The full moon in 5° of Taurus on Saturday, October 28th (3:24 p.m. CDT) is a partial lunar eclipse.
This eclipse creates tension and heightened emotions. What arises now is an opportunity to clearly see what isn’t working. We are called into a deeper emotional awareness so that we can witness our own shadow and identify where it is blocking us from sharing our gifts.
Lunar eclipses take place during the full moon phase. The earth’s shadow falls on the moon’s surface when the moon and sun are perfectly aligned, shading it and occasionally turning it a brilliant crimson color for several hours.
Lunar eclipses are symbolic of shedding old skins and cleansing.
A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the earth passes between the sun and the full moon. This triggers our emotional body, summoning latent feelings to the surface. Our fears and phobias emerge, emphasizing our unconscious patterns that have continued to influence our behaviors so that they might be released.
This is the final eclipse of this year. Given that the duration of the partial eclipse is 78 minutes (1 hour and 18 minutes), its impact will be felt for roughly 39 days.
This eclipse is visible from Europe, Africa, North America, North/East South America, Asia and western Australia. India in particular will have clearest view.
Eclipses happen in cycles of 19 years. The previous lunar eclipse in Taurus near this degree occurred on October 27, 2004.
Thinking back to this time, what themes were arising? What cycles were coming to completion and which were beginning? What was our definition of security? What was our relationship like to our money and the material realm? What were our relationships teaching us about how we value ourselves? Are there any similar threads or storylines unfolding now? How have we grown in the last 19 years?
The Archetype of Taurus
Taurus governs our physical senses, our connection to our bodies and our physical realm. This energy is oriented toward creating stability, reliability and security as a means of survival. We learn about what feels good and what we need through sensation as soon as we are born. We also learn to move away from pain and naturally lean towards comfort.
Taurus is connected to the cyclical nature of earth. Life has seasons, both personal and collective cycles, and we can learn to honor what is blossoming and work with the earth to be resourceful. When the season ends and we find we can’t depend on the old way to be resourced, our soul guides us to strengthen our connection within.
We must learn to flow with life and surrender our attachments so that we can open to new ways and discover new talents.
Through this archetype, we learn to trust our own pace and timing as we move through life, slowing down to experience our emotions and take in more grace and beauty that surrounds us when we are present to it.
The shadow side of Taurus arises when we hold on to what we have due to our fear of losing it. We can hoard or hold back from sharing more of what we are with the world and become dependent on others to maintain a sense of security. We also can overindulge our senses by either going to the extreme or denying ourselves pleasure, losing our connection to a healthy sense of eros to explore and connect to the physical world. Another shadow aspect of this sign is the tendency to distract or numb ourselves to avoid confrontation or feeling.
This eclipse guides us into contemplation about what really brings us pleasure. Beyond the physical comforts, what it would take to embody a state of fulfillment and deep contentment? The answer to this is as unique as each individual who is pondering the question.
We are meant to create beauty, to engage with the physical world and experience life through somatic sensing.
In order to do this, we must understand when we are not being present and how we can get stuck in time warps due to trauma. Through understanding our nervous system and how it serves and protects us, we can repair and rebuild new tools that support more presence and embodied experience that connect to more pleasure and fulfillment.
The Taurus/Scorpio Polarity
The Taurus-Scorpio axis teaches us about our relationship to attachments and where we obtain the resources required for growth and transformation. It is where we face what it is that we truly own, not only in terms of our physical or material possessions, but also how we choose to inhabit the body we are in and how we engage and alchemize our ancestral patterns and psychic DNA.
When working in harmony, this polarity prompts us to live a life that is radically honest. It is a life that upholds our values and continues to develop our capacity to intuit when the process of metamorphosis requires our surrender. This is necessary so that we can transform and continue to reach new heights of our soul’s evolution and share our gifts.
“So much of the creative process is about uncertainty. Like a fog we must pass through, there’s a length of confusion that precedes originality. I think of this fog as initiatory in nature, turning back those who can’t withstand the uneasiness of not being able to see the horizon. But anyone who has passed through bewilderment enough times knows that the fog is really a sacred shroud, giving us refuge from the outside world so we can finally turn towards ourselves.”
Toko-pa Turner
Reprogramming Our Self-Worth
This eclipse brings to completion a cycle that began on November 19th, 2021.
Over the past two years, we have been deepening our understanding of our worth. This lunation is an important time to recognize how far we have come and to look with neutral curiosity as we reflect on anything that still needs our attention and time.
What has evolved around our relationship to self-worth? What lessons have we learned from this process? What is left to tend to? On this journey of embodying new codes of self-value, how have we progressed?
New truths are revealed around our patterns that have kept us feeling limited, numb or like we are stuck on a cycle of repetition.
As we have been uploading new software of developing self-esteem, we may perceive that the old strategies and coping mechanisms don’t really fit anymore, or we may notice an intuitive nudging, inviting us to level up. We start to get curious about who we might become and what kind of impact we can make if we can let some of our old defenses go.
We Assess Our Values
There are moments that startle us awake so that we can recognize where we need to claim more responsibility for our choices and our lives. As our consciousness evolves to a greater understanding of our ability to set intentions, work in harmony with the universe and grow as a spiritually mature adult, we also must be accountable to our planet and our soul in how we live.
We are invited to assess our values and where we are prompted to create change. We are guided inward to sense what is deeply resonate for us, so we can build a life that is fulfilling and can trust our body’s wisdom to navigate through the unknown.
What are we longing to create? What must be finished and released for fresh inspiration to enter? This cycle shows us our relationship to our attachments so we can understand our motivations and what patterns are keeping us stuck. What emotions lie under our resistance to change? What keeps us repeating the same patterns and why are we choosing to stay within them? Are these behaviors draining our lifeforce? What choices would we make if we were to only make ones that aligned with self-value?
Since November 19th, 2021, we have been on a profound journey of evaluation, and this lunation brings us into the details of what needs our attention to assimilate this process.
What values have been awakening over the last two years? How can we live in a way that aligns to our hearts’ longing and feels meaningful? Can we ground into a state of self-connection and listening? Can we be brave enough to shed cultural expectations to simply embody our own truth? What values have we been tethered to that are merely adapted beliefs of our society and unprocessed generational trauma? Where have we become more aware of our impact on the earth and how has that informed the way we live? This cosmic weather offers the power of alchemy to uncover deeper layers and reclaim more of our personal power. In order to do this, we have to be willing to make space for our shadow and be present with it; we have to be willing to feel uncomfortable.
“The things that women reclaim are often their own voice, their own values, their imagination, their clairvoyance, their stories, their ancient memories. If we go for the deeper, and the darker, and the less known we will touch the bones.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Do We Use Words to Empower?
The full moon is opposite Mars, Mercury and the Sun in Scorpio. This alignment amplifies tension and polarization in our communication. Specifically, it also stirs up fervency, repressed anger and words that cut deep. We can feel overwhelmed with all that is arising and project our insecurities onto others to transfer our pain. There can be a tendency to get locked into power struggles over the need to be right or what we perceive as the upper hand. We don’t need to say everything we think. It is critical to bring awareness to what is within us that is being triggered so that we can choose how to respond rather than react.
“One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding is sufficient.”
Charles M. Blow
Being present with these emotions will allow them to guide and inform us from an intuitive knowing. It is essential to consider the impact of our words and even how we speak to ourselves.
This lunation calls us to harness our co-creative power and discover what talents we wish to be birthed into tangible form. By connecting to what is genuine and how we want to feel, we can clarify what we truly wish to create in this next cycle. The collective energies are ripe with practical possibilities and encourage us to take action with what we hope to sustain in our lives and our world.
We are invited to reflect on the stories we tell and support us by bringing words to help process and understand the intensity of the emotions moving through us. We can begin to grasp the deeper roots of our hidden motivations initiated through our triggers. Through this process, we can clarify where we are going and communicate our intentions. Still, it is also essential to slow down to make space to experience what emotions are arising without rushing to explain or direct them in any particular way.
“I choose the bravery of a soft heart over the ease of a hardened one. Perhaps it’s an act of courage to stay human in this jagged-edged world.”
Jasmin Kaur
Healing Arises When Facing Discomfort
It is incredibly popular to think about our power to manifest and co-create what we want when it’s convenient, or when we have all our basic needs met or to uphold a fantasy. To really grow as spiritually mature adults, we are asked to look at the parts of ourselves that are uncomfortable. We often tend to divert our attention from our feelings as they may guide us into an inconvenient truth. We can learn to numb ourselves and remain with what is known, especially when we aren’t ready to make the change or accept the pain when it may threaten our security and challenge our survival fears.
We are now invited to come to terms with something so that we can see it in a new light. We are being prompted to rectify our past conditioning and are being shown how we tend to protect ourselves. What aspects of ourselves guard against the unknown? Something in our lives has become stagnant and has kept us from evolving. This cycle is a powerful reality check that prompts new growth and a shrewdness to take needed action steps to claim more of our power. These shifts provide new opportunities and meaningful transformation.
We now have a powerful opportunity for shadow integration. Emotions become the catalyst for a more vibrant self to emerge. We can breathe with our physical and intuitive senses, allowing them to inform us.
We are developing emotional intelligence and embodied strength to create a more stable and authentic future. Our ability to process and transmute complex emotions into embodied wisdom is potent at this time, guiding us through the liminal space toward truth and our next course of action.
The portal to the next level of our potential is discovered through the parts of ourselves that we avoid. The more that we can cultivate presence, the stronger our ability is to trust our own alchemy and become open to transcendence.
“Traveling through life with curiosity rather than judgement is how one finds the magic in each moment.”
Erin Chatters
Now, there is a sense of embodiment within the sensory world. Instead of bypassing or fearing the lessons of the physical realm, are we able to find ways to enjoy it, flow with it and grow from its teachings?
Cosmic Weather
This eclipse is conjunct Jupiter in Taurus, providing more information about how we tend to limit ourselves so that we can move towards expansion and opportunity.
Venus in Virgo trines Jupiter in Taurus. This configuration brings practical solutions and innovations that help us to integrate what we are feeling. We bring enthusiasm and heart to the connections that will bring about great expansion in our lives. We are not meant to carry the weight of the world alone; instead, we can process collective grief in community and in collaboration and offer practical assistance and strategies that foster healing.
This eclipse is aligned with a powerful conjunction between Eris and the North Node encouraging us to move in new directions and propelling us towards our destiny. Our strength is found in our ability to trust our instincts and hold space for a higher love that guides us into powerful truths.
The Full moon is trine Juno supporting us in reclaiming our power and connecting with those who bring us emotional sustenance.
This eclipse is in harmony with the asteroids Persephone and Lilith, both in the sign of Scorpio. Lilith urges us to stand up for equality and walk away from places where we are not being honored. Persephone guides us through processing our relationship to our worthiness so we can embrace new forms and a new cycle of rebirth. We may feel called to advocate for our value in a new way or look at how we aren’t being valued and how we feel about the consequence of this choice.
The Invitation
This eclipse invites us to build a relationship with the earth, own our creativity, and design a life where we can thrive. Whether deepening into presence for our cycle, creating a serene environment or a call into mystical attunement, we have renewed strength to breathe with what we feel and be open to the beauty and grace around us.
Our personal and collective evolution now requires us to create a healthier connection to our physical world. To do this, we must dedicate time to listening to what isn’t in alignment.
Our willingness to step beyond what is known and where we have become too stagnant and too comfortable will guide us into a new way of seeing—especially if we have depended on others for our survival because we don’t trust our ability to get there. The next stages of our potential beckon us to trust in our ability to be resourced. We reflect on the areas where we manage quite well and where we need to take greater responsibility. We are called to take practical steps to create powerful change and build a new foundation anchored in our values.
“The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it.”
Katharine Hayhoe, The Nature Conservancy