Last summer, at the time when “50th anniversary” celebrations were taking place relating to Neil Armstrong’s landing of a little spacecraft named Eagle on the lunar surface in 1969, with very little fuel to spare, I noted that his “The Eagle has landed” comment has come to be used as an indicator for a successful completion of an objective. “The Eagle has landed” are words that still carry the sense of heroic accomplishment that goes hand-in-hand with the general idea of “Eagle”.

At that time the world was watching as three brave astronauts were carrying out an historic mission that was widely heralded as an enormous achievement by “humankind”, with emphasis on “the people of the Earth”, not just one country.

[Click here for the podcast for this trecena]

The images of Earth as a wondrous blue planet suspended out there in space (as seen from the moon) helped people to gain a whole new perspective and a whole new sense of appreciation for our home, summed up in many ways by the astonauts who commented on the beauty and fragility of this planet, emphasizing the idea of Earth as an Oasis. The images taken from that lunar mission, and others that were to follow, have done a great deal to trigger environmental protection initiatives as people came to realize the need for action.

Now, with the return of the Eagle trecena, we are in the midst of a global situation where millions are being called to garner the strength, courage, and perception of the Eagle to tackle the enormous challenges that are now facing our precious Planet Earth and its diverse inhabitants.

As always, this Men (Eagle) trecena tends to be a kind of “head’s-up”, “call-to-action” kind of time frame, associated with valour and the push towards supremacy. It is a zone that has been oriented, traditionally, around power, military strength, and transformative action, as symbolized by the eagle.

In the ancient Aztec realm, the symbol of the eagle was associated with a military order dedicated to the sun, and to its nourishment, and many people born under the influence of this energy often find themselves being called upon to “become warriors” for a cause, or even “spiritual warriors”.

During this period the “call to action” is often triggered by some kind of extreme condition that requires people to pluck up the fortitude to get involved. Sometimes this transpires as standing up for principles, defending ideological positions, pushing back against injustices, or even dealing with life-and-death issues such as those caused by severe weather events or situations affecting large numbers of people, a situation that now applies to the entire planet.

Historically the very first day of this trecena has often been marked by significant events that tie in with these ideas, as when the U.S. declared war on Iraq in 2003 and began their invasion of that country, with its launch of airstrikes against ISIS groups in that country also taking place under this influence, precisely sixteen cycles later during the summer of 2014.

Not only is there often a “call to arms” during this time frame, but there also tends to be a great deal of political “maneuvering”, as in “jockeying” (or downright pushing) for power. Sometimes that push can be downright dangerous, as could be seen last August when, on the very first day of this trecena the US formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) that was signed by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987, claiming that Russia had violated the pact; at the same time Russia’s foreign ministry confirmed that the INF treaty was “formally dead”, thereby raising fears of a new arms race. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called this “serious” as the INF treaty has been a cornerstone in arms control for decades – “an invaluable brake on nuclear war’.

And under the heading of “I wonder if this is a good idea?” . . . two cycles ago, in November 2018, this “high flying” trecena brought forth the US Federal Communications Commission’s approval for SpaceX to launch 7,518 satellites into low-Earth orbit within the next 9 years, which (along with 4,425 previously approved satellites) would “serve as the backbone for the company’s proposed Starlink broadband network”, and increase the number of active satellites six-fold.

Just before the start of this Men trecena at this time a planned Falcon 9 rocket launch was delayed, due to its first in-flight engine failure in almost eight years, which has pushed that launch into this trecena, now scheduled for the sixth day. Also related to the skies – high above us NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy has just assumed command of the ISS for Expedition 63 after the return home of former commander Skripochka and astronauts Meir and Morgan on 13 Ix, the last day of the last trecena. Cassidy will be there for the next six months.

It was the first day of this trecena (last August) when it was reported that the US military has been conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons (up to 65,000 feet). At that time things were extremely tense in Washington DC as as the whistleblower issue came to light that eventually led to the impeachment proceedings earlier this year.

At the present time the attention of the world continues to be on the fight against COVID-19. As this trecena comes in, on the 114th day after the first Covid-19 warning, there are well over 2.25 million cases globally, with over 154,000 deaths reported. Over 574,000 people have recovered from it. In the US, as the number of cases climbed to over 710,000 (with over 234,000 cases in New York, and over 78,000 in New Jersey); the US death total was over 37,000. Spain had over 190,000 cases; Italy over 172,000; France and Germany both over 140,000 cases, with the UK’s total rapidly climbing after passing 100,000 a few days ago. Canada’s number of cases was just over 32,000.

As people come to realize that the restrictions and preventative measures that are in place right now are a “new norm” for the foreseeable future (at least for a few months) many are now looking for new ways to use their time, finding ways to help fight the battle and lend support to those on the front lines, and discovering new avenues for their creativity.

But as much as attention needs to be placed on curtailing this pandemic, let us not forget about the wider issue, which has to do with climate issues and the state of Earth itself. During the past trecena a significant number came and went, that being 7,777,777,777 – Earth’s population as of 7 Lamat (April 11, 2020).

This is more than double what the global population was a mere fifty years ago. During this current trecena this and many more important reminders are coming to light about the pressing needs related to conditions on this planet, and things that need to be done to address those needs.

Earth Day week begins on 3 Kab’an (April 20th), with Earth day and March for Science Day following on 5 Kawak (April 22nd). Many suggestions are given on websites associated with these important days as to how people can become more involved. (One of the big concerns at the moment is the lighting speed at which plastic bags are being consumed due to the fact that personal bags are no longer allowed in so many places, with this happening just as plastic bags were seriously being banned. This is highly problematic as far as the environment is concerned.)

And then, of course, there are the political battles, with the 2020 presidential election coming up in just a few months. The political situation in Washington is more frightening than ever and Congress will not be reconvening until at least May 4th. In the meantime Trump’s war with the media (and against anything humanitarian) continues. Earlier this month WAPO indicated that they have counted 18,000 false or misleading claims made by the disruptor-in-chief, an average of more than 15 claims a day. They added that since their Jan. 19th update, he’s been averaging over 23 false claims a day – even during a global crisis at a time when thousands are dying every day!

During this time frame it is the Aztec goddess Xochiquetzal (Flower Feather) who serves as a key patron of this period. She is aligned with artistry, creativity, household arts, fertility, and female sexual power. She was also a protector of young mothers and a patroness of childbirth. While this may seem a little curious, given the “eagle warrior” theme of this trecena, there is a connection to “women as warriors”, particularly those who died in childbirth who were esteemed for their bravery.

In addition it was thought that a fearsome deity called Tezcatlipoca, who was strongly connected with fire, strength, “supremacy”, and transformation, was a second overseer of this time frame, so this gives a kind of double layer of influence involving those qualities as they tie in with creativity.

All things considered this seems to emphasize the enormous need to become resourceful and “get creative” as people rise to the challenge of doing what must be done in the context of these battles, whether they relate to the battle to stay healthy, the battle to care for those who are ill or in need, the battle to help our planet to refresh and restore itself, or the battle to defeat the dark forces that have only been making things worse. This is the time to don the armaments of courage and become true “eagle warriors” in whatever ways we  can. Like the eagle, this is the time to “rise high” and push towards the sun and the light. There is a lovely song by Russell Morris called “Wings of an Eagle” that may help with this. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho4igoIlrro

During this critical period these are the energies that come into play:

One Men (April 18th) – the “initiation” of the high-flying (Eagle oriented) solar energy, a kind of “pushing for supremacy” type of force that has manifested in the past in the form of declarations of war, major battles, anti-government demonstrations and significant calls for reform, and even aggressive actions that have served to advance select interests, such as when approval was given two cycles ago by the Federal Communications commission for SpaceX to launch within the next nine years 7,518 satellites into low-Earth orbit, which (along with 4,425 previously approved satellites) would “serve as the backbone for the company’s proposed Starlink broadband network”. This will increase the number of active satellites six-fold.

Currently this is the day when a large lineup of entertainers will take part in a six-hour live stream “One World: Together at Home” benefit concert organized by the World Health Organization and Global Citizen to raise funds for the UN’s Covid-19 Response Fund (some are calling it the “socially-distanced Live Aid” concert). Curated by Lady Gaga (who was, herself, born on a 2 Men day), this concert is being broadcast on
major television networks and multiple other media platforms including YouTube. Prior to the
broadcast Lady Gaga had already raised over $35 million for this effort.

 

As it happens this is also World Heritage Day, aka the International Day for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). With this year’s theme being ‘Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibility’, the emphasis is really on the idea of sharing, even in the midst of a global pandemic. As noted in planeta.com, this theme “reflects the global context of heritage as part of cultural identity at a time of rapid population shift, conflict, and environmental uncertainty”. The theme recognises that heritage – whether places, landscapes, practices, or collections – is of great value to diverse groups and communities. At this time ICOMOS invites people to explore the idea of sharing with regard to cultures and heritage, and our collective responsibility in this regard.

2 Kib’ (April 19th) – a “dynamic” type of energy that can “shake things up” but ultimately tends towards being a transmutation force that can lead towards the restoration of order, coinciding at this time with what is scheduled to be the Longtaitou Festival in China, (or “Dragon Raising its head”) because the dragon was seen as the deity in charge of rain, with this rain festival involving ceremonies that invoke dragons to dispense “just the right quantity” of rain for spring planting. Traditionally this was the day to “wake up” the Dragon King after his long winter sleep.

3 Kab’an (April 20th) – the “activation” of “movement” or “earth movement”, in place at this time when the US Congress was originally scheduled to reconvene, but that has just been pushed back to May 4th at the earliest. This is the Maya birth energy of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the US Congress.

Right “on schedule” this energy is perfectly positioned to mark the start of Earth Day Week which will involve the broadcasting of live talks and daily shows associated with climate action for six consecutive days.

4 Etz’nab’ (April 21st) – a “defining” type of energy aligned with Etz’nab’s sparkling, “knife-edged” dazzle – an energy that can bring sudden change. At this time this coincides with the UN’s World Creativity and Innovation Day. As noted on the UN’s website, creativity and innovation, at both individual and group levels, have become “the true wealth of nations in the 21st century”.

Currently this is Queen Elizabeth’s 94th Gregorian birthday, the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower, and the 110th Gregorian anniversary of the death of Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain. (See podcast Episode One for more about him)

This is the Maya birth energy of the 19th century British Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who wrote the famous short poem The Eagle:

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

 

5 Kawak (April 22nd) – the “blessing” of “stormy” compassion; a precision kind of energy that can stir emotions and trigger important events, coinciding at this time with the New Moon and the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, aka International Mother Earth Day.

This year the theme for Earth Day is climate action, which is recognized as humanity’s biggest challenge. Since the world is currently under lockdown and taking part in social distancing to tackle the global pandemic, earthday.org is hosting “the world’s largest” digital civic event, through a wide variety of actions and events to address climate change issues.

This is also March for Science Day, and since global demonstrations are not advocated at this time media events will highlight important issues related to science and justice with regard to such things as healthcare, climate change action, and education.

This is the 150th Gregorian anniversary of the birth of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

6 Ajaw (April 23rd) – an “everywhere” type of energy associated with full sun and the power of enlightenment, at the beginning of Ramadan (as of this evening). This is a time for prayer, for fasting from dawn to sunset, for self-examination and charity-giving, and for attending to traditional Muslim spiritual practices, which continue for 30 days. Many are feeling that this year, with services suspended in places of worship due to the coronavirus, Ramadan will be a time when Muslims will direct their attention even more than usual towards helping those in need to get through the pandemic.

This is the day when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to launch approximately 60 satellites for the Starlink broadband network. Maya birth energy of Bernard Lyot, the French astronomer who invented the coronagraph to study the sun’s corona and its prominences without having to wait for a solar eclipse.

7 Imix (April 24th) – “self-generating” birth, an energy often asssociated with the envisioning of a “new order of being”, on this first full day of Ramadan, and the final day of Earth Day Week.

This is the 30th Gregorian anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, on the same day that a Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the 75th Progress cargo
spacecraft to the International Space Station. It is also Arbor Day and actor Shirley Maclaine’s 86th Gregorian birthday.

8 Ik’ (April 25th) – the “resurrection” of wind/breath/spirit; symbolic of the Corn God working together with the wind/breath/spirit aspect of Quetzalcóatl, coinciding at this time with World Malaria Day, Anzac Day, and World Tai Chi and Qigong Day, and Independent Bookstore Day.

Originally the huge Surrey (B.C.) Vaisakhi parade and festival in honour of the birth of the Sikh faith and the Sikh New Year was scheduled to be held on this day, but this has been cancelled. Nevertheless, smaller celebrations will likely take place in homes and small groups. It has been one cycle since US Congressman Jerry Nadler said that “formal impeachment proceedings” were underway in the US.

This is Al Pacino’s 80th Gregorian birthday, and ten cycles since the March 2013 election of Pope Francis.

9 Ak’b’al (April 26th) – an “outwardly-projecting” type of force often aligned with the “temple” or “house”, deep esoteric mysteries, and even “darkness, but at this time this will help Venus to shine brightly as she hangs out near the waxing crescent moon. On the last appearance of this “outward reaching” energy more than a million people were forced to evacuate as Typhoon Lekima hit China (overnight), leaving a vast trail of destruction.

This was the energy in place three cycles ago when Paul Manafort was arraigned on 18 felony counts in a federal court in Virginia before being sentenced last year.

10 K’an (April 27th) – “foundational germination” – a force that can be quite volatile, as in the generation of strong weather conditions or in the eruption of strong emotion-propelled action (as was in place at the beginning of the Egyptian and Syrian Revolutions in 2011). This is King’s Day in the Netherlands.

11 Chikchan (April 28th) – inspirational Lifeforce, aligned with Liberation and Higher Consciousness; a Burner Day traditionally associated with “extinguishing the fire” – often signalling some kind of change in direction, as Venus shines brightly, at its greatest illumination of the year.

This was the energy in place in 2001 when the Patriot Act was passed by the U.S. Congress, giving federal agencies wide ranging powers in order “to intercept and obstruct terrorism”.

It has been one cycle exactly since last August 12th when an unidentified whistleblower sent a credible complaint (“an urgent concern”) to the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community, who then transmitted the disclosure to the director of national intelligence (DNI) as required by law – this matter was then required to be delivered to the Intelligence Committee in Congress, which it was not. Adam Schiff had to subpoena the DNI director to obtain the information and it was finally delivered on Sept. 26th, which led to the impeachment trial earlier this year.

Currently this is International Workers’ Memorial Day, oriented around raising awareness regarding hazards in workplaces. Israel’s Independence Day celebrations begin in the evening (Yom Ha’atzmaut in Hebrew), marking the 72nd anniversary of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

12 Kimi (April 29th) – a “gathering together” type of energy associated with “absolute foundations”; a “regrouping type of energy” that could help to lay the foundations for new ideas or ventures, coinciding at this time with Israel’s Independence Day celebrations, including a ceremonial lighting of twelve torches and a ceremony at Mount Herzi, Israel’s national cemetery, and the start of Japan’s Golden Week. However, given articles such as “How to Survive the Crowds during Japan’s Golden Week 2020”, one wonders whether or not that country has yet grasped the concept of how risky that would be during a global pandemic. Given the nature of this particular energy (which can translate as “12 Death” – or “grouping together for death”) the question looms even larger!

Exactly five cycles ago this energy brought one of the “most insane and consequential news days in the history of the US”, just before the 2016 election. It was the day when the Trump campaign almost imploded but was somehow “revived” when the hacked Clinton campaign e-mails were suddenly released by Wikileaks, setting the stage for the forthcoming “election from hell”.

Amazingly this was also the energy in place when John F. Kennedy was nominated by the Democratic Party as their candidate in 1960 and it was also in place at the time of the death of Ted Kennedy in 2009. This is also Senator Kamala Harris’s Maya birth energy and country singer Willie Nelson’s 87th Gregorian birthday.

13 Manik’ (April 30th) – “transformational deer”, coinciding at this time with the 45th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War

When this energy was in place in October of 2016 a rapidly growing number of Republicans were calling for Trump to step down and were withdrawing their endorsement of him (or as some noted, were “stampeding away from him”, with some calling for “an engagement of the rules for emergency replacement”). If they had managed to make that happen there is a good likelihood that the world would have been far less terrifying and much more unified than it is right now.

This is the 100th Gregorian birthday of Captain Thomas Moore, a former British soldier who, by the beginning of this trecena had raised over £17 million in aid of NHS Charities Together to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic, by walking the 25 metres around his garden in Bedfordshire, central England 100 times before his 100th birthday, even though he had to use a walker to do it. That £17 million jumped to £27 million by the third day of this trecena. By the time his birthday arrives on this day the amount will likely be significantly higher.

In 1883 this was the energy in place when the Krakatoa volcano exploded with such a force that it blew the island apart, creating a 130 ft. tsunami and a humungus dust cloud that plunged Jakarta, 100 miles away, into complete darkness. Overall, this is a good day to exercise caution as this can be a highly intense force.

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[Please note that the brief descriptions of the days provided above are only “thumbnail sketches”. Much greater detail can be found in Manual for the Soul: A Guide to the Energies of Life.]