This Saturday, July 4th at 9:44 pm PDT (12:44 am EDT, July 5th), we have a full moon as a lunar eclipse in the sign of Capricorn at 13 degrees 38 minutes. This lunar eclipse is narrowly within the zone with the lunar nodes to qualify for a penumbral lunar eclipse, and so I would place in the categories of still fresh, as someone else put it “gestating” phase. So ‘tis a newbie, just a hint.
The sun in Cancer and the full moon in Capricorn highlight the themes of security, home, family, authority and leadership, governments, restrictions, limitations and responsibilities, that which needs to be done to enable Cancer security and safety (it is not all negative as we sometimes hear or read). The strongest themes presently will be the need to feel secure, our home and family and it is coupled with the challenge we face with the tightening grip of power and restrictions, harder boundaries and similar, and the enduring need for care while there is an increasing level of anger and frustration that will be acted out by people.
The three keywords for this eclipse are restriction, inhibition, and conflicts. Mars is juicing up the power and is swift to jump into something or react to something. Keep your helmets folks!
To illustrate these themes, pull in the images of ER and ICU nurses right now and then also imagine your local police department, both have big responsibilities right now, both are enduring restrictions from authorities at higher state levels, both carry immense responsibility for care, then consider the potentials that may eclipse the work they do – lack of information the public response has to what is happening, their own training (the quality of it by the fact it is held as a priority in the community), acting out from frustration, exhaustion, or having to deal with it in the community and still manage their integrity to act and serve (of course that also brings up the problems we’ve seen that have increased the importance of BLM and our need for change to improve equality and right action from authority) – just to illustrate the themes here). And for your own personal perspective as an individual level you would look at your own actions within the context of where Capricorn is (13 degrees) in your own nativity. Your personal experience of the themes will be experienced relative to that house. However, as part of the collective experience you will see how you participate in the broad themes of the eclipse as shared in the description offered below in bold text.
Collectively we are all still managing through state by state varying restrictions through the pandemic response we are all enduring. Saturn has returned to the sign of Capricorn on July 1st in retrograde and shifts the themes away from Aquarius temporarily through the end of this year. The focus is back on Capricorn themes and Saturn giving shape to karmic times of change.
You may ask, “What’s a penumbral eclipse of the moon?”
Here is a little astronomy to answer that question.
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-a-penumbral-eclipse-of-the-moon
There are several planets retrograde with Saturn that remind us of the importance of reflection. Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury are retrograde. Mercury will station direct on Sunday, July 12th at 5 degrees of Cancer. Mercury will begin slowing all this week for that station on Sunday, which will emphasize the perceptions and thinking of what is felt about safety and security as placed in the guidelines from authority figures and all of this being highlighted on the Independence Holiday for the United States of America landing on the axis of our own Cancer Sun. Do you see how that is showing up in your community? Look around — who is using their voice opposing restrictions or upset there are rules for face masks and other ways we are trying to inhibit the spread of this novel virus? Is it hurting them, or others in a manner of safety? Ther are so many threads of connection. It will be personal too. Perhaps there is some limit placed upon you because you are remodeling or need to repair something in your home (Mercury Rx in Cancer), that is something you will have to navigate based on multiple things from your financial resources available, it can include the reality if people are available to do such a service repair, and how quickly that can be addressed right now. There will be blocks and obstacles to navigate, it depends on how that is operating in relation to your own natal chart and planetary transits of the moment.
You can reflect on the connection of this eclipse within the series 149 (family of eclipses) that may be helpful in remembering events of your life from the other times this eclipse series was active, the most recent in the past was June 2002.
The symbolism of the series is derived from the original eclipse of the series, the first eclipse in this series is relatively new which took place June 13, 1984. There we will find and can explore the planetary symbolism of that chart and relate to this eclipse.
The dates of the other eclipses in this new series are (this series does not reach partial eclipse status until August 29, 2110, just for perspective):
- June 13, 1984
- June 24, 2002
- July 5, 2020
The best reference I have found as an astrologer for eclipses is the work of Bernadette Brady (note for new students of astrology). Brady ties this eclipse to a larger series in her book as S.S. 4 North, dating back to May 25, 1389. Her book Eagle and the Lark should be in any astrology student’s library. Brady’s description for this series says,
“Restriction, inhibition, restraint, separation and illusions are the trademarks of this family of eclipses. Events occur that seem to block the individual. In this blocking the individual is very prone to misjudge his or her strengths or the situation and is best advised to wait until the eclipse passes to take any real action. This is a difficult Saros series.” P. 313
Interesting timeline details for June 1984 that may be of interest for today I found at the website bestoflifeonline.com https://bestlifeonline.com/1984-events/
On June 8, 1949, George Orwell’s tour de force, 1984, hit shelves. The literary rebellion against Big Brother ranks among the most influential works of science-fiction ever. It’s been adapted into plays, ballets, operas, TV shows, and films (one of which is critically acclaimed). It also made an indelible mark on our lexicon, ushering in such words and phrases as “Orwellian,” “thoughtcrime,” “Newspeak,” and “memory hole.”
More recently, 1984 has experienced a bit of a resurgence, popping to the top of Amazon sales charts twice in recent years: once in 2013, after news of an NSA surveillance scandal broke, and again in 2017, when the phrase “alternative facts” was first uttered on national television. At the time of the latter, esteemed New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani called Orwell’s fictional dystopia “all too familiar.”
Tetris, the game of stacking blocks, was first released on June 6, 1984. Designed by Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov, an artificial intelligence researcher – was one of the earliest hit video games. First available on Commodore 64 and IBM PC.
Now we have the online Tetris versions in the palm of our hands.
There are more prominent events of the year, but these two were in the month of June near the eclipse in 1984.
Presently, I want to add a note here that when eclipses first form, they are new, wide from the exact degree of the sun and moon in relation to the nodes of the moon. There is something to be said of the subtle change of something that happens in the archetypal mix and what is in the chart of that eclipse originating. Then over time that subtle thing becomes exaggerated and evolves in more change, so when the eclipse peaks, whenever that happens on some moment in time, there would be a more bloomed exaggeration of that energy that is lived out in experiences. * I learned this from another astrologer by the name of Ernst Wilhelm, an astrologer that uses the tropical zodiac with Vedic astrology, so his teaching and sharing are within that context.
Getting to the potential awareness or to land an answer what was that subtle thing back in June 1984, that eclipse that may be expanding through time for us to collectively review and come to understand through lived experience?
Makes me ponder the power of one book rippling through our collective thought and how that is observed in our reality. It is kind of an interesting way to look at the simple drop-in of a powerful thought-provoking book and how it can turn into a voluminous wave that is far-reaching.
Reviewing the chart from 1984, for the first eclipse of this series we can see a Gemini stellium in the chart. The first things that stand out for me are the amplified element of air (Gemini and Libra), communications, relationships, and how we relate to each other transforming us (Pluto at the critical degree of Libra too in emphasis). Libra is also about fairness and social justice. Boom, that ties over so well for the present moment. Within the 1984 chart is really challenging and powerful energy of Saturn and Mars both retrograde in Scorpio, drawing attention by an emotional heaviness to what lies beneath, what is cutting, demanding, raw emotions, secrecy, betrayal, shadow, decay, control, and those two are in sextile to Jupiter at 10 degrees of Capricorn (very near this lunar eclipse degree of 13), Jupiter creating the emphasis and there’s an enduring factor, so these three planets Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter are the base of a Yod formation in the original eclipse chart and Mercury at 11 degrees Gemini is the apex. Communications, clarity, education, community, speaking, using our voices, also symbolic of youth our children, especially elementary aged children. The moon in Sagittarius is receiving the eclipse and Neptune is wide from recent ingress to Capricorn. The moon is in the 6th house from the west coast point of view (but from a collective view I’d look at Washington DC for the USA). Highly energized (liberation/releasing/sudden events/freedom) Uranus in Sagittarius on the South Node 5th house, is another theme that ties to pleasures, creations, and childlike ego expression. Mercury ruling the Gemini and in Gemini brings forward the importance of communication we have as a collective, for the collective goodwill and benefit.
The group consciousness and the “medicine” of facts and clarity of information, will help truly liberate people to understand their environment and real present situation that they can address. The Yod configuration with Saturn and Mars in Scorpio with Jupiter in Capricorn is what feeds the Mercury in Gemini apex, it acts as a funnel from those themes being activated that pushes it through the Mercury, and it can and often in a Yod will be wild and untamable. That is one characteristic of a Yod, the wild chaotic like an energy that appears with it when it is activated by planetary transits over those sensitive degrees.
https://mooncalendar.astro-seek.com/solar-eclipses-of-saros-149
Back to present lunar eclipse at 13 degrees of Capricorn and we also have Mercury retrograde in Cancer opposing by sign. Mercury is really close at 7 degrees Cancer at the moment of this lunar eclipse from an opposition so the themes of this lunar eclipse are weaving again how we think but add, how we think by how we feel. Add this lunar eclipse has Mars square from Aries (and Chiron too) we may see individuals acting out aggressively and the rise of conflict because of the perceived feeling thoughts connected to the bigger picture of the moment in time – presently restrained with limitations and restrictions that are enduring which increase everyone’s ease and comfort otherwise familiar and known. Are you beginning to see how the two eclipses have similar themes?
The nodes of the moon have shifted though between 1984 original eclipse and the one occurring July 4-5. Original eclipse in Gemini accentuating the Mercury in Gemini at the apex of the Yod and the present moment nodes have moved over time to the end of the sign of Gemini, now at 29 degrees (potent as a critical degree). The original themes of 1984 bleeding into the present moment are there with the present situation we see across the Black Lives Matter and political forces and systems of systemic oppression – that pulls in the 1984 book themes I think vividly. We have people across the USA absolutely fighting in ways against “Big Brother” controls in their lives, which may make the present moment situation and chaos that much bigger. What it may also speak to symbolically is that the eclipse series will expand on that theme through time.
From the perspective of future intention setting, I would say an eclipse has increased potential when you consider the pattern of the cycles. I will offer a word of caution with respect to rituals during eclipse season relative to the new moon solar eclipses, as I have observed some intensely unpleasant outcomes and manifestations with such actions. However, intention within a lunar eclipse under the dynamic of the full moon has a different mystical energetic pulse to it. I am interested to hear from those of you who have set an intention during a lunar eclipse. What has been your personal experience? I recently heard a story of Einstein’s theory of relativity came through the energy of an eclipse, I will need to research that to be certain what I heard is true, but it has indeed sparked a curiosity to look into that with greater research.
There is always something we can learn in our process by tuning into these cycles, observing life (especially happening on the national and global stage via the collective behaviors and attitudes) and the themes that are carried with them like a message in a bottle on a wave of the ocean. An act of intention set at this time has movement and a distinct pulse into the future with amplification of Mars, as it is square by sign of the eclipse (being square to the eclipse is the growth area opportunity for evolution).
Like anything else, it is how we respond to it in life. Our response sets the tone for how we feel and how we are received and perceived. Mars energy heightened from Aries speaks to swift action, fearlessness, pioneering, but also conflict, frustrations, anger, and violent bursts of energy.
This lunar eclipse newsletter is longer than most, so thank you for reading and I appreciate your interest in this blog shared bi-monthly with new and full moons. Have a safe and Happy Independence Day in the USA and safe few weeks until the next new moon, until the next blog – Bless this moment, Namaste.
Leave a Reply