Libra Solar Eclipse – Oct 2, 2024

In Te Pito te Henua there is a sacred ceremonial location called Orongo. At Orongo sits a large almost perfectly round stone and four other stones surrounding it that are said to be aligned with the solstices and equinoxes. If you were scientifically inclined you might pull out your compass, but the locals would advise you of its futility…. your compass will spin and point you in the wrong direction. Here the land, the locals, the culture and the traditions hold more power than science. Long ago at this location stood another important stone. One made of hard basalt rock. Beautifully carved with ornate markings of birds, lines and circles, this stone was highly significant to the locals – it held their ancestor’s spirit (mana). The Rapa Nui called these stones Moai. And where this particular beautifully carved Maoi stood at the ceremonial location of Orongo is now empty. In 1868 it was taken. On one of their colonial voyages exploring and conquering the world, the English arrived on the island, searched for the stone, dug it up and took this most valued Moai to England. There, they gave it to Queen Victoria as a gift. Its name is Hoa Hakananai’a which means “stollen one”.

The New Moon Solar eclipse on October 2, 2024, is happening at Libra at 10° and will bring up the themes of, fairness, Justice, and balance. It will focus on negotiations, mediation and peacekeeping. Libra is the sign of relationships, And if these more favourable positions cannot be found, it may bring war. Eclipses are times of sudden changes and a new moon eclipse often brings with it changes that mark the beginning of a new cycle.

This eclipse on October 2 is a south node eclipse meaning that it will bring up the past. The eclipse itself will darken over the Pacific Ocean with the best views from southern Argentina, Chile and Te Pito te Henua, which you may know as Easter Island.

Bernadette Brady in her book The Eagle and the Lark, interprets eclipses based on the originating eclipse, and this eclipse she interprets to be involved with loss. If we look into all of the aspects of the story of Hoa Hakananai’a and the island of Te Pito te Henua we can get a feel for the energy of this eclipse… loss can be both good and bad!

The eclipse is conjunct the dwarf planet MakeMake, which can help us feel a good loss. Makemake, is the creator god of the Rapa Nui, the people of Te Pito te Henua. MakeMake taught them fishing and agriculture; in astrology, MakeMake is often connected with environmentalism. Many astrologers may say this environmental energy is because the islanders cut down all of the trees, which is true. And they will mistakenly believe that this led to the island’s downfall, which it didn’t. It was likely that it was Makemake who taught them the elaborate system of rock gardening, also called Lithic mulching, that the trees were cut down to establish. It was this form of farming on this tiny island out in the middle of nowhere that established farming that helped to release needed minerals into the soil, conserving and improving soil fertility and regulating temperatures. This sustainable form of farming allowed them to grow food for survival on an island with no rivers. In addition, the Moai were built, placed and marked fresh underground water. The loss of trees, and the wise use of the resources that existed, counter to our judgmental thinking, brought life and subsistence, allowing the inhabitants to thrive for hundreds of years. The downfall of the inhabitants of Easter Island and the Rapa Nui culture was not the Rapa Nui or any of their practices, It was the colonialists who brought disease, stole their land and destroyed their culture.

In English, Te Pito te Henua means the navel of the world. Spiritually, a navel is associated with emotions, digestion, and the overall well-being of the body. It is from this place that we were nourished by our mothers while in the womb. The navel of the earth, therefore, can be said to be the central location of the earth’s nourishment, affecting the emotions, digestion and overall well-being of the earth. Every loss meant a gain. But as mentioned at the beginning not all loss bad and not all are good. The loss of Hoa Hakananai’a was not only a loss of an ancestor but also likely a loss of a divinely coordinated system of support for the islanders.

This eclipse is not just about bringing balance and justice to land, culture, relationships and the environment. It is also about balancing our thinking. This is because the eclipse is also conjunct Mercury. To balance our thinking, it helps to release shame, guilt, or on the other hand, self-righteousness. If your ancestors were the colonialist. Let it go. If you were the harmed party. Let it go. Letting go can also feel like a loss. It’s oddly delicious to hold on to self-righteousness and even more oddly delicious to hold on to guilt. But these are two polarities that will never bring balance. To transmute this energy, use the sacred apology or a humility prayer.

The eclipse is also conjunct asteroid Astraea. Astraea is the goddess of Justice. She was said to be the last of the immortals to withdraw from Earth before it declined into chaos. She was turned into the constellation of Virgo. When she returns it will signal the beginning of a new epoch – a golden age characterized by peace, harmony and prosperity. Astrologically Astraea is about integration and wholeness. She is a divine order and can symbolize a restoration to an ideal. Astraea encourages us to work on ourselves before presenting and entering into negotiations, mediations or relationship discussions. She encourages us to first find a balance within.

The challenge will be that the solar eclipse is also squaring Mars in Cancer and Ceres in Capricorn. Mars in Cancer will make us feel like defending and protecting the things we care about, while Ceres in Capricorn feels nurtured by structure and responsibility. Both of them making squares to the eclipse will make us feel quick-tempered, intolerant and ready to fight for our causes. We might push hard for others to take responsibility, reminding them that if they cared they would. However, we can over-shoot the mark and cause resistance or even war thereby defeating our own purposes.

The ruler of the eclipse is Venus in Scorpio bringing an intensity to this eclipse. We want to trust and experience deep authenticity with others and in our relationships. The eclipse is asking us on a deep level to prepare our hearts for such a relationship; both in our personal lives and in the world a large.

The Sabian symbol is a “professor peering over his classes.” This symbol reminds us that will will need to look over and beyond what we think we know to see and engage with those in front of us. We are reminded that it’s often those who need to learn who teach, and that relationship is more than being right, it’s about engaging with and seeing others’ points of view.

Happy Solar Eclipse in Libra.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pisces Lunar Eclipse – Sept 17/18, 2024

The lunar eclipse on September 17/18 is at 25° of Pisces. Pisces, a water sign is highly intuitive. Pisces rules suffering, merging, giving, self-sacrifice. It rules dreams, fantasies, and visions. It rules imagination and creativity; it’s the ruler of the Internet and film. It is spiritual and mystical. It rules all forms of escapism including plant medicines that take us on a journey. It’s also intoxicants and addictions. It is the ruler of fishing, shipping, oil and gas products.

Pisces is ruled by both Neptune the modern ruler and Jupiter the traditional one. The moon is making aspects to both of its rulers. The eclipsed moon is conjunct Neptune and it also makes a wide square Jupiter!

The conjunction to Neptune connects us to a sea of feelings and unconscious emotions. Neptune is in its last days of being in its home sign. It’s been in the sign since 2011 and early next year it will leave the sign. While in the sign of the fishes, it has taken us on a journey. For some of us, this is been a journey into a spiritual realm, for others a spiritual realm assisted by plant medicines, and yet for others, it has been a journey into conspiracies or conspiracy theories. We’ve gotten lost in the fog, lost in the fantasy. We’ve now reached a point where we have a hard time deciphering fact from fiction. Misinformation, disinformation, and deep fakes are all words that were not part of our daily lives before 2011. The eclipse will help us to sift through and sort out some of the truths from the lies. This is because when the moon is eclipsed, the earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, casting a shadow onto the Moon and blocking out the Sun which normally lights it up at a full moon. Earth’s shadow is an experience in the shadow. In the darkness, we must find our way to the to the light. No light means no facts, no lists, no Virgoic details…. Just the darkness and our intuition. At the moment of the eclipse when the light has been removed, we can go inside and know intuitively what is true.. Or at least what’s true for us.

The traditional ruler of Pisces is Jupiter. Jupiter is in a wide square to Saturn, which is also in Pisces. Saturn is a bit of a downer and can bring some depression or low feelings, but it’s also a reality check. The square between Jupiter and Saturn is a tension between expansion, optimism, belief and restriction, constraint and realism. At this eclipse, we may feel like we are on a seesaw. We’re optimistic one minute and pessimistic the next. Maybe we feel duped by a realization and this brings pessimism. Yet whatever we thought to be true at the time was instrumental in helping us to learn something very special and important…. and for that, we can be optimistic!

Two asteroids, Niobe and Atlantis and the fixed star Alkes are opposite the eclipsed moon with the Sun.

Niobe was the mother of Zeus, Apollo, Artemis and 11 other children. She was very proud of them. To her, they were all golden children and perfect in her eyes. Her hubris led her to lose all of them after boasting to another goddess who only had two children! Niobe cried so much that her tears ended up turning her into a stone. Astrologically Niobe is related to falls from grace, bitnerness and issues with children.

The asteroid Atlantis bring in the energy of Atlantis and Atlantian lives. Edgar Cayce, the sleeping prophet, described two groups of Atlantians. Both he described as highly advanced, one spiritual and the other power-hungry. In his readings, he called one group “The Children of the Law of One”. This group was focused on spiritual growth and development. Important to them was a harmonious relationship with nature and a connection to natural laws. The second group called “The Sons of Belial” exploited natural resources and the technological advancements of Atlantis, disregarding the consequences for the planet and its inhabitants. They were driven by a desire for power and control and by greed. Casey describes a technology called “The Great Crystal” in which the children of the law of one used for spiritual growth and the sons of Belial used for power. This led to misuse which was responsible for Atlantis sinking. Casey claimed that records of the technology are kept in three places; under the paw of the sphinx in Egypt, In an area of the Bahamas, possibly Bimini Road, and in the Yucatán peninsula. If we were to find these technologies today do we know which group we were in? Would we use the technology responsibly? Do we know ourselves when in possession of power?

Alkes, also known as Alpha Crateris, is a star in the constellation Crater, the Cup. According to Greek mythology, Crater represents the cup carried by Apollo’s crow, which was sent to fetch water from a spring. The crow, Corvus, took the cup but was distracted by a fig tree with unripe fruit and waited a few days for the figs to ripen. When it returned to Apollo, it blamed a water snake for its tardiness, claiming it had blocked the spring. Apollo was angered by the crow’s obvious lie and condemned it to a life of thirst. As punishment, Apollo placed the crow, the cup, and the water snake in the sky, commemorating the incident. The three are represented by the constellations with Crater (or Alkes which means the Cup)

We are asked to consider these three energies pride, power and responsibility, and honesty and the role they have played in our lives. It’s time for inner truth and for discarding any self-destructive energies.

The Sabian symbol for the eclipse is “a new moon that divides its influences”. Interestingly, the Sabian symbol speaks of a new moon at a full moon! This however is a symbol that suggests the moon will not affect us all in the same way. Its influence is divided between various influences and outcomes. This suggests that what is right or true for us, may not be right or true for someone else. It is not for us to decide for anyone other than ourselves.

Happy Eclipse in Pisces!

New Moon – Sept 2, 2024

September New Moon

The new moon on September 3 is at 11° of Virgo. Virgo rules routines, health, work, and service. It rules details, organization and planning. Virgo is meticulous and fussy. At this New Moon, we can set intentions around any of these areas.

This new moon widely squares Jupiter and opposes Saturn. The square to Jupiter may make us prone to over-promising so you will need to be extra careful when setting your intentions. Jupiter will make us feel that we can do more than what we actually can. The opposition to Saturn however, brings some measure of structure and restriction and is asking us to contain or at least make sure that our approaches are not unrealistic or fantasy. The trick to these two is to have an equal dose of optimism and structure and to not allow any pessimism or pushback to burst your bubble and stop you from moving forward.

The ruler of the New Moon is Mercury, which has recently gone direct. During the retrograde phase, we likely did a review of our creative projects and our leadership role within them. By now we should be clear and at this new moon, we have a perfect opportunity to set intentions around moving forward. It’s also a good time to start writing, initiate communications, and sign contracts. We have the green light to move forward with projects and plans. The new moon in Virgo will help us to dive into the details, get organized, and see into the nifty-gritty, making sure that we are not making mistakes or overlooking details.

Mercury the full moon ruler, is sextile to Mars and Jupiter, making it easy to put things into action. It’s also giving us a boost to learn new things and to have fun while doing it. If your project involves learning something new, this aspect will help you to come up to speed fast! Mercury is also trine to Chiron, the wounded healer. Any wounds suffered in the past can now be channelled into our projects, our communications and any plans we make. For instance, you may feel the need to write about a painful experience which you’ve now learned from and will help others. Or you may want to create teaching videos, sharing the lessons you have learned. Mercury is squaring your Uranus, which is giving us a lot of unusual and innovative ideas. Some of the ideas will be ingenious, but a square to Uranus can cause us to lose the idea just as quickly as we receive them! You’ll need to walk around with a pen and paper or a voice recorder ready to keep up with your mind and to capture everything.

Virgo is related to health, and at this particular new moon, we can direct our health towards mental health or better said, spiritual health. The reason is that the asteroid Apollo is conjunct with this new moon. Apollo’s motto was “Know thy self“ It was a dictum carved in stone on his shrine in Delphi. But how do we go about knowing ourselves? This requires going within and examining our values, desires, and goals including our shadows, or anything lurking in our unconscious that stops or sabotages our goals. Asteroid Apollo gives us the energy needed to raise our consciousness. Doing so will help us to understand who we are at the deepest level, and this can be beneficial in allowing us to infuse our intentions and projects with expressions of our true selves. Using the Virgo energy to help sift through, categorize, clear and discard anything no longer needed.  Be reminded, however, that Virgo can also be judgmental and perfectionist challenging us as we sift through unconscious matters. Remember that you don’t need to be perfect or pure! Perfectionism is the enemy of progress!

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. ` Confucius

The Sabian symbol for this new moon is “ a husband snatches away his new wife’s veil”. If we are truly being ourselves, as we inevitably will be after marriage, we show all of ourselves the good the bad and the ugly. This Sabian symbol serves as a reminder of the love we can experience, warts and all when we love and accept all parts of ourselves and others.