Syllabus

Our lesson plans for the next month are complete, with tonight's third-in-a-row eclipse. Lunar eclipse tonight, on the North Node, where we find progress and new material for our curriculum. 

We may have fun learning, with friends! The Sagittarius Moon, expansive and generous, is in the eleventh house of teamwork, friendship and group endeavors. On the other side of the Earth, we find the Gemini Sun, chatty and curious in the fifth house of fun, creativity, romance and children.

The eleventh house has a Scorpio cusp, and Pluto, ruler of Scorpio, is in the first house. Our hearts' friendships and intense individuality are working together. The Sun's fifth house cusp is loyal Taurus, whose ruler Venus is in the sixth house of health and service. Fun and games will have steadiness, loyalty and purposeful work helping others. 

The Moon/Sun opposition forms a t-square with imaginative, visionary Neptune in the second house of values and personal wealth. Money is imaginary, isn't it? A kind of flow, like Neptunian seas. Aquarius is the second house cusp sign, and we find surprising Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, in the third house of learning, communication and daily travel. 

Second house is associated with Taurus of that fifth house cusp, holding fast in the Gemini Sun's lightheartedness; eleventh house and Uranus are alike in humanitarian aims, warmed by the fiery Sagittarius Moon. This t-square is neatly tied together. The t-square is not an easy pattern, but learning happens through obstacles. 

Misty lessons are set for these next months, all about dear friends and finding enjoyable ways of helping one another. 

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.

How to let go while holding on

Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse, April 25, 2013; 1:58pm in Albuquerque, NM.

What are we letting go from our hearts, at this Scorpio Full Moon and eclipse? What parts of the past are implacable circumstances crushing out of our hearts, more accurately -- the passionate Scorpio Moon is conjunct Scorpio Saturn, He who has been pushing us so hard to release what no longer serves. 

The Moon, waxing and waning through Her phases, doesn't get along with steady, disciplined, dogmatic Saturn. Saturn doesn't care about Moon-shifting feelings. Perhaps Saturn can steady the Moon a bit and anchor the Scorpio urge to get rid of everything and start over.

At this eclipse, the Sun, Mars and Venus are all in Taurus, the sign that wants to keep and preserve all legacies. Mars will fight for the old, here, especially opposite Saturn! Lovely Venus rules Taurus, at home in Her sign. However, at the lunar eclipse the Moon's South Node is conjunct the Sun. These Taurus planets are all lessons learned, to support us in our new, regenerating Scorpio endeavors. 

So we look at our old choices, our old loyalties, and choose which of them can fit into our changing surroundings and ever-transforming hearts. The heart is in tune with the imagination, with the Moon trine Neptune. The Sun and Mars are also harmoniously sextile Neptune, for stubborn, assertive help with imagining the new future built on the past's foundation.

Likewise, the Moon and Saturn are harmoniously sextile Capricorn Pluto, while the Sun and Mars are trine Pluto. More help for change! Pluto rules Scorpio, and Saturn rules Capricorn. So these two stern planets are working hard, together, for solid changes supported by the Scorpio Moon's fierce love.

Eclipses show us endings and beginnings; a Scorpio/Taurus eclipse in particular shows what must be left behind to allow new growth. May we be gentle with ourselves and others as we change.