Messages From The Enchanted Sky
In Ancient Mesopotamia the sky was seen as an enchanted tablet that the Gods wrote messages to humanity upon. Astrologically this is a week full of messages from the Gods. This week’s sky contains missives directing us forward, something within our lives is being activated.
Tonight (Tuesday, April 19 at 9:12 p.m. PST/ Wednesday, April 20 at 12:12 a.m. EST) a Solar Eclipse takes place at the very last degree of Aries (the very last point within that sign). This marks the second Aries New Moon this year. The first at the very beginning of Aries, and now the second at the very end. It is unusual to have two Moons in a sign, let alone right at its beginning and the end. These two New Moons are connected. Consider how they might be connected for you personally, and contemplate where you were, not so much literally but internally during this year’s vernal equinox. What were the intentions you set? Are they really what you yearn for or were they just a good idea?
So much of the sign Aries is about claiming our place in the world, moving towards where we are supposed to be. It is the energy of the seed sprouting, of new life beginning. Aries asks us to take agency over our lives, over our growth. Aries is very much connected to our identity, our most basic sense of ourselves. This eclipse is asking us if are we embodying our true essence as we move through our day-to-day lives. Basically, are we taking agency within our own life?
While Solar Eclipses relate to a beginning (New Moon) all eclipses herald change. They are intense and emotional times all on their own and this particular one has Pluto the archetype of death and rebirth profoundly entangled within it. People love to talk about the phoenix rising from the ashes but they often forget the bird has burned completely to ash before its fabled rise. It has burned away what is no longer essential to its journey. Pluto is also associated with power struggles and as most of us know birth itself is an arduous messy process.
The energy of this time isn’t bad, it is just an intense time of change both personally and collectively. We are being asked to move forward and the real trick is to go with the flow rather than trying to swim against the tide of the comfortable and familiar. This requires trust, another Plutonian theme. To go with the flow we must indeed let go.
The eclipse point, when the Moon is at 29 degrees Aries, becomes far more relevant if it falls on or close to a natal point/body (in this example if you have your Ascendant, Moon, Mercury, or another body within 25-29 degrees of Aries or 0-4 degrees of Taurus. Or if you have anything in one of the cardinal signs (Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) or early fixed signs (Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius) at these points your life is being more directly influenced. Basically, from a Sun sign perspective (and let me remind you that we have more than the sun in our natal chart) anyone whose birthday falls from April 16 through April 25 is being directly impacted by this eclipse. If you are familiar with your chart look for those placements.
Eclipses always follow the cycle of the Nodes of the Moon. In our Natal charts, the Moon is our summing of what we are, the Sun indicates how we will move forward, and the Nodes tell us the road we must follow. An eclipse can cut to the essence of our path within this lifetime usually indicating some type of crossroads, one we may not yet feel consciously ready to head down. But this is our soul’s timing. The planets have been moving at the same pace of time since really the beginning of time and we have been gazing at, and measuring their trajectory. To put it more succinctly, our soul knew the time when the fork in the road would appear.
I have studied astrology for 40 years and actively worked with my own chart for most of that time. I have traversed both my inner and outer territory with it as my guide. Through personal experience, as well as the honor of working with clients and witnessing their process, I have come to revere the natal chart as an alchemical compass, in essence, a magical device that can profoundly assist in navigating this pilgrimage we are on together. When I align and listen to what I believe is the soul’s wisdom revealed within, things open up. Doors are revealed that were previously invisible, often simply because they were psychologically invisible to me before. My perception changes and my life inevitably follows suit. I witness the same rebirthing with my counseling clients. Roads they didn’t think were possible suddenly opened, and a previously unseen threshold appeared. The path clears. This is going with the flow, the river of our soul.
So I share with you two questions to contemplate during this eclipse that I hope will be helpful no matter where you are on your own journey at this moment:
Am I following my own path or the path others have forged for me? What do I hold on to and what do I let go of?
Less than 48 hours after the eclipse, On April 21, Mercury goes retrograde in the sign of Taurus through May 14. Again whenever Mercury is retrograde it is a time to reconsider, reinvent, and reorganize. Both in our outer world and our inner world. In many ways when Taurus feels threatened it will resist true change more than almost any other sign. It enjoys comfort and because true change requires letting go of what it is holding onto (Objects as well as beliefs and opinions) and it likes owning things. They make it feel secure.
The key to working with your Taurean energy is to distinguish what is truly of value, actively questioning whether the opinions you hold of the world are in essence fertilizing your life: Ask yourself "What do I really want?” Or perhaps “Is what I am holding onto really serving me?”
Make room for the new.
The sky is full of messages from the Gods this week. Listen closely.
