Sagittarius

First Total Lunar Eclipse of 2021 – Day 925

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DO IT – Photo: L. Weikel

First Total Lunar Eclipse of 2021

If you’re on social media of any stripe, you’ve undoubtedly heard that Wednesday morning the first total lunar eclipse of 2021 will take place. Earth will pass directly between the sun and the full moon, engulfing the moon in Earth’s shadow. Not only will this blot out the moon’s natural brilliance (as a consequence of it being full) but the shadow will also make the moon appear a deep shade of red – an occurrence that must’ve totally freaked out our ancestors.

I see that I’ve written about our experience of lunar eclipses before (here, here, and here, to be precise) with other mentions scattered throughout the past 924 posts as well. And I notice that the most recent two times did actually presage some, let’s say, revelation of hidden agendas and ultimately ‘upheaval.’

While there are a plethora of interpretations of the significance of us entering the eclipse season, here’s a link to astrologer Chani’s interpretation for the present one. I speak of the eclipse ‘season’ because there will be a solar eclipse in two weeks. And we generally ‘feel the effects’ of these interactions between the luminaries beginning the week before the actual eclipse event and extending through the week following the second eclipse.

I’d Rather Not Look – Photo: L. Weikel

Frog Making a Point

Karl and I had to laugh this morning when we picked our cards on the day. He chose ‘Frog Squared’ (meaning he chose Frog and there was a blank card on the bottom of the deck). We interpret that probably just as you imagine: not just as Frog, but as FROG. As in, “Buddy, you better clean the clutter out of your life.”

It was even more obvious that we are both in tune with this upcoming eclipse when I chose my cards on the day and got Frog – with Wild Boar underneath. Oh man.

Frog, just in case you’ve forgotten, has a lot to do with cleansing and cleaning out. This can be on any level – from clearing out your physical space, cleaning out your body, clearing your thoughts or emotions. It’s an encouragement to rid yourself of any ‘person, place, or thing’ that doesn’t contribute to your state of wellbeing.

Wild Boar Adds Its 2 Cents

And Wild Boar? Well – suffice it to say, Wild Boar urges one to relentlessly cut through one’s bullshit. I heard it snarking at me all day, to be honest, as I took to heart the need to set upon clearing out. (Yet again; yes, I know, I feel like I am forced to tediously face this beast too freaking often.)

But there it was, in our faces. The message of a lunar eclipse, and especially a total one, is to clear out the stuff that surfaces in our life. There seems to be detritus floating to the top (of our consciousness) all the time. It only looks like physical piles of stuff we’ve been accumulating.

I made a point of working on heeding this advice today. And no matter what card I choose tomorrow, I intend to have another go at it again. I’m feeling the need. And I want to seize this opportunity to clear the portal to a new attitude and some exciting opportunities.

(T-186)

Powerful Aspects On Deck – Day 762

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Orion’s Belt – 12/12/2020

Powerful Aspects On Deck

2020 has been an intense year so far no matter how you look at it. I don’t need to recite the myriad ways in which life as we knew it a year ago seems almost like a dream. But applying the concept of ‘as above, so below,’ I’m here to tell you: there remain breathtakingly powerful aspects on deck in our lives. December isn’t over yet.

While experiencing a meteor shower is not an astrological transit (although I believe it’s an astronomical weather event), I have to say my experience of leaning against my car and staring into the vastness of space the past two evenings has felt, I don’t know – deeply significant. Humbling. Perspective enhancing.

It’s easy for us to get lost in the crises that scream for our attention day in and day out. A pandemic. Systemic racism. Shocking threats of violence. Contempt for democracy. Vast swaths of our fellow Americans facing profound food and shelter insecurity.

The pain and chaos surrounds and threatens to drown us.

And yet for the half an hour I spent staring at the sky, talking out loud to the stars, to the cosmos, requesting insight – and absent that, a couple of shooting stars – I felt an odd sense of being re-set. It almost felt like the Universe pulled the plug on my systems for several minutes and just forced everything to recalibrate and calm the hell down. Staring upward and drinking in the incomprehensible, my perspective shifted.

It helped that I saw five meteors.

Monday’s Solar Eclipse

The next major astrological transit we’ll be experiencing will be a new moon on Monday, which is always a great time to plant the seeds for whatever we may desire to manifest in our life. But Monday’s is no ordinary new moon. It will be perfectly aligned with (conjunct) the sun, resulting in a total eclipse. While it will be a total eclipse, with both sun and moon at 23 degrees Sagittarius at 11:00 a.m. ET, the classic experience of the event, complete with a corona, will only be visible from South America and locations in the south of Africa.

Sagittarius classically occupies the 9th house of the zodiac, which highlights higher education, spirituality, beliefs, foreign or long distance travel, and adventure. Something tells me that we might want to consider planting some seeds that will expand our perspectives, broaden our horizons, and encourage us to learn new concepts and ways of approaching old problems.

My sense is that our old ways of dealing with conflict and problems that not only impact but expand far beyond our everyday lives will require strategies that will permit us access to new perspectives.

I’m going to be offering whomever is interested opportunities to learn and incorporate just such strategies as we enter a whole new world.

(T-349)

Venus & Jupiter Conjunction – Day 378

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Venus & Jupiter Conjunction – Photo: L. Weikel

Venus & Jupiter Conjunction

Even though it didn’t feel like we were getting all that late of a start on our walk tonight, darkness seemed to slam the lid shut on the day more quickly than I was expecting.

I was going to write tonight’s post on the very obvious presence of Venus and Jupiter in the evening sky, but then became distracted by a discovery upon arriving home that demanded my attention (and whose import continues to linger in my mind).

Tonight Venus and Jupiter were the closest they will get to each other (from our perspective) in the next thirteen months or so. Here’s a brief article. It’s called a conjunction when planets or other celestial bodies are either exactly at or within a few degrees of each other in a particular sign. In these two planets’ case tonight, they are conjuncting at 28 degrees Sagittarius, as I mentioned yesterday.

Well, now that I’ve started writing, I guess I might as well follow through and complete this post about the planets. I did manage to get a decent photo of them, considering I only have an iPhone 6.

I was particularly pleased with my effort to capture reflections of the planets in the puddle of water we were walking past. I managed to catch Venus’s reflection especially – probably because she was so bright. While Jupiter is also reflected, it’s harder to see because it’s simply not as large or as brilliant (to our naked eye). Jupiter is actually exponentially larger than Venus – and much further away from Earth than is Venus.

Look For Yourself

In case you’re wondering, the brighter of the two planets, the one on the lower left, is Venus.

It’s not too late! You should be able to see these two very obvious celestial bodies in the western sky for at least another couple of nights. I’ve noticed them getting closer and closer to each other during this past week and admired their stark beauty in the orangey glow of the post-sunset sky. I’m sure you’ll be able to see them if the weather holds and you have a decent view of the western horizon.  You will need to get outside to look at around 5:00 p.m. or so. They may not have set by 6:00 or 6:30.

Tomorrow’s Post

I do want to share the surprise that was awaiting us tonight when we concluded our walk, but I guess I’ll wait until tomorrow to write about it! It did point to a reason why tonight’s post went out a bit later than it should have. But I’ll leave it at that for now.

(T-733)

New Moon Coming – Day 377

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New Moon Coming

Next Tuesday morning (November 26th, 2019, at 4:06 a.m. EST) the moon will be new – in Sagittarius.

I’m not sure why I’m so acutely aware of this coming new moon, but I am. It feels like it will be a particularly auspicious time to plant the seeds of what we’d like to manifest in our lives.

Perhaps it’s because my natal moon (the placement of the moon in the zodiac at the exact time I was born) is in Sagittarius that I feel drawn to the power of this particular transit. Or maybe it’s because Sagittarius is a fire sign – a mutable one at that – and the whole concept of change (mutation) and the vibrancy of fire have me imagining big shifts happening.

Pre-Holiday Reflection

I’m writing about the new moon now, tonight, because it is a Saturday evening and there still remains another day in this weekend for potential quiet time. We all know that once Thanksgiving arrives, it feels like an untethered toboggan ride down a ski slope to Christmas and New Year’s. It feels important that we sit back and take a few breaths this weekend before Thanksgiving to reflect on what we’re bringing to the Gratitude Table this year and what we would like to bring next year.

Thus, unlike most of my musings about the moon’s phases, this time I’m trying to give everyone a heads up with a little time to spare.

Time to spare? Yes. I’m getting such a strong sense that 2020 is going to be a year that holds enormous change that I feel it is essential to give us all as much of a chance to get ahead of the curve as possible. Major disruption in 2020 is a distinct possibility, perhaps, but ultimately sets a tone and establishes a foundation for many years ahead.

Again, with the fire of Sagittarius warming the soil of possibility, and the added guidance and expansive tendencies of both Jupiter and Venus, both of which are also enjoying their last moments in Sag as well, I urge us all to begin the process of reflection, assessment, and dreaming-into-being now. Not only ahead of this Tuesday’s new moon, but also ahead of the eclipse season that arrives on the next new moon (December 25th), then the start if the calendar year, and then the solar eclipse on January 11th. (The subject of another post or two down the road.)

Seeds of Intention

What intentions do you want to set this new moon? These can be the same ones you may have noticed lurking recently in the corners of your mind, the aspirations you were toying with bringing out into the light around December 31st.

What activity, cause, or idea lights you up or sparks your passion? How can you bring that passion more directly into your life and, beyond that, expand on it?

Are you yearning to plant seeds of change in how you think about yourself? Your love life or partnerships? Are you thinking about having children or creating in some other, perhaps artistic manner? Are you feeling a call to further your education? Is there a burning desire in your soul to explore the bigger existential questions, such as why you are here, or how you can use your unique gifts or skills to make the world a better place?

A Potent Warm-Up

This will be the last new moon occurring in Sagittarius until 2030, so it feels important to take advantage of the unique energies associated with it. It also feels like these next few days before this new moon are a powerful warm-up.

I’m bringing all of this up so that you start the process of seriously contemplating the feelings you want to cultivate in your life. Start by giving yourself some attention this weekend, set the intentions (plant the seeds) on Tuesday – but also realize that you can hone these intentions over the next six to eight weeks as we move through the holidays and celestial events. Sometimes the hardest part is getting started; allowing ourselves permission to begin the process of becoming aware.

Awareness is such an essential aspect to growth and evolution. Use these shorter days to retreat into a cocoon of reflection and self-kindness. Ask your soul what s/he really wants to feel going forward.

(T-734)

Full Moon – and Jupiter! – Day 218

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Moon and Jupiter – Image credit: Juerg Alean

Full Moon – and Jupiter!

Man, the light of tonight’s full moon is brilliant and powerful. It’s shining in my living room window at the moment, casting blue shadows on the trees and grass across the road.

Tonight I happened to be driving around the countryside at around 9:30 p.m. and I was astonished to see how huge and obvious Jupiter was in the night sky. It’s in the southern sky, and when I caught sight of it this evening, I knew immediately what it was, as it was the only object within a great swath of the sky.

Sky Guide Pointed Me In the Right Direction

To be honest, when I first started reading last week about how close Jupiter would be over the next several days, I ‘cheated’ and enlisted the aid of my favorite astronomy app, Sky Guide. Karl and I were taking a walk and I was describing how Jupiter was going to be so close to us that its four moons would be visible to us with only the use of a set of binoculars.

For some reason, I thought the planet would be hanging out more in the western sky. So I was surprised when I located it just under the horizon to our south. That stood me in good stead, though, because I knew where to look tonight, when the sky became surprisingly clear – at least for a moment.

I was headed south as I was driving home, so it wasn’t as if I had to crane my neck or even hardly take my eyes off the road, particularly when I got within about two miles of our home. I was driving on a stretch of road that is elevated and provides a remarkably unobstructed view of the sky. And I saw it immediately – it almost looked like a plane coming toward me, it was so bright. But in spite of the illusion of ‘twinkling’ that the atmosphere causes, the object did not move; that’s how I knew for sure it was Jupiter.

Caught Without My Binoculars

Unfortunately, I didn’t have binoculars in the car or I would have pulled over right then and there to see if I could focus in on its moons.

Our moon was not yet up (or it was so low on the horizon that it was obscured by trees and I couldn’t see it), so its brilliant, reflected light was not detracting from the brightness of Jupiter.

Obviously, the main photo I’m using tonight was not taken tonight, since the moon in the photo is not full. It was actually taken on January 22, 2013. But it’s such a cool photo, and the four moons of Jupiter are so clear, I thought I would include it. This only reinforces my resolve to put a pair of binocs in my car so I have them when I need them – perhaps even tomorrow night!

Everyone Seemed to Be Tucked Into Their Homes, Unaware…

As an aside, I took particular notice of how few cars were out and about on this Monday evening after the sun had set. It made me realize just how much of our population rolls up their sidewalks and puts themselves to bed every night, remarkably oblivious to the amazing phenomena that occur above our heads all the time. But this made me all the more certain that I would write about this tonight and urge you all to get yourselves outside tomorrow night to take a look!

Check that Jupiter out – and if you have binoculars, look for its moons. What a cool opportunity to expand our horizons.

Perhaps tomorrow night I’ll give you a taste of the astrological aspects that this Jupiter, transiting Sagittarius, is bringing to our lives.

In the meantime – again – I urge you to get the Sky Guide app! You won’t regret it!

(T-893)