The Second Lunar Eclipse
July 3rd ~ 10th
“Moonlight” by Winslow Homer
Reality is that which, even when you don’t believe in it doesn’t go away. ~ Peter Viereck
We have a Lunar Eclipse at the Full Moon on July 4th/5th that closes our series of eclipses on the Cancer/Capricorn axis that began in 2018. The Nodes of the Moon have already shifted on to the Gemini/Sagittarius axis, but this is the final culmination of this particular series of eclipses. Not only in the past few months where we have seen 3 eclipses in a row, but including the series of eclipses that began with a partial Solar Eclipse in Cancer in July of 2018.
All lunar eclipses can bring things to a head, to a point of crisis or culmination. And if you happen to have personal points in your chart at 13º of the Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn), you may even have some sort of change in your life accompanied with the area of the chart in which these eclipses fall. Lunar Eclipses can also be revelatory. They reveal things that we either did not see, or had not realized. As a result we cannot see things quite the same again, and so can serve as a turning point.
The eclipses are accompanied by the “Nodes” of the Moon. The South Node represents those things that we are not necessarily aware of, but that we had become accustomed to, and are a part of our society, and we don’t necessarily want to change. But as they are also holding us back and preventing us from evolving in some way, we are confronted with the consequences of not doing anything about them. The North Node sign shows us what we need to cultivate more of, in order to take us up to the next evolutionary stage. This is why the issues associated with the South Node sign often sound negative, and the North Node sign sound so positive. It’s not that one sign is good or bad, it’s that we need to compensate for where we are stuck. The Nodes have since moved on, but this last Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn is a culmination of all that has led to this point right now. The Cancer/Capricorn series of eclipses were pointing to issues in the mundane world that had to do with:
Needing to release (or entrenching out of fear & habit) the South Node in Capricorn:
Tyranny: The Old Guard digging in and not wanting to let go: Authoritarianism, strict governing parties; oppressive leadership that refuses to relinquish power and control.
Conservatism: Upholding conservative values, even those that are holding us back and preventing us from evolving. Valuing smaller but more controlling governments and leaders, with power leveraged towards the few: those who already have power. Imposing the rule of law and domination of a ruling class.
Patriarchy: Becoming aware of systemic patriarchal culture. Strong un-sentimental leadership that lays down the law.
Materialism: The power of detached corporate structures that value profits over lives, or even the well-being and at the expense of each other or the planet.
Isolationism: Values stoicism, pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, taking care of your own, and isolationism.
Fear: Holding on to power by instilling fear and creating class or economic divides.
Exhaustion: Feelings of exhaustion, due to isolation, deprivation, and fear.
What we were being asked to cultivate through the North Node in Cancer:
Women: 2018 was referred to as the Year of the Woman. The Cancer series of eclipses which extolled the matriarchy followed on the heels of the #metoo movement which gained notoriety in 2017. And which also set the stage for what was to come. In November of 2018 a record number of women were elected into Congress in the United States. And now a presidential hopeful has declared that he will pick a woman as his running mate this year in the US. The Great Mother of Compassion, The Wisdom of the Women: The Lore of the Grandmothers.
Children and families: Reminding ourselves what it feels like to look at life through the eyes of a child. We are reminded of the scandal of the children being torn from the arms of their parents at the border of the US and Mexico. We were being asked to remember what it means to be a child: to still feel innocence, imagination, and a world of wonder; even as children were lying in cages in isolation from their families and community, deprived of care, and being forced to grow up way too soon.
Community: Family, Home, Mother, Children, Infants, a sense of belonging and community social values that take into consideration the needs of the whole group, not just a chosen few. Everyone needing to be held up.
Nurturing: Feeding the Hungry (remember that guy who was arrested for giving food and water to the refugees at the border?); providing water for those who are thirsty. Paying attention to the small family traditions that bring meaning and security to our daily lives. The need to put down our burdens after the cold hard Winter of Denial, and the need to lie in the Mother’s arms again.
Empathy: The values of Cancer lean towards the greater good of the people in the community: nurturing one another, caring for one another. Crying when we need to cry. Bringing back the values of warmth, and support through shared experiences. On the Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor are found the words by Emma Lazarus (possibly a Cancer) from the New Colossus: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Meanwhile, the United States, a Cancer country, kept talking about building a Wall to keep people out.
Cultural Values: A reverence for land, home, country, ancestors, roots and community. All the cultures. All the roots that make up this rich forest and tapestry of humanity, working together for the sake of our collective evolutionary growth.
It gives pause to think how we have or have not evolved. Even just a little bit (every bit counts) towards our progress.
Saturn, the ruling planet of Capricorn, is retrograde and has just returned to its own sign for some unfinished business. It could feel a bit like our past is catching up with us, and that we are seeing the consequences of our choices and actions. It can also mean that we are getting a do-over. Hopefully, if that is indeed the case, we’ll get to do something right this time. Perhaps in a better way? Saturn will station direct on September 29th, and will remain in Capricorn until December 17th of this year. It will make a wide, but brief nod to Pluto in September and October, and will come up against feisty Mars in Aries from mid-August thru September. ouch! These are the sorts of transits that are rife with tension.
Wanting to back out of obligations that we no longer want to deal with?
Holding our leaders and governments accountable for their actions and decisions?
Shifts in power or the status quo?
Finding structures that we previously depended on, no longer adequate, sustainable, or relevant for where we are now?
Seeing the consequences and spawn of neglect, greed and selfishness?
What is no longer sustainable and needs to end, in order to make a better and more sustainable beginning?
There may be some hard truths and difficult decisions to be made over the next several months. However, the greater our integrity and honesty, and the more we strive for what is right and just, the more likely we will be successful. A nod to Jupiter conjunct Pluto. In order to create the space for new growth to occur, we have to go through these periods of sloughing off old patterns, old structures and institutions that are no longer relevant, and may in fact be preventing newer, better and more sustainable structures from being established. We can do this.
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
For next week’s horoscopes and to see how these eclipses may be impacting your sign click below: