The Cosmic Story: Autumn Eclipse Season 2023
Unstuck and Ready to Rock
Have you ever felt stuck in a recurring nightmare, or a recurring issue/habit/behavior that never gets resolved, no matter how many times you work on it? I have.
Do you perhaps find yourself dealing with a health, relationship or work issue that suddenly makes you confront yourself?
If so, you’ve entered the Eclipse Portal! And change is on the way.
Eclipse season comes twice a year, depending on the signs of the Lunar Nodes. Lunar nodes are points in space where the planes of the Sun, Moon and Earth intersect. These points travel backwards through our zodiac and change every 18+ months.
There is a North Node, ascending above the ecliptic (the Sun’s path), and a South Node, descending below it. Astrologers see the South Node as the place we’ve come from and the North Node is designated as the place we need to grow into.
Right now, the nodes are traveling through the Spring and Fall signs of Taurus/Scorpio and Aries/Libra. This was the transition year for the nodes, moving out of Taurus/Scorpio and into Aries/Libra on July 17th.
The Moon’s nodes travel backwards in terms of signs, moving from 30* - 0*. However, whenever the nodes shift, we have a set of hybrid eclipses – eclipses that occur in both the old and the new nodal signs. That happened last April and May with the second Aries New Moon solar eclipse and the following Scorpio/Taurus Full Moon lunar eclipse.
We have the last hybrid eclipses in this cycle coming up in October, with an annular solar eclipse in Libra on October 14th and a partial lunar eclipse in Taurus/Scorpio on October 28th. We are shifting our attention from the need to release past emotional traumas and embrace our true values and self-worth, to finding our courage to stand up for those values and for ourselves when we relate to others.
Eclipses always herald a time of change. We can see the whole 6-week eclipse season (two weeks before and after the two eclipses) as a portal, which opens to our past, so we can work with it in the now to create a more conscious future.
This is where astrology and the imagination are helpful in decoding and releasing the old story and birthing a new one. Astrology gives you the archetypal structure being resonated and the Imagination fills in the blanks with your personal story.
Give your pain meaning and you heal.
Before I talk about the eclipses, I want to mention a few of the important planetary energies occurring in the beginning of October.
An ongoing aspect has been Pluto in Capricorn squaring the Aries/Libra nodes. This aspect has been part of this summer’s New and Full Moon charts. The state of our world (Capricorn) is challenging us(Aries NN) to do something about it (Libra SN)!
October 4th – Mars conjuncts the South Node in Libra (opposing the North Node in Aries), bringing up old relationship patterns and testing our will power to take a stand for ourselves and make a change. South Nodes symbolize the old behavior patterns that need transforming by the energy of the North Nodes. Libra is the sign where we take other’s needs into consideration. Because of patriarchy’s expectations, we (especially women) have all learned to go overboard and so lose our own standpoint.
Mars, which rules the Aries North Node, is bringing his standpoint to the Libra table and negotiating a change in consciousness. Since the Aries North Node is conjunct Eris, the Warrioress of the Heart, Mars can channel that energy into the negotiations. More open-heartedness, more truth can change everything. This is the New Masculine. Ultimately, Libra longs for balance. Which means putting yourself on the scale!
October 4th – Mercury enters Libra. Mercury has been in Virgo since July 28th, retrograding from August 23rd until September 15th. It finally leaves Virgo, hopefully with a clear head and some plans, for Libra where we get to see how we interact with others with our newfound perspective. Can we make our communications charming and witty rather than condemning and nasty.
Aphrodite/Venus (ruler of Libra) says that we can use our charm and wit to communicate and connect to the Other. Once that happens, things change.
October 8th – Venus finally leaves Leo after a 4-month stay while she retrograded and started a new Morning Star phase. Venus and her Greek predecessor Aphrodite ask us to learn how to stay in that state of ‘love’ consciousness where we feel connected to ourselves, to nature and to others.
Venus heads into Virgo, where she can ground in what she learned about herself in Leo, the sign of individuation (aligning with your true Self). Virgo is symbolized by the Virgin Mother – the Woman and Child/sheaf of wheat – and when Venus is in Virgo, she takes up her virginity again and checks in with herself to see what she learned and created during her stay in Leo – her child, her harvest.
Dance, sing, play music, paint, write, study, recite, cook, create!
October 10th – Pluto turns to direct motion after being retrograde since May 1st. In May, Pluto was dipping its toes into Aquarius but re-entered Capricorn on June 11th to revisit the state of our collective culture. It’s obviously a mess: politically here in the United States, in the Middle East, in Ukraine, as well as everywhere in terms of climate change. Transition to a more conscious approach to Nature on a global scale is speeding up and in many cases, winning against corporate/state institutions.
As Pluto moves forward again, will the citizens of the world hold our leaders accountable? Pluto backed up to within 20’ of the US Pluto return, so this is the last wakeup call we Americans get to ‘turn this ship around’. The question we have to ask is Can we make a democracy work? The answer is yes, if we the people do our job as citizens and participate.
October 14th – Annular Solar Eclipse – New Moon in Libra/below
October 23rd – Sun enters Scorpio
October 28th – Taurus/Scorpio Full Moon partial Lunar Eclipse/below
October 31st – All Hallows Eve/ Samhain
April’s First Eclipse in the Aries/Libra Axis
The first eclipse in the new Nodal axis of Aries and Libra occurred last April 20th as a second New Moon solar eclipse at 30* Aries. That eclipse was conjunct Jupiter and Chiron, urging us to explore our self-identity, to dig deeply into our inner world with courage. Uranus and Mercury were conjunct in Taurus, asking us to consider Earth’s creative genius and think outside-the-box for answers to our pressing climate issues. Pluto was just a month into Aquarius and slowing down to turn retrograde, so it empowered the Taurus/Scorpio nodes to finish up business and transform. A sextile/trine from Saturn in Pisces to the nodes helped us access spirit – the end of the transformation process. Ceres in Virgo opposed Neptune in Pisces, energizing the imagination to help in the integration process. For more, see the Beltane Newsletter.
Annular Solar New Moon Eclipse: Saros Series 134
On October 14, the second eclipse in the new Nodal axis will also be a New Moon solar eclipse, this time in Libra. It is a South Node eclipse, which means it will concentrate on releasing the shadow qualities of Libra. South Node qualities are easy and comfortable to get lost in and so this eclipse can be a release of old karma, the old story around relationships, negotiations, beauty, justice (Libra), and the birth of a new story. This is especially true for people with planets or nodes from 18* - 26* of cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn).
This will be an annular solar eclipse, which happens when the Moon is at or near its farthest point from Earth as it passes between the Sun and Earth. Because the Moon is farther away from Earth, it appears smaller than the Sun and does not completely cover the Sun, leaving a ring of fire around the Moon.
Saros Series 134
This eclipse is part of Saros Series 134, which started in 1248, repeating every 18+ years, and which ends in 2510 – as you can see, these eclipse series work through about 1300 years. The theme of the first eclipse is worked out during the whole cycle. This year’s eclipse is the 44th of 71 eclipses in this series, more than halfway through, so it’s a good time to work out the issues.
In the first eclipse of this series on June 29, 1248, the New Moon eclipse occurred at 8+* Cancer conjunct Neptune. On the positive side, there was a nebulous, imaginative, spiritual aspect to this originating eclipse, aided by trines to both Saturn and Pluto in Scorpio. This Scorpio conjunction adds strong self-control, ambitions, endurance and a profound desire for change and transformation leading to the development of a secure personality.
Pluto (planet of transformation) and Saturn (planet of Karma) together often indicate having to overcome intense issues and hard circumstances to grow the soul. In Scorpio, this might indicate a deep dive into the unconscious to discover what was needed for nurturing the soul (Solar eclipse in Cancer).
But Mars in Leo (EGO) was exactly square Pluto and Saturn, causing these intense emotions to flood into the Cancer New Moon. Looks like power plays and frustrations, a push and shove kind of energy that keeps things stuck and not moving forward. Add in lots of protection from the Cancer eclipse. This would easily result in intense anger, power tripping and force that probably needs to be transformed and used in overcoming those obstancles. This eclipse series is all about overcoming obstacles to self-awareness and self-nurturing.
And this solar eclipse is all about getting unstuck. Changes might seem to unroll rapidly. Hang on and stay focused.
Eclipses are times of intensity. We can feel things are changing. They can bring in new energy or cause some issues if we haven’t done our work. This eclipse will travel up the western half of the United States from South America, but will be felt by everyone.
If this Saros series began with the energy of stuckness, this Solar Eclipse will move us forward. We are being given the energy to get unstuck! Unstuck from old unconscious habits, unstuck from old relationship patterns, unstuck from over-compensating for everything and everyone. To get unstuck we need to believe in ourselves and want to change how we live with others and in the world (the eclipse squares Pluto).
The question asked is: How do you overcome the fear of being stuck so you can move forward in life?
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Libra Solar New Moon Eclipse 2023
The Libra Solar Eclipse occurs on Saturday October 14, 2023 at 9:55 am AK, 10:55 am PDT, 11:55 am MT, 12:55pm CDT, 1:55 pm EDT and 5:55 pm GMT.
Libra is a cardinal AIR sign, initiating changes in the season (Autumn) as well as changes in how we interact with the world around us and between us. We come out of our Virgo self-examination and integration to bring ourselves and our gifts, hopes and will into the larger world. When you ‘know yourself’ (the gift of Virgo), then you have no trouble bringing that self into play with others.
Libra’s gifts concern our social interactions. Our marriages and partnerships, our alliances, peace and diplomacy, legal matters and the court. Libra is also concerned with the Arts, with fashion and beauty, with social status as well as equality. All these are gifts of Aphrodite/Venus, the ruler of Libra.
Venus is the ruler of this eclipse. She has just been through her retrograde in Leo, and she is now in Virgo opposite Saturn in Pisces at the eclipse. She understands the collective longing for peace, for love, for security (Saturn in Pisces). In Virgo, Venus’ virginity wants to be of service to Libra relationships. Venus wants us to bring more courtesy, more kindness, more balance, more love into our relationships. This is not a sign of weakness; it takes strength to stay loving in our chaotic world.
If we did our work this summer while Venus was in Leo for 4 months, our self-worth is strong and centered in our own creative vision. As Venus passed through the last degrees of Leo and the first degree of Virgo, she connected with the ancient Royal star of Regulus, the heart of the Lion.
In her present Leo Morning Star phase, Venus is a warrioress – but one who defends the heart of life. This connection to Regulus is her call to leadership, a call to conscious women to speak up about our culture, our communities and our values.
Women have always defended the family, the community, the land. Women need to step away from patriarchy’s demand for alligance to consumer capitalism and reclaim our real power – the power to connect with each other and with nature. If we can look at things from this perspective, we can find new solutions to our problems. (Instead of banning books, perhaps we need to ask people who want to ban books to not come to our libraries.)
Mercury is close to the Sun and will conjunct it on October 20th on the degree of the South Node, so our Minds are awake and aware of this new energy.
Mars in Scorpio trines Saturn retrograde in Pisces and sextiles Venus in Virgo, giving us the emotional strength to open ourselves to change. Mars has already gone past its square to Pluto, so we won’t have to deal with power plays that can delay our journey to transformation. Cosmic time says it’s time to get unstuck!
Autumn is the time to let things go. The truth is, it’s time to let our old stories go. A new story wants to be born.
Taurus/Scorpio partial Lunar Eclipse: October 28th
Because we are in a hybrid lunar cycle, the New Moon in one sign is followed by the Full Moon in the next signs.
The Taurus/Scorpio Full Moon Lunar Eclipse occurs on October 28, 2023 at 12:24pm AK, 1:24pm PDT, 2:24pm MT, 3:24pm CDT, 4:24pm EDT and 9:24pm GMT.
The Libra New Moon solar eclipse gives birth to the Taurus/Scorpio partial Lunar Eclipse. Venus is the ruler of both Taurus and Libra, so the initiator of soul is our guide here. Her one unbreakable rule is to always honor Love. As we break free from our stuck habits, we will have to face the emotional pain that got us stuck in the first place, give it the love it deserves, then lay it to rest and let new, more authentic habits and behaviors create our new story.
Pluto is now slowly moving forward again on it’s way back to Aquarius, and it is still squaring the lunar nodes in Aries and Libra. What are our social and personal moral obligations to our country and culture? What is our place and purpose in the NOW?
At the solar eclipse, Venus in Virgo was opposite Saturn retrograde in Pisces, helping us embrace and embody a spiritual discipline. Now, Venus is opposite Neptune for this Taurus Full Moon eclipse. Venus is channeling our collective longings (Neptune) for a better world into these eclipses through her spiritual practices and rituals, first for ourselves (become it yourself) and then for everyone.
Mars and Mercury are conjunct at 11-12* Scorpio opposite Jupiter retrograde in Taurus. This is a great time to speak your truth, to live your truth and to stay open to other people’s truth. Otherwise, you could use this aspect to tear down others with your sharp tongue and bullying attitude.
The Taurus Full Moon is conjunct Jupiter retrograde, expanding our need to find our own inner security and self-worth. This Jupiter enhanced Full Moon is an open channel for the deep information that Mars and Mercury turn up in Scorpio.
When the Nodes are in Aries and Libra, it is a call to renew our self-identity, to embrace our inner spirit and explore our life and live it. Look for new connections, new ideas, new relationships, new work. As we let go of our old co-dependent habits in all our relationships, we can create a more truthful, heartfelt world where courtesy, honesty, kindness, graciousness, and pleasure are the norm.
So please. Get Unstuck. Then be ready to Rock!
May we all stay balanced as we welcome the Winds of Change,
Cathy
