainable living knowledge.
Secondly, should the task of responsible enviromental educational systems actually be put into place, what of the vast array of non sustainable economic practices that should gradually be percieved as just that : vastly unsustainable. This is not a very pallatable outcome for an educational policy maker.

Yet, should a system be honestly put into place to, as a national educational objective, promoting love of the land, nature, respect, and continuity of sound ecological practices, then the skills to transform a nation can be created via youth who at least understand how to help nature balance itself.

At a practical local level, and within the regional context, strongly integrated land stewardship practices are best practiced and passed on at early childhood development stages. This integration of respect for the land, is far from happening in mainstream society. The way of the market, the economy, the "world" is so strongly about lack of respect. Society functions with many blind spots to consequences of their actions.
Regarding policy and directives for early education Australia wide ?
This is where the practical land stewardship framework begins - it is built here and travels beyond, into future adulthood and social practices.......
How does the current land stewardship "adult" faction rate, at the time of writing (April 2009)? I suspect not very well... there is much need for improvement here, regarding the process of land stewardship education.

Koala Planning Dreaming

A wise developer once told me that to successfully plan for development, the following rules of thumb can work for everyone:-

• leave the surveyors and engineers till the very last
• consult local wildlife and environmental experts first
• fit the building of homes and infrastructure around the wildlife habitats
• go gently, use as little machinery as possible
• do not squeeze as many "home blocks"in as possible - rather, let the circumstances of the land dictate how many "home blocks" there can be
• when you know where all the animals live and how they live, then, and only then, bring in the surveyors and engineers

I believe this is true for all catchments, all land, all developments. Water considerations should also be dealt with in this way, firstly consulting local catchment authorities and local water knowledge to understand the nature of water above and below the ground. Monitoring this water, and altering the catchment only to benefit the sustainability of the catchment's well being.

Growing by Organics - Food Gardens and Sharing

The Decision to become an Organic Gardener

When you decide to grow Organically, truly organically, then you never look back. You watch the soil grow, increase, become thicker, more teeming with life.  The humus layer starts to multpily.

When your decision has been made, to only grow organically, sharing your food with the other animals in the living garden can be full of compromise.

Growing organically is a way of living. It isn't just growing some plants without adding fertilisers and pesticides. It is about caring for nature, loving the land, rejoicing in harvest, being resourceful and finding, eventually, that you are "tuned" into nature cycles that you never even realised existed before. Growing organic food is also a great way to connect, at a deep level, with the land you live on, and often it is also a great opportunity to connect with the community about you.

The Decision to Share

The sharing of garden space with animals brings more dynamics into the garden. If pest identities decide to also live in your garden, then understanding their ways, is one of the best things you can do.

Animals are often food opportunists. When they see food laid on, they can come in large numbers - a bit like a big free pantry, in the yard. 

If you find yourself overwhelmed with large populations of an animal, plant, insect, fungi, whatever - try to understand "WHY" this so called "PEST" has become your enemy! 

If you have an idea that in your garden is an ENEMY, then have a think about going back to spraying and non organic ways. 

Perhaps you are more able to deal with the "PEST" that way? 

Pesticides offer a short term alternative with long term consequences - toxic food chains, support of large petro chemical and bio-engineering/seed technology companies, loss of biodiversity to name a few long term consequences.

 

However, if you get yourself OVER the knowledge HUMP, and into the realm of foresight, "tuned in-ness", receptiveness to your land that you care for, then you may just realise that the "pest" is symptomatic of the environmental situation.  

Whilst some pests are better managed at a regional level, some can be handled at a very localised level.

If you try to "control" the weeds, fungi, insects and other animals, it is best to let nature help you. Observing, some learning, a few rules of thumb, and suddenly, you are an organic gardener. And, if you garden the way I do, then you possibly become a rather "lazy" gardener, allowing nature to do MOST of the work.

Hence, if you decide to weed a patch in your organic garden, it is quickly re-invented as a home, by the life that is already within your garden. 

• Seed in the topsoil,from past crops,  might emerge.
• Frogs from nearby shelter will come to graze on the insects.
• Small snakes hidden beneath logs may come to find the frogs. 
• Small birds, nesting in your trees and shrubs may come to eat the larva of insects
• Delicate wasps will take spiders to their young.
  
• The list is endless..................

Biodiversity of an area decreases with sudden death of vegetation - although many scavenging animals may arrive to quickly clear up the dying plant and animal life. Animals will leave an area that has been sprayed by a herbicide, that has been badly burnt, that has been mowed over and over again. The first opportunists to re-enter the sprayed/burnt/mowed zone may come from nearby. They may come from your organic garden refuge. 

 When people decide to create a garden, a revegetation project or a habitat restoration program, often they are faced with land and plants that appear, on the surface,  to have little in common with their end product VISION.

The land that is chosen, for the project, may be weed infested, lacking in humous, toxic, boggy, or dry and rocky, perhaps even overgrown with large trees that are an vigorous environmental pests.

There appears, today, to be a large preoccupation with the spraying of glyphosate and related type herbicides that give a quick knockdown, leave limited residue and are easy to apply.

Once the project area is sprayed, then the death appears, animals and plants disappear, food chains are disrupted, habitats become useless. This is also the same for large scale slashing and mowing - there is an overall slowing down of micro habitat, until a new wave of life-force enters the system.

Over time, as this destructive process is repeated over and over again, on the same piece of land, the over-all biodiversity begins to get checked. The overall life force dwindles. Should the harsh, larger elemental forces ( fire, flood, drought, high wind, heatwave ) also act on that piece of land, then it becomes even more challenging for nature to reinvent the marvellous biodiverse patchwork quilt that protects and lays across the land.

Well, I have probably written enough on this subject for now. The choice is yours, if you grow organically. The choice is also yours if you chose to used herbicides or harsh action on habitats (slashing, burning, over cultivating).  

The choice, however, does not belong to the animals that live where you decide to do your project.

And so, before you begin any project, anywhere, on a piece of land - be it for revegetation, restoration, organic gardening, engineering purposes? 

• Have a look at where it is & what is there. 
• What is living there?
• How does it relates to the environment there. 
• Watch what happens as you move in with your sprayers and mowing equipment.
  
• Watch what happens when you approach the project gently, without large mowing and spraying operations.

What about the Deadlines?

No time? Too busy? In too much of a rush? Gotta do it NOW?  Then, at least, have a thought for the animals that live , where you will kill off life. 

Where do you think they will go? And how busy will THEIR LIVES be, once you have changed their home and habitat?

Offer a Lifeline!

The alternative is gentle hand weed removal, cutting of plants by scythe, shears, and other hand operated tools, laying over of weeds, possibly a brushcutter, mulching, and seeding with alternative, less invasive species. Gentle fire, gentle habitat re-arrangement, gentle disturbance.

Get it? Why rush into it wielding your power, when, in the scheme of things, life is so vulnerable these days.

And so.......

• If you eat from the land where you live, or nearby, then you can become more at one with the natural pulses of the environment about you. 
• It is a very "grounding" experience to constantly eat from near to where you live, especially if the food is healthy, grown with love and delivered fresh to your table. 
• And, very often, you will have food left over, that can be shared, both with the animals that live in your garden, and people who live nearby.
  

And so......

• If you help repair the habitats and land about you, whether by yourself, or with a group of volunteers - become one with the land first and foremost. 
  
• Take the time to look, feel, observe. 
  
• Fly up, high in your mind's eye, follow it's contours, see the land in it's context. 
  
• Walk the land with your heart, to find it's hidden wonder. 
  
• Delve into the soil with your imagination, to understand the basis of the property - its humus levels, earthworms, beetles, fungi and water balances.
  

Help others understand and see the benefits of overall careful land stewardship compared to the scientifically and socially geared "spray it with glyphosate" and "mow it repeatedly" policies.

The Reward of Gardening Organically and Sharing the Land

Thousands of little lives, saved. Thousands of little lives keep their habitats. 

Thousands of answers as to why to become an Organic gardener!

Links:- 

Land and Water Stewardship in the Mt Warning Caldera Region - food for thought - bluecray.org

Wildlife leaves Glyphosate Bank - finds refuge in Organic Garden : article at Bluecray Balance of Faeries

 

Goanna leaves the glyphosate bank, the butterflies leave too

The goanna leaves the dead bank of grass, after his meeting with PK and Litoria. The butterflies follow too. They are all sad that Rufous Bettong may not visit for a while.

PK and Litoria look for Rufous Bettong, and on the way, meet up with Goanna

Phantom Koala, Chin Ting and Litoria talk with the Goanna about Rufous Bettong's disappearance and big boots

PK (Phantom Koala), Litoria (the Frog) and Chin Ting (the Dragonfly) have been having adventures together. They came back from their holiday at Egg Rock (across the NSW / QLD border), and decided to visit Rufous Bettong, in the Burringbar Ranges, south east of Mt Warning.

When they got to Rufous Bettongs Burringbar home, they found him GONE!!

Where had he gone? Why did he leave? Where WAS HE???

They arrived at the gully nesting spot, where they usually found him, this time of year, and to their suprise, the gully had changed!!  It was all bare, the grass had died, and fallen over, and the many of the smaller marsupials that lived there had gone.

As they bravely moved out from the forest shade, and into the sunlight of the bare gully, they met Goanna, who showed them a big boot, lying in the gully.

"There's your culprit!" said Goanna.   "That's why Rufous Bettong is no longer living here.  It was the bigboots! The ones that wear those BOOTS!"

Phantom Koala was not suprised. He had seen the big boots everywhere, in their excavators, trucks, cars, on their mowers, in their nests, in their gardens. He had even run hard from one trying to catch him while he was visiting the Tweed Coast.

"So what happened then?" Litoria asked.  "What has happened to Rufous Bettong?"

"Why",  huffed the Goanna who was lazily sunning himself next to the big old boot "why, Rufous was just napping here, on day, minding his own business, when the whole place began to smell of death. He heard the big boots coming close, and he sneaked out of the gully, and hid near that log there, till night time, then he moved up further into the hills. Oh, one more thing..... Rufous didn't leave that day, he stayed here for a few weeks longer, and finally the poison smell went away, and he stayed back in the gully, under the dead grass, in his old nest. That is, until a bigboots came along and stood on his tail - after that he packed up and left- he says he is not coming back here for a while, because it is too smelly, full of death and he is scared of big boots."

"What about the grass? What happened to the grass?" asked Litoria, still very puzzled.

Goanna looked at Litoria, sized her up as a meal, then decided she was too small, not worth it. "Well, Litoria dear, the grass is dead from the big boots and their poisons. - you are lucky you weren't here when it happened, 'cos we all know how you little Frogs feel about poisons!"

PK and Litoria were sad about Rufous Bettong moving, and after talking with Goanna for a bit, they decided to follow Rufous Bettong's tracks into the higher ranges.  It was going to be another  long journey.

 Luckily Chin Ting had flown up high, and spotted Rufous Bettong far up in the Forest. Chin Ting could show them the way!!

Benoit and Macaranga