5th June 2020: Lunar Eclipse in 16th degree of Sagittarius: Courageous Hearts by Sarah Varcas

Sarah Varcus is one of my favorite Astrologers, I get great insights from her perspective. I don't read her enough, though she is generous with her free access to much of her work. ~PB

(p.s.) This speaks volumes to me:

"An alliance between Chiron, Uranus and Mercury at the time of this eclipse unlocks fresh perspectives. But to benefit from them we must reclaim the fundamental right to honour our own experience and not have it dismissed, ridiculed or silenced if it runs contrary to the received wisdom of the time. This takes courage in a world where people are being demonised and discredited for daring to question the ‘party line’ and reflect more deeply on the narrative they’re being fed. But if ever there was a time for courage it is now! Courageous thought, courageous speech, courageous hearts open to a new world in which we’re not told how things are but instead discern, through digesting many perspectives and listening, perhaps most importantly, to the voice within that knows truth."

5th June 2020: Lunar Eclipse in 16th degree of Sagittarius:
Courageous Hearts
by Sarah Varcas | Astro-Awakenings

This is the first of three eclipses this eclipse season, which also features a solar eclipse in Cancer on 21^st June 2020 and a lunar eclipse in Capricorn on 5^th July 2020.

All dates are UT

This lunar eclipse raises the issue of dependence and conditioning. In Sagittarius, it potentises the transfer of power away from the expert elite triggered by the North Node’s arrival in Gemini last month. Against the backdrop of recent unprecedented – and in some quarters hotly debated – social and interpersonal restrictions the world over, further compounded by protests and riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of the US police, this eclipse cycle alerts us to a burgeoning shift of perspective, auguring an ever-increasing challenge to the authorities from people who have simply had enough.


The Sabian Symbol for the degree of this eclipse speaks of seagulls circling a ship in expectation of food. It’s fair to say this isn’t the most natural food source for seagulls, but it’s convenient and reliable. That’s why they do it. If you’ve ever eaten a sandwich on the beach you’ll know how quickly you become central to their quest for an easy meal and how easy it is to lead a flock of hungry birds down the beach if you wander off whilst eating!


These images convey a warning: if we make ourselves dependent upon a single supply (of anything), the source of that supply can control and lead us where it wants us to go before we even realise we’ve been led. Focused on the satisfaction and security of an easy meal we overlook the changing scenery and the distance developing between where we used to be and where we’ve wound up now. In Sagittarius we gain nourishment from information and learning, from broad concepts, highly sophisticated bodies of knowledge and honed expertise. Sagittarius is the sign associated with law, religion and medicine: three institutions that have shaped our modern world in many ways. This eclipse is an excellent time to reflect on how much power we’ve given them to determine what matters in our lives, and whether now might be the time to expand our perspective beyond what they want us to believe.


An alliance between Chiron, Uranus and Mercury at the time of this eclipse unlocks fresh perspectives. But to benefit from them we must reclaim the fundamental right to honour our own experience and not have it dismissed, ridiculed or silenced if it runs contrary to the received wisdom of the time. This takes courage in a world where people are being demonised and discredited for daring to question the ‘party line’ and reflect more deeply on the narrative they’re being fed. But if ever there was a time for courage it is now! Courageous thought, courageous speech, courageous hearts open to a new world in which we’re not told how things are but instead discern, through digesting many perspectives and listening, perhaps most importantly, to the voice within that knows truth.


Mercury is currently preparing to turn retrograde in Cancer on 18^th June 2020. Between this eclipse and that moment, we would do well to FEEL into what’s happening in our world right now. Let our intuition guide us towards an understanding that holds water in a deeper and more profound way. Once Mercury is retrograde, and as the next two eclipses occur, we’ll have the opportunity to recalibrate our internal knowing according to information that comes our way. But we can only do that if we give our intuition a platform from which to speak, and reclaim the power invested in the experts as they dictate what our experience should be.


As we stand at this juncture in human history there are weighty choices to be made and we must each make them as best we can. This eclipse season will both reveal the shadow side of readily accepted sources of information – hidden interests, inaccurate assumptions, covert agendas –  as well as illuminate in their wake new sources of knowledge previously eclipsed by the might of received wisdom and unquestioned ‘truths’. The path ahead remains scattered with obstacles and the battle for dominion over the collective mind continues unabated. This lunar eclipse is just the beginning and there is much to be revealed and digested before we can decide, collectively, the quality of our future.


Saturn is now retrograding through Aquarius before returning to Capricorn in July. You can read more about what this means for us in terms of freedom of thought and speech here. But as we encounter this eclipse we may well find stirring within, a more insistent demand for information that challenges the dominant narrative and a burgeoning need to forge alliances with others who sense a more pressing truth bubbling to the surface. For whatever’s going on in this world today, it is we the people, not the privileged elite with vested interests in our obedience to their cause, who can – and must – decide the shape our lives take from here.


Sarah Varcas

If you’d like to learn more about astrology and deepen your understanding of your own birth chart check out my self-study astrology course, currently available for £20

Tagged as: Chiron in Aries, Conscious Evolution, Coping with emotions, courage, Deep Truth, Eclipse Season, facing fear, Lunar Eclipse, lunar eclipse in Sagittarius 2020, managing change, managing the mind, Mercury, Mercury in Cancer, Mercury Retrograde, Moon cycles, personal truth, Saturn in Aquarius, Saturn in Capricorn, Saturn Retrograde, Uranus in Taurus

Previous post: The Astrology of 2020 Part 4: The Role of Saturn

Sarah Varcas: The Astrology of 2020: Part 1 Resistance, Choice Points and Fresh Perspectives

The Astrology of 2020: Part 1:
Resistance, Choice Points and Fresh Perspectives
By Sarah Varcas

2020 is set to be a watershed year offering many opportunities for change and recalibration. On considering the charts for this year I feel excitement about what could be, whilst being mindful of the fact that what will be is largely up to us! There will undoubtedly be challenges along the way, coupled with gifts and blessings. Our task is to rise to the former and welcome the latter with gratitude, knowing that both form part of the current evolutionary thrust.


The quality of energy throughout 2020 is defined by three core events:
1) The Saturn/Pluto conjunction which reaches exactitude on 12^th January and begins a new 33 year-long cycle.
2) The Jupiter/Pluto conjunction which reaches first exactitude on 5^th April, second on 30^th June and third on 12^th November. This begins a new 13 year-long cycle.


3) The Saturn/Jupiter conjunction which reaches exactitude on 21^st December and begins a new 20 year-long cycle.
These influential conjunctions will shape our future direction both personally and collectively. Involving three of the outer planets, they remind us that what happens in our individual lives feeds into the collective stream of consciousness from which we all draw. Cultivating hope and envisioning a positive future can be a powerful act of creation. If that vision is imbued with commitment to being part of the solution, not allowing oneself to be torpedoed by negative doom-mongering, all the more so. The energy of a conjunction is fresh and innovative, allowing new possibilities, perspectives and potential to emerge. It enables us to combine inner resources and outer circumstances in such a way that we can forge a new path ahead, one that may have seemed out of reach or even non-existent not so long ago.


Three such conjunctions in one year signals the need for much adjustment during the coming twelve months. Indeed, with so much innovative energy in the mix, the future is highly unlikely to look much like anything we’ve envisaged from our current standpoint. 2020 will see arising new ways of perceiving life and our role in its unfolding. Being open to these perspectives is key to allowing their fruits to be realised in the years to come. Be prepared to release long cherished beliefs in favour of a more expansive view of what could be possible in the longer term. Human knowledge is forever evolving. There is so much more to be revealed. Beware of anyone who claims possession of the full facts and declares the debate closed – that it’s time to pick a side and either you’re right or you’re wrong, with us or against us. This string of conjunctions tells us there’s more to come, more to be revealed, discovered, surmised, hypothesised and tested against our current understanding of reality. There’s still so much we simply don’t yet know.


Further supporting a shift into new ways of living is Uranus travelling through Taurus. Facilitating a radical restructuring of the externals of our lives, it brings us into alignment with a more balanced and sustainable future. Here we find innovative solutions to the pressing global and local issues of our time, epitomised in a root and branch reshaping of our relationship with the physical and natural world. Our understanding of everything from money to the environment will be changed by Uranus in Taurus in the coming years. In 2020 we will find ourselves either hyper-energised to be part of the change or to resist it with all our might. Which is why what actually happens is up to each and every one of us!

The build up to the Saturn/Pluto conjunction

The immediate build up to the first of the 2020 conjunctions began with a solar eclipse in Capricorn on 26^th December 2019.  Conjunct Jupiter, trining Uranus and squaring Chiron, this eclipse provided a window of opportunity to stabilise energy and ground aspirations for the new year. Mercury in Sagittarius trining Eris at the time of the eclipse may have seduced us into over-estimating our capacity for rapid change. But Jupiter’s support in Capricorn balanced this with a more pragmatic approach to the pursuit of our goals. If events around this time left you feeling a bit flat when you hoped to be inspired, bear in mind that the peaks and troughs of energy flow can be communications from life itself, highlighting where and when we need to act, rest or recalibrate. There will be plenty of opportunity in the coming weeks to both light the fires of inspiration and get our hands dirty in the practicalities of implementing change. This eclipse was only the beginning…


Jupiter’s grounding influence in the 26^th December eclipse is brought to fullness in its exact conjunction to the moon’s south node in Capricorn on 8^th January. In doing so it reminds us that traditional bases of power are crumbling and placing our faith in their continuation is increasingly unwise! Relying on those in power to take action for our collective wellbeing may be the biggest mistake we could make this year! And being the change we want to see in the world, our greatest act of power. This conjunction affirms that political and economic systems everywhere are on their last legs, no matter how powerful they may appear. It has never been more timely to think in different terms about how we secure our personal and collective future; to recognise the power of living on purpose in our everyday lives. We are not victims and we are not powerless. Far from it in fact! But our strength is potentised not in a struggle against the status quo but in an affirmation of the potential for change and an expression of that change in our daily life and consciousness. What you resist persists is not a well-worn saying for no reason! Where we place our attention matters more than we can know. Turning away from the system and towards a new dawn allows us to invest energy in positive solutions, not in bolstering out-moded powerbases by fighting against them.

A Lunar Eclipse in Cancer

Jupiter’s alliance with the south node continues into the lunar eclipse in the 21^st degree of Cancer on 10^th January. With the Sun conjunct Mercury, Saturn and Pluto at this point, it serves as a precursor to the Saturn/Pluto conjunction occurring two days later. It’s frequently the case that the build up to such a conjunction feels more stressful than the actual conjunction and its aftermath. Once the planetary alliance is exact the energy flows and we know what to do with it. Prior to this resolution of tension, the approach can feel unsettling and disruptive. It will come as little surprise, then, that the activation of Cancerian energy at the eclipse signals heightened emotional sensitivity and a need to take care of each other. We may find ourselves mysteriously free of recent troubles or increasingly weighed down by them. We may finally see their insignificance in the context of the vast universe or be unable to see around them no matter how hard we try.


This is an eclipse of extremes and therefore of extreme possibilities. It could bring liberation from a viewpoint that has kept us imprisoned – mentally, emotionally, spiritually – or it could strengthen those prison bars with a dose of so-called ‘reality’ which tells us nothing ever changes, life’s a struggle and the sooner it’s over the better. It reminds us that personal experience cannot be divorced from the collective energetic field in which lies the potential for all things. In seeing beyond our tiny fear-based perspective we can open ourselves to this wider potential with reverence and awe. There are always possibilities at the edge of our vision if we look in the right way. What was previously in our blind spot can come into view with a tilt of the head and this eclipse provides an opportunity to shift perspective to see things in a very different light. But the strength of our emotions may discourage us from believing this to be true! If you find yourself overwrought or overwhelmed at this lunar eclipse, ask yourself ‘How would it feel if I believed there was another way to view this situation?’. That question alone may take the heat out of the flames and allow a more cooling effect on an over-stimulated heart and mind.

The Saturn/Pluto Conjunction

Following hot on the heels of the lunar eclipse comes the Saturn/Pluto conjunction exact at 16:23 UT on 12^th January in the 23^rd degree of Capricorn. With the Sun and Mercury also conjoined, consider it a reminder of the power (Pluto) of thought (Mercury) and our responsibility (Saturn) to inform our evolving will (Sun) with greater insight into the true nature of ‘reality’. Perspectives formed at this time will be highly charged with the innovative force of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction. Unlike many outer planet conjunctions which recur over a number of months, this alliance occurs only once, intensifying the process of shift to a new perspective. Consider this a choice-point of sorts, during which we can decide how to approach the year ahead and draw upon the imposing energy of this conjunction to cement our commitment. Of course, this also means that if we allow negativity or despair to cloud our minds and hearts at this time, the ripple effect of doing so may lap upon our shores for some time to come.
But this doesn’t mean that if we’re having a hard time in January the whole year’s already a write-off. Far from it! The key is our response to that hard time: do we cement it with our reactions, adding misery upon misfortune, or do we embrace the conjunction energy to allow new understanding, perspectives and feelings to arise? Can we recognise the catalysing action of trauma or challenge, which can as much clear away old emotional debris as create more? Can we feel the energetic hurricane that up-ends a life as the winds of change that point us eventually in a new and more productive direction?


Many people fear the action of Pluto in their lives. But fear is not a helpful response and be wary around those who encourage it! Pluto demands of us a mighty heart that can release all that no longer supports who we must be. Conjunct Saturn it reminds us that the most imposing change can also be a powerful catalyst for mature wisdom. Whilst this conjunction may have a purging effect on our lives at some level, if we can recognise its action as a solution not a problem we can ride those storms more wisely. This conjunction of planetary heavyweights invites us into a more mature and insightful relationship with our inherent power. It illuminates where we project it onto others or onto institutions which seek to control our lives for their own benefit. In the coming years we must own our power and the responsibility that comes with it. Or face with full force the consequences of refusing to do so. We must dig deep and rise strong in the face of increasingly desperate power-plays of those who sense influence slipping from their grasp as people wake up to their lies.

Uranus And Eris have their say

Both  Uranus & Eris are stationing direct at the time of the conjunction, reflecting how this alliance between Saturn and Pluto may stop us in our tracks. Not immediately perhaps, but as its energies ‘bed in’ over time and pervade our everyday life. Grabs for power may occur on the world stage in unanticipated ways, whilst the karmic consequences of egotistical assumptions of entitlement become ever more evident. Those in power who refuse to pause a while to reflect on their intent may find themselves confronted with the inevitable outcomes of blind arrogance. In the words attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: ‘What’s the point of running so fast if you’re running in the wrong direction?’. In this new Saturn/Pluto cycle, slowing down becomes a radical act of self-determination: An opportunity to cease spinning in an endless whirl, gather up our thoughts and feelings and embrace their deeper contemplation for a while.


By contrast, a square from Eris to the conjunction heralds an opportunity to move through intensity much quicker than before. Here we see the potential for our perception of time to shift exponentially. What once took years to process we can now do in a few months and what took months can take weeks or days. We have the opportunity to suffer less and reap greater rewards, but we must choose to do so. Our attitude is key to this choice. If we focus on pain without hope of change, that’s what we’ll get. If we process the pain, work with it, be authentic within it, the outcome could be beyond our wildest imaginings as the rejuvenating power of a mighty heart is unleashed within us.


In this sense, the notion of ‘long term’ is shifting beneath our feet as evolutionary forces flood our lives with such intensity that we can be swept up in their embrace before we catch our breath. One day we’re living this life then, bam, it’s all change. Just like that. The external trappings may look largely the same (for a while at least) but the very fabric of our life has shifted beyond return. We know it and feel it, even if we can’t yet articulate it. This experience is becoming more frequent as we awaken to the forces of change that act on all levels of our being. We can no longer ignore or dismiss them for they have become us. They are the very life force itself, refreshed and renewed by the vital forces that flood this planet and all who live upon her.


Amidst these moments of sudden shift are those of mind-numbing mundanity which challenge us to put into regular practice all we profess to believe. This is the ‘work’ of conscious evolution: living the ordinary life in an extraordinary way, knowing material ‘reality’ as both the most and least real thing about our existence. We can reach out and touch it, identify it, name it, and yet if we seek its substance it melts before our eyes. Nothing is as it seems and yet we must live it anyway, both mundane and divine. In doing so we embody the unbounded human spirit which is rising triumphant, undeterred by the barriers it must breach to make its mark.

Occupying our own sovereignty

January will be intense, for sure. It will also be immense in terms of the heralded new beginning. Saturn/Pluto cycles speak of power and responsibility. Of what we do with the influence we have over life. Of what we choose to create and destroy. Of how well we mature (or not) into intentional beings of vast creative potential. With the Saturn/Pluto conjunction occurring in Saturn-ruled Capricorn squared by Eris, the tendency to concentrate power in the hands of the wealthy, the confident, the ‘entitled’ and the ‘experts’, will be dealt a mighty blow in the coming years. Many will be knocked off their perch and we’ll see some spectacular falls from grace. Those who propagate such power bases will face unyielding challenge to their assumptions of entitlement as individuals occupy their own locus of control rather than surrendering it to those who’d have us believe they know best.


By contrast, those who choose to project power onto others and perpetuate a ‘poor me’ persona will face some intense and unremitting challenges to that world-view. In times of change such as these we must first take charge of our own attitude. Then – and only then – can we occupy the sovereignty that allows our world to heal.
Happy New Year everybody!



Sarah Varcas

by Sarah Varcas on 06/01/2020

Tagged as: Conscious Evolution, Conscious Relationships, Coping with emotions, creativity, Deep Truth, divine timing, Eclipse Season, Ego & Essence, embracing the shadow, Eris, facing fear, faith and hope, healing energies, Jupiter in Capricorn, Jupiter Pluto Conjunction 2020, Lunar Eclipse, managing change, managing the mind, Mercury, Moon cycles, Personal healing, personal truth, planetary healing, Pluto in Capricorn, Saturn in Capricorn, Saturn Jupiter Conjunction 2020, Saturn Pluto conjunction January 2020, Solar Eclipse, South Node in Capricorn, Spiritual development, Sun, Uranus in Taurus

Sarah Varcas: 30th August 2019: Super New Moon in Virgo at 10:38 a.m. UT: Beautiful Flaws | Astro-Awakenings

30th August 2019: Super New Moon in Virgo
at 10:38 a.m. UT: Beautiful Flaws

By Sarah Varcas

This super new moon in the 7^th degree of Virgo – conjunct Venus, Mars & Mercury – is a cleansing moon. Virgo is a deeply healing sign imbued with ancient knowledge often lost to us in favour of modern reductionist approaches to health. Whilst different models of healing have their place, this moon favours holistic systems, inviting us to regain balance, energy and health through their application. This is not about quick fixes, but a reminder that everything that enters our body – be it food, drink, air, drugs, sound or energy – impacts our well-being at all levels. The more conscious we can be of this the more carefully we can choose what we expose ourselves to and why. Beware, however, accepting any statement of ‘fact’ at this moon without analysing its meaning, source and application. Asking ‘who tells me this is so and why?’ can be a useful start to exploring the options available.


In its alignment with Mercury, Venus and Mars, this supermoon illuminates self-knowledge which allows for greater clarity in communication. But pay close attention to the motivation for speaking your mind! Assuming we have a right to say whatever we choose to anyone because ‘I’m just speaking my truth’, may become a subtle form of aggression at this point, intended to hurt or gain one-over on another. Used in this way, communication contributes little to greater accord or understanding. Recognising that however we feel doesn’t absolve us from the shared duty of mutual respect and consideration aids honest and meaningful connections which take account of other’s feelings, our own subjectivity and a shared pursuit of more abiding truths.


This moon also fortifies our connection with Mother Nature who will provide all the support we need. Our beautiful planet calls to us now, offering wisdom and guidance, solace and comfort. A single dewdrop on a leaf, a flower growing through a crack in the wall, a bird circling above us as we rush through city streets – all are our Mother assuring us we’re not forgotten and imploring she not be forgotten too. While many are busy and there’s much to be done, nurturing our connection with nature enables not only a deeper and more heartfelt response to life, but also greater clarity and effectiveness. Aligning the pulse of our life with the rhythm of the natural world allows a smooth and effective flow of energy which connects us to the deeper rhythms of wakefulness and sleep, activity and stillness. The more we isolate ourselves from life’s heartbeat, the more we’re drained of the energy needed to live it. Like a torch with flat batteries, we can’t summon the power to shine when we must, instead becoming a fading light in a world that needs us bright.


This supermoon illuminates the perfection found at the heart of our apparently imperfect lives. When resistance to unwanted conditions seems to strengthen their grip, embracing them may allow for rectification. This is how love changes all things: in acceptance, a deeper alignment is forged with the natural arc of change that bends towards balance and wholeness. In the Virgoan realm, truth is found in the paradox that holds perfection and imperfection in a state of creative tension. But its human face can become nit-picking perfectionism, demanding exactitude and purity from self and others: we believe that life should be better, things should be more ordered, other people more careful. So beware an obsessive focus on minutiae now. Whilst seductive, it will do no more than obscure deeper, more radiant truths.


Instead, observe how your own search for truth manifests. Does it energise and inspire you to greater self-enquiry? Or does it stultify your spirit, paralysing you in a maze of demands and dictates, obsession over detail and fear of letting your perceived imperfections show? If so, gentle and loving acceptance may be the very thing which finally allows old issues to resolve.


Attention to detail can reveal incisive truth or create information overload! We must know when to stop questioning as much as when to start; when to cease improvements and when our best is yet to come. At this moon we may view the world through a microscope that magnifies the faults in its shiny veneer, when we could simply marvel at life’s miracles and accept with good grace its many beautiful flaws.


Sarah Varcas

Click here to find out more about supermoons and their relationship to Black Moon Lilith

Tagged as: compassion, Conscious Relationships, Coping with emotions, Deep Truth, eco-spirituality, healing energies, healing Planet Earth, managing the mind, Mars in Virgo, Mercury in Virgo, Moon cycles, Moon in Virgo, Mother Earth, Mother Nature, new moon, patience, Personal healing, personal truth, planetary healing, self-acceptance, Sun in Virgo, Venus, Venus in Virgo, working with intuition

Sarah Varcas: 15th August 2019: Full Moon in 23rd degree of Aquarius: The Magic Is Us

15th August 2019: Full Moon in 23rd degree of Aquarius:
The Magic Is Us By Sarah Varcas

 The moon is full at 12:30 pm UT on 15th August 2019

This Full Moon in Aquarius is poised to blow some old beliefs out of the water. With its ruler, Uranus, having turned retrograde on 11^th August and now squaring Mercury, it illuminates how our mind works and the power it holds. This moon reminds us we don’t have to believe a single thought or subscribe to any belief unless we choose to. And we must choose with great care, for what occupies our mind also shapes our life. If we can simply sit in silent witness of all our mental meanderings at this moon, we can create the space around our thoughts which allows us to just be: watching them without believing them. Assessing their value before committing to them.
It’s often said that ‘where attention goes, energy flows’. This moon refines that statement. It’s not the fact of placing attention that holds the power, but the quality of the attention applied. If we attend to painful feelings with a mind that feeds off the drama and identifies with the pain then yes, our attention is problematic. If, however, we bring to difficult issues a softened heart, a compassionate perspective, patience, insight and a desire to know our true nature, we don’t have to look away from what challenges us. Instead we can observe it, feel it, surround it with compassionate awareness and, ultimately, change our relationship with it by doing so.


Creating this space in our own mind – which is simply a tiny cell in the vast collective consciousness – is akin to introducing fresh air into a closed room or sunlight into a darkened space. We all too easily believe our mind’s every movement, allowing it to dictate our life not in the interest of truth but of those energies on which it feeds: fear, separation, anxiety, power, superiority. Mind is the ego’s domain and if we want to balance ego with spirit, we must get to know it intimately, not simply surrender to its might.


If we’ve been wondering why we can’t get it together and make some long overdue change, this moon reveals how we keep ourselves in chains, blinkered to truths on the edge of awareness and mired in self-sabotage. It may be a rude awakening, especially if the stark lunar light reveals not external circumstances but our very selves as the obstacle at hand. Whilst such insights are a bitter pill to swallow, this is just the first stage: a nudge from the universe to recognise our role, not beat ourselves up over it. Self-blame gets us nowhere, so whatever comes to light at this moon, meet it with a gentle and loving heart, not a hardened, self-critical one.


We may, however, be too distracted to take ourselves in hand. An accumulation of stress and anxiety, despair or depression – even the tedious boredom of a life lived in black and white – can prevent us recognising the power of the present moment and the alchemical force unleashed when we live it fully, without guile. If we’ve invested too much energy in anticipation of an ideal future where everything magically falls into place, we need to realise the magic is us, living on purpose, with clear intent and for the greater good right now.


Opposing Venus in Leo, this moon may trigger loneliness or a sense of being misunderstood. If we can resist taking things too personally it will go a long way to not letting these feelings rule the day and create mountains out of molehills! There’s a fair bit of tension around, so cutting each other (and ourselves) some serious slack is good advice. If possible, avoid heated topics of debate and focus on things that unite rather than divide, otherwise it may be all too easy to slip into overzealous championing of our own perspective with no consideration of someone else’s view.


If we find ourselves resistant now, wrestling with external pressures that threaten to change our course, discernment is key. We cannot and do not live apart from the world and must attend always to the constant feedback loop which occurs between us and our environment. Sometimes we must stand firm in the face of external pressures. At other times those very pressures are the touch of the divine reminding us we may be losing our way, drifting off track or blind to something we can’t afford to ignore. If resistance energises and clarifies intent, it’s probably keeping us on track. If it drains us and destroys our peace, distracting from positive action which could blow cobwebs away, we may well be resisting the very thing that will set us free.


Beware, also, the seduction of certainty in the face of current confusion. It can only ever be a thin veneer atop an infinitely complex existence beyond anyone’s power to fully understand. Knowing it’s okay not to know, being at peace with paradox, embracing with an open heart all insights gleaned (even that we’ve been wrong all along!)…. these are important elements of this time. Avoid the tendency to act out rather than turn within. It may be easier to take our stress out on the people around us, but every time we soften around the tension, turn toward another not away from them, seek common ground not battleground, we plant the seeds of a quieter mind that can clear the wheat from the chaff and know instinctively what’s needed in times of challenge to come.


Uranus, the Great Awakener and ruler of Aquarius, uses sudden twists of fate to rouse us from the deceptive slumbers of assuming we know who we are. But what we call ‘fate’ is often our own nature reflected back to us, and what we find ‘out there’ has its deeper roots within. Now retrograde, it’s rearranging our inner world to illuminate those roots – stories we tell ourselves; beliefs that shape our perceptions; dogma absorbed from others; mental constructs perceived as truth. These beliefs, thoughts, feelings, behaviour patterns and perspectives are traps we unwittingly set on our own path of awakening.


In the coming five months Uranus retrograde will reveal the inner roots of our ‘fated’ lives, in which we’re mysteriously confronted by the very circumstances that force us to draw upon ever deeper levels of the Self. While this Full Moon reminds us that overcoming external limitations is one thing, but only by removing inner barriers are we truly free.


Sarah Varcas

Tagged as: compassion, Conscious Evolution, Conscious Relationships, Coping with emotions, creativity, Deep Truth, divine timing, Ego & Essence, facing fear, Full Moon in Aquarius, healing energies, managing change, managing the mind, Mercury, Mercury in Leo, Moon cycles, patience, Personal healing, personal truth, present moment awareness, releasing ego identification, self-acceptance, Spiritual development, Uranus in Taurus, Uranus Retrograde, Uranus Retrograde in Taurus, Venus, Venus in Leo

Sarah Varcas: One of a Kind & One of the Crowd: 28th July – 21st August 2019: Venus + New Moon in Leo

One of a Kind & One of the Crowd:

28th July – 21st August 2019: Venus in Leo
(including a New Moon in Leo on 1st August 2019) 
By Sarah Varcas

Venus entered Leo on 28^th July 2019. Given the challenges of the eclipse season which ended on 29^th July, this is something to celebrate! After much self-analysis and the illumination of some thorny issues, we can now relax into being who we are without apology or self-consciousness! Venus in Leo rejoices in the pleasures of being a personality in a sensual physical body, occupying a world that provides enjoyment alongside the hardships we face. It’s time to embrace some more of the fun and a bit less of the challenge!


With four heavenly bodies now in Leo (the Sun, Venus, Mars and asteroid Juno) and a new moon in the sign of the lion on 1^st August, we can proudly proclaim who we are and let the world see us in all our glory. But what applies to one applies to all, so there needs to be space for others to do the same. Indeed, a central task on the Leonine path is that of allowing others to shine as much as oneself. The coming few weeks will provide significant opportunities to do that, so we all get some positive attention. Think of it as a collective affirmation of individuality. It may sound paradoxical but it can be deeply healing, enabling us to break out of limiting communal dictates into the breath-taking beauty of who we uniquely are.


Embracing this natural uniqueness is an all-important part of finding the balance between self and other, me and you, individuality and the collective. We each have a gift, be it a winning smile, a compassionate heart, a strident passion, a good head for figures or a talent well honed. But gifts can be overlooked if we strive only to be ‘special’ and stand out from the crowd. In truth, some of the most precious gifts are very low key. Chatting with a lonely stranger in the bus queue won’t get much attention, but it may create a ripple effect we can’t begin to imagine. Nursing an injured bird back to health is done by someone somewhere every day, without great fanfare. And yet Mother Nature herself whispers ‘thank you’ as she stretches her mended wings to return to the wild. The universe is infinitely grateful when we share our unique gifts and the more we can attune to this omnipresent appreciation the less we need it from others to feel worthwhile.


Venus entering Leo while the North Node continues its journey through Cancer, assists us in balancing our role in the local and global community with our need to be recognised as an individual. We walk both these paths, one on which we must place the greater good above personal gain, and one on which we prioritise honouring our unique individuality. At times these two endeavours can seem at odds and we may stumble as we try to establish balance. Venus’s current journey through Leo reminds us not to neglect either aspect of this human life. To do so is to live a lie that says either we’re more important than everything else or everything else is more important than we are. Neither of which is true.


Honouring the greater good should not demand a relinquishment of all that we are as individuals. We can stand apart from the group and still contribute in the right way for us. At the same time the collective continues to act upon us as individuals, influencing and shaping our development even as we stand alone. Just as we cannot keep our breath from mingling with others’, we cannot prevent our energy from merging either, birthing the unified energetic field that criss-crosses this planet, connecting us all.


Whether walking a path of individuation or aligning with the greater whole, we can both nurture our own uniqueness and contribute to the collective field from which we draw support, inspiration and nourishment. Bringing authenticity, compassion and integrity to these dual roles enables us to be vibrant individuals and productive parts of the whole, knowing when to bow to the greater good, when to stand firm in our individuality and when our uniqueness can contribute to the collective in ways that hiding in the shadows never could. The higher we rose to the challenges of the eclipse season, the more we’ll have to celebrate now, for embracing the light alongside the shadow makes us complete: neither light nor dark, nor this or that. Just you and me in all our weird and wonderful glory! One of a kind and one of the global crowd.



Sarah Varcas

Tagged as: Asteroid Juno, collective energy field, Conscious Evolution, Conscious Relationships, Eclipse Season, Ego & Essence, healing energies, individuality and the collective, Juno in Leo, Mars in Leo, Moon cycles, New Moon in Leo, North Node in Cancer, Personal healing, personal truth, planetary healing, self-acceptance, Spiritual development, Sun, Sun in Leo, Venus in Leo

Previous post: 21st June – 29th July 2019: Eclipse Season

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16th July 2019: Lunar Eclipse in 25th degree of Capricorn A Time of Reckoning By Sarah Varcas

‘Buddha in Blue’ © S J Varcas

16th July 2019: Lunar Eclipse in 25th degree of Capricorn

A Time of Reckoning

By Sarah Varcas

This is a partial eclipse. The time of greatest eclipse occurs at 21:32 UT.


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 21^st July 2019 until 11^th 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

Tagged as: compassion, Conscious Evolution, Conscious Relationships, Coping with emotions, Deep Truth, divine timing, Eclipse Season, Ego & Essence, embracing the shadow, Eris, Eris in Aries, Eris retrograde, facing fear, healing energies, Lunar Eclipse, managing change, managing the mind, Mercury in Leo, Mercury Retrograde, Moon cycles, North Node in Cancer, Personal healing, personal truth, planetary healing, Pluto in Capricorn, present moment awareness, releasing ego identification, Saturn in Capricorn, Saturn Pluto conjunction January 2020, self-acceptance, Spiritual development, Sun, Venus, Venus in Cancer, working with intuition

Sarah Varcas: 2nd July 2019: Solar Eclipse in 11th degree of Cancer: Stronger and Wiser

2nd July 2019: Solar Eclipse in 11th degree of Cancer: Stronger and Wiser ~ By Sarah Varcas

The eclipse is in the 11^th degree of Cancer and reaches totality at 19:24:08 UT

This solar eclipse in sensitive but nonetheless dynamic Cancer brings emotional healing in its wake. In response to a gnawing inner hunger it unleashes emotional and spiritual nourishment to those in need. Old ways of navigating this life may be falling short of late, with inspiration replaced by a jaded lack of motivation and faith. Growing intensity as Saturn and Pluto prepare to form their conjunction in January 2020 may feel heavy to many hoping for a lighter wave to ride right now. If that’s you, take heart. Nothing lasts forever, and this solar eclipse reminds us that even in the darkest hour nourishment is at hand.


This eclipse pokes at our emotional balance. If we struggle with feelings that routinely sabotage us, it offers insight about our internal dynamics and how to change them. For some, this eclipse may even bring the final healing needed to overcome a well-established pattern of emotional self-sabotage. But we must be prepared to do our part and acknowledge without candour, how we generate our own suffering. Self-awareness is key, and any feelings we choose to deny will continue to sabotage us as they, too, reach for the light.


With Venus the only planet in an air sign at the eclipse, objectivity may be hard to come by. And as Mercury prepares to turn retrograde in Leo on 7^th/8^th July, conjunct Mars, we must think twice about how we express ourselves. The force of our desires may cause our mouth to run away with us, speaking words in haste or anger that are best left unsaid right now. The consequences of unguarded expression at this solar eclipse will be significant. Mercury and Mars in Leo prioritise self-expression at the expense of listening to others. But balanced communication is vital at this time, together with a willingness to accept that what may seem undoubtedly obvious to us may be opaquely inaccessible to others. With feelings running high and our internal filter overridden by an over-confident appraisal of the ‘facts’, there’s an ever-present risk of words becoming the source of our undoing! If this happens, Venus’s passage across the eclipse degree on 12^th July provides an opportunity for reconciliation if needed.


The Sabian Symbol for this eclipse degree references a clown impersonating others. Humour may well play its part in our journey into the Real Self, and objectivity that helps us chuckle at ourselves can be uniquely healing at this time. Life is intense, for sure. But we can lighten it up if we’re willing to shift our perspective and take ourselves less seriously. How much conflict could be avoided if more people were prepared to simply walk away rather than labour a point to win yet another meaningless argument? How much energy would we save if we let go of the routine slights and offensives that pepper our day? How much focused attention could we then invest in what truly matters? This solar eclipse poses such questions and suggests we take note of what sparks a reaction in us and why.


As Chiron begins five months retrograde in Aries on 9^th July, the scales are shifting in favour of self-healing, self-acceptance and self-love. Whilst of course we need support from each other at times, those times may be fewer than we think. We are stronger and wiser than we’ve been led to believe by centuries of ‘experts’ telling us they know best in everything from religion and spirituality to science, politics, economics, health and even what we should wear and when! The time has come to own our sovereignty and claim our right to shape our own destiny. But of course, doing so comes with weighty responsibility. No longer can we lay our struggles at the feet of others and demand a solution. Chiron retrograding through Aries affirms we already have what we need and healing happens when we embrace this fact and lay claim to everything that we are.


Taking full responsibility for every moment of our lives is a radical and terrifying act. It’s also exciting, liberating and replete with potential. No more complaining. No one else to blame. No more self-pity. Just a state of pure intentionality in which we embody the power of fully being who we are. As the Moon eclipses the Sun, however, we discover just how elusive the Real Self can be! Amid conditioning and expectations, social mores, familial dictates and our own self-criticism how can we possibly spot the real me?! But like sunlight that returns once the eclipse is done, we find illumination in the shadows, weaving from their darkness the resplendent threads of a radically sovereign life.



Click here for more information about solar eclipses and how to understand their role in your own birth chart 


Sarah Varcas

Tagged as: Chiron, Chiron in Aries, Chiron Retrograde, Chiron Retrograde in Aries, Conscious Evolution, Conscious Relationships, Coping with emotions, Deep Truth, Eclipse Season, embracing the shadow, facing fear, healing energies, independence, managing change, managing the mind, Mars, Mars in Leo, Mercury, Mercury in Leo, Mercury Retrograde, Moon cycles, Personal healing, personal sovereignty, personal truth, releasing ego identification, self-acceptance, self-determination, sense of humour, Solar Eclipse, Spiritual development, Sun, Venus, Venus in Gemini

Previous post: 21st June – 29th July 2019: Eclipse Season

Sarah Varcas: 21st June – 29th July 2019 ~ Eclipse Season: Returning From Exile

"It may help to think of energy as encoded 
wisdom: a particular resonance or vibration with the potential to 
recalibrate our understanding of life in general and/or specific 
situations in particular." 

 

21st June – 29th July 2019: Eclipse Season

Returning From Exile

By Sarah Varcas

*All dates & times are UT*

21st June 2019 sees a number of astrological events occurring in quick succession, alerting us to a significant energetic shift. At 8:27 a.m. Neptune stations in its own sign of Pisces, beginning its annual five-month retrograde journey. At 2:03 p.m. the Moon becomes void-of-course in Aquarius until it enters Pisces exactly 24 hours later. This is a particularly long stint for a void-of-course moon. At 3:55 p.m. the Sun enters Cancer, marking the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere and the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere. Amidst all of this an eclipse season  begins which lasts until 29th July, featuring a solar eclipse in Cancer on 2nd July and a lunar eclipse in Capricorn on 16th July.


When so many shifts coincide with the start of an eclipse season we know this will be an energetically significant few weeks. It may help to think of energy as encoded wisdom: a particular resonance or vibration with the potential to recalibrate our understanding of life in general and/or specific situations in particular. This current season will illuminate the feelings, sensations and intuitions which reveal the quality of any given moment. Like learning a new language, we can become more intimately acquainted with the nuances of our inner wisdom which will, in turn, help us draw upon the information encoded in the prevailing energetic field. We can invite guidance on how to integrate these new levels of awareness into daily life, seek clarity about when to share what we perceive and when to remain silent, and explore when to act on intuition and when to simply acknowledge its guidance, postponing action for another day.

Whilst the impact of eclipses always radiates through the following six months, the eclipse season itself establishes the perspective and state of consciousness needed to make the most of these cosmic graces. In this instance, the shadow work begun when Saturn and Pluto turned retrograde in April will act as an important foundation stone for us. The extent to which we’ve embraced the personal shadow as manifested in recent weeks, will in large part dictate the extent to which we can confront challenges and receive blessings in the weeks yet to come.


A Formidable T Square

But the real story begins on 18th June when Pluto begins to oppose Mercury conjunct Mars in Cancer, all forming a T Square to Eris until 24th June. Here we find Eris poking at our sensitivities. Tendencies toward passive aggression and ‘acting out’ (whilst claiming we’re not!) may be heightened. Stay alert to your true feelings, aim for sensitive but honest communication and remember we’re all under pressure here and relationships may suffer as a result! This alignment demands a pragmatic approach to interpersonal dynamics alongside a willingness to recognise not only where our own wounds skew our perception, but also how we continue to wound each other.

This isn’t an exercise in self-blame, but in understanding the ego-force that inescapably shapes our lives. No one can avoid subjectivity. We all see life through our own eyes, assess it according to experience and react to protect what feels like a vulnerable core. In doing so we impinge upon the lives of others, often in ways we fail to perceive. Relationships are intensely complex. This T Square will bring some of those complexities to the fore, muddying waters and revealing the grey areas where we can’t simply point the finger and say ‘this is all YOUR fault!’. Only by setting blame aside can we make the connections which reveal what’s really going on.

This heavenly configuration acts as a doorway into the eclipse season, supporting those who seek to master emotions and penetrate their true message, not be forever swamped by their unremitting force. We cannot wait for feelings to subside, fear to abate, emotions to settle or our brains to churn out the chemicals of happiness to ease our lot. Instead we must get to know our feelings: how they arise, their triggers, their patterns and, most important of all, how we create, perpetuate and manage them. In doing so we may just discover an inexorable source of energy to draw upon when we life is overwhelming and we feel we don’t have what it takes. This T Square assures us we do. Always. As long as we’re prepared to call upon our inner warrior as much as our inner empath; to resist as much as acquiesce; to speak out perhaps more than we hold back, whilst knowing sometimes silence is the truest response of all.


Neptune Retrograde


The signature of this eclipse season is writ large by Neptune’s retrograde station at 8:27 a.m. on 21st June in the 19th degree of Pisces. The Sabian Symbol for this degree is a master instructing his disciple, a motif which speaks of the transmission of wisdom from one who knows to one who seeks. In its retrograde phase Neptune reminds us the knower and seeker are one and the same. We need only still the mind and look within to discover well-springs of wisdom: the very heart of all that we are. But how often do we ignore a wordless inner knowing and choose what’s ‘expected’ over what feels right? How often do we profess a certain belief only for it to go out the window once challenges arise? How often do our feelings tell us one thing but we do something else instead?

Such common-place self-betrayals cast into exile the part of us that actually knows what’s best. Our inner guide can no longer communicate because we’re shutting it out. A vibrant and wise part of us is silenced. We continue with our lives largely oblivious to this fact, but each time we agree when we want to disagree, act when we want to stand back or say nothing when we want to speak up, another part of our core essence is cast into darkness. The longer we live this way, the more of our psyche and spirit is disenfranchised and the smaller our lives become. Eventually, when we really need to draw on our inner-sage, we don’t even share the same language and our exile is complete. The journey of awakening is akin to emerging from this exile to embrace fully the role of wise counsellor, teacher and seer, to and for ourselves.

But in its alignment with Saturn, the Moon’s Nodes and Jupiter this month, Neptune alerts us to the risk of ‘spiritual-bypassing’. To awaken is not to escape into bliss or to avoid the cut and thrust of daily life. We awaken within the fabric of our humanity, not to escape it. We continue to live in a world on the brink, where societies have been torn apart by deep divisions of suspicion, hatred and fear the world over. Where human activity threatens the survival of countless species including our own and patriarchal posturing continues to eclipse a more equitable and heart-centred expression of our humanity. To awaken is to see all of this and our part in it. And then to birth a wise and noble Self that counters the dominant narrative of greed, aggression and war with a commitment to peace, wisdom and hope.


Void of Course Moon in Aquarius


Between Neptune’s retrograde station at 8:27 a.m. on 21st June and the solstice point at 3:55 p.m. when the Sun enters Cancer, the Moon begins a twenty-four hour void-of-course period in Aquarius at 2:03 p.m. A void-of-course Moon makes no more aspects to planets until it enters its new sign, and therefore signals a time of stillness during which activity and effort produces few useful results. Given the Moon’s key role in any eclipse season (both solar and lunar eclipses are dictated according to the moon’s cycle), this is an important significator for the coming one, best read as a warning not to invest too much importance in the effectiveness of our doing but instead focus more on the quality of our being.

This void-of-course Moon speaks of loneliness. It digs at those parts of the self which feel out of place and make it hard to fit in when we most want to. Not to be confused with the uniqueness so cherished by the Aquarian spirit, this disheartening experience of not finding our space in the world can leave us ever more isolated. We may increasingly feel this way as the eclipse season progresses, or we may encounter others struggling to find their place in a confusing world. It may be tempting to feel something’s seriously wrong, that we’ll never find our way back to a sense of safe community. But take heart: every void-of-course Moon is resolved as it enters its new sign, and as much as this one will colour the coming weeks, so too will that sense of resolution.

An Aquarian Moon is resolved as it enters Pisces: the final sign of the zodiac where individuality surrenders to the imponderable mystery from which all life is born. If we feel out of step with our environment or alone in our pain, this Moon connects us with the Great Heart vast enough to contain all joy and suffering, all hope and despair. And as the Sun enters the Moon’s own sign of Cancer at the solstice, it affirms this heart as our true home, offering sanctuary from the growing dislocation of humanity in the ever more frantic modern world.

Eclipse seasons often pose challenges, disguised as disasters or strokes of good fortune in equal measure! Even the best that life offers can stress us out if we let it! What if we mess it up, or it doesn’t live up to expectations?! The mind can turn anything into a source of trouble and eclipses often bring out the inner drama queen or king! So if you find yourself spiralling off into an emo-meltdown, spiritual emergency or plain old temper tantrum in the coming weeks, bear that in mind! Things just may not be as dire as they seem or as far beyond your influence as they feel. A change of perspective may be the key to a change of fortune. And some good old-fashioned patience could be the difference between make or break in the weeks to come.

We have a solar eclipse in Cancer on 2nd July and a lunar eclipse in Capricorn on 16th July. I’ll be sharing more about these specific eclipses soon.

Sarah Varcas

Tagged as: Conscious Evolution, Conscious Relationships, Coping with emotions, Deep Truth, divine timing, Eclipse Season, Ego & Essence, embracing the shadow, Eris, facing fear, healing energies, Jupiter in Sagittarius, Lunar Eclipse, managing change, managing the mind, Mars, Mercury, Moon cycles, Neptune in Pisces, patience, Personal healing, planetary healing, Pluto in Capricorn, releasing ego identification, Saturn in Capricorn, Solar Eclipse, South Node in Capricorn, Spiritual development, void of course moon