Those of you who have been reading my blog posts may recall I didn’t post the New Moon Eclipse last time. I have been deep in a process of review including reading my old journals. This process was motivated by something Stephanie Austin wrote in her article in The Mountain Astrologer. She says that since eclipses have a 19 year cycle, we might look back to what was going on during the last eclipse that occurred at a particular degree to see what choices we made (or did not make) last time. The eclipse we will have on Sept. 16 is at the same degree as one that occurred on Sept. 16, 1997.
Seems like a million years ago doesn’t it? So much has changed since then. I thought by reading my old journals, I could gain some insights that could inform my present and future. In September, 1997, I was preparing to go to Egypt and one of my beloved cats (Amber) was in the hospital. She did not make it. I took some of her fur with me and put it in the sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid and some in Hathor’s Temple of Dendera.
Among the reasons I love astrology is that one can get so much insight about themselves and others and as one continues to study and learn, that insight deepens and expands. Personally, I have two significant T squares that make it difficult for me to make decisions on the one hand (Sun, Moon, and Ascendant) and an overblown sense that my decisions have life or death consequences (Pluto and Saturn square the Nodes).
Currently, transiting Saturn and Neptune form a T square with my Sun. The transiting NN in Virgo makes it a Grand Cross. Since I see transits as opportunities for growth, I always look for the ‘positive’ meaning. So, part of my life review has included how best to work with both my natal T squares and those created by transits. This morning I came to a useful synthesis.
Now on to the Eclipse. I want to start with a quote from Stephanie Austin whom I met while visiting a friend in Port Townsend and then spent some time with on a subsequent visit.
“Eclipses propel us to take big steps on our soul’s journey. While solar eclipses induce shifts in self-perception and the roles we play in the world, lunar eclipses activate us on a more subconscious and emotional level, exposing motivations that have been below the level of our awareness.”
Another idea about eclipses is that they function as portals between worlds through which souls come and go from the planet.
I believe we are here on this planet to learn. But ‘what’ and ‘why’? I would also ask ‘how’? At first we learn through pain. ‘Bad things’ happen and hopefully we learn from them. Often what we learn is so skewed by the fact is was learned through pain, it ends up making things worse. We shut down, act through fear, anger or revenge. Seldom do we learn to love or give more. Seldom do we open up wider to life. This process of learning through pain does have a limit however. It takes a kind of ‘bottoming out’.
The Pisces/Virgo axis in Evolutionary Astrology represents service/servitude. Do we willingly serve others? Or do we feel forced or compelled? Do we serve out of love or guilt? Do we serve with an agenda or freely? Virgo and the 6th house relate to the tasks of everyday life. Pisces and the 12th - the infinite the boundless Cosmos. Many spiritual paths include daily practices and disciplines that are to be done in order to reach the Ultimate. But if we do our practices grudgingly, they will not get us there. Better not to pray than to do it with resentment.
In Arabic the word ‘abdul’ means ‘servant’. Ultimately, ‘servant of God’. It is considered an honor to serve, not a punishment. The ancient Maya saw taking on burdens of responsibility as gifts to be earned. Imagine! A person saw added responsibility as a reward not a punishment. In our culture, we see success as being freed from burdens and responsibilities. But, in fact, all successful people actually work MORE than the average person.
Look to see where this Full Moon eclipse falls in your chart. This is the axis where growth can occur. Examine your motivations. Do you act from fear, compulsion, guilt or anger? Can you see all your work: job, tasks performed for your family, or even cleaning the cat box…etc. as ‘service’ performed with love? I mean no insult, but what if all we do can be seen as service to God (as we see him/her/it)? If we could get our Ego out of the picture, we might see that everything we do here on Earth is, in a sense, a gift. A gift that comes with being incarnated into a human body. According to some, there are souls lined up hoping and waiting for a chance to get here.
We might ‘hate’ having to do laundry, go grocery shopping…whatever. But, if we became bed-ridden or dependent on others due to an accident or illness, we might long for the time when we did things ourselves. We might actually miss those mundane tasks which we complained about before. I try to ‘be grateful’ that I can do things myself (need to expand this to a major house clean…ha ha), saying ‘aren’t I lucky I can do this’, rather than resenting it. Try it.
Seems like a million years ago doesn’t it? So much has changed since then. I thought by reading my old journals, I could gain some insights that could inform my present and future. In September, 1997, I was preparing to go to Egypt and one of my beloved cats (Amber) was in the hospital. She did not make it. I took some of her fur with me and put it in the sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid and some in Hathor’s Temple of Dendera.
Among the reasons I love astrology is that one can get so much insight about themselves and others and as one continues to study and learn, that insight deepens and expands. Personally, I have two significant T squares that make it difficult for me to make decisions on the one hand (Sun, Moon, and Ascendant) and an overblown sense that my decisions have life or death consequences (Pluto and Saturn square the Nodes).
Currently, transiting Saturn and Neptune form a T square with my Sun. The transiting NN in Virgo makes it a Grand Cross. Since I see transits as opportunities for growth, I always look for the ‘positive’ meaning. So, part of my life review has included how best to work with both my natal T squares and those created by transits. This morning I came to a useful synthesis.
Now on to the Eclipse. I want to start with a quote from Stephanie Austin whom I met while visiting a friend in Port Townsend and then spent some time with on a subsequent visit.
“Eclipses propel us to take big steps on our soul’s journey. While solar eclipses induce shifts in self-perception and the roles we play in the world, lunar eclipses activate us on a more subconscious and emotional level, exposing motivations that have been below the level of our awareness.”
Another idea about eclipses is that they function as portals between worlds through which souls come and go from the planet.
I believe we are here on this planet to learn. But ‘what’ and ‘why’? I would also ask ‘how’? At first we learn through pain. ‘Bad things’ happen and hopefully we learn from them. Often what we learn is so skewed by the fact is was learned through pain, it ends up making things worse. We shut down, act through fear, anger or revenge. Seldom do we learn to love or give more. Seldom do we open up wider to life. This process of learning through pain does have a limit however. It takes a kind of ‘bottoming out’.
The Pisces/Virgo axis in Evolutionary Astrology represents service/servitude. Do we willingly serve others? Or do we feel forced or compelled? Do we serve out of love or guilt? Do we serve with an agenda or freely? Virgo and the 6th house relate to the tasks of everyday life. Pisces and the 12th - the infinite the boundless Cosmos. Many spiritual paths include daily practices and disciplines that are to be done in order to reach the Ultimate. But if we do our practices grudgingly, they will not get us there. Better not to pray than to do it with resentment.
In Arabic the word ‘abdul’ means ‘servant’. Ultimately, ‘servant of God’. It is considered an honor to serve, not a punishment. The ancient Maya saw taking on burdens of responsibility as gifts to be earned. Imagine! A person saw added responsibility as a reward not a punishment. In our culture, we see success as being freed from burdens and responsibilities. But, in fact, all successful people actually work MORE than the average person.
Look to see where this Full Moon eclipse falls in your chart. This is the axis where growth can occur. Examine your motivations. Do you act from fear, compulsion, guilt or anger? Can you see all your work: job, tasks performed for your family, or even cleaning the cat box…etc. as ‘service’ performed with love? I mean no insult, but what if all we do can be seen as service to God (as we see him/her/it)? If we could get our Ego out of the picture, we might see that everything we do here on Earth is, in a sense, a gift. A gift that comes with being incarnated into a human body. According to some, there are souls lined up hoping and waiting for a chance to get here.
We might ‘hate’ having to do laundry, go grocery shopping…whatever. But, if we became bed-ridden or dependent on others due to an accident or illness, we might long for the time when we did things ourselves. We might actually miss those mundane tasks which we complained about before. I try to ‘be grateful’ that I can do things myself (need to expand this to a major house clean…ha ha), saying ‘aren’t I lucky I can do this’, rather than resenting it. Try it.
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