by Robert Wilkinson
A Solar Eclipse is a New Moon. It shows the seed of what is to follow, not just for weeks, but for many months or even years.
Over the next 4 weeks (and 38 months), the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Scorpio will help us become more socialized in our desires and how we fulfill them, and for many it will require an assertiveness in some area to fill a void in our lives. It’s also the first Eclipse with the North Node in Scorpio.
This Eclipse is conjunct the North Node at 27 Scorpio, showing that we can find illumination and tremendous growth in moving toward ways to “put on the show,” using style and drama to sway others in some “public display.” With the South Node at 27 Taurus, we can “peacefully offer our wisdom to others” in “showing what we know,” and falling back on our ability to adapt easily and simply to the wisdom born of our life experience.
Since Eclipses are known for shutting things down over a long period of time, with the NN in Scorpio we begin to grow through new Scorpio things being attracted or magnetically regenerated, even as old Scorpio things are eliminated. Here we grow through materializing something subjective, avoiding trivialities to attract a more enduring reality.
The line of greatest development is through a form of “self-affirmation,” rejecting the lesser for the greater. This is a self-mobilizing energy, where we can be intrepid and dramatic in bringing things to a focus and directing events successfully toward our ends.
The South Node shows how we demonstrate what we already know, or find a "line of least resistance" where we "let go, let G-d." This is the first Eclipse with the South Node in Taurus. This shows the line of growth is through Scorpio energies which we then release and/or demonstrate through Taurus.
So the Light of the New Moon is shining on following our line of greatest development into learning to reject the mediocre and lesser and move into a greater individual self-demonstration in some social circumstance or emotional expression. We grow through loss and intensification, and should be able to let go of old things, people, values, and attachments with some degree of ease.
This is the sixth in a sequence of New Moons that fall in the sign preceding the Sun of the following Full Moon. This reverses the sequence of the 20 months preceding the 2012 Gemini New Moon that all had the New Moon in the same sign as the subsequent Full Moon.
That pattern is now reversed for many months to come. I explain this phenomenon and what it means in the Full Moon articles, so I’ll elaborate on this new beginning that reverses “the natural order of things” in the next Full Moon articles coming in about two weeks.
The New Moons and Full Moons are “God’s footprints in time.” Each shows the next in the 12 phases of how things come to be each year. The cycle could be described as follows: Life energy is initiated in Aries, substantiated in Taurus, explored in Gemini, grounded in Cancer, renewed and creatively expressed in Leo, refined and ordered in Virgo, balanced in Libra, purified in Scorpio, expanded in Sagittarius, organized in Capricorn, solidified into a vision in Aquarius, and ended/perpetuated in Pisces.
This New Moon Solar Eclipse at 22 Scorpio, like other recent Lunations, puts the focus on learning, communicating, discovering, and perceiving new ideas and ways of relating to others due to Jupiter being in Gemini supported by Mars in Sagittarius ruling the Lunation. Much that we focus on during the next 4 weeks (and 3+ years) will help us to a life renewal, and open up alternative truths and futures we may use to navigate our social existence.
This Lunation will bring echoes of Saturn in Libra lessons we began to learn in October 2011 that began completion and application August 2012. Venus in this Eclipse will help us let go of, or demonstrate, some traditional wisdom or eternal values to achieve a balanced understanding of self-expression.
As usual, while Jupiter is in Gemini we’ll continue to learn more and more, expanding the truths and new potential futures opened while liberating us from ghosts of the past that were indicated in the 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse. As Jupiter continues its retrograde approach to the degree of that eclipse, it continues to be a time of an acceleration of the eclipse effect!
Jupiter ruling Mercury and Mars is an important influence on its own, and indicates the possibility of some developing a degree of telepathic communication with others at a distance. Also of importance is that Jupiter is in the Gemini zone of the Grand Irrationality, being biseptile Neptune and triseptile Pluto. That makes this Eclipse the next in a long series of Lunations that have triggered this long wave global transformational influence, including the last two New Moons and Full Moons. You can find out more by going to the archives and checking out those articles.
This Lunation jumpstarts Scorpio energy wherever it falls in our chart, while simultaneously shutting down elements of that house and those life affairs, especially if you have a planet or Ascendant anywhere near 22 Scorpio. As I mentioned earlier, this period involves us learning how to open to a life renewal on the social or emotional level, and through some inner and outer negotiations, master any tendencies to get discouraged.
This New Moon Solar Eclipse has a social-emotional focus. As it falls in Scorpio, Mars and Pluto rule the Lunation. That makes the retrograde Mercury, along with Jupiter and Saturn, very powerful backdrop energies to this Eclipse. Mars in Sag rules the Scorpio Eclipse and Saturn, and Jupiter rules Mars, and is ruled by Mercury in Sag, putting Mercury and Jupiter in Mutual reception, a very powerful energy exchange. (I’ll be posting an update to that article soon, since the positions mentioned as examples happened a while ago.)
So the Eclipse and Saturn are ruled by Mars which is ruled by Jupiter which is in a mutual reception with Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius. With both Mercury and Jupiter retrograde, this is definitely a “backward looking” Eclipse, or perhaps one where once something is eliminated and/or regenerated, what was once active can be made active again.
The only planets not subject to this “round robin rulership chain” are Venus in its home sign of Libra, and Neptune in its home sign of Pisces. These last two, ruling only themselves, should be considered “standalone” energies each working in their own sphere on their own terms.
Saturn and Pluto in sextile show a powerful and productive building energy, so whatever is lost is sure to make the emerging life structures more secure and stable, though it may take a while so will require a broader view of what can be done and when. All will see what is resistant to change in their lives, but also a longer view of what can be done in what sequence.
Neptune is very important in this Eclipse, since it helps release Mercurial energy through the square. That shows this Eclipse will help all of us get clear about the salient points and features in things helping us develop Divine Discrimination, and much that’s been “below the surface of the waves of daily living” will be discovered. So new views and understanding will come forth which need to be structured in terms of the order of priority of function.
Neptune and Chiron at the Cusp of the Age:
I’ve given you this information in previous New Moon articles, but I figure it’s so important for all of us that it bears repeating once a month. We stand on the threshold of an entirely new era that will not resemble the old Age in any way within just a few decades. In fact, we’re already solidly in the Dreamscape, and are already seeing long wave manifestations of the ending of the old and the emerging field we’re all learning how to maneuver through.
Other than the brief look we had in mid-2011, this is only the tenth New Moon with Neptune in Pisces for the next 150 years. We had Neptune in Pisces for the 3 New Moons for May, June, and July 2011 which gave us a front end look at how Neptune will function through 2025.
Between August 2011, when Neptune retrograded back into late Aquarius, and the January 2012 New Moon, we were given one last look back at a greater ideal, and the changes of the last half of 2011 helped many to break out of our "chrysalis" and transform how we live and all our relationships. That is now established in the collective consciousness, as well as a growing sense of the larger light field in which all sentient Beings live and love.
If you want to know what's coming for many years to come, take a look back at the intuitions and sense of belonging to a vaster interrelated whole you were shown in May, June, and July 2011. It may help to give a sense of our collective lesson in dissolving our separateness as we finish this transition through "the Winter of the 21st Century" on our way to Spring, beginning in 2025!
During those months that both Neptune and Chiron were in early Pisces, we were offered chances to learn about bargaining and trade-offs, with the ultimate payoff a deeper and larger feeling of being connected to others. During the last half of 2011, Neptune retrograded back to 29 Aquarius, the degree where humanity was forced to emerge from its "chrysalis" as a new world is being born.
Chiron retrograded back to 1 Pisces. So those two dancing together kept us attuned to elements of this transitional span of experience for all of 2011 as we prepared to cut loose into the Neptune in Pisces era for many years to come. During 2011 both Neptune and Chiron revealed our unique part to play within a larger light/life field.
During that time, these planets at the beginning of Pisces and end of Aquarius occupied degrees representing "the Cusp of the Age," the span where the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius meet. From one point of view, where we were collectively between February 2011 and March 2012 revealed what the period of (approximately) 1990-2140 is all about in the broader context of human evolution. I suspect that future generations will look back at 2011 and 2012 as being crucial in showing long range patterns of larger evolutionary necessities.
Neptune and Chiron dancing between signs on "the Cusp of the Age" had the effect of making it seem like we have all been occupying a very weird dreamscape which we'll be navigating for years to come. The trick for us is to apply our new strengths and understanding freed from the ghosts of the past, and by riding the waves of intense (but curiously steady) pulses of spiritual energies shaping our minds, we can find techniques where our efforts will lead us to forms of good fortune.
During the year they danced together in this critical degree span, they provided us a bridge to understanding the global lessons we all must embrace, and helped us graduate into a new view of how we are an essential part of a greater whole. I'll give you links to articles explaining more about "the cusp of the Age" at the end of this article.
In this New Moon Eclipse Neptune has just gone stationary direct at 1 Pisces, the literal “Cusp of the Age,” while Chiron is at 5 Pisces. This will help us heal anew through our positioning within collective consciousness. Chiron shows us how we can heal into our Higher Self. During 2012 the focus is on healing into our Higher Selves through seeing what we’re dedicated to, what skills we’ve cultivated, what “call” we’ve heard, and how we’ve quickened our striving.
Since May, we’ve had to deal with symbolic “traffic jams” in the collective consciousness, and gotten a new look via Neptune’s retrograde into the indestructible elements of our personalities. Through “a conscious handling of existence,” we have caught glimpses elements of our immortal self while “flying by the seat of our pants,” demonstrating a mastery of obscure conditions and growing into a new consecration.
During the next 4 weeks (and 3+ years) we can heal through doing “bargains and tradeoffs in the marketplace of life” at this end of a long period. From here we move forward into new dedications and new forms of service. We’ll glimpse deeper realizations about our place within the larger collective consciousness, with echoes of April through July of 2011 when Neptune first occupied 1 Pisces.
More About Saturn's Universally Important Influence
Though not as prominent as when it was the nozzle for all the other planetary energies (returning for the last time December 2012 through February 2013, but in Scorpio), we'll continue to put a spotlight on Saturn in Scorpio, the cosmic timekeeper, since it does symbolize the ongoing lessons and limitations within the larger field of existence. Saturn was in Libra through early October 2012, making this the second New Moon and the first Eclipse with Saturn in Scorpio. It’s a new era!
What we learned from Saturn in Virgo in 2007-2009, returning briefly in 2010, has been of importance in the past Virgo New Moon. We learned a lot about how to apply those lessons in forms of practical action when Mars transited Virgo between November 2011 and July 2012.
We showed our skill in applying Saturn in Libra lessons since then while Mars was in Libra in July and August 2012. As a side note, Mars in early Scorpio the last week of August and first week of September gave us a front end practice related to Saturn being in that span of Scorpio for the next year, so review what you were doing, since it symbolizes coming Saturn lessons.
Saturn was retrograde in late Libra between early February and mid-June 2012. This whole year we’ve been reviewing how to repair or reconstruct things from the past to come to a philosophical completion between February and October 2012. So during the past year of coming to a holistic philosophical view based in a life renewal, many have learned to read meanings in symbols and things, and moved beyond knowledge into true balanced understanding.
We have had opportunities to learn how to recognize a cosmic order in things, and use that to reorder our world. Here we perfect our sense of idealism relative to culture, relationships, and the newer more intense interactions that have begun to present themselves, and surrender to the new quality of life we’re already living.
As Saturn rules Pluto in this chart, it shows that when we are confronted with the need to deal with something or someone in an organized, efficient manner, reference Saturn in Scorpio and the lessons of focusing intensity, feeling what needs to be eliminated to achieve emotional stability or movement, and being efficient and truthful in getting to the core of any matter. Naturally, the usual Saturn keywords will be crucial to effective behavior - patience, discipline, organization, patience, structure, maturity, patience, understanding, wisdom, patience, authority, responsibility, and of course, patience.
So as you open to the eleventh New Moon of 2012, take stock of what larger holistic understanding you’ve achieved in 2012. See how you’ve moved from a theoretical ideal to a new way of living your life and relationships into a deeper connection with your ability to regenerate productively over the long haul, or a deeper communion with some inner or outer element of your Being.
In 2011 we learned about karmic consequences from a wider angle of view, while playing by the rules of whatever system we were dealing with, or acting within, and showing as much balance, grace, and equipoise as we could, given Saturn's penchant for heaviness. We all learned a lot about how we use Libra energy to fulfill Dharma during Saturn's stay in Libra, as well as what we should not be trying to prop up through a misplaced sense of responsibility or obligation. As with all Saturn lessons, when we ran into roadblocks or delays it was teaching us about patience, as well as what limitations and burdens we could and could not live with.
As noted in previous articles, Saturn ushered in allies, friends, fellow truth-seekers, more balanced views, and corrective actions as techniques for community building or group awareness during the time it was in Libra. The transfigurations in our actions and relationships we went through between January 2011 and October 2012 led us to do forms of "repair work," where we confronted the consequences of past actions, whether our own or another's. The repair work could as easily been in the realm of our inner self as in outer affairs.
Saturn in this Lunation chart is at 5 Scorpio, the second one of many to come with Saturn in Scorpio. We have finished our understanding in life areas related to Libra, Capricorn, and Aquarius in our charts which are now going through a Scorpio experience of an intensification of magnetics to attract what we need and repel what is not needed. Saturn in Scorpio will be a MUCH different manifestation of Saturn than we’ve been used to these past 2 ½ years!!
During the time this Eclipse is in effect, we’ll see the value in a longer wave stability, and the problems of long standing inertia. Many will move into a very predictable and solid long wave groove of power, and make their lives and work more dependable. Many will find a solid stabilization, and a type of spiritual poise and strength of personality that will enable them to prepare and meet any possible contingency.
A Little More About the Recent Past As Prologue
When Venus first transited the Gemini zone of the Grand Irrationality in the third and fourth week of April, it triggered that long wave influence, as well as set off echoes of the Gemini Solar Eclipse of June 2011 which also fell in the Gemini zone of that powerful configuration. We went through the second phase of that influence with more “irrational” destiny-producing developments (which could be good or bad, depending) when it next occupied 14-18 Gemini, as well as when Mercury and the Sun also transited this zone, between May 31 and June 10.
We saw further major developments related to these “forks in the road of destiny” allowing us to be liberated from the ghosts of the past in the last half of July. Now Jupiter is and will continue to be close to the Eclipse degree through Spring 2013, so we are definitely in a zone of major teachings, opportunities, or some other Jupiter expression from now through late November this year, as well as in April and early May 2013. Prepare for major developments!
The Grand Irrationality is a direct influence during this Lunation due to the aspect between Mercury and Pluto. As long time readers know, the Grand Irrationality is a long wave non-rational influence that has put everyone on Earth on the unceasing edge of major choice and change, confronting inner compulsions and outer irrational behaviors. It is why things seem to have an unending hard edge, why so many choices are continually thrown in our faces that require immediate attention, and why reason seems to fail at critical moments of decision.
When the Grand Irrationality is in play, it’s a time when things don’t have to make sense. Get used to it, since we’ve been living with it for about 17 years, and will for a few more years to come.
The only thing that matters is that we learn how to ride this ever-changing wave of very strange and weird human experience, and not get lost in our own obsessions, compulsions, and the general irrationality of our times. There are numerous articles in the archives about what this is all about, and how to deal with these very strange energies, so please take a look if you are so inclined.
Last year’s Gemini Solar Eclipse that triggered the Grand Irrationality for years to come has liberated all of us from some elements and ghosts of our past, freeing us from old preconceptions and chains of mental slavery. That intense activation of June 2011 has shown as hectic intense bursts that often made no sense during the past year, and the current “off and on” patterns of other planets in irrational relationships is forcing us to choose wisely.
We have now been challenged to find ways to liberate ourselves from unhelpful views and attitudes while staying on track with the new elements arising from the numerous conjunctions to Jupiter in Aries that have presented themselves over the past 17 months. In this Lunation, Jupiter continues to bring us information, understanding, higher perspectives, and different Spiritual awareness while it occupies Gemini.
As I made clear for many months, Autumn 2011 was a time to cultivate the "plants in our garden of personality and life" that is what we’ve been drawing on to substantiate a new reality and set of values in 2012. Between June 2011 and February 2012 we experienced three "cosmic visitations" that changed our lives in big ways.
Jupiter expanded that theme in the 2012 Aquarius New Moon, accelerating a major transformation time that has had wide-ranging effects throughout the first half of 2012! As the Taurus New Moon in late April fell exactly on that same degree, in May many experienced spectacular developments related to the past times that Jupiter occupied 2 Taurus!!
In the last half of 2011 and first few months of 2012, Jupiter introduced a new life dedication, how to find hope in the face of coldness or barrenness, and how to cultivate purity of heart and faith in a transformed future. We were also shown how to use knowledge and skill to anticipate the future, allow a new quality of being to supersede an old lesser order, and through releasing elements of the past, find our "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" where we have accepted the Divine workings that show us who we are and who we aren't.
Jupiter went direct in motion last December, launching our 2012 Jupiterian adventure. We finished substantiating and confirming some things for the first 5+ months of this year, and since then we’ve all had opportunities to open to larger ideas, larger opportunities, larger understanding, and larger futures. We originally entered this phase of concretizing a better life between early June and late August 2011. We got a different perspective from August through December, and in March completed the third pass across the first 11 degrees of Taurus.
This helped us demonstrate mastery of what Jupiter's been teaching us in terms of opportunities to enter into a creative partnership with Nature Herself, and could see where we can naturally "pour ourselves out" into some way to manifest our Soul. So contemplate the wreckage of the last half of 2011 as necessary to make space for the future growth of the new initiatives and expansions originally set into motion between March and May 2011.
Things should have become more solid and stable since late February, which opened new worlds and new discoveries in June 2012. Now we continue our individual mental-spiritual discoveries, and get to claim some things that have been hidden up to now. Just keep sharing perspectives and discoveries with others, making sure to check them to ensure they are as they seem.
August 2011 put us all through "a liberating ordeal," leading us to be freed from old social rigidities and finding joy in fellowship with new associates with whom we can work and play. Since then we’ve been practicing a new freedom, with our efficiency sharpened when Mars transited Virgo between November 2011 and July 2012.
We acquired some of the assets we needed while Jupiter was in Taurus from June 2011 through June 2012, and stabilized a growth pattern. Now we’ve gotten a lot of information about what we need to learn or understand related to the new archetypes we began to live in 2010-2011. With Jupiter retrograde, this will begin a few months where we get returns of those initiatives, new insights into new knowledge and awareness, and continue to transmute the physical into the mental, the instincts into a new type of mind power so we can build new thought forms for the future.
This Lunation shows us how to have more faith in our dance with our collective situation, and continues to help us to eliminate, let go of, and release the past, even those things that still feel very close. This begins a new way of acting within a larger stabilizing period, and we can renew social and emotional connections.
The “quarantine” from certain people and situations in August and September protected us from social “epidemics” that we may not have known were happening. We’ve now “retired” from old social situations, and are free to explore the future unencumbered by the past.
Overall, due to the mix of Aries, Gemini, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Pisces energies, this will be a very powerful but imbalanced Solar Eclipse period. The emphasis of planets in Scorpio and Sagittarius will help us get focused and eliminate all that we need to let go of in order to get glimpses, rehearsals, or promises of a new future.
So get focused and clear about what forms are worthwhile and which need eliminating or purifying. Still, with Venus so strong, be balanced in your approach to traditional wisdom, and while taking responsibility, remember to be elegant in your mature experience as you move through the endings promised by this Eclipse.
During the time this Eclipse is in force, looking back to rehearse the future after eliminating elements of the past will open doors that we’ll walk through in late December through January. Be willing to embrace the purification process, especially purifying the life of stuck feelings and desires, and open to a new game and a new way of playing that game.
The line of growth is through understanding magnetism in a more focused, active way. Here we get to eliminate, regenerate, attract, and repel as part of a greater effectiveness. As with last month, this will be a time of powerful and deep feelings, shifts, insights, and rehearsals of new possibilities of future exploration, and a time to transcend whoever we use to think we were.
We have some extraordinary aspects forming in this Lunation, which I'll speak about in the next part of this series. The major influences are the Sun and Moon semisquare Pluto, Mercury square Neptune, Venus quintile Pluto, Jupiter biseptile Neptune and triseptile Pluto triggering the Grand Irrationality, and a very problematic Saturn quincunx Uranus and sextile Pluto.
In the next part of the series we'll discuss the various aspects at play in the chart, as well as some important degree symbols and other interesting elements affecting all of us for 4 weeks (and 38 months) to come.
For more on this one: Astrology in November 2012 - On The Threshold of A Partial Solar Eclipse at 22 Scorpio
The Total Solar Eclipse at 22 Scorpio Nov 13-14, 2012 Pt. 1 - Who Does It Affect and for How Long?
Here are two articles related to "the cusp of the Age."
Neptune Then, Neptune Now - The Cusp of the Age of Aquarius
Neptune Retrograde Into Aquarius - A New Look At the New Age This one has links to articles related to this theme, so enjoy following the breadcrumbs through the woods of time!
© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson
I am hoping as the sth node is conj my natal vertex in 8th and the eclipse is on the final degree of my 1st house that this indicates the potential to generate a new life being me as I actually am, the rebirth finally after many years of hard work. Yes I know the other not so positive possibilities, but I am not even going to entertain that thought.
Posted by: Debbie | November 12, 2012 at 07:36 AM
Amazed once again how you can use words to paint what is so much bigger than words. I marvel. My mercury sextile uranus is so clipped and blunt.
Posted by: caliban | November 12, 2012 at 10:44 AM
Brilliant and so insightful.. thankyou, again, always.. natal venus 23* scorpio. good shtuff!! ;)
Posted by: rebekka | November 12, 2012 at 07:04 PM
Thank you ...very informative - :)
Posted by: Mettareflexology | November 13, 2012 at 09:19 AM
Hi Robert, I am a sun scorpio (15 deg 37 min) w/ scorpio rising (10 deg), and the eclipse conjoins my scorpio neptune in the 1st. Any thoughts?
Posted by: lee | November 13, 2012 at 11:02 AM
Today is my birthday. I am very glad to have some perspective to look back on the past year. Last fall I was betrayed by my husband although by Mid November he re-dedicated to our marriage. I know the last four years have been very trying and suddenly I feel like there's a positive future for me and hope again. My patience, hard work and dedication has paid off. Always good to get cosmic perspective here. This seems like a good time to schedule another session. Here's a hope for extra funds!
Posted by: Kristin | November 13, 2012 at 04:49 PM
Hi all - thanks. Have limited connectivity right now, so answers must be brief.
Hi lee - This Eclipse will shut down corresponding elements of the Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in Scorpio generations. Uranus in late Scorpio people will eliminate old ways of individuality, Neptune in late Scorpio generation will shut down old ideals, Pluto in late Scorpio people will shut down old seed motivators. Wherever this Eclipse touches will shut something down, leaving a void that will be filled with something more appropriate as a bridge form during the time Mercury and Venus cross the Eclipse degree, to be crystallized when Saturn is in late Scorpio.
Posted by: Robert | November 14, 2012 at 01:35 PM
Well, well, well...
You might be interested in conjunction of this event with this chart:
June 2, 1956 8:21am pst Los Angeles, CA
=)
Actually, I'd be interested to know if you found it interesting... and why...
Blessings!
Posted by: elesef | November 15, 2012 at 12:02 AM
Hi Robert. There is a crisis in my life right now, and it is not hard to describe. I have a long-standing pattern of giving selflessly in intimate relationships, in ways most people find unfathomable. I am now unwilling to let my goals/dreams/needs be secondary with my partner (and paradoxically, it is HIS awareness of me that has driven me to this awareness!). It's this strange thing where I can see his unhealthy patterns and he can see mine. We seem to either have to split up as a couple, or split from the unhealthy aspects of our patterns. There is not much middle ground I can see, and I also cannot see any humor (but per Pt 3 of your forecast, I will try).
Posted by: lee | November 15, 2012 at 10:03 AM
I'm still thinking about what you wrote. It's strange for me to have powerful feelings of entitlement. And I cannot repress them now, when they emerge... they arise from deep within where they have been buried as thoughts that I deserve acknowledgement, inclusion, and recognition (within my relationship, and also, that my relationship deserves these within the context of family and society, through formal commitment). The eclipse is in my first house conjunct Neptune, and my partner's 10th, conjunct Uranus.
Posted by: lee | November 15, 2012 at 10:40 AM
Morning Robert, would appreciate an insight on this: chiron 11, mercury 18, midheaven 19 and jupiter28 scorpio. lots happening and just need a little clarity. Jai great one
Posted by: sue moon | November 17, 2012 at 07:14 AM