Venus has settled into the waters of Cancer after splashing in last week. Mars took flight into airy Gemini yesterday. Last night, the Moon got wet in Pisces, where it will be until Wednesday segues to Thursday. Next week will begin with a New Moon (when the Moon and Sun will share the same degree of Taurus), and Mercury’s station retrograde.
Now is a good time for you to catch up.
What you might want to envision catching up to is more than a new lunar cycle and Mercury retrograde. You should think bigger and envision more, and not just for drill.
To really capture the big picture of the astrology for the rest of this month (and probably most of June) you should make like Mercury is in the process of doing. You should slow down. You should hearken back to how the astrological year started.
For tropical astrologers, a new year initiates with the vernal equinox. It begins with the actual Sun crossing directly overhead at Earth’s equator (appearing to move North with its subsequent risings and settings), and the symbolic Sun simultaneously crossing from Pisces into Aries. It is the cycle of seasons and the cycle of the zodiac starting over together.
This year, unlike any vernal equinox going back to at least 1700, the Sun’s ingress to Aries was preceded by less than 24 hours with a New Moon and total solar eclipse in the very last degree of Pisces, on March 20.
In a way, catching up with that unprecedented solar eclipse (and its complement, the Libra Full Moon and total lunar eclipse of April 4) is what you have been doing ever since. For the most part you have been doing it through the most fundamental objects in astrology — the Sun and Moon. In all probability, you are not done. Provided that’s true for you, it’s better to continue catching up with even greater awareness than you have had up to now.
You have been catching up through the Sun and Moon precisely because of what they represent – the two major components of your consciousness. The Sun, inseparable from day and light, corresponds to the daytime version of consciousness. Each day, as the Sun transits your personal astrology, its aspects and corresponding expressions make up part of what might be called the light in your proverbial attic. That light shines out to let the rest of us know you are with us, along with who and how you are in the world.
The Moon, on the other hand, correlates with the private sector of your consciousness that many others never get to see. Transiting lunar manifestations in relation to your personal astrology are felt more than thought. Through those expressions you grow to know yourself as surely as others get to know you through the Sun. As both the Sun and Moon transition away from a typical pair of eclipses, the nature of what came with them is gradually revealed through illumination and reflection.
For one of the fundamental things to know about a typical pair of eclipses is that it takes a while to become conscious of what happened in between them. Months later, sometimes years later, your life tends to come full circle in one way or another. Eventually, your consciousness catches up with either what initiated or what came to pass between the first eclipse and its complement.
If you think about it, that’s probably what you have been doing since the vernal equinox. While the Sun finished its traversal of the second half of Aries following the lunar eclipse of April 4, it’s very possible you had only yourself as the most dependable reference point for making sense of things. Ever since April 20, with the Sun in Taurus, it’s even more likely that you have been able to rely on your physical body for visceral guidance and intuitive information.
Since the eclipses that ushered in our current season, the Moon has also been doing its part. By cycling through new and full phases which were not eclipses, the Moon has helped you recycle. The coming and going of familiar lunar phases have corresponded with the hidden side of your consciousness finding a way to reacquaint you with yourself — both as you were before and what has emerged after ecliptic shadow.
The process is almost certainly not over for you. It would be fair to say that neither the solar nor the lunar side of your consciousness have fully caught up. It is probable that you are still in the process of becoming aware of what you wrought in collaborative alignment with the Sun, Moon and lunar nodes — as Earth and the Moon took turns in each other’s shadow.
Seen in that way, aspects of the planets this week, this month and possibly for the rest of this season may fall into place as guidelines and stepping stones for you to follow until consciousness catches up.
Challenging aspects (like squares and oppositions) might become fulcrums, which tell you it’s time to apply some pressure rather than just feel it — after which you might very well consciously evolve. More supportive aspects like sextiles and trines allow you to get your groove back.
Every conjunction (like the Taurus New Moon next week) will somehow avail consciousness of a chance to start over. Even the Mercury retrograde, with its undeserved reputation for frustration and futility might become your second and third chances to understand your place in the solar system’s continuum.
Until your consciousness catches up, take every event in your life (and its corresponding astrology) as a means rather than an end. In that way, astrology (and your life) will have the potential to be more than just one thing after another. You will give your own awareness something whole to be part of. You will gift both your solar and lunar consciousness with something more to become.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thank you for this beautiful piece, dear Len. It’s like a meditation – it goes beyond words, and beyond the mental realm. Will have to read it again slowly, and with care.
Thank you, Lizzy. You ascertained my intent, and that i deeply appreciate.
Yes, and like a meditation it opens the way. A path to follow without knowing, without knowing why and knowing the learning (and eventual leading) comes with the following.
You worthy path. Thank you, Len.
ouch — typo. “A worthy path”. Although “You worthy path” might be symbolically more apropos.
aWord: Thank you. Actually, your “typo” (like poetry) opened up many more possibilities for interpretation than the conventional boundaries of language normally provide room for. Perhaps it was a moment of inspiration (even genius), rather than an error on your part. Hope your final exams are going well. Thank you for your kind words here today.
Len……….how you relate the physical motion of the heavens into meaning is truly interesting…….love the line….”As Earth and the Moon took turns in each other’s shadow”…..HMMMMMMMM…..thanks again………..
Glad that works for you, Barbara. It was not a line written lightly. Nor was it part of my first draft. Then, it was written in, then written out, then written in again. Thank you for you comment – it helps me to know that my decision to finally write it in worked out well.
Thank you Len, beautiful wholistic overview with which to gradually, gently integrate… thank you so very very much. h
Holaday: You are most welcome. As Eric inferred in his podcast today, there are a flurry of aspects going on right now. My intent was to step above focusing on any one (or any specific combination) of the aspects for a day and just catch everybody up. So those reading might feel more whole in themselves and with the world as our current season gathers what seems to be some cumulative amplitude.
Catching up to ourselves- well that explains it all rather concisely. Thanks Len for bringing things into this quality of focus.
It’s been a major learning curve since that time, including pain and remorse with gratitude for understanding the truth. And I now have a crystal clear knowing of my priorities and values. I’m left with a new attitude and approach of great reverence, and no, I’m not done yet. Here’s to second and third chances to consciously evolve. I begin again.
Thank you for the bread crumbs on the trail, Len. And I agree, this post, particularly the sentence of Earth and Moon taking turns in each other’s shadow, prompts meditation.
Talk about synchronicity, yesterday the weather returned to a sane mid-70’s as opposed to the recent spat of near-90’s, so I (finally) got to clean my car out. That’s how I got my (guilty) consciousness caught up. Also took time to get out my warm-weather clothes (decades ago referred to as summer clothes when that was a definable season) out of storage and pack away the cold (winter) weather duds.
What the Hades DID happen between those eclipses, huh? What a whirlwind it’s been, before, during and since, so thank you Len for noting this chance to reflect and catch up. Maybe I’ll wash the windows today.
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Catching up, indeed. I feel like I’m a gong that’s still being rung by that winter solstice New Moon from five months ago. And I agree with Barbara, this idea of the sun & moon taking turns in each other’s shadow feels incredibly rich for me. With my Sun hiding in the shadows of my 12th, in a sign ruled by the Moon, I’ve always felt like I lived my “inner world” far more “outwardly” than was safe to do. The past several months have been a back-&-forth negotiation on what role those two levels of consciousness take in my lived reality, and where, among all of that, safety originates. Of course the meta-question is: what do I even mean by “safety”? And how would all of this change if instead of thinking of it in terms of “hiding in the shadows,” It could be “illuminating the shadows.” …Trading places, catching up, all of that.
chief niwot’s son, Mandy, “be” and Strawberry: Thank you all for your kind words and thoughtful additions to share your own experience of the astrology.
H dearest Strawbwerry! Love this,” if instead of thinking of itt in terms of “hiding in the shadows,” It could be “illuminating the shadows”. ((()))
Thank you Len. Since the eclipse, I’ve been able to pull back layer after layer just by paying attention to what was showing up in my path or being triggered by my intuition. I mentioned last month about being ready to ride the roller coaster and I am, with my eyes open. After reading your article though, it occurred to me that it really hasn’t been that long. It feels like it was a year ago in a way. I’m no stranger to going down in the shadows, but it feels like I have been carrying a flood light this time instead of my handy dandy flashlight. This was a great reminder that I need time to process what’s being lit up. It’s not easy to do when your head is sometimes spinning.