This one is so gnarly I almost didn't want to write about it - I think that's the main reason I procrastinated the weekly until it was too late to write!
I have heard this is the longest lunar eclipse of this century (some astrologers believe the length of the Moon impacts the length of time its energy is in play - if this is true, this one will have a long impact). I am not sure how I would verify this, but I do know it is the second eclipse (of three) during this long, hot summer.
Full Moons bring energy to a "peak"; to a culmination, maybe to an ending. Eclipses eclipse something out; we get re-set.
If you have planets or points near or on 4-5 degrees of the fixed signs - Aquarius, Taurus, Leo or Scorpio - some area of your life will be very, very different in 6 months (lunar eclipses play out over 6 months - although this one could be longer). For everyone else this eclipse is bringing something to a peak, culmination or an ending. Emotions will be running high now.
The Eclipse is involved in a T-Square with unpredictable Uranus - with Uranus being the focal point and the Moon is conjunct a retrograde Mars (action/anger/passion). Venus has barely squeaked past her opposition to Neptune (we talked about this for Monday and Tuesday), but the dynamic is still in play here. Jupiter loosely fills in the missing leg of the T-Square (Scorpio!). Mercury has just stationed retrograde, so is strong and still and out of sorts. Saturn is trining Uranus and Saturn/Uranus are the co-rulers of Aquarius and of this Eclipse. There is more, but these are the major players here. Whew!
With the Moon conjunct that retrograde Mars - our Mars retrograde, Mars/South Node story will be activated BIG time. HERE is a post about that. We are now at the HEART of the Mars retrograde season and the heart of eclipse season. This is the date we circled on our calendar weeks ago.
This is about us breaking patterns of behavior.
Let's unpack the chart.
The SUN is sitting strong and proud in his/her home sign of Leo. Leo is represented by the lion. A lion is a cat. If you live with a cat you have some idea of what this 'king of the beasts' thing is all about. It becomes the cat's house. You become the cat's human. Cats rule. The male lion doesn't just get to mate with his choice of lioness. He gets all the lionesses.
(and now I am picturing a whole lineup of that little guy from Peanuts dragging his blanket)
Leo represents royalty and generosity and fun and creativity and greed. The shadow of the Leo archetype is a kind of arrogance or self-importance, but what you will find with most Leos is that they have a presence - they impress us. Ruled by the center of our galaxy, the Sun, they rule center stage. We all have Leo somewhere in our chart.
And we all have a stage that sits empty when we don't do our Leo!
It is hard to see when a Leo is not OK and needs help because they unconsciously give us a feeling that they can handle anything. So, when Leo energy (and this can be a Leo Sun or ascendant or anyone speaking from the space we carry Leo in our natal charts, ie if you have Leo in the 7th house and are talking about your partner or if you have Leo in the 2nd house and are talking about your money) is asked, "how's it going?" and Leo energy says "not great, actually I am barely hanging in there" - the other person, instead of asking "why, what's going on?" would be more likely to laugh it off and say something like "me, too" and launch into their own story.
It's hard for other people to relate to Leo as "one of us".
Aquarius energy - which rules this Lunar Eclipse - is the opposite side of the same coin.
It's the energy of "we". It is detached (this doesn't mean unaware or involved) and emotionally non-reactive - note I mean the energy and not all Aquarians, no one is just one thing! It doesn't need to feel special because it already knows it is special - it rules the 11th house (of 12) Aquarius is advanced. It is the sign that comes after the sign that rules achievement. Aquarius knows everyone is special (and the challenge with that is in allowing the Leo specialness to shine and not create a space where everyone being equal means everyone being the same - this is some of what is happening with the rise of populism, people thinking they are trying to hold onto what makes them special when they are really grasping at the dying embers of what makes them the same).
Ruled by Uranus it is the sign of the genius, rebel and criminal. The Aquarius space in our chart is where things will work best by being 'outside the box'. It is unpredictable.
Like Leo, Aquarius doesn't do humble either.
It's hard for other people to relate to Aquarius as "one of us", too. The Aquarius/Leo polarity isn't about fitting in, because both sides, in different ways, are meant to STAND OUT.
Now even though it's a Full Moon and it's the Moon's show - the Sun is uber strong in Leo - and sitting on the North Node of our collective destiny.
We are either following our heart (that Leo North Node), stepping onto the center stage of our own life, standing on our own two feet or we are avoiding the Mars opposition, avoiding action - doing the old duck-and-cover, hiding out in our comfort zone - which is certain to get a whole lot less comfortable with Uranus there for the next 7 years - staying on the sidelines and away from the limelight. Or maybe we are playing out the same old anger story, or same old impulsive action story that keeps us stuck in a loop - and if we are, the Full Moon at the Mars retrograde mid-point will let us SEE that.
The square to URANUS in today's chart is the wild card energy here. And remember Uranus is uber-strong, too, even though he doesn't like being in Taurus - because he rules Aquarius and the Moon now. Uranus is our fast track on the evolutionary spiral. Something unexpected. Something disruptive. Uranus in Taurus is shaking the very ground beneath our feet, shifting magnetic fields to align us with new realities. Uranus in Taurus is changing what we value. It's also triggering us through what other people have. They have it. We want it. We are triggered.
Full Moons bring things to light. They bring endings and culminations. The square to Uranus tells us whatever happens here could happen suddenly. Uranian breaks taste like freedom, but maybe only in hindsight. In the moment it could feel like we are dropped on our ass.
SATURN is trining (brakes off) Uranus. Saturn isn't going to stop Uranus - so let's say we have been working our ass off, we could still lose our job, for example - but Saturian energy is available to stabilize something here if we have been doing our Saturn (the work, the responsibility, putting in the time) - so let's say we do lose our job, but the work (doing our Saturn) has resulted in savings in our bank account or resources from the connections we have made with other people - the Saturn stuff will sustain us through the changes. The Saturn trine could also play out as changes that are actually deliberate or calculated even though they appear to happen suddenly.
MERCURY has just stationed retrograde. She is strong and still and out of sorts. Our mind is not going to be much help to us here.
VENUS (from practical Virgo) is still opposing Neptune. The fantasy is still clashing with reality.
The Sun is not only opposing the Moon now - the Sun is also opposing MARS (our action, initiative, anger), retrograding through Aquarius this summer.
So what are we (the Sun) afraid to confront here?
With that South Node Aquarius being eclipsed - the Earth is blocking the Moon - there is no safe place to hide out. We can't play the Aquarius card and hide out in the audience. We can't play the Aquarius card and hide out in technology. We can't play the Aquarius card and hide out in some kind of "otherness" that keeps us disconnected from ourselves and other people. Aquarius is eclipsed!
And with Mars retrograde there are no bullets in our holster (this is why when we start a fight/lawsuit etc when Mars is retrograde we lose). There isn't even any gas in our gas tank! We come to this time empty of our usual armaments.
During the eclipse - our past conditioning, our past contracts and commitments (including prior life or familial DNA contracts - what we are carrying from our ancestors) - our trauma imprints - with an Aquarian signature (being banished from the group to die in the wilderness, the spaces we don't fit in) or the theme of our Aquarius house are eclipsed OUT. The ways we self-sabotage ourselves here will only be muscle memory after this eclipse. There is nothing, other than habit, supporting their continuation! And the ways they used to work for us - will not work anymore.
I heard a well-known astrologer say something like "we have to step into Aquarius now - be detached, think like an Aquarian", but Aquarius is eclipsed, so I am not so sure of that advice. We have to be acting from our heart/Sun (Leo - the North Node) now.
We are evolving into the Age of Aquarius; a time of equality when we will be our own leaders. We have decided (subconsciously) as a collective that one of the ways to make this happen is for us to experience this particular collective shit-show we are now dealing with.
Remember the Hopi elder's quote.
I know alot of people in the spiritual community talk about "ascension" as if we are going to wake up one day ascended and all will be right with the world - as if it is something we are waiting for. This sounds an awful lot like the Christian belief that Jesus is returning to save us (or save some of us) or aliens are. I have no idea if this is going to happen, but I don't see this in the astrology. The astrology shows us the work. We can see the Age of Aquarius isn't anything like the Broadway musical. There won't be any long haired proclamations of peace (that was the ending of the Age of Pisces).
From this closer vantage point - fifty years past the 1960's - it is more obvious two things the Age of Aquarius is about are technology and equality.
These are the trains that will not be stopped.
And we can see by now how great and how beautiful the world can be with our collective focus here and also how easy, and how FAST, we can really muck this whole thing up - keep in mind the Age of Aquarius is set to last around 2600 years, so we will likely create every possible manifestation of beauty and muck at some point - ha!
(The other day hubs and I watched the movie Ready Player One - I love scifi, but am growing weary of all these dystopian dramas. They scare the hell out of me. It can't be good for what we are collectively creating to have millions of us thinking/focusing on this worst case stuff. This one is particularly scary because we can see how "they" could use technology to give people "pseudo-equality" where we are actually living in shacks but we put on a virtual reality headset and can do/be anything - this scenario sounds disturbingly possible if we muck up the next few years, if Aquarius doesn't embrace that Leo polarity of following our heart and being our own king, we end up with a tyrant king, a "they" ruling us)
The South Node in Aquarius and Mars retrograde this summer are some of the ways we make sure we get something great here. We can't skip steps. Whatever is happening in our life - is our little piece of this. When we choose attention over distraction - use technology not let it use us - when we choose the people right in front of us and ourselves over the group, when we aren't afraid to shine and confront (within ourselves and within our past is most likely with all these retrogrades) what is standing in the way of us bringing what we came here to bring and our own hero's journey - that Leo house theme and the theme of our Sun - we all know our Sun sign, right?! Our Sun sign IS our hero's journey.
Because the major players are forming a T-Square, the missing table leg, which is the opposite of the Taurus focal point is important. The missing leg is Scorpio. So the change/surprise/upset will come from our Taurus house, our Capricorn house will support the change and our Scorpio house will require an investment of our energy to stabilize whatever is happening.
I don't have to write this post by sign because we can't miss this energy. It is big. It is powerful. It is designed to shake us out of our distraction and detachment. Stay in your heart. Meditate. Pray. Connect.
With that Mars opposition and the square to Uranus, accidents/violence are more likely, so stay safe. Take your time with things. Something is going to break. Expect tantrums. Avoid angry confrontations and explosive endings if possible. Avoid impulsive actions. Aquarius rules advancement and higher ground - we will reach for that. Remember, we have never been here before!
Shortly after the Full Moon, Venus will trine Pluto so there is a payoff here. We will talk about that later.
xo all
