‘Buddha in Blue’ © S J Varcas
16th July 2019: Lunar Eclipse in 25th degree of Capricorn
A Time of Reckoning
By Sarah Varcas
With the Sun at the North Node and the Moon at the South Node, this eclipse warns against the sacrifice of inner knowing in favour of external authority. Pluto conjunct the Moon, with Saturn also in Capricorn, emphasises the power and influence of received wisdom which keeps us locked into old beliefs and patterns of behaviour. Such service to another’s agenda disenfranchises our own insight, denying us the ability to know for ourselves what is true. Occurring less than two degrees away from the point of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction due in January 2020, this eclipse augurs approaching changes and provides an opportunity to get ahead of the game.
Redefining maturity
When Saturn and Pluto work together we have a formidable force of authority and power at our disposal. But Pluto’s passage through Capricorn since 2008 has in part revealed the fear of our own authority and agency in the world. With the Saturn/Pluto conjunction approaching, it’s important we use this eclipse to unearth any fears of leading our own lives and discerning our own destiny independent of mainstream propaganda. We must be prepared to do what we know to be right even if everything and everyone around us says it’s wrong. This is a formidable challenge which requires courage and strength. We need to find those kindred spirits that will support a new way, even while the world tells us we’re crazy, irresponsible, immature or ignorant.
Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn stress that maturity needs to be redefined. It’s no longer about proving oneself in economic terms, making a good living, gathering possessions and status. In short, becoming ‘someone’. Maturity is found in those prepared to live with a sense of responsibility toward the greater whole. It’s being prepared to sacrifice so everyone can gain from a rebalancing of wealth, power and influence. It cuts across the modern-day narrative of unending economic growth that makes the world go around. This eclipse teaches us that what feels like sacrifice is in fact a profound and enduring liberation from everything that binds.
When Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 we saw a global financial crisis considered by many to be the worst since the Great Depression (which began as Saturn prepared to enter Capricorn in December 1929 and was then opposed by Pluto in 1931). Conjunct Pluto, this eclipse reminds us that when the heavens are stirring things up in Capricorn we need to use something other than our bank account and social status to assess our worth. So if things aren’t looking so great from where you stand, and the results you’d hoped for in recent years aren’t forthcoming, this eclipse is a wake-up call. A gift. For within the conditions that disappoint are hidden the shoots of new life and fresh, but different, possibilities. The challenge, however, is spotting them! One has only to turn on the TV to hear all kinds of doom-mongering, misinformation and fear. There may be, on the face of it, little to give us hope. When minds and hearts contract in fear, a bunker mentality develops. We must guard against this contraction now. Whilst at one level it looks like everything’s falling apart, the search for an abiding truth continues. We must be prepared to protect what truly matters and let go those things which are mere props, mistakenly placed centre stage for too long.
Enter Eris…
Thankfully we have the mighty Eris on side to help us now. Sitting at the apex of a T Square formed with the Sun and Pluto at this eclipse, she leads the charge against all who wilfully obscure the truth to serve their own agenda. She alerts us to the lie that life is a competition in which we must forever protect something we could lose at any time. In fact we simply cannot lose what truly matters, for it is our very essence: the defining substance from which we’re formed. All else is illusion – the exhaust fumes of a struggle to encounter our core divinity. Were we all to know fully our divine essence, wars would end overnight, women and men would be free from the dictates of patriarchy, the equitable distribution of resources would become top priority, no one would starve while others compete to eat the biggest burger, and Mother Earth would be honoured as the breathtakingly beautiful being she is.
Needless to say, the human race is not there yet! Our default settings tell us we have reputations to protect, battles to fight, honour to defend, people and resources to control. Eris reminds us just how deeply we’re programmed to polarise the world and fight ‘the other side’, no matter who or what it may be. In the coming months we’ll encounter the unpredictable nature of such a world view. When we create an ‘other’, it takes on a life of its own. We cannot control how it fashions its identity, responds to our challenge or determines its own destiny. Our present moment perceptions can change the future irrevocably. If we see a world full of enemies, enemies are born, and they will undoubtedly do all they can to convince us we were right all along. But if we dive deeper to penetrate the source of current conflicts, we’ll find millennia of fear, oppression and hatred that continues to feed off the human psyche like a parasite, to this day. In the months to come we have the chance to curtail its advance on the human heart and begin to reshape the future into something other than more of the same.
The blessing of safe refuge
Venus in Cancer, currently on the North Node, emphasises the blessing of relationships in which we feel safe, loved and accepted for who we truly are. Many never experience such a refuge, but in the coming months we have a potent opportunity to both seek it out for ourselves and provide it to others. Doing so will take effort though! It won’t spontaneously happen. It can be all too easy to blame other people for failing to fulfil our needs whilst overlooking how we may be doing the exact same thing to other people in our lives. At this eclipse Venus asks us to shift from ‘you’ and ‘me’ to ‘us’ and ‘we’, seeking common ground when we can. Kindness, she reminds us, is a revolutionary force in a world built on conflict and lies.
But we must also be prepared to face hard truths if our relational environment is too toxic for our own good. Venus desires peace and security, not a miserable existence for the sake of a quiet life! Many may feel the need to move on at this time, walking away from people and places key to their past but not their future. To them Eris offers courage and resolve to do what must be done, while Venus provides gentle support to seek out true kith and kin.
A time of reckoning
This eclipse signifies a time of reckoning: for personal relationships, political movements and global alliances. Nothing and no one can be taken for granted now. With Mercury retrograde in Leo at this eclipse, attempts to serve our own interests apart from those of the collective may land us in hot water! However the eclipse energies manifest in our individual lives, the challenge will be to embody our wisest and kindest self, even as we stand firm and refuse to be taken for another ride! Learning how to say ‘no’ with an open heart can be a radical act that subverts the prevailing discourse of ‘disagreement equals conflict’. Nothing could be further from the truth right now. For only in seeking a deeper and more nuanced understanding of difference can we truly comprehend the path to peace.
Eris turns retrograde on 21st July 2019 until 11th January 2020. Read more about Eris and what her retrograde journey means for us here
Click here for more information about lunar eclipses and how to understand their role in your own birth chart
Sarah Varcas
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