Easy summer?

Rahu and Ketu, the Dragon's Head and Dragon's Tail, remind us of our appetites. We can be made more aware of the literal eat-food-now urges, but also of our hunger and satiation in the areas affected by these Moon's nodes. 

At the solar and lunar eclipses, the Sun, Moon and Earth align to light and dim this awareness of what we crave. The emotional New Moon blocks the Sun's free will and vitality at the solar eclipse. At the lunar eclipse, the Earth blocks the Sun's light of reason usually reflected in feelings at the Full Moon. 

As humans, we desire freedom. Our stories are filled with the human wish to control our circumstances,  and the difficulties that ensue when we are thwarted by forces beyond our control from outside and within our selves.

Right now our eclipse lessons are about holding on and letting go of what we crave. The South Node, Ketu, the Dragon's Tail, is in loyal Taurus. Taurus desires consistence, beauty, comfort. As the Dragon's severed tail, Ketu hoards. Letting go of lessons already learned and moving out of our comfortable habits could be particularly difficult with the South Node in Taurus. 

Characterizing the North and South nodes as Rahu and Ketu is a Vedic concept, and Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac. Our tropical Scorpio/Taurus eclipses are Libra/Aries in the sidereal system, more about partnerships and the self than holding on and letting go.

I'm a magpie astrologer, stealing the ideas I like and using them as I choose. Interestingly, even in the tropical zodiac, Thursday's solar eclipse is about Me and We here in the Mountain time zone (and in the Central and Eastern time zones as well.) The New Moon blocking the Sun's light is in the seventh house of partnerships.

So we have the South Node/Ketu holding on to our comfortable reliable Taurus partnership habits, whatever those may be. What does a New Moon do here? Emotions block the Sun's light; do we see how emotions cloud free will? Perhaps we see how we allow others' emotions to choose for us. Or perhaps we are even more unaware, since the Moon is between the Sun and Earth. 

In any case, this eclipse is a new start with our old habits -- emphasis on Our, with the New Moon in the seventh house of partnership conjunct thinking/talking Mercury and assertive Mars. 

Then, on May 24 we find the Earth between the Sagittarius Moon and Gemini Sun. That one looks  enjoyable -- North Node Sagittarius Moon in the eleventh house of friendship for an intuitive enjoyment of the shared, broadminded endeavors we crave. 

On October 18 we return to the Libra/Aries and first/seventh house axes, this time with the North Node/Rahu in the partnership/We position for new lessons, perhaps refreshed by what we let go and rethought in the previous eclipse cycle. 

North Node Scorpio New Moon and solar eclipse on November 3 happens in the first house, with Mercury conjunct the North Node and Sun/Moon conjunct Saturn. Right now we're preparing for that new lesson by letting go of what doesn't work.