This Full Moon and lunar eclipse already feels powerful and more than a bit dark.
If you follow the news at all, you’re likely feeling significant levels of stress and overwhelm. Where can we find the will to move our societies away from violence and toward peace?
As difficult as these challenges are, I am hopeful. I might not be ready to commit to optimism right now, but hope? Yes, I have hope.
First, let’s look squarely at the tough stuff.
This Full Moon in Taurus sees the Sun in Scorpio conjunct Mercury and Mars, with Mercury and Mars especially close together. Mercury and Mars reach their exact conjunction Sunday morning, within the Full Moon phase. This connection is strong right now and has been since Mercury entered Scorpio October 22.
Mars and Mercury together in Scorpio, made stronger by the Sun, represent, among other things, a driving connection between thought and action, tenacity of purpose, and intensity.
In the context of therapy, this combination could bring an amazing breakthrough that creates a reorientation of the self through integration of Shadow material.
In the context of the world, this can represent violent speech, dark thoughts becoming action, and an unwillingness or inability to change. The news is filled with violence that feels more intense than ever.
The hope in this, and it’s not mine alone, is that this time, something will be done. This time, things are happening we cannot ignore.
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First, we have to see, starkly, what’s at stake. This is the role of Pluto in late Capricorn.
Pluto still squares the Sun and Moon. At 27º58’ Capricorn, Pluto is in the final months of their long tenure in Saturn’s sign of cardinal Earth. These squares with the luminaries are weakening but still present.
Pluto also squares the Nodes of the Moon, currently at 24º54’ Aries and Libra. Since the Nodes move backwards through the zodiac, this square is also weakening but again, very much present.
A note: It might seem confusing to have the Sun and Moon in different signs than the Nodes. Is this a Taurus–Scorpio eclipse? Or an Aries–Libra eclipse?
We name the signs of an eclipse New or Full Moon for the sign the Moon is in. This is true for all lunations. Eclipses are no exception.
When the Nodes of the Moon transition into new signs, they naturally spend time in the very early degrees of the signs they are leaving and then the very late degrees of the signs they are entering. Remember they move backwards through the zodiac.
Since eclipses are visible as soon as the Sun and Moon are within 18º of the Nodes, we see it’s inevitable that some eclipses will occur with the Sun and Moon in one set of signs and the Nodes in another. This happens every eighteen months, which is how often the Nodes change signs.
Back to Pluto.
The ending of Pluto’s time in Capricorn is syncing up with the closing of this current eclipse cycle in Taurus and Scorpio. Scorpio explores what is fundamental and has no fear of asking difficult, unpopular questions. Taurus is the calm, steady hand showing us how firm commitments followed by slow but ongoing work can move mountains.
Let’s look at the Taurus side of this eclipse Full Moon.
Full Moons represent a culmination of some kind. We complete something, or are illuminated about something, depending on whether our focus has been on learning or creating.
This Moon in Taurus is exalted. Mars in Scorpio, in his sign of rulership, is the strongest planet in the eclipse chart, but the Moon is next, also strongly placed and happy.
Additional support comes from Jupiter, who sits with the Moon. This is a applying conjunction, growing stronger and exact in the predawn hours of Sunday. Jupiter buoys us up. Simply put, we feel better when Jupiter is near.
Jupiter also opposes the Mercury–Mars conjunction. Jupiter and the Moon together can serve to keep Mercury and Mars more grounded than they would be otherwise. Before Mercury and Mars dive into deep water, the Moon and Jupiter can ask, hey, do we need to do this? Can we swim?
In the first decan of Taurus, we shift attention from the high energy heat of Aries into a calm, measured look at what we actually need. How will we eat? What about shelter? Is anyone hurt? Where are the children? These are Taurean questions.
The phrase in Isaiah 2:4 about beating swords into plowshares applies here. These words became the cornerstone of the Black American spiritual, Down by the Riverside, also known as Ain’t Gonna Study War No More.
This song, in many versions, sung by many artists and choirs, became part of the Civil Rights Movement, and was (and still is) sung in the labor movement and anti-war movements around the world. It is a wonderful anthem for this Full Moon eclipse in Taurus.
The personal impact of this eclipse depends on where it touches our birth charts. Eclipses are always reflected in world events, but how we feel them individually depends on our history with this group of eclipses and our life circumstances.
These eclipses across the Taurus–Scorpio axis began in 2022 with a New Moon solar eclipse at 10º Taurus on April 30. All four eclipses in 2022 were in these two signs. Our 2023 eclipses have been divided between Aries–Libra eclipses (April 20 and October 11) and the Taurus–Scorpio axis (May 5 and October 28).
If you have chart angles or planets in Taurus or Scorpio, or in the other fixed signs (Leo and Aquarius), or the other Earth and Water signs (Virgo, Capricorn, Cancer, and Pisces), it’s worth checking where these eclipses have landed.
Many general astrology websites have information on eclipses. The tables at Cafe Astrology are especially detailed. (https://cafeastrology.com/eclipsessolarlunar.html)
Whatever your experiences have been with these eclipses, tomorrow’s Full Moon in Taurus brings this particular cycle to a conclusion. Pay attention to how this final eclipse in Taurus relates to the other New and Full Moons in these signs last year and this year.
There’s no doubt we’ll continue to be aware of the dark currents Scorpio brings. We already see the power of Scorpio created when Mars, Mercury, and the Sun are conjunct in this sign.
The challenges we face may feel more intense during this eclipse, and yet the purpose and opportunity here are to feel deeply. What we are committed to? Where do we need to focus our attention and efforts? And–that word again–what are our hopes for the future?
Where those hopes are, is exactly where we want to focus the commitment and steadfast care that Taurus brings.
