Prayer is no substitute for action It is, rather, like a beam thrown from a flashlight before us into the darkness. It is this light that we grope, stumble and climb, discover where we stand, what surrounds us, and the course which we should choose. Prayer makes visible the right and reveals what is false and holds us back. In its radiance we behold the worth of our efforts, the range of our hopes, and the meaning of our deeds.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
On April 28th at 11:03 pm PST there will be an annular solar eclipse in Taurus. Wonder Bright and I have made another little video about it in hopes to entertain you into considering what you might hold valuable and how to love what you’ve got. This is the second of two eclipses hugging the now infamous (and over, thank Goddess) Cardinal Grand Cross. I am hoping that the fixed earth energy of this Taurus will help to stabilize some of the wild, inventive and initiatory energy that cardinal creation brought. Taurus knows how to stabilize, move at its own pace (slooowww), enjoy the senses and make things functional. Taurus is about the fertility of the earth at springtime; it loves to languish in the newfound warmth of the season. Taurus is about physicality and initiates us into the realm of the body and its needs for pleasure. I’m writing this piece from the most perfect Taurean setting I could think of for me at the moment: the Korean spa. For $15 I can soak in the pools (oh, mugwort bath how I adore you) sit in the steam room, jump in the cold pool (hate going in but once I’m it’s total sensorial invigoration), sit in a Himalayan salt room and then go lay on a heated jade floor. Heaven. After this week’s Cardinal Grand Cross my body needed a treat. After this week’s Cardinal Grand Cross my brain needs a break. After this week’s Cardinal Grand Cross I’m just grateful that I am still standing.
I need to integrate all that just happened. And it happened folks, it happened. Personally I thought more would happen on a global level: Developments in the Ukraine, news about new hazards at Fukushima or more revelations from Snowden. However, the thing about eclipses is that we never really know there effects until about 6 months later, or more. For example we were in the thick of planning the Queer Astrology Conference during the spring eclipses last year. Just a few days ago we got word that an article and multiple interviews in connection with the conference came out in the June/July issue of The Mountain Astrologer. This is a huge deal for the future of Queer Astrology as a whole and for all of us individually. You just never know what is going to be seeded in the future by your present actions, especially during eclipses. Best thing to do is make sure that you are spending time doing the things that your soul desires to do. The rest has a way of working itself out on its own.
The next eclipse is an annular solar eclipse, meaning that it’s a new moon (a conjunction of the sun and moon) occurring on one of the moon’s nodes. This one occurs on the south node which seems to be deemed as not so fantastic a point by many astrological traditions. Modern Western astrology generally thinks of it as the past; a place where we are comfortable but ultimately a place we need to move out of because we get lazy there. Vedic astrology sees it as a place of potential wisdom but also of psychological misgivings. Medieval astrology saw the south node associated with the malefic planets, Saturn and Mars. It is seen in the Vedic system as the dragon’s tail: the dragon that devours the life of the luminaries. The luminaries (the sun and moon) are vital lights here on earth and any diminishment of them were always seen as disastrous, dangerous, ominous and plague inducing. However we have to consider who was evaluating them this way and why.
Many of our ancestors didn’t have the luxury of delving into the unconscious material that we have become so accustom to here in the West. Nor did they need to perhaps. I’m not interested in evaluating different cultures that I have never lived in, especially in comparison to this one because we have little sorted. However, I have noticed that in many ways eclipses can bring about some of the most valuable growth opportunities of our lives-not always easily won but what of worth is? Eclipses tend to accelerate personal growth by activating external circumstances that demand we rise to a new challenge. It makes me wonder if that isn’t the key here; being willing to grapple with our unconscious shadow material. Eclipses obscure the lights that guide us but they also create an opportunity to catch a glimpse of what is usually just out of reach of our conscious mind.
This is not only a personal endeavor however. What good is it to gain personal enlightenment if it doesn’t spur us into political action? What I find exceedingly terrifying at the moment is the threat of losing net neutrality and how generally blaséwe all seem to be about it. The internet is supposed to be a modern day commons, an equally shared resource. That used to be the deal with land but we mostly lost that battle save a couple of parks. The internet may very well be our last vestige of commons, a democratic space of free speech and space that should have unlimited access to educational resources-or so it was supposed to be.
We have from now, the new moon (seeding, beginning, fertilizing) until May 15th, the day after the full moon (full moons are about seeing the results of the seeds we planted) to voice our opinions about a possible said loss of access to information because “the FCC commissioners will decide at that meeting whether to essentially accept the proposal and put it out for public comment, or sink it”(Daily Kos). This is no small deal people. This is our lives, our businesses, our freedom and our minds that are at stake. If this goes through we can all kiss any benefits of the internet good-bye. You won’t be able to get onto this site with any speed, I can tell you that. We forget that at its inception the internet used to be a place without advertising or surveillance. Meditate on that one for a moment. It’s supposed to be a level playing field for all, an oasis of equality and information sharing. Please educate yourselves on the issue, sign the petitions, post about it on the Facebooks and have some real live face time chats about it with your folks and peeps.
Taurus teaches us about wealth, the Cardinal Grand Cross’s main players, Uranus and Pluto want upheaval, change and revolution-but whose revolution is this and how do we define wealth? Listen, I can spin the astrology 20 ways to Sunday to support my perspective but the point is this: You need to care about this issue. You need to act on it now if you like to do things like access the little real news there still is, support your friends indiegogo campaign, read an essay by James Baldwin, learn how to build a tiny home or anything else you currently like to do here. Remember, this is eclipse time, what we do carries great significance. Why get stuck in the old patterns of apathy when we have the opportunity to move towards reclaiming our basic right of gathering and exchanging information? But why listen to me? If you’d rather have Verizon and Comcast force feed you predigested pabulum propaganda then sit back, relax and watch more cat videos.
Happy eclipsing!
LOVE,
Chani