Think of eclipses like extra potent lunations. Eclipses don’t just forecast specific points of change but the entire process. Unlike New and Full Moon cycles that offer more immediate insight, eclipses provide a year’s worth of cosmic weather. Why? Because eclipses highlight the Nodes of the Moon, offering more extensive cycles of revelation and integration. In general, eclipses are seen as symbolic reboots and restarts of the system. Look where this New Moon is shining in your chart to better understand your specific reset. In general, though, eclipses offer the power pivots and choice points meant to can grow us in some particular way.
This Solar Eclipse will be visible in Australia and parts of SE Asia. To see the path of totality, go here.
For the last 16 months or so, the Nodes of the Moon have been in the signs of Taurus (NN) and Scorpio (SN), stirring the transformative shadow stuff. Because the remedy is the North Node in Taurus, the medicine of the time is to hone simple and essential truths and values. The rightness of Taurus truth is not measured by mere technicality but also morality. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. It is found in accountability. Honesty. Tenacity. Perseverance. Integrity. Authenticity. Peace. Patience. Simplicity. It is found in walking the talk.
With this New Moon Eclipse in Aries, that pattern is shifting. July 17th of this year, the nodes move to Aries (NN) and Libra (SN), where they will be for the next 18 months. Additionally, this is the second New Moon in Aries in a row- an uncommon event.
What does that mean? What does this glimpse into that energy tell us?
Aries will be the medicine and the guiding light forward with the North Node there. The first sign of the zodiac represents the parts of us that require both individuation and assertion. Aries represents those inner warrior parts that fight the noble fight, that rise to call out injustice, and that set necessary and healthy boundaries. It is the parts of us that grasp the correct use of leadership which balances rugged individualism and collective corporation. In a world that has a hard time defining what is true and false, Aries picks a side.
This means we can expect some inevitable conflict. What isn’t inevitable, though, is how we engage in it. Good conflict grows us. It challenges us and expands our thinking. On the other hand, reactive conflict only wants to win or annihilate. It is cruel and addictive. It defends and deflects, fueling itself with self-righteousness. Nothing can grow there.
It will be up to us to choose wisely.
Mercury goes retrograde in the sign of Taurus the day after this New Moon Solar Eclipse reminding us of the need to slow down. To think before we speak. Because being responsive rather than reactive does require some inner reflection. We must be willing to see our world differently. To be accountable. Humble. To have conversations with the intent to understand and be ready to be wrong. We also need to spot reactive conflict and call it out for ourselves and others. To turn away from conflict entrepreneurs that peddle their wares of divisiveness even when the gravity pulls on a convenient narrative. Even when it entertains us. Even when it makes us feel special- like we have all the answers and are on the “right” side. Because it must be noted, if we find ourselves on the side of reaction- i.e., name-calling, bullying, contempt, hate, grift, conspiracy, “othering” another, we are on the wrong side.
Embracing Aries is standing in our integrity, using anger and passion as a force of creation rather than destruction.
So if you are feeling extra feisty right now, if some injustice has emerged somewhere in your life, if you are being called to set an important boundary and assert an essential part of yourself- good. Get ready. Because, inner and outer, there will be more of that coming.
Eclipses remind us of the ever-present ability to course correct. We just have to be brave enough to do it. And we aren’t going to get away from the tension of this time. It is part of the necessary change. What we do have control over is how we show up to it.
“The challenge of our time is to mobilize great masses of people to make change without dehumanizing one another. Not just because it’s morally right but because it works. Lasting change, the kind that seeps into people’s hearts, has only ever come about through a combination of pressure and good conflict. Both matter. That’s why, over the course of history, nonviolent movements have been more than twice as likely to succeed as violent ones.”~Amanda Ripley, High Conflict: Why we get trapped and how we get out
~This New Moon Solar Eclipse occurs at 29° Aries.
~If you could use some help figuring out what that all means, Contact Me for a mini chart reading.
~Photo credit Dreamstime
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