10:57 pm AHST 11/18/2021
12:57 am  PST   11/19/2021
  7:57 am  UTC  11/19/2021

It’s eclipse season once again. Every six months we have a set of both lunar and solar eclipses, two weeks apart. This lunar eclipse is an almost full eclipse, only a thin slice of non-eclipsed lunar surface makes it a “partial,” but for those who can see it (most of the mid and western US and Hawaii) it will look pretty much total, or orange-reddish. And the process will last for 6 hours, almost the entire night, so it is a true “dark of the Moon” time coming up.

November has been an active month astrologically, with tension-filled aspects happening, especially with Mars in energetic square (90˚) aspect to Pluto and Saturn. Mars the activator often crosses boundaries in its rush to take action. With Saturn it meets authority, encountering restrictions, and with Pluto there is often too much intensity of activity, causing a blowback from others. In addition, at this Full Moon lunar eclipse, Mars is in opposition to Uranus, which often portends the archetype of sudden change, sudden unpredictable movement such as earthquakes and revolutions. We need to be prepared for anything at this timing.

Particularly notable in the chart is a predominance of planets in fixed signs, as well as mostly earth and water elements. Fixed earth is Taurus astrologically, and with Uranus also in Taurus this could portend earth movements around this eclipse. With so much fixity, there is a possibility that Uranus may well shake up the rigidity that we see so much in our society right now. Remember that eclipses tend to initiate periods of instability or change, which can last for one to six months after the eclipse cycle is over. When the Earth’s shadow spreads over the Moon, the reflectivity of the usual Full Moon is shaded, and symbolically this pertains to our own individual and collective shadow contents, that Jungian concept of looking at what in our personality and psyche is usually hidden, and begins to rise to the surface. On the collective level, we can expect that the criminal elements of our society are going to be subject to more exposure and disclosure of their nefarious deeds than usual in the coming months. Since Scorpio energy is often about keeping things hidden and rules secrets, having Mars in this sign during the Scorpio season is an extra push into exposing these realms that are so presently strong worldwide politically.

For example, Scorpio also rules manipulation of energies to satisfy personal gain, and at COP26, industrial countries opted for carbon trading credits, rather than actually sacrificing their profits to reduce emissions. And indigenous populations, whose living areas hold most of the world’s biodiversity, are marginalized and are not consulted in making decisions. So the shadow content of the industrial and corporate entities is once more being exposed to the public, what will come of it, we don’t yet know… But we may see some changes in the next weeks especially after the solar eclipse happens on December 4^th.

The Taurus Moon rules our sense of security in the world, however we may define that for ourselves. At a lunar eclipse in Taurus, these issues of security may become tested as contents from our unconscious begin to surface and ask for balance and perhaps test our resilience. We may think of security as money in the bank, which Taurus rules, but also it is whatever makes us feel secure in the world, and connected to others in ways that give us a sense of belonging to our family, our tribe, our social circle. At this time we may question our previous beliefs about security, and opt for changes in our lives that offer us a more authentic, less materialistic experience of life on Planet Earth.

I like to pay attention to the most exact aspects (angles) in a chart. This intensifies the potential power of an aspect. The most precisely exact aspect (other than the Full Moon which is always exactly 180.00˚) is a trine from Venus to Uranus, exact to 06’ of a degree. Trines are harmonious aspects and help to “show us the way” when other more stressful aspects dominate a chart. Venus is now in Capricorn, where because of her upcoming retrograde (Dec 19^th), she will be hanging out for the next three months. Her trine to Uranus indicates a transformation in the way in which we all experience our feminine energy, and could also signify an upcoming revolution in her strength and power as we see it in the world, even as new laws and old attitudes by the outmoded elite are trying to limit this power. With Venus’s lengthy passage in Capricorn, which rules institutions, governance, and the structures of society, we may begin to see how the power of the archetypal feminine (which includes all those who embrace its values) initiates the upcoming changes in our world.

Venus is gathering brightness now, and will be at her brightest just before the solar eclipse on Dec. 4^th . She will eventually get closer to the Sun and transform into a morning “star” by January 14^th, where she will be seen ahead of the Sun (before sunrise) for the next 9 months.

Jupiter, the power of expansion, optimism, and the shaping of our world views, forms a T-square to the Sun-Moon opposition. While Jupiter’s force is often thought of as positive, in a T-square it can indicate “too much” energy. Jupiter in Aquarius can be very idealistic, inventive, even iconoclastic, but in this position, it is a bit of a caution for us to re-think our idealistic goals, especially as what we’d hope to have happened in Scotland this year didn’t live up to our expectations. Neptune, on the other hand, forms strong trines (120˚ angles) to the Sun and sextiles to the Moon, giving us a boost to access our dreamtime at this Eclipse, and perhaps to be guided in our dreams into scenarios of healing ourselves and the planet.