Whether Astrology is science or magic, we’re open to most things, if they may be of benefit. ~ Ed.
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The new moon, or solar eclipse will occur at 28 degrees Leo, on August 21, 2017, at 12:30 p.m. MST.
It’s eclipse season and time for great expansion and evolution! So much opportunity to share our love and light, but also face our shadow and darkness. This Leo eclipse has it all.
The path to peace may sometimes seem like an unsolvable labyrinth, with tricksters at every turn. Shame, guilt, consequence, judgment, questions of worthiness, are all things we must face when we choose to explore our deepest wishes and take action toward manifesting them. Our natural and innate right to feel pleasure and happiness has been manipulated, shamed, exiled, and victimized.
However, we are experiencing an awakening. This capacity for our bodies and souls to be filled with heart expanding feelings and experiences, with humility and care for others, is where we are heading. And this Leo solar eclipse is an opportunity for us to face our shadows in the areas of pleasure and sexuality, so that we may allow ourselves and others to feel their lightness and power.
Leo is the divine source of creation, manifested in us through physical form, reminding us that playfulness and pleasure are our innate right. Leo shines bright and brings forth this divinity in the form of love, creativity, self expression, music, performing, art, dance, and passion for sharing these with the world. Leo offers courage, generosity, and a deeply open heart of loyalty and love to all he cares for.
This is a north node eclipse and, as the north node is the compass pointing us toward our collective, evolutionary path, it’s encouraging us to evolve toward full embodiment of these qualities which are represented by Leo–generosity, love, creativity, personal connection. At the same time, it encourages us to release the Aquarius south node shadows of disconnection, aloofness, and controlling.
The shadow of Leo is the narcissist—always needing to be in the spotlight, receive attention, and seek out pleasure, regardless of how it affects those around them. Hedonism and selfishness triumph if Leo is left unchecked and unaccountable.
But this solar eclipse isn’t all about Leo. It is all about our relationship to pleasure, sex, and joy. Not only is the Leo archetype highly emphasized with the north node, sun, moon, and Mars in Leo, but Lilith, the goddess of all things taboo, will be in close conjunction to Saturn in Sagittarius, and forming a loose grand trine with Uranus and the Leo eclipse, and Venus in feminine Cancer will be in opposition to Pluto, and forming squares to Uranus and Jupiter.
From an astrological point of view, this means that if there was ever a time to take a risk and really clear out anything that stands in the way of living a full, empowered, passionate and unapologetic life, it is now. And it’s the “what” that stands in our way that may be surfacing now, before we can actually fully receive the goodness that follows.
For those who may not know Lilith, here’s a quick synopsis. According to Jewish mythology, she was Adam’s first wife—created at the same time, from the same material as Adam. She has a reputation for strength and defiance. She refused to submit to Adam’s request to remain underneath him during sex. She demanded to be his equal. And he would have none if it. As a result, she fled the Garden of Eden, refusing to return and was later demonized for her insubordination. There’s so much more to the Lilith story after this, but this initial event is the imprint of her archetype, known for her empowered choice to remain sovereign amidst Adam’s rejection of her full sexual ownership, desire, and equality.
This response to female sexual desire, the fear of the empowered feminine, and the story of the dominant masculine archetype, has done immeasurable damage to the collective, and these themes may be arising during this Leo solar eclipse.
Women can be both loving and fierce, vulnerable and strong, playful and serious. Our capacity to hold all this within our hearts and bodies has intimidated us for so long. We’ve kept our full power and potential hidden. This eclipse encourages us to break down the limiting and dysfunctional structures that have kept us confined, and ashamed. The Saturn/Lilith conjunction in Sagittarius asks us to stand in a position of truth and power, take responsibility for our sexuality and sexual activity, and become our own authority in seeking love and pleasure for ourselves.
Abuse of power, abuse of sexuality, abuse of religious doctrine, all hiding behind the mask of the conditioned gender and societal roles that span our ancestral lineage is asking to be healed, the collective matrix rewoven. Past transgressions and disempowered situations from this lifetime or others, may surface to be cleared out and transformed so that we may reap the gifts which arise from our pain.
We may meet our shadow as impulsiveness and irritation which surfaces if we use this opportunity to achieve our egoic desires. We may also meet our light if we channel this solar charged energy into love, commitment, pleasure, play, and creativity, without feelings of shame of unworthiness that might otherwise typically follow these pursuits.
With Mercury retrograde in Virgo, humiliation and shame from expressing our sexual nature, past abuse, or just enjoying simple pleasures, contrasts to Leo’s shadow of hedonism and selfishness, and Sagittarius’s tendency toward conceited preaching and rigid self-righteousness.
We may want to ask ourselves some questions:
Can we actually allow ourselves to feel pleasure, and feel empowered in it, regardless of what consensus dictates?
Can we find humility and compassion in this process as we heal, and release what’s toxic and unhealthy for us?
How does all this repression and distortion of pleasure affect our bodies and our health—mental, emotional, and physical?
Can we awaken to the realization that the shame we may feel from others’ dysfunctional behavior and beliefs is no longer ours to bear?
On a more practical level (Mercury is in Virgo after all), we may be reorganizing and reworking our creative projects and how we express ourselves. Feedback from others, or from our environment, lets us know what’s working and not working, and we get to re-calibrate and redirect.
This Leo new moon reminds us to open big. To take risks. To push the edges of what we thought possible, and to advocate for the part of us that seeks to bring truth, pleasure, and play into all we do, and all the gifts we have to share. Each one of us is capable of birthing something new during this time—a creative project, a new identity, a new relationship to our sexuality, a new passion or gift, a new relationship or adding new spice to an old relationship, or perhaps an actual birth of a child.
We have the opportunity in every moment to experience life in a full range of emotion, or face what is keeping us from feeling all there is to be felt. And every time we choose to evolve, we evolve the collective consciousness, and influence others to rise up just by being our authentic selves.
Eclipses can create both welcome and unwelcome stress. We need solid self-care practices to keep us grounded and centered.
Here are a few:
A somatic (body-based) practice called “Orienting” helps to refocus on the body.
>> For a few minutes at a time, pause and slowly look around the room, paying close attention to an object and then slowly moving on to another one. While doing this, stay connected to the sensations occurring in your own body. This will help relieve mental chatter and anxiety, and bring your focus back to your body and the present moment.
Belly breathing is a great way to calm down the fight or flight stress response in the body.
>> Five counts inhale in. Hold five counts. And release five counts out. Do this 10 times or until you feel your body settle. In addition, you can add in a visualization such as imagining a column of golden light from source above entering into your body and filling all the cells of your body with a joyful, loving sensation and continuing down through your feet into the earth. Feel yourself ground and center. Your body is connected to both heaven and earth.
Bonus: the Buddhist approach to the connection between the high, middle, and low realms of life:
Leo is connected to our heart and our solar plexus chakras. Simple mantras are a great way to activate these centers.
>> You can focus on just the heart or sacral chakra mantras or use all seven mantras for the seven chakras, as follows. Use your voice and experiment with extending the “a” or the “m” to create a fuller experience of the sound.
Lam—Root Chakra
Vam—Sacral Chakra
Ram—Solar Plexus
Yam—Heart Chakra
Ham—Throat Chakra
Aum—Third Eye Chakra
Om—Crown Chakra
We are now at a crossroads between love, pleasure, truth, and consequence. Our choices, attitudes, and behaviors affect the collective energy. Align to your values and deepest truth, and create from here.
Blessings!
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Relephant bonus:
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Author: Lara Noel
Image: with kind permission, Beth Stuart/Instagram via Greg Sims/Instagram
Editor: Khara-Jade Warren
Copy Editor: Nicole Cameron
Social Editor: Leah Sugerman
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