Today we’re experiencing a Partial Lunar Eclipse (peaking at 20:15 UTC on 28 October 2023) as the Moon in Taurus is being illuminated by the light of the Sun in Scorpio, but partially blocked by the shadow of the Earth that happens to be aligned between them for several hours.
Full Moons bring awareness and intensity to hitherto unresolved and unexplored issues, and Lunar Eclipses are like even more powerful Full Moons. We experience the effects of eclipses several days and weeks before and after them, and it’s easy to see that we are collectively influenced by powerful emotional reactions to the many crises around the world right now.
Remember that the moon is the reflected light of the Sun – it doesn’t have its own light.
This is why in astrology the Moon represents our emotions, memories, and mental state – in other words, the mind. The Sun represents consciousness, our Self-awareness, which is our permanent and unchanging nature. This is why astrologers consider that the Moon represents changeability, and the Sun represents stability and reliability.
Emotions are not the same as feelings; they are a visceral, intuitive reaction that arises suddenly in response to any given situation leading to physical symptoms in the body, like flushed cheeks, trembling, or an upset stomach.
Feelings are our interpretation of those sensations in the body, based on opinions, memories, and personal bias. Feelings are influenced by the mind and most especially our memories as well as social and intergenerational influences, all of which are inconsistent and unreliable. Heightened or unstable emotions come from not feeling safe, grounded, or centred in the physical body.
Astrological Taurus represents our sense of physical security and comfort, as well as our values and what we find necessary or important for our wellbeing in the material world. The Moon represents our emotional and psychological sense of security, and Scorpio reveals what is hidden, taboo or even scary; it concerns manipulation, lies, and misdeeds, as well as crises and deep transformation, which is why it resonates strongly with Pluto. Scorpio also represents emotional courage and resilience, and ability to handle difficulties unflinchingly.
Scorpio brings our unconscious processes to our conscious awareness – for example, an awareness of past trauma, or fears that might be operating beneath our level of awareness and causing us to behave in irrational ways we might not understand.
When we aren’t aware of our true emotions – and especially when we forget our true nature – we act out our psychological shadow (or unconscious) side, projecting what we don’t sense as our own stuff onto other people and circumstances.
Around the time of a Full Moon, these things can be brought to our awareness.
Sometimes they relate to the process of the New Moon cycle that began 2 weeks earlier, and sometimes they reveal a process that began around six months earlier with the New Moon in the same Zodiac sign. In some cases, what is revealed can be old issues that might even stem from our childhood, or transgenerational issues that we are somehow called to deal with in our current lives.
Lunar Eclipses disrupt ongoing patterns and can bring about a crisis of awareness in such a way that we need to adjust to something very different than expected. For individuals, eclipses are not inherently good or bad – this will depend on how they relate to the Natal Chart and a person’s emotional, psychological, and spiritual maturity.
Changes that are stimulated around the time of an eclipse can be very welcome. They allow us to question our patterns and choices up to this point in a stark and dramatic way so we can modify our behaviour, values, and relationships accordingly.
Even when changes appear to be unwelcome, reach for the highest possible awareness (solar consciousness) and the deepest possible understanding (lunar consciousness), both of which are nourishing, impersonal, and all-encompassing.
We are a fractal of life itself, indivisible and interdependent.
Stay aware and connected to the source of life whenever fear and anger arise in moments of forgetting. You are never alone – that would be quite simply impossible!
Much love to all,
Susan
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