The Many Faces of the Goddess

from: http://www.OriginoftheWord.com ~ Sacred Journeys Within.

Sky Signs: Taurus New Moon Conjunction

Well, perhaps it wasn't quite a new moon last night (Sunday, April 26th), but the moon was certainly at a minimal sliver of silver... Around sunset in the west, the conjunction of Mercury, Moon and the Pleiades stood out to the naked eye!

Today, I meditated on this astronomical event more deeply so as to understand it's possible significance(s)...

Of course, the Pleiades is the snake's rattle constellation for the Maya, the portal to their star ancestors. It's importance is magnified at the Summer Equinox when it's apogee overhead marks the half-year point before the mid-winter opening of the Xibalba Be "dark road" portal to the heart of the galaxy (the land of the ancestors).

The moon confers knowledge of cycles, of transformation, of the Dreamtime and of feminine creative energies. Watching over us at night, the Moon initiates us into the knowledge of the hidden rites, of the great secret of being beyond ego self.

Mercury is the messenger, bringing communication to and from the Gods. In many medicine wheel traditions, the messenger of the Spirit realm is the fleet-winged, nearly invisible Hummingbird.

Thus, this is certainly a moment of high connectivity between us on earth and our ancestors. A time of "Thinning of the Veil". To honor this event, I created the image:


It is based upon the celestial locations recorded photographically last night during the conjunction. The Pleiades is above the moon, here shown in it's rattlesnake form. Below the moon and sightly to the left can be seen the small glowing dot of Mercury. This point marks the focus of the interaction between the hummer and it's flower. The plant is a Datura metel cultivar named "Double Purple" which I grew last year, my favorite Datura flower. (Datura, of course, is known as "Devil's Weed", or in Spanish - la Yerba Del Diablo - but it is known to the Chumash people of California, the Mohave, Yuma, Cahuilla, Zuni and others as toloache from the Aztec toloatizn, "to incline the head". It is used to induce sleep, dreams and divinatory visions.)

Sign of the Times

Tonight, December 1st, look to the southwest sky right after sunset. Beaming brightly through the twilight you will see a tight three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon forming an equilateral triangle. This conjunction will continue to be visible for several days after the first of the month, but the planets and moon will move further and further apart, forming a highly skewed triangle.

The Maya believe that the planets and stars provide gateways to alternate dimensions. A conjunction of heavenly bodies is thus a major focus of energies affecting our consciousness. In the case of the current conjunction appearing low in the southwestern skies, the energies are of opening and transformation, returning to the original roots of creation. Perhaps signaling that the opening of the dark path or "Royal Road of the Ancestors" - xibalba be - to the 2012 transformation has in fact begun!

Who are the players in this conjunction?


Venus is both the Morning Star and the Evening Star. Venus serves as a gateway to the Underworld, its rising and setting are times of dangerous, intensely powerful energies. (For the Maya, Venus is not feminine love but rather masculine action, such as required for warfare or the hunt.)

Jupiter is the Old God, the ruler of solar planets and of royal lineages. He is sometimes referred to as Lord One Death and associated with jaguar spirit. Jupiter is thus the fundamental masculine energy of creation. Related closely to Old God are the figures of Hurakan, "Heart of Heaven" - another creator deity (whose aspects include wind, storm, fire) and Itzamna - the Lord of the Fire, Lord of the Underworld (whose aspect includes the Milky Way).

The Moon is often referred to as Lady White Quetzal or First Mother (with aspects of water, the Underworld, feminine energy). Related closely to the Moon is the goddess of fertility, health and the healing arts, Ix Chel, seen to be a young maiden. However, just as the Moon has a light and a dark side, Ix Chel, the maiden, has another side: Chac Chel, the old crone, whose aspects include death, darkness and the Milky Way (home of the ancestors), as well as being a root Earth Goddess.

What this brings into play, then, is the re-mixing of the root energies of masculine and feminine into a new moment of conception. Blessed by the Ancestors, this conjunction announces a new cycle of creation and transformation.

Lady One Death

Lady One Death presented herself to me several months ago during deep meditation. She is a root Mayan goddess, the Mother of All Being (First Mother, the Moon) and is an esoteric form of Ix Chel (the Healer). She serves to actualize and stabilize the energies of the creator god, Itzamna- Giver of Life, Lord of Fire. Her name derives from the codex naming hieroglyph "One Skull" - shown above.

Lady One Death embodies the dark root energy of creation and creativity, a place where death and life are one, the realm of ultimate potential and necessary dissolution. As such, she embodies similar energies to that of Kali and Durga.