by Somya Devi | Aug 15, 2016 | Astrology, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Planets Changing Signs, Uncategorized
The Moon will reach his fullest at 2:27 am Pacific time this Thursday, August 18, 2016. That means that Wednesday night is the time to go out, hoot and holler, play your drums and feel the fullest potential of this lunar cycle. This Full Moon falls across the Vedic nakshatra Dhanishta, “the wealthy” star, which is related to the musical drum. Of course, you might be feeling a little moody, because the Moon is also joining south node Ketu in sidereal Aquarius. It’s not quite a lunar eclipse because the earth’s shadow won’t cover the Moon, but this alignment can bring feelings of disconnection and discontent with your heart and your community.
This full Moon fully launches us into the “eclipse cycle” energy, which you may have been feeling already. We are approaching a solar eclipse on September 1st and a lunar eclipse on September 16th. This is the second eclipse cycle this year with the lunar nodes, Rahu and Ketu, transiting the sidereal Leo-Aquarius axis. This elevates awareness around the internal struggle between self-empowerment and universal service.
What does it look like for you to feel empowered, responsible for your own home, family and creative pursuits? How can you also be generous with that power? How do you balance your personal duties with service to your friends, community and society at large, offering your energy out into the world? We must find a healthy balance between self-love and universal love, and the eclipses help us to see our shadows around these Leonian and Aquarian themes.
These issues have arisen many times throughout the year, especially in March during the last set of eclipses on this axis. We all face this challenge to find balance in a particular area of life, depending on what Leo and Aquarius indicate in your natal Vedic astrology chart (and what other planets are influenced there). At the time of this full Moon, we strive to feel a connection to friends, community and society. Because Ketu is joining the Moon, however, we might feel some resistance or criticism as we open our hearts out into the world.
The Sun illuminates this full Moon from Leo, where he will have just entered. The Sun in Leo helps us to feel more connection to source and our natural divine power. Rahu’s presence here intensifies this, but the shadow planet can also bring illusion and confusion to our quest. We may face many interpersonal struggles this month, as people in general really want their desires and words to dominate at the moment, as Venus and Mercury also join Sun and Rahu in Leo.
This cluster of planets is receiving an aspect from Saturn, joined with Mars, in Scorpio, which adds a lot of pressure to the situation. The Moon also receives an aspect, from Mars, adding fire to our hearts. Saturn (now direct) and Mars are coming closer and closer, and will reach exact conjunction on August 24th. The internal heat and pressure are building fiercely, and we may feel tempted to explode during this portion of the month. Stay cool, and connect with the earth and water elements whenever possible. This alignment also brings a great opportunity to transform, if we channel this energy into perseverance and courage, and reflect it onto ourselves.
Jupiter and Mercury will also be coming head-to-head on the 22nd, in exact conjunction in Virgo, amplifying the struggle between philosophy and practicality. We will feel the need choose between putting beliefs first, or choosing something that makes more sense with our rational minds. Mercury is very strong in Virgo, and our pragmatic side may take charge and deflate our idealistic enthusiasm a bit. Use this energy to bring the light of discernment and impartiality to your beliefs, testing them against your intellect, and to add some inspiration to your life where you usually opt for the logical. At the end of the month, Venus and Jupiter coincide, followed by Venus and Mercury, challenging us with a lot of internal struggles and balancing acts.
All planets except Jupiter are also in fixed signs at the time of this Full Moon, similar to an alignment we experienced around March 8th. Our ability to adapt and be flexible is extremely limited right now. We may feel stuck in many areas of life, during this planetary gridlock. It’s very important to keep up with practices that help us to feel cool, centered and grounded. A disciplined yoga and meditation practice will help you to activate the positive energies of Mars and Saturn, like courage and dedication, and to avoid their more negative potentials, anger and fear.
Jupiter’s recent transit into Virgo offers SOME relief to most of us amidst this mega-lineup of intense, fixed, and shadowy energy. Until recently, Jupiter was also in Leo, amplifying the chaos brought on by Rahu, and magnifying the massive power-plays and ideological wars we felt throughout society. As Jupiter settles fully into Virgo, we will start to feel the the philosophical mood at large shift to a more practical, grounded, and conservative one. Though we may start to feel more Spock-like in general, it will probably be a welcomed relief compared to the firey passion we felt over our beliefs for so long this year with Rahu and Jupiter in Leo. For the next thirteen months as Jupiter transits Virgo, you will feel his expansive influence bring luck, grace, optimism, and flexibility to specific areas in your life. (Find out which areas in the full Jupiter in Virgo Forecast for Your Sign, Here.)
The prosperous nature of Dhanistha nakshatra, where this full Moon falls, does offer us the chance to call in some abundance right now. Some rising signs in particular will feel a boost in good fortune this year with Jupiter’s new position in Virgo. Under the heavy influence of Rahu and Ketu, however, there is a lot of subconscious and psychic energy being stirred by this eclipse cycle. Your opportunity for abundance may be best located in the energetic plane rather than the material. Spiritual practice will help to bring forth spiritual wealth. Service will be an especially useful method to tap into the energy of the Full Moon in Aquarius and fixed planetary energy this week.
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by Somya Devi | Jul 29, 2016 | Astrology, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Events, Planets Changing Signs, Uncategorized
Tuesday’s New Moon in sidereal Cancer brings on a new lunar cycle and a month of heavy astrological changes. With the Sun and Moon in the sign of the water snake, Ashlesha, this cycle kicks off with a dark Moon on August 2nd, 2016 at 1:45 pm PDT. Other happenings in August include Saturn finally going direct (after four long months), just in time for a head-on collision with Mars around the 24th. Jupiter is also having a major shift, transiting from sidereal Leo to Virgo, after a year in Leo (and six months joined with Rahu there!)
As the Sun and the Moon meet in the middle of sidereal Cancer we will strongly feel the emotional and feminine energy of Cancer heightened for the coming month. This area of the sky is also known as Aslesha, the Vedic nakshatra that elicits serpent energy and wisdom. Aslesha can be found within the constellation Hydra, the water snake. This month will bring on the energy that will help us to probe into the deep currents of our emotions in order to find what lies coiled within. Compassion and universal love can be found in the deep well-spring of Cancer.
The Vedic deities of Aslesha are the Nagas, the divine serpents of wisdom. This constellation relates to kundalini, and offers the opportunity for us to release some of our dormant potency. This is a great time to check in with your root (muladhara) and sacral (svadhistana) chakras. Feel into these centers, and ask yourself, what lies dormant that is ready to flow or reawaken? This constellation has the power to heighten our intuition and sexuality this month.
The Cancer cycle will also draw our yin energy more into our awareness. Cancer is a feminine water sign ruled by the Moon, and is an archetype for feminine divine energy. As we have begun the descending cycle of the Sun and the days slowly begin to shorten, we can reconnect to our intuitive and feeling nature through Cancer, awakening the wisdom that our receptive channel has to offer. The Dark Moon night of August 1st, in particular, is a great time to withdraw inwardly and nourish the lunar energies. Call on the Moon energy in whatever ways speak to you — a moonlit walk, bath, or meditation, moonstones and pearls, mantra, or an altar to the Moon or the water element. Connecting with the Moon and the water this cycle will help your emotions and intuition to flow, offering valuable insights and helping the heart to open.
It is very important to maintain a solid practice to increase clarity and heighten your perception and discernment this month. The movements of Saturn, Mars and Jupiter will all have some serious impact in mid-August (and that’s just a precursor to the turbulence being brought on by September’s eclipses, yikes!).
Saturn has been in retrograde motion since late March, in sidereal Scorpio, and causing us to do some major re-thinking of our long-term commitments. (If you didn’t yet receive your Free Saturn Retrograde Guide, Download it Here to see how Saturn has affected you this year.) After a grinding period of delay, confusion and hesitation, Saturn will finally be stationing and then going direct on August 13th. This motion offers us the potential to at last commit to one direction and forge ahead with dedication.
Saturn’s direct motion comes just days before Mars finally catches up with him, and the two join in a tight and potentially explosive conjunction in sidereal Scorpio around August 24th. Mars’ passion and impetuousness threaten to destroy whatever firm commitments we have made after Saturn’s retrograde period of uncertainty. Saturn is the planet that helps us to slow down and look at things in perspective of the long-term and the bigger picture, but Mars tells us to listen to our animal instinct and lunge towards wherever it points in the moment. The days surrounding this Mars-Saturn exact conjunction are a time to exercise a lot of patience and discernment, lest we destroy something in haste. This is when that Cancerian energy of compassion and receptivity will come in handy.
Mars can also offer us courage, however, and a warrior spirit, and these may be needed to propel us forward in facing our fears. We may have set some of our responsibilities on the back burner, but we are now ready to engage with Saturn moving direct. Mars in Scorpio offers us the energy of the spiritual warrior, the courage to confront our challenges, and the power to strengthen our emotions where we are the most vulnerable. Through mindful practice, we may be able to harness Mars’ energy for some powerful inner transformation.
The other major planetary shift we will experience this month is Jupiter’s transit into sidereal Virgo, on August 12th. Jupiter has been progressing through Leo for the past year, enlarging our sense of individual power and the power of our beliefs. He brightened our ideals and philosophies, illuminated new ideas, and expanded the area of life indicated by Leo in each person’s individual natal chart.
Since Rahu joined Jupiter there in January, we have seen philosophies and beliefs become radicalized, and often confused and violent, on a large scale throughout society. Though we may still experience this to some degree as long as Rahu remains in Leo (for the next year), the fact that Jupiter is moving on should diminish the intensity of the ideological power-plays at large. With Jupiter in Virgo, philosophy and belief structures will, on the whole, become more practical and grounded. You will also feel some expansion and grace for the next year in the area of your Vedic chart indicated by Virgo.
At the beginning of this lunar cycle, we experience a tight conjunction of Jupiter, Rahu, Mercury and Venus all in Leo. Leo is a powerful fire sign, ruled by the Sun, and is where we tap into our core power and sense of connection with source. Power can be used generously or selfishly, however, and we may feel different sides of ourselves and various people in our lives trying to assert dominance this month. This will be felt throughout August, wherein we will have up to five planets in Leo on any given day.
Call forth the compassionate, watery, and loving Moon energy of Cancer as we begin this new Moon cycle, and try to carry this with you throughout the month. Harness the intuitive potential of Aslesha nakshatra and let your insight guide you through the bumpy days ahead. Oh yeah … and don’t miss the beauty of the Perseid meteor showers, brightest around August 11-12!
May all beings find peace and happiness.
Be sure to Follow Me and join the email list to make sure you get the upcoming Free Jupiter-in-Virgo Forecast for your sign. With all the powerful alignments, movements, and upcoming eclipses, this is a popular time to receive a personal Vedic Astrology reading (limited readings are available, on a first-come first-serve basis).
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by Somya Devi | Mar 21, 2016 | Astrology, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Events, Holy Days
A penumbral lunar eclipse will be visible from most places on earth this Wednesday, including North and South America (except Eastern Brazil), India, Asia, Australia, the Pacific, Antarctica and the Arctic. The greatest moment of the eclipse happens at 4:48am PDT on March 23rd, just before the peak of the Full Moon at 5:01am.
We’re now halfway through this lunar cycle, which began with a Total Solar Eclipse and a huge pileup of planets in sidereal Aquarius. I’ve heard from many people that this stirred up a lot of issues in their lives, including a lot of deep psychological work. The first eclipse brought forward our shadows around the dichotomy between universal service and our own self-empowerment and personal values, and pushed us to unearth limiting beliefs and negative patterns around the themes of the house that Aquarius is in our personal Vedic chart (download my Free E-Book with the Forecast for your Sign if you haven’t yet!).
The Full Moon point in a cycle is the time to reflect back on the energy that started us out and take a look at how to integrate that energy in a new way. This Full Moon falls in sidereal Virgo, just beyond the Aquarius-balancing sign of Leo. This compels us to look even further, beyond harmonizing the energy that was eclipsed, and into a transformative level. It pushes us to get really clear about the details of whatever shadow work came up for us around March 8th. We need to get down to the nitty-gritty and re-organize our patterns of thinking and behavior, and find some practical routines that will help us to move forward, free from the shadows that have arisen.
The eclipse occurs with the full Moon in the same Vedic sign where Rahu resides, Uttara Phalguni. This Vedic nakshatra bridges Leo and Virgo. This is a very powerful star for helping us to balance universal-love and self-love, which were areas that the solar eclipse challenged us to integrate better. Uttara Phalguni is a star of charity and generosity, ruled by the Sun, and brings forth an energy of leadership, courage, and care for society. It is also related to relaxation, reminding us that we must care for ourselves in order to be able to care for others. Its deity is Aryaman, a deva of friendship, companionship and kindness.
As Rahu’s shadow obscures the Moon in this sign during the Lunar Eclipse, we might feel cut off from these benevolent qualities, and may struggle to find contact with our emotional bodies. It is best not to eat or drink during the eclipse, and not to look at it directly. Instead, do practices like chanting or meditation, and call forth the highest lessons that the eclipse has to offer you. We could either fall into emotional confusion, or we could take this moment to consciously embrace emotional detachment, and step into a space of Virgoan practicality, as we examine the shadows brought forth by the eclipse.
The Mercury-ruled, down-to-earth sign of Virgo aims to give us a much needed sensibility to balance the intensity of our inflamed beliefs (resulting from Jupiter and Rahu in Leo). Watch out though — on the other side of the sky, Virgo’s ruler Mercury sits in combustion and debilitation, in close alignment with the Sun in sidereal Pisces. This could make us a little more steam-headed than usual (as Sun boils Mercury in Piscean waters!), and less on track with those details we so wish we could get organized. Remember that this eclipse cycle is part of a larger one that is running from now through mid-2017, so we will have more chances to get it right.
This lunar eclipse will drive you deeper into exploring the themes of the Aquarius-Leo house axis in your chart. It will be especially potent for anyone who has prominent planets or a rising sign in Uttara Phalguni nakshatra.*
This Full Moon also kicks off the Hindu holiday of “Holi.” In this sportive festival (much like a new year’s celebration), people throw colored powders at each other, as a way to playfully let go of any aggression held from the past year. It’s a time to forgive and start anew, coming just after the Equinox, a balancing point of the solar cycle. It is a fresh start for Mother Nature in the northern hemisphere (great time for a spring cleanse!). If you’re in a place where you can celebrate Holi, go out and playfully participate! Use this collective energy of renewal to help you with the transformative process thrust upon you by the eclipses!
Get ready for another compelling planetary motion later this week, when Saturn comes to a stop and then begins his Retrograde course from now through August. This will give us a final chance to do some deep work around our commitment to transformation, as Saturn’s last period of retrograde motion in Scorpio.
*I’m still offering a special Eclipse Reading Package to help you to navigate through this 1.5-year transit of Rahu and Ketu! You’ll get 3 personal readings around each of the 3 eclipse cycles during this period.
by Somya Devi | Mar 4, 2016 | Astrology, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Events, Holy Days
This coming New Moon on March 8th packs a powerful punch, bringing with it a groundbreaking total solar eclipse. This will be the first in a series of eclipses to occur with the lunar nodes, Rahu and Ketu, on the sidereal Leo-Aquarius axis. The nodes moved into these signs at the end of January and will transit here until August of 2017, affecting us deeply in whatever areas of our lives are influenced in our personal charts. We will experience 3 eclipse cycles (pairs of eclipses, one solar and one lunar) during this transit–one now, one in September, and one in February of 2017. (Don’t miss my Free E-Book with lots of info on this transit and how it will affect your sign!)
This solar eclipse on the New Moon will set the tone for a tumultuous lunar cycle. The New Moon cycle begins at 5:54pm PST on March 8th, in sidereal Aquarius. The total solar eclipse (peaking around the same time) will be visible from Southeast Asia, most of Australia, the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and Hawaii. The effects will be most perceptible in these areas, but everyone will feel the disturbance at some level.
During the eclipse, the Sun’s light will be blocked out as he and the Moon align with Ketu, who casts a shadow of self-doubt and criticism on the planet of vitality. The results will be feelings of confusion and disconnection from our sense of strength, individual power, and our connection with Source (all things represented by the Sun). This is adding to our already diminished sense of personal empowerment that can come while Sun is in Aquarius, the sign of service and humility.
This solar eclipse, as well as the lunar eclipse to follow on March 23rd, will bring up a lot of our personal shadows around the quest for equilibrium between universal service and self-empowerment. This theme will continue through the broader year-and-a-half eclipse cycle we have entered.
At the time of the eclipse, Mercury and Venus join the Sun, Moon, and Ketu in Aquarius. This will add Ketu’s feelings of confusion, doubt, and aversion to our collective emotional body (the Moon), to our intellectual and analytical side (Mercury), and to our desirous, pleasure-seeking nature (Venus).
Don’t be surprised to see a chaotic departure from inner peace, rational thinking, and cooperative behavior around this eclipse.
This could be aggravated even more by Jupiter and Rahu, who oppose this New Moon cluster from Leo. Their conjunct energies are causing folks to become more and more amped up and self-righteous over their principles and beliefs. (Polarized election madness!) Saturn aspects the duo from his menacing position, joined Mars, in Scorpio, which puts the pressure on even more.
Mars casts his aspect onto the stellium in Aquarius. This could throw some fuel on the potentially explosive fire of transformation that is happening there with the eclipse. Mars in Scorpio gives us the chance to bring forth our warrior-like courage, which we will need in facing all of the disturbance and potential change arising.
This eclipse occurs with Sun, Moon and Ketu in the Vedic nakshatra called Purvabhadrapada. This star-sign falls on the constellation well-known as Pegasus (on the stars Alpha-Pegasi and Beta-Pegasi), bridging the Aquarius and Pisces regions of the sky. As such its symbol is a funeral cot, or bed, related to the fire of purification. This helps to prepare us to enter the darkness of the unknown to be met in Pisces.
The eclipse here will drive us strongly towards purification and transformation. This is for our higher purpose and spiritual development, but it may not be without some difficulty. The deity for this nakshatra is Aja-Ekapada (“the one-footed goat”), who is related to Rudra, a destructive aspect of Lord Shiva. This star is associated with darkness and black magic, which lays the groundwork for a very powerful eclipse.
Eclipses are times when we can literally see shadows in the sky, and they are opportunities to see the ugly psychological shadows lurking in our own subconscious. These need to be uncovered and released so we can free ourselves from them. This is a very important time to do sadhana (spiritual practice) and Self-inquiry, so we can know ourselves better and become enlightened by this gift of seeing what is normally in the dark.
This opportunity is amplified because Sunday night (Pacific, Monday in India) brings the Hindu holy time known as Maha Shivaratri (“the great night of Lord Shiva”). This is the most auspicious night to offer oneself into spiritual practice, in worship of Divine Consciousness. It is typical to stay up all night, fasting and engaging in worship such as mantra, chanting, meditation, and puja. With the eclipse so close at hand, this is an extremely potent time to call upon the light of consciousness and purification.
In Vedic tradition it is thought that the negative energy of the nodes pervades the atmosphere during the time of the eclipse, and it is therefore best not to eat or drink during this time. (The eclipse window is from 3:19pm to 8:34pm PST.) It is also best to refrain from looking at the eclipse directly, or being outside in its atmosphere, especially if you are somewhere the eclipse will be visible.
One more thing to add to the mix on this powerful New Moon: March 8th is also International Women’s Day! Let’s use this transformative time to honor and elevate the sisters, mothers and daughters of this world!
As a special gift to help you navigate through this time, I’ve put together a Free e-Book on Rahu, Ketu, and the Eclipses for the 12 Vedic Rising Signs , which includes a forecast for your personal sign!
Eclipse periods are some of the best times to book a personal reading to help you to understand your personal karma and to process the energy brought up by the nodes.
Top Image Credit: “Eclipsed? Not totally” by James Jordan, CC license Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic
by Somya Devi | Jan 20, 2016 | Astrology, Eclipses, Planets Changing Signs, Retrograde
This Saturday, January 23rd, we will have a Full Moon in sidereal Cancer at 5:46pm PST. Opposite the Sun who is in the austere, Saturn-ruled sign of Capricorn, the full Moon in the loving, comfort-seeking sign of Cancer compels us to cozy up and nourish ourselves and others during this cold, vata season. Moon is in the Vedic star-sign or nakshatra called Pushya, which is all about nourishment.
Pushya literally translates as “nourishment,” and its symbol is the udder of a cow, another emblem of sustenance. Cows are revered in Hindu tradition for this reason. They give so much towards our own livelihood — dairy, meat, bones, leather. Ghee (clarified butter derived from cow milk) is one of the most sacred substances in Vedic practice. It is used to light oil lamps, is offered to deities in worship, and is also one of the most nourishing substances for the human body to consume, according to the tradition of Ayurveda (the health science of the Vedic tradition). It is easily absorbed and metabolized by all the layers of tissue in the body, and for that reason is also the best medium for taking medicinal and nutritive herbs.
The deity for Pushya is Brihaspati, a form of Jupiter, a Brahmin priest who is the guru or teacher of the devas (Gods). A well-known story of Brihaspati is that of his marriage with Tara. The story goes that Tara ran away with Chandra, the Moon, and had an affair (some say she was abducted), which resulted in the birth of Budha (the planet Mercury). Eventually Tara returned to Brihaspati, and he graciously accepted her and even raised Budha as his own. This caring benevolence is a quality of the nakshatra Pushya, and of the energy around this Full Moon. It is a time when compassion will be high, and you can tap into your qualities of forgiveness and acceptance and offer that forward wherever it is required in your life.
Mercury is still in his retrograde course, and is joined with Venus in Sagittarius. We may have big ideals for our relationships right now but may be holding back a little in communicating them. Jupiter rules Sagittarius where these two are residing, and is also aspecting them from his retrograde position in Leo. This period of Jupiter retrograde gives us a chance to slow down before projecting our philosophies and ideals out into the world. It’s a good time for meditating on which belief systems and sets of teachings are serving us the most, and to resist imposing them on others, especially when we are still in contemplation. We may reevaluate some of our convictions over the next few months and expand our vision to encompass new ideas.
A very important transit will be happening on January 29th, opening up a new chapter for us all for the next year-and-a-half. Rahu and Ketu, the north and south nodes of the Moon, are finally shifting from the Virgo-Pisces axis into the Leo-Aquarius axis. They sat in Virgo and Pisces for the last year-and-a-half, which brought light to our shadow work that needed to be done around our tendencies of over-organizing vs. escaping and avoiding responsibility. Some of us tend towards one extreme in some cases and the opposite in others. The themes apply especially to what houses those signs occupy, which is different for each individual according to your birth chart.
For the next-year-and-a-half, Rahu and Ketu will be stirring things up around our Leo-Aquarius issues. This means we’ll really be examining our sense of personal power and strength, vs. our sense of commitment to universal duty and service. These things may sometimes come in conflict with one another, or we may emphasize one more than the other in different places in our lives. Both need attention and balance, to be utilized in a healthy way without going to extremes in either direction. We will particularly feel the affects of this transit around the Eclipse Cycles (the first of which comes in March), and around the houses in your chart that fall on Leo and Aquarius. Personal readings are available now to help you understand what themes this transit will raise for you in the coming year.
For now, enjoy the Full Moon light from the loving, maternal sign of Cancer, and the caring, paternal constellation of Pushya!
by Somya Devi | Sep 25, 2015 | Astrology, Eclipses, Events
The Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse in Uttara Bhadrapada will coincide in sidereal Pisces on the night of Sunday, September 27th, with the peak of the eclipse around 7:47 pm PDT (and the peak of the full Moon at 7:50). This is the final eclipse in a series of eclipses since Rahu and Ketu, the north and south nodes of the Moon, have been in sidereal Virgo and Pisces for the last year. During these eclipses we have been unearthing the shadows of our subconscious drives towards the moods represented by these two signs. The mood of Virgo compels us to organize the details of life and our material surroundings, to perform hard work responsibly in order to avoid conflict, and to iron out imperfections in ourselves and others. Pisces, on the opposite side of the zodiac, draws us to let go of the material world and surrender into the unknown, embracing imagination and life’s mysteries, or sometimes escaping into fantasy or other outlets to avoid the drudgery of life.
The eclipses around this astronomical axis have drawn our attention to these opposite compulsions. As the “shadow planets” align with the Sun (our inherent divine power) and the Moon (our emotional bodies), we may see what is normally subconscious but drives us to one or both of these extremes. There could arise distress around our desire to keep everything materially organized, or our tendency to be overly responsible and meticulous. This is put in glaring contrast for us when we see Pisces’ need for us to surrender to the flow and be more fluid in life’s waters. On the other hand, one’s shadow tendency to escape and avoid may arise, often in chaotic and confusing ways, to show us that we better need to integrate our dreamy idealism with practical management of life’s details. The period surrounding the eclipses can often feel turbulent, stressful, and confusing, but there are always deeper lessons being offered so that we can learn truer ways to bring forth the empowerment of our spirit and the comforting of our hearts.
This full Moon is a Supermoon–one that occurs with the Moon at it’s closest orbital point to earth (perigree). The Moon will look up to 14% larger than usual! During a lunar eclipse, the Moon takes on a dim red coloring, and is often referred to as a “blood moon” because of this. Why doesn’t the moon totally disappear behind the earth’s shadow? During solar eclipses, the Moon’s orb (directly between Earth and the Sun) appears as a black disc that almost completely covers the Sun’s light for a few minutes, save for a thin bright ring around the outside of the disc (in a total solar eclipse). The light we see as moonlight, however, is actually the light of the Sun being reflected off of the Moon. The Sun’s rays pass through the atmosphere of Earth before reaching the Moon, and are refracted in many directions. This is why the Moon does not completely disappear during the lunar eclipse — sunlight is still reaching it, but through indirect, scattered rays bouncing through the atmosphere and around the earth.
This phenomenon corresponds to the astrological idea that eclipses often cause confusion and may make us feel scattered. Furthermore, it can be hard to get in touch with the emotions of the heart (Moon energy) during a lunar eclipse, as the divine light of the Sun is reaching the emotional body only through shadowy twists and turns, not directly or with its full potency. As such, a lunar eclipse can feel especially heavy on the heart, and we may feel all twisted up inside. At the same time, we can see and feel the twisty things that are normally dormant, hidden or overlooked, but nevertheless are molecular paths making up part of our inherent experience. This is a good time to face the things that are unpleasant, or that cause us confusion or heartache, so we can let go and realign. We can look at where we have been sidestepping our way to emotional nourishment (especially through avoidance) instead of taking action by the most direct routes of self-care. Applying conscious effort and prayer, we can let go of unsupportive patterns and make way for the most authentic ways of nourishing our hearts and minds.
The fullest part of the Total Lunar Eclipse will be from 7:11pm – 8:23 pm PDT. The beginnings and ends of the eclipse will be visible from 5:11pm to 10:22pm. Within the region of Pisces, Vedic Astrology further divides the sky, and we see that this eclipse is in the nakshatra of Uttara Bhadrapada. This star-sign lies in the area of Pegasus and Andromeda, directly above the constellation of Pisces. The deity of this nakshatra is Ahirbudhnya, the serpent from the depths, and thus this constellation relates to kundalini as well as deep emotional waters. Much wisdom is available here. As we feel into the depths of the emotions, Saturn’s rulership of this sign makes us face our fears, and strengthen our connection to divine consciousness as we loosen our attachment to the material.
Uttara Bhadrapada also relates to the funeral cot and the process of death and dying. With the Moon eclipsed here, we may feel like we are dying, or may desire to retreat and escape from the world temporarily. We may need to allow the death of something whose time has come, our attachment to which has been holding us back from living in our highest alignment with spirit. Also a Harvest Moon (the full Moon closest to the fall equinox, accompanied by many nights of bright moonlight in the evening), it is time to cut down and allow the death of what we have been cultivating, and permit it to transform into its next purpose. This may involve letting go of some of our desire to organize the material world (the mood of Virgo, where the Sun lies). The approach of this eclipse has likely brought up a lot of conflict and confusion around this issue, and the Solar eclipse on September 12th likely disturbed the other end of the spectrum (material stability). We may also be called to find more balance in our Virgoan pursuits, and be more meticulous with our own spiritual practices rather than with everything and everyone in the world around us.
The shakti of Uttara Bhadrapada is the power to bring rain. Call upon the cleansing energy of rain to help wash away the old and stale and nourish the soil of decay to make it fertile for new life. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and brings us closer to death, helping us to see that the material clinging we experience through life is not what is eternal. As we release our holding and consciously embrace the unknown–rather than simply falling into the escapist potential of Pisces energy–we come in contact with the abundance of divinity that lies within the great mystery. We can awaken the serpent power of Ahirbudhnya and invite new wisdom to circulate through our free-flowing channels. The Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse in Uttara Bhadrapada on September 27th offer us the chance to see into our own depths and expand our capacity for conscious surrender as we continue into the next chapter.
All planets except Jupiter are also in fixed signs at the time of this Full Moon, similar to an alignment we experienced around March 8th. Our ability to adapt and be flexible is extremely limited right now. We may feel stuck in many areas of life, during this planetary gridlock. It’s very important to keep up with practices that help us to feel cool, centered and grounded. A disciplined yoga and meditation practice will help you to activate the positive energies of Mars and Saturn, like courage and dedication, and to avoid their more negative potentials, anger and fear.
