The new spiritual year begins.
Many symbols offered today.
Rist Day of Spring.
The time of seeding & the sprouting or grain & young corn.
Exodus 12:4.
In the Tarot, both the Fool & the High Priest.
The Fool (Wagner’s Parsifal) is the young man who has not yet entered the Quest, the Path. The High Priest symbolizes the highest expressions of Aries. He holds a Chalice, the waters of life for humanity & he says….
“I AM & Behold! I make all things new.”

The young fool (Aries) eventually thru time becomes the High Priest (Pisces). Aries to Pisces, through all the 12 signs.

New Day, New Time, New Season. New Spiritual Year begins.
A celebration –
And so…
New Day, New Light.
And at the beginning of things, we take the utmost care to be in balance, harmony & beauty. For the first day of everything new sets the template of the times to come.
The beginning is always a very fragile time.
We take the utmost care to be of harmony & beauty today.
It sets the template for the entire new year yet to come – the next 12 months.
We create our spring (or autumn) altars.
We set a mirror on the altar to reflect the heavens.
That is the reality we are influenced by & we live under.
That is the astrology of our times.

And so….
Time marches onward, upward.
Circles of time within a spiral.
Time under tension – calling us to attention!
The seasons – each year creating a spiral of time.
We mark our days with the seasons, creating celebrations, festivals, parties and rituals.
Which recognize as well as anchor new energies (Ray 7 activity).
For the upcoming times.
These rituals & festivals offer humanity context, a marking of things, foundations, & a circle/spiral of understanding

And so today, March 20, 2024 is the first day of spring in the northern latitudes. It is the first day of autumn in the southern latitude.
However, the Sun is right in the middle of the Earth at the equinox. A equaling out is occurring between dark & light.

Persian New Year
NowRuz – New Day in Persian
It is also Persian New Year – called Nowruz –
Persian, Iranian, Zorastrian New Year occurs every year at the spring equinox. This festival is observed in middle eastern countries. It begins the year in the Iranian calendar.
Which brings me to the question?
What was/is Persia? What is its history? How did it become Iran?
What were the gifts of the Persian culture that we know of today?
What/who is Zoraster? What Age did Zoraster live?
What is that religion?
Who knows?
Those are questions for everyone here in our college/university Ashram.

Archangel Raphael, the healing Angels assumes protection of the Earth during springtime.

The Fool & the High Priestess.
A Persian Table set with symbolic items & food to celebrate
the New Light/New Year.

Today – March 19, 2024.
Tuesday – Mars rules, guards & guides our day today. The color is sky blue.
Three festivals today.
1. St. Joseph’s Feast Day – husband to Mary, father of the holy child, Jesus.
2. Spring begins in our northern latitudes. Autumn begins in our southern latitudes.
3. Sun enters Aries. The Sun is poised at the equator – equal light & dark – Sun enters Aries. The Sun in Pisces offers to Aries all the gifts of the past year. And the new spiritual year begins.
As the new zodiacal year begins with Aries, it’s also International Astrology day.

The Sun enters Aries tonight at 8:06pm (PT).
The moon enters Leo this afternoon at 12:33pm (PT).
Aries, Leo – two fires to stimulate the lives of humanity.
The fire of Life which is the fire of the Life thread anchored
in the hearts of humanity.

Sun in Aries, Springtime.
The highest point of the sun at spring equinox on the equator marks the exaltation or the brilliance of the annual sun at noon time. This corresponds to zero degrees of Aries. At the meridian we have the maximum light, and Aries is the most radiant sign and stands for the highest point of enlightenment. Just like the shadow is shortest at this time on the equator, it is the easiest to submit our shadow, the personality, under the light at the midday time of the year.

In humans, Aries is located in the upper part of the head, which is the highest point in man. Man is made in the image of God & Aries is revered as the head of the Cosmic Person in the Vedas.

At the beginning of each solar year the solar angel brings down an impulse from higher circles. This fresh impulse is a new message every year, a plan for the development of the planet and its beings. In us, it descends via the head centre, for the solar principle, the principle of liberation, is in our Sahasrara.

Thus at spring equinox, we are to align with the brilliant spiritual awareness in our head and envision a flood of light, the light of initiation, pouring into our head center 0 our “twelve noon” (the head center). The great Master Pythagoras called this the “High Twelve”.

The Story of St. Joseph – a story of Love itself.
In the most ancient of the Ageless Wisdom teachings Joseph was the Count St. Germaine who assumed the task of father to Jesus. St. Joseph was kind & humble, a loving father to his son, Jesus.
He was a carpenter who taught his son to also be a carpenter.
He loved Mary & he followed the directions of the Angels.
He fulfilled his task as husband & father in the most patient & humble of ways. He is a mentor to all fathers everywhere.

The essence of St. Joseph was that of love.
Anchoring deeply (Ray 7, the violet ray) the Love on the planet. The love of the father for his child.
Joseph is Master Count St. Germaine (who is also Prince & Master Rakoczi).

Master St. Germaine took so many incarnations to help humanity.
From the time of Krishna (early incarnation of Jesus) to his time in Greece, where he took birth as Plato to follow Pythagoras. Master St. Germaine now guides & protects the United States, which is an experiment if freedom & liberty like no other country has as its task.

Joseph
The parents (Joseph & Mary) who conceived Jesus were great Initiates of a very high order. They were called the Essenes (holy ones). Joseph was not just a carpenter. He was doing carpentry for his livelihood. But he was a great Initiate/Master. He was Count St. Germaine (CSG). It was Master CSG who, in tune with the plan, cooperated, to help conceive the future Master/Initiate, Jesus (Master in charge of all religions, & the one who was overshadowed by the Christ from Sirius).

Master CSG was functioning in the Egyptian and Assyrian temples as a great Master Mason (spiritual builder). As Joseph, CSG belonged to the dynasty of King Solomon and King David (royal lineage). He carried in him, royal blood. But he preferred to be hidden. He was known in Israel & frequently at the borders of Israel in Assyria and Egypt. He was considered a great preceptor in the temples of Assyria and Egypt. He was a Nazarene and knew Jesus, his son, as the incarnating soul with a great task to do.

The Great Ones hide themselves so as not to attract attention. SCG hid himself as Joseph, the carpenter. He taught in nearby temples as he also raised his holy child & was husband to his wife, Mary. Both Joseph & Mary were Temple Initiates. And in the Hierarchy, they, along with Jesus are Masters of Wisdom. Together, they followed a “due & ancient order” of things.

Monday, March 18, 2024.
Preparing for Aries, completing Pisces.
In the time of Lent, preparing for the Aries Resurrection Festival.
For the Jewish & Christian & Esoteric Festivals.
All happening at the same time.
Which means the foundation of the Aquarius religion is being formed.

Preparing for Aries & bidding goodbye to Pisces.

March 18, 2024 – Monday.
Today is the 2nd to last day of Pisces (2/6).
Tomorrow is our actual final & last day of Pisces.
And also the final & actual last day of the astrological year.
Pisces ends the astrological year.
When Aries begins – Pisces offers to Aries everything from the past year – so Aries can use it to create the new year.

Disciples gaze at the past, gather all that is good & offers it, like Pisces, to the new year.

Tomorrow in the evening, the Sun leaves Pisces & enters Aries.
And a whole new astrological year begins.
Here is Night Light News – the introduction is all about astrology & quotes about astrology in order to end the astrological year & to begin a new one on a higher level of the spiral.

Today is Monday – the moon is in Cancer – a nurturing nourishing day today. We remember long ago we came to the earth from the moon in baskets. The moon was no longer a viable planet to live on.
Moon trines Saturn, sextiles Jupiter, squares Mercury & Chiron & sextiles Uranus – a busy day today for the moon & also for us. As we reflect in our daily lives, all the moon touches.

Upcoming – Purim begins at sundown Saturday – that’s Queen Esther’s story of saving her people by speaking the truth.
Sunday is Palm Sunday – the colt, the Christ, palms, Jerusalem.
Monday – the Aries Festival with the streaming in of the Forces of Restoration. It’s a lunar eclipse – something in form & matter ends its cycle, it’s purpose completed.
The Festival is at 5 degrees Aries – where is 5 degrees Aries in everyone’s chart?

We begin a new weekday today.
March 18, 2024 –

Ides of March.
Be-ware & Be Aware!
The Ides of March – What does this signify?
“Ides” is a word that means the middle of the month.
As we are now in March, it refers to the middle of March.
March 15…this year, 2024 (AD).
Ides meant “middle” of the month.
From the Latin “idus” – the day in the middle of the month.
Idus also means “to divine” as in diving the month in two.
In Chinese “ides” means “to see.”
Notice the words “ides.” I try to write it but the word always ends up to be “idea.” Interesting.

For us today, here & now – the middle of the mondh (Ides) means to pause, to listen, to assess before we move forward into the last half of the month. What are our goals hopes wishes & dreams?
This is a good use for the “Idea” of March & of any month.

Ides was the way to mark a date in the middle of each month.
In the Roman calendar.
On this day in 44 BC (before Christ), the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar was killed.
The Ides of March is mentioned in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar. It is referred to ominously by a soothsayer.
A soothsayer utters this warning to the soon-to-be-assassinated ruler, cautioning him, “Beware the Ides of March.”
Beware O Caesar King of Rome, beware on” the 15th of March.”
Caesar ignores this prophecy and is killed on March 15, 44 AD, stabbed by betrayal at the hands of his allies.

The Ides of March is about being aware of & preventing tragedy.
A struggle against or ignoring possible events. It brings up the idea of betrayal – betraying another and/or being betrayed by those close to us. Ceasar was assassinated by his former friends.

Beware the Ides of March.
The dramatic line reflected by real historical events that occurred March 15, in the year 44 AD. Though Julius Caesar received his warning over 2,000 years ago, the phrase is still used today when referencing the date or more generally when cautioning about impending events.

It relates to astrology – in the fact that we are able to know of certain times when we may be challenged. This is seen in the study of one’s “transits” (when certain planets “touch” upon one or more of our birth planets).

As Shakespeare’s play captures, Caesar was said to have been forewarned that March 15 would bring him great peril. The man issuing this warning was a seer who sensed the impending danger facing the Roman leader.

History
The Ides of March, known as Idus Martii in Latin, refers to the 15th day of March in the Roman calendar. In ancient Rome, the Ides were considered an important marker for certain religious observances and political activities. Each of the Ides was sacred to Jupiter, the Roman’s supreme deity.

The Ides were also used as markers for certain religious observances and political activities, including the settling of debts and the payment of taxes. They were also important dates for the performance of public ceremonies, such as the opening of the gladiatorial games. But the Ides of March gained notoriety due to one fateful event – the assassination of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC.

Why was Caesar killed? According to Bruce Bueno de Mesquita in The Dictator’s Handbook, Caesar’s murder was (obviously politically motivated) due to him helping the people at the expense of many of his backers or Rome’s most influential people. Caesar helped the poor citizens, such as by providing land grants to former soldiers, getting rid of tax farming, and relieving the people’s debt burden by 25%. This came at the expense of Rome’s prominent citizens, such as those who were owed money or were large landowners (i.e. tax farmers or wanted to buy more land). These people were well-represented in the Roman Senate and killed him.

Caesar was warned of his fate multiple times. Interestingly, on that fateful day Caesar woke up not feeling well, his wife tries to make him stay home but at the last second he’s like “I might as well go into work today.”

Calendars & Lunar Cycles
The “Ides of March” is a reference to the historical Roman calendar dating system, which is the forerunner of our modern calendar dating system, and to a story recounted originally by Plutarch, a classical biographer of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar.

The Romans did not count the days from the start of each month 1,2,3, …31 as we do now: Instead they identified three days in each month that had pivotal meaning based on the predecessor lunar calendars, which had religious and superstitious significance derived from the phases of the lunar cycle. The “Ides” fell either on the 13th or the 15th day. In the lunar calendar, the Ides nominally marked the day of the full moon.

Reading Shakespeare
‘A soothsayer warned Caesar to beware of great danger on that day in the month of March which the Romans call “the Ides”. When that day came Caesar was on his way to the council chamber, he greeted the soothsayer mockingly, saying”Well then, the Ides of March have come!” – but the soothsayer replied quietly saying: “Indeed, they have come, … but they are not yet gone.’

This story is reinvented by Shakespeare in Act 1 scene 2 of his play Julius Caesar

Soothsayer. Caesar!

Caesar. Ha! who calls?

Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!

Caesar. Who is it in the press that calls on me?

I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,

Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak; Caesar is turn’d to hear.

Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.

Caesar. What man is that?

Brutus. A soothsayer bids you Beware the ides of March.

Caesar. Set him before me; let me see his face.

Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.

Caesar. What say’st thou to me now? speak once again.

Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.

Caesar. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

Beware the Ides of March” implies the then general Roman superstitious belief in a change of fortune/fate happening in relation to the changing phases of the moon, and Caesar, the man of action, dismissing it & the seer “as a dream.”
And Caesar then “met his “fated & fateful fate.”

And now we have read a bit of Shakespeare!
And know what the Ides (the idea) means.

Today….Sunday – the Sun’s day….
And so….
The Transits for the week.
Questions asked for the Aries Festival.
And….
Spreading flower seeds of poppy & larkspur & zinnia.
I just learned that larkspur flowers are edible.
I would like to plant a wildflower meadow.
And have a garden of edible flowers.

After spreading the flower seeds.
Arugula, spinach, kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, lettuce seeds come next.
For some reason I can’t seem to grow radishes, the small ones.
I want to grow diakon (long white radish) & the watermelon radish. Maybe, maybe not this year.

Pea seeds are soaking to plant tomorrow.
In the green house, basil seeds in small pots.

Today – Sunday, March 3, 2024.
A complex moon touching all the planets day today.
The sagittarius moon continues.
Where will we travel today? Where are you dreaming of traveling? Where would everyone like to travel to?

Sun Mercury Neptune in Pisces today.

Today Venus (5) is square Uranus (7) – Aquarius (5) & Taurus (4).
Note the odd rays with one even Ray.

Uranus shakes things up, turns them sideways, interrupts everything, is unexpected & sudden.
We observe this in our lives, today & throughout the week.

Next Saturday we have Mars (6) square Uranus (7).
Mars/Uranus – sudden explosions, sudden something happening all of a sudden, out of the blue.
This energy of Mars/Uranus is building.
Moving together until they meet next Saturday, March 9th.
The tension of these two calling us to attention can already be felt. When we know about the transits, we become aware & more sensitive & we understand events more clearly in our daily life.

The transits…
Venus/Uranus & Mars/Uranus –
Venus – values, money, relationships, possessions.
Mars – actions, desires, aspirations, hopes, wishes, dreams, & on its lowest level fanaticism.
Uranus – sudden change.
We observe these things today & during the week.

Questions – Three Spring Fetivals.
Spring Equinox is soon (March 19).
Palm Sunday is Sunday the 24th.

Aries Festival.
The first of the Three Spring Festivals, Aries (at the full moon)
is Monday the 25th, the day after Palm Sunday.
Then Easter is the following Sunday (March 31).

Questions:
What do we need to do to prepare humanity’s minds & hearts for the Three Festivals?
What do we need to study & then share with humanity regarding the Aries festival….
….& the Three Festivals of Aries, Taurus, Gemini?
What aspects of the Aries festival do we need to concentrate on?
Why am I asking these questions?
Who can answer my questions?
love, Risa

“Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird.
Equal seekers of sweetness (Mary Oliver).
A Poem by Mary Oliver (below – from her book Thirst).
And….
Giving Attention to What Interests Us.
And Sharing That Interest.

Today is Saturday. March 2, 2024 – Saturn’s day.
Saturn is Ray 3 – Intelligence that leads to choice & action!
For Disciples, the throat chakra is Ray 3.
Humanity in general is the throat chakra.
Speaking of what interests each of us.

Sagittarius moon –
Sagittarius is constantly curious about the world – Sag is the traveler who visits multiples regions of the world, the rider on the white horse, over meadows, hills & dales, visiting with people everywhere – making journeys here & there from place to place, visiting different cultures, participating in the many & various ways people life their lives. Gathering experience. Sagittarius is also the chef, the hunter/gatherer, the forager, the publisher of travelogues & special places of interest.

Where is Sagittarius in everyone’s chart?
What area of life is influenced by Sagittarius?
How does Sagittarius reveal itself in that area of life?
This is the study of astrology & part of discipleship’s training.

And so….
I mentioned a special festival of daffodils happening this weekend somewhere in the United States.
And asked readers to share about places, people, towns, villages, festivals, events that were of special to them.
I mentioned that all villages towns cities states areas in the world were interesting. And asked what is of interest to you? So wherever we are, we can get to know the world at large.
And get to know what is of interest to each of us.

A poem by Mary Oliver

Praying
“It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention,

….then patch a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.”

— Mary Oliver, from her book “Thirst” a book of 43 poems.