Learning about Eclipses

perception is everything :)

New Moon in Scorpio and Solar Eclipse
November 13, 2012

I wrote about tomorrow's New Moon yesterday (how's that for time travel in one sentence?). Today, I'm adding links about eclipses, and this solar eclipse in particular.

Eclipses are on my learning curve, so I happily turn to other astrologers for insight. These essays resonated with my experience of this eclipse season so far ... perhaps you'll feel the same!

Eclipse Pointers from Moonkissed by Jessica. She also has a nifty article called Eclipses by House and Sign that's worth reading.

If you're interested in an easy intro to the technical aspects of eclipse cycles, and where this one fits, check out Eclipse Astrology by Brenda Black. I am new to Brenda's work and enjoyed this one––will be reading more.

April Elliott Kent is an eclipse diva, and her site has lots of information on eclipses and how they affect our charts. Her article on this particular eclipse is here, but check out Big Sky Astrology for more eclipse resources.

The presence of a solar eclipse amps up the intensity (there's that word again!) during this New Moon time, and with Scorpio energy strong, it's good to remember we're travelers within a great mystery. We can be insightful and align with the forces that align with our goals, but control is off the table––reach deep and trust.
    

New Moon in Scorpio: Superposition

New Moon in Scorpio
November 13, 2012

I'm guilty of overusing the word "intense" and I promise to stop. After this New Moon, I mean. Yes, this New Moon is intense ... an intensity of intensities beyond intense. Where is my thesaurus?

Monday's New Moon is in Scorpio, fixed Water. Wary, brooding, tenacious, insightful, psychic, involuted, Scorpio has a long memory, sharp tongue, and nerves of steel. This is the intensity of transformation, life and death decisions, and deep knowledge.

Every Scorpio New Moon––every Scorpio everything––has this kind of intensity, and this one's got more.

Saturn is in Scorpio now, adding his gravitas. You can't ignore Saturn; he's the 500 lb. gorilla. He's anchoring the ongoing Grand Trine in Water with Ceres in Cancer and Chiron and Neptune in Pisces. We're swimming in deep seas with strong currents.

This New Moon comes with a solar eclipse, which means the New Moon is conjunct the North Node––in other words, aligned with the point of our unfolding, the place we create ourselves and find meaning.

And here's Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius also conjunct the New Moon, at 0 degrees, in fact. He calls us to reexamine our philosophy of life, the universe and everything. With Jupiter the philosopher himself still retrograde, the invitation to revisit our worldview is compelling.

We're all alchemists now, standing in our shadowy lab, surrounded by alembics and crucibles. The surrounding dark draws in. The glow of the gas burner creates a nimbus of golden light around us as we look at the elements laid out before us.

Scorpionic alchemy is about soul making. We ourselves are going into the crucible to be cooked, broken down, and reborn. All kinds of transformation are supported now, especially anything related to where this New Moon falls in our birth charts, and what it touches.

This is also a time of unknowing. Faced with the deepest of mysteries, we recognize the limits of our own hearts and minds, and surrender ... not going down in defeat, but recognizing our ideas, our wills, our selves are not big enough to accomplish our purposes.

For some, surrender will be to the Divine in some form. Some of us surrender to the immensity of life itself. At this New Moon, we accept our limits. Then, we seek to be re-formed, remade into something new, something better, something more closely aligned with our life purpose.

I always feel bad for Schrödinger's cat. There she is, stuck in that box, threatened with poison, dead and alive for eternity. If I open the box, maybe I can let her out into a normal cat life. On the other hand ... I don't open the box.

This New Moon is an unopened quantumly mysterious box. It glows in the dark. It begs to be opened, drawing us closer. Look, isn't that corner loose? Maybe we could just peek in ...

Don't do it! Seriously. This New Moon, more than most, invites us to make our wishes, set intentions, and let them go. All things are possible. In these days of the dark Moon, we can't see any of the choices anyway. Our eyes have the hazy sight of newborns.

This is the quantum state called superposition, when all possible states are held simultaneously. The probabilities will collapse, there will be an outcome, but not yet. Instead of giving way to anxiety and the insistent desire to know, let's revel in the deliciousness of not knowing, when anything can happen.

Dream large at this New Moon––Neptune turned direct on Saturday! The Neptunian fog can now shift into dreams come true. And Chiron is stationing direct, a powerful agent for healing. He'll turn direct November 14, right after the New Moon, flowing forward into positive change and learning.

As we approach the New Moon, release everything that's not working. Welcome the New Moon as a time of transformation. Seek intuitive guidance. Make wishes. Rest in the velvet dark. Wait.
    

Balsamic Moon: Cat's Cradle

compost!

Balsamic Moon in Libra
November 10, 2013

In the ancient Celtic calendar, we've entered the dark half of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, this direct link to the Sun's leaving us in darkness has symbolic depth as well.

We're now in the ancient Celtic month of Seed Fall, when seeds die in the dark earth and we wait for the new plants to emerge... later, when they're ready, when the time is right.

The Balsamic Moon is the seed fall of each lunar month, preparing to push new seeds into the earth, composting carefully with what is ready to break down and nourish the future. We will choose the seeds carefully based on what we hope to harvest, knowing that not all will sprout and even among the sprouts, not all will fruit––not knowing which ones will make it.

It's been an intense month. The losses are many and still being counted––even if you're happy with US election outcomes overall, the campaign season took a toll, and then there's storms, floods, fires, and the urgent, ongoing need to reach those still isolated and alone.

At this time, we're invited ... called ... even pushed to let go of what doesn't serve us. Let go of rancor and bad feeling. Let go of outmoded ideas. Let go of models that aren't working. Let go of stuff that's broken or damaged or simply not needed. Compost it.

Seed planting will come soon, it's time to prepare the ground.

The aspect patterns surrounding this Balsamic Moon are complicated, interwoven. Like a cat's cradle, the pattern shifts as we move our hands and look from another angle.

Notice all the planets in the early degrees of signs, connecting the dots:

The Moon at 3 Libra squares Ceres at 3 Cancer and opposed Uranus at 5 Aries, a Cardinal T-square challenging us to find a new balance amid sharply delineated changes.

The same Moon sextiles Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius, who trines Uranus in Aries––let's rethink our philosophies, look with new eyes at the world and find points of creative compromise.

Between the Moon and Mercury sits Saturn at 4 Scorpio, the wizard anchoring one node of this web. He semisextiles Moon and Mercury, and maintains still the Grand Water Trine with Ceres at 3 Cancer, and Chiron at 4 Pisces with Neptune at 0 Pisces. Emotions and intuition flow easily and powerfully, opening doors to insight and growth.

Saturn is inconjunct Uranus, the two rulers of Aquarius, sign of the new age, pushing at each other, challenging each to greater depth (Saturn) and wider revolution (Uranus).

And then there's Pluto, at 7 Capricorn, a big far away from the planets grouped at 3 and 4 perhaps, and yet Pluto's power has a long reach. He squares the Moon and Uranus, opposes Ceres, sextiles Saturn and Chiron, semisextiles Mercury, as if to say it's all, every bit of it, part of a grand movement, and alchemical shift towards ... towards what, eactly?

We don't know. This is not a time for clear sight; it's dark out there. Dark, however is not the same as evil. Darkness brings rest, release, rejuvenation, healing. Venus is in mid Libra, one of her home signs, and she trines Jupiter reflectively retrograde in Gemini. They remind us we're in a time of review that will bring a new flowering.

This is a time to appreciate the creative complexity of the cosmos, realize we can't possibly comprehend it all, and resolutely take the steps before us. Whatever's ready to go, let go of it. It will feel good, and you'll feel lighter afterwards. I promise.