Early in the morning on October 25th, the sun and moon will conjoin at 2 degrees of Scorpio for the first eclipse of the fall season. An eclipse is thought to welcome in change, opportunities and events that push us toward our destiny. As we move into this potent time, we revisit themes that may have been showing up for us this last spring. It may be helpful to look back to that time to gather more information about what might be showing up for you again this season.
Eclipses offer us an opportunity to evaluate what it is we are holding too tightly to. This fixed axis, especially, doesn’t desire to let go, though one of the functions of Scorpio is just that. Scorpio is a season of letting go, of decay, of transformative processing. We are headed deep into the autumn season, collecting the last of the harvest, preparing for the cold winter months ahead. This axis of Scorpio and Taurus is an axis of survival.
Survival has been illuminating the purpose of fear to me this last year in my exploration of the spleen in Human Design. At its root, fear is very much about safety, survival, of foundations, of getting to the bottom of something in order to keep going. Digging deep into our unconscious, forming understanding and awareness that some day the body must go back to the earth. Bringing attention to the way the body faces deep dread as the sun lowers below the horizon, like it’s movement into the eighth place, a knowing that this all comes to an end eventually. A reminder from this spring, “to have, is to not have.” The Scorpio-Taurus axis is a reminder of the cyclical nature of life, of decay and regeneration.
This lunation is tightly conjunct Venus, offering a softness to it, though, we must hold awareness that this lunation occurs alongside the South Node. With this perspective, we can look to what we have come from in this area of our life in order to find realignment and redirection. What patterns have we seen arise in this area of our charts before? What habits, goals, beliefs are we being asked to release in order to move forward with grace (or not?) We must also keep in mind that all of this occurs in a Mars ruled sign. Mars makes several aspects at this time, a tight square to Neptune in Pisces and a trine from Mercury in the third decan of Libra. The Mars-Neptune aspect may bring low energy, a haze, a feeling of weakness, deceit. Eclipses, in general, are a good time to rest and allow your body to process the changes abound, ensuring it is being nourished and cared for. The time is not quite right for decision making, though you may find moments of clarity through the Mercury-Mars trine. Any ideas might be best held for a later date, offering yourself pause before making any moves.
Looking at the Human Design system, this eclipse happens in gate 50. Gate 50, ’The Cauldron,’ a place where all processes are fused as they move through the spleen, the root of awareness. In 50.6, the last hours of the sun and moon through this gate, venus is exalted, (a beautiful reflection of it’s conjunction to the eclipse,) the power to maintain harmony even through challenging times, and the moon in detriment, moodiness that may alter efficiency. The sixth line of any gate is preparing to enter the next, in this case gate 28.1, “Preparation,” the desire to be effective. And so, in our rest during this lunation, we prepare for the next phase of this cycle, embracing the challenge and moving through it with grace, holding it loosely as we flow with the tides of change.
I’ll close with an often quoted passage from Richard Bach’s ‘Illusions’-
…Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.
But one creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.’
The other creatures laughed and said ‘Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you’ll die quicker than boredom!’
But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
And the creatures down stream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, ‘See, a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!’
And the one carried in the current said, ‘I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only way there to let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.’
Once again, blessed journeying as we move through this next eclipse season.
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