July 5 12:44 AM EST
We continue to be engaged in a “battle” between the old and the new, both individually and collectively.
The North Node of the Moon, symbolizing our future destiny and highest path forward, moved into multi-faceted Gemini in May and is guiding each of us to new understandings about ourselves, our world and our perception of reality. The North Node, at 29 degrees of Gemini during this eclipse, is pushing us to see things, speak things, understand things differently. But in many ways we are still at the beginning of this process, getting our feet wet. Sensual Venus at 7 degrees of Gemini is amplifying our curiosity and willingness to do new things. And active Mars at 4 degrees of Aries is boosting our courage and individuality.
However, the North Node, pushing us forward, is in exact inconjunct to Saturn at 29 degrees of Capricorn. Herein lies our pull towards the old and the unfinished business we have to attend to before we can move on. Saturn has a huge role to play in this eclipse. As the ruler of Capricorn, he is also ruler of the eclipse. By position at the time of the eclipse he is also extremely powerful because he in his own sign, is at 29 degrees (which is known as a ‘critical degree’), and is conjunct to both transformative Pluto and larger-than-life Jupiter.
The movements of Saturn over the past 6 months have set the tone for our collective experience. In January, Saturn conjunct Pluto (for the first time since 1982) set the stage for deep transformation and reorganization of heirarchies, institutions and the status quo. In March, Saturn moved in Aquarius, which catalyzed new understandings and experiences of our place within the larger collective. Saturn remained in Aquarius until July 1st, mere days before the eclipse, when it slid backwards into Capricorn for it’s final few months in that sign.
Between March 21 and July 1st, when Saturn was in Aquarius, we had a taste of what will be happening in the collective between December 2020 and March 2023 when Saturn makes its long and meaningful transit through that sign. But between now and December, we have our final few months of Saturn in Capricorn.
Capricorn, as a sign, is related to government, large institutions, authority figures, the status quo, big business, and the patriarchy. These are many of the areas where we have seen the most changes and transformation in recent months and years. What used to be considered “just the way it is”, is no longer considered tolerable if it is built on a foundation of oppression or injustice.
Saturn has many roles, one of which is as Capricorn’s ‘enforcer’, being that it is the ruler of that sign. If our institutions and businesses are set up equitably, then Saturn oversees the rules and organization that keep them intact. When things get out of balance, Saturn calls our attention to them in ways that may seem harsh but are really merely frank and necessary demonstrations of karma (Read more about Saturn’s role as the neutral overseer of karma here).
At 29 degrees of Capricorn, and square to the North Node at 29 Gemini, Saturn’s role during this eclipse is to dig up the rest of the karma, and ‘garbage’ (connected to Pluto the planet of decay), that is keeping us from reaching our new understandings and higher potentials (Gemini Node).
0 Degrees and 29 degrees are the two ‘critical degrees’ of the zodiac, being the first and last degrees of any sign. When a planet is at 0 degrees, it has a pure and undiluted expression of the energy of that sign (interestingly, the last solar eclipse was at 0 degrees Cancer). 29 degrees, on the other hand, is the final degree of a sign and has more of a chaotic energy. It is like a final ‘hail mary’ where various issues related to that sign are trying to force their way to the surface to be reckoned with.
Eclipses have a window of influence of several months, and this Capricorn lunar eclipse is the final in a series of three eclipses we have had since early June. So we could say that the next few months are at a time when it is important to access the pure highest vibrational energy of Cancer (0 degree solar eclipse) to help us tune into our deepest inner wisdom of how to caringly re-mother ourselves and our world, while uncomfortable and chaotic imbalances in societal structure are being unearthed (Capricorn eclipse), all to help us adjust our belief systems and expectations about the world (15 degrees Sagittarius lunar eclipse).
Both Uranus and Neptune are allies for this eclipse, and this time period. Uranus, at 10 degrees Taurus is in beautiful sextile to both the sun and moon at 13 degrees Cancer/Capricorn respectively. Uranus is connected to innovation, and fresh insights about even the most entrenched matters (Taurus) are available to us now. Neptune, symbolizing our spiritual wisdom and connection to Source/God energy, is at 20 degrees Pisces, trine to the eclipse luminaries. Neptune is reminding us that despite external turmoil, we are never alone or unsupported, and that if we can tap into the stillness beneath the shifting external realities, we will be guided in the highest possible direction.
And finally, Mercury is still retrograde. At 7 degrees of sensitive Cancer, and in opposition to the eclipse, Mercury has an important role to play. There are in fact a huge number of retrograde planets at the time of the eclipse, and retrogrades encourage us to shift, adjust and do things differently. With Mercury, this is in the realm of communication, and ideas/information. I go into greater detail about the significance of this Mercury Rx in Cancer here, but as far as it’s role in the eclipse, Mercury is reminding us that how we communicate and share is really where the rubber meets the road.
All of the changes and transformations we may be experiencing personally are only really crystalized and cemented in our lives once we can begin to CONNECT (Mercury) with others from that level, rather than perhaps how we may have been communicating or connecting in the past. Cancer is a very sensitive sign, and ultimately, Mercury in Cancer wants to be able to share from the heart, which is essential to each of us in order to feel understood and to meet others at a deep authentic level. But we must have appropriate boundaries (Capricorn) around our sharing in order to make our communications mutually enhancing experiences. Mercury Rx in Cancer is helping us to navigate this. But we should also be aware of the lower vibrational potentialities of making ourselves ‘right’ and others ‘wrong’ during this time. Gemini, the sign that Mercury is associated with, wants us to see all side and explore all possibilities. We cannot do that when we are invested in binary thinking.
The next few months promise to be as tumultuous and unpredictable as the past few months, as what needs to be seen and addressed continues to rise to the surface in often unforeseeable ways. Just as a fever is the body’s sign that care is needed, we are in a collective fever and still in the process of uncovering and attending to the maladies that need our attention. If we get distracted by or frightened of the fever, we rob ourselves of the opportunities to investigate and rebalance the underlying issues. We are best served by taking care of this first in our own lives, and then in whatever way we feel called within the collective. We can see and feel and taste the new that is possible for us, but before we get there, we must set a healthy foundation.
*Artwork by @bfh_photo
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