The Cosmic Story: Leo Partial
Solar Eclipse 2018
The Gift of Creative
Self-Expression
Evolutionary creativity always renders invalid
the 'law of large numbers' and acts in an elitist way.
Erich Jantsch: The Self-Organizing Universe
Leo is the astrological sign
related to the Sun of our solar system. It is a fixed fire sign, and
just as the Sun gives us light and life, so too Leo shines in all of
us when we grow in self-awareness and evolve. And the way Leo likes
to express this light and life is when we live life joyously and
creatively through our creative self-expression. Or as Carl Jung
would call it, through our individuation.
Leo’s gift to us (wherever
our Sun lies) is our unique expression of the divine Spirit of Life.
For Leo is the Divine Child within us.
The astrologer
Alan Oken says, “Leo
as the sign of the Sun expresses the creative potency of the focused
power of will—the will to be. As we mature and unfold our creative
potential, we come to the clear realization that without a focused
will, we can produce very little of anything. We also come to realize
that if this will is centered only in our little egos, then what we
produce has no lasting value and can and often does inhibit the
creativity of others.”
So
our creativity (Leo) must feed everyone (Aquarius), not for our
self-aggrandizement but for the health and well-being of our souls.
In
these chaotic and transformational times, our purpose is to be so
uniquely ourselves that we do not fall prey to the delusions of the
collective mindset. As the old paradigm of patriarchy dies, it is
not giving into death gracefully. It seems that if it has to die, it
will try to take all of us with it. As the Earth
burns and trembles, the powers
that be
are blind to what people really need. And because people are in fear
and confusion, they are easily swayed into actions that would horrify
them if they were conscious.
The
author Madeleine L’Engle (who wrote A
Wrinkle in Time)
says in her book Walking
on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art,
p.39:
We cannot Name or be Named without language. If our vocabulary
dwindles to a few shopworn words, we are setting ourselves up for
takeover by a dictator. When language becomes exhausted, our freedom
dwindles – we cannot think; we do not recognize danger; injustice
strikes us as no more than “the way things are.”
We
see this happening in America today with our president’s limited
vocabulary and his adherents willingness to be swayed by it. So it
behooves (to
have need of)
the rest of us to make up for this loss of naming
by
expanding our own vocabulary. The
more words we use, the more ways we can think about our lives. We
need to expand our vision and understanding of life now more than
ever before, since so many of us no longer subscribe to the old
religious beliefs of patriarchy. Unfortunately that leaves a vacuum
that is often filled by conspiracy theories or by petty dictators.
Fake news. Or meaningful reality. This is our initiation – what
do we believe about life? Is this 3-D reality all there is or is
there a spiritual reality that shapes and guides us?
Since
Leo thrives on self-expression,
this upcoming Leo solar eclipse is a perfect opportunity to expand
your vocabulary as well as create some art –
in life, in love, in work and in expression.
With
Mars retrograde so closely aligned with the South Node of the recent
Aquarius Lunar Eclipse, we need to focus
our will
on changing the prevalence
(condition
of being widespread)
of the old masculine
energy of
war,
domination, competition, rigid hierarchy and self-interest. The
new masculine energy arises
from the divine feminine – it is an energy of cooperation,
of stewardship of Life and the Earth (the Celtic Green Man), of
protection and honor, and a willingness to work with the feminine as
equal partners.
Masculine
energy is generative (to
beget or produce)
– it is the doing
to the feminine’s being.
So
first we have to know who we are (our beingness) so we can act in
accord with it (our
doing).
The Feminine is the foundation of life – the Masculine is what
comes from that foundation. After centuries of patriarchy, this
cosmic law of life has been negated and reversed. As Albert Einstein
said the
servant has become the master.
It’s time to change that.
We
do that first within ourselves and then we go out into our society as
shining examples of who we all can become. The
trouble of our times is that people have lost their connection to
these cosmic laws and in their fear and confusion, they are caught up
in the delusions of our consumer society.
We
all need a new story, a story that nurtures Life instead of Death,
hope instead of fear, love instead of hate.
To
do this, we need to let Spirit move through us – we need to
surrender to the divine spirit within us and let it birth what we
came into this lifetime to be
and do.
Like Mother Mary, we are all called to give birth to the Savior.
This
week’s
partial solar eclipse resonates with last August’s total solar
eclipse. The image for that eclipse was: A
Mermaid emerges from the ocean waves ready for rebirth in human form.
This
mermaid symbolizes our heart’s hope, our individual connection to
the collective unconscious and all its hopes and fears. She
also symbolizes our soul’s gifts from previous lifetimes as well as
the healing of our genetic inheritance.
The
great alchemical work we are engaged in is to bring our soul’s
passion and purpose into the world, despite the forces that work
against our individuation. It takes courage and faith to go against
the collective rules of society, to stop giving into the fears it
provokes in us. It’s time to begin to work on our soul purpose.
The
Sabian symbol for this partial solar eclipse at 19* Leo is: A
houseboat party.
And it symbolizes the enjoyment
of temporary freedom from rigidly structured social behavior. (Dane
Rudhyar)
(I just read this symbol after writing the above. I love
synchronicity!)
Of
course a mermaid would also love a houseboat party – it rides on
the waters of the unconscious! And she can always jump in the water
to get refreshed. It’s
time to turn our attention to our inner worlds and to learn to trust
our intuitions and feelings. It’s time to trust our hearts.
The
Leo Solar Eclipse, August 11 2018
The
Leo New Moon solar eclipse occurs on August 11, 2018 at 2:58am PDT/
5:58am EDT/ 10:58am GMT.
A
solar eclipse is an extra powerful New Moon that weaves together our
solar consciousness and our lunar consciousness. It signifies a new
beginning. It’s a time to plant seeds that will blossom in the
next year. So take time to meditate, imagine and listen to Spirit so
you can shape those new seeds of solar light.
This
New Moon solar eclipse is the third and last eclipse of the year and with only
one more eclipse in the Leo/Aquarius axis occurring next January 20,
2019. After that, the eclipse cycle moves into Cancer/Capricorn. So
use this new energy to open yourself to your imagination and
creativity and let your inner child play!
This
New Moon eclipse is aligned with Mercury retrograde and the asteroid
Pallas, the goddess of strategic wisdom. So do your homework – go
within and find out what the heart wants and needs in this next stage
of your life
journey.
With
6 of 8 planets retrograde (the Sun and Moon never go retrograde), all
the juice is inside us. It’s a good time to do some inner
journeying. It’s a great time to find your creative seed and plant
it. What do you and your divine inner child want to do next? It
helps to recap your life story and begin to work out a new story for
your future. (I’m giving an online workshop this fall on this
topic.)
Pluto
retrograde in Capricorn inconjuncts this Leo New Moon solar eclipse.
We have to stretch a bit to access that creativity, to really believe
that it’s important and achievable. We do have the power to turn
things around, but we need our freedom, our imagination and our
creativity to do it.
The
Sabian symbol for Pluto at 20* Capricorn is: A
hidden choir is singing during a ritual.
This symbolizes the need to add our creativity to the collective
broth. We need to know that all we
do is connected and unified in Spirit.
Neptune
retrograde in Pisces is also inconjunct to this solar eclipse. An
inconjunct needs us to stretch, to have patience, to re-adjust our
thinking. Neptune can inspire or delude us, depending on our
self-awareness. The
Sabian symbol for 17* Pisces is: An
Easter parade.
This is a symbol of transformation and resurrection, of gathering
together in accord with Nature’s energies. Easter is the Spring
Equinox, the time of Nature’s rebirth. Open
to Neptune’s true creative imagination – one connected to the
workings of Spirit rather than the workings of your small ego-self.
Together,
Neptune and Pluto join forces and create a YOD with this New Moon. A
Yod is called the Finger of God or the Sword in the Stone. It is a
powerful
energetic pattern that, once released, gives us the power to change
ourselves and the world.
So
be brave, call on Arthur and pull that sword out of the stone.
Jupiter
in Scorpio squares this Leo New Moon eclipse, challenging us to take
up this sword of Light and find our Truth.
Jupiter
expands and amplifies the issues of whatever sign it’s in. Halfway
through Scorpio, it is opening us to our
hidden depths
and that
of
our society. Passionate opinions, overblown emotions and raw fear
and pain can only be met and transformed if we have the courage to
look within ourselves and deal with our shadows.
Our
collective shadows are holding sway over us as well, and the only way
to transform them is for each of us to individuate – to become our
truest Self.
With
Jupiter squaring this solar eclipse, it’s time to face the music.
It time to dance with our shadows and redeem that lost energy. And
then, as Jung so wisely saw, we’ll see that beneath the
unconsciousness, there’s 99% gold.
Saturn
retrograde in Capricorn trines Uranus retrograde in Taurus. Our
inner world must be shaken up and transformed now. Don’t get lazy.
Saturn also squares both Venus in Libra and Chiron retrograde in
Aries – take responsibility for who you are. Don’t let others
confuse you. Find your center and stand there.
Enjoy
the end of the summer and let in the Light!
Cathy
Individuation
The
difference between the “natural” individuation process, which
runs its course unconsciously, and the one that is consciously
realized is tremendous. In the first case, consciousness nowhere
intervenes; the end remains as dark as the beginning. In the second
case, so much darkness comes to light that the personality is
permeated with light and consciousness necessarily gains in scope and
insight. The encounter between conscious and unconscious has to
ensure that the light that shines in the darkness is not only
comprehended by the darkness, but comprehends it (from “Answer to
Job” in CW 11, par. 756).
The
goal of the individuation process is the synthesis of the self. ~Carl
Jung; CW 9i; Page 278.
Individuation
does not shut one out from the world, but gathers the world to
oneself. ~Carl Jung; “On the Nature of the Psyche,” 1947.
Copyright
2018 – Cathy Pagano. All rights reserved.
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