The Alchemy of Authenticity- Aquarius Lunar Eclipse- August 7

This eclipse season  is all about a reboot back to love, and real LOVE requires authenticity. Authenticity is often forged in the fire of resistance. When we say yes to an inner truth, we are often challenged to say no to an outer assumption or expectation. This balance between our unique expression and acceptance is a challenging dance.

Why?

Because connection is as important to the human psyche as air.

Out of the three core wounds (shame, betrayal, and abandonment), only abandonment can affect our very survival. Because connection is so vital, we often learn to disengage and detach from our truth as a way to achieve some sense of acceptance.

We learn to deny or edit vital parts of our soul selves.
We learn to quench our fire.
We begin to look outward instead of inward.

Enter the “shoulds”, “have tos” and “musts”. We become quiet, subdued, and people-pleasing all the while measuring our inner worth on external acknowledgment. Enter the archetypes of the hustler, martyr, diplomat, follower, perfectionist and prostitute. We each have those inner parts with a price tag for a feeling of safety and connection. To be sure, those archetypes are not “bad”. In fact, there is a light and a shadow to everything. But when we sell our souls, we walk through life formless, confused and uninspired looking outside ourselves for any sense of direction.

We become conditioned to join groups attempting to fit it. No doubt, group connection has its place, but only when that group is a reflection of love and not fear. The shadow of group consciousness is mob mentality, which allows behavior we would never consider as an individual. Social media can uplift and inspire as fast as it shames and deceives.  Cognitive dissonance becomes the norm as the connection of group identity replaces our own.

Eclipse seasons (of which we are in now) always bring a Solar Eclipse and they typically happen in pairs. When a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse happens before a Solar Eclipse, it is a call to go back to move forward.  The shadow emerges before the light can reappear.

We must begin within.

This Aquarius Full Moon Eclipse allows our past to rise into the light of consciousness. Allow your feelings to point you in the direction of what needs release.

After all, we cannot heal what we cannot feel.

What is arising?

Our shadows, echoes and emotional imprints rooted in experiences and events that caused us to dull our sparkle in the name of connection. All the ways we were alienated, abandoned, rejected and shunned for being original. The ways in which our inner child was not allowed to play and experience. The ways we were shrunk and learned to people please for acceptance. The ways in which we used detachment as a coping stately and dissociation as survival.

Aquarius is genius at freezing our fear at some earlier time.

We must reveal where we have hidden it so we can thaw back into our whole being.
We must do the real work of forgiveness.
We must let go of what has veiled the fire of our truth so it can finally shine.

So, if you are feeling a lot, you are doing it right. If the air feels uneasy and full of energy like a building storm, you are right where you need to be.  If you are feeling boxed it, edgy, and having experiences that trigger old stories of powerlessness, you are in the cycle of transformation. All of it is showing up for a reason of course. The alchemy of authenticity happens in the dynamic opposition of individuation and compliance.

Collectively and personally there is a shift coming.

This Full Moon Eclipse stirs the mud so we can clear the way for our true expression at the Solar Eclipse.

What holds you back from being fully you?
What stories and spells do you cast upon yourself to “fit” in?
Where do you sell out in the name of safety and acceptance?
How do you shapeshift to anticipate possible rejection?

We live in a wait and see culture. We are taught to postpone the very essence of who we are until some future time.

Until…

that vacation, that new job, our kids are older,

that relationship, that financial windfall, or when we finish school.

This Full Moon Eclipse reminds us life is happening now. We don’t have time to wait.

It is time to set a new cycle of owning your uniqueness. Connect with where freedom resides in your life and likewise, locate all the places you quench its fire. Ask yourself where fear of rejection holds you back from honest expression of your truth. Find the shoulds and bury them.

This Full Moon calls on the inner rebel to break free of the heaviness of our story and to rebel against the habitual confines of our upper limit threshold. It means we must revolt against the low hum of anxiety buzzing in the background of our lives and choose truth instead. It means we must risk, take chances, and become the innovator of our own dreams. It means we must let go of comparing, distracting, and dissociating. It means we risk disapproval to find self-approval. It means we must recognize we can only have real connection if we can thrive in disconnection. It means we must buck conformity and stand in our truth.

We must free ourselves to be able love ourselves more fully by allowing ourselves to be whole.

Collectively and personally this is a cosmic wake-up call.

Because when our light is freed we inspire others to do the same.