Lunar Eclipse in Taurus
The Full Moon partial Lunar Eclipse in Taurus occurs on October 28th at 2:24 pm mountain daylight time. This eclipse bookends our journey with the points of fate transiting the Scorpio/Taurus axis, and we will not experience another Taurus north node eclipse for another two decades. What are you instinctively desiring for your life? What must be released to make space for what is coming...
Eclipses occur within the realm of the nodes of the moon. The nodes are points in the sky, not celestial bodies, and they are the place where the moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic, or the apparent path of the sun. These points move slowly and steadily, changing signs roughly every year and a half. In astrology, they represent where we are evolving on a soul level, both individually and collectively. On a personal level, important people and situations pop up in our lives to nudge us in the direction of healing in relation to the houses that the nodes are transiting in our birth chart.
The Nodes through Scorpio/Taurus
The nodes were traveling through the signs of Taurus and Scorpio from January 2022 to July 2023 (with this current and final Taurus lunar eclipse occurring while the nodes are in Aries/Libra). The south node represents a point of release, of letting go, and this node was passing through Scorpio; the north node represents a point of hunger, and it was moving through Taurus. The north node represents where we feel directed, called to gather and collect energy and life experiences that support our journey (which is not always rainbows and butterflies - sometimes it's dark, eerie forests with cannibalistic witches). We can look to our own charts as a way of reflecting on how this energy manifested in our own lives, so we can better understand our soul’s journey, and anticipate the lessons that Aries and Libra has for us as the nodes move through these signs over the next year and a half…
As the south node was transiting Scorpio, we were offered the conditions to release toxic Scorpionic beliefs and behaviors - tendencies to be manipulative, to abuse power, to seek to control, more specifically by using fear to wield power. These shadow aspects of Scorpio do not come from a place of love, and come from a fear of losing control or power, and are therefore projected on the other. The gold that we can mine from this is through the evolved expression of Taurus - in finding the power that is within us - in realizing that we do not need to extract power from outside of ourselves. In order to accomplish this, we have to be clear and vigilant in our values. With marketing tactics getting sneakier and more predatory on the daily, with algorithms working to show you what you *need* - it’s imperative to stay rooted in the truth of what you desire, what is in alignment with who you are and the life you imagine for yourself. When we are confident in our knowing of who we are and what we stand for, and we reinforce and validate our desires, we become stronger against such manipulations.
Final Full Moon Eclipse in Taurus
This full moon represents a culmination of how we have changed in the realm of Taurus themes in the last two years. Consider what was coming up for you around November last year and November 2021. Are there any common threads? If you keep a journal, it is helpful to check back to what you were thinking and feeling during these times - especially with the south node transit through Scorpio, as this manifests as deep, internal, psychological transformation, which is less obvious on the surface. How has your relationship with money changed? With intimacy and collaboration? With art? With resources? With your self-worth? With your relationship to your body? How have you been responding to your desires for more… for more stability, for more pleasure, for more authenticity in the work and value you create in the world?
This full moon is a time to acknowledge the work you have done to realize and actualize the life you know you deserve. A life where self-worth is not measured by productivity, a life where we get to rest, we get to make time to cook the healthy meal, where we prioritize the things that keep us mentally, physically, and emotionally well. This has been a theme this whole year (and beyond) as Jupiter and Uranus have also been transiting Taurus, consequently focusing our gaze on how we manage resources, the way we live in relationship with the earth, and addressing issues like poisoned water, depleted soil, inflation, the housing crisis, the shrinking middle class… we still have so much work to do, and although the desire is there, for many people, rest, healthy whole food, clean water - you know, basic human rights - are not accessible. Although it can feel overwhelming and hopeless, we have to keep doing our own, individual Taurus work, and continue to tend to our own gardens as we are able, literally and figuratively, and reach out and offer support to our community when we can, to build the life we believe to be our birthright, that is in alignment with our innate nature, and abolish the systems and thought-structures that have us working ourselves to death.
Jupiter in Taurus
Jupiter conjunct the moon is supportive to this journey, in engendering the internal faith, messages, and synchronicities that show you you’re on the right path - the absolute knowing that what you are building for yourself, for your own self-reliance and stability is worth your time, that YOU are worth it. How have you changed your beliefs around what you “deserve” and what it means to be abundant - Jupiter is assisting you in shedding the old to grow into your new expanded self, and in believing that you are ready for bigger and better things.
Mercury, Mars, and Sun in Scorpio
This full moon is reflecting light from the Scorpio sun - we are being asked to consider the ways in which we can express our emotions in a grounded, intentional, constructive way. Mercury and the sun recently entered Scorpio, on October 22nd and 23rd respectively, setting our internal gaze into the dark depths of our souls. Mercury in Scorpio wants us to get to the truth, to illuminate the secrets lurking in the shadows. Mercury in Scorpio, in its pursuit of making sense of experience, can also tend to over-share, to dump our sh*t on others, seeking connection and safety in vulnerability. Make sure your confidants are trustworthy and ready and able to take on the load. And don’t forget to check in and reciprocate the support.
With Mercury approaching a conjunction with Mars, exact on the day after the full moon, there is a danger of being overly impulsive and cutting with our words. With the moon and Jupiter opposing these planets, we may be guilty of over-inflated opinions and stubbornness in the way we see things (or experience that energy from others). Watch the ways in which you feel impulsed to attack or react. Can you sit with uncomfortable emotions? Can you take a beat, consider the ways in which you desire to express your emotions, and weigh in on alternate routes? Say less. Be more kind. Give others permission to disagree and to be wrong (including yourself). Can you accept that your truth is not necessarily universal? Can you empathize with your fellow humans as we all work to deprogram lifetimes of beliefs around good and evil?
It’s hard to not fixate on the senseless violence that’s happening overseas when we are considering themes around abuse of power, but I think it is important to also witness the interpersonal dynamics in our own lives, however mundane they may seem. Do not underestimate the power of healing toxic power dynamics in your own life. During the end of this eclipse season, the end of this Scorpio/Taurus cycle, reflect on the quality of your energy exchanges. Do you feel like you give too much in any of your relationships? Or are you maybe not investing enough? This could be showing up literally as money, in being faced with rectifying actual debts, and it could be taking inventory on where time and focus is spent, the way you regulate your emotions (doom scrolling, eating, using substances), the way you fight with the important players in your life - the strategies you use, unconsciously or otherwise, to get what you want. With Mercury in Scorpio, we are able to examine our own behaviors and habits from a new perspective, and we may not like what we see. Instead of going into shame, tend to the part of you that adopted those ways of relating in the first place (might take some digging! But Mercury in Scorpio is up for the challenge). Be gentle and compassionate with yourself as you begin to unlearn these habits, and realize that what you have been seeking to gain can be cultivated through responsible use of your own power - this is the gift of Taurus.
Venus and Uranus Trine
After all of this intensity, we are gifted with a sweet, playful aspect on Halloween - Venus in Virgo trines Uranus in Taurus. Venus in Virgo isn’t exactly a “let your hair down” kind of vibe, and she honestly is probably not helping with the conflict we are bound to witness, but when she comes into a harmonious relationship with Uranus, it helps us to loosen up, to open up to other possibilities, to be less limiting in scope. Be spontaneous, be curious, and allow for some magick to come in this Halloween.
As we approach this very intense full moon lunar eclipse in Taurus, consider what you are grasping that absolutely needs to be released. As one of my favorite authors, Paulo Cuelho, said, “Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.”
Get grounded - breath intentionally, take a walk, move your body, write in your journal, talk to a therapist. It is extra important right now to have the discernment to distinguish between your energy and others’.
Sending lots of love and support your way on your evolutionary journey!
