markspringle.com

Dear Friends,

Eclipses come in pairs, and the period between eclipses (I refer to this period as an “eclipse season”) creates a window of opportunity to defeat the past and create a new relationship to the future.  Roughly six months after one pair of eclipses, we have another, so that for 6 months, we integrate (or resist) the lessons of the preceding eclipse “season.”  Eclipses are complex, because they involve new moons, full moons, the Sun, and the nodes of the moon, as well as the other luminaries.  It is the relationship of the Sun to the Nodes which creates an eclipse.  The Nodes are delineated as North or South.  The South Node represents what we have done in the past.  It represents our default setting, or the easy way out, or that to which we are accustomed.  As we all know, too much familiarity can breed contempt, or at the very least, laziness.  The South Node may be a place where we are very comfortable, but where we are also operating on auto-pilot.  We may take things for granted that we should not.  Our South Node can bring comfort because it is familiar, but it can also cause us pain because there is no chance for growth or expansion.  In Hindu culture, the South Node represents the “dragon’s tail,” which  suggests elimination when compared to the North Node, or the “dragon’s head,” which suggests ingestion or integration.  The North Node is a place that can be intimidating because it pulls us out of our comfort zone: it demands that we learn new skills and integrate them into our lives.

On June 26th, we had a North Node Lunar Eclipse conjunct Pluto at 5 Capricorn.  Lunar eclipses act as demands whereas solar eclipses act as invitations, according to Jeffrey Brock.  The recent Lunar Eclipse may have brought up issues form the past, especially hidden ones, that need to be dealt with and integrated on a Capricorn level.  Capricorn is the sign we associate with responsibility, loyalty, and authority.  Can you see how this might apply to you?  Is being responsible and loyal difficult for you?  Perhaps you misunderstand these terms and think that being responsible and loyal  means taking the fall for someone or protecting them from their just rewards.  This is not the case and is a clear indication that you need to stretch in order come to a healthier understanding of these terms.

Health is a term we associate with the sign Virgo, and at the Solar Eclipse on July 11th, Saturn is at 29 Virgo.  In my last column, I mentioned that the 29th degree of any sign is a make or break degree, because there is no more room in that sign.  Either we learn and integrate the lesson of the planet and sign, or we carry the weight of that failure on into the next cycle until it is worked out at a later date.  Saturn in Virgo has been asking us to review and fortify our physical health, our coping mechanisms, and our routines for over 2 years now.  Saturn will leave the sign of Virgo for more than 26 years on July 21st.  This Solar Eclipse will be the invitation to take all that Saturn has taught us about health, coping, and adjusting in the past 2.5 years and put it to good use.

A Solar Eclipse is always a New Moon, and this New Moon is happening at 20 degrees of the sign Cancer.  This eclipse is tricky for me, and I have a feeling that I will irritate some of my fellow astrologers and others with this delineation, but my strength as an astrologer and as a counselor is that I “call ’em like I see ‘em” without prejudice or malice.  I know everyone likes to talk about how lovely the sign Cancer is and how nurturing and sweet, but this is only half the picture:  the pretty half.  Everything has a good side and a bad side.  Every sign has positive traits and negative traits.  Often, one trait can be both, depending on the intent, or awareness, of the person employing the trait.  This is a basic tenant of Buddhism.  In any event, spiritual proclivities aside, Cancer can be very loving, nurturing, and supportive, but it can also be very aggressive– passive aggressive, to be specific — calculating, and retreating.  Finding the balance in the way we use and express our Cancerian energy is the key, as it is with all of the astrological polarities.

Since this is a South Node eclipse, there is the suggestion that we need to let go of something, stop obsessing about something, or to release something.  This “something” is the shadow side of Cancer as it presents itself in our charts and in our lives.  Do you protect those you love to the point of preventing them from learning about themselves and the world?  Do you hide from truths that need to be confronted?  Do you passive aggressively insist that nothing is wrong rather than discussing your needs and feelings in a mature and respectful, dare I say responsible, manner?  Do you teach by example or by force?   Whatever the answer, please be aware that in order to grow, we will need to give something up: it may be a person, a relationship, a perspective, a job, or a house, but whatever it is, the reward will be far greater than the loss.

Cancer also rules receptivity in so far as a womb receives and nurtures the embryo.  The sign of Cancer is ruled by the Moon, and as we all know, the only reason we can see the Moon is because it receives the light of the Sun.  Just like yin and yang, beginnings and endings, and life and death, the active and passive principles are constantly at play.  In the sign of Cancer, we are deeply rooted in the passive or receptive principle.  This principle includes the nurturing and loving qualities we associate with Cancer, as well as the shadow qualities of defensiveness and fear.   Many people I know say they are “open,” when what they really mean is that they are open to this particular thing or to that specific outcome.  They are open to things that they have considered and mulled over already, but they aren’t really open to just anything… or to be specific, everything.  Just like the Moon cannot limit the amount of light it receives from the Sun, we should not limit the amount of metaphorical “light” we receive.  This does not mean that we cannot process it, categorize it, make judgments or adjust to it, but we should not limit that to which we are receptive.  At this eclipse, Venus, Mars, and Saturn are all in Virgo, making it clear that analysing the light and adjusting appropriately is equally as important as receiving it, but if we cant receive it, we cannot process it.

I see this playing out in the US in so many ways.  Of course, this eclipse is midway between the Sun and Mercury in the US Sibley chart.  In addition to the Oil Spill in the Gulf (issues of sustenance/dependence), this week has seen the US file suit against the state of Arizona (issues of receptivity), the US change command in Afghanistan (issues of defense), and the US voice its support of Israel (issues of nurturing).  In relation to the eclipse season, we might ask ourselves how can the US as a nation be more responsible?  How can the US integrate more Capricorn themes in a balanced and supportive manner?  How does the US act passive- aggressively with other nations?  Is the US receptive to ideas and offers which will lead to the government being better able to nurture its citizens?

Cancer also rules issues of safety and security.  Wherever Cancer rules our chart, and wherever the Moon, as its ruler, occupies our chart, we need to feel safe and secure.  Feeling safe and secure in these areas allows us to manifest the higher side of Capricorn energy, as Capricorn is the sign that sits opposite Cancer in the zodiac.  All too frequently, people attempt to provide safety and security for themselves by limiting or controlling their environment, relationships, interactions, etc.  Unfortunately, this can have the opposite effect of isolating the person and creating a situation where anything new or different is a threat.  As we all know, everything changes, nothing stays the same.  By creating a static refuge for ourselves, we actually create a situation where we are constantly under siege by the ever changing realities of life.  The trees that weather the large tropical storms of Miami are the trees that can bend with the wind.  If they are too rigid, they snap like toothpicks, no matter how solid they look on a calm day.

These are complex issues, and now is the time to examine them.  Safety, security, the need to be needed, learning to adjust to the ever changing demands of life, and taking responsibility for ourselves and our experience are important issues that deserve some attention.  Working with the energy of this New Moon Solar Eclipse, I am sure that we can all make some great discoveries about ourselves that will enable us to make the necessary adjustments that Saturn will require when he moves in to Libra on July 21th.

with love!

m