It is a powerful experience to touch your own divine nectar, the truth of your heart. It is another to be able to hold that truth lovingly within the presence of others.
This eclipse season has us solidly within the continuing story of relationship. How we hold our essence within all our one on one relating. Both eclipses are ruled by Venus, who underwent their own underworld descent and ascent this summer through Leo, shedding and uncovering beliefs and ideas around worthiness, personal sovereignty, and values.
I dreamed last night of being deeply angered by someone and it revealing something significantly important about myself to the point where I returned to them and poured my heart out in gratitude. We became dear friends and recognized the conflict between us was safe as this mutual gratitude and respect held those reactive parts of us breaking through the surface with kindness and grace. What a quintessential Libra dream! It is possible to find balance within the tension, conflict, and disagreement that occurs within our own selves and with others.
The scales of Libra are not about perfectly matched weight, equal give and take, but rather what wholistic balance actually means within the context of all our one on one relationships. Each one being completely unique and requiring their own adjustments. What has changed here with Venus’ story and the shift of the nodes into Aries and Libra, is the drive and need for us to be showing up more wholly ourselves with others. This is no longer an option, it is essential. And it is not meant to translate into, “My needs matter so yours don’t anymore,” but a genuine vulnerable exchange which might require reconfiguring relationships in your life. That could look messy or feel bad or cause pain but with the North Node in Aries, existing solely for the will of others will cut much deeper, especially as we continue on with the nodes on this axis until January of 2025.
The nodes are interesting in that they are always in opposition. They are a collective experience of rebalancing and wherever they exist within our own natal chart reveals something about our karma and destiny. Thinking about the function of oppositions can really support our understanding of eclipses and the nodes overall. An opposition is the full moon phase, when the sun and moon are opposite one another, and therefore the brightest of all the aspects. There is then some inherent magic that exists within a solar new moon eclipse because it holds both the energy of a new moon and full moon within it. With the full moon we are at a culmination point of a journey, the half way point. With a new moon, it is a seeding moment where things are freshly planted within darkness and still a mystery. How does recognizing both of these phases translate into your experience at the moment? That would be worthy of asking yourself around this first solar eclipse happening in Libra on Oct 14.
Oppositions are about difference and so they are inherently about relationship. Every sign on the zodiac wheel is in opposition to another. These are sometimes called “sister signs” because, as I’m sure many of us can understand, when we are opposite to someone/something we may share a similar value or goal but tend to express or go after this in drastically different ways. If Libra and Aries both seek liberty, Libra does so through relational harmony and justice, while Aries through individuation and blazing their own way through the unknown. Quite contradictory paths toward the same value. Oppositions have much to do with paradox. How do we skillfully hold, express, and honor difference? That tension will always inherently exist within an opposition so it becomes a meditation and practice all on its own, how both things are true and worthy of existing.
The nodes in Vedic astrology are expressed through the symbolism and mythology of the dragon Rakshasha whose body was severed in half which came to represent Rahu and Ketu, the nodes of fate. The head of the dragon, Rahu, represents the North Node and Ketu, the tail of the dragon, represents the South Node. There are many well researched and descriptive articles around this mythology if you are curious to explore more. I mention it just to go a little further into this idea of the dragon’s head and tail, what that means for us in the context of eclipse season and in relation to this idea of oppositions.
This first eclipse in Libra is conjunct Ketu, the tail of the dragon. Any time planetary bodies are with the South Node it asks us, “what needs clearing out?” The tail brings shit to the surface, literally. With the nodes in a square aspect to Pluto, the depths from which the shit comes is more intensified. But what is the purpose of excrement? Poop comes after the metabolization of nutrients through the body. It implies that a filtering process has happened and now it’s time to release the rest to compost so it can feed the soil. And so here we are for this eclipse in the sign of Libra, asking ourselves what smells right now in our relational realm. Especially now that we are collectively on the other side of such a profound Venus retrograde in Leo.
Oppositions are extreme, polarizing, and exhausting if we feel a sense of impossibility around holding two perspectives at the same time. The point of the nodes is in learning flexibility over rigidity. Learning how to be both so we don’t break, or get severed like the dragon perhaps. Pluto is heavily influencing so much of the astrology of October, including the eclipses. It is pulling us into this vortex of evolution, inviting the possibility for both. How we in our fullness of self are able to embrace the other in theirs, and how we are also full of our own paradoxes as individuals. So what does it mean to live with that?
I remember years ago listening to a therapy podcast on disorganized attachment, which honestly this attachment style feels like it could really correlate with the opposition aspect in astrology, where one of the hosts shared that she prefers to use the phrase “touched & awakened” over the word triggered. Especially being in a culture obsessed and riddled with gun violence, with the word demanding contraction as if what is revealing itself is the enemy. I never quite saw these events in my own experience the same again. There is incredible value in strongly protecting ourselves from what we are not equipped or resourced to digest yet. And there is equal power to be found when we are prepared to welcome these experiences like lost and wounded parts of us being awakened asking, “Is it safe yet? Are you ready to feel this and hold me now?”
Eclipses are catalysts in many ways and depending on how personally they touch your own chart, it could bring some major feelings, experiences, and opportunities of all flavors your way. With the North Node in Aries I really think the more we can let go of the stories about who we were last year or yesterday go, the better off we will be. This energy wants us to show up fresh to life in every moment. Aries energy is that sacred impulse that drives all of creation. If we were caught up in future tripping, trying to measure the potential impact of every action, we might be doing our creations and ourselves a disservice. We don’t always get it right and perfectly balanced within oppositions, but that’s the point. There is a need to go to extremes sometimes before we understand what actual balance in certain relationships look like. Be easy on yourself and how you are showing up. We all deserve to exist in our sovereignty and our relationships deserve to be cherished and fed as well. Let go of seeking a perfect formula for this and allow the unfolding of self and relationship be your greatest teacher.
Hello Friends 💜
I just want to share a bit of news seeing as it has been a while since I have shared in this space. The retrogrades this summer kept me in deep reflection upon how I desire to share and offer my embodied knowledge in the most effective, meaningful, and exciting way. In line with this theme of one on one relating, I am so incredibly pleased to share the creation of my new program called With the Veil which is a longer term offering to work with me one on one.
No matter your spirituality or what beliefs you hold, this offering is meant to deeply bring you back into presence with your intuitive nature. You will learn skills and tools to reconnect with your own internal knowledge, build self trust, and experience greater intimacy with yourself. This offering is meant to help you access and learn from the guidance of your inner child and higher self by utilizing practices that expand your emotional resiliency. I have shared about this on my other social media spaces and I would absolutely love if you feel called to check it out.
This video really describes the heart of the offering and more info can be found directly through my website cocreativeastrology.com/offerings/
If you know anyone who could benefit from this work, please forward this along. I really appreciate any support via shares as my world is fairly small. I so want others who feel called to be able to access positive transformation in how we experience ourselves as the multifaceted and mysterious beings that we all are 🔥❤️🔥
If what I have shared peeks your interest or stirs something up inside, please don’t hesitate to reach out for a short call to see if this is for you! I would be so honored to walk in these realms with you and support your heart work. Especially if you are feeling moved to do this with the support of the eclipses.
For even more info, this short video dives into why I created the program along with more about the logistics.
One last thing, I have created a newsletter outside of substack purely for keeping people informed of things like this. This substack continues on as I feel called to share writing, please subscribe here if you would like and have not already! It is its own thing and I really appreciate all the support in this space, especially from those who are paid subscribers 😭 you truly fuel me being able to continue creating in all these new ways. It is such a gift to me.
The newsletter is just logistics and a way for me to keep in touch outside of social media (hurray!!!). I so value having options to stay in touch outside of those spaces which feel ungrounded in terms of longterm connection building of any kind. I would love if you feel called to add yourself to my list! I honestly will probably send messages very rarely. Maybe every other month at most? And of course would never give your information away. Link to sign up is here: http://eepurl.com/izQ40A
Much gratitude toward all of you still reading. My heart sends the most care and support through this portal of eclipse season. No matter what comes up, please remember you are sacred and wholly loved.
xo,
Evan
co-creative astrology 