Leo New Moon, After Eclipsing

Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

All this week, in every venue, talk eventually turns to the eclipse. Every news outlet, all social media, each conversation on the street begins with some comment about it. "Did you see?" "Where were you?" "We seem to have survived..." "Didn't realize the temperature would drop so significantly!"

With the Leo New Moon and the solar  eclipse happening at virtually the same time, the energetic effect of each increased with the power and impact of the other. Leo is all about the will, specifically, choice and action. After our experience of the new moon and eclipse, what action will we choose to take?

One of our most significant choices in life is whether we choose to see an experience as happy or miserable, as positive or negative. Our first reaction may be anger or upset or angst or fear. We cannot change the feeling. What we can change is how we move forward with it, how we see it in the larger perspective, how long we allow ourselves to sit in the stew of those emotions. We have the opportunity to use our will to move forward in whatever manner we desire.

The solar eclipse not only brought up emotions, some sensitive people had physical reactions as well. Like when we fall in love or we lose a job or someone leaves or dies, our system may respond with restlessness, a lack of appetite or an upset stomach. It's how we experience and cope with rapid change. Prior to the eclipse, discussions focussed on whether to be outside during the event, be with large or small groups, or be alone. People had celebrations, camped out, created rituals. No matter where we were or with whom, the expansive eclipse was a communal experience.

We are moving through one of those liminal places where what we choose as our focus ripples out to help form our communal future. The eclipse and this Leo New Moon are not only about our desires but also about our will to create and co-create the story of our future. Choose concisely, wisely and with care.

What did you do for/during the eclipse? What emotional responses did you have? What physical reactions did you experience? How did you choose to respond? What action are you choosing to move forward into? How do you want your future to be? What part of the story of our communal future are you willing to write?

Eclipse is A-comin'

www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/augustsolareclipse.jpg

Unless living in a cave or entirely off the grid in North America, you've seen scads of information on the solar eclipse coming in its totality to a region near you.

Amazon.com put out a recall on some suspect/useless eclipse glasses sold through their site. Anywhere on the path of near totality, remember to not look at the sun during the event without appropriate eye protection.

Many articles provide information from diverse sources, from NASA to religious views to channeled messages to advertising. It's a challenge to sift through them and decide what is accurate, what is opinion, what is bunk.

Some ancient peoples hid during the eclipse. There was fear that it was the end of the world as they knew it. Some traditions continue to support hiding or remaining indoors. Other ancients explored the event, allowing their curiosity free reign. Some experts believe one function of England's Stonehenge was to predict the coming of an eclipse.

Eclipses affect us whether we actually see them or not. They are major astral events and our system, our individual core selves, recognize that. There is a tremendous energy occurring around this one. Besides the solar eclipse itself, there is the Leo New Moon, Mercury in retrograde and visible during the eclipse along with Jupiter, Venus and Mars, AND all the people who are and will be traveling.

An event of this caliber creates a thinning of the veils between the worlds. Eclipses take us into the Dark at an untimely time. They also bring us out of that Dark and back into the Light. Though our minds may be prepared for it, our more subtle being experiences the strangeness of it. Even people who don't generally feel this can sense a push from every direction. For some, it feels like a weight or burden. Others express a weariness. Many feel a vague and inexplicable agitation.

This is a time to practice good self-care and self-awareness. Self-care may involve telling significant others what you're feeling, taking time to be alone, meditate, pray or do whatever spiritual practice you may have. Rituals ground us. Be gentle with yourself and with those you love.

What do you want to leave behind in the Dark? What do you want to see birthed into the Light? What is calling to be center stage in your life? How do you see your significant expression of who you are shifting?

Aquarius Full Moon 2017

This Aquarius Full Moon turns up the heat on the intensity of activity in astrological terms. This is the sign of our social conscience, our community self. This Full Moon is accompanied by a lunar eclipse only two weeks before the solar eclipse occurring at the coming New Moon. We are riding the lunar waves of change and challenge for our future.

Eclipses often bring change and shift in our lives. This can show up like the symbolic turning of a page, or beginning of a new chapter. We have all been experiencing this influence to greater or lesser degrees for days or even weeks prior to the eclipse. What we experience sets the tone for the next several months of our lives. Paying attention to how our entire system feels makes the most sense right now.

We also have the opportunity to open our hearts and trust the seismic movement that shakes us is uprooting the stuckness we have gotten ourselves into. This is a time to be gentle with ourselves and with others, to cultivate with care our close relationships.

There are deeper questions surfacing ~ about relationships to others and to our work. We are being called to be proactive rather than reactionary, to step into and use our power rather than to sit back and watch what others do before acting. With each of these callings, we are asked to respond with care, thoughtfulness and compassion.

Although eclipses are seen as times of darkness, they bring everything into sharpness and clarity no matter the emotions that clarity elicits. We experience the shadows differently. What we see in the dark presents us with a new sense of who we are, where we are and what we are here to do. The dark moment passes quickly enough, yet it leaves a lasting impression on our minds and psyches.

We are in a unique time to attend to our inner world and pull the outer world into alignment with the greater story we desire to bring into the Light. It's not often the heavenly bodies align to provide such strong motivation to unfold our own myths and to watch them form the connections we need.

One more awareness is that Mercury is on its way to retrograde (start: August 12th at 11° Virgo; end: September 5th at 28° Leo). My sense of Mercury retrograde is that it is the perfect time for information gathering, reflection, research and deep breaths. Many really deep breaths. Don't make major decisions. Or quick changes. Or spendy purchases. Breathe. Continue to do your behind-the-scenes work. Mercury retrograde is often blamed when we move too quickly to a new position on something. It's only the conduit of the energetic to pause, rest, reflect. Another moment or two ~ or week or two ~ of decision-making generally won't hurt the outcome. And if quick decisions are necessary, be sure to do whatever research possible and move forward.

Mercury retrograde will continue through the solar eclipse. More on that later. Just sayin'.

What relationship changes are necessary in your life? friends? colleagues? networks? other groups? What are these relationships teaching you? Have you learned your lessons? Are you caught in a collective space? Are you speaking your unique truth? What is ready to expand and move in your life? and in your relationships? What patterns of interaction no longer serve you? How can you change them?