So we are still in eclipse season as we arrive at our partial Lunar Eclipse in Libra on 23rd March 2016 at 12 pm GMT. The Sun has just emerged from watery Pisces into Aries, which is the start of the astrological year, so this lunar eclipse occurs just after the first equinox of 2016. This heralds a highly charged time since this eclipse is very close to the Aries Point (zero degrees – zero consciousness – the place from which everything arises). The Sun is also conjunct Mercury, within a degree.
So with the Aries point activated at this Lunar Eclipse, what can we expect? It’s the personal is political point. When triggered it brings times when personal events have wider influence and things that happen in the public realm impact us personally. So we can expect big things in the news, possibly touching us deeply. Eclipses inevitably also bring us opportunities for growth, sometimes uncomfortable growth.
There’s still a lot of Pisces influence around, even though we have a tangible shift into Aries with the Sun and Mercury conjoining in the beginning degrees for this Full Moon. For many people, the underlying sense over the last month or so has been deciphering what’s true and real for them as opposed to what’s not real.
Uncovering and connecting with your truth is an aspect of grounding yourself in reality. In many different ways, we have been awakened in some aspect of what’s not really real – some people are perhaps not quite there yet, still negotiating those two worlds of illusion and reality – but over the forthcoming weeks, the real reality will begin to crystallise further.
So we are coming to the end of our dreams, false realities and illusions. We are having to face, in no uncertain terms, where we have been residing and get with the programme. There’s no more slack, it’s now or never. So we are sorting out what is real from what is not real. This has been going on for a while, but we perhaps haven’t quite been consciously aware of it until now.
So it’s now time to step somewhat away from these different version of realities and decide what we want to believe in, what we value, who we want to be and start taking action in that direction. With the pioneering, cardinal Aries Sun now kissing our skin, we can begin to let go of the layers of protection and get serious. We are moving into the conscious realms and away from the hidden realms of Pisces, where everything is not quite what it seems and we can easily dream away, disappear and hide. This is not possible anymore.
Saturn is approaching his station retrograde on 25th March, and with it potentially our ability to get things done and stay optimistic might get impacted, temporarily, until we adjust to his changed inward flow. His flow of energy is about to become slower and with his retreat back through the Sagittarius, it will serve us to respect this new slower pace and honour what our body tells us it needs during this time. Despite the heels of Saturn retrograde making us unsteady and unsure on some level, the influx of fresh spring Aries energy more than over compensates for this.
So a lot has been on hold, there has been a lot of uncertainty and there’s now some things of which we need to let go. Some of this might feel painful – people, places, jobs or houses – it can be big stuff at this time of year. While some other letting go might be more in the realm of residual past memories or the past ‘I’ we have now outgrown.
Experience tells me this can sometimes put us in a broody mood. It’s easier to be in a broody mood than touch, acknowledge and share our deeper, sad feelings beneath – loss, grief or regrets. If you are not entirely clear that you are being asked to let go, then the broodiness is the first indicator that you need to connect in deeper with yourself. Lunar eclipses sometimes force us to let go of things we do not feel quite ready to let go. This is because they are working beyond out conscious awareness and are there to force us into directions we wouldn’t take on our own accord, or simply realign us.
Perhaps there has been things you have been not quite ready or prepared to let go of, and suddenly at this Full Moon Eclipse, you are given a clear indication that it’s time. If you are fortunate, you might have the choice, or feel like you have the choice. Choosing to let go is mostly a privilege though that we are sometimes graced with.
So this thing that you are being asked to let go of… perhaps the idea of letting it go has been flirting with you for some time, and you’ve been putting it off for a while. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, it catches you slightly unaware and the opportunity arises or forces itself – you have to let go, your body give you that uncomfortable signal that it’s time. We feel the urge to hang back on, not relinquish what we have come to identify with and attach so strongly to, having it makes you feel so safe.
If we manage to trust that uncomfortable feeling, and just run with it, we can begin, over the next few weeks, to breath a sigh of relief and perhaps even begin to welcome the fresh opportunities and people that might enter our life now the space has been made. It might feel a little soon for that now, in which case just have loads of compassion for yourself, but watch too the subtle messages you get. The other day I walked past a couple of people and overheard just the word ‘it’s only love’ – it struck me, not as a sign of anything in particular – its best to not overlay any interpretation – but just a whispering reminder “I am here, you can trust, love is all around”.
So feel into what it is you need to honour in yourself. Full Moons open up our feelings by making our emotions more intense, so we have to notice what’s there. With the Sun Mercury conjunction at this Full Moon, there might be some necessary, difficult conversations. Who do you need to speak with about something that you just have convinced yourself it’s not viable or not going to achieve anything anyway – what’s your edge or fear there, why do you fear having that conversation? The suggestion is to do it, have that conversation when the next opportunity arises – it will clear up the field of energy between you both and ultimately allow for a deeper connection based on trust and authenticity.
It is this intimacy with life and each other which we are craving so deeply and don’t quite know it yet (unless we do). We have so many defences that keep us separate from one another. We spend our lives walking around in a dream, getting on with our days, steering the ship, and we don’t see that most of this is just to stop us actually deeply connecting. I believe this is what human beings are most fear. We are waking up from the dream, the rebirthing can be painful or it can be gentle. But it’s time to stop fearing it and start reaching out to one another gently, touching our feelings and our vulnerability. Just watch the children, they know how to do it so well, we can learn so much from the very little ones.
