(Howl’s Moving Castle, Studio Ghibli)
Solar Eclipse at 15 Capricorn
6th January, 12.28 PM (Sydney)
A solar eclipse always takes place on new moon and while typically new moons are a time for planting seeds and setting intentions for the new cycle, it’s best not think of this solar eclipse as a typical new moon. Look to the house in your chart ruled by Capricorn to see which area of life will be impacted by this eclipse. If you’re in a lunar or solar activated year, the eclipse will be more potent.
As I was walked to the library to write this piece today, I saw a roadworks sign announcing “DEEP EXCAVATION”. It’s an astute summary of the symbolism I’ve been reflecting on in the lead up to this solar eclipse in Capricorn, which opens 2019 with the eclipse cycle that will take us into 2020.
The Sun and Moon are conjoined in Capricorn, aligned on the south lunar node between Mercury, Saturn and Pluto. A pile-up of planets in Capricorn brings us into the earthly realm, a place that is manifest with practical implications that the eclipse is likely to activate and disrupt. As I reflected on in my Full Moon in Cancer post a couple weeks ago, Capricorn belongs to the cardinal mode, and so signifies beginnings in the earth element.
Taking soil as the beginning of earth, we see that soil is comprised of a materium of organic, once living things and rock transmogrified through decay and disintegration. This process of decay initiating beginning is potent for this solar eclipse – the concentration of energy in Capricorn is not only held with the Sun and Moon, but also the South Node and Saturn, which draw us into the deep layering of the past. In this there is an intermingling of circumstances. There’s what was laid down before we were born and in our early lives, of which we have no control over and yet profoundly impacts our every moment; and there are also the foundations we ourselves have laid and must take responsibility for.
Pluto draws us yet deeper and downward into our past so that we might begin to understand the spiraling lineage that bubbles up in our lives unknowingly. Throughout this nodal excavation on the axis of Cancer and Capricorn, fascinating objects and treasures will be unearthed. Like archaeologists we might uncover unassuming artifacts that turn out to be missing links, invigorating a dormant sense of connection and context. Perhaps, like uranium, we’ll find that some things – powerful as they are – are better kept underground.
With the alignment of this eclipse involving the Sun and Moon at 15 degrees of Capricorn, restrictive Saturn and compulsive Pluto, I can’t help but think of The Devil card, the 15th trump in the Major Arcana of the tarot.
This card depicts two figures chained to a pedestal upon which perches a depiction of the devil. Much like these figures, we find ourselves bound to self-defeating behaviours, material and emotional obsessions, and dysfunctional relationships. It’s all too easy to get trapped in cycles of self-sabotaging behaviour. Our attachment and perceived inability to break these patterns loom large, casting shadows of dissatisfaction and disappointment. Sometimes it feels like they have an unbreakable power over us, like the devil that looms over the two chained figures. However, though the figures in the card look bound against their will, the chains around the figure’s necks are loose enough that they could be removed with a little effort. And it’s like that for us in our lives as well. We often don’t realise the power we have to break those chains, chains that we ourselves may have unintentionally forged.
The South Node deals with the process of separation, release, purging and purification, so the potential to disrupt patterns of self-sabotage encapsulated in The Devil card is potent. This time period might feel harsh, especially with the presence of Saturn and Pluto. There is the temptation for punishment and self-castigation, but the nodes are always an exchange and process between two functions of being; the South Node is the point of release in Capricorn, releasing so that we are able grasp what the North Node in nourishing and softening Cancer is magnetically pulling us toward.
Take it easy and be gentle with yourself during this period. Cultivate compassion for yourself and the mistakes you’ve made. Acknowledge that sometimes negative behavioural patterns emerge as desperate emergency medicine for our hearts when in crisis. Acknowledge that you can transform the way you cope in the world from a more empowered place, but that it’s necessary to sever the cords that bind you in fear and unhealthy attachment to do so.
Saturn and Capricorn deals in facts, and the fact is, it’s hard to let go. No one else can really decide for us what knots we need to fasten or untie. Trust in the process, and with the presence of Saturn, know that this process will take some time, so be patient too. We’re pulling weeds and turning the soil of ourselves and a part of our lives, to make ready for new plantings in the future.
Some relevant words of insight came to me today from two incredibly wise and practical women, who happen to be a Capricorn and a Cancer respectively. Eclipse season is ripe for synchronicity like this, and it feels appropriate to have this balance of perspectives, which is the turbulent and mystifying process of the nodal axis. First, from astrologer Jessica Lanyadoo:
“Be willing to learn from your mistakes instead of striving to live a life where you don’t make them.”
And from Buddhist nun Pema Chodron:
“We see how beautiful and wonderful and amazing things are, and we see how caught up we are. It isn’t that one is the bad part and one is the good part, but that it’s a kind of interesting, smelly, rich, fertile mess of stuff. When it’s all mixed up together, it’s us: humanness… This is the process of making friends with ourselves and with our world. It involves not just the parts we like, but the whole picture, because it all has a lot to teach us.”
For more ritual and remediation tips for this South Node eclipse, check out Kaitlin Coppock’s excellent article over at Sphere + Sundry.
And if you’re frustrated with stuck and stubborn aspects of your life and trying to find a practical way to shift things, Jo Gleason’s ‘The Life Change List: How To Change Literally Everything’ is worth a read.
Scarlet Coote 