Two Eclipses in June 2020 - Part 1
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse - 5th June at 20:12 BST (19:12 UT/GMT)
Solstice – 20th June at 22:43 BST (21:43 UT/GMT)
Solar Annular Eclipse – 21st June at 07:41 BST (06:41 UT/GMT)
In the midst of the global challenges brought by the on-going Jupiter-Pluto conjunction (see previous blog), there will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on 5th June and an Annular Solar Eclipse on 21st June, just a few hours after the Solstice.
At both Eclipses, the Pluto - Jupiter – Pallas Athene – Saturn conjunction features strongly.
Lunar Eclipses prepare us individually, at the emotional level, for the wider shifts that occur in the collective global consciousness at the subsequent Solar Eclipse. (When the Lunar Eclipse occurs after the Solar Eclipse, then the Lunar Eclipse is more about emotionally integrating the experience of the Solar Eclipse.)
Two patterns dominate the chart for the Lunar Eclipse:
A T-square (red triangle) and a Sensitivity Figure (red and green triangle.)
The T-square has Sun conjunct retrograde Venus in Gemini, in opposition (180°) to the eclipsed Moon in Sagittarius; these are both squared (90°) by Mars conjunct Ceres and Neptune, in Pisces:
The eclipsed Moon in Sagittarius is challenging us all to take a long hard look at our emotional attachment to belief systems, and how they impinge upon others, affecting the collective consciousness, in positive or negative ways.
A Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Moon moves directly into the shadow cast by the Earth in Space, either completely or partially blocking the Sun’s light from reaching the Moon. In this instance, it is a penumbral Eclipse, which means that the Moon only passes through the fainter outer (penumbral) shadow cast by the Earth, rather than the full inner (umbral) shadow. Whilst the glare of the Sun’s reflected light from the Full Moon becomes dimmed, this can enable us to get in touch with deeper, more subtle feelings that often become lost in the bright surface glare of a normal Full Moon.
The Sun conjunct retrograde Venus in Gemini is about being aware of how we love ourselves, and whether that is a healthy love and care for the self or veering more towards an unhealthy, “self-cherishing” or narcissistic attitude. Retrograde Venus is challenging us to look at the ways in which we may self-cherish, in order to maintain our familiar comfort zones, habits or behaviour patterns that prevent us from being able to see what is really going on around us, with any degree of objectivity. This requires us to step beyond habitual emotional patterns, which are informed by our belief systems, which in turn, are informed by our past physical, emotional and mental experiences; many of these experiences may have been painful, traumatic or contrary to our expectations about what life “should” be like.
If we have based our current belief systems upon emotional reactions to difficult or painful experiences and situations in the past, it is those beliefs, borne out of our pain, which are now being challenged. This is happening so that we can acknowledge the source of these patterns, release our attachment to them and enable a deep, lasting healing to occur.
The Moon is within 1° of conjunction with the star Ras Algethi, the brightest (alpha) star in the constellation of Hercules / Herakles. Ras Algethi means ‘the kneeler’s head’. Hercules kneels in homage to the Creative Source, facing northwards towards Polaris, the Pole Star. His other foot is resting on the head of the Great Female Dragon in the constellation Draco, encircling the Pole Star.
You can see from the accompanying picture of the Hercules constellation that Ras Algethi is at the brow centre (third eye chakra) of Hercules, so is concerned with self-awareness, self-awakening and self-realisation. This is the spiritual self-awareness that comes from undertaking our soul’s ’12 Labours’, its evolutionary journey through the 12 signs of the zodiac, over many lifetimes. As we engage upon this journey, we gradually become more able to see through the illusions of the material world and perceive reality as it truly is. Hercules kneels because, with that self-realisation comes the awareness that our ego is not in charge of the course that our lives take, and that we are subject to the larger patterns, cycles and processes of the Cosmos, which we cannot possibly comprehend with our limited ego-mind. It requires that we approach life with some humility towards and respect for the Great Web of Life (the Female Dragon force) that protects the Central Spiritual Source (Polestar) that governs all those cycles. The flip side, or shadow side of this is that we also need to use our awareness not to give our power away by becoming subservient, or blindly following those who clearly have no understanding of these larger cycles, and certainly do not have our best interests at heart.
Hercules was the Roman name for the Greek Herakles, meaning ‘glory of Hera’, queen of the gods (the Romans’ Juno). It was Hera / Juno who set Herakles / Hercules his 12 Labours, so it will also be relevant to look at Juno’s / Hera’s position and influence in this chart, a bit later on.
To return to the Moon; as the bright reflected light from the Sun becomes dimmed at the Lunar Eclipse, this will allow the subtle energies of Hercules’ star-mythology to bubble up into our emotional awareness. This can bring an understanding of how well we have understood and integrated our spiritual lessons, gleaned over lifetimes, by acknowledging our spiritual strengths, as well as any spiritual weaknesses that we still need to address. Hercules teaches us how to use our strength and power creatively and for the good of the whole. Hera / Juno had set him his 12 Labours after, in a fit of madness, he had killed his own children. So, the 12 Labours were set to teach him how to temper and channel his physical and spiritual strength, for the good.
Hercules’ kneeling posture, with raised club and one foot on the head of the Dragon has echoes of the Judaeo-Christian figure of Archangel Michael (and later, St. George) wielding his sword, standing with one foot on the head of the Dragon. Neither Hercules, Archangel Michael, nor St. George are (contrary to popular belief) actually slaying the Dragon; they are using their spiritual power to subdue and balance the Dragon’s more wild, destructive tendencies, keeping its powerful creative energies in alignment with Spirit.
We are collectively witnessing a world, increasingly immersed in disorder and chaos, as the result of often cruel misuses of financial and political power. This has come about due to the loss of any honouring of a true connection with Spirit and the loss of any true awareness or connection with the creative Dragon-force within the Earth. To understand how to temper what is becoming a wild, untameable destructive force and bring it back into balance, we need the right use of our own spiritual strengths and powers, applying will, wisdom and compassion, so that we do not ourselves become caught up in this destructive maelstrom.
The red square (90°) aspects between Mars, with the Moon and Sun show how to move forward, by understanding that we need to go beyond our ego-selves, beyond self-cherishing, acting out of self-interest, and ask how can we can each serve the interests of the greater whole, humanity and the planet, in whatever way we can.
Mars lies in a conjunction, with Ceres on one side and Neptune on the other. These give clues as to how we should now act, to be in alignment with the current cosmic cycles. Ceres represents the Spirit of Mother Earth. We need to be taking our cues from her, from looking and listening to her patterns and cycles and seeking to understand how best to live in harmony with her needs. We have just had very clear indications about how quickly Mother Earth responds to pollution levels dropping, and how Nature restores herself, as a result of decreased human activity. Now we need to carry this awareness forward. Neptune shows our relationship with the collective, revealing very clearly that we are all inter-connected as part of the Oneness, and that our every intention and action can affect all living beings on Earth. The lesson here is simple: all our actions (Mars) need to be in alignment with the needs of the planet (Ceres) and in alignment with the true needs of all other beings (Neptune), including ourselves.
A Sensitivity Triangle has Vesta in the first degree of Cancer, conjunct the Moon’s North Node in the last degree of Gemini, which are in opposition (180°) to the Moon’s South Node in Sagittarius, which is sextile (60°) to the retrograde conjunction of Pluto, Jupiter, Pallas Athene and Saturn in Capricorn; all of these are quincunx (150°) back to Vesta and the North Node.
The Moon’s North Node indicates the underlying spiritual purpose behind any chart, be that for an individual or an event, such as an eclipse. At this Lunar eclipse, the North Node is conjunct Vesta in Cancer, which is about learning to completely trust and follow the promptings of our innermost hearts. Vesta is not about ego-centred wish-fulfilment or escapist fantasy. She represents the sacred flame of our spiritual essence which resides in the inner heart, burning away personal desires to take us beyond what our ego-self thinks we need in order to be happy, so that we can experience the pure, simple bliss, emanating from the core of our being.
The Moon’s South Node indicates what we need to let go of from our past, in order to experience that inner knowing of bliss-consciousness. Being in Sagittarius, this means letting go of beliefs and ideals that no longer serve our spiritual evolution. The ‘Sabian’ symbol for the South Node’s degree in Sagittarius is “the Pope blessing the faithful”; this suggests that we need to let go of the belief that anyone other than ourselves holds to key to our political, social or spiritual evolution, or that anything other than following our own innermost truth can “save” us. Others may be able to point us in the right direction, but they cannot do these things for us.
This message is reinforced by the 4 retrogrades, which are conjunct in Capricorn – Pluto, Jupiter, Pallas Athene and Saturn. Whilst they are all retrograde, they offer us to opportunity to “unhook” our attachments to the social, political, corporate, and spiritual power structures that others have sought, or are seeking, to impose upon us against our true inner will. This does not mean we should all become anarchists! It means that the time has come, collectively and globally, to discover and stand in our true inner power and know that others only have power over us, when we elect, consciously or unconsciously, deliberately or through omission or complacency, to give our power away to others.
Retrograde Pluto can reveal where our attachments to power lie, if we choose to look. These may be “positive” attachments, in the sense that we have chosen to give away our power to others, irrespective of how good or bad a job they are doing with it; or they may be “negative” attachments, in the sense that we do not trust or choose anyone to wield power on our behalf, irrespective of how good or bad a job they may do, and we just rebel against everything, like fractious teenagers. Or, we may be the ones attached to wielding power over others, irrespective of whether it actually benefits them. If we can be honest enough with ourselves to take a long, hard look, retrograde Jupiter can show us the consequences of our habitual approaches and attitudes towards power. Retrograde Pallas Athene is showing us exactly where we need to let go and who and what we need to cut away from our lives, for the sake of our own and others’ well-being. Retrograde Saturn is keeping us grounded and in touch with the realities of our choices, so we can see what is actually going on around us. Saturn requires us to look at the cold, hard facts rather than what we might wish, or what we might have persuaded ourselves is going on, in order to reinforce our world-view and thereby excuse ourselves from having to confront what is actually going on.
The long green (150° quincunx) aspect from Pluto – Jupiter - Pallas - Saturn to the Moon’s North Node and Vesta means that we need to find a way to understand and deal with all of this, with an open, receptive, compassionate, forgiving heart…and without attachment to the outcome. No simple task! Perhaps Vesta’s most important quality is non-attachment, for that is what can free us from perpetuating Pluto’s power cycles of either needing to control or feeling powerless to make a difference. Only when we become truly unattached can we step back enough to see the complete picture and feel compassion and forgiveness, towards others and ourselves, for our predicament. However, forgiveness and compassion do depend upon us and others acknowledging, with some degree of genuine humility, when we have got things wrong. If we are over willing to forgive self and others without acknowledging genuine mistakes or deliberate abuses of power, then we are simply colluding and giving carte blanche to continue with the same destructive, abusive behaviour.
Right now, at this Lunar Eclipse, our individual task is to acknowledge any ways in which we may be attached to giving others control of aspects of our lives, even when that is clearly wrong. We can know that we are attached in this way, if we find ourselves emotionally invested in defending, excusing, or justifying the bad behaviour of those who have power over us, or indeed, our own bad behaviour.
At this stage in the process, we do not need to know, or even have an inkling about what the outcome will be when we let go of our attachments – that’s the whole point of letting go! How could we possibly know the outcome, when our attachments are blinding us to the truth, or at the very least distorting our vision – and going for a drive, will not cure that! Once the upcoming Solar Eclipse has occurred on 21st June, then we should be able to see a way forward, with more clarity. But that is going to depend upon how successful we are at letting go of our attachments at this Lunar Eclipse.
Juno stands at the top of the chart, on the Midheaven in Libra, creating a T-square with an opposition (180°) to Chiron in Aries, and squares (90°) from Juno and Chiron to Mercury in Cancer; there is another Sensitivity Triangle formed by the opposition to Chiron, which is semi-sextile (30°) to Uranus, which is quincunx (150°) back to Juno; there are also two trines (120°) from Juno to Sun conjunct Venus and to Saturn, but the orb between Sun-Venus and Saturn is too wide to complete a Grand Trine.
Juno (Hera) in Libra is showing us how to create balance by living in right relationship with ourselves, others, all living beings and Mother Earth. The opposition with Chiron shows an urgency to find ways to heal these relationships. The red (90°) square aspects to Mercury indicate that we have all the information needed to do this; we just need the time and the application of our emotional intelligence (Mercury is in the Water sign, Cancer) to follow it through. The long green (150°) quincunx from Juno to Uranus shows that we also need to be open to radical change, often coming from unexpected quarters, before we are able to reap the benefits of individual and collective changes in attitudes and expectations.
At the moment, with all the retrogrades at this Lunar Eclipse, particularly retrograde Saturn, those future benefits are appearing in the guise of the breakdown and failure of the structures of governments, corporations and global institutions (such as the WHO) to meet the needs of people and the planet.
The trine from Juno to retrograde Venus conjunct the Sun is similarly holding out the promise of future benefits, by causing us to question our personal attitudes about self-cherishing, maintaining our comfort zones and questioning what constitutes responsible behaviour towards others and the planet.
It may seem to us that these two things, the breakdown of global structures and the urgent need to change personal behaviours, are unrelated; this is due to the “missing” trine aspect between Saturn and Venus – Sun. But it is this apparent unrelatedness that is making it so easy to project our unresolved personal issues, especially power issues, out onto others. Whilst there are indeed many holding positions of power who are making bad decisions, based on their support for vested interests and/or just sheer arrogant incompetence, it is easy to also project blame onto them for everything else that may seem wrong in our lives, when that is not actually their responsibility. Of course, we also have situations where those in power are projecting blame onto their citizens when things go wrong as a result of poorly thought-out policies, confusing messages, or incompetent implementation of those policies. What Juno in Libra demands here, is that we each take responsibility for what is ours, but that we are also very clear about what is the responsibility of others, holding them to account and not allowing them to get away with trying to turn around such holding to account and direct it against us.
These two things are like twin pillars that have been supporting the same dysfunctional global pattern of not being in right relationship with self and others; they both need to heal together in order to create balance. We can’t continue to have expectations that those in power will make good decisions, and then blame them if they don’t, if we are unwilling to deal with our own unresolved issues; in that case, we are simply deflecting personal responsibility and projecting it out, expecting “them” to solve all our problems. Similarly, those in power can’t continue to hold onto that power whilst treating people with contempt, believing that they alone have all the answers, without listening (really listening) to and acting upon ordinary people’s needs, ideas and concerns; with power comes responsibility, which means being open and willing to be held to account for every decision and action.
Juno/Hera now requires us all to show the spiritual strength, determination and resilience of our inner Hercules/Herakles, taking responsibility for what is ours, completing the challenges of our personal spiritual tasks and fulfilling our soul contracts with others; when we are consciously doing this, then we can legitimately hold others to account when they are clearly not fulfilling their obligations and social and spiritual contracts with us. It cuts both ways - you can’t have one without the other.
JOIN US FOR LIVE MEDITATIONS ON ZOOM
We will be doing live meditations on Zoom and you are invited to join us.
These meditations are in preparation for the Jupiter Pluto Retrograde Conjunction on Tuesday 30th June in the early morning.
At this time, we will be at the Hurlers Stone Circles on the Michael-Mary/Rainbow Serpent energy line.
You are invited to link in with us from wherever you are in the world.
Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse Mediation
Time: Jun 5, 2020 07:30 PM London
Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81358613634
Meeting ID: 813 5861 3634
Summer Solstice and New Moon/Solar Eclipse Meditation
Time: Jun 20, 2020 08:00 PM London
Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81577598424
Meeting ID: 815 7759 8424
Jupiter and Pluto Conjunction Meditation
Time: Jun 29, 2020 08:00 PM London
Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82903853589
Meeting ID: 829 0385 3589