Unwrapping the Present

Today is my birthday, and also marks the passage of a New Moon eclipse, which will be seen in the South Pacific as a full ring of fire... In honor of both, I offer these borrowed words of wisdom...

First from the wonderful Cathy Pagano and her Wisdom of Astrology:

“Eclipses mark times of cosmic redirection and energy shifts…Something we’ve imagined and dreamed about begins to manifest at a solar eclipse.”

“This Taurus solar eclipse on May 9-10^th marks a new beginning, an especially fertile new beginning as it takes place in the astrological sign of manifestation.  Taurus is the most earthy of earth signs, marking a season of fertility and growth, of beauty and sensuality.   It is the energy of building and making, of new possibilities and passions. “

“Solar eclipses mark the end of a 19-year cycle relating to the activities relevant to each astrological sign.  A Taurus solar eclipse brings up issues of self-worth and values.  Since this eclipse is near the South Node of the Moon, we might have to examine old value systems that no longer serve our lives.  Do you honor the talents you have? Do you know what values stand at the center of your life?  Take time to dig deep in the soils of Taurus and weed out any old negative behavior patterns entrenched there.  Prepare the soil for new growth.”

“When we know our own worth, we can also access to the archetypal realm of Beauty, Desire and Fertility which is ruled by Venus/Aphrodite.   Know what you value in this precious life we have, because why build something you don’t value?  …Plant the seed of that new desire during this potent New Moon.”

“Venus/Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, Beauty, Wisdom, Sexuality and Wholeness rules Taurus.  Just hours before the solar eclipse, Venus leaves her home in Taurus and moves into Gemini, the sign of the Mind….”

“What beliefs about your feminine Self need to die so that a new vision of Feminine Spirit can arise and live through you?”

“…It can be a time of healing, when you realize that your loneliness and isolation was an incubation, a time of preparation.  Be willing to ‘lose your familiar self for the promise of a greater, more encompassing reality’ where you can use your feminine gifts to change the world.”

“Transmutation occurs from the inside out.  Let the light of your inner feminine Being shine into the world in conscious and conscientious ways.  ’Transmutation forces us to serve who we are becoming, beyond who we’ve been: ‘trans (beyond) mutate (change)’. Become intimate with yourself, so that you can be intimate with others.”

“This Venus-ruled solar eclipse asks us to look to the future: ‘personal power results from mastering the illusion of our fear through open-heartedness.’  When we open to our original blessings, we discover that the feminine values of Love, Wisdom and Beauty can help us through the darkest times.  Stop doing for a while and let your being shine through.”

© Copyright 2013 ~ Cathy Pagano. All Rights Reserved

From the insightful Sarah Varcas from her Astro-Awakenings:

“If you are nurturing a dream, aspiring to realize a goal or just really needing to make a change in your life, no matter how daunting any of this may appear, now is the time to decide… is this really what you want? And if it is, go for it! Because whatever we invest our energy in now will be shot through with the earthy and unshakeable energy of Taurus, giving it backbone and firm foundations. Of course, we want to make sure those firm foundations are supporting something we are eager to embrace in the coming years, so it’s up to us to ensure we’re living our lives in a way that will promote positive development and insight, rather than merely re-enhancing old patterns of habitual behavior we no longer need and which do little but hold us back and keep us stuck in the past….”

“The asteroid Pallas Athene is closely aligned with this eclipse, adding her down-to-earth but none the less innovative wisdom into the mix. She reminds us that whatever we need to know, be or create is already inside us just bursting to come forth. She urges us to dig deep, bring together everything within: all our paradoxes and apparent opposites, our darkest shadows and brightest potential, our inner feminine and masculine, our inner mother and father, child and elder. Bring it all together into an eclipse moment of creation and innovation.”

“Remember that a solar eclipse always occurs at a New Moon, and as such functions in some ways like a super-charged New Moon. So we need to find every bit of fuel and fertiliser inside us, which basically means energy in all its forms (thoughts, emotions, instincts, intuition, physicality) and invest it now in this moment of intense creativity. The seeds that we plant in our lives at a solar eclipse, and especially at this solar eclipse, will grow strong and vibrant.”

“…We need to remain as conscious as we can and not get sucked into old patterns of identification with suffering, with victim consciousness or with the drama of trauma and chaos. As far as is possible we need to hold our centre, stand firm and allow whatever occurs to penetrate us to our deepest core and speak its wisdom to us. A word of warning: we may not want to hear this particular piece of wisdom right away, but the least we can do is write it down and come back to it later, because we can rest assured it is central to our lives and how we live them from this moment on.”

“The eclipse also speaks about timing and communication, with Mercury conjunct the South Node. When we’re all under-going so much change inside of ourselves it can be difficult to stay in congruent contact with our external world and all the people we share it with. It may feel like we’re shifting so rapidly that what we thought and believed yesterday is no longer of any importance, and likewise how we feel today will have faded far into the distance by tomorrow, so how do we connect with others in any meaningful way?”

“The answer lies not in what we say but in our quality of being. The more we can let go of the need to identify with a certain position, belief or world-view, the more we can detach from forging an identity which needs bolstering by those around us. Thus the freer we become to be truly present with another person and able to ‘shoot the breeze’ no matter what and who they are! And nothing can be more congruent than just being who we are – life in conscious form, connected to all other life – no matter what the situation or circumstance.”

“Throughout this month we will have opportunities to do this, to try out being nothing and no one and therefore everything and everyone. It’s all part of the eclipse fun and the cosmic challenge we’re being set: how do we pursue our hopes and dreams whilst detaching from identity and ego? This solar eclipse poses this question in the knowledge that by the time the lunar eclipse of 24^th/25^th May occurs we will have had plenty of opportunity to contemplate it and come up with an answer.”

“But whatever answer begins to resonate within you as you read the question, remember this: the answer is only the beginning. By the end of this month we may have journeyed so far that even that may sound like old news! The bottom line is, we must be prepared to be a new person in each moment. The more we can do that, the greater we will benefit from the eclipse energies which will resonate around us for several weeks to come.”

© Copyright 2013 ~ Sarah Varcas. All Rights Reserved

With respect and gratitude to the authors for their insights, and to Mystic Mama for sharing them.  Peace.