There are three planets in the Zodiac that reflect the various ways chaos manifests in our world, and all three of them are strongly activated in the upcoming lunar eclipse on May 26th.
Mercury brings chaos based in information overload, in having too many choices, in the open spaces of the public marketplace. Mercury is a trickster, delighting in letting people think one thing while engineering something else entirely.
Uranus brings chaos that is the result of a (metaphorical or literal) lightning strike. It is the chaos of sudden change, of physical or emotional whiplash of surprising, even shocking events. It moves us out of stagnation into a brand-new perspective. It can be destructive. It can also bring blessings.
Neptune’s chaos is the chaos of pure Consciousness, of all possibility. Its chaos is deeply creative, because it is directly plugged in to the unending source of all that is created, and all that is possible. It calls to the spiritual awareness within each of us, and reminds us we are part of an incomprehensibly larger whole. This awareness can sometimes be overwhelming to our individual focus.
These next few months can be a confusing time for many. Change is coming from many different directions, and that can be a challenge to cope with if you are in its path. But the chaos that change causes can trigger brilliant new ideas, bring unforeseen opportunities, and allow us to find a better path ahead.
When things are in upheaval they can scatter, move, disconnect and reconnect, create something new and different as the pull of order settles them back into patterns. Things won’t be the same, but our actions, our ideas, our desires can shape the new patterns.
If you’re dealing with change, this is a good time to explore new perspectives, new options. Reconsider how you want to live your life, and the choices you want to make.
Eclipse charts give us a picture of where and how our attention is likely to be focused over the next 6 months or longer, depending on both the strength of the eclipse chart and how it interacts with our personal charts.
Here are a few paragraphs to delineate the astrology for those who are interested, then we’ll look at how to ride these waves of change.
(Astrologers: The chart is cast for May 26, 7:13 am, Washington, DC. 26° 18’ Gemini is rising, and I am using Equal houses. Remember that an event chart cast for the capital of a country is the event chart for the whole country. It’s also useful to put the eclipse or other event chart in a bi-wheel with that country’s natal chart. Angles and houses will change depending on where the chart is cast for, but the planetary aspects are global in effect.
Look first at the overall strength of the chart. Depending on whether or not you grant outer planets co-rulership (I do), either 3 or 4 planets are in signs they rule, including Mercury [ruling and on the ascendant, dispositing the Sun, north node and Venus] and Jupiter [ruling the eclipse, and ruling and on the MC]. The nodes are only 5° from Sun and Moon. This is a powerful eclipse.
Additionally, Neptune in Pisces is square the Mercury-Venus conjunction and also trine Mars, which is not particularly happy swimming through Cancer. The Fire planet in the Water sign can create a lot of boiling water.
The ongoing Saturn-Uranus square is in tight approach, and Mercury and Mars both are out-of-bounds. And that ongoing Pluto-Eris square [which should not be underestimated and has been reflected in some of the background craziness lately] is in approaching aspect again.)
Is the Sky Falling? Maybe.
Or maybe it’s just a random piece of space junk.
Life here on Earth is such that most of us live with a deep understanding of surprises. We’ve all considered the fact that a meteor or a plane or a piece of space junk could come hurtling out of the sky at any time. That’s the nature of living within time and space. We are often taken by surprise. By nature, by mechanical failures, by other people. By our own selves.
The surprises aren’t necessarily bad. They can be life-changing and marvelous at the same time, like an unexpected offer for your dream job. Or a large piece of space junk may have just taken out your roof. It’s a crap shoot.
And that’s why it’s important to have a strong connection to the non-physical reality that exists beyond the time and space world that currently holds our focus. I’ll call it the world of Spirit. This is the reality within which our souls exist and from which we launch our incarnational adventures.
When we have that connection to Spirit, we can see our lives from a different perspective. We can understand the intrinsic safety of our soul’s existence within the larger matrix of Being from which our time-and-space reality is created. From this understanding we can manage the surprises life tosses at us with far more aplomb than we could otherwise.
If you don’t have a solid connection with that larger reality, or if you feel the need to strengthen the connection you do have, these next few months are a good time to work on it, to find the strength and stability that can be sourced from Spirit, even when in physical reality feels like you are walking on shifting sands.
It’s worth remembering that the spirits that are likely to be in contact with us — ancestors, deities, and other non-physical beings — are also invested, to one degree or another, in how things are working out in physical reality. Mostly, they understand that we are currently in the middle of tremendous changes and shifts within physical reality, as we are expanding — often painfully — into another, more flexible and powerful level of Consciousness within physical reality. They are more interested in helping us make these changes than they are in making demands on our time.
So if you’re thinking along the lines of “I have little enough time to manage my physical life. I don’t have time to do rituals/go to church/sit in meditation/leave offerings or otherwise placate a bunch of spirits”, you might want to shift your perspective a bit. The work we do to connect with Spirit can be flexible. Remember it’s about relationship, about communication and connection, not placating demanding spirits or sticking to a rigid schedule.
I’m not saying the work of ritual, magic, and meditation is not valuable. It is. And it’s especially important when you are first establishing a relationship with a spirit, so you can sort the signal of their voice from the noise of the other thoughts in your head.
But when the demands of your life leave you little free time, learn to do a lot of communicating and connecting just in the course of your daily life. (I have some exercises that will help you with this in Touch the Earth, Kiss the Sky). A communication from a spirit may come to us in the supermarket checkout line or staring out the window of our office, and it is not necessarily less valid than those that come in deep meditation. But we must learn to listen and discern.
Become more aware of the symbols and synchronicities that surround you and use them for insight. Know what you want and ask for help getting it. Spend a few minutes here and there during your day to reconnect with the solid, nurturing earth and the vastness of the sky. Look for the opportunities that are the gifts of change, then use them like the artist you are to create your vision.
Heart Health
These upcoming months will bring many spiritual breakthroughs, which are often preceded by spiritual breakdowns. What is needed, but may be in short supply, is compassion for those who are undergoing change.
If you’re having a hard time accessing compassion for someone, at least try to keep an open mind about their motivations. You don’t know what’s driving them. While harmful behavior shouldn’t be tolerated, what drives the behavior is, more often than not, something that needs healing, not judgment. Look deeper. Do what needs to be done, but do it with understanding and a prayer for healing.
There’s extensive inner work going on for many, many people. Some will be more conscious and self-aware about this work than others, but the point here is for all of us to help each other let go of our toxic judgments (of our selves, especially) and actively seek healing. (Face it: we live in a wounded world, and we all need some healing. If you think you’re the exception — and who knows, maybe you are — then help find healing for others.)
Sometimes, other people can see things about us that we can’t see ourselves, and it can be useful to listen. Sometimes, we need to set and hold certain boundaries. Most of the time, both those things are true.
This eclipse season, seek compassion, watch for the options and opportunities, and remember that healing always requires change.
Keep in mind that what I write here is an overview, and the planetary patterns will affect different people differently. Don’t let astrology encourage disaster thinking. Instead, use it to help you make wise and informed choices. Remember, it’s highly unlikely that the sky is falling. It’s probably just a random piece of space junk that fell in your backyard, which you might even be able to sell on Ebay.
If you’d like to know what changes the current planetary lineup indicates for you personally, you can contact me here and we’ll set up a consultation.
Magic and Eclipses
With all the changes going on, magicians of all stripes are going to be thinking of how they can use their skills to create a path through the confusion.
There’s a fair amount of disagreement among magical practitioners who pay attention to astrology about whether or not to work magic during an eclipse — or even during “eclipse season”, the month (sometimes two) that surrounds the two (sometimes three) eclipses, which occur approximately every six months.
Traditional astrology says eclipses are no good, very bad for most things, very much including magic. I’m told that Vajrayana Buddhism and certain other traditions believe that eclipses add tremendous power to magical workings. Modern Western astrologers generally hold that eclipses can go either way, and look at the whole chart of the eclipse and its interaction with a given natal chart before making a judgement.
I’ve seen too many people have very good things happen under the influence of an eclipse that strongly aspected their natal chart to think that eclipses are always bad. But they can certainly throw a monkeywrench into the works.
Personally, I believe eclipses are a wild magic, and if you know what you are doing with energy and magic, and don’t mind a few surprises along the path to your goal, then yes, there is power to be gained from working with them. But if there is any doubt in your mind about whether or not to work magic during an eclipse, I’d recommend erring on the side of caution.
I will sometimes work magic near eclipses — very occasionally during the actual event — but usually it is either land-based or deep inner work that I feel strongly called to do which is focused more on changing my perceptions than changing my world.
My best advice is to pay attention during eclipses — they can help you see what needs to be stabilized in your life, what needs to be deactivated, what needs to be changed. Then you can follow your own informed guidance about what magical actions to take. If you’re in doubt, it’s probably best to wait until eclipse season is over — the next lunation after the final eclipse of the season. (In this case, the final eclipse is June 10th, the next lunation is the Full Moon of June 24th)
A Bit of Shock and Awe
There’s a lot happening on the national stage as well, of course, but since this post is getting a bit long, I’m just going to give you some bullet points of what to expect. Keep in mind that the national stage is not just about government — the country is its people.
- Sudden changes that shift our perceptions in a moment
- Focus on the media and communication networks
- Infrastructure issues, particularly around tech and travel
- Release of stunning new information
- Focus on civil service, particularly law enforcement
- Creative breakthroughs of all kind
Stay tuned for more astrological weather reports for June, which brings us another eclipse, and the Summer Solstice not long after that.
