A threshold is a line that separates two territories of spirit and I think very often, how we cross, is the key thing. When we cross a new threshold, if we cross worthily, we heal the patterns of repetition inside of us, that have us caught somewhere. — poet John O’Donohue (1956-2008)
Today is Friday, December 9, 2011. Hopefully in between wiping the kids’ noses (or your own), holding down the day job (or second or third job) and Facebooking your fingers off, you’ve managed to find some still, quiet time to listen inwardly, reflect and demonstrate your devotion to something that truly feeds your soul.
And if you’re not sure that you have, you still have the weekend to carve out some time for yourself and drop in. Saturday is the big lunar eclipse day, with the Gemini Moon opposite the Sagittarius Sun.
The peak of the eclipse occurs at 9:32 am EST with the Full Moon technically at 9:36 am EST, but we receive them as the same event. Better still, the last two weeks plus a few days after tomorrow all count as the special ‘eclipse zone’, in which you can get the wheels of your life turning. You haven’t missed your chance to guide your life in a certain direction – in fact, that opportunity is always there for you; there’s just a cosmic boost right now.
Using it with conscious intention will get you that much further. The theme of this eclipse is: Get it. Internalize the learning, the spiritual theory, the concept you’re trying to grasp in therapy. Understand that growth is a practical matter. In part, what we’re being called to see are the things we miss over and over again. Embrace the obvious and make the obvious choices that you may be resisting.
As we head into the final hours before this eclipse, Uranus stations direct in the first degree of Aries – a surge of electricity as we cross this threshold. When Uranus first touched the Aries Point, the Fukushima nuclear disaster happened – and in the nine months that have passed since then, we’ve barely begun to grasp the reach of its effects. Now Uranus will soon be leaving the Aries Point, that spot where the personal is political. That’s it, onward — an extended event synchronous with Arab Spring, the uprisings in Wisconsin and Ohio, and the sudden, unexpected advent of the international Occupy movement. Uranus is still in the game, but we’re now moving past the threshold. The next stop for Uranus is the Uranus-Pluto square on June 24, and in truth, that’s when the fun really begins.
It’s fitting as this eclipse releases us into a slightly altered reality – one we have been shaping over the last couple weeks. Ideally, whatever inner quest we have been on will find outer expression in this world that needs us to act with awareness. The call to action – indeed, to our own lives — may catch us by surprise, but if we ‘get’ what we need to now, we’ll be ready.
An eclipse reminds us that everything is cyclical, and that the cycles have metacycles, or places where two or more patterns intersect. We experience eclipses (usually) in pairs every five and a half months or so; additionally, each eclipse is part of a much longer cycle of eclipses called a Saros cycle, or very long series of events.
The first eclipse of a Saros series begins life at one of Earth’s poles – either North or South. Each successive eclipse in a series will then appear at a lower latitude (moving toward and then across the equator to the other pole). The early eclipses in a series are thus very partial eclipses that virtually no one sees because they’re so far north or south.
Eclipses in a given series come up every 19 years for a period of about 1,500 years, give or take – that is, every 19 years, we have an eclipse in the same degree of the zodiac. Saturday’s eclipse is part of a series designated as number 135 which began in April 1615. More specifically, it is the 23rd eclipse in this series.
When a series of eclipses is ‘born’, the first eclipse carries a theme that resonates with each succeeding eclipse in that series. The very first eclipse begins by telling us that we should develop new modes of response to basic situations, from which we will gain new inner strength. It also speaks of keeping an open mind in order to reap a spirit harvest. And both the original eclipse in this series and tomorrow’s eclipse – in fact, many in this Saros series — are marked by a T-square. In tomorrow’s and the first, that square is from Mars, asking us to make a choice: Can we allow ourselves to rise to a new level of consciousness that will facilitate our ability to operate within the vast process of the biosphere we call Earth?
The years before and after the eclipse of 1615 are noteworthy because they represent the period when America was first settled, beginning with Jamestown in 1605 and continuing with Plymouth Colony in 1620. But the main clue to the future lies in the Pluto/Venus conjunction in Taurus in that first chart: money, power and land-grabs by multinational corporations that did the bidding of countries, expanding into the ‘new world’. Today, much of the conquered territory and what lies beneath it has been used up or abused, and the scene of many genocides. So what is Saturday’s eclipse saying to this generation?
It speaks about humanity’s acquisition of ‘seed knowledge’ – knowledge of the structure and cosmic manifestations of life on this planet. At the same time, we are faced with the possibility that a generation may have to sacrifice itself for the benefit of its descendants. And, as if this were not serious enough in itself, the eclipse is squared from both sides – by Mars in Virgo and Ceres in Pisces – forcing us to make choices regarding our land and water.
We are as much a part of the Earth as our skeletons are part of our bodies; as connected to nature as the hair on our heads is connected to our scalps. So whatever we do to Earth we do to ourselves. It is consciousness on a grand scale and we can apply the individual themes of this week’s astrology on the same grand scale.
It’s a problem that feels too big to resolve. We still believe in the mistaken concept of ‘separation’ so why wouldn’t things feel too big for us to handle? But, just as there is no separation between us and the Earth, there is no separation between each one of us. The energy of the Great Attractor during this eclipse can pull us together toward a common goal.
The same mistakes are being made over and over again. Leaders of all stripes continuously fall into the trap of believing that ‘this time’ is different and they will succeed where others have failed. This is a time to own up to our mistakes and find the courage to put things right.
What does it say about how we value ourselves if we have allowed our home – Earth – to get this way? What ancestral patterning is responsible for this? Kings believed they were masters of the Earth. Everyone else was pretty much reduced to serfdom. We have been psychically bullied into believing that we are not worth very much and that our home belongs to those more powerful than we are. It’s not surprising that CNN won’t report on the UN Climate Change Conference that’s in session this week. Respecting the Earth just isn’t good for business — or not yet anyway.
Just before the lunar eclipse of 1669 (number four in the series), Isaac Newton built the first reflecting telescope. Just this week, its much larger descendant caught sight of a planet very much like Earth. One can’t help but wonder how the future inhabitants of that other blue planet will care for their home, but for sure, there are signs that we, the inheritors of this legacy, are at a turning point — or at least a moment of clarity.
Looking for insights on how this week’s astrology affects your personal Sun and rising signs? Try out Planet Waves Light, our streamlined horoscope service. For deeper cultural context and astrological investigation, the premium Planet Waves subscription includes the same horoscopes, plus extensively-researched articles on Fridays.
Yes! It’s been entirely possible to feel; even impossible to miss, the changes since only yesterday….
bk – thanks for the roundup!
laura – i have trouble finding those posts, too. 🙂 espeically if i can’t remember the title, which i rarely do. that june lunar eclipse was on june 15. one way to search is to use the numbered page tabs at the bottom of the blog to jump ahead to the approximate date range you’re looking for.
another way is to do a google search using keywords, like “sagittarius full moon” “total lunar eclipse” “planet waves” “astrology” and my and eric’s names. hope that helps…
was it definitely the Daily Astro you were looking for, or a feature piece i had posted a couple weeks later about my personal experience with that eclipse (and the whole trio)?
It’s working! The eclipse of the Moon is emotional and verbal. MSM and cable news and this website are good examples of people expressing themselves through words (Gemini) charged with emotion and they are being challenged by others with ‘common sense’ and facts (Mars in Virgo), with the intention if clarifying the big picture (Sagittarius Sun). Also in play are the Moon’s nodes which take it beyond any political-is-personal level to an evolutionary level. Not that it isn’t personal in any sense. Just that it is encompassing the global feelings and mindsets and embracing the future, not just the now. I think we are almost ready for the great awakening of our species.
Active too is the transiting square to the full moon by Ceres; how much of what I’ve heard and read this morning has been about the care of our children, such as their exposure to birth control over-the-counter, and about our food supplies and sources, and above all, about our Mother Earth. The UN Climate Conference in Durban had an emotional (lunar eclipse) and divided (full moon, Gemini) debate on how emissions control would be handled before the meetings finally ended.
And what a blessed relief it was to not be overwhelmed by the media’s repeated displays of the indiscretions of Repub candidates or other politicians on center stage this morning. Of course I am selective in my channel hopping, so maybe I just missed it, but still, I’m grateful.
be
lol! and oh my! I think I’ll skip the cat food gargle! 😉 Carolyn Myss is my hero of heros. Thanks for mentioning her here. Her books have been a huge source of information and insipiration re my journey through food crisis. Thanks, Huffy! It’s allll good and so cool that we are all learning this stuff isn’t it?! xo
Dear aword, sounds like you know your body and your self really well. Sorry if I was a bit full on, I’m in that evangelical phase of just having seen the light! “… food intolerance can cause anxiety and anxiety over emotional issues can cause identical symptoms”. I totally agree with you. The mystic writer Carolyn Myss once said that a person who manages to ‘unplug their energies’ from all the places where they’re plugged in can eat anything, they can even gargle with cat food if they want! That image has always stuck in my mind… so here’s to gargling with cat food! Good luck my dear.
Huffy, Fe, Beth, thanks much for your food comments here. I have, in fact, reduced most of my body’s distresses (mainly nausea) by elminating wheat, most grains and sugar. Non-organic is absolultey extra-problematic. So that nausea returns whenever I do not feed my body/brain as it needs. On the other hand, I discovered several years back when I was in full-throttle to understand my chronic un-well-ness that there are indeed emotional triggers as well; that is, it goes both ways – that is, food intolerance can cause anxiety and anxiety over emotional issues can cause identical symptoms. So it’s a listening game. In the mornings always check-in with self to review and ask where the anxiety comes from. These days it is rarely food, but rather there is a remarkable physical response that I experience (including the nausea and a need to stretch) that allows for release – and ALWAYS at least one smalll revelation about some emotional (family) baggage, sometimes pages but I have been purging so it’s mostly a note or too now. Sometimes this morning response is tied strongly to dreams. Stretching and yoga type stuff works well and quickly to release the feeling of nausea.
I see this releasing as part of my “work” to shift.
Thanks again – YES! you are all correct about the food; it is that and much more. (I also think the food intolerances have a non-physical side, that is, the message is that we are not caring for our food sources properly, yes? So I am receiving the food’s message of “help me”! – or some such more esoteric thing.
Natal Ceres at Cancer 16 in the 12th House (opposing Nantal Mars in Cap 6th house) Be liberal with a couple of degrees and that’s a square to Natal Moon/Eric conjunction in Aries and square the other way round to two asteroids, one of my namesake Linda and the other of my alias Lola (which just happened to be conjunct, weird eh?) in Libra.
So, me’n’Ceres are working through some stuff. 🙂
XO
‘with a a lot of discipline and awareness’ – that’s my Mars in Virgo talking (oy vei) . I’ll change that ‘discipline’ to ‘perseverance’!
Was great to wake up and read your post this morning dear Maeve. Good for you! I managed to do that letting go with my parents that you talk about a few years ago. But that obsessive anger, fear, frustration etc that I used to have with my mother carried on with my boss. She’s a manipulative, not terribly honest woman who has really put me through my paces over the last few years. I’ve wanted to leave the job for a while now – but the job situation is dire in Italy, where I live. I did get myself out of the office and am workng from home now which has helped enormously. But yesterday I started going nuts about her again for another piece of manpulative, dishonest behaviour, and there I was as usual, like a dog with a bone – gnawing away at it. But just now, a thought came into my head “just let it go, you can choose not to feed it”. And it just fell away, and I wa suffused with peace. Not that the dog and its bone have gone away. But now that I have seen it, with a a lot of discipline and awareness (falling off the bike and getting back on it again and again and again!) – I can choose. The same thing happened yesterday with the fear of survival I mentioned in another post. I can choose not to always be afraid of not having enough money to survive. As simple and difficult as that.” the sweet spot. Choose what to breathe in next with grace and intent”. Love ya all xxx
Thanks for the post on tomorrow’s lunar eclipse, with a nod to other posters: much food for thought here. And for the photographs … with a group of longtime friends watched the progress of the eclipse in June from a beautiful house on a Greek island – no words for that experience! I recall a post about that eclipse in Daily Astrology around that time but not able to locate it in the archives with my limited techno skills – can you assist? Thanks for all.
***correction***
Many of the eclipses in this series have the t-square (and the Pluto/Venus conjunction) but some of them do not have the t-square.
sorry about that!
but the main point is still that all eclipses in a cycle share some major aspect(s) or another with the first. And the first and tomorrow’ have the Mars square.
I haven’t been able to read through posts or comments until just now. It’s interesting reading the posts and already complete comment threads… it flavors the post in a whole new way.
Beth said “2am I saw an insight into my parents relationship dynamic that was ingrained into me as a child and that has deeply influenced my life, and that I have never before understood. And of course it was directly related to my actions in this old relationship. I can feel the patterns melt and flow out of my being.” … I was on the phone with my mom today, and she was kvetching about my dad, who’s got a cold and is being frumpy and whiny. They’ve got loads of problems, though they’ve been getting better. Anyhow, she spent like 10 minutes just ranting and bitching about him, when I finally interrupted and said “Mom, let it go. Just let it go.” That’s it. That’s part of this family/ancestor aspect to these planetary travels. I’ve done a lot of work to not be ruled by habits and reactions when it comes to relationships… my parents play the passive-aggressive-reactive game pretty hard, and I _always_ call them on it when I visit. They don’t even realize they’re doing it. But to get back to it… just let it go. Hanging on to the memories of people who’ve done you wrong (and consequently bitching about it, reliving it, whathaveyou) does no one any good. You don’t move past that cycle, and likely you’re holding the other person in that cycle, either energetically or emotion-habitually.
Huh.
Just let it go. Breathe it out. And that space when you’ve exhaled the last of it… there’s the sweet spot. Choose what to breathe in next with grace and intent.
Damn, y’all are good for me. Thank you. 🙂
(time go home now)
Food changes are important to our well being at this time, but it is also so important to eat organic as much as possible. It’s best to spend more money now on your food, than pay later for health costs.
This eclipse completes my natal T-square, Pluto/Uranus conj at 18/19 Virgo 2nd house, Jupiter at 22 Gem, and Chiron/Saturn at 19/13 Pisces. I am curious about what’s in store for me… On Saturday I will be in a room with other grant panelists trying to determine what art projects get money. I imagine it will be intense.
The 11/25 eclipse was conjunct my natal moon and SN. Someone once told me “…it has been said by a Master that the Mutable Cross is humanity’s burden.” It seems to me that this is a humanitarian revolution. Capitalism has proven to be inhumane. Perhaps the next phase is Humanitarianism.
Just after the first eclipse I was contacted by about 20 people from my past. One of them an old friend who played a key role in a relationship ending 18 years ago (and I have to note that I began a relationship with my husband 9 years ago – referring to the 9yr / 18yr part of this aspect). I spoke with this old friend a week later, she is still friends with my old flame and his now wife (he started seeing her before he ended a 5 year relationship with me), and that night I had a dream that this past love was holding me and telling me that he loved me. He was in my dream again last night doing the same. It is uncanny how the insight into this situation has unfolded, in particular with Mercury retrograde involved. I have journals from 1992 and it was like I was writing messages to my future self. Last night at about 2am I saw an insight into my parents relationship dynamic that was ingrained into me as a child and that has deeply influenced my life, and that I have never before understood. And of course it was directly related to my actions in this old relationship. I can feel the patterns melt and flow out of my being.
wow melissa — thank you for digging up those other events of 1615! what fun… fascinating global picture there. i missed this comment earlier — glad i scrolled down just now.
*Perfect*, Len! I reach it by not reaching for it. It is there, in “the between” – and that’s where I meet it, until I integrate it. Woo hoo! 🙂
I will vouch for the diet changing things. Going off carbs (all grains including corn, all legumes, all potatoes, most fruits) has made me feel 1000% better. Food really does have a huge impact on our bodies.
Sarah: Try this (and forgive me if i don’t have it correct). Think of your Celtic Cross spread. How some cards are more “lasting” than others and how you put yourself in a timeless, spaceless consciousness to connect and integrate them to a presence. How does that work for you?
Hey, Len: Yeah, it comes and goes – one minute I’ve got it and try to hold on to it, the next I’m not quite grasping the concept/feeling/insight again. But it is there. Maybe it’s hard to grasp because I’ve long believed that I haven’t had the means to hold it. I do, but the muscles are weak and underused. Skating is apt: I keep colliding with the boundaries and falling over myself, beginner that I am. One day, I aim to do a beautiful leap! 🙂
Thanks Fe. I’m pretty on my own here in my no wheat quest, so great to get encouragement and advice. I live in Italy, the land of pasta and bread! Interestingly enough I’ve been really drawn to ginger and cayenne since coming off wheat…
Huffy:
A friend of mine once called bread her “gateway drug” — into sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Since being off wheat, her migraines have vanished.
My life has gotten much better and more energized since off-loading wheat as well. My liver thanks me. Still working on mucus-producing foods and weaning off them as well. Sinusitis is a bear — affects hearing and blood pressure. Plenty of ginger, cayenne and red pepper — they are great purgatives.
ps food intolerances also cause anxiety, depression, etc. My mood has lightened considerably since coming off wheat. Good luck with your full house!
Aword – sorry to be so mundane, but you’re chronic nausea might be a food intolerance. Wonder whether you’ve ever looked into that. I suffered terrible migraine (with vomiting) all my life – I put it down to repressed anger, hormones – and was never able to get rid of them. Till last October when a diagnosis for my sickness came through in a dream (!). It basically indicated that I was intolerant to wheat. So I cut it out of my diet completely, decided to experiment. The detox is hard, but for the first time in years I’ve gone for 6 weeks without coming down with a migraine.
http://www.foodintol.com/food_intolerance/nausea_causes
Thank you for another wonderful Daily Astrology. The information about Saros Series is most welcome.
Sarah Taylor: You perception that the concept is slippery means that you do indeed get the gist of it. If it were not slippery, something would be off because such concepts are not static even if some elements are of a lasting quality. Perhaps thinking about skating would work.
Lordy! So many connections here this morning! Huffy; you too, thanks for sharing; I’ve had too many “ok I’ll try this next” moments over the past 9 years to feel overly optimistic about any new perspective/opportunity on bringing home the bacon. But I DID get a phone call from an old friend that left me feeling cleansed and re-newed. So there’s some different message in that – new approaches/inspiration to old ideas – perhaps.
Good Luck to You, Too!!
Sarah: I like the picture of your slippery bar of soap! I wish my ‘comin’-through stuff’ were a little wetter; but then, being a Fish I suppose that’d just feel natural and not grab my attention like the nausea! I don’t feel so alone now; thanks for sharing 🙂
I am feeling such inspiration from the pw village here … thank you all for feeding me in ways that help move in the world today … this notion of balance calls me to pause and connect with that space inside.
Bless you all! I am better for the reading.
mm.
My eclipse-born,Geminii-Sun daughter arrives home for winter break this evening; She, my son and I will be squished into my tiny apartment now for a month. Considering our history (which would take an entire website to fill) it is appropriate timing no doubt – for reasons I am surely not all familiar with — Yet!
In considering the 9-year/18 year look-back mentioned at PW and elsewhere, I broke down my life into decades, looking for a pattern, and it didn’t mean much. Then I broke down my life into 9’s starting with 2011 (2002, 1993, 1984 etc) and every single year held meaning; by itself and from one to the other. Blessed Pallas-Athena!:Talk about patterns.
(Natal Pallas on MC in Taurus opposes my Jupter (aka Zeus)/NN/Neptune conjunction) — and of course all of the above is being transited by said father Jupiter (who is now – visually on my chart – sitting on Her head, lol)
Yep. Feelin’ the seeds in my belly.
I woke this morning with the usual nausea/anxiety. I have learned to give myself time to wait and ask and listen. This morning it was clear; the nausea has to do with the shifting of DNA. I’m OK with that; it sounds a little too “new-age-y” for my appetite (pun) but I’ll go with it. I’m sick of feeling sick (like chronic morning sickness) for years now!! lol!) Maybe this birthing will cure all that.
Another wonderful, helpful article. Thanks again to All @ PW.
xo
“When a series of eclipses is ‘born’, the first eclipse carries a theme that resonates with each succeeding eclipse in that series. ”
I was interested in more of what was happening in the world in April 1615.
March 7, 1615, a 3-tailed comet was recorded as being seen. There was a prenumbral lunar eclipse on April 13.
On the evening of April 14th, 1615, the first recorded earthquake struck Sri Lanka.
The story… http://www.lankalibrary.com/geo/portu/earthquake.htm
oh, and bkoehler, thank you for these additional insights! they really help to round it all out, esp the distinction between passion and feeling and the reminder to water, to be caring and nurturing, and to balance.
btw, this was truly a group post, with writing from at least 4 people included and supportive ideas from a couple others. eric said he’ll introduce those involved after mercury stations, so i’ll leave that to him, but wanted to acknowledge that the sections on this Saros series came from one of these team members.
i have much gratitude for the support this week, both in writing and editing this feature and in general here on the blog — it’s been a wild one.
🙂
Interestingly, just this week a group is forming here in Flagstaff. It is called “The Free Thinkers of Flagstaff” and it is comprised of non religious, atheist, agnostic, and other secular folks. Out of the blue I was invited to join it (how they found my blog is beyond me because I don’t advertise it on my FB at all). We are to have our first local meeting and winter party on Saturday, Dec. 17th.
I am excited about this because I have been wishing for just such a group. For too long, thinkers have been silent and unheard. It is time for reason to rear its rational head and join with others who care about our planet, our society, and all species.
These are exciting times to be alive.
Something’s coming through (for) me. Working with it, working with it … It’s like a slippery bar of soap, but it is tangible enough at the very least. 🙂
Thank you Daily Astrology for this remarkable article so full of knowledge. As Sagittarius would have it no other way, you give us a better understanding of what eclipses are and a long view of what we as citizens of the earth are facing today. Something else too; it brings us feeling. There is a lot of fire being expressed at this time and that can be passionate, but feeling is different. It moves you in a different way. I understand why there is a 4-way challenge in this eclipse, all set in the transitional signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, it is to seek balance.
The heat has been on for a while now and will continue for some time what with Jupiter preparing to station direct in Taurus and Mars’ extended stay in Virgo. But with all the activity in Sagittarius lately and now Uranus in fiery Aries stationing also, it is too easy to get caught up in our passions. It is good to balance the fire and earth with some Ceres caring in watery Pisces and Moon’s feeling in airy Gemini at this time of transitions. Be sure to water your inside plants as the furnace heat dries out the air now, and water yourselves too. Nurture those ‘seeds of knowledge’ in a balanced atmosphere and ‘feed your soul’ with inward listening. It is a balance of these things that will enable us to ‘get it’ during this high intensity season. Remember that we too are part of the earth that has been exploited, so be kind to your neighbor as well as your yourself. That’s one way to get it.
be
This morning not long after waking, I think I “got it” – regarding my biggest fear about being able to survive financially, which has been hitting really hard these last 2 years – and feels like a gordian knot, or impasse ,with no way out. Daren’t say more for now though…! Thanks for yet another stunning blog, just stunning. And thanks for introducing me to John O’ Donohue, how sad that he died so young. A big hug to you all and good luck to everyone, let’s get on down with this amazing eclipse! xxx