What will you leave behind?

Much of astrology is a study of layers of cycles. Cycles repeat, and thus they are rhythmic. They create a pulse to our lives as individuals, and also to the life of our species and our home planet. We can touch one layer of these rhythms by tracking the moon through its phases - growing, apexing, shrinking, disappearing, and reemerging to begin another cycle. Meanwhile, these many layers of cycles touch us, prodding us to move in one direction or another, to grow or shrink aspects of ourselves, to allow parts of ourselves to die so that they may be reborn in a more integrated and authentic way.

As above, so below: Nature cycles right here on planet Earth. Oak trees create leaves that fall to the ground, decompose into fresh soil, and then are reabsorbed into the oak to become new branches, acorns and more leaves. In the midst of all that, we get to enjoy a glorious display of crimson and gold, while the oak is able to survive the harsh cold of winter and grow bigger each spring and summer. Through this process, what is lost is later redeemed and renewed, and life is able to continue in ever more grandiose beauty.

Sun in Pisces: 2/18 - 3/19 (PST)

Pisces is the great soup of the zodiac, where all the ingredients of the other eleven signs merge into one unified everything-ness. As the Sun transits through the sign of the fish, we benefit from dissolving and merging with the vastness of being. This will enable us to better burst forth with the sureness and vitality of a renewed sense of self next month. This is also time to catch up on a last bit of rest before the spring whisks us into a whirl of action.

Full Moon in Virgo: 2/22, 10:20a (PST)

Full moons are the apex of the lunar cycle. It's the moment we reach the top of the hill we've been climbing since we were in the safe and tender valley of the new moon. What do you do at the top of a hill? You take a moment to pause, rest from the effort of climbing, enjoy the view, and see what can only be seen from the heights. Also, take note that you are more visible to others when you're at the top of a hill.

Then you go down the hill again, which uses entirely different muscles than your upwards climb. There's a kind of raw exertion that goes into the building phase of the moon, but the waning phase requires more of a steadying effort, like walking down a rocky mountain. You focus your attention on the environment, and keep careful control of your body to keep yourself upright as gravity pulls you down towards the next valley. This is the last full moon before a full, super solar eclipse, so that gravity is going to feel pretty strong this time around.

Meditations for this full moon:

What are the dualities that catch your attention at this time?

What are the unifying principles of those dualities - What coin are they the two sides of?

What are the necessary steps to take in order to manifest your dreams?

What is the next step before you?

Are you in right service or in humiliating servitude in your work and in your relationships?

Mars Enters the preliminary shadow of its retrograde: 2/17

Mars will be retrograding throughout most of the coming spring (4/17 - 6/29). Because the red planet retrogrades less than any other planet, and because it represents our ability to act and stimulate forwards momentum in our lives, this tends to be an uncomfortable influence - rather like having sand stuck in your underwear. I'll get more deeply into this retrograde in a future report, but for now, here's what to tune into for the next two months:

What desires are you willing to work - in whatever ways necessary - towards manifesting?

What desires are you not willing to work- in whatever ways necessary - towards manifesting?

Are your actions in alignment with your beliefs?

What do you need to let go of in order to devote yourself more fully to what matters most to you?

What are the fears that underly your anger?

Full Super Solar Eclipse in Pisces - 3/8, 5:54p (PST)

Soup and compost: What do these two things have in common?

They both come about through a process of dissolution of individual parts that enables a reabsorption and reintegration of base elements into a new and different whole. When soup cooks long enough, carrots and onions cease to be carrots and onions. They become mush that have imparted their flavor and nourishment to the soup, which we can then eat, and integrate more easily than trying to munch on and digest raw onions and carrots. So it goes with the oak's leaves decomposing into the soil beneath the oak tree. So it goes with ragged and used up parts of ourselves, with relationships that have outlived their love, and with places and activities that no longer inspire us.

A full solar eclipse is a new moon that occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth are very precisely aligned in three dimensional space. Full solar eclipses are tender times that require deep inwards searching in order to assess what within us is ready to be reborn. At this particular eclipse, the moon also reaches the point in its monthly orbit that brings it closest to the Earth, and thus it is also a "super moon" - the first of three super new moons in a row. Super moons heighten the moon's tugs on the waters of our planet - including the water within our own bodies, and thus our physical and emotional experience is greatly increased.

This Sun/Moon alignment is closely conjoined with Chiron (bridging animal & divine natures) and a lunar point of release and refinement, and makes tense connexions with Jupiter (faith and belief), a lunar point of growth and learning, and Saturn (accepting and working within actual limitations) that form a growth-inducing T-square shape in the heavens. Pluto (death & rebirth) and Uranus (revolutionary insight) add their two cents through gentler and subtler relationships with the eclipse. If you have planets or sensitive points in your chart between 15 - 19 degrees in any sign, you will feel the alignments of this eclipse very deeply indeed.

Bringing it all together -

What are the old leaves of your life that need to fall to the ground?

What new branches will you be able to grow with the nourishment of that compost?

What new areas of light will those branches be able to reach?

What are you willing to leave behind in order to travel forth with greater ease?

What would you like to leave behind in the memories of those who know you?

The last thing I'll say about this eclipse is...

MAKE A WISH

...because the normal rhythm of the sun and moon is interrupted as the moon blots out the sun. It is in those moments when the usual flow is not at all usual that we have great opportunity for change.

Make several wishes. Make a wish that you receive the insight you need to make the changes that bring you into a truer alignment with your nature. Make a wish that you learn how to love and accept yourself and others more deeply and truly. Make a wish that you completely forgive yourself and others so that your energy is free to move forwards. More so than any other sign, Pisces can make dreams come true. The trick is identifying the right dream. So wish for that - that you can see your truest dream as clear as the air after a good rain.

Next month...

Wily times are upon us for the next few months. This month's solar eclipse apexes in a partial lunar eclipse on March 23rd. Two days later, Saturn stations retrograde in Sagittarius. Stay tuned for next month's report on the next eclipse and the riddles of the ringed planet. Thank you for reading. Here's wishing you an insightful and magical month,

Rae