This year, two new moons occur in the sign of Leo. The second, on August 21st, is widely hailed as the most significant celestial event of 2017 due to its status as a total solar eclipse. While every new moon is an occasion in which the Sun and Moon cross paths in the sky, during an “eclipse season” the two luminaries are in a particularly precise alignment with Earth. At this time, the orbital planes intersect, so that during a solar eclipse the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun. Because from our perspective the Sun and Moon are relatively the same size in the sky, this creates a pronounced shadow upon our planet. It is a natural phenomena that is a stunning display of the elegant clockwork that is our solar system, and one that stirs our most primal perceptions of our place on Earth.
Throughout the course of history, humans have watched the skies, using the movement of the stars and planets as critical reference points to orient ourselves and organize our efforts in time and space. According to the framework of the tropical zodiac, this solar eclipse occurs at the precipice of the final degree of Leo. While the first of the two Leo new moons was in the first degree (0 degrees) of the sign, this time around the Sun and Moon will conjoin just shy of the final degree. Although not a critical degree (like 0 or 29), at 28 degrees another significant aspect reveals itself--a trine to Uranus in Aries. Aries and Leo are two of the three fire signs, associated respectively with the essential qualities of being and expression. These two fundamental aspects of identity are linked here in harmonious relationship, however the Sun and Moon are creating an eclipse. This is a shadow period, a twilight of the mind in which our vision becomes clouded and confused, but also one in which we may find an equanimity between light and shadow, and the higher and deeper levels of consciousness. Uranus, who recently turned retrograde, has been a major player in this year’s astrology. Already known to be the unruly and unpredictable planet, in retrograde the internal disorder Uranus can create be makes its lessons even more difficult to discern.
Examining Uranus’s activity in the survey of celestial events reveals its ubiquitous presence of late. In recent years, Uranus has been engaged in a tense aspects with Pluto and Jupiter, moving in and out of a square to the former in Capricorn and an opposition to the latter in Libra. Currently situated in the sign of Aries, both the luminaries and each of the three personal planets recently took their turns crossing Uranus’s path this past Spring. Most recently, Uranus presided as planetary ruler of this solar eclipse’s partner lunar eclipse in Aquarius (See https://www.facebook.com/astronotions/posts/1926517080936880). However, what is most important to remember is that, regardless of how it appears in one’s life, the Uranian archetype is the disrupter of form. In Aries, this form is our very being. Linked to our identity through the trine to the eclipsed Sun/Moon, it challenges us to examine our self-expression and the connection between who we are and how we act.
Uranus electrifies. Its energy can be a shock to the system that resets our ingrained patterns. In accordance with its rulership of science, the touch of Uranus can act like that of Dr. Frankenstein, who in his quest to create a new human was led to awaken shadow aspects of ourselves long considered dead, dormant, or repressed. Drawing from the literary metaphor of Mary Shelley’s wonderful work, we discover that we are each in fact responsible for creating and nurturing our own “monsters” as we hide them in our shadow and feed them with our misplaced shame. It is an understanding that may be daunting in the personal responsibility it entails, yet has the power to revolutionize our perspective and liberate ourselves from the prison of our preconceptions to open up whole new ways of being and expressing out individuality.
For our ancestors, eclipses were events that were generally feared. Since we observe from our natural environment that light is life-giving, shadow has developed as the opposing mythos in the human mind. Eclipses were diligently calculated and recorded to assist in predicting and mitigating their effects. As our knowledge of these celestial bodies has grown and our understanding evolved, we are now freed from fear to approach these events with curiosity, fascination, and reverence. Practicing Astrology, we are charged to remember the Hermetic axiom--as above, so below! By using our understanding of the skies as a mirror for understanding ourselves, in the eclipse we are given an extraordinary example of the inevitable meeting the internal shadow with our conscious awareness. By yielding the passivity of fear to a more constructive attitude of active exploration, we find that engaging with our shadow selves is the most direct path to self-knowledge, one that is immensely rewarding, if challenging.
In Leo, this eclipse casts its light upon the inner realm to see from where we find our joy, draw our willpower, and create our self-expression. Likewise, it exposes where lies the shadows of our inertia, our shame, and our self-defeating attitudes. In Aries, Uranus unsettles previously determined structures that we depend upon to define our identities. Here is a handy mirror through which to see that which we hide from our own self-awareness in order to protect the image we prefer to project. Mars, ruler of Aries and therefore here Uranus as well, is also in Leo, supported by stable Saturn and jovial Jupiter. Leo represents courage, and Mars the Warrior. Those who choose to accept the challenge of integrating the shadow and forge a new way of being, will be supported by this celestial configuration.
With the eclipses and retrogrades, buried emotions may surge forth raw and intense in ways the conscious mind will be slow to mitigate. Leo energy is youthful and fun, but in the negative manifestation can be self-centered and overly dramatic. Correctly embodying the energy of Leo, we become audience to the magnificent theater that is the universe, one in which we see ourselves perform alternating roles as actor, director, and stagehand, in a play whose script we continuously co-create with all that is. This eclipse, if we take the time to pause and stand back from the constructs of our egos, we are given an opportunity to witness who we are beneath these roles. From these observations, we may discern how we inwardly identify and how we outwardly radiate that identity through affecting different attitudes that color our actions. With the revolutionary energy of Uranus in Aries combined with the playful confidence of Leo, we are able to to radically reinvent ourselves in a manner that powerfully unites our light and shadow sides so we may draw inspiration from higher realms and fortitude from deeper depths.
