10:23 am  AHST  10/28/2023
   1:23 am    PDT  10/28/2023 
   4:23 pm   EDT  10/28/2023
   8:23 pm   GMT 10/28/2023

Given what the “Ring of Fire” solar eclipse of October 14^th symbolized and manifested, the Lunar Eclipse on the 28^th brings us more into the realm of our emotional responses to what we’re experiencing: the loss, the terror, the sadness of events ‘round the world. Alas, humanity is still at the stage of its development where our ideas of power are about how many nuclear weapons we can amass, how much destruction we can work to “teach them a lesson”. The reality of it is, we all have to learn how to communicate our differences without being triggered at the lower brain reptilian level of consciousness. This is yet another example of the culture of domination and patriarchy that will soon be at a close at this time in history, or else we perish.

Pluto at this eclipse point is in an out-of-sign challenging square (90˚) to the Lunar Eclipse (Sun opposed Moon). Part of Pluto’s archetypal energy is actually that it’s the god of riches, a planetary force that rules the underground of our consciousness, where ego is no longer the rule of law, instead there is a higher and deeper law at work. Here is where we find the “gold” of deep awareness, true power. When we are forced to go to the underworld by troubling events in our lives, we feel stripped of all of our usual ways of dealing with the world. We are pushed to find ways to continue living without our comfort zones, and eventually this has the potential to open our hearts to new ways of being. Our job is to learn to view our trauma as something which awakens us.

Pluto is stripping us of our artifice, and laying bare what’s underneath, and often, at first, it’s not pretty. Pluto is also still very near to the degree of where it was at the “birth” of the US, and 248 years later, it’s the country’s Pluto Return. With a reactionary insurrectionist as Speaker of the House now, Pluto is exposing the degradation of democracy in the US, which is undergoing its most seriously fragile existence ever. We must realize how the US political system is broken, and it will continue to break down our basic human rights, as it has already begun to do, until we reach some kind of breaking point. The US is at the end of a cycle, and it’s hard to see now that this is sowing the seeds of a new one.

On one side of the Sun/Moon polarity is Sun conjoined with Mercury and Mars, all in powerful Scorpio. Intensity of emotion is Scorpio’s domain, and with Mars here, the tendency is to act out of self-righteousness, to use strong inflammatory words (Mercury) and to work also in underhanded ways. We’re going to see some very dramatic and distorted statements emerge politically in the coming months.

Opposite the Sun, the Moon is conjoined with Jupiter, oftentimes a buoyant combination, but it’s pulling the opposite way of Scorpio’s direction, asking for grounding and emotional stability and safety. Scorpio Mars is almost exactly in opposition to Jupiter and this is a polarity of “me and my truth” versus “the greater truth and greater good”. This does not bode well for negotiations toward peace, as the negative tendency of this opposition is for aggrandizement, where religious fervor, deception, and disagreements take the place of an objective “greater truth”.

With most of the planets in fixed signs in this chart there is not a lot of the energy of flexibility floating around the heavens. This is our shadow, that our fixity, our stubbornness causes us to follow our desires and what we think is right, refusing to change or compromise, until events in our lives come close to destroying us.

On a personal level, Venus in Virgo is opposed Neptune, but also in a harmonious trine (120˚) to Jupiter and Uranus. Here our libidinal/eros energies are asking for refinement. They’re resisting the huge, dreamy romantic energies of Neptune’s gauzy world, and instead asking for some changes (Uranus) in the ways we interact, that improve our connections to each other and promote a sense of safety and intimacy.

We are close now to Samhain, or Hallow’s Eve, which marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Here, the veil between the worlds thins, and possibilities of ancestral connections are greater. With Pluto so strongly activated now, and an eclipse just before, this is a powerful time to honor one’s own mortality, as well as connecting with those whom you love who have passed on. In times of great darkness, it’s also good to keep strong your boundaries around what is loving and good, and what is not, when to extend your heart and when to keep its integrity. Our Western culture tends to make this time a frivolous and “scary-fun” event, but for those who might honor this transitional time, it is a powerful doorway to the upcoming darkness. The way we navigate this doorway sets the tone for the coming months ahead. Spend time in the natural world and let your bare feet touch the Earth; allow your body awareness to settle and breathe in the wonder of our existence.