The Censer
I’ve heard many tales of unhappiness during the last week. A colleague from the previous, on the verge of homelessness; a pal hitting a pothole on the lengthy journey of restoration from grief; a consumer remembering a collection of deaths and losses. Myself, I used to be in mattress recovering from a minor however tiring illness, resting and therapeutic.
It’s all been main as much as this week’s Pisces Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse (Sep. 17, 2024, 7:34 pm PDT) at 25º40’ Pisces. It’s the primary eclipse on this signal since Feb. 26, 2017, and the primary in a brand new cycle of eclipses starting in Virgo/Pisces (by means of Feb. 2027). My expertise is that an eclipse in a brand new signal after an extended absence of eclipses in that signal, makes itself felt strongly – whether or not or not it’s making any explicit points in your start chart. And this eclipse finds the Moon in an in depth conjunction, and the Solar in an opposition to Neptune in Pisces (precise on Sep. 20, 2024, 5:17 pm PDT). Any eclipse brings disaster, moments of change; this one asks: The place are we unhappy, longing, making an attempt to heal, struggling to forgive outdated wrongs?
Neptune represents our fathomless depths, the unhappiness that by no means actually goes away, an aching to return to the outdated methods, and the haunting consciousness that we don’t actually know what occurs after we’re gone. On one hand, we’ve got to be keen to plunge deep inside and take a look at all these items. However on the opposite facet of this facet is the Solar – the beacon lighting the way in which out of the abyss, by means of love, enjoyable and video games, joyful inventive expression, and sharing our tales.
The Solar’s diploma at this eclipse is on the Sabian image 26 Virgo: A boy with a censer. In my Catholic youth, the censer was carried solely at excessive mass, filling the church with the robust odor of frankincense, related to purification, spirituality, and connection to increased realms. That’s a imaginative and prescient for this eclipse: it’s time to let go, however first comes purification, releasing the ache of loss, fear, grief. Carry the censer; fill your own home with the therapeutic smoke. Make it an providing within the excessive mass of the soul.
The Orangutan within the Room
It’s been a few years since I held a day job, however I’ve no bother remembering what I disliked about it. As a secretary for a big authorities company, every single day had a crushing sameness about it.
This week, Mercury opposes Saturn (Sep. 18, 2024, 1:50 am PDT, 15º15’ Virgo-Pisces) from the Sabian image 16 Virgo, An orangutan. That’s one arresting, attention-getting animal. We are able to’t flip away from him. Mercury in Virgo can positively be an indication that will get us misplaced in particulars and dropping sight of the large image. And generally, we have to look past Saturn’s strict guidelines about how issues needs to be performed, and acknowledge the orangutan within the room.
There’s nothing flawed with being the one who works away every day bringing order, establishing programs, and making issues run easily behind the scenes. However it’s so much simpler to flee tedium and discover extra satisfaction in the event you really feel that you just’re inviting one thing particular and just a little bit wild into your days.
Falling into Place
The Solar’s Virgo season shines brightly on qualities like service, practicality, and effectivity. It’s the season to evaluate the programs, habits, and routines that we’ve put in place to make life work easily and effectively. And when the Solar in Virgo trines Uranus (Sep. 19, 2024, 7:04 am PDT), we’d do nicely to appreciate that a few of our routines are outdated, and that nevertheless diligently they’ve been refined through the years, they could profit from freshening up. So for a few days this week, let’s assault that individual “to do” checklist. Adjustments will fall into place extra easily now than at different instances, and really feel new and refreshing as soon as they’re performed.
Checks and Balances
Mercury in Virgo is literal, pragmatic, and adept at taming disorganization with spreadsheets, checklists, and hospital corners. However on these events when logic leaves us stranded in an existential cul-de-sac, spinning round and round with no rational answer, it’s time to attraction to the invisible.
Enter Mercury’s opposition to Neptune (Sep. 21, 2024, 1:50 am PDT), a reminder that instinct and logic are complementary. Not every part that’s essential in life will be quantified, says Neptune. Honest sufficient, replies Mercury; however neither are all of the issues we imagine actually true, simply because we would like them to be.
These two act as checks on each other’s extra, and once they’re in opposition it’s time to regulate the steadiness.
True Energy
If you happen to’d requested me after I was younger whether or not I’d reasonably be wealthy or well-known, fame would have gained handily. Right this moment, I’d lean the opposite method.
However really, an excessive quantity of both wealth or fame appears to return with its share of issues. Evidently our happiest, lightest, most joyful traits threat being dimmed or obliterated in both scenario.
This week, because the Solar trines formidable Pluto (Sep. 21, 2024, 11:12 pm PDT), true energy comes from neither wealth nor fame, each of which make us weak to the whims or avarice of others. Moderately, the Solar trine Pluto illuminates the facility that comes from joyfully embracing our genuine selves. That’s energy that may’t be taken away.
In the long run, this type of energy can’t be given to us. We are able to change into obscenely rich and nonetheless lose a associate. We will be elected to workplace or topped a monarch, but lack the love and respect of our constituents. Pluto reminds that actual energy can solely come from inside.
Lay Down the Burden
This week brings one of many yr’s seasonal turning factors as the Solar enters Libra (Sep. 22, 2024, 5:44 am PDT, by means of Oct. 22). Historically, the Solar is taken into account weak – in its “fall” – in Libra. This solely implies that the Solar’s work – the belief of 1’s particular person genius and soul energy – will be troublesome to handle in an indication that’s particularly designed for partnership.
However, we be taught issues about ourselves in relationships that may’t be discovered another method. Whether or not it’s a romantic associate, a inventive collaborator, or a pricey pal, we’ll really feel most alive sharing the shortening days with a companion. If we’re alone – and lots of are simply now –it’s a time to make a acutely aware effort to succeed in out to others in no matter method we are able to. In Libra’s season, our private Solar shines brightest within the firm of others.
There’s a soothing, romantic high quality to Libra’s season; it’s a aid to put down the burden of the Solar’s zealous self-discovery. Even the world itself appears lovelier. When the Solar is on this sign up Northern Hemisphere’s autumn, its gentle rests warmly, gently, on the autumn timber altering colour, the straw bales within the discipline, the newly-picked apples in bushel baskets. It’s a time of magic, when the softness of the sunshine makes strangers extra engaging, and the crispness of the air makes us lengthy for the heat of one other’s arms.
Getting What We Need
Final week, Venus’ trine facet to Jupiter promised {that a} reward may very well be headed our method. Venus sq. Pluto (Sep. 22, 2024, 2:14 pm PDT) doesn’t negate that, nevertheless it does recommend that having gotten what we wished, we’d discover that we don’t actually need what we’ve bought.
A connection between Venus and Pluto will be stunning and soulful, symbolizing depth of feeling, genuine love, and affection for issues or individuals which might be troublesome to like. However it’s a mixture that must be handled consciously and thoroughly, as a result of it’s a high-quality line that separates deep love and painful obsession. Pluto has a method of sucking up all of the oxygen within the room with its focus and need for management. That’s not for everybody, and never for Venus in Libra, an air signal that appreciates some respiration room.
It is a quick transit, with an affect of only a few days. However take this time to look at whether or not one thing you’re feeling is real love or a necessity for management.
A Wild Backyard
Venus enters Scorpio (Sep. 22, 2024, 7:36 pm PDT, by means of Oct. 17) inside hours of her sq. to Pluto, and brings comparable messages. Venus in Scorpio dislikes artifice and resists all efforts to regulate her. She asks us to search out magnificence in what we actually are and what we’re authentically drawn to.
That’s generally been a problem for my household of formidable ladies. In defiance of societal beliefs of womanhood, we’ve by no means been dainty; we’re fats and fierce and loud, and after we’re collectively we giggle so arduous that we are able to’t breathe. Every of us married long-suffering males who had spent a minimum of one main vacation with the household and knew precisely what they have been moving into.
Again in late 1988, Scorpio comic Rosanne Barr premiered a sitcom that includes a TV household that continues to be, to today, the one one I’ve seen that actually resembled my very own. (The outside of the Conner dwelling was actually photographed in my dwelling city.) Overlook the real-life Roseanne and the luggage and controversy that include her; I liked Roseanne Conner, her humorous, sassy, bossy, opinionated, and irreverent creation. I acknowledged that lady, her kids, her husband, her couch. It wasn’t a fairly present, nevertheless it regarded actual to me. I favored that Roseanne Conner wasn’t outlined by her dimension. I favored that she by no means apologized for taking on an excessive amount of area on this planet.
As Venus transits Scorpio for the following few weeks, have the benefit of your authenticity. Keep in mind that your life will not be a democracy – it’s a wild, uncensored, technicolor backyard. Develop what you want there, and love who you might be.
Writing and pictures © 2017-24 by April Elliott Kent
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