Leo Lunar Eclipse, February 9, 2009

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Leo Lunar Eclipse, February 9, 2009

This

Leo lunar eclipse will be powerful, not only because an eclipse focuses

and intensifies the energy of a full Moon but because of all the

energetic shifts that occur around it. So before we get to the eclipse

itself, let's talk about how crazy this week is really going to be.

The

day after last month's full Moon, Mercury, who had just ventured into

Aquarius, decided he needed to turn around and check out Capricorn one

more time and see what damage Jupiter caused in its year-long stay

there. Just check the news for what he found out. On SuperBowl Sunday,

he stopped. He'd seen enough. Besides being the god of merchants, he's

also the god of thieves. Understanding came easy. In his rush to turn

around and get out before the building collapsed, Mercury seems to have

created accidents and falls, brought bad health news â€" forget the

economic news! - and made for a surprising SuperBowl game. Now

he's moving forward, 'cause he can't wait to see what Aquarius will

come up with once he presents his findings. Your projects will start to

move forward again, and will slowly pick up speed until Mercury reaches

the place he turned around at on February 21st and then, it's blast-off. So get your feet under you and start moving.

Monday, February 2nd

was Candlemas or as the Celts call it, Imbolc. It is the time of year

when we finally see that the light is indeed growing stronger. It is

the time to feel the quickening of life within you and around you. A

good day (give it three days for an energetic shift) to meditate on

what you want to do with this new year. What new projects, new visions,

new desires arise in your imagination?. What are you willing to

dedicate yourself to? Our friends down under are celebrating Lammas â€"

the festival of the first harvests, and a marked decline of light. We

in the northern hemisphere will be there in 6 months â€" so, what will be

our harvest then? The answer: whatever you dedicate yourself to now.

The other thing that happened on February 2nd

was that Venus left Pisces and entered Aries. After the beating she

took during the month she spent in Pisces, dealing with everyone's

fears, guilt and longings about money, love and the viability of life

persisting on Earth, Venus needs something new. Aries is all over new â€"

that's what it does best. Sometimes Venus in Aries can be selfish, and

in truth, sometimes she needs to take care of her 'self' better. But

there are a few indications that Aries' fires will be more intense this

year. Late on February 5th,

Venus will square Pluto (in the first of three squares) and get caught

up in very transformative fires. When Venus goes retrograde on March 6,

the heat will intensify. Now Venus will be challenged to burn off

selfish desires and replace them with creative vision. Before Venus

moves forward again, she has to go back to Pisces and remember what the

Spirit of Life desires of her. She was born out of the ocean, out of

the fires of heaven. Love has heaven's blessings and earth's gifts to

share. Just after the 2nd

Uranus/Saturn opposition, as Venus and Pluto square each other, both

planets semi-square the Sun, bringing up control issues that need to be

confronted gently but persuasively.

Mars, which moves into Aquarius on February 4th,

will send inspiration and innovative visions to Venus, sustaining her

in the fires and reminding her of communal obligations. He can help you

find new ways to unite with like-minded people, strengthen existing

bonds and open up new avenues of thought and unlooked for

opportunities.

By Thursday, February 5th,

we could be vibrating with energy. This is the second of five

oppositions between Uranus in Pisces and Saturn in Virgo. Imagine them

as two cosmic Sumo wrestlers, circling each other, ready to engage in

ritual combat again. Their first opposition resulted in Uranus' new

vision pushing Saturn's old vision outside the ring. In America, the

people voted for change, and Barach Obama is charged with creating

change in the government as well as in the economy. But each of us who

voted for change now has to change ourselves, and so the wrestling

match continues within. Old vs.New. What do we conserve and what do we

dump? What gets transformed? What gets birthed? The first engagement of

these two sumo planets gave the vote to the innovative, original,

revolutionary vision. This second engagement will be more strategic.

What did we learn from last time? Since the first opposition, we've had

our eyes opened to the unsustainability of our economic structures.

What structures in your life have to go? How do we re-structure our

beliefs to incorporate both freedom and responsibility? It's a dilemma

we baby-boomers bequeathed to the world. We wanted the child-like

freedom that Leo promises but obviously forgot the Leo responsibility

to individuate and channel this creative energy into something larger

than ourselves. The quest of this lunar eclipse is to strike the right

balance between the urge for change and the conservation of the good of

the old order, because both Saturn and Uranus are the rulers of

Aquarius. Which structures can be viably renovated to house these new

visionary energies? And which ones block the view?

Saturn

in Virgo is diligent and disciplined. Use its energy to build better

internal behavior patterns, for these new patterns must contain the

energy and vision that Uranus wants us to incarnate. Are you staying

healthy, because you body is the temple of your soul. Do you know who

you are, because you can't bring your unique talents to the table if

you're unsure of your purpose. You have to love yourself even as you

objectively eye yourself in the mirror. Blemishes and all. Saturn in

Virgo takes us within and keeps us meditating with the stricture: Know

Thyself! And it keeps us humble.

In

Greek myth, Uranus was the starry heavens, the original pattern of

creation. This original imprint creates the urge in us to reform,

revolutionize and innovate until we reach its original perfection.

Pisces represents those unseen worlds and dimensions that play a part

in our human journey. Uranus in Pisces combines innovative vision and

objective problem-solving with compassion and human kindness. Yes,

there's a lot of idealism, but what would life look like without it?

When Uranus energizes this collective unconscious, we get inspirations

out of the blue, are side-swiped by unexpected events, and are awakened

to our infinite possibilities. And it opens our imaginations.

So let's leave our Sumo wrestlers circling each other for their next round in September and get on to the eclipse itself.

A

lunar eclipse happens near the transiting moon nodes â€" now in

Aquarius/Leo â€" when the Earth lines up with the Sun and the Moon. As

the Sun and Moon oppose each other, the Earth slips between them and

casts her shadow onto the Moon's face, eclipsing the sun's reflection

there.

Lunar

eclipses symbolize the sacred marriage of the Sun and the Moon, a union

that brings fertility to the Earth and a right relationship to the twin

forces of our cosmos. These twin forces we call masculine and feminine

energy. The Yin and the Yang of life. When they are balanced, we get

heaven on earth. Although humanity is still a ways from creating a

heaven on earth, we get a much needed infusion of balanced cosmic

energy during these shift times. Each one of us has the chance to

inhale this balanced energy and make use of it in our lives. That's why

these times get so intense â€" the more out of balance you are, the more

these times negatively affect you, to ultimately knock you back into

balance. And conversely, the more in balance you are, the more these

energetic shifts help you create the life you are here to pursue.

The

eclipse occurs in the signs of Aquarius and Leo, signs of individual

creativity and group creation. This eclipse, Aquarius is entertaining a

large and important lineup of guests.

Imagine

that there is a heavenly mansion with a big bay window that looks out

on the constellation of Aquarius. Its energy sets the tone for the

house: innovative, eclectic, revolutionary, humanitarian. We are

standing in the house of group consciousness and its evolution. Mars

the Warrior rushes in and asks what he can do to help. Jupiter and

Juno/Hera greet with with the news that something BIG is up, and it's

related to our group destiny. So groups and networking and change are

all on the agenda. The groom of this eclipse is the Sun, and his

groomsmen are Neptune and Chiron, so we know that healing and

imagination are the order of the day.

Chiron,

understanding how wounded people and institutions can be, offers his

advice. He is the teacher of heroes, the one who unites within himself

both mortal and divine blood. He helps us build the bridge between

Saturn, our physical world, and Uranus, the many other realities, just

as the asteroid Chiron orbits between them. So Chiron shares this

wisdom with the Sun at the eclipse: if we don't acknowledge that we are

both spirit and matter, we are scr**ed. We can't deny it any longer â€"

we have the capability to live consciously and act nobly. Let's get on

with it.

Neptune

is the god of the Ocean waters as well as of the Collective

Unconscious. It was out of his waters that Aphrodite/Venus was born

from the phallus of Uranus. He stands up for the spiritual aspects of

life as well as ruling the unconscious creativity of life. He brings us

the use of the imagination and the truth of our interconnectiveness and

unity. His influence extends beyond the Sun and Chiron and envelopes

Jupiter, Hera and Mars in his creative vision of a new, compassionate

future for this world. These two energies enhance the Sun's Aquarian

ideals of transcending differences, creating healing for the wounds

between spirit and matter in ourselves and between each other. This

new, future-oriented energy will work itself out during the next 6

months through different aspects of life and society, and each planet

that is joined to this energy takes away a new vision that will

fertilize everything it touches.

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www.wisdom-of-astrology.com

Pagano, M.A., C.E.C, is a Jungian Psychotherapist and Mythic

Astrologer, as well as a Soul Coach and Archetypal Story Coach.

works with the tools of the imagination - dreams, alchemy, myths,

astrology, symbolic language, (more...)

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