Tag Archives: eclipse

Photo by Amanda Painter.

Not Your Typical Aquarius New Moon

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By Amanda Painter

Tomorrow is the Aquarius New Moon, exact at 4:42 pm EST (21:41:52 UTC). Aquarius is a curious sign, at its best when blending the structuring abilities of Saturn with the liberating impulses of Uranus.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

In that sense, it seems a perfect sign to host the first lunation after the Jan. 10 eclipse: eclipse periods generally feature a process of liberating oneself from some facet of the past, in order to take greater authority in directing the next steps forward.

The slowly separating Saturn-Pluto conjunction underscores these themes, connecting them to long-term processes. Whatever ‘new start’ Friday’s New Moon represents for you should be familiar, perhaps even expected.

Chances are you’ve been involved with some form of drawing something to a close this week, or resolving one phase of a process. Today and the first part of tomorrow still carry that signature.

Yet life is not simply ‘business as usual’ right now, thanks to a couple of factors. The first is that the Aquarius Sun is square Uranus in Taurus, exact today.

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Fire Engine Abstract #4. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Harnessing Those Bright Ideas

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By Amanda Painter

How are things shaking out now that we’ve concluded the eclipse period, and Saturn and Pluto have made their famous meeting in Capricorn? True, Saturn-Pluto is still working out, and Pluto is not at all done with Cap yet. But has anything shifted? Do you feel like you’re in recovery? Are you facing a brave (or scary, or shiny, or intimidating) new world?

Fire Engine Abstract #4. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Fire Engine Abstract #4. Photo by Amanda Painter.

It may take a good while yet to see the effects of choices you’ve made in the last two to three weeks. Chances are good, though, that you understand something about your world, and your personal agency in it, in a new way.

Right on cue, Mercury — the planet of intellect — is leaving the Capricorn herd and entering Aquarius at 1:31 pm EST today (18:30:42 UTC). Mercury is strong here, blending the steady persistence of Saturn (traditional ruler of Aquarius) with the intuitive inventiveness of Uranus (modern ruler of Aquarius).

Mercury in Aquarius also tends to be a communicative, friendly placing, likely related to the association Aquarius has with groups. It can be iconoclastic with its ideas, but there’s also a reminder to beware of inflexible thinking once the brainstorm has offered its insights. Aquarius is, after all, a fixed sign, describing the repeated crystallization of new patterns after old ones have been interrupted.

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Capricorn Shore, Dancing Waves: Cancer Full Moon and Eclipse

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By Amanda Painter

Today the Moon enters Cancer at 3:43 am EST (8:43:07 UTC) on its way to Friday’s Full Moon and penumbral lunar eclipse. I keep looking at this chart — with the Moon, seemingly by itself, facing off against a host of objects in Capricorn — and all these sea-related catchphrases keep popping into mind. I’ll get to those in a moment.

Light dancing on waves, waves dancing on shore; Higgins Beach, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Light dancing on waves, waves dancing on shore; Higgins Beach, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

For some orientation: the eclipse peaks on Jan. 10 at 2:10 pm EST (19:09:58 UTC). Eleven minutes later, the Sun-Moon opposition (Full Moon) peaks at 2:21 pm EST (19:21:10 UTC).

Astrologically, the Moon rules Cancer. It is strong there, and emphasizes this water sign’s tendency toward cycles, intuition and sensitivity. Astronomically, the Moon’s movements dictate the tides of our actual oceans.

Meanwhile, in Capricorn (sign of business, government, tradition, leadership) we have: the Sun (conscious self-expression), Mercury (intellect and communication), asteroid Ceres (food, nourishment), Saturn (structure, limits, authority), Pluto (compelled evolution, ‘what is below’), and centaur Chariklo (holding space for another).

Full Moons imply a meeting or confrontation. In the chart for this one, the Moon seemingly floats in the water all by itself, reflecting the light of the Sun, and opposing all those other objects that are aligned on the rocky shore. Among those objects: a Saturn-Pluto conjunction — exact just two days later, on Jan. 12 — that describes much of the upheaval and major change we’re witnessing around us.

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Onward into 2020

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By Amanda Painter

I don’t know about you, but I’ve found this to be an especially contemplative transition to a new year. I guess that’s true each time we end a decade, as we assess just how much has changed in those ten years. Yet, in moving from 2019 to 2020, I’m aware of just how much extra gravitas, pressure, awareness and restlessness I’m feeling, and its correlation to the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn.

Photo by Amanda Painter

Photo by Amanda Painter

Ten or so years ago, roughly corresponding to Pluto’s ingress into Capricorn, marked some highly pivotal events in my life.

Tracing the growth I’ve experienced in this last decade — and contrasting it to the general trajectory of the previous ten years — is offering confirmation that the processes of Pluto, daunting as they are, do offer gifts.

Even so, the lessons of Pluto and Saturn tend to be hard-won.

While the lessons of Jupiter (and even Uranus) can seem to fling the doors of one’s life wide open — simply leaving it up to us to stride through (not always easy, depending on one’s circumstances and baggage) — Saturn and Pluto demand more. They ask us to work for what we want. They insist that we make the difficult choice to undo so much that has always appeared solid, or a given, so that we can build anew in ways that afford us more space for who we’re becoming.

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Boy in a funeral procession flashes the peace sign; the Balinese do not mind strangers witnessing their ceremonies. Karma and dharma are a strong part of their Hindu beliefs. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Ringing in the Eclipses

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By Amanda Painter

When this column publishes, it’ll be within a couple minutes of the Capricorn New Moon and annular (not total) solar eclipse. The New Moon is exact at 12:13 am EST (5:13:00 UTC), with the eclipse peaking about four minutes later. You likely have some idea already what the event signifies for you.

Boy in a funeral procession; the Balinese do not mind strangers witnessing their ceremonies, and funerals are a big celebration. Karma and dharma are a strong part of their Hindu beliefs. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Boy in a Hindu funeral procession at Pura Goa Lawah; the Balinese do not mind strangers witnessing their ceremonies, and funerals celebrate reincarnation. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Yet even if you were not sent a bright star in the east last night to follow — or some other massive, impossible-to-ignore sign from god — chances are you can look back over the past year to gather some clues. After all, this eclipse is happening in Capricorn, the same sign as the year-defining Saturn-Pluto conjunction that’s exact in a few weeks.

Saturn-Pluto has been the long game: the gradual building of pressure, the progressive dismantling, the ever-increasing awareness of a need to restructure. Its manifestations on the world stage have been obvious and dramatic. Possibly it’s been showing up in your life more subtly — kind of like insistent, repeated nudges in a particular direction, or something coming apart in stages.

Eclipses, on the other hand, tend to be a more focused process. Usually there’s one solar and one lunar eclipse bracketing a two-week span. (The corresponding partial lunar eclipse of this pair arrives Jan. 10, almost aligning with the 12 Days of Christmas and the arrival of the three Magi with their gifts.)

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The Day of Exciting Instability: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is July 24
The Day of O Exciting Instability | The 2019-20 Leo Astrology Studio is available for pre-order | All Other Signs

Now is the moment to begin turning your ideas into concrete results. You have a solid grasp of your thought processes and your aims, and enough passion to help you get past any challenging scenarios. Along the way, keep honing the skills you possess as a singer exercises their voice. You never know when any item in your toolkit might prove useful. With any long-term plan surprises have a way of occurring, and they often have the function of showing how much you’ve learned.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have a Leo Sun, rising sign or Moon? Your last couple years may have left you reeling trying to figure out which path forward is best. Hear Eric’s thoughts on expediting your post-eclipse process in your 2019-2020 Leo Astrology Studio reading.

Written in the Planets

Tonight into tomorrow, retrograde Mercury conjoins Venus in Cancer. Simultaneously, we reach the last quarter Moon: the first Moon phase following last week’s Full Moon and eclipse. Those two events suggest engaging in a specific form of review today. Any Mercury-Venus conjunction blends the intellectual and emotional realms together, often through an ability to see the patterns in your experience and then connect the dots of your perception. In Cancer, the emotional or intuitive layer to that equation may be the stronger piece.

With Mercury retrograde, you could find your attention pulled toward past experiences more than present factors; thought the last quarter Moon occurring concurrently indicates one possible timeframe of particular focus: the two weeks between this month’s eclipses, and the time since. When you think about anything that emerged or received some closure near last week’s eclipse, how far back do its roots reach?

Simply noticing what your mind is drawn to today and how you feel about it could offer enough insights. Artistic experiences might be very useful in helping you to synthesize your understanding (whether that means listening to certain music or painting your experience, and anything in between).

Mercury-Venus conjunctions also can describe an atmosphere of emotionally open communication — such as telling someone you love them, or discussing certain facets of a relationship with genuine understanding. The one caveat here is that Mercury’s retrograde condition cautions that any such conversations occur at a gentle pace, with few distractions, preferably in person (or phone; not via email or text), and with the expectation that the message could get a little garbled and require some clarification. That’s nothing to be afraid of; it’s more like seeing the signs for a curve in the road and for the speed limit, and then driving accordingly.
— by Amanda Painter

COMING SOON FROM PLANET WAVES…

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The Day of Uncertainty Resolvers: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is July 23
The Day of Uncertainty Resolvers | The 2019-20 Leo Astrology Studio is available for pre-order | All Other Signs

Keep your mind turned toward the wide and open horizon of your ideal visions. Some may find this freedom of thought disconcerting, and try to confine you within convenient boundaries. Yet your power lies in this capacity you possess for bold exploration, and the ability to see what’s real, without the filters of social or authoritarian pressure. Don’t let anyone, especially you, box you in. You’re beginning to understand just how far your mind can fly.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have a Leo Sun, rising sign or Moon? Your last couple years may have left you reeling trying to figure out which path forward is best. Hear Eric’s thoughts on expediting your post-eclipse process in your 2019-2020 Leo Astrology Studio reading.

Written in the Planets

The Sun entered the sign Leo overnight, signaling the core of the Northern Hemisphere summer. Leo is ruled by the Sun, offering an important reminder that just as solar light and power can create and warm life or damage and destroy it, so can our own light and power. What makes the difference is whether your heart or your ego is directing those forces.

Venus passes through last week’s eclipse degree via Cancer today, ringing the bells of Haumea in Libra and Eris in Aries. Given the recent contact Venus just had with Pluto (and the centaur Chariklo), you may want to keep tabs on how your emotions — particularly feelings of love, sexual desire, a need for attention or to feel ‘helpful’ — are influencing your choices. If you notice a need to be needed by someone, what’s that really about? Holding space for someone in a helpful or healing capacity ideally is not about what you will get out of the experience.

That agenda is something else, and probably signals that it’s time for a frank heart-to-heart with yourself about what you might be projecting onto a situation that you could (and probably should) be finding and recognizing within yourself. You appear to have a choice right now: birthing new ways of relating that are well-balanced, even if they seem to come from unusual places; or resorting to game-playing — however subtle and seemingly innocuous — to get the emotional response you crave. The Leo Sun’s trine to Ceres in Sagittarius reinforces the abundance of nourishment available to your heart and soul right now. All you need to do is let it shine in.
— by Amanda Painter

COMING SOON FROM PLANET WAVES…

In These Times graphic

Where We Are Now

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By Amanda Painter

Tuesday evening the second of this season’s two eclipses came and went with the Capricorn Full Moon. On an immediate, practical level, I noticed this event arrived in a way that highlighted or seemed to exacerbate situations with a distinctly Mercury retrograde flavor. I’ve heard from a number of people in the last several days who’ve been wondering why they’ve felt a little ‘off’, down, thwarted or disempowered, and so on.

Seaweed pointing the way; photo by Amanda Painter.

Seaweed pointing the way; photo by Amanda Painter.

Does any of that describe your experience at all?

Collectively, we’ve been through a lot this year; Mars moving through Cancer and igniting a couple different aspect patterns — and the global events illustrating that astrology — was followed immediately by Mercury stationing retrograde. Add in these eclipses, and it has been a lot to handle.

Yet any astrology, no matter what in your life it describes or coincides with, is a reminder to notice consciously and integrate what you’re learning — particularly about yourself, but also about the people around you, your relationships with them, and your overall environment. So, regarding the last two weeks and the two eclipses bookending that span of time: what did you learn?

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