At 5:58AM EDT on August 11th the Sun meets the Moon at 18 degrees Leo.
Even through this is a partial Solar Eclipse astronomically, the astrology around this eclipse and its placement in this summer's protracted eclipse season magnifies its energy and makes it
extremely powerful.
This is a powerful new beginning for our Leo house (ruled by the Sun) - the space in our chart where we came here to shine!
Pallas is only one degree away from the Sun/New Moon. Pallas is an asteroid Goddess that rules - among other things - diplomatic solutions, strategies, tactics and patterns. So, we have the Sun meeting the Moon in the sign of the North Node (
our collective way forward), a retrograde Mercury - our thinking, ideas, communication - conjunct the eclipse, Mars retrograding through the opposing sign (
Aquarius), and Pallas nearly exactly conjunct. The Eclipse is forming a Yod (
finger of God formed by tense aspects calked inconjuncts that cannot be easily reconciled) with Pluto (
in Capricorn) and Neptune (
in Pisces). The Eclipse squares Jupiter (
in Scorpio) and Jupiter is still opposing Juno.
There are also all the things we talked about
HERE in the weekly playing out!
Times are complicated and challenging!
Let's unpack this - although I think after we unpack it the real power will be in the empty suitcase we are left with! And remember eclipse energy is tricky and moves forward
and backward so you might have had this play out a week ago or a month ago - likely almost exactly to the day - or a week or month from now.
First the New Moon is our monthly new beginning when the Moon meets up with the Sun - any time any planet meets the Sun it starts a new cycle and the Moon, blowing through a sign every two and a half days, meets the Sun the most often (
monthly). Happening in Leo, a fire sign ruled by the Sun, the Leo New Moon is always a BIG New Moon. Happening near the North Node gives us an eclipse (
partial since the North Node is quite a bit past the eclipse point at 5 degrees Leo).
Eclipses are times of collective karma and cosmic resets. We get rebooted!
So we get this fiery fresh start for our Leo house - the space in our natal chart (
what house does Leo rule in your natal chart? what house holds the Sun?) we are meant to stand out and shine. The stage that sits empty (
for the world!) when we park our ass in the
audience.
For all of us Leo rules our creativity, children, romance, fun, games, our heart's desire, generosity, pride, confidence, courage and love.
So we get this potent kick off but this isn't happening all by itself. The Sun and Moon are interacting with other energies and other energies are interacting with each other and everything is playing a part here.
First of all we have
Mercury retrograde in Leo - and remember Mercury just met up with the Sun a couple days ago. Our powerful new beginning has its roots in the past - maybe via an actual person who brings us some important information this week or who reappeared from the past or through an idea/communication that came through this week, or will come through within the next couple days.
We have Pallas conjunct the Eclipse. Pallas has been in Leo since mid-July. This placement speaks of showy solutions and dramatic - there is nothing shy about Pallas in Leo - plans and strategies. We want to bowl people over. We want to knock their socks off and we want those socks to fly through the air (
let's hope they've been laundered) and attract even more
attention. We want applause and a pat on the back. We want to take a
bow.
Now, the rub is we have these inconjuncts (
rock and hard place) with Neptune and Pluto. Neptune and Pluto are sextiling (
opportunity) each other. So they are working well with each other, but not so well with the Eclipse energy.
Let's look at the sextile first.
*Pluto and Neptune are working together. At its highest this energetic connection is spiritual (
Neptune) transformation (
Pluto). Renewal through compassion. The powerful (
Pluto) becoming weak (
Neptune). The weak becoming powerful. Painful experiences (
Pluto) dissolve (
Neptune). We can make owerful changes (
Pluto) through our dreams and imagination (
Neptune).
At its lower frequencies we could see things like we let our power (
Pluto) slip through our fingers (
Neptune). We escape
(Neptune) through destruction/death (
Pluto). There are bogus (
Neptune) endings and changes (
Pluto). We are lost at sea and lose sight of land (
what really matters). We cross needed boundaries (
Neptune) by merging too deeply (
Pluto) with something/someone.
Let's shoot for the highest ground here. With both these energies inconjunct the Eclipse there could be power struggles and lapses into fantasy/escape.
We will know these possibilities are in play, but
choose to see what the Yod - finger of God, voice of God speaking to/through us - is pointing us toward which is the Leo Eclipse!
And we can choose to use the higher manifestations of that sextile.*
We have Jupiter squaring the Eclipse energy. Jupiter squares
expand. And Jupiter is trining (
brakes off) Neptune for the smooth expansion of our dream or a slippery slope into delusion/self sabotage. That sounds harsh, but let's keep things real here. Jupiter is full of hot air - literally! And we have Jupiter opposing Juno (
relationship, marriage, contractual commitments) - so something is
still standing in our way.
This is all playing out in the world and this is all playing out in each of our lives. If we have planets or points near 18 degrees of the fixed signs (
Aquarius, Taurus, Leo or Scorpio) or near the positions of any of the other power players in this celestial drama we will be more directly impacted.
And as I reread what I have written here I think I have made something simple (
not easy, but simple) appear much too complicated.
At its heart this eclipse is about
following our heart. About us not waiting for permission to shine.
We are many months into the Leo North Node - and if you have been reading this blog, you know I have been writing for months about following our heart - and we FINALLY get the Leo New Moon!
We have had many months to figure out what the hell we are wanting. We know what it is. I can almost guarantee it is already right in front of us. Can we see/feel that yet? And it could be some thing/situation/decision that we would have laughed at a couple years ago and said NO WAY. We have let go of a dream or two in the last couple years. And now here we are. We are kind of like Dorothy on her way toward waking up at home after the tornado ...
Whatever new thing/situation/person/belief/action we choose to work with needs to be something we are excited about,
it needs to stir us. It needs to
not have any self-sacrifice or victim mentality connected to it. It needs to come with a certain
ease. This doesn't mean there won't be work involved, but it can't be
only work involved.
With the North Node in Leo now if we
really don't want to do something and we do it anyway, it isn't going to work. What we want, what is calling to our heart, is the only thing that
will work now.
This is the time we release our detachment (
Aquarius) and we move into our heart (
Leo).
We are playing a long game.
This is not the time to screw it all up with a big gnarly move, but there is a play to be made and we aren't allowed to sit this one out.
Also keep in mind other people are working through these dense energies, too, and let's give them a break if they let us down. Healing Chiron is in independent Aries - no one owes us anything.
This is the time we take the thing that has alienated and set us apart (
Aquarius) and bring it front and center onto the stage (
Leo). It will be the thing we are proud of. It will be the thing that makes our heart happy. It will be the thing that when we think about moving toward it - we feel a little lighter, life feels a little easier.
It won't be the big complicated thing we get a headache just thinking about actually doing.
This is the time we step away from the crowd and back into ourselves. We stop revolting against what we don't want and start creating what we do want. We put away the phone and go play with the kids. We turn off the internet and use our computer to write that book we have been wanting to write. We turn our attention away from the masses - our pseudo family who agree with us - and toward the people we love who are right in front of us - who probably do NOT always agree with us. We are connected to the people we are physically connected to for a reason!
This is not a month to miss setting our New Moon intentions. Fire signs are the most potent plus this one has the Eclipse behind it, the Yod and the square to lucky, expansive Jupiter!
INTENTION TIPS:
Let your heart guide you, forget logic with this one, clear your head, write what your heart wants not what you think you should write, write your intentions down by hand in script on a blank piece of paper, speak the words out loud, burn the paper with fire - release your attention from these things knowing your intention is known.
Life has heard you.
Know these things are already yours.
xo all
Keep in mind Mars and Mercury and Saturn and Uranus are all
retrograde. We are going back over alot of stuff. Many things have been brought to a standstill and many situations are
dangling. Just set your intentions. What does your heart want? What
feels best? We are planting powerful seeds in the ground here with our mind (
Mercury is conjunct and yes, the past will factor in because Mercury is retrograde!).
During the Full Moon at the end of August and the days leading up to it - beginning around the 22nd - we have a Grand Earth Trine so after this summer of retrospection and road blocks, we will know what to do, what practical steps to take. By September we will be launching ourselves from this new, more solid space. For now -
set those intentions. Give yourself a pat on the back if those are the only hands available. Recognize how far you have come. We have all faced a challenging journey and we ARE STILL HERE.
Lots of karma is released during eclipses. This is a good thing, but it doesn't always feel good.
It can leave us standing on shifting sand or even isolated as we disconnect from people and situations via karma releases. I had a friend tell me she doesn't feel connected to her son anymore and looking at their charts this makes perfect sense because alot of baggage between them was unloaded. Their roots are no longer all tangled together. She feels sad. And lost. This is the sucky part of dissolving karma and probably why we allow ourselves to be enmeshed in this crap for lifetimes. Life is forcing our hand now. Just take things one day at a time and be gentle with ourselves and each other. I told her she is getting a fresh set of eyes to see her son. An unencumbered heart to love him. Give it time.
I am trying to take my own advice (
because I often don't!) this summer, too.
GIVE THINGS TIME.
The first astrology class I ever took was decades ago in Princeton, N.J. I was in banking then and starting to dabble. The teacher was very good with astrology, but his people skills could be harsh. He went around the room and said one sentence about each student's chart. With my chart in his hand he said "this person is in a hurry". I thought, "that's it, that's all I get?!". I felt cheated. I wasn't in a hurry! Didn't he see that nearly exact, challenging T-Square? my Neptune ascendant? that Sun/Saturn? that Sun/Mars? that Sun/Neptune? Hurry? My
mother was in a hurry. She talked fast. She walked fast. Not me! Then over the years I thought "my daughter is in a hurry or hubs is always in a hurry or that other driver is in a hurry or my boss/work/my customers push me to hurry". And even as I grew to appreciate the tiny, fragile beginnings of things and little babies and allowing the time to let things GROW and God's own right timing - I still fought the idea that I was "in a hurry", until I totally burnt myself out from being "in a hurry". Ha! I would never characterize a chart with one sentence though, but it did have impact.
Note - with Mars retrograde this is not a time to hurry. Also note on FRIDAY we have Black Moon Lilith move into conjunction with our retrograde Mars so expect our controversial outsider (
anti-patriarchy) energy to be activated via passion/anger/action likely over a situation from the past. BML will not tow the party line! Also Venus is still squaring Saturn so check the
weekly about that one.
xo again
