https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVQ3-Xe_suY
On Monday, August 21st, there will be a total Solar Eclipse in the sign of Leo. In addition, this Solar Eclipse is also the second successive New Moon in Leo. Thus, the full breadth and scope of Leo’s thematic elements will be illumined.
Expect to contend with theatrical emotions, where the performance of one’s public persona (character, role, image and face) metamorphoses into newly hyperbolic grimaces of tragedy and comedy.
This Solar Eclipse in Leo is without a doubt the most anticipated astrological event of the year. Even though eclipses no longer portend disaster, they still stir people up. A total eclipse is after all a stellar spectacle for the masses! As such, the collective is expecting an event that is starkly dramatic, tinged with romanticism and perhaps a little madness.
The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass.
Remembering games, and daisy chains and laughs,
Got to keep the loonies on the path.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth and the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In alchemy, solar eclipses are known as The Alchemical Wedding—the Union of Opposites, when Yin and Yang, or masculine and feminine converge for a brief moment, opening a space of nondual consciousness.
Eclipses are known as times of deep personal transformation and profound spiritual growth. This Solar Eclipse in Leo offers you an opportunity to find your place in the Sun and begin to radiate a new interpretation of your chosen persona.
The word persona is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. At a total Solar Eclipse, the darkness summoned by the Moon, obscures the face of the Sun, acting a mask for the collective to project their unconscious motivations and traits upon. Thus, the darkness of an eclipse is a symbolic representation of all the dangerous ideas and primordial instincts of humanity. The Moon, casting its masking shadow upon the Sun, generates a moment of lunacy.
This total Solar Eclipse in Leo has been dubbed The Great American Eclipse because its visible pathway will cross the continental United States.
Since such a rarified spectacle has not occurred since 1918, the desire to make meaning of this event is at a fever pitch, even to those not astrologically or scientifically inclined. In correspondence with intensity of such a powerful eclipse, the socio-political climate of the United States is in a tumultuous uproar. The citizens are as divided by battling cultural ideologies as during the times of Revolution and Civil War.
The nation’s figurehead, Donald Trump, has eclipsed the minds and hearts of the masses, with some warming in the rays of his Sun and others alienated by blackest shadow. And it is no insignificant detail that Trump’s rising sign, the mask he wears before the world, is Leo.
The lunatic is in my head.
You raise the blade, you make the change,
You rearrange me ’till I’m sane
The agonizing light that projects the haunting fears upon everyone in the United States finds its source in the omnipresent mass media, flooding the subconscious of every citizen. As such, everyone is changing their face in response to the new cultural conditions: some laughing maniacally and some grimacing in extraordinary pain. No matter what side the political rhetoric may be, the whole country is possessed by a certain madness.
You lock the door,
And throw away the key,
There’s someone in my head but it’s not me.
The term lunatic evolved from the Latin word luna for Moon, due to the ancient belief that insanity varied with or was caused by the phase of the Moon. Astrology recognizes that the Moon has a symbolic correlation with the subconscious mind. Thus, a sudden swelling of the imagistic and symbolic subconscious seems insane to rational solar consciousness: for if dreams did not cease upon waking you would descend into madness indeed.
To those held captive by mass media’s subconscious enchantments, paranoia has eclipsed serenity. Realities are crumbling. History is burning. And as the shadow of this Solar Eclipse in Leo falls, you will find that you are compelled to assemble your countenance and character to handle whatever nightmare you behold.
At this time, you must ask yourself, “what expression do I choose to wear in the face of fear and uncertainty?”
Though there is a place for every one of the assorted lunatics in the grandiose drama of the world stage, the sign of Leo favors a regal and noble visage: one that is prepared to handle both the comedy and tragedy of life.
The sign of Leo asks that we perform our emotions artistically, finding ways to express our unique admixture of emotions and experiences with talent and flair. No matter what you must face in the coming months, use this Solar Eclipse to adjust your attitude to something that you can remain inspired by. This in turn, will inspire others who need your strength and integrity.
There is no greater support for this kind of spiritual and emotional work than the concluding suite of songs on Pink Floyd’s 1973 masterpiece, Dark Side of the Moon. Interestingly, this album was originally titled: Eclipse: A Piece For Assorted Lunatics. The last two songs on the album are Brain Damage and Eclipse, tracks that bleed into one another and are usually played together as one on the radio.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
These lyrics from Brain Damage, contend with the issue of media madness that eclipses sanity so often in the modern world. The lunatics are faces in a newspaper, implying that the melange of words and images about world leaders and celebrities depict a whir of lunacy, where real human faces are overshadowed by the pretension of public persona. As a media consumer, identifying with these figments and sculptured masks, wears away your understanding of your own humanity.
Through the inducement of hypnotic states and bludgeoning repetition, the dramas of the media narrative seep into your consciousness, merging fact and fantasy like watercolor paints. The result is that you become possessed by the insanity yourself. And this dilution of your sense of Self escalates as “every day the paper boy brings more.”
Obviously in the Information Age, it is not every day but every second that the crushing weight of the over-designed posturing narrative is added to.
The Moon revolves around the Earth at the same speed of rotation. Because of this, on Earth, only one side of the Moon is ever visible. The invisible side Moon is the dark side, lending much mystery to the mythically minded. Pink Floyd’s poetic lyricist, Roger Waters is summoning this mystery, implying that madness is like seeing this invisible Dark Side of the Moon.
“I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.”
In the shadow of this Solar Eclipse in Leo, the dark side of the Moon will be encountered as the tumult of invisible unconscious aspects reveal themselves within you. If you are to rise to the occasion of this eclipse and reshape your character to embody dignity and strength you must acknowledge and appreciate the qualia of your individual perceptions and experience. The role you choose to play must appreciate the full breadth and scope of…
All that you taste
All you feel
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy
Beg, borrow or steal
Though this Solar Eclipse in Leo is powerful and significant for this time and place, keep in mind that the Nodes of the Moon now lie upon the axis of Leo/Aquarius and thus there will be a cycle of eclipses in these signs until the end of 2018.
This eclipse will initiate a greater cycle of transformation that underlies the next fifteen months. In this time, you will be working on the presentation of your character, creating more nuances in your approach to handling life’s drama. Let this great cycle of eclipses catalyze a more devoted interest in your actions and reactions to…
All that you touch
All that you see
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight
Throughout the eclipse cycle upon the axis of Leo/Aquarius, let your character and your motivations be transformed, altering the narrative of your life in an elegant and glowing manner. Imagine yourself to be an example, a role model, and a teacher in everything that you do. And let authenticity become your greatest asset. When you are self-directed and self possessed, you are primed and ready for…
All that is now
All that is gone
All that’s to come
In the song, Eclipse, all the lyrics, except the last two lines, describe aspects of life that pertain to personality, choices, and the drama created by predictable and unpredictable events. Remember, that this Solar Eclipse in Leo asks that you maintain a vigorous engagement with life, knowing that authentic experiences are the forces that bring elegant shape to your persona.
And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon
As much wisdom as there is in Leo’s urgency towards identification with a lovingly sculpted persona, the final lines of Pink Floyd’s Eclipse describe the necessity of yielding one’s fixed sense of identity to the nebulous consciousness of the Moon.
In the shape-shifting shadow of the Moon, truth and identity wax and wane in an eternal wave of transformation.
Thus, as in all of nature, the acceleration of your growth occurs through a blended dance between strength and flexibility; strict rationale and intuitive fluidity. Your sense of Self is meant to be altered by circumstance, like the warbling circles of tree rings.
Eclipse, the last song on Dark Side of the Moon, ends with a poetic fade-out, bringing back the sound of a heartbeat that began the album. The effect is utterly mesmerizing, evoking the listener’s most primal mode of consciousness: a mood beyond all moods. A unifying truth for all humanity is that the sound of your mother’s heartbeat was the first music you heard, guiding you through your development in the darkness of her womb.
Let this musical finale on Dark Side of the Moon remind you that the basis of life, its joy and sorrow, comes from the primal pulsation of control and release, contraction and flow.
At this Solar Eclipse in Leo, take pride in the burning ardor of the illumination of the Self. But allow this eclipse to catalyze the pulsation of your growth with the Moon’s instinct for release and flow. In this rhythm, you will survive the day and the night and bloom with radiance in both summer and the winter.
Much Love,
Aeolian Heart
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