A Full Moon Eclipse of Illusive Realities

Friday's Aries Full Moon is also an eclipse, although we cannot necessarily see it. This means that this Full Moon is a stronger and more intense lunation, so that the symbolism of its planetary configurations will last for the next six months or so into the future. And that very future is also far from certain, given the predominance of the outer planet alignments over this same period of time. Uranus and Pluto, already less than one degree away from the next installment of their iconic square with each other, become exactly square on November 1st, and then again on April 21st of 2014. While these fourth and fifth passes are not the final pair, they are perhaps the most intense. In the meantime, the lunations of this climactic end-of-year period, including the Last Quarter Moon of Christmas Day, December 25, feature an exacerbation of Uranus and Pluto in their revolutionary square alignment. We are in for a season of massive change, both individually and as a society, and no way around it.

Then, too, Mercury is just about to turn retrograde, and we are in for a particularly severe retrograde period since Mercury is in close parallel to Pluto as it stations on Monday, October 21st, and because Mercury conjuncts Saturn twice more in the course of its backward and then its recovery motion through Scorpio. We can expect even more intensity with the usual symptoms of missed connections and mechanical and communication breakdowns, as may already be evidenced in these next few days leading up to Mercury's station. This stretch of time, lasting until nearly the end of November, taking the period of Mercury's retrograde shadow into account, is ideal for inward contemplation and for getting a better handle on where you are headed in your life, consistent with your most deeply held values, and despite the illusions fostered by the multiplicity of media and by consensus thinking in general.

The numinous illusions and confusions of Neptune are also mightily configured at this time, and as we head toward the end of the year. In Friday's eclipse, Mars in Virgo is exactly opposite Neptune. This brings up the shape-shifting question of otherworldly influence and an illusory sense of reality that depends on what we ourselves make of it, for good or for ill. Neptune is also highlighted during the configurations of these next few months, especially at the time of Mercury's station to direct motion on November 10th, when it makes an exact trine to Neptune, and in the Last Quarter Moons of both November and December. On the one hand this Neptunian emphasis coupled with the retrograde period of Mercury over the next five weeks enables us to take a fresh look at ourselves from the inside perspective of our largely unconscious process, as far as we can surmise it. On the other hand, there are indeed the pitfalls of over-idealized versions of a private sense of reality that might not take actual practical considerations and down-to-earth perspectives firmly enough into account. This obviously sets us up for eventual disappointment when such illusions are shattered.

We therefore thread a thin line over this end-of-year time. We win when we refuse to give up on our fundamental optimism, and yet strive to couple this intensely idealistic stand with a modicum of sensible caution and holding back, as represented by the astrological archetype of Saturn. In many ways, and perhaps paradoxically, Saturn is our friend.

The Sabian Symbol for the degree of Mercury as it stations next Monday, the degree that it already occupies in this Full Moon, is the 19th of Scorpio: "A parrot listening and then talking" which well reflects the Mars-Neptune opposition and the shape-shifting possibilities of these times. In the midst of media spin and illusion, we must sort out the actual reality, as we take in many ideas and even phraseologies from the world around us. When we in turn speak, how can we tell that we are coming from our own vital internal understanding of what we are saying, versus mere mimicry? It is an important distinction to make.