Welcome back!
I am writing from my comfortable hammock next to the river by where I live. It's beautiful, private, and deeply relaxing. I love that this experience is so accessible to me these days and that I can come here often to enjoy the river.
Since moving to a monthly format, it feels like it's been forever since I've written. I guess it has. This month I'm covering eclipses so there will be a lot of content to write and less space for some personal reflections and updates. However, I'd like to mention that I've been investing a lot of time in developing my social media presence on Facebook and Instagram and would like to invite you to follow my pages if you haven't already. I've also got a podcast episode coming out tomorrow.
My next podcast episode will be released tomorrow on August 7th. The title is Fidelity to the Moment: Why Do I feel Empty Even Though Life Is Good? and it focuses on my experience processing what I'm realizing has been a struggle with existential loneliness these last few years. I'm happy to share a sneak peek with you all:
And now for this month's astrological forecast.
Alrighty, I'm gonna need you to sit down for this one. There's no graceful way to say this, but this eclipse is gonna feel intense. There's several major pressure points:
The eclipse occurs in the nakshatra of Ashlesha, a part of Cancer that is associated with shadow work.
The Moon will be going gandanta throughout the day of the eclipse, which is challenging and also associated with shadow work.
The day after the eclipse, the Moon will become conjunct with Ketu in Leo in the nakshatra of Magha. This points to some very deep ancestral clearing work.
Jupiter and Mercury are conjunct within 5 degrees of each other, which often heightens nervousness and a general sense of feeling scattered and high strung.
Mars is aspecting Venus from Gemini within a 5 degree orb.
Saturn is aspecting Venus from Pisces.
Venus is debilitated in Virgo and receiving 2 aspects from the two malefics, and no aspects from any benefics.
The one saving grace here is that Jupiter is exalted in Cancer and Cancer is not being aspected by Mars or Saturn.
These are the conditions present during the eclipse. First let's start with what's going on in Cancer. Ashlesha is a nakshatra associated with snakes and transformation, specifically the kind that comes from being poisoned and assimilating the poison. This is not a feel-good release, this is a confrontation with the shadow. Cancer is associated with nurturing, family, emotional security — this is built on the premise of complete vulnerability as a baby in the arms of their mother. The safety that is experienced in Cancer is the result of being completely surrendered and exposed, including the ugly parts.
Many people are not perfectly mothered or experience environmental insecurity, and this eclipse is going to hit those experiences like a raw nerve (especially with Jupiter's influence over Mercury heightening anxiety). I want people to be prepared for the potential to feel deeply triggered during this transit. As always, please make sure you are protecting your space and your peace. It's a good idea to plan to need some extra space this month for just relaxing and decompressing.
On that note, Jupiter's conjunction with Mercury alongside the Sun and Moon's occupation in Ashlesha while the Moon crosses the gandanta point into Leo is an opportunity to gain penetrating insights into ancestral patterns that have caused you grief. Jupiter's teachings in Cancer will make it obvious how something you experienced was not in alignment with the highest spiritual values that family are meant to inhabit. These insights need preparation and the proper environment to receive without being too destabilizing, so I'm again emphasizing the need for rest and self-care. If you try to white-knuckle through the events this eclipse brings to you, the revelations can be more anxiety-inducing and shocking. It's like the difference of being told bad news while you are arguing with somebody as opposed to being told while you are calm, sitting down, and relaxed.
Let's not ignore Venus here either. Poor Venus is not having a good time in Virgo this year. Relationships can feel demanding right now — lots of ideas about what our partners should be doing or aren't doing right, lots of burdens that create separation and emotional unavailability. Tempers can flare and words can sting and be used to try and hurt or control rather than be used for understanding and compassion. I think it's going to be difficult to reconcile hurts and issues right now, especially with the eclipse in Cancer forming the emotional environment we're all dealing with. It's actually kind of sad because this is when we need each other the most, but it's also when we will be feeling the most vulnerable and defensive.
Even though this is a hard eclipse, it isn't hopeless. The knowledge gained from this confrontation will be immensely valuable in breaking generational patterns of trauma and gaining clarity on how to change one's behavior in a meaningful way. I think the ultimate result will feel very purgative and leave people feeling resolved even if it's uncomfortable.
Here's the summary of positions happening at the full moon eclipse:
The Moon is in Shatabhiska with Rahu
The Sun and Mercury are conjunct within 1 degree in Leo, also conjunct with Ketu, all in Magha
The Venus-Mars-Saturn transit is still happening but not as contentious now that Venus has gained some distance from Mars, though the orb between Saturn and Venus has tightened
Jupiter is still in Cancer
This eclipse is returning to the Leo-Aquarius axis that was hosting the eclipses earlier this year. Those eclipses focused on rejecting outworn structures of authority in favor of finding your own authentic ideas and identity. Those themes are worth revisiting here as well. In the last 6 months, how have your ideas and experiences around feeling of powerlessness or following authority figures evolved? In February, the Moon was in Aquarius and feeling weak and lacking confidence. Now the Sun has returned to its rightful throne in Leo, but is being eclipsed by Ketu. This is the inner King coming to power, the emergence of inner authority in the nakshatra of Magha.
Magha represents the lineage of kingship, that it is something endemic to your being. There is no need to question your power, but Ketu's influence can cast doubt upon your certainty of yourself. The void that Ketu creates is overcome through stillness and inner-sight. You may need to do some self-reflection and contemplation to understand your inner authority and develop total confidence in it.
This is exactly the territory King Arthur has been opening up for me lately, and I think it's worth sharing here because it maps so directly onto what this eclipse is asking of us. Arthur first came forward to me during my trip to Ireland, kind of like a short introduction. He let me know that there was a connection between us having to do with sovereignty, but the work wasn't on the table yet. Since moving here, Arthur has now been a regular presence for me. It's been different from the sovereignty work I do with the Morrigan, and I'm still learning what exactly King Arthur is showing or teaching me. I've started by reading T. H. White's *The Once and Future King* to understand Arthur outside of my encounters with him in Jungian texts.
I am used to working with dark/void goddesses or Hindu gods mostly, and I know that "coming to surface" from my Underworld is a little foreign to me. But Arthur, as an archetype of rightful Kingship, is a fitting guide for this exact Leo/Magha moment — he embodies the same inner authority this eclipse is trying to restore in each of us. I think he wants people to be able to have a healthy relationship with masculine authority and fathers again, and that's why he's emerging now. I see this reflected a lot in my own personal dreams and development, where I'm feeling like I've finally broken the grip that internalized criticism and coercive control had on my personality. I'm getting better at defending myself and not being shaken when I feel challenged or looked down on. I'm not easily provoked anymore, I don't care as much anymore about being intellectually validated or praised especially by men. I just feel very self-assured of my competence and way of being compared to how I used to be, and I think that's deeply connected with the themes coming from the Leo-Aquarius transit of Ketu and Rahu this year — sovereignty that doesn't need external permission. Let me know if that resonates or if you relate at all, and let's take a look at the Moon now.
The Full Moon is placed in a fitting nakshatra given the themes of poison we touched on in Ashlesha. Shatabhiska is the nakshatra of "one hundred healers." The wound being treated in Shatabhiska is often karmic and so deep that it needs an enormous amount of resources to resolve, hence the hundred healers. If the ancestral theme from the previous eclipse has followed you this month, maybe those hundred healers are your ancestors! Try doing some ancestral work this month to understand how inherited wounds around disempowerment and authority have shaped your experience and your identity.
Additionally, Rahu's influence may invite that you seek alternative or peculiar healing methods here. Maybe you will go see a reiki healer or attend a group ceremony that moves things for you. As always, be careful on the day of and the days surrounding eclipses because not all is as it seems when Rahu and Ketu are afflicting the Sun, Moon, and in this case Mercury as well. Information and perception gets distorted, that's why it's advised to practice meditation and spiritual discipline during eclipses. Don't make major decisions during eclipses, and practice good self-care.
Thank you for reading. If my content resonates with you, please consider sharing it with a friend and subscribing to my newsletter if you haven't already. You can follow me on Instagram or Facebook @MoonLodgeMystic or visit my website moonlodgemystic.com for more content. My podcast Moon Lodge Mingle can be streamed on all major podcast streaming platforms. Take care.
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