Tonight’s Full Moon, a total lunar eclipse, is steeped in mystery. Eclipses are eerie events, upsetting the natural order in disturbing ways. Tonight’s Blood Moon is seriously extra.
There are plenty of places online to learn how to see the eclipse in your area and when and where to see it. Time and date.com and the NASA blog are both good ones.
If you plan to watch this Full Moon eclipse, do check the timing in your area. Where I am, for example, the Moon will begin to darken around 10:30 pm with totality beginning around 11:30 and ending around 1:00 am. The Moon should reappear fully around 2:00 am, brightening the sky.
The planets and stars tonight create a pattern of depth, transformation, and mysticism that surrounds the Full Moon eclipse.
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The Moon in Scorpio conjuncts the South Node of the Moon. South Node eclipses focus on releasing. This is the place of what is passing out of our lives, a place also associated with the past. At the South Node, we find our personal past, ancestral past, and access to deeper aspects of the past in the broadest sense.
While South Node experiences can feel like something is taken away, they’re also places where we choose to let go. We can let go of what no longer serves us, of what is complete, and of what we never needed at all but somehow struggled to let go.
Scorpio, sign of the Moon and South Node, rules elimination. Physically, healthy systems of elimination are essential. The same is true for all dimensions of our lives, the mental, emotional, and spiritual.
The Sun in Taurus sits with the North Node and Uranus. This is a place where we want more. Here, we’re looking out for what interests us, what compels our attention, what we want.
In Taurus we might look for security, stability, and comfort, but Uranus is shaking up our very ideas of what those are. Change is here whether we’re comfortable with it or not, whether it feels secure or stable, or not. These days, it’s mostly not.
At an eclipse, the luminary is dimmed. The world becomes a shadowy place. We see things literally in a different light. We see things usually hidden. Things we might not even realize are there.
Tonight, our understanding of past, present, and future can shift.
We might see, for example, how the stories we tell ourselves about our past get in the way of who we are now, and what we might become in the future.
Perhaps difficult times and experiences in the past appear not solely as sources of trauma but also places of resilience and adaptability. Maybe how we frame the past needs a complete overhaul as this eclipse Full Moon offers glimpses of a whole new interpretation.
The Full Moon is squared by Saturn in Aquarius. This can create a sense of constriction, an inability to move, or a sense of consequences coming due. In the third decan, thought, Saturn becomes aware of what is not working, and realizes a need for change while still feeling more comfortable with the status quo.
This opens the door to seeing Saturn as the creation of structure, rather than simply the imposition of rules. Through this lens, we see their presence as a reminder that movement from past, through present, into future requires a framework. At least, a framework of understanding and then vision, plans, strategy, tactics.
This Saturn is conjunct Deneb Algedi, a star in the tail of the Capricorn goatfish. Deneb Algedi is a fortunate place, as their influence is to refine Saturn, emphasizing integrity, justice, and wisdom.
This Full Moon eclipse reactivates the Saturn–Uranus square. Alone, Saturn and Uranus are too far apart to be considered in aspect now. With the Sun and Moon, they become part of the eclipse zeitgeist.
Eclipses are always world events. The activation of the Saturn–Uranus square places us squarely in this time of global transformation with the ongoing tension between maintaining traditional structures and breaking with the past to create anew.
Saturn’s presence is sobering, but aligns with the overall pattern of the eclipse, which is very much about finding the right balance between the seen and unseen, physical and ethereal, mundane and magical. When engaging with such powerful energies, Saturnian responsibility and planfulness are good things.
Pluto is also in the frame, sextiling the Moon and trining the Sun. This is a deeper and more powerful influence than Saturn’s, for while the Saturn square is waning, losing force, the Pluto trine is still to come, gaining in influence.
Pluto is the modern ruler of Scorpio, making their influence even stronger. In world events, this could signal shakeups of all kinds. Earthquakes and eruptions are possible.
Pluto also connects to financial markets. When Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008, we saw the meltdown in markets that revealed the rottenness underneath (very Plutonian). A year later, cryptocurrencies were created. Plenty of shadow stuff here to be seen and examined.
On a personal level, Pluto loves facilitating deep explorations of the psyche. The trine and sextile say yes, dive in. Yes, explore those dark corners. Yes, reimagine what those nightmares might really be trying to tell you. It may not feel wonderful in the moment, but the potential for transformative realizations makes it well worth the effort.
Neptune brings all of their magic to this Full Moon. Like Pluto, Neptune makes supportive aspects, but the other way around: trining the Moon and sextiling the Sun. This, like the Saturn square, is a waning aspect, yet Neptune maintains a strong influence.
Mars, ancient ruler of the Scorpio Moon, is in Pisces, ruled by Jupiter (ancient) and Neptune (modern). Mars as ruler of Scorpio supports exploration of depth especially around issues of power and secrecy.
With Mars in Pisces, this interest is wider, including areas of mysticism and spirituality that might normally not be Martian. In effect, Mars right now is more Neptunian, in part because he’s applying to conjunct Neptune.
Lots of complex astrology happening and we’re not quite done yet. But the trend is clear.
This eclipse Moon creates a field in which several things happen: We see what is normally hidden. What we see is deep, influential, and potentially difficult. It might relate to some aspect of the past. And we’ll have opportunities to release, hopefully by our own choice, things from the past that will make the present and future more authentic and clear.
One last astrological piece: The Sun is conjunct the star Algol, considered to be the most difficult, dangerous, and demonic star in the sky.
It’s a double star, and so its light appears to dim and brighten in cycles, depending on which of the two stars is in front. This sort of change always caught the attention of sky watchers.
Algol is associated with the story of Medusa, who brings death to all who look upon her. Her story is but one example of the demonization of the power of ancient goddesses that took place when patriarchal social organization began to take over.
Rather than seeing Medusa as a death-bringer and murderer of heroes, we can see her as the force of ancient chthonic power.
Medusa was one of three sisters, so, a triple goddess. In later versions of her story, her beauty caught Poseidon’s eye. He raped her in a temple consecrated to Athena, who punished Medusa by turning her into a monster. This is a mythic formula that often encodes the subjugation of ancient power held by women, to newer powers enforced by men.
Medusa can be seen as the face of female rage. And more widely, as the face of all who are disadvantaged, in some cases subjugated, by patriarchy.
Seen in this way, the star Algol, aligned with the Sun, Uranus, and the North Node in Taurus, points to the Plutonian depths of current issues and the Martian will to regain lost power.
Shifting again to the personal, questions around where and how we lose power come to the fore. Do we accept stories from the past, personal, ancestral, and societal, that limit how we see ourselves and others? What if some of those limiting structures were broken up? What then becomes possible?
Notice that what I’ve offered here is a lot of questions. It’s time to link back to my theme that this eclipse Full Moon is a scrying Moon.
No eclipse is a good time to take or even initiate action. This particular eclipse is chaotic, powerful and long lasting. Its influence will be felt for some time, which means the nature of that influence will not be immediately clear.
With all the depths present tonight, however, this is an amazing and powerful time for divination. Scrying has long been associated with the Moon. This night is an excellent time to ask questions, in whatever way you find best to ask, about deep things, past things, stories we tell ourselves, and what alternatives might looks like.
We can ask about past, present, and future, for all are connected. We can ask about ourselves alone, or how we fit into the wider world, or the wider itself and what it holds.
This is a night to look carefully and closely, and mark what we see.
Images adapted from the work of Susan Wilkinson:
https://unsplash.com/photos/5onnDool2JI
https://unsplash.com/photos/JOxspLlAxHg
https://unsplash.com/photos/hiU-dNcz3qg
https://unsplash.com/photos/2obKN9Kql5Q
https://unsplash.com/photos/4OJ0MmzCdoc