The Cosmic Story: Part Two
Samhain, Taurus Total Lunar Eclipse and Hekate
The Taurus/Scorpio Total Lunar Eclipse 2022
We’ve had a few weeks of tremendous stress and change, starting with Jupiter retrograde heading back into Pisces for a check in on October 27th – 28th, Mars in Gemini going retrograde on October 30th and All Hallow’s Eve/Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos/the Day of Dead on November 1st – 2nd. And don’t forget the Scorpio Power Gate of Samhain on November 7th.
These weeks are bracketed by this season’s eclipses. Eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon and Earth are on the same plane in space. Then the Earth or the Moon can block the light of the Sun – the Earth for lunar eclipses and the Moon for solar eclipses. The solar eclipse on October 25th highlighted a release of an old story, habits, behaviors and a planting of a new spirit of regeneration. (You do know the old story isn’t working anymore, don’t you?) We get this blessing because the Moon – our unconscious psyche – faces directly into the Sun, our consciousness. There is a sacred marriage between our unconscious and conscious sides. Our energies come into a different balance and open us to change.
Tuesday's Taurus lunar eclipse indicates what we are directed to learn and incarnate, since it’s conjunct the lunar North Node in Taurus. The North Node indicates our collective destiny. A Full Moon is the full blossoming of what was planted at the proceeding New Moon. It is fully illuminated so we can see the result of our plantings. Did something grow or did it fail to prosper?
With a lunar eclipse, that Full Moon blossoming is overshadowed with our Shadow! We get to see what is stopping us from that blossoming. Lunar eclipses can change us by showing us what we haven’t wanted to look at. Our earthy nature gets in the way of us manifesting that perfect blossoming. But once we name it and own it, we change things. Our shadows turn into the golden light of consciousness and open our awareness in unexpected way. Especially this lunar eclipse. Let’s look at it.
The Taurus Full Moon total lunar eclipse occurs on November 8, 2022 at 3:02am PST/ 6:02am EST/ 11:02am GMT.
The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 17* Scorpio is: A woman, fecundated by her own spirit, is “Great with Child”. This beautiful image reminds me of the Woman of Revelation – A portent appeared in the heavens. A Woman, clothed with the Sun, standing on the Moon, crowned with Stars, in labor giving birth to the Savior. The Divine Feminine and women will save the world!
This image calls on the Divine Feminine within each of us to birth our original blessings and soul-purpose. This idea aligns with the Gene Key for this eclipse, for the Taurus Moon has the Second Gene Key, which is associated with the second trigram of the I Ching – the Receptive/the Feminine. The Second Gene Key is called, Returning to the One.
This Gene Key’s shadow is called dislocation. It is a feeling of not knowing where we are in time or space. It feels like now, doesn’t it? Since this is my birth Gene Key, I can say that it makes us feel like we’re isolated, that we don’t fit in, that we’re lost. But the reality is that we are never lost on a soul level, that we are part of Mother Earth’s biosphere. Our human consciousness feels like that because we’ve been separated from Nature by our patriarchal culture. But once we look at this shadow and embrace it, we find the gift, which is called orientation. When we re-orient our awareness of life toward spirit, we can live more harmoniously, with an increased electromagnetic field that attracts what we need to live a full life. The blessing of this Gene Key is Unity, being able to live in an awareness of our interconnection with all of life.
We do all this through our connection to the Divine Feminine within, to our soul’s song for us. Once we shake off our patriarchal paralysis, we can embrace our bountiful Being. What a gift that will be for all of humanity – and for all the rest of nature which has had to deal with our destructive ways for too long.
The Sabian symbol for the Moon and Uranus at 17* Taurus is: A symbolic battle between ‘swords’ and ‘torches’. This speaks to our cultural polarization, doesn’t it? The swords/guns of one side, the torch of freedom on the other. (See below for the symbolism of the torch and Hekate, the Goddess of this Samhain season.) It’s so much easier for the ‘old’ to go to war than to carry the light into the future. Everything going on in the world is a result of the negative energies of the patriarchal paradigm. Instead of allowing people our freedom, the dominators would rather kill us and the Earth than retire to their easy chairs and let go. Whether they use weapons or money, they refuse to create a better world – and the saddest part is we have the intelligence and the resources to do it. We just don’t have the will. Perhaps this eclipse will give it to us.
So, back to this intense Full Moon. All the energies of life (Taurus) and death (Scorpio) culminate on November 8th, the U.S. Election Day, with a total Lunar Eclipse in Taurus/Scorpio – seen over the whole U.S. This is the first Election Day total lunar eclipse in American history, not set to happen again until November 8th 2394. What makes this Full Moon eclipse so extra powerful (Scorpio and Taurus are powerful in themselves) is that the Taurus Moon is aligned with Uranus and the North Node opposite the Scorpio Sun conjunct Mercury and Venus, with both sides of the Full Moon square Saturn in Aquarius.
The heavens are showing us that there’s LOTS of FIXED energy around – six planets and the lunar nodes in fixed signs. Which means stubborn, intractable, powerful, building energies will be in play. Look at all the red lines (stressful) in the chart for Washington D.C. But I want to believe that the needs of the future will win out, and the surprises that Uranus, which symbolizes freedom, rebellion, unexpected surprises, always promises might be that the US election will go against conventional wisdom. I want a surprise finish! If so, there will be crazy challenges. Whichever way things go, we’re in a for wild ride.
The Scorpio Sun joins Mercury a few hours after this eclipse, while Venus has already connected with the Sun on October 22nd at 29* Libra just a few days before the Scorpio Solar Eclipse. So these three planets are in harmony, having connected with each other in the past few weeks. Venus is our feminine nature, which is being renewed as an Evening Star of Wisdom. We are not supposed to hold onto emotions (e-energy in motion): they move through us in 90 seconds if we allow them to. Venus goes willingly into the dark to embrace what has been neglected, degraded and unloved.
Mercury is the Mind, which can name what is happening and even guide us on our underworld journey. The Sun is our conscious awareness of what we have learned. These three planets in Scorpio can take us deep within ourselves to discover hidden riches as well as old emotional pain. The work here is transformation – letting go of stuck emotions so new energy is available to us. So we can become ‘great with child’, with our new life and story.
Taurus is the most grounded sign in the zodiac. It’s the sign of Mother Earth, the one who takes cosmic energy and creates life. Taurus Moons like stability, security and pleasure. And of course, the beauty and simplicity of Nature. In a worldly way, Taurus rules safety and security, money, possessions, beauty, love and values. With Uranus conjunct the Moon opening us to Earth’s creative evolutionary genius, our ground might be shaken but we won’t necessarily collapse if we stay true to ourselves. (But the stock market might.)
The most important gift of Taurus is our values – what do we value? Patriarchy values money, domination and power. The Divine Feminine values love, heart-centered wisdom, community, beauty and truth. What do you value? What we value will come back to us, so meditate on what you truly desire.
This lunar eclipse can create a strong energy pattern that can help us manifest what we set our hearts on. (I keep saying manifest because Taurus is the zodiacal sign of manifestation. It is the foundation of whatever we build. Taurus takes Aries original spark of spirit and shapes it into something. Gives it a form.)
Scorpio is where we rub up against each other, where our emotional barriers stop us from connecting because of past trauma. This eclipse can bring down those barriers. With Venus and Mercury acting together to assist our descent into our Shadow lives, we can be gentle with ourselves and name our wounds for what they are. Once named, they can be healed.
I believe the basic wound we all share is that we’ve been told we aren’t the beautiful, abundant, creative beings that we are. Our wound is that we hide our true Self behind barriers erected through mistrust and fear, expectation and desire until we don’t know who we are. We all have been wounded emotionally, physically and spiritually. Our hearts have been ravished of their hopes and dreams. Isn’t it time to reclaim them? If we do, perhaps we can create a new society that opens up our spirits instead of shutting them down.
That’s what we had to release during the Scorpio solar eclipse. Our false selves, our wounded selves. Did we plant a need for a new blueprint for connecting our ego-selves to our inner Self/Spirit? At this lunar eclipse, perhaps we’ll see the results. At the first quarter Moon in Aquarius (November 1), we’ll be tested in our resolve to write that new story. How is it going for you?
Total lunar eclipses are points of closure, completion and endings, which shine a light on what we’ve been unaware of. The result is permanent change. This is a long lunar eclipse, with totality lasting about an hour and a half, and about six hours in total. The longer the eclipse, the more time afterwards it takes to work things out. So the next six month should see the results of what is manifested.
The important thing to remember is to not get caught up in the drama – we are living in a chaotic moment that needs to happen if real change is to occur. So hang onto your hats and enjoy the winds of change and don’t get blown off course. Stay in your heart and love your people, be kind to others and make connections with like-minded people.
There is so much fixed energy in this chart. Fixed signs – Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius – want to hold on tight to the energies they’re working with because that’s their job! They want to concentrate the energy. With Saturn squaring this Full Moon eclipse and Uranus, last year’s struggle between the old vs the new, the past vs the future (Saturn/Uranus square) might get played out, especially here in the US.
In the larger world, we might expect earthquakes, with literal, financial and personal earthquakes. And in the US, I’m sure there will be fighting over the election results. Just BREATHE! Things need to breakdown so we can break on through the the other side.
These times will bring up great frustration, because there seems to be no outlet – Mars, the co-ruler of Scorpio, is retrograde and sort of lost in Gemini’s need to do a million things at once. Mars retrograde is also inconjunct Pluto in Capricorn, setting up a power struggle, and squaring Neptune retrograde, which can leave us mentally scattered, although it’s great for creativity and spirituality. As you can see, poor Mars will be confused, frustrated and uncertain how to act.
What is the thing that wants to be acted upon? What are you not doing and why? This is the thing that Mars going retrograde in Gemini (sign of learning, communication, perspective, travel and knowledge) will pose for us. What do we know and how do we want to perceive the world? Is it a matter of perspective? Of belief? Mars in Gemini is overloaded with ideas and perceptions. Mars turning retrograde will push that energy to stop moving so fast and really look at what is gong on NOW.
Jupiter is basically on the 0*Aries World Axis, but has moved back to 29* Pisces, the omega point, where it stays until it turns direct on November 23rd. Jupiter aligns once more with Neptune in Pisces to remind us that we are the world, we are the children, we are ONE. Uses this time to imagine a better world (it’s getting easier to see since the patriarchal world is showing its worst side as it dies).
As you can see, these next weeks will be intense. And the dark is rising, since we’re in the season of Samhain until Winter Solstice. This dark time is a time for contemplation and inner seeking. Solar Samhain (when the Sun hits 15* Scorpio) is on November 7th, so we are still in the energetic field of accepting Death as our advisor. Can we let go of fear and face the dark?
When we face the darkness which we associate with Death, can the Crone be our guide? Since it’s the season of Samhain and Halloween, and the witches are coming out to dance, I say we look to the Crone Goddess Hecate, the ancient guide to the human journey into darkness and death. And then back into rebirth.
Hecate, the Goddess of the Crossroads
It’s interesting that Christians called Hekate ‘the Queen of Witches’, a reminder of her power to free women from patriarchal rules and roles. As one young twitter user sang, a WITCH is a Woman In Total Control of Herself. All the patriarchal religions want to control women because we are powerful – we are the Mothers who give birth to life and men never lose their need for our comfort and support. Under patriarchy, a woman who was not controlled might not give men that love and comfort, so she had to be controlled.
Unfortunately, that’s just not the way it works. Freedom breeds love. Control breeds hate. In the Piscean Age, men condemned women (and some men) for being witches, not only because they feared magic, but also because they especially feared Women’s Magic.
How powerful must women be for such a long and consistent persecution?
So Hekate is the guide for those women who belong to themselves. Who are not afraid of their inner darkness, which is just unknowing. Women know this darkness with our bleeding. We know it with our giving birth. We know it in our body. Women live this cyclical nature, so we are not afraid to take Hekate for our guide.
Hekate is the great Goddess of the Crossroads, the initiator into the mysteries of death and rebirth. At her triple crossroads, magic happens – we can be blessed or cursed – but we will be challenged. What happens really depends on what’s in our heart. We curse ourselves when we let our fear of death stop us from making choices and changing. We step into our blessings when we trust our choices and step onto our path. But we have to choose. That’s the point of a triple crossroads. A choice is called for. Our world is at a crossroads. Will we pick freedom or fear?
One of my ‘big’ dreams while I was studying at the Jung Institute was about a triple crossroads and a dynamic change.
In the first part of the dream, I was facing a wounded lion. Then I was sitting on an old-fashioned buckboard wagon at a triple crossroads. I looked up and saw in the sky the waning Moon (the Crone/Hekate Moon) and a giant tidal wave about to descend on me. I closed my eyes and thought ‘this is it’. Then I opened my eyes and saw that the tidal wave was gone and there was a new crescent Moon shining in the sky what the old Moon had been. And then I was given a blessing.
This was the beginning of a big change in my life. Because I did make a free choice after this dream. I later discovered that Hekate, the Crone, often changed into Artemis, the Virgin.
Whether we think of her as a Goddess, an archetype or a cosmic law of life, Hekate is still vital to us today. Especially so, since She is well acquainted with death and rebirth. She saw Kore ravished away by Hades, the God of Death, and told her mother Demeter about what had happened. Hekate is the archetypal energy within us that sees our inner process and the possible outcomes (roads) we might consider taking. She understands our fears, our hopes and dreams and what we are striving for. She is our companion in the darkness, and lights the way with her torches – whether in the form of dreams, intuitive perceptions and most importantly, our heart’s desire. She is a great guide for the uncertainty of our times. While we don’t know what the future will bring, we don’t have to face it alone. We have Hekate to guide us safely through the dark.
Hekate was worshiped all over the ancient world and is still called upon by women and occultists as Goddess of Magic and Healing. She is an opener of the way, and the Goddess of Thresholds; hence her keys, opening the door to a new start while locking the door on the old story. She is a Goddess of in-between places, like dawn and dusk, places of transition and liminality. She carries two torches to light the way in and out of the dark.
(It’s interesting that the Statue of Liberty, holding a torch and wearing the 7-rayed crown of Hekate, lights our way to freedom – perhaps an echo of Hekate there?)
I’ve always thought of Hekate as a more ancient Goddess than the Olympians (she was a Titaness) because she was free to wander the three world – the heavens, earth and the sea, as well as the Underworld, where she ministers to Persephone, often known as another aspect of her triple nature. Hekate was free to wander the world, independent of the patriarchal need to marry off the ancient goddesses to their newer male gods. Although in different times and places, Hekate is associated with a god or children, she never loses her freedom.
Most importantly, Hekate gets her power over heaven, earth and sea from her mother, Asteria, the starry cosmos, who was associated with divination by dreams and astrology. Hekate’s association with dreams and prophecy comes from her mother Asteria as well as her association with snakes and oracles.
Just as you have to seek those in-between realms to open to prophecy, Hekate as the Goddess of Thresholds takes us into those other realms, using her keys to help us close one part of our life and open the door to another. As such, She is Goddess and guide to those transitioning from this world to the next in death.
She can help us get over the fear of Death, allowing us to go gently into that sacred transition. Our world could do worse than look to Her for guidance now, and at the hour of our death.
courtesy of Katlyn Breene
If we take her as our guide, Hekate stands with her two torches, her keys, and her protective dogs, ready to light the way, open the door and scent out the path we need to take to meet our Death – and awaken to our Re-birth.
In this time of great turmoil and transition, please go and vote. While neither side is perfect, it is up to we, the people, to initiate change. And while we might not trust the system completely, it is the only one we have at the moment. So vote for change and then make sure it happens.
Samhain Blessings,
Cathy
