Lightness of Being Vs Carrying the Load: August's Lunar Eclipse
August's Full Moon - August 17 2008
Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.
Hans Margolius.
A bird never flew on one wing. Proverb
I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work and my God. Helen Keller
August's lunar eclipse occurs on the 16th in the United States and on the 17th in Australia and New Zealand. Lunar eclipses are full moons with a much stronger twist and their effects last far into the future. Many say that the effects last up to nine months. My observation is that it can be far longer than that, especially if your chart is being aspected by the eclipse, or, if a major event happens in your life in the weeks before or after the eclipse.
The Sabian Symbol for this lunar eclipse is Aquarius 25: A Butterfly With the Right Wing More Perfectly Formed. It was Marx who famously observed that everything is connected to everything else and the Sabian Symbol for this month's partial lunar eclipse brings to my mind the concept of the Butterfly Effect.
The butterfly effect is a term referred to in Chaos Theory to describe how extremely small variations can affect giant systems, and complex systems, like weather patterns. The term "butterfly effect" was applied in Chaos Theory to suggest that the wing movements of a butterfly might have significant repercussions on wind strength and movements throughout the weather systems of the world, and theoretically, could cause tornadoes halfway around the world.
In this day and age we're realising that what we say and think or what we do creates more of an effect than may be obvious. If we're feeling a lack of balance, a lack of equilibrium in our lives, we can set off chains of events that can get out of hand rather quickly. The Sabian Symbol of The Butterfly With the Right Wing More Perfectly Formed can show intellectual, emotional and physical distortions, mutations, ,imbalances and handicaps. Although we can live in a lopsided world for a time, we need to strive for balance and equality and a sense of calm as distortions can bring an enormous strain and, often, a feeling of the 'scales tipped' in some way.
This Sabian Symbol can reflect things getting out of hand in many ways, but particularly emotionally. There's a need to rise above life's imbalance, to learn to trust your intuitive feelings, but also to be careful not to overreact emotionally, to take the extra effort to bring your thoughts and rational awareness up to speed.
There's often a real and immediate need to accept and work with problems that are happening in your life and to seek rational and real solutions. Sometimes, if the lack of balance or the unfairness of a situation becomes too much to cope with, it's often best to back off and seek calmness and quiet until you feel that you can go back into situations with a better sense of what's going on and what's possible. The Butterfly With the Right Wing More Perfectly Formed can flap around and flap around and simply not get anywhere, but rather use up a lot of very valuable time and energy in trying to do something that is not possible or even feasible. Often, the trick is to accept situations and to rise above those things you can do nothing about.
The degree of the Sun in a Lunar Eclipse is very important as the Sun is momentarily blocked by the Earth, stopping it from illuminating the Moon. The degree of the Sun is very telling and a very different image from the butterfly. The Sabian Symbol is Leo 25: A Large Camel Crossing a Vast and Forbidding Desert. It's interesting to contemplate the light of the Sun being blocked when this Sabian Symbol can be one of 'sun stroke'. This degree speaks of having to carry the load, bearing a weight, being the one who can take on the tasks - perhaps ones that other's can't or won't. It sometimes speaks of 'tests of karma', taking one step at a time, the issue of having (or needing) provisions that nurture and satisfy. It's about camels, caravans, oases, mirages, water, deserts, stamina, fortitude, crossing to the other side, endurance, thirst, survival against the odds, bad backs, back packs, cargo, saddling up.
What is your load? How much do you carry for yourself and others? How much is your 'fair share'? How many big plans do you take on without any back up? What 'mirages' confuse your objectives? How can you endeavor to share the load more equally with others? What cargo can you jettison? (throw off) Is the struggle worth the effort?
If you're determined to 'cross the desert', congratulations - you'll make it for sure as long as your objectives are clear enough with a compass of some sort to guide you. What's your destination? What's your journey about? What sacrifices are you prepared to make in order to 'get to the other side' of where you are now? Of course, you could be on internal journey. When the camel crossing the desert degree is around, people are often in the process of simplifying their life - making their load lighter, fresher, newer, more rewarding, more useful, better and more complete with life's essentials. A heavy load can slow you down, sometimes to a standstill.
The issue of water and hydration can come up. Is the heat of life getting to you in some way? Keeping the body, mind and spirit hydrated can allow you to get from the 'camel in the desert' state all the way to the butterfly finding equilibrium and being able to take flight (be weightless, unlike the "Large Camel").
Neptune is right among this eclipse. The Sabian Symbol is Aquarius 23: A Big Bear Sitting Down and Waving All It's Paws. This rather curious Symbol implies the ability, or the necessity, of being able to perform, to do things in order to draw approval from others. To put on 'a show', to show what we're made of all the way to realising how we compromise ourselves by doing what others demand (or command) of us. Equally, this degree can show someone who knows how to woo an audience, who knows how to entertain and perform. Issues to do with the rights of living things often come up, whether it's the rights we hold as human beings or the rights of animals.
Neptune and the Moon sitting opposite the Sun often brings up issues around our ideals. This is quite a dreamy, idealistic placement and one that can bring very interesting dreams. There is often a compromise involved in Neptune/Moon/Sun combinations. Of course compromises can be very happy and dreamy affairs all the way to feeling used, neglected, and like a sacrificial lamb (or a trained bear!)
Feeling like one has to put out fires everywhere, the need for damage control, the sometimes empty space after a big explosion of energy, is Chiron (the Wounded Healer and the Storyteller) and the Moon's North Node on Aquarius 19: A Forest Fire Finally Quenched.
The following are keywords from my book The Sabian Symbols as an Oracle:
Keywords: Exuberant feelings that come after struggles. Coming out of an experience with a new sense of commitment or a new understanding of consequences. Getting a bee in your bonnet. Spot fires. Jubilation and release after hard labor. Fighting for control. Sparks getting out of control. Events taking off in all directions. Sexual energy and the containment of it. Ideas that get whipped up and take off at high speed. The ferocity of nature. The calm after the storm. Smouldering passions. Smoke. One-eyed focus.
What is to give light must endure burning. Viktor Frankl
This Aquarian lunar eclipse has the Moon, Neptune, the North Node and Chiron all together in Aquarius while Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Mars are all in Virgo - quite a different energy.
Saturn is on Virgo 10: Two Heads Looking Out and Beyond the Shadows which shows duality of thinking, having to take other's situations into consideration, people watching each other (often to see what will happen), not being able to make up one's mind.
Right next to this on Virgo 12 is Mercury on The Bride With Her Veil Snatched Away. Having crossed over Saturn, Mercury (the communicator, the thinker, the messenger) has brought the need to learn, or to take notice, of how we communicate, how we relate. With the Bride degree we often have to reveal ourselves in some way, the make a commitment to things we're committed to. Sometimes we need to be committed to our own ideals, rather than continually bending to those of others. If we're truly committed to our own ideals, we can be 'real' and present in relationships - able to live up to the needs of relationships. Sometimes with this degree Symbol we find ourselves in a position of having to reveal to ourselves our true inner self - to strip away the veil that hides us, protects us in some way, the veil that confuses or stops others from seeing who we truly are (especially our core selves).
Venus on Virgo 14 is on the Sabian Symbol of The Family Tree. What does our family tree mean to us? How do we fit in with family? How do we fit in with in-laws? Do you feel like an out-law at times?
Mars provides the big material at Virgo 29: A Man is Gaining Secret Knowledge From an Ancient Scroll He Is Reading. Learning from ancient mysteries, looking for answers, study and it's rewards, reading between the lines, alchemy, the Bible, ancient texts. Something we're learning is revealing wonderful secrets, insights and information. To dig deep is to find treasure with Mars on this degree. That Mars is exactly square to Pluto brings us to the big part of the equation. Having a sense of power, autonomy, passion in one's life, the will to not only survive and endure, but to be on top of things is the message from Mars. Pluto is on Sagittarius 29: A Fat Boy Mowing the Lawn. We need to shed weight in many ways with Pluto on this degree. We can't just be thinking about doing things - we need to do them. We also can't just mow the front and think that it's ok not to mow the back lawn because no one will see it. The message seems to be to clean up our environment, our lives, to trim our non essentials, to make sure that chores are done and things are neat and clean.
The trick seems to be to find that equilibrium in life, to find balance and to be ok with life and love and make it an adventure - stretch those wings and set off on our journey knowing we'll have what we need when we need it.
Book a reading with Lynda and find out what's coming up for you in 2008 Contact Lynda:
Read Lynda's explanation of the Sabian Symbols here
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