Cosmic Wisdom at the Solar Eclipse this Saturday I am very excited about this Saturday’s live episode of The Natural Wisdom Podcast! Astrologer Emily Trinkaus and I will be sharing ‘Cosmic Wisdom’ on the astrology of the moment, including Saturday’s total Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius. While 2020 was the turning point of the age, with some planetary line-ups not seen since the 1200s, 2021 has been a year of turmoil and tension as well. The most significant single influence has been the conflict between freedom and control represented by a square (angle of tension) between the planets Uranus (acceleration, change, freedom) and Saturn (tradition, boundaries, rules). The last exact 90 degree angle comes in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, likely exacerbating the challenges for many families regarding whether or how to gather for the holidays. Another predominant theme coloring our lives since mid-2020 is the polarity between facts and beliefs. The Lunar Nodes, considered to represent karma and destiny in evolutionary astrology, have been in the opposite signs of Gemini and Sagittarius all year. The Nodes bring up seemingly opposing energies for integration. Gemini is the sign of information, curiosity, multiplicity, and fact gathering. Sagittarius represents our belief systems, the stories we tell to make meaning of the world, organized religion and truth. With the South Node in Sagittarius, we seem to experience the darker tones of these themes: beliefs become dogma; our truth becomes the only truth; and/or we outsource our inner knowing to outer ‘experts’. With the North Node in Gemini, we may tend to overdo the gathering of facts, data and statistics in a bid to find an answer. The efforts of Gemini can become an ungrounded mental exercise. Does any of this sound familiar? Saturday’s Solar Eclipse along the South Node will highlight some of the topics I mention here, giving us an opportunity for a reset, for example, of our stories or beliefs. Emily and I will talk about these and other topics as our time allows on Saturday, plus answer your questions. Patrons at the $8 tier can join us live – I’ll post the link tomorrow for you; the live session begins at 10 a.m. Mountain/Noon Eastern. You may also put questions in the comments section of this post if you can’t make it live and we will try to get to them. The podcast episode recording will be on your favorite podcast platform by Saturday afternoon. Thank you again to all patrons for being here. It means a lot!
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Eclipse season 2021 Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse 2021 – Pluralism and curiosity The Sagittarius Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse occurred earlier this week, lighting up old stories, beliefs, and dogmas. Join me for a short briefing on some of the themes and highlights of the season.
Re-building connection for the Taurus New Moon Rebuild connections for the Taurus New Moon Today’s New Moon in Taurus opens the portal to Eclipse season. For the next six weeks or so, we are in a time when things are super-charged and somewhat unpredictable. Mercury turning retrograde at the end of this month may amplify these themes, as do a couple of other tense angles between planets. Taurus is the astrological ‘throne’ of the Moon, so the annual New and Full Moons in this sign offer us greater access to our inner worlds and inner knowing. Taurus is also home to Venus, who has just moved into the neighboring sign of Gemini, home to Mercury. With Venus in the sign of communication and connection, this lunation offers us the opportunity to build – or rebuild – our connections. Most of us know by now the potential for miscommunication and mischief that comes with Mercury retrograde periods, so we may want to take advantage of the New Moon to set the tone for respectful, clear communication – which has been sorely challenged over the past year for many of us. The primary tension at this New Moon comes with the challenge between Mars in Cancer, or the ‘warrior’ in the mother’s house, and Chiron in Aries, Mars’ own home. “We can only meet others where they are to the extent that we are able to meet ourselves where we are.”Hiro Boga, mentor/guide for visionary entrepreneurs Mars in Cancer wants to take care of others, yet Chiron, the ‘wounded healer’, mentor and teacher in the sign of the self, agency and identity tasks each individual to be the fullest expression of themselves. In a time when ‘selfish’ is conflated with ‘narcissist’, we may forget that by shining the brilliance of our own true light, we bestow it on others, as well.
The beginning of the harvest – and the end of eclipse season As I sit down to write this post, the Sun has just reached 15 degrees of Leo, the point associated with the ancient celebration of Lammas, or “loaf-mass”. Although in today’s world we look to the Gregorian calendar on the wall to find these holidays, they are actually determined by the position of the Sun. Lammas is a cross-quarter day, meaning we are half-way between the (northern hemisphere) summer solstice and fall equinox. This is a time of harvesting the ‘first fruits’ of what we sowed at the spring equinox, traditionally summer fruits and the first wave of grains. It is a time of abundance, a time to receive the gifts of the Earth and our own hard work. We might also pause from our summer play and work to appreciate and be grateful for this first flush of abundance. Leo zodiac glyph Just a few days after Lammas comes the New Moon and Solar Eclipse in Leo, which is also the penultimate eclipse in the Leo-Aquarius cycle (the last is the Leo Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse in January, 2019). Not as intense as last year’s “Great American” Eclipse, nor even the recent Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius, this Saturday’s Moon heralds a rise from the ashes of this eclipse season. If we’ve noticed some huge endings over the past months, now is the time to be vigilant for what begins. This Eclipse comes within the formation of a (literally) pointed configuration called a “yod”, meaning that two planets in a 60 degree angle with each other are pointing indirectly at another across the sky in an elongated, converging triangle. In this case, Neptune in Pisces (unconditional love, spiritual connection) and Pluto in Capricorn (transformation of structures, mastery of true power) are pointing directly at the Leo Eclipse (Sun conjoined with the Moon in Leo) itself. With the Sun and Moon conceiving a new cycle in Leo, the theme is that of creativity, leadership, and the self or Self. Leo, the lion, is also the sign of royalty. The shadow side of royal leadership is self-serving. But the greatest expression of the same is selfless service: the royal serves the good of all. This Eclipse offers an opportunity to master the true power of unconditional love in service to – humanity, the planet, the cosmos. If you read my last newsletter, you know I came to this very choice point, false as it is, near the time of the Cancer New Moon and Eclipse. I felt a deep need to practically get on my knees and commit to service no matter the consequences, in particular financial consequences. Even though I know there is no real separation between service and prosperity, making the declaration is a way of throwing off the programmed fear that tells me I have to focus on making money over offering service. World matrix Then, just a couple of weeks later at the Aquarius Lunar Eclipse, I saw through the fear program that has told me for as long as I can remember I don’t have enough; I am not enough. It felt a little like watching Neo finally see the codes of the Matrix creating the world around him. Although the old mental habits are still dissipating, this clear view of fear of lack as an artificial construct has shifted, well, everything. Maybe not everyone will have such a dramatic awakening during this eclipse season. After all, I have a Leo Moon and Leo is also the sign of drama. But we each have the opportunity to springboard off all this eclipse energy: we can release some element of cultural programming that no longer serves us and choose to use the power of our love in service. If it sounds useful to explore your own path of service in community, with some structure and guidance, you may be interested in the Embodied Service program, my own new creative offering. It will be an extended group mentorship, at least a couple of months long, to learn how to detox from the old fear programming and learn to do business in a way that feels joyful, easeful, and in alignment with who you really are, with your Soul. I’m still working out details, which I will share within the next week or two. Would you like a more personal take on what this Eclipse season means in your life? Consider an astrology consultation with me.
Eclipses and retrogrades, oh my! I don’t know about anyone else, but the past few days have stirred up my shadows. I’ve noticed thought and behavior patterns that aren’t very pretty, and that I thought I had worked through, re-wired, healed, etc. All that spiritual work, you know. Apparently, not. It has been a little like walking past a mirror and catching sight of my reflection in one of those moments when I might scare small children (or even grown men!) A few days ago, I told someone that the fear of not having the money to pay bills is worse than death. I was slightly triggered by what felt like a too optimistic view of life, and I blurted out what I can only describe as a dark, shadowy energy. A day later, I was alone in the forest near the family cabin, walking up the creek to avoid the heat. For some reason, I was afraid. The fear wasn’t intense, just uncomfortable, all the worse for my judgment that it was unfounded. I was in a place I visit often, less than a mile from the cabin. The background of anxiety was familiar, too familiar, reminding me I have been living with it for far too long. The very next day, deeper into the forest and higher on the mountain, I collected huckleberries. My picking was accompanied by a litany of thoughts along the lines of guilt and bargaining over how many berries might be too many. Was I taking berries from the bears? Could I pick a few more? Did I have the right to take some huckleberries? The monologue would have been funny if it hadn’t been in my own head. What’s going on in the sky to contribute to my shadow work is unique and intense. Tomorrow (Friday, July 27th) the Full Moon is in Aquarius and is a total Lunar Eclipse. This is the longest-lived Lunar Eclipse in a century; for 103 minutes the Moon’s reflected light will be blotted out by the Earth. Right next to the Moon is the planet Mars, the second-closest it has been to Earth in 60,000 years. Any Full Moon can heighten emotions, but an Eclipse is an amplifier. Mars – planet of action, desire, masculine energy – can stir up restlessness, agitation, even anger. Since Mars is opposite the Sun (vitality, identity, our inner light) and retrograde (appearing to go backward in the sky), and part of the eclipse, it may stir up old resentments and point us inward to our own shadow, as is the case for me. Add in Mercury also just turned retrograde, and several other planets in their backwards-moving cycles, and the tides are metaphorically (and perhaps literally) against our every effort. There is value in the retrograde, though, not least in the revealing of shadows. We can’t change what we don’t notice. We also need to be knocked on our rear ends occasionally (at least I do) in order to pause and review where we are headed. This is a time to really see what we are creating with our thoughts, words and deeds. With the forward momentum and action-orientation of masculine Mars temporarily on hold, we have an opportunity to let our feminine energy take the lead. The harmonious blend of Venus (archetypal feminine) and Pluto (God/dess of the Underworld and signifier of deep power), exact at the Full Moon, encourages us to explore what real feminine power might look like. Fluid, relationship-oriented, compassionate qualities are greatly needed now more than ever to balance the assertive, driving masculine. Are you forcing your will on your life, or going with the flow? Are the voices in your head critical, or compassionate? Is fear or love in the driver’s seat? Are you feeling worthy of the abundance surrounding you? I know what my answers were last week. As my shadows come up from my inner darkness, perhaps they will dissolve in the light of my love. Want to know how this Lunar Eclipse might show up in your life and how to find the best path forward? Sign up for a Moon Guidance session with me!