Dear Readers,
Saturday brings us the final eclipse of the year and the final eclipse in a series in the Taurus-Scorpio axis. The last time the eclipses were here coincided with the beginning of the war in Iraq. During that time, Rebecca Solnit wrote a book called Hope in the Dark. It begins with this paragraph:
“On January 18, 1915, six months into the First World War, as all of Europe was convulsed by killing and dying, Virginia Woolf wrote in her journal, ‘the future is dark, which is on the whole, the best thing the future can be, I think.’ Dark, she seems to say, as in inscrutable, not as in terrible. We often mistake the one for the other. Or we transform the future’s unknowability into something certain, the fulfillment of all our dread, the place beyond which there is no way forward. But again and again, far stranger things happen than the end of the world.”[1]
As we enter Scorpio season and darkness and war are woven into the story of this eclipse season, my dog-eared copy of this book with its contemplations around these themes found its way into my mind and onto my desk yet again. I offer this quote because things do seem dire and most of the folks I’ve spoken with lately are in some kind of deep process or crisis.
That last eclipse was a doozy, and the next one is just around the corner. It seems to me that the Universe should create a pause button for us for times like these. Recently, it’s felt like we’ve been trying to drink out of the firehose I referred to in my last post.
On October 28 we have a Full Moon Lunar eclipse in Taurus, and the planets are moving into position for the event. The Sun, Mercury and Mars in Scorpio will oppose the Moon and Jupiter in Taurus. Since this is the last eclipse in the Taurus-Scorpio axis for nineteen years, we may be wrapping up a story that’s been in the works since November of 2021.
Taurus speaks to land and territory; Scorpio to what is buried beneath it, like seeds, artifacts, and oil. Taurus is simple. It’s stable, grounded and internally serene, attuned to the senses and at home in the natural world. Scorpio is complex and intense with strong instincts, sometimes dramatic reactions, and an urge to seek truth--to get to the bottom of things. Current events around the world are engendering a longing for and clinging to the comforts associated with home. We long for the good life. For stable sources of food, shelter, and money—the territory of the moon in Taurus. Jupiter’s touch is the expansion of emotions around these longings. Taurus and Scorpio speak to our fundamental needs for safety and security.
The Sun, Mercury and Mars have all moved into Scorpio where Mars is at home. Mars in Scorpio is strong and driven. This Mars is laser focused, likes to dig up and reveal secrets and is relentless in his pursuit of justice. The glyph ♂ tells the story. He knows what he wants, how to get it and is playing for keeps. The stakes are life or death, and he doesn’t forgive or forget.
The Sun is our essential vital nature and Mercury speaks to our mental process and communications. When we tie these two to Mars, we can personalize our experiences and express ourselves from that bias, resulting in mean words, angry outbursts, paranoid thinking and issues around trust. Adding in the opposition to Jupiter, who expands what he touches, the words that come to me are “expressing inflamed passions”. Yikes! The alternative is to step back, regroup, find our ground and center, expand our awareness, witness the stories we’re inventing, and emotionally detach from other people’s projections or chaotic energy. From there we can use Mars’ courage, will, and determination to look into the darkness within ourselves to find truth, to investigate the stories we tend to believe, develop more emotional resilience and instead of flamethrower arguments, have deep and authentic conversations.
Jupiter and Uranus are currently in Taurus waiting for the Moon to arrive in the sign of her exaltation. When she does, we’ll have 3 planets in Scorpio and 3 in Taurus. Both are fixed signs, suggesting that both stubbornness and determination will be a part of the story. With Jupiter there as well, we can expect these to be expressed around opinions and belief systems.
The danger in this eclipse is in the tension between two sides stubbornly attached to magnified and polarized opinions and ideologies--each dogmatically clinging to their own view of reality and the rightness of their actions.
To note, both the eclipses this season are ruled by Venus. It’s likely that relational themes came up with the last one and will for this one as well. We may reach a tipping point that brings an opportunity to cut or let go of things from the past that aren’t useful for us anymore. A Full Moon is always a good time to let things go and with the amplified energy of the eclipse, this one is primed for it. Choosing to release something is always easier than having it snatched away from our clinging fingers. With the nurturing Moon in Taurus with benevolent Jupiter, we can hold the choices we’re making around relationships and the situations we’re investing our time and resources in under the umbrella of care. Do we feel good, safe, loved, and nourished? It’s also important to remember that Full Moons bring big emotions for everyone, and processing these separately and when they’re not heightened might be the kindest and most graceful thing we can do both for ourselves and each other.
Finally, in case the month of October has flown by, this eclipse takes place right before Halloween and Samhein depending on which, if either, one celebrates, and this is the time of year when the veil between the physical world and the spiritual realm is already thin. I would expect this eclipse to make this only more palpable.
This weekend might be a good time to be still and hug a tree, or at least connect deeply with the natural world and allow Mama Nature to smooth out the pointy bits.
I leave you with the following quote from Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine to contemplate: “When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.”
If you’d like some help understanding how the current astrology relates to you personally, you’d like to better understand your own story, or how you might be better able to navigate the tides of change, I love doing private consultations. If interested, please email me: camelliablossoms@gmail.com
Thank you for reading,
Cami
[1] p.1 Solnit, Rebecca. Hope in the Dark : Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities. Edinburgh, England Canongate Books, 2016.