Wheel of Life Full Moon Meditation – Sagittarius

Lunar Eclipse
Monday, 30th November, 2020
12 noon, local time
Sun in Sagittarius, Fire, The Teacher; Moon in Gemini, Air, The Innovator.

Theme for meditation: What wisdoms have I gained from my own experience, and how can I share them innovatively through creative imagination?

London is on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius, and for the past three years, Phyllis SantaMaria has been leading a pilgrimage in her landscape to celebrate Sagittarius. Her next one will be again on 12th December – https://gatekeeper.org.uk/events/sagittarius/

Here is a report from Jane of last year’s walk, with comments from the group...

Wheel of Life Walk, in Sagittarius

12.12.12.12

St Martin’s in the Fields – St Paul’s, London.

It may have been a drizzly, dark day outside but there was excitement in the air as 8 women met at 12 pm for lunch in The Crypt of St Martin’s in the Fields! We discussed where we had all come from and most of us had arrived from Sussex and Kent, which is also the Sagittarius area. We all felt inspired to continue together in pilgrimage locally, having met for this special day. For several of us, it was our first GKT pilgrimage or our first with the Wheel of Life.

Over lunch, we discussed our Dedication for the walk. It was not only a Full Moon on 12.12.12.12, (2019=12), but also Election Day. We wanted a healing for the UK and Ireland as a whole, for Maia. Someone described how she had had been struck by the idea of our footsteps being taken in Courage, Hope and Love. We agreed that this would be our focus, that as we walked, we would say to ourselves – ‘I walk in Courage, I walk in Hope, I walk in Love’. And off we went...

Our first stop was by The Whipping Post in the Crypt, to offer healing because of its gruesome history. One pilgrim ‘saw’ the wooded post ‘accept’ the healing. We then paused by the gorgeous Nativity Scene in the foyer, where Phyllis told us a little about the extensive humanitarian works of St Martin’s in the Fields.

Leaving St Martin’s, we crossed over Trafalgar Square to the statue of King Charles 1, which has a plaque stating this was the original site of Queen Eleanor’s Cross, (now in front of The Charing Cross Station,) marking the point from where all mileages were first measured across the land. We strengthened our dedication here by bringing in the Cosmic Cross so that we each became a Light Bearer as we walked.

From there, we continued past St Eleanor’s Cross and down to the garden of The York Watergate which marks an area where once the River Thames flowed ...before The Embankment was built. It felt very responsive to our presence, and I especially loved this tree with its heart-shaped pink leaves. (There is a lovely photo here of times past.... https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/York-Watergate/ )

Crossing over the Golden Jubilee Bridge, we paused to offer a rose to the river and sing ‘The River is Flowing’, and further on there was a jazz musician playing very dance-able music! Coming down into the South Embankment a few of us noticed the change in energy...softer... maybe just the absence of traffic? We stopped opposite Temple Bar and the Law Courts to hold the vision for truth and justice in our land which felt especially significant on Election Day.

A bit further along, we came to a mandala in the pavement with 8 arms radiating out which seemed the perfect spot to gather. We stood in a circle, each taking a direction, with the lanterns in the centre...the energy seemed to radiate out a great distance.

Because of my morning meditation, I very much wanted to make a 6-pointed star on the beach using roses, with one flower in the centre. It felt wonderful...healing for Maia. We sang and Sarah danced. Magical.

Some of us were tired by this time, and so we made our weary way back over the Millenium Bridge, waving at The Globe, offering a final rose to Isis, and on to St Paul’s...which was shut! Heart hugs and home.

Many thanks to Phyllis for organising this wonderful event and for the all the information she had gathered. In true Sagittarean mode, she taught us well, and cared for the group.

Jane Withers
Pilgrim

From Sarah Dawkins: “What a special time we had - thank you so much for organising it again Phyllis - wonderful that it was the third time! I like the sense that it is the same pathway each time - a different experience each time - but it establishes a rhythm like a drum or heart beat - especially if we remember our mantra of courage, hope and love flowing into the ground through our feet!

I liked saying where we all had travelled from, it felt good for me to honour the Cygnus energy of our local landscape and to bring it with me (or her!) Also honouring the ancestors and the Black Isis which holds and carries so much for London.

I was very aware of the ‘life of the Thames’ in terms of the industry and commerce as well as the leisure and fun to be had on the Thames. Wonderful to remember the sewerage system too at York Gate that was built by Bazalguette! I like that we go over the two bridges linking north to south and then south to north - double blessing for the river - and for us! It felt very good to honour the Temple from the south side and to sound the Aum and make the offering of the rose especially for the Law Givers of the land.

Thank you to Hildegard for reminding us of the magic hour of 3pm, in the middle of the Election Day, just as we reached the pattern in the pavement of the eight directions - we were eight women so we each stood on a direction, which can also represent the eight solar festivals of the solstices and equinoxes and quarter days. Maybe next time we can work out the compass directions of the lines - one definitely went to St Pauls.

Jane was so inspired to make the six-pointed star with the roses on the bed of the river- it looked and felt very beautiful. A yantra for the true spirit of Maia to be at home in! The moon dance came to us on Iona, so it was lovely to remember our times there - the song is:

‘The moon she dances, like the waves, the waves on the shore, x2
Making circles, making circles like the waves, like the waves on the shore.’

It felt a very gentle offering of love to the river Thames - which flows out to Dogger Bank and mingles with the water from the River Rhine.

It was a very wet day (!) but it didn’t seem to matter.”

From Louise: “It was a wonderful experience which I found very nourishing and carried me through the shocking next few days as I felt connected to deeper truths - plus I felt I had done important helpful work with everyone to meet the situation we are all in - was good to be there! It's wearing off a bit now unfortunately.

It also seems a natural way to bring local people together and I hope we do continue locally - we can take this idea into the Solstice and Holy Nights and share ideas next year.”

From Hildegard: “I very much enjoyed the singing and dancing there. It felt like what we were doing transcended time and space, transporting me frequently to other pilgrimages and places. Quite magical.”
From Phyllis: “It was such a pleasure to do our Pilgrimage together. I’ve felt lighter ever since.”

From Jane: “My highlights were firstly of us as a group of 8 women seated around The Round Table in the Crypt enjoying a common bond and adventure. The food symbolised the nourishment I was definitely receiving from the group...deep gratitude. The response of the landscape at York Watergate I found moving, as if it were pleased to see us. And finally, being able to create my heart’s desire in the form of a 6-pointed star with a rose in its centre on the beach by the river.

For me personally it was a Sagittarean initiation...as a Gemini/Aurigan, with no Sag in my birth chart, it was an alchemical culmination of place, time and group intention which lifted me, I realised days later, into the Higher Mind of Sagittarius. And a ‘thank you’ also to Hildegard who tagged me to this event on FaceBook. So blessed.”

News now of the ‘resurrection’ of the Sussex group, also in Sagittarius...

Gatekeeper Sussex

Virgo Moon Pilgrimage, Monday March 9th, 2020.

We have restarted local pilgrimage, inspired by two of the talks at the annual conference which you can access on the Gatekeeper website. One is by Angharrad Wynne where she talks about caring for our own area through

pilgrimage and finding a local tree or grove or well as a sacred place we choose to tend and visit regularly. The other talk is by Susan Raven where she showed us how to communicate with nature spirits who await our connection with them.

A number of people locally had been inspired by these talks and wanted to go out locally in pilgrimage and so our Sussex Gatekeeper Full Moon Pilgrimages have begun. We spent a considerable amount of time working out how we wanted to do this and have agreed this is a collaborative group, so each time a new person will step forward, or be called, to bring us to a place of their choosing. We already have the next two people and places to go, which emerged in our discussions.

Our first pilgrimage took us to a tree circle that is found in Chailey, where the Meridian Line crosses a Roman Road running East-West. Both are far more ancient than many realise. The Meridian Line is aligned with the Celestial Pole, the True North and all along the line you can find places of significance, drawing on the energy of this so-called Corridor of Power. This is the still point around which all turns and we did experience this when we gathered at the centre of the tree circle. (Jane’s photo includes a kite, which stayed with us for minutes.)

We took a book called ‘The Axis of Heaven’ by Paul Broadhurst and Gabriele Trso as our guide. The Line expresses the energy of royalty and sovereignty so it was dismaying to find it so neglected - in a mess really. We felt the stillness but an absence of royalty - perhaps this is the time for each one of us to own our sovereignty and become empowered, so that individually and together we can to take up the tasks that are immediate to our own lives, to Be the Change. We did a simple exercise together that Susan Raven teaches.

We then tuned in to this corridor of power and filled it with light. One of the group remained outside the tree circle to hold the space and she could feel the shift in energy as we prayed and sang a circle song together.

It felt that we have now started something significant in our area and, by chance, I was reminded of an old song by Keane, our local East Sussex band who are back playing this week after a seven-year rest - we can maybe adopt this as our song, at least for this Virgo Moon Pilgrimage. see link below!

Louise Coe
Local Contact for Sussex

‘Somewhere Only We Know’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LuignGmX_0&feature=youtu.be

From Jane: "It was the first time that I had pilgrimaged with local folk and I am surprised and delighted at the difference it made to my experience. Also nourishing was the conversation at lunch, with 6 of us sharing a meal. We all came from different spiritual backgrounds and yet were able to share the universality of our indigenous Wisdom and Truth. Glorious.

And then we began! What an immediately magical blessing to be accompanied by a Kite who stayed overhead for several minutes as we made our way up The Resting Oak Hill. (See photo)

It felt right and important to encircle the wood before entering, having asked permission from two Gatekeepers and the Nature Beings, but what a sad place inside. No wonder we were there. Having found the right place to work, we lit the beautiful lantern brought by Louise, and asked how we might help.

Louise had already set the 'tone' of our group by encouraging each of us to share our thoughts whilst planning, and so we were all empowered to add our own intuitive responses to the place, and finished by ‘sealing’ and protecting the circle of trees with a six-pointed star with a rose at its centre.

The next morning in my meditation I felt a strong sense of the 'still point' within me and the line through me from heaven to earth. Louise had shared with us this aspect of Paul Broadbent's work in his book about the Greenwich Meridian. And it was made even more significant when another of the group shared later that she too had experienced this in her meditation. What a gift. Thank you to Louise, all the group, and The Resting Oaks."

Jane Withers