COSMIC NEWS
                                By M. Kelley Hunter   ©2004
GAEA  MOON

I shall sing of Gaea, universal mother,
Firmly founded, the oldest of divinities.        -Homer
Under the underworld, in the deepest, darkest, secret-most caves of
Tartarus, Chaos silently stormed. Gaea stirred slightly. The deep-breasted
one felt a ripple in her state of profound inner contemplation, and slowly
became aware of a pulse radiating from her heart. Amidst the churning of
non-being, Eros quickened in her bosom, pricking her with a most subtle
touch, stirring her desire-- to be, to birth.

The divine spark pierces like a gold-tipped arrow, compelling action. Eros
is the primal archer in mythology, letting loose sharp stabs of love and
desire. The arrows of Eros come from the dark heart of chaos, the vast
unknown. Eros taps into the power of awesome realms, throwing hot light into
shadows. Desire is created or re-created, something is born or reborn out of
the darkness into the light, out of the undercurrents into the bright fires
of vision.  We create the future.

In the beginning desire descended on it--
    That was the primal seed, born of the mind.         --Rg Veda

Eros is the primal force, the intense passion that focuses chaos into
matter. Eros and Gaea create the universe through the power of attraction
and desire. Eros is most commonly known as Cupid, the naughty cherubic son
of Aphrodite whose arrows cause wounds of love. This Valentine card image
hardly does justice to the creative power inherent in the erotic function.
Understood mainly in connection with physical sexuality, its pleasurable
intensification and release, With its fusion of spiritual and emotional,
Eros seeks not simply release, but heightened stimulation (see Eros and
Pathos: Shades of Love and Suffering). True Eros is essentially concerned
with the life-generating dance of the cosmic masculine and feminine and the
juicy, creative and re-creative tango of lovers. Erotic desire is tantric
and profoundly transformational.

The NEW MOON on September 14 is in Virgo, the sign of the great Earth
goddess, Gaea. An earth sign, Virgo is responsive to Anima Mundi, the soul
of the Earth that reverberates through all living beings on this planet.
Anima Mundi contains the radical notion that the world is not just in our
minds, that we are in the mind of the world. James Lovelock¹s famous Gaia
hypothesis took on the name of this original Earth goddess to call attention
to the vibrant aliveness and spirituality of our planet. The tendency to
personify nature in human terms seems to make it more accessible to us.

Her ample body gave birth to ancestral titans, to cyclopes and other
assorted monsters in the evolution of our planet--and to humans. Mother Gaea
has distinct features: a round face with large all-seeing eyes, a
broad-lipped sensual mouth, long hair that flows down her neck in streams
and rivers onto her large bosom. Her mouth, nose and eyes taste, sniff and
peer at us through all creatures of her world. We see her large-hipped,
fertile body laid out in undulating hills and valleys, buried in the ground
and painted in the dark womb of prehistoric caves.

A cosmically-informed intelligence, Gaea speaks to us in her own language.
She instructs us through the mirror of nature:  the cycle of seasons,
weather, flora and fauna rounds of the heavens. We evolve in the matrix of Mother Earth along with
"all our relations," as the Native Americans remind us. Virgo is about the
mind-body, the interaction of mind and nature¹s substance. Seen through
Einstein¹s equation of matter with energy, we can experience the universe as
a vibrant expression of divinity. Hopefully we live up to her intelligence.

Virgo is the worker bee sign, so this New Moon opens a month of getting down
to the nitty-gritty, sizzling with high energy. The New Moon is exactly
conjunct Mars, the Red Planet--the yang, courageous, motivating,
stimulates-those-red-blood- cells kind of stuff. Go for it. Eros at work.
Jupiter is along for the ride, increasing energy. This can be an immensely
productive time.

(Special note: Those born in the sixties, with Uranus/Pluto both in Virgo,
are especially feeling this New Moon and the themes I discuss
here
This cluster of Moon, Sun, Mars and Jupiter are all challenged by Pluto in
Sagittarius. Sag sees the forest, Virgo each tree. With its arrow of
intention, Sagittarius targets a goal; step by step Virgo arranges all the
details to get there. Pragmatic Virgo applies the litmus test of mundane
practicality to Sag ideals and intuitions. A belief system is no use if it
doesn¹t work on a day-to-day basis. Virgo reminds Sag to walk the talk; Sag
inspires Virgo¹s work with meaning. This has significant implications for
the way we live life, from daily routines and wellness to business and
politics. Now our imagination reaches out to find meaningful activity that
has relevance for the soul.

What do you want? What are you doing and does it resonate with a positive
vision of the future? What does your body want to be doing? That erotic
charge is exciting every cell in our bodies in response to our Earth
vibrating under the influence of high-charged solar flares and galactic
impulses. This Moon strongly suggests listening to the instinctive wisdom of
your body. If you don¹t, your body will talk to you in no uncertain terms.

As indicated by intense weather and world events, Earth is in an
extraordinary process of transformation uncertain future, large unknowns and the ensuing chaos of meaning and frayed
belief systems, many people are feeling fear and despair in face of the
emerging void. This is an immensely powerful moment. We have a choice, one
of the most basic choices in life wonderful Hindu word, bhey. It conveys a mixture of fear and awe, the kind
of feelings we experience in front of the immensity of the divine. This is
not a shrinking fear, more a fear of offending the true beloved, the god of
your heart, whatever you call the Great Spirit.

Can we remain in front of this deep immensity, like the black hole of the
Galactic Center, long enough to let its heart touch our hearts? How is our
collective imagination synthesizing this cosmic data and making sense out of
it? Images have great power in our conscious and unconscious minds, shaping
our beliefs about life and impacting how we live our lives. Is a black hole
a hungry monster waiting to chomp our star down its throat? Or is it the
cosmic dancing ground of shiva-shakti, the male-female creative union?
 
Gaea was goddess of oracles, prayed to for prophecies. In 2001, geologist
Jelle Zeilinga de Boer published his findings of fault lines intersecting
beneath the great temple of divination at Delphi. Gaseous fumes emitted from
this deep cleft in the Earth, confirming traditions of oracular priestesses
in altered states, inspired by intoxicating smoke. Perhaps that mystical
smoke wafted up from the very depths of Tartarus itself (see
http://www.wesleyan.edu/argus/archives/aa_archive_mar292002/dateyear/n6.html
).

Many people are going for intoxicating smoke, drink, or sensation-numbing
drugs, which muddy the vibrational waters and create static in the reception
of cosmic signals.
VENUS OPPOSED NEPTUNE warns about addictive indulgences substances, shopping or romantic illusions. The arts (Venus) and
spirituality (Neptune) are lovely expressions of our increasing sensitivity
to cosmic vibration.

MERCURY, also in Virgo, OPPOSITE URANUS, still newly in Pisces, has us
plugged in to new electrical frequencies and vibrations We¹re all getting
heightened perceptions from the impact of solar flares and cosmic
electricity. This can easily put us in altered states. Our body chemistry is
changing, as we respond to the new rhythms.

Some say Gaea the mother of Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. Memory gives rise
to "spontaneous impulses toward speech, song, art, dance, poetry and other
manifestations rendering the numinous and experiential--not just spoken of
and about, but enacted."(HG Baines) Let us Re-member, as we dance and sing
our way into this new millennium.

SPECIAL OFFER this Moon cycle:
Readings for those born with Pluto in Virgo, 1957-1972. One hour, $85.

Astrologer for over 35 years, Kelley Hunter lives in St. John, US Virgin
Islands, where she leads star gazing nights. She is astrologer-in-residence
for the Self Centre at Caneel Bay Resort and for the Omega Institute winter
programs in the Caribbean. Kelley recently earned her Ph.D. in an
interdisciplinary combination of philosophy, cosmology and myth. For an
astrological consultation or to be on her e-mail list for monthly articles,
write kellhunter@earthlink.net. Explore her website at www.heliastar.com.

Travel Schedule 2004

The earth upon her celestial spindle winds
Her ecstasy-producing danceS.--Kathleen Raine

Email or call 1-888-7ALTAIR or 340-643-2179 unless other contact given
ENGLAND  October 12-26
October 13    Wessex Astrology Circle, contact EileenMcAdam@aol.com
        BLACK MOON LILITH and the COSMIC FEMININE
October 18    Bath Spa College
presentation to students of Cultural Astronomy Program
October 25    Astrological Lodge of London, contact carole-west@ntlworld.com
        BLACK MOON LILITH and the COSMIC FEMININE

NY    ALBANY    Oct. 30   Capital Region Wellness Center -personal
consultations
Contact: Ann at 518-446-0200 or crwcinfo@nycap.rr.com
 --
M. Kelley Hunter, Ph.D.
Astrologer, mythologist, educator and artist
PO BOX 37
ST JOHN  VI 00831-0037
340-693-5849
www.heliastar.com

Con-sider = with stars