Look skyward around 10:00 pm EST on January 20 and into the wee morning hours, and you’ll see the Moon darken casting a reddish glow in a Lunar Eclipse. The eclipse will be visible from most of North and South American.
Energetically, eclipses always usher in the potential of significant change. That is good or bad news depending on your relationship with the unexpected and uncertain. This eclipse is no exception. This Full Moon in the sign of Leo is a Super Moon Lunar eclipse, meaning the Moon is closest to the Earth making it appear larger in the sky. Symbolically, the learning is more important, the feelings more intense or acute.
But you don’t need me to tell you that. Intensity seems to be the theme of late. Yay and Ugh.
Yay because eclipses are extra potent cosmic weather patterns that usher in the opportunity for a reset in our lives. The lights turn off and then on again as a way to help us see an old problem in a new way, our vision clearer, our perspective wider. Real transformation is both probable and possible.
Ugh because it challenges us to get up close and personal with our fear. Fear is the force that tells us we are getting near the edge of our comfort zone after all. There can be no change without it.
A Lunar eclipse happens when the Earth stands directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting a shadow on the Moon. For a moment, the Earth (reality) blocks the illumination of the Sun (will) on the Moon (emotion) resetting this force in our lives. We are offered clear vision and new insight into what was once cloaked in darkness.
Sounds good.
Well…. yes.
This, like all eclipses, involves the Nodes of the Moon, which represent both the habit and evolution of both our personal and collective purpose. The South Node represents our comfort zone, habitual drives, and past pain while the North Node represents the remedy and most inspired road forward, calling, healing, and fulfillment (The placement of these points are, in my opinion, the most relevant to self- understanding, and direction. Want to know where yours are? Contact me for a reading). Thus, anytime the nodes are involved, expect some shadow, some dark to light transformative and alchemical soul work to show up. This means whatever revelations arise will include the parts of us we don’t usually like to consciously welcome or embrace. In this case, we are asked to specifically face the shadows of both Aquarius and Capricorn archetypal aspects of the self. Shadowy flavors like conformity, tyranny, superiority, narcissism, authoritarian, cognitive dissonance, depression, hypocrisy, greed, stubborness, overall self-centeredness, guilt, victim-thinking, and control are rising to the surface.
Yuck. Time for your boots. The mud is thick.
It’s important to note we all have those archetypes at play somewhere in our lives and psyche.
ALL. OF. US. We all have the shadow and the light of these forces within us.
It is also important to note these darker layers are not evil. They are just inherently terrified of rejection and isolation. Maybe they are coping strategies that were necessary at one point in our lives, survival is stoic business after all. Maybe they are corrupted forces within us because the healthy version was shamed away or never shown. Without consciousness direction though, those parts become like rogue weeds spreading their seeds, rooting in places they do not belong, overcompensating, ignoring, judging, projecting, and trying desperately to get different results with the same habitual programming.
There is tremendous freedom available when we shake up the status quo.
Which is what change is all about.
Adding to this already bumpy road, we also have Uranus squaring this placement saying innocently, “Hey, let me help you clean by talking all the clothes out of the closet and throwing them on the floor”.
It’s effective, but it’s messy.
So, if you are surrounded by some clothes on the floor, if you have been thrust headfirst into some shadowy truths, if you are knee deep in some sludge, if you feel your life has been turned upside down, you are right on schedule
Dark nights of the ego always usher in a rebirth potential, but first something needs to be released. Something old-an identity, habit, persona, shadow archetype, story, fear, or historical facade that is no longer helpful, needs to cease so something more real can take its place. Dialoging with our shadow points us directly to what is needing change.
The conflict or struggle comes in the grasping, the holding on, the ego (edging god out), the denial, and resistance. The gift comes when we allow the change to happen.
Where and exactly what kind of shift you are experiencing depends on the placement of this eclipse in your chart, but in general here are some points to remember.
1) Practice not knowing- All the stories, identities, beliefs, and spells that have defined us require both assessment and updating. This can’t happen in certainty. Curiosity lets the light in.
2) You don’t have to be right. In fact, you probably aren’t. Listen to understand, not respond. Challenge all the beliefs you have. Even and especially the ones that are very old and are really hard to let go of. Practice being in the “I don’t know”.
3) Own every projection- Like a ball of fire in our hands, shadow truths can sting and burn with caustic shame. The impulse is to throw it quickly at the closest upset ( person, animal, political party) thereby denying our own uncomfortable truth. This doesn’t imply that person doesn’t have accountability, but it does mean we have to do our own work first to adequately address it. Additionally, being accountable with our projections allows us a clear channel to exactly what shadow truth needs integration. (Integration and Projection)
4) Seek the triggers (hostility, anger, fear, sadness, etc.)- Reactivity, meaning a habitual response bigger than is warranted for a particular situation, is a sure sign of a shadow truth working overtime. Each emotion is incredibly valid and holds wisdom. It just may not always be “right” to the actual situation. In other words, you may be throwing 80% of your anger at someone that is only 20% responsible.
5) Don’t spiritually bypass- It just adds more miles to the journey. Yes, use cards, intuition, meditation, prayer, call on your guides and angels, restate your affirmations, and remind yourself of universal truths. Then, step back into the world because that is where the real work is. It is easy to speak of acceptance, love, peace, forgiveness, accountability and hang out in the lofty realms. It is quite another thing to LIVE it. That means the only way out is through. Your darkness is your healing.
6) Embrace the WTF moments-Sudden seemingly inconvenient changes feel unpleasant but indeed are pushing you in the right direction. Trust the process. Look for the learning. The stuff you are disagreeing with in your life (“It shouldn’t be this way!”) are the signs you have asked for.
7) Stop looking to go back to the “way it was” or a “better time”. Often change makes us crave a time we believe was simpler, more peaceful, and easier. Yet, that time has brought you here. It is, in fact, the old way that requires updating. Instead direct your vision forward and seek the new showing up now.
8) Most importantly, seek compassion and connection. Shadow work requires both.
If Aquarius and Capricorn are the challenges, Cancer and Leo are the remedies. Heart opening empathic selfless authenticity and connection are the north stars guiding us home. The qualities of real leadership, in both our inner and outer worlds, happen when we shed layers, integrate lost parts, heal, and welcome the wholeness that resets the rhythm of our divine sovereignty. Shadow work is about acknowledging our whole selves, seeing the humanity in all of us, owning the projections we use to cast it outward, and bringing it back to the self. It is about being more integrated, more honest, more real, and thus, more authentic. It is about following our triggers and projections to shed light on the new self. Habit is obscured, and instead, we see possibility, we see new ideas, new vision, and how we are meant to shine in the world.
And we are meant to shine. To burn with an extension of grace that inspires others to do the same.
But to shine, you must be whole.
This time is offering you the oppurtunity to doing just that.