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.]
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.
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.]
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.
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.
