Libra Full Moon: Think Pink

Recently I yelled at someone over the phone. I thought the early a.m. call might be from a New York client, so I picked it up. Without my morning tea and altar-time to fortify myself, the telemarketer had caught me off guard – and boy, did he get an earful! Later that day, a friend confessed that she’d just told a solicitor to F-off. He had trespassed onto her porch despite a sign forbidding it. Egads – what has the world come to, when nice women like us are sufficiently provoked to drop the F-bomb on total strangers?

We live in an increasingly uncivilized society. But there’s got to be a better way of dealing with it than yelling at people – which only leads to antagonism as well as hypertension. Shaman-scientist Alberto Villoldo tells us that indigenous medicine people have a practice for staying peaceful in any situation. “They choose not to take life personally,” he writes in the March issue of Science of Mind. And we can learn to do the same, he says. “You start by noticing that people sometimes do hurtful things, but that they do not do them to upset you. Things happen, and you have the choice of taking it personally and wrapping it into a big dramatic story, or not.”

When you practice the spiritual discipline of not taking life personally, Villoldo adds, “you see that the world does not revolve around you exclusively. It is about all our relationships, including humans, animals, trees and rivers.” Once you become more peaceful and inclusive, he concludes, “then the Universe will begin to conspire on your behalf and make your dreams come true – because they are not only about you anymore.”

This is a fine teaching for the relationship-oriented Libra Full Moon (Monday April 10, 11:08 p.m. PDT), which forms a tense T-square with Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto. There is a lot of social energy afoot. Yet we will also be challenged to not take things personally. To add fuel to the fire, messenger Mercury turns retrograde on Sunday afternoon (for three weeks) just before the Full Moon; misunderstandings and reversals are likely. Smooth the way by practicing detachment, compassion and patience as best you can.

Indigenous Americans called this the Full Pink Moon because it coincided with the blossoming of wild pink phlox. Though it will not literally appear pink in the sky, this is still a special Moon. Take a few minutes to slow down and stand under Luna’s radiance. Reflect on what’s transpired lately and bless it all. Salute all your relations – from family, friends and special animals to pushy telemarketers and clueless politicians. The Libra Full Moon reminds us that beneath the surface, we are all one.