Sagittarius Eclipse — The Great Attractor

Today’s partial eclipse of the Moon is conjunct a deep-space point called the Great Attractor (Planet Waves coverage here). Located in the general direction of the Galactic Center, but millions of light years past it, the Great Attractor is the ultimate Sagittarian statement, retreating from us at a million miles per hour, and drawing countless galaxies (including our own) toward it in hot pursuit.

Photo by Eric Francis
Photo by Eric Francis

It may be difficult at first to think on this kind of scale, but the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, a super-massive black hole located about 27,000 light years from us, is right in our local neighborhood. Sure, it would take us 270 centuries to get there traveling at the speed of light, but that’s nothing compared to how far it is to the Great Attractor. That thing, whatever it is, is 150 to 250 million light years from our galaxy.

Everything around us (that is to say, all galaxies in our local group) is being pulled in its direction. We don’t know what it is; nobody has ever seen it; astronomers infer its existence from many different characteristics (such as a powerful radio source broadcasting on every frequency except visible). It is located right in the middle of Sagittarius, which is why I mention it.

Monday’s Full Moon / partial lunar eclipse is conjunct this point, at 14+ degrees of Sagittarius. Think of a lunar eclipse as a veil being lifted off the personality, and a deeper layer of reality glimpsed at for a moment. This eclipse is revealing the presence of some force too compelling to resist, pulling you in the direction of your true quest. You might be experiencing this in a constructive, adventurous way; it may be rocking your world, or both.

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