Wesak Scorpio Full Moon Eclipse

  

This Wed April 25^th, an Eclipse/Full Moon brings to culmination the energies activated by the  last New Moon, which was in Aries. Mars, warrior planet of aggression, drive and desire,  figures prominently in both. Right now Mars is sitting very close to the Sun and both are opposite Saturn and Moon in Scorpio.

This Saturn/Mars opposition creates a very pressured, almost stuck kind of energy. As the build up of Mars momentum from the last few weeks suddenly meets the fixed energy of Saturn in Scorpio, it may  feel like  running smack dab into a concrete wall (Saturn).

As the pressure  builds up to the Full Moon, there are many other mitigating factors affecting this pressure, some of which will produce some movement, some relief. For starters, the  Sun and Venus in Taurus are already helping  ground and sooth the residual tension left over from such a fiery  month.  Venus in her home sign encourages us to bathe our senses as we fulfil the physical need for sights, sounds, taste, touch.  Together, they invite us to earth ourselves in the lap of the Great Mother (Taurus). 

Meanwhile, the intensely aggressive and impatient drive that Mars  kicked off at the last New Moon is slowly morphing into a more sustainable wave of persistence and perseverance. We can now start to  manifest into form what was seeded by such an abundance of Aries initiative and  oomph! If Aries is the seed, Taurus is the ground to plant it in.

Taurus represents self worth, personal values, our money, our stuff. It is where we get physically nurtured and is therefore also about our physical survival and our sense of safety (mirrored by Scorpio opposite, which is more about psychological survival). 

At this Full Moon, some will feel a tension around the need to protect their own resources, while at the same time  accepting  responsibility (Saturn)  to each other (Scorpio).  Sitting opposite, Saturn in Scorpio demands we deal with these issues of conflict in a responsible way, find ways to share and commit to others, deal with the hard stuff, grow up, get real.  Any opposition to Saturn can be a bit heavy and restrictive and could possibly trigger escapism or denial.  

A Full Moon in Scorpio (emotions, intuition) amplifies the part of us that is a bit wary of others motives, partly because it tends  to go so deep, picking up on everybody's psychological garbage.   With Saturn here as well, we are challenged to hold our ground and face our own shit, (instead of focusing on everybody else's!)

Saturn/Moon can have a dis ‘courage’ ing  effect (Mars = courage) as feelings of opposition and  blockage  make us to want to give up and walk away in defeat.

It is important to remember that eclipses do provide a shift and a release of old energy, even as they bring tensions to the surface. They are a portal for the old to release and new energy to come in, and their effects ripple out for months onward. This particular eclipse looks like another of those 'fork in the road'  moments we seem to be having a lot of lately ... again providing powerful  opportunities  to move and think differently.  

Maybe we need to break free from other people’s agendas and stand up for our own self. Or, maybe it's the opposite, the need to let go of divisive thinking and find a way to compromise with others.  Either way, we will feel challenged with issues around our 'stuff' and choices will be made in one direction or another. Mercury and Uranus together in Aries can bring sudden insights and a renewed openness to new ways of thinking. (Maybe Korea wont have to invade America after all!!)

As you can see (I hope) the gift of this eclipse will be to highlight where we tend to get stuck ,and then show us a completely new way of negotiating such obstacles.

(If you want to see  where this shit ... oops I mean 'shift' will manifest,   go to  www.astro.com for a natal free chart) and to http://www.bobmarksastrologer.com/TheHouses.htm  for descriptions of each 'house')

The Sun will be on the cusp of my 6^th house of health and Saturn/Moon will be extremely close to my first house (the body, how you go into the world)   A long cycle of health issues is coming to a end (I hope) which coincides with my coming Saturn /Ascendent and Saturn Return. 

This does feel like a fork in the road moment; a chance to step out of long time victim-hood and take the reigns of my life back. I feel a certain amount of pressure with  Saturn leaning on the dark side  (my 12^th house) of the Ascendant, activating deeply embedded unconscious elements and self destructive patterns; I can tell you it is not always an easy passage as parts of me resist (Saturn) looking down into the murky depths of the subconscious/12th house). 

Fear (conscious or unconscious) can block us from facing the shadows where we think the bogeyman is lurking. Yet Mercury and Uranus, also in my 6^th  house of health at this eclipse,  have the potential of bringing light into the darkness through new insights and breakthroughs.  I have no expectations, yet am already beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel  (Saturn says hopefully it's not an oncoming train lol).

The Saturn conjunct Moon can be serious and oppressive and can easily activate feelings of defeat. Yet  many other supportive energies tying into the eclipse bring a positive influence and  warn us not to judge things by surface appearances. There is more going on here  than meets the eye.

This is about seeing new possibilities while releasing old, negative, self-defeating  patterns of behaviour. With Scorpio involved, survival issues could be part of what is triggering the stubborn ‘I wont budge’ Mars energy. (Mars in Taurus is particularly inflexible when challenged) And Saturn in Scorpio is equally so.

Powerful  elements of transformation, (Pluto) and movement (Uranus, Mars) can be shocking  and disruptive but will often provide a way out or through or around any obstacle you may be facing right now.

Jupiter in Gemini and Mercury / Uranus in Aries ask us to think big and think outside the box.

Part 2. The Great Adventure

I recently attended a talk by Dr Jean Houston who uses the story of the Wizard of Oz (her book is called ‘The Wizard of Us’) as an example of the hero/inne’s journey of Self Mastery.  It is based on the idea that we each have a hero/heroine inside of us that is activated by a call to action.

The hero’s adventure is often triggered by some sort of crisis or dramatic event that shakes his or her world upside down, and forces a person to cross some kind of threshold.  

The hero/ine then must travel a road of trials to finally (hopefully) get to a positive outcome (follow the Yellow Brick Road…. lalala).  

Houston says this journey, though sometimes incredibly difficult, has a sacred element interwoven into it, for through it we find out who we really are.  At this critical time in the development of humankind, we are all now being called to walk upon this sacred journey of self-discovery, so we can save ourselves as well as save the planet. 

The good news is, there are helpers and allies who appear (like the good witch, the scarecrow, the lion, the tin man), each representing parts of each of us that need to develop in order to accomplish our goal: (kindness, clear thinking, courage, an open heart).

It is often the challenges and obstacles we face  that bring these qualities out in us. Of course everyone knows that in the end the bad witch is destroyed, and they each discover that  the qualities they were seeking were within them all along. Houston also points out that it is water (of life) that melts away the evil witch.

Best of all, after all her trials, Dorothy also discovers she has had the key to getting back home (to herself) all along. As she taps the Ruby Slippers and says   “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home” …  she touches the deep longing in all of us to return home… to ourselves….  to a state of wholeness and healing.   

So…

This eclipse may be the trigger for some to step onto the path of great adventure. It may be a fork in the road for others, or the catalyst to shift priorities or step up to the plate for once and for all. Both the eclipse and the Full Moon call us to ground our vision and face the obstacles in our path with determination (Saturn) and courage (Mars)

Yes, there are challenges, and dark passages along the way, yet  there are also allies and helpers and hidden signs to guide us along the way.

Have you noticed, in fairy tales,  it is always the youngest one, or the fool (innocence) who no one takes seriously,  that turns out to be the one person who listens to the guidance or helps the little old woman (who turns out to be the wise helper)  and thus gets the key or the boon or the magic goose etc?  It is not our pride or our arrogance or our all knowing-ness that will get us through, but instead our kindness, our courage, and our humility that will attract those benevolent forces.

And after all, this is the time of the Grand Irrationality. Nothing is what it seems. Despite trials and tribulations that may challenge us to our very core, there is  magic and grace and all kinds of support available to help us get back home.

This Wesak Full Moon is a celebration of Buddhahood, of wholeness, and it signals us to remember who we are at our core.   http://wesak.us/articles.php

Cause home is where the heart is.   It has been inside of us all along!

Happy Wesak. Happy Full Moon!