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Solar Eclipse in Gemini

12:52 am AHST 6/10/2021

  3:52 am  PDT  6/10/2021

  1:52 pm  UTC 6/10/2021

Solar Eclipse in Gemini

 

We are in the second eclipse of this season’s eclipse pairing, the first being the total lunar eclipse two weeks ago. Eclipses always happen on or near the Nodes of the Moon, which is the intersection of the path the Moon makes as it circles around the Earth with the Earth’s orbital path around the Sun.

The Nodes of the Moon astrologically symbolize the karmic path of soul development, the South Node being where we’ve come from, what’s been developed and is familiar, and the North Node embodying where we’re headed, what we are called to integrate. They are always a set of opposites, and so their presence in a pair of signs over the period of about a year and a half shows the issues humanity is working with. Currently the Gemini North Node and Sagittarius South Node show us where our belief systems and philosophies (Sagittarius) are outmoded and where we need to gather more information (Gemini) to formulate ways of being that are more in accord with the times and demands of the environment and the people.

Carl Jung spoke about how the overall values and ideals of a society are shaped by the myths and gods they revere. Their spiritual or religious practices are the overarching truths that shape their laws and behaviors. When these values and ideals wear out, become old or stale, as they inevitably do, then the society is at a crisis point where new values need to be incorporated for the civilization to survive. When values and truths no longer are outside of us, no longer larger than us, and have become “old” or arcane, there is no longer any overarching moral ground that holds us to civilized behavior. Then “things fall apart, the center cannot hold.”1 When the religions and guiding philosophies of our civilization no longer are relevant to us, graft, deception and corruption follow.  This is part of the paradigm shift we are in the middle of at present.

An eclipse at this Node of Gemini shows us the shadow of our beliefs, and the need to ground ourselves in new ideas that are relevant to the entire global civilization that we’ve become, ideas that become beliefs which unite all of us, despite differences in religion or lifestyles.

This eclipse is conjoined tightly by Mercury retrograde, further highlighting the need for us to examine ourselves, to scrutinize our thoughts and beliefs. Mercury is the trickster, as well as the messenger of the gods (i.e. he delivers to us our deepest inspirations) and yet our minds are trained in a rational scientific society to be meaning-making things. Where we fall down is when we confuse the meaning we give to things and events with their ultimate reality. If we know we are always looking through the screen of our beliefs and thoughts, we can gain some degree of objectivity, rather than be tricked by the seeming veracity of our thoughts into black and white thinking, leading to prejudice and contempt. 

Interestingly, this Solar eclipse forms a 90˚ angle or square to Neptune, the planet that rules our imagination. Neptune has stationed at this point (slowed down to almost a stop) and will begin its yearly retrograde in a couple of weeks. Squares are tension filled aspects, and have a quality of urgency to them. It’s urgent that we must use our deeper imaginative facilities to see what is happening around us as part of the process of decay which leads to renewal. Otherwise we risk being caught up in the mass media’s shocking reportage of events, and lose our sense of balance. We need to know what’s going on, but we also need to imagine an outcome, a purpose, a thematic story like the phoenix rising from the ashes of our old beliefs. It is easy to lose one’s optimism about life when we are in the midst of a pandemic, war being enacted on innocent people, gun violence, failing democracy, etc. etc. Neptune offers us a way to dream through this present scenario, to imagine this ending becoming a beginning. What that is, we don’t yet know, but we might begin with imagining possibilities of renewal.

Adding to this energy of changing viewpoints, Jupiter in Pisces is going retrograde just before the Solstice point on June 21, and since Jupiter rules our beliefs and higher spiritual awareness, these underpinnings of our society and our individual world views will be undergoing a reboot at least until October 17th when it moves direct.

This solar eclipse signature chart will remain in the background as an overarching influence for the next six months, until the next eclipse cycle. The Saturn square to Uranus (the second one of three this year) becomes exact 4 days after this solar eclipse. As we’ve written about before, the effect of this square is to blend and ground the influences of drastic changes (Uranus) with new structures (Saturn) in our lives, both personal and global.  Not an easy task when we’re blindsided with so much information and so many changes to integrate. The Mars-Pluto opposition (which is waning)  is also in this chart, having been a symbol of the eruption of war and recent military aggression in the world, but perhaps also a symbol of the waning of such activities.

Our personal energy and the way we are with others is our most powerful agent of change in the world. We need to keep ourselves well-tuned and fit to interact with a changing world. Paradoxically, slowing things down, taking them one step at a time, breathing awareness  through our moments, allows us to keep up with the acceleration of our times. And taking time to rest and for self-care is extra important during these times of significant changes.

[1] W.H. Auden, Slouching Toward Bethlehem.


All charts here are using Natural House system: i.e. the Ascendant is always at 0˚ of Aries.