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Sea of Change
…Abruptly it was dark night, on the land and in the sky. In the night sky was a tiny ring of light. For the hole where the sun
belongs is very small. Just a thin ring of light marked its place. There was no sound. The eyes dried, the arteries drained,
the lungs hushed. There was no world… Our minds were light-years distant, forgetful of almost everything. Only an
extraordinary act of will could recall to us our former, living selves and our contexts in matter and time. We had, it seems,
loved the planet and loved our lives, but could no longer remember the way of them. The light was wrong. In the sky was
something that should not be there. In the black sky was a ring of light. It was a thin ring, an old, thin silver wedding band,
an old, worn ring. It was an old wedding band in the sky, or a morsel of bone. There were stars. It was over.
~Annie Dillard, from her essay, Total Eclipse, 1979
Greetings from the heart of this spring’s eclipse season, with the second of two eclipses at hand, the much anticipated Solar Eclipse on tomorrow’s New Moon in Aries. And, almost perfectly timed, we find ourselves as well within tight orb of a conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus, exact on April 20. Both of these celestial phases presage sudden change, perhaps through breakage or loss with parts of our past, as Annie Dillard so stunningly describes above, or perhaps through conscious letting go of old habits and lenses of perception, of patterns and frameworks we have finally realized no longer serve us.
At the other end of this letting go process, both the eclipse and the planetary conjunction offer sufficient potential for a certain type of shift in consciousness, a reversal of fortune for the better (with ‘fortune’ open to new interpretation), if we are inclined to align and open ourselves to this end.
I was blessed to be present when Annie Dillard read her Total Eclipse essay aloud just months after she wrote it, when she appeared at Brown University my freshman year there. I was completely blown away—never before or since have I been so moved by an oral reading of a work of art such as this. For more excerpts from this powerful piece, see here.
This is another such time when we may in fact be ‘blown away’ by the energies at hand. So I’m calling myself to the blog desk for a brief dance here in the realm of ideas, after a long phase of swimming in the Piscean waters of unknowing and unmaking that I wrote of last month. Perhaps this watery phase of undoing has been the backup band, releasing a long set of ‘letting go’ ambient vibes into the air waves, preparing us for the potential leap forward in consciousness that this month’s celestial events offer.
Little had I known that the strong energies of the past month would get such a firm grip on me as to make my intentions for next steps with writing and teaching fly to the wind, but so they have, for the moment. So, of late I have been giving myself to the soup of the present, and what it has been and is calling for. Perhaps you too have felt detained from best intents and purposes, whether physically, energetically, psychologically, or spiritually, which the plethora of Pisces energy (despite the Sun itself having pushed on to Aries on Mar. 19) can indeed do.
As I write, we have Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces, and Venus conjunct Neptune also abiding in these formless, gestational Piscean waters. So, while, the Sun is traversing through action-oriented Aries (more on this below), and Spring in the northern hemisphere is indeed fluffing her greening and burgeoning feathers with quickening speed, it may be hard to actually get ahold of this pioneering Aries spirit inside ourselves just yet. It is for me, anyway, as inner work and healing continue to be the order of the day. (It all depends on where this Pisces energies falls in our charts, as to how we experience it.)
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Piscean Waters
Mars conjunct Saturn can tend to feel like trying to drive with the brakes on, and in the sign of Pisces, maybe we’re plowing through deep puddles. Maybe we decide not to go out after all! Or maybe instead of charging off to accomplish our goals, we decide to just go sit by or in some clear waters, if we’re blessed to be able to. Or, as I’ve been doing lately with the abundance of spring rains we’ve having here in Sonoma County, maybe we indulge in simply gazing silently into the steady pattern of falling rain, or enjoy the tremendous shifting lights and darks of clouds and brilliant blue sky that float by in between rains. (My readers UK-side and on the East Coast may not feel quite so inclined to rain worship, with all their recent rains! But here in California, where rain is scarce for a good six months of the year, and always in need to replenish aquifers and reservoirs, I for one never tire of them.) Venus conjunct Neptune will no longer be in play by the time of the eclipse as Venus will have moved into Aries, but this planetary pair, Neptune being the ‘higher octave’ of Venus, has lately driven our longing for the unobtainable ideal, such as in love, harmony, beauty, or transcendence, and so has had the effect of pulling us into other-worldly realms. It’s not always glorious, however! It can render us with low energy, poor health, loss, or disillusionment that takes us offline (whether literally or otherwise), or it can show up as a resistance to mental productivity in favor of other modes of being. Or, perhaps you’ve enjoyed a creative dance with beauty, creativity, or dreamlike states. Take me higher, says Venus-Neptune in Pisces to some!!! While these heights cannot be sustained, as we’ve perhaps learned by now, they can indeed be exhilarating and dizzying. On top of all this, Mercury turned retrograde on April 1, initiating a 3-week period of review, reflection, and reconsideration. So yet another invitation to chill and gestate. It’s good work, this reconsidering: re (again) con (with) sider (the stars) – to be with the stars again, in all their wisdom! Here’s where I hope to serve! |
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Solar New Moon Eclipse in Aries
Eclipses always come in pairs, so we have been in destabilizing ‘eclipse season’, feeling “wobbly” as astrologer Dana Gerhardt aptly describes it, since the Libra Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on Mar. 25. Next up is the Solar eclipse with Moon/Sun conjunct Chiron, the wounded healer or blind spot, which adds a significant twist to the story. In themselves, eclipses tend to amp up an ordinary full or new moon, making them heightened times energetically and emotionally. With Chiron conjunct this one, we are invited to move towards any wound we may feel to our Aries assertiveness or courage, as we invoke the call of the Aries North Node, which we in some part now hunger to respond to.
In its quest to move from ‘wounded one’ to teacher/healer, Chiron energy invites us to consider our point of vulnerability and pain, our degree of alienation or outsiderness, to inhabit seemingly intractable dilemmas in our lives. It invites us to reprogram our attachment to our wound to self-assertion (Aries) by facing, and going through it, to be ultimately inspired and liberated by our uniqueness.
Chiron’s orbit moves between that of Saturn and Uranus, so its overall energetic is one of moving from fear and limitation (Saturn) to the freedom to live our genius (Uranus) at the level of pure Being. But moving through pain and trauma, which means holding, contemplating, and working through it, is a necessary pathway of the wounded healer. In Aries, as said, this means learning to look at what has blocked us from claiming ‘agency’ for our walk through life, and not contracting around perceived inadequacies. We are asked to trust in the truth we know at our core, at the heart and soul level, and let go of fears about what others or ‘the collective’ might think about us. It’s okay to be different!
Eclipses always fall near the Moon’s nodal axis, with the North Node indicating where we’re headed, and the South Node where we have grown stale in our ways. We’ve already been influenced by the Libra-Aries nodal axis since last July, but it’s now emphasized by being conjunct an eclipse. So we are urged to examine and perhaps move off of South Node Libran tendencies towards pleasing, accommodating, and navigating co-dependently, in order that we might hone and risk (a good Aries skill) offering our own unique creative note to life.
Whether or not we are partnered or single, we are called to claim our independence and assert our needs, careful not to do so in an impulsive or reactive way, but with reflection, consideration, and care. The danger of this significant spread of Aries energy, which includes Venus (our social energy), is that of acting and speaking prematurely or reactively when triggered. We can invoke the retrograde Mercury to help us think before acting or speaking here.
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Opening to the New
In the background, whether we know it or not, we remain held in the gestational Piscean waters, inviting us into an awareness of our interconnectedness to all of life. This can inherently invoke periods of grief and loss, as well as ecstasy. But Aries asks that we start to differentiate ourselves through our ego self or persona, to take initiative by perhaps forging a new path, whether internally or externally. There are many ways to manifest the proverbial new leaf!
At this pivotal moment, of both the eclipse and the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, we may want to ask ourselves, what calls most to me at this time of planetary precarity? And what old and entrenched ways might we be ready to notice and release, in order to allow in new ones not yet known to us, new ways of being, thinking, and perceiving that might serve to call in healing and reconciliation with the others and with the whole, which includes the Earth?
Eclipses, depending on where they fall in our charts, can bring endings and new beginnings, whether sudden or slow, and they can open us after a period of ‘blindness’ to a clear seeing, with a new light, with the heart. Sometimes this comes through the shock of unexpected information or news, or breakages, which can in turn serve as catalysts for new action. It’s always good to stay tuned and open to positive outcomes and messages, rather than fearing, or contracting around negative ones. The impact of an eclipse can unfold for months to come, so it’s best to be watching for its themes to unfold for quite some time. Of course, eclipses have the greatest impact when they fall near your Sun, Moon, or a personal (inner) planet.
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Examining Filters, Welcoming Change
The next big planetary news, and perhaps the most impactful of the whole year, transit-wise, comes fast on the heels of the eclipse. The proximity of this Jupiter-Uranus conjunction to the eclipse is significant, as both configurations invoke the same energies, of letting go of an old paradigm, and opening ourselves to the new. The Uranus energy is further emphasized by the fact that Pluto has recently entered Aquarius (ruled by Uranus and Saturn) for the second time, where it will now remain for over 40 years, save a brief and final Rx into Capricorn for 2.5 months this fall.
As you will likely have heard, whether in the ethers, or in my own writings here, Pluto entering Aquarius in and of itself has been big news, as it more effectively ushers us into the Aquarian vibe as a culture, given that Pluto’s slow movement impacts a whole generation through the archetypal energy it passes through (in addition to the planets it transits).
Pluto is the intensifier, and tends to invoke the shadow of a sign or an energy. We’re surely seeing this in the form of the negative potentials of technology (which Aquarius rules), such as AI, and the continued poisoning of free thinking through false media promotion, on all sides. Thankfully, the energetic of Jupiter with Uranus has the potential to stress the positives of change and innovation, with Jupiter being considered the ‘greater benefic’ planet. So this brief phase, from now through mid-May, offers an opportunity to ‘prime the pump’ of calling in the best of what Uranus may offer, given that judiciously applied Jupiter energy tends to bring luck and opportunity. (Applied in an off-centered way, however, Jupiter‘s impulse is famous for biting off more than it can chew, and its excesses of greed, bluster, and arrogance.)
To best align ourselves with this (Jupiterian) opportunity, an important first step is to take a hard look at the default ‘filters’ of our worldview, the ways in which we frame things, the systems we take for granted, the lenses through which we view ourselves, and others, and what we expect of them, and put everything up for reconsideration. This is a time to analyze and deconstruct our well-worn beliefs, and points of rigidity, and consider where we might open them up for a complete reboot, or at least an update. This is Jupiter ‘pre-work,’ so that we can then be most open to receive any sort of Uranian bolt of insight or redistribution, which could in turn provoke a deep shift in us.
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The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, which marks the beginning of a new cycle the way a New Moon marks the beginning of a new 4-week cycle, comes around every 14 years. The last time it was in Taurus, where it now is, was in 1941, at the time of a shocking reversal during WWII (the failed Operation Barbarrosa), which ultimately enabled the Axis powers’ victory.
The sign Taurus informs our material plane security, our ingrained habits that make us feel safe and stable, and what we think we need: our resources, both material and otherwise. So while big events may go down on the world stage, on the personal level, we may want to be reviewing what our very well-being depends on. Is it about routines of getting and spending, or of connecting to the earth, our bodies, and the food we eat? Is it determined by values other than self-preservation? And if so, how might we better live into these?
Uranus affords us the capacity for detachment, and Jupiter, the application of wisdom and making of meaning, rendering breakthroughs more likely at this time. When we dare to shift a notch or two out of our comfort zone (similar perhaps to shifting from harmony-oriented Libra to self-assertive Aries, as the Nodal energy requests), we can shift stuck patterns, change our consciousness, and break through to new levels of perception and meaning. This can look like an unexpected release from a tense or difficult situation, from ‘emergence-y’, to birth.
But first, we have to be willing to welcome discomfort, disorder, and uncertainty. This is where the Pisces background vibe is helpful, that energy that presides over the sea of our origins, the emptiness from which form arises. Creative instructions can in fact emerge from within chaos and disorder. Our modern rational world has not programmed us to trust this, but this is a time of reprogramming, a time to return to the true roots of Being, both in ourselves, and in our relations.
Useful operating instructions here are to be open for surprises, to notice and process any fears or resistances that come up, and to move through them, invoking more positive messaging as our compass. To be curious, and risk experimentation in terms of how we respond to events, relational dynamics, and ourselves. And to be open as well to the possibility of ‘divine intervention.” Meanwhile as Taurus requires, we should stay grounded, practical, and boundaried.
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The Koan – Unfolding into the Whole
True to form, while I was writing this, “reality” threw my way a beautiful podcast whose themes precisely sync with what I’ve been describing. It is a conversation between Sufi teacher and Emergence magazine editor Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee and author Susan Murphy Roshi, on the topic of Zen koans. They discuss how the koan serves as a fundamental shifter of consciousness, a disturber of the ground one is embedded in—such as the unlikely earthquake that rumbled through parts of the East Coast yesterday! New York and New Jersey are not your usual earthquake location suspects, but this is the energy of the time. Such events, like the koan, serve to break patterns of perception and expectation, and to dismantle the accepted frameworks we operate within. Uranus/Aquarius invite such sudden paradigm shifts.
Susan Murphy offers up a koan by Linji, master of the Tang dynasty period: “Whatever confronts you, don’t believe it.” And she suggests that instead of the habitual, one-pointed response, we allow a whole field of awareness to open up.
You cannot actually see into what’s happening in the koan until you move onto that ground, which is ultimately emptiness itself. It is emptiness, not in the sense of some great void in which life doesn’t exist, [but more] like, nothing exists except in relation to everything else. So looking at it from that point of view, there’s a kind of whole quality to reality that the koan obliges you to meet. And that’s a very valuable medicine or healing of the kind of consciousness we normally cart around with us, which is focused on small things.
In its own way, Aries energy also beckons us to new terrain. As a bold fire sign, Aries calls in change through unadulterated impulse, whereas Uranus rules higher mind (considered the higher octave of Mercury), so its changes are often in terms of ‘technologies’, with the invention of electricity being a classic one. Personally, it seems to me we can be poised at this time to call ‘light’ into our own lives, in unexpected ways, to work with new ‘technologies’ of thought, of how we process and respond to information and to others. Be on the lookout for lightbulbs on your path!
Susan Murphy points to the affinity between koan and crisis, stating that a world in crisis, such as the one we’re in, “unfolds us,” the way a koan does. She suggests that this unfolding calls us back into relation with all life, which includes the Earth and the Cosmos. Uranus and Jupiter being in Taurus, the premier earth sign, would surely encourage this ‘innovation!’
To illustrate this, Murphy Roshi shares a story about when the place she was living in in Australia was threatened by mega-fires that had been ripping through vast areas, making their way towards hers. She and her community were all packed and ready to evacuate the next day, when she did a small ritual advised by a respected aboriginal elder, of consulting the land for guidance. The response she received from the Earth was, “Your suffering with me is my care for you.” She was struck by the implied mutuality of the relationship.
Suggesting we undo our “immediate, self-saving beliefs,” together she and Emmanuel arrive at the understanding that dropping our viewpoint releases a weight we carry, revealing instead various forms of love, in clear and unclear states. “The impasse is a form of medicine waiting to heal us.”
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Further Meanderings
Total Solar Eclipse, Annie Dillard – https://www.themarginalian.org/2017/08/01/annie-dillard-tota…
Interview with Susan Murphy Roshi – https://emergencemagazine.org/interview/earth-as-koan-earth-…
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All photos copyright Diana Badger 2024 (unless otherwise indicated)