The totem animal of Taurus is the Bull, a symbol of great earthy power. Many mythic heroes, such as Mithras and Herakles, fight the bull – this motif suggests that our bull nature or earthly desires must be conquered and sacrificed to the higher Self. In the Buddhist story of the Taming of the Ox, man and bull develop a relationship that is neither repression of the instincts nor out-of-control instincts, but a balanced harmony of spirit and instinct. In both types of stories, the need is for the instincts to be in service to a highter power.
All these stories are about male 'heroes'. And since Taurus is ruled by Aphrodite/Venus, the goddess of the body and of love, I'd like to consider Lady Sovereignty as an examplar of Taurus on the Pleiades for this Full Moon.
Lady Sovereignty is one of the Ninefold Sisterhood of Celtic tradition regarding the triple-aspected Goddess – 3 x 3 = 9. We know the number nine has mystical properties, associated not only with the 'otherworld' but with completion, perfection, illumination and culmination. Lady Sovereignty appears as the witch or enchantress aspect of this sisterhood, both ugly and beautiful, asking us to answer the riddle of what is the appropriate form of power for our individual talents and experiences.
The Celtic kings were chosen by and married to Lady Sovereignty. She is the Goddess of the Land and the King's marriage to Her symbolized his willingness to be of service to the Land. The stories associated with Sovereignty often show her as a horrible hag who transforms into the most beautiful Lady by the true king's willingness to sleep with her in her hag form, the dark, wild aspects of the land – earthquakes, tournados, tidal waves – as well as of the soul.
One of Sovereignty's avatars is Dame Ragnell. In the Medieval story (click to read it), The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell, the riddle that must be answered is “What do women desire most?” The answer to the riddle is: Women desire Sovereignty above all else! This riddle is just being answered in our day and age, and women's destiny is tied to Mother Earth's. Will we continue to rape and pillage the Earth and women, or will we honor and listen to women's voices, the Earth's natural laws and the needs of the Soul – for Soul is feminine spirit at work in this world. Letting a feminine vision of life, the Earth's needs and our soul's purpose have the sovereignty will change your perspective about your life. Your power and talents are not meant for your self-aggrandisement. You are supposed todevelop them to serve our world.
If Lady Sovereignty symbolizes the Taurus Sun on this Blue Moon, what is the image for the Scorpio Moon? Scorpio, ruled by Pluto as the Lord of the Great Below, is a sign of irrevocable change. One of its totem animals is the Dragon, a winged serpent “a representation of the daemonic forces of the unconscious experienced as Terrible Mother.” (Greene, Fate) The dragon fight is a universal motif in myths, and it symbolizes our need to fight the terrifying and often destructive power of our reptilian instinctual life. Once again, we have numerous stories about heroes, such as Herakles' battle with the Hydra, Sieggried's fight with the dragon Fafner, and Perseus' slaying of Medusa. Here, the ego must fight the dark energies of the unconscious, to free feminine spirit from the more destructive aspects of human nature – the unconscious emotional battles we have with ourselves and others.
But since this Full Moon occurs at 29 degrees of Scorpio, where we are tested to learn the lessons of the sign, I want to explore the image of Dragon as wisdom keeper and guardian of treasure.
Like The Hobbit”s Biblo Baggins and Smaug, and Earthseas' Ged and Kalessin, the hero no longer slays the dragon, but guesses the answer to the riddle that unlocks the dragon horde of knowledge and truth, love and riches. 'The Dragons of Pern' are pure consciousness and share their instinctual wisdom with their riders. This is how we need to relate to our inner dragons. They like to be riddled with, they respect being outsmarted, and they give of themselves selflessly when they love.
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