Dear Friend and Reader:
We are now in the two-day zone before an eclipse of the Moon in Aquarius. This is a critical moment for navigating the turns of our lives; a kind of break-free point; a place of resolution and continuation. Therefore, we need to move gently through this whole week. This is going to take some faith. Plenty has been begun that is not resolved; there is still plenty of doubt, uncertainty and insecurity in the air; and the sequence of events this summer has many of us feeling pretty exhausted.
This is the fourth lunation of summer; they have all been spectacular (a polite way of saying rather intense and demanding, coming with all kinds of changes), and we are feeling it. We began with the New Moon in early Cancer on the solstice; followed by an eclipse of the Moon in Capricorn; followed by a total solar eclipse in the last degree of Cancer; now followed by an eclipse of the Moon in mid-Aquarius.
In terms of the cycle of the year, this eclipse occurs with the Sun near the midpoint of a fixed sign; In Leo, this is a cross-quarter day called Lammas or Lughnasadh. The ‘first harvest’ or ‘second planting’ holiday is celebrated some time the first week of August, depending on the local traditions (sometimes Aug. 1 and sometimes Aug. 5). As an astrologer I prefer to use the crossing of the midpoint of the fixed signs, combined with the nearest major lunation; with a Full Moon on the 5th, that rings the bell.
Lammas links into the three other cross-quarter days — Imbolc or Candlemas in early February (the midwinter holiday; in the modern calendar, Ground Hog Day or Valentine’s Day), followed by Beltane in early May (midspring holiday; May Day in many societies), followed by Lammas (midsummer holiday); followed by Sahwen, Samhain or Halloween (Days of the Dead; All Saint’s Day; All Soul’s Day; Pagan New Year). Each of these days falls at the midpoint between a solstice and an equinox.
Under this calendar structure, which is determined by the position of the Sun in relationship to the tropics, there are eight, six-week seasons each year. They are all tangible turning points, and they all relate to the Aries Point. The Aries Point, or the first degree of Aries, seems to respond most vividly to aspects related to the square (90-degree relationships). This includes the semi-square (45 degrees) and the sesquisquare (135 degrees). All of the quarter-days (solstices and equinoxes) and cross-quarter days therefore talk to the Aries Point and take us into that territory where collective events cross over with personal events.