OCTOBER THEME: BALANCING RELATIONS
by Simone Butler

Greece was as fabulous as I expected! At Delphi, in particular, the Goddess filled me to overflowing. My friend Karen and I had hiked uphill in the blazing sun to the Temple of Apollo, the site where the Oracle spoke her prophecies. As Karen continued on to the top of the mountain, I was drawn to an opening beneath the temple. I descended a flight of mud stairs into a pit with a mysterious tunnel. There I placed my hands on the earthen walls. A vast, compassionate feeling arose in me like a wellspring. It began at my feet and filled my body, then spilled forth at my forehead. "Give this energy to men," the Oracle said. "Do not judge them with your mind; just love them fully with your heart."

I had tapped into an ancient feminine source unlike anything I'd ever felt before. Excited to share it with my friend, I tore myself away to find her. But when we returned, a guard forbade us from entering. How precious were those stolen moments! I practiced invoking that rich, loving space of active compassion with the beautiful men we met on our trip.

The goddess energy was palpable as well in Crete, where art, beauty and equality between men and women flourished for thousands of years. We were searching for the Cave of Zeus, a place sacred to the Father, where touching the stalagmites would reportedly change our DNA. But in taking the wrong turnoff, we were instead guided to a holy place of the Mother. Deep in the countryside, off back roads so remote that we saw no other human beings, Karen and I walked dirt paths among pungent olive groves. We climbed to a tiny, white church and invoked the spirits of the land, and scattered some of my mother's ashes to the four directions. We fed an apple to a very appreciative white mare, tied to a tree. The land reminded me of the wonderful book The Red Tent, which depicted women's lives in Biblical times. We were one with our ancestors. Our wells were filled. Only then could we find the Cave of Zeus.

Venus is queen in the heavens right now, as we celebrate Libra and the feminine. With the balancing of the scales facilitated by this sign, we open to the love and healing we seek. Then, once the Sun moves into Scorpio on Oct. 23, we take the sharing even deeper. Adding emphasis, the power of Libra is punctuated by a solar eclipse on the 3rd and a lunar eclipse on the 17th. Emotions may be running high: use whatever tools work for you to stay centered and grounded. Mars turns retrograde Oct. 1 and stays in reverse direction through Dec. 9. With the active, masculine principle in abeyance, our feminine knowing takes prominence. The Mother steps powerfully forward as the Father pulls back. Translation: honor your intuition, and you will be shown what actions to take. Allow the spiritual warrior within to lead. (Curiously, like a do-se-do, this dynamic again changes when Mars moves forward and Venus turns backward from Dec. 24 to Feb. 3.)

We have a unique opportunity to balance the right and left hemispheres of our brains over the next few months. Here's the formula: Women, release your grievances (however justified) and allow your hearts to open to men. Men, trust the deep feminine within and let yourselves be loved by women. Happy relating!

© 2005 Simone Butler.

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