August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

'And the light shone in darkness and Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled About the centre of the silent Word'. - T.S. Eliot 'Ash Wednesday'

The heat has been building through July with the sun and Mars moving unusually at the same speed through hyper-emotional Cancer in defensive and aggressive counterpoint with heavyweights Jupiter (magnanimity or megalomania), Uranus (wake up or break down) and Pluto (power). Meantime heatwave ‘Lucifer’ has been scorching the planet. The solar eclipse can be seen as a catalyst of purification, releasing blocked energy and opening us to a creative and fiery transition period:

'From wrong to wrong the exasperated spirit Proceeds, unless restored by that refining fire Where you must move in measure, like a dancer…' - T.S. Eliot

This total eclipse of the sun in Leo (21st August 21.30 Greek time) brings out heart-shining courage of authenticity or its shadow, bombastic self-aggrandisement. Its impact may be felt most strongly in the US where it cast its full shadow from coast to coast. The experience of the eclipse itself may be a catalyst of inspiration and change as in the words of one eye witness:“I’ve seen people get on their knees and pray, I’ve seen scientists cry. All of a sudden, you realize, ‘Man, I’m part of this and I have instincts that I never, ever feel. I’m part of nature.’

The great un-reality TV show of our times could be moving towards a denouement or dissolution as the eclipse point falls opposite the Moon in the birth chart of the US and exactly on President Trump’s Mars (urge for conflict) and his Leo Ascendent (urge for drama and attention). It also falls on the ‘royal’ star Regulus signifying the potential fall of a dynasty.

Interestingly this eclipse belongs to a series of eclipses occurring every 18+ years which coincide with some significant dates for the US: 1945 death of Roosevelt, Hiroshima; 1963 assassination of JFK; 1981 attempted assassination of Reagan; 1999 impeachment of Clinton…

The eclipsed sun together with the moon and Mars create a ‘fire-triangle’ linking them to the ‘galactic centre’ (the black hole around which our galaxy revolves) and the unpredictable drastic energy of Uranus in Aries. The triangle pattern creates momentum and flow; whatever we set in motion in this period may gather speed faster than we expect. Jupiter, symbolising either bigotry or justice in air-sign Libra can fan the flames or cool the heat with diplomatic wisdom.

Saturn ‘Lord of Karma’ is also involved in the eclipse portal. It turns to move forward on 25th August after five months mulling over what has come to pass, returning in mid October to where it was at Trump’s inauguration. Perhaps some kind of retribution will emerge either then or when it aligns with the galactic centre in early December. Once what is unusable is stripped away Saturn can give us a strong base from which to leap.

The leap we are facing requires impeccable intention and sobriety if it is to take us into a new level of awareness releasing affinities with repeating patterns of polarising unconsciousness (karma) so that a drastic ‘new page’ energy can re-ignite our lives.

Through this period Uranus, the urge for revolutionary action, is still aligned with Eris, goddess of Discord, who provoked the Trojan war. As we observe the ongoing war-mongering rhetoric of rage and fury we may catch at more subtle level the painful sense of inadequacy and insecurity underlying all the rumpus. Seeing the root of aggression in fear can go far in dissolving the shadow.

Pluto indicates a protracted suppression of the truth and it has been jousting with Jupiter since their first standoff in November 2016. The plot can hardly get thicker but it probably does. Jupiter turned backwards from just after Trump’s inauguration until 9th June when it returned to exactly where it was at the US election, its movements correlating with attempts to clarify or suppress clarification around subversion of justice. At the eclipse it returns on cue to where it was at the inauguration following its third and final standoff with Pluto.

Some version of ‘truth’ or ‘fake truth’ may possibly out following this eclipse, no doubt a mere distraction from the real action to keep the audience enthralled, with possible shockwaves around 28th September when Jupiter hits against Uranus for the last time (first hit December 2016). These erratic energies could bring a drastic release of tension or a new wave of unbridled escalation. Everything is possible.

Mercury is retrograde from 13 August – 5th September intensifying ‘fake news’ and spin. It turns direct on 5th September exactly on the eclipse point aligned with fiery Mars; expect more heated words about whatever is seeded now. Full moon on 6th September in Pisces aligned with Neptune adds to the confusion and intensity, perhaps as a massive smoke screen or a magical uplifting download for those who tune into it.

To stay lucid in the extreme dreamscape of these times is a warrior’s task. World work is also inner work. When we can discern even momentarily the play of energies behind our personal drama or the TV show that grips the world we no longer get entangled in the conflict-ridden polarisation that threatens to rip our world to bits. The real ‘enemy’ can only ever be unconsciousness:

'All evils are the effect of unconsciousness. .. Remember: just as you cannot fight the darkness, so you cannot fight unconsciousness. If you try to do so, the polar opposites will become strengthened and more deeply entrenched. You will become indentified with one of the polarities, you will create an ‘enemy’, and so be drawn into unconsciousness yourself. Once you recognise the root of unconsciousness as identification with the mind, which of course includes the emotions, you step out of it. You become present. When you are present you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it.' - Eckhart Tolle

The eclipse leap is a leap of consciousness. In action hold horses until clarity comes and beware of being carried away by the Uranian energy that is shredding everything in sight. Uranus signifies impatient insecure reaction or the wisdom of awakened consciousness within ‘not knowing’. Don’t believe anything which is not direct perception!

‘To be in stillness means being in total insecurity with no reaction, no knowing and total observation' - Manuel Schoch

By refocusing on the space beyond, behind and within the shocking shifting pattern unfolding under our eyes we can keep sourcing our perspective from the still centre inside/outside of all spin. Then the dark-light play through the seeing of absolute inclusivity can bring us back again and again to the power of emptiness where everything is possible.

'For whomever emptiness is possible everything is possible'

Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche