29th April 2014: Solar Eclipse in Taurus 6:15 am GMT: Life IS Change! by Sarah Varcas

[Image: ‘Maya’ by Gary Rosenberg]

29th April 2014: Solar Eclipse in Taurus 6:15 am GMT:
Life IS Change!
by Sarah Varcas

"The eclipse occurs on 29th April at 6:15 a.m. GMT in the 9th degree of Taurus. A couple of weeks ago I described this stage in recent astrological events as the point post-birth (birth being the Cardinal Cross) at which we begin to appreciate just how profoundly our lives are now changing. The new state of being, situations and circumstances brought about in the shadow of recent cosmic events begin to reveal their true implications now. This is one of the reasons I was encouraging so strongly any attempt to do things differently during the time of the Cardinal Cross, because all efforts to change made then will now begin the process of bearing fruit. Interestingly the Sabian Symbol for this degree is a Christmas tree, and this is certainly a time when we can begin to unwrap some gifts. Of course, I don’t need to tell you we don’t always get exactly what we want for Christmas, nor do we always appreciate what someone else thinks is just the thing for us!

In the earthy sign of Taurus, this eclipse asks of us commitment and staying power, together with a healthy dose of common-sense! If we have been bashed about by recent events, now’s the time to gather ourselves up, brush ourselves off and begin to work on our plan from here on in. If, however, the Grand Cross brought things to positive fruition, the message of this eclipse is not to allow success or satisfaction distract us from the fact that maintaining those positive results will take that commitment and staying power aforementioned!

A Solar Eclipse in Taurus is a time to feed the roots of our own creations and tend to the nascent shoots which are peeking through the soil. Pulling at them won’t help, neither will dancing all over them in the moment of excitement when they first appear! They require patient attention and gentle handling as they build up their strength for the lifetime ahead. Events around the time of this eclipse may well reveal to us which shoots are in it for the long haul and which are not strong enough to make it. It can be hard to give up on the weakest ones, especially if they’re of particular importance to us, but we would do well to take note and act accordingly at this point if we want to avoid a whole load of wasted effort in the months to come. This is a time of careful discernment about where we invest our attention and energy from this point on. And it hardly needs saying, but I’ll say it anyway: if our creations are undesirable, we need to clear them out right now. Failure to do so may leave us with a lot of weeding to do in due course and we need to make space for new shoots to grow, without being strangled by the tap roots of our less productive habits and foibles.

This eclipse also highlights the risk of assuming we have reached a destination, be it desirable or otherwise. Wherever we find ourselves, we are still on a journey, no matter how it may actually feel. I talk about change a lot, and sometimes people get frustrated with me: ‘no more change!’ they cry. But change is life and life is change. We don’t reach a point where everything stays the same and it’s all exactly how we want it to be. Not least because exactly how we want it to be will eventually change too! As the Buddha so wisely observed, all conditioned things are subject to change, and there’s a whole lot of suffering involved if we can’t accept that fact (I’m paraphrasing, by the way…). So whilst this eclipse brings us into the sign of Taurus who is traditionally uncomfortable with change, it does so to remind us that change is all there is. Nothing lasts forever, be it good or bad, fulfilling or mind-numbing, what we want or the very thing we have spent a lifetime fearing. It is all transitory and passing through.

Which is exactly what we are, too, and this eclipse arrives to remind us that if we want our life vibrant and fulfilling we’d do well to remind ourselves of that fact. People who face life-threatening disease often report how much sweeter life becomes as a result of their predicament. Suddenly it is so much easier and more natural to appreciate each moment, even when there doesn’t seem to be much going on. When something is limited, we appreciate it more, and whilst we are all limited to a relatively short life, we easily forget and end up demanding so much more than the miracle of being alive, to keep us satisfied

So it may seem like a mixed message: nurture the roots of your dreams whilst appreciating simply being here without demanding more. But in fact the two go hand in hand if we want a peaceful and satisfying life, for as we nurture those roots there may not seem like much happening, and if the roots fail we may draw a blank. But we are still alive, and as long as we can recognise the miracle of that fact, whatever happens we will know ourselves to be already blessed beyond measure.

Happy eclipse everyone!"

Sarah Varcas