A Total Eclipse of the Moon (...good title for a song.)

There's a total eclipse of the moon on Dec. 21st and you can see it in North America. It’s a three-way deal -- with the moon, earth and sun all playing parts. Since this happens where you can see it, in global and spiritual astrology it’s a strong marker between our emotional past and future.


When the sun, earth and moon line-up just right and the earth passes between the moon and sun, the moon’s reflective light is slowly “eclipsed” as the earth blocks sunlight from getting there. The moon is “erased” until it finally goes dark all together. With the light switch temporarily off we go into pause mode until the moon slowly appears again. [If you watch it this time, imagine what it must have been like for the ancients -- powerful magic – as a giant hand was wiping out the moon.]

Your Emotional Past and Future

In astrology the moon represents our emotional life, and that time of "moon dark" (anywhere from a few minutes to hours) draws a line between our emotional past and future. Eclipses are “re-boots” of our emotional systems, especially around any spiritual or psychic work you’ve been doing. Something in our emotional past is now over. We won’t feel the same way about it after this: We may view it differently, let it go, or deal with it from a new perspective.


An example: Been working on your self-confidence? Learning to speak your truth without being afraid of repercussions or looking for approval from everyone around you? If you’ve begun to feel more confident, i.e. If the work you're doing is working – tomorrow may be a boundary between the past and future you. You’ll begin to feel that your past approval-seeking self is now more on the side lines -- a self that existed in the past. Your self-confident self is now more who you are.


Have you been involved in a relationship or path where you couldn’t commit, couldn’t invest your emotions but knew that you wanted to? Tomorrow’s eclipse may bring you to the realization that you can commit more fully – to become more of who you emotionally want to be in the future.


While this shift may have been a long time brewing, there can also be defining arguments or relationship-changing discussions in these next few days. Ones that change the way one of your relationships works in the future. And since we are also midway through a six month astrological phase of letting go of a past that no longer serves us and creating a new future, [See the previous entry about “Let Go!” ] this eclipse is also about past relationships, paths, and projects that are no longer meant to be in our lives. Ones that we need to let go of permanently or that need to be transformed to remain.



Whatever the case, you’ll feel differently after tomorrow. You’ll look at that emotional past and start to wave at it as you stand on the shoreline and watch it disappear from view. If that person or path is meant to stay in your life, you’ll start to view it differently with a different emotional reaction than you've had in the past – you’ll begin to see how that person or project can stay in your life in a transformed way.

Here Comes the Sun…

After two weeks, a lunar eclipse is always followed by a solar eclipse somewhere on the planet as the moon now passes between the path of the sun and the earth (where it’s visible depends on exactly where the moon is at the time it crosses that path.) And since the sun represents our outer world (just as the moon represents our inner world), a solar eclipse is about bringing that emotional insight from the lunar eclipse out into the world. About transforming that “moon-light” into new “sun-light” where it’s visible and can affect our actions.


We’ll have two weeks to “process” our emotional realization and then it begins to make its way into our real lives in how we choose to act around it. [When a solar eclipse happens where we see it this change is extremely powerful. But this one will be visible in Europe, Western African and Asia – we’ll still feel the effects since we are all part of the planet, but the effect will be much more subtle than the lunar. It also means for some they may still not be able to turn their emotional realizations into action.]

Gaia Gets into the Act

The last part of this three part event is unusual. This eclipse of the moon will happen on December 21st, the first day of the winter solstice – the first time that’s happened in at least three centuries. Gaia’s own symbolism is an essential but generally ignored part of astrology, but in this case it’s an interesting part of the mix. The winter solstice represents the beginning of two things: The start of longer days – the process of emerging from darkness to light. Ironically (and maddeningly), these are also the days where it gets colder as Gaia begins to sleep – at least in the Northern hemisphere. The cold allows her to hibernate and charge her batteries before spring.


The parallel in us humans is we’re also meant to “lie fallow” – do some contemplating, prepare for the next growing season. Lay back, rest and recharge. While our technology and 24/7 artificial light often block our connecting to that fact, we still know it on a psychic level since we’re still a part of her – Gaia – and we are still meant to slow down our life, sleep, eat and drink enough to keep us warm. Otherwise we’re meant to withdraw.


Because of that synchronicity – the effects of this particular lunar eclipse will follow the winter’s lead and gestate and grow within us – and only become finally and fully clear in the spring when the season of growth and light wins out over the dark once again.

Let go. Let go. Let go.

It's time to let go. In a big way.

In the past weeks I've been getting calls from friends and astro followers saying "What the heck is going on?" Some people are finding themselves stuck -- caught in a place where they can't go back to where they were and they can't go forward.

We may feel this way because Uranus is riding out the end of its six year journey through the sign of Pisces -- the sign of "letting go" of things, including the past. And we're having a little trouble doing that.

"In everybody's life there's a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can't go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That's how we survive." (Haruki Murakami, "Kafka on the Shore.")

Right now, not being able to go forward can be a direct result of not accepting that we are now at the point of "no return." And we have to accept that and let go.

Uranus represents the collective unconscious of everyone on the planet (or at least in the Western Hemisphere, since we collectively follow the Western traditions of astrology.) So we are all in the midst of a last opportunity to let go of whatever is no longer working in our lives now and what won't be useful to our future.

We've had six years to make some of these changes, and some of us have been letting go of that past all along. If you're one of those people, congratulations -- you're already moving forward. But most of us are resistant to letting go of things we love, even if they're not good for us. But now? We're in the end game. Time is running out.

We're now getting close to the time when Uranus will leave the sign of Pisces for another 80 years and enter Aries -- a fiery sign of creative vision and pioneering, a sign in which create our own path -- one that will fulfill us on a personal level. Others may follow us on that path -- and we may even become leaders because of our vision -- but that will not be the point. We will do what we realize is best to fulfill our own destiny.

In order to create this new life, which will begin in earnest in March of next year, the universe is saying "Time's up! You have to make space for something new to be born!" That means we'll need to let go of things that are taking up that space right now. The things we've been holding onto -- sometimes for dear life -- for years.

I Know This Isn't Working for Me, But I Can't Do Anything Else!....

Since this is the first time most of us are going through this planetary transition (if you're under 85 that will be the case for you) this may mean letting go of "baggage" that we've had all our lives. The baggage can be in the form psychological issues, physical possessions, mental ideas -- anything that has outlived its usefulness for our existence. Most likely you already know what it is. But you may be saying "But I CAN'T let go of THAT! It's too important to me. I'll be...(choose any of the following) -- alone, poor, rejected, empty. I can't survive without that!"

Have you been in a job or relationship that you've been trying to get out of for years? One that you know isn't working or worse, one that lowers your self-esteem and keeps you stuck where you are? "Give it up now!" is the message the universe is sending. "Give it up now and I will have more in store for you. Hold on to it and it will drag you down."

If you choose not to let go -- you will not be able to go forward -- and so the quote at the beginning of this piece will prove true. Without being able to go backward or forward -- you will need to learn to accept that you have lost the power of motion. In one way this is a solution: Accept where you are, let go of your need to move forward or backward and you may make space simply from doing that.

But there's a better way. If you can find your way clear to jump into the void -- over the cliff -- if you can let go of those things to which you've held fast but know are no longer serving you, you will suddenly find yourself walking lighter and easier and moving into a place where new opportunities and possibly a whole new life have the space to present themselves.

(This is is in part due to Jupiter - the planet of abundance -- that is also traveling through Pisces for the next couple of months. As you let go of more, Jupiter will give you the gift of more abundant space in your life. Space for creation.)

It May Not Be Easy, but It Will be Worth Your While...

This is not to make light of what we are letting go of and how painful it can be to let go of. This is not to say that this will be painless. Despair, depression and emotional trauma are not unknown around this magnitude of letting go. During some phases this can be intensely internal and difficult material to process.

So Go Ahead. Ask for Help.

And I am not a fan of saying "Oh, just do it!" which is the New Age version of a patriarchal male authority figure saying "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get over it!" (At times the New Age can be dictatorial in its unrelenting demand to approach everything with a positive "If you think it you can do it!" attitude.)

Pisces is a female sign -- and Pisces way of approaching "letting go" is a female one. To let go in Pisces means the softer female version of nurturing ourselves and accepting ourselves. Acceptance reached through acknowledging that this is how we feel, this is who we are. Acceptance through loving ourselves for our own very human traits. By owning and accepting who we are, we stop fighting who we are and we can use the energy we once used to resist instead to transform who we are -- and one way is by letting go of what no longer serves us.


The idea in this model of letting go, is to surround yourself with people and things that will support you and anchor you while you learn to accept the loss of, and grieve and mourn what you are jettisoning. People who will provide some safety and security while you let go of your old tethers. Short term therapy is an excellent idea right now if your baggage is mental or emotional. Supportive friends who will "hold the space" for you without judgment or criticism are another useful tool.

If it's physical objects you need to part with -- pay a good organizer (another type of therapy) or lean on friends that can help you lug that old set of furniture out of the basement -- the furniture you will never use again but just can't bear to part with. Rely on people and things that are helpful and useful in your life now. People and things that will help you move forward. If you do so, space will be made, and the pain will pass if you allow it to do so -- and in its place will come a promise of a future which could not have existed without the space in which to create itself.

Isn't that worth it?

Help! I'm so ungrounded!

The cry of our times. We live in such hyperactive times that most of us start with too little ground no matter what our chart looks like. Someone who also has little or no earth in their chart will tend to be even more ungrounded. Even if they have the three other elements balanced, they will tend to be buffeted by the winds of the rest of their personality. But you can make up this missing element in lots of ways.

Make sure you're Married and Have Kids. Or if not...

Being in a relationship or having children is one way that we ground ourselves. Family is very grounding -- even thought it can be maddening. Close friends and connections are obviously grounding. If you still need more, the next best thing is to anchor yourself to a community. Living in a closeknit town, or finding an organization or group that can serve as a surrogate family will help you to coalesce your energy.

Work

Working with the earth is obviously the grounding job you can get: gardening, planting and tilling the soil all bring us down to earth.

Being freelance in whatever job you choose may not be the best choice for the ungrounded. The whims of the economy as well as clients who come an go may leave you feeling too prone to the wheel of fortune.

A Different Meditation

In meditation, people are often taught to watch their thoughts and let them go as they arise, but for someone without earth elements, it may be a poor prescription. Thoughts are air -- and by watching them in your head and letting go of them -- you'll tend to unground yourself even more. Instead, use a heart meditation or a "hara" or "dan tien" (read "gut") meditation -- both of which will lower energy center closer to earth. Better yet, do yoga, the physical form of meditation and a great choice for the ungrounded.

Location, location, location.

Places can be ungrounding or grounding. Despite its frenetic energy, New York is one of the most grounded places on the planet -- with 20 miles of bedrock beneath your feet as you stand on the streets of Manhattan. This is probably one of the reasons that so much gets done in New York -- all that fire energy it attracts is grounded and directed in a practical way. Likewise, if you're ungrounded, living on the beach with only sand beneath your feet may be poor choice for a permanent home. Check out the geology of your home -- if there is rock underneath your feet, you've made the right choice. Clay would be second best.

You Are What You Eat

Some foods are grounding (root vegetables and meat) and becoming a vegetarian if you're ungrounded may be difficult to put into practice. Google "grounding herbs" and you'll find recommendations for herbs that will pull your energy down (dandelion and ginger come to mind.)

And on and on...

Colors (brown and black) crystals (hematite, onyx, obsidian) and more....if you pay attention you'll see that grounding elements are available all around us. and while you're at it with the yoga you might want to go light on the stimulating poses -- they'll just unground you more.

Your Chart is a Lifelong Blueprint...

At the top of this page I mention that you might want to have your chart handy when reading some posts (or have it done.) This is one of those posts, so if you don't have a chart www.astro.com will do it for free. You'll need your place and time of birth.

Basic astro chart readings will tell you what's built into your personality and what you can expect down the road. If you've ever had a good private reading you'll notice how useful that is. But there are lots of ways to read a chart -- my own interest is in global, spiritual/psychological and elemental astrology -- and this post is about you and your elements.

Balance, Balance, Balance...

There are four elements: Fire, Earth, Air and Water. Fire is our will, ambition and forward drive. Earth is about our ability to stay grounded and be practical. Air is about our mental faculties and Water our emotional and psychic ones.

Check your chart and see how many planets are in each of the four elements -- fire, earth, water and air. Add a "planet-point" to that element for each one. For the purpose of this exercise, if it's your sun, moon or ascendant, count those as two planet-points in that element.

If your planet-points are evenly divided between elements, it's likely that you'll have some a balance of all of the traits in you. You might be a thinker (air), but have an emotional life (water). You'll have enough drive to get things done (fire), but your earth signs will keep you grounded enough so that you're not driven. (At times the planets in elements may be in conflict -- a fundamental part of reading your chart...more on that in later posts.)

What Have You Got?


Let's say you have six or more planet-points in fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius). The rest of your "points" are balanced between water, earth and air. You'll want to move forward for most of life, getting things done, moving onto the next task when one is completed.

If instead there are six or more points in air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) you're bound for the thinking life. Analysis and reason are important to you and how you will lead your life.

If it's water you've got (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces), emotions are a critical part of you, as is reacting to unseen "psychic" energy that surrounds us.

And if you have plenty of Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) you are the practical one, the one who keeps their head, when everybody else is losing theirs.

Is Something Missing?

So far so good. And if you're the balanced chart sort, you're done. But that's generally not the case. Often our charts are weighted in one or two elements and we're missing the others.

For instance, if you have plenty of air activity, but little or no fire -- you might wish you could do actually get more done with what you think about -- but you lack the drive.

Or, if you've got more water, with no planets or only one planet in an air sign, you'll find yourself "going with the flow" without any mental analysis to make you think about what you're actually doing -- maybe so much so that you feel you just can't "reason" your life out to make the right choices.

And if you're a fire sign with no earth, you may go zero to sixty on a project before you've even decided that's what you want to do. It's worth mentioning something specifically about Virgo here. Virgo grounds you through mental activity and so can be the non-grounding earth sign -- since you're still in your head. If you have only Virgo as the Earth element in your chart, don't be surprised if you're still not feeling grounded.

You Can Add Something to Your Recipe.

You get the picture. If you look at your chart and see what's missing you'll instinctively know whether this fits you or not. If it's not bothering you, that you can stop here. But if you sometimes you feel you're missing something that would allow you to be more productive, thoughtful, caring or grounded -- there's good news. Your chart can pinpoint what you need and you can do something about it.

Just about everything surrounding us has varying degrees of earth, water, air or fire in it -- and by knowing what element you'd like to increase in your life you can supplement some of the elements you're missing -- something like vitamins for the soul. That's what I meant when I said a chart is a blueprint. Without going to a therapist, chiropractor or doctor you can get a diagnosis and prescription for what ails you.

In the next posts, I'll talk about each of the elements and how you can find supplements for them when they're missing in your chart.

It's a Big Day...

Have you been feeling like you've been in a pressure cooker for a while? Caught between a rock and a hard place? You'll be happy to know that's over today. That's because Saturn and Pluto stop "arguing" with each other today. The pressure is finally off.

To understand the end of the argument, and what it means for you, let's introduce the fighters and then go back to November 16th of 2009, when the argument began.

In this corner we have...

Pluto, the planet of our childhood issues...

It's like those scenes in a therapist's office where the patient says "And then my father yelled at me....!" Pluto is the energy that was created way back when Dad (or somebody who stood in for him -- the teacher that didn't like us, our nasty uncle George or Aunt Helen) yelled at us or punished us and we couldn't do anything about it. Heck, we were kids. We couldn't yell back or we'd be punished. We couldn't throw a rock through the window or we'd get sent to our room. And ever since that "traumatic" episode or episodes, we've been aching to throw a virtual rock and try to resolve the awful feeling that happens when our authority figures make mincemeat of us.

Pluto energy is the kind that wants to move up and out of us in the worst way. But often we feel powerless to fight back -- we think that will bring on even worse consequences. So we try to do that in other ways: we act it out in emotional fits or by manipulating others. We "create" it out (writing, acting). We run or play baseball. We build it out. We go into therapy and talk about it. Anything we can do to get that awful feeling of "You've been bad!" or "You're doing the wrong thing!" out of our system. (There are some backend advantages to this -- without repressive father figures there wouldn't be nearly as many ambitious people in the world trying to prove themselves good enough by building the tallest building, writing the great American novel, or running the fastest mile.)

And in the other corner, at over a thousand tons, we have....

Saturn the Big Bully...

Saturn is that disciplinarian -- the planet that squashes that kind of energy that wants to act out or have its own way. as opposed to toe-ing the line. Saturn is the one who is actually saying "Stop doing that!" "You're wrong!" "You're not allowed" and "You are bad!'

Can't They Just Shake Hands and Get Along? Afraid Not.

What happens when these two planets come head to head? A lot of tension. And a few explosive arguments. Saturn wants to keep Pluto in line. And Pluto wants to break free of his overbearing father. And they're finally going to duke it out. And that's what's been happening for the past nine months. Through direct motion and retrogrades Saturn and Pluto have been going head to head with each and fighting it out again and again. And a lot of us have done it right along with them. To make it even more complicated -- Pluto is now traveling through the sign that rules Saturn -- Capricorn. So some of our rebellion is about wanting to force the other person to do our bidding.

This might have been an internal conflict for some of us. If that's the case -- it meant we spent the last nine months wratcheting up the argument between our own internal authoritarian/judgmental self and the more fragile part of our psyche. Our Saturn self would keep trying to shame us or punish us. And our Pluto self would keep trying to escape that punishment and shaming. Unless resolved this is the kind of internal conflict that leads to self-harm and suicidal thoughts. (If you were going through this, I really hope you did have a good therapist.)

Then there were the people we knew who were acting their part as Saturn in our lives. We "called" in our teachers -- authority figures -- who tried to punish us and repress us: The landlord who wouldn't leave us alone. The bill collector who threatened us. (With a global recession that was a common theme.) The father figure that kept telling us what we should be doing. The boyfriend/girlfriend/teacher/boss that kept making us feel ashamed -- and for some reason we couldn't bring ourselves to stand up to them or leave.

Even Gaia is Working Out Her Issues...

In the biggest picture, Gaia, the earth, was caught in the middle of this conflict, too. And maybe it's easiest to understand this argument when you see how she dealt with the tension. Gaia resolved the pressure that built up in this conflict by erupting and shifting some tectonic plates -- a volcanic eruption in Iceland that disrupted air traffic for months and two major earthquakes (Haiti and Chile). As the icing on the cake, or actually the oil on the water, there was the British Petroleum Gulf oil spill. From the astro point of view this can be looked at in two ways -- one in which we were forcing the planet to produce oil and a second in which Gaia was letting off "steam" by gushing out oil . Either way it was an underwater eruption that changed the world.

Gaia was playing the part of Pluto here -- in rebellion against human authoritarian behavior in dealing with her as though she were an idiot female who has no right to be involved in any decisions about how she is treated. And you may have guessed that we are the bad guys in this relationship. And while she may not have resolved her issues with our repressive behavior and while she might like to leave us, but can't....after the BP oil spill she at least has our attention.

And The Point Is?

As always, what did we/you learn? My own Pluto/Saturn transit started out with an attorney who wanted to sue me for no reason. I tried to talk to him, tell him he was wrong, that I'd done nothing. But it did no good -- he kept on saying he'd "see me in court." In the end, I had to let go and have faith that something bigger than me would take care of the problem -- because I actually hadn't done anything wrong. Eventually, after much gnashing of teeth, I did turn it over and I did get taken care of. So part of this lesson for me was learning that when faced with an irrational authoritarian figure I can't do anything. I need to let go and turn it over to a higher power. That's something I couldn't do as a child but can do as an adult.

If we paid attention, the second pass of Pluto and Saturn at the end of January 2010, was finding out the reason that we keep "calling" in this kind of challenge. What's the underlying reason for allowing Saturn -- in whatever form -- to punish and repress us and not be able to escape the punishment? Did we really do something wrong? Or is that just us talking to ourselves? Do we need to take concrete action to protect ourselves even if we're afraid to do that? What's the belief system that drives us as adults to still believe in our gut what we had no choice but to believe in when we were children?

And if we did our work, in the past few days and today we will begin to understand how we can avoid the issue in the future. How we can grow beyond authoritarian figures. Maybe it's about surrendering more...or standing up more. It won't be he last "ah ha!" we have about it, but it should be a major one. And so Saturn will (hopefully) lose his hold over us and we will start to free ourselves from a fear of irrational authority. And we will be the stronger for it.

If you didn't do this in real time -- between November 16th and today -- that information is still available.

It was three part fight -- did someone or something make your life difficult starting November of last year? What part did you have to play in letting that happen? And how can you free yourself? Play close attention to the clues you get in these days -- they will hold answers to that last question that will help to free you up from some issues you may have been holding onto for decades. And realize it's not a passing thought -- when Pluto transforms you -- it's forever!

Did You Feel It?

Three days ago,on August 17th, Uranus moved backward into Pisces, after a short entry into Aries on May 27th.

Did you a feel the shift? For some people it meant that they felt more like themselves again, after a couple of months of feeling (on the good side) a lot of new forward drive and (on the harder side) edgy and driven.

For others it felt like after two months of having some clarity, they'd lost it again, and they were hazy.

Which Are You?

If you have a lot of water in your chart (Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio) you'll likely have sensed that you were letting some things go and then have breathed a sigh of relief -- something like "Wow, I'm back!" If you have more air in your chart (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius), you'd have sensed something was going on, but it might feel vague, as in "What happened?"

If you have a enough fire in your chart (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), then you might have felt like "Where did my clarity go?" And if you're dominated by Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), well then, you very likely didn't feel a thing.

Why does global astrology seem to affect some people and not others? It's about the elements in your chart -- fire, earth, air and water. If you have a lot of planets in water signs or a prominent placings of water signs (Moon, Sun, Ascendant) -- you'll likely feel all the planet shifts that go on out in the cosmos -- the ones that affect everyone in the Western Hemisphere -- not just your own personal shifts. That's because water is the sensitive" sign. It receives and conducts astro-energy quite well.

Everybody into the Pool... Whenever You're Ready.

But just about everyone is affected by and responds to global planetary shifts -- even the non-sensitives -- they're just not as aware of it and they do it more slowly. A good example? 1995 -- when Pluto entered Sagittarius. Pluto is the planet that transforms us. It's also the planet that represents our shadow side -- the issues and baggage we carry around with us. How we work them out depends on the sign Pluto is traveling through during any given period. (Pluto takes its sweet time doing that, too -- it can spend almost 30 years in one sign!)

In 1995 Pluto entered Sagittarius -- the "explorer of the heavens" sign. So all of us went "exploring the heavens." In real words, translate that as "exploring ideas, thought, philosophy, spirituality and the arts." And we did it all to try and resolve our unresolved issues from childhood, from trauma. Did it as a way to accept and transform our shadow side. To do it, we went to school, tried acting, wrote, learned yoga, checked out new ideas of spirituality, and on and on. When Pluto entered Sagittarius we began the "New" New Age. Those "early adapters" who started right in were looked at as "woo-woo" by mainstream culture.

Yoga Mats on Sale! $9.99 With Coupon!

When this first started, I remember friends of mine looking at me as a "New Age" hippie when I told them I was going to yoga class. But by 2008, as Pluto was leaving Sagittarius -- everybody was going to yoga class. Even science had learned it was good for your body, good for you blood pressure, good for just about everything. Heck, even KMart carries yoga mats now. And scientists are changing their mind about meditation in the same way and prounouncing "Oh! It Works! " (Yeah, we told you that a while ago...) And so whether it's sooner or later -- just about everyone responds to large global planetary shifts. It's what we call "cultural change."