Moon Journaling — January 12, 2022
Today the Moon is exalted in the Nakshatra Krittika. Starting the day in Aries and ending in Taurus, Krittika is ruled by the Sun while Mars and Venus respectively are rulers of Aries and Taurus. A happy Moon, waxing at 77% has the power to burn away unnecessary and ineffective ties to the world.
We all have experienced the negative effects of attachment born from our sensory desires. The desire for money creates the fear of poverty. The desire for prestige feeds the anger of rejection. The desire for power enables the grip of selfishness. What are we experiencing in such cases?
Money isn’t inherently going to ease our fear. It’s what money can buy or rather what we imagine it can do for us that creates the desire. And when we experience just a little of the so-called “good life” we attach to it and desire more. Money ceases to be a tool for meeting basic needs and becomes a cloak that suffocates us in desires we never imagined before wealth let us taste it. Suddenly we have to have a bigger house, newer car, top of the line phone, daily latte, latest fashion, prime seats at the opera or sports event. All that once seemed luxurious to us becomes the illusion of necessity once we attach to it. Any loss feels like a theft, like a limb has been torn off or simply gone numb and useless. But it’s completely outside of our body and mind and had we never known it, there would be nothing to miss. The simple enjoyment of time preparing a simple meal with family, of seeing children play, planting a garden, reading, writing a letter, taking a walk in nature…all things that can be done with modest means…seem less valuable when we are blinded by wealth.
The same can be said for power and prestige. If you understand the point with money you can see it with these also. And you can make the leap to fear, anger, and selfishness. If you don’t get the connection between money and fear then you’re not yet going to get the rest. Am I saying wealth is bad? Not at all. It exists and is available to all. But when it, an external object, overrides the internal compass and we turn away from the lasting wealth of family, friends, and the simple joy in living on this beautiful earth, then we imperil our future and that of every other living being.
Krittika shines a light on the useless so that it can be seen with discerning Venus eyes, cut off by the arm of Mars, and burned to ash for recycling by the truthful fire of the Sun. If you have someone special in your life, what brought you together? If the relationship is healthy it wasn’t Money, Prestige, Power or their enablers of Fear, Anger, and Selfishness. If those things now are front and center in the relationship, do you have the courage to be rid of them and seek a deeper connection? And if you don’t have a relationship with another, how is your relationship with yourself?
Work the equations backwards. Lose your fear by redefining money as a tool for enabling a simple life. Are you working 60 hours a week or more just to have wealth? Saving for that two week vacation, that precious 80 hour break from work? Imagine working 50 or 40 or 30 hours a week. Even a cutback of 10 hours buys you 500 hours a year…11 weeks of vacation time! What is that worth?
Lose your anger by putting your ego aside and just being yourself, doing what you most enjoy whether anyone else thinks you’re special or not. They don’t know you, if they did, they’d see how awesome you already are. But if you can’t even say to yourself that you are exactly as you should be, your very best self and getting better with every breath, how is anyone else going to see that? Every famous person craves the privacy they lost when they attached to fame.
Lose your selfishness by resolving to surrender all power you have over other people. How? By choosing to be of service to them rather than expecting service from them. You can do this with every one you meet. Eating out? Ask your server their name and use it, along with liberal doses of please and thank you. Stack your used dishes. Fold your napkin. Tip a little extra. At the dry cleaners? Smile. Say your name distinctly so the person getting your clothes can hear. Thank them. And if you’re on the opposite side of the counter remember the person facing you is just like you, with the same struggles. Make their time with you the most positive and memorable moment if the day. Simple sincere compliments, not wasting time, personal touches, these are all within the capability of all of us.
Krittika puts a happy face on the Moon. You can wear one too. When we release our attachments to money, prestige, and power we lose our fear, anger, and selfishness and gain riches, peace, and the joy of serving selflessly. The more times we do this, the more we will get back.
Today I feel lighter.
American Vedic Astrology 