2011 — stepping across the line

I’ve had so little time for this blog this year, I’m still amazed (and grateful) that people seem to still be subscribing to it…! Thank you!

2011 — what a year for everyone! In all, I would say that I’ve had a good one in spite of the chaos and anxiety swirling everywhere. I’ve tried to stay centred, to not get caught up with other people’s crises, and by and large I’ve succeeded.

Looking back, 2011 has been a year where I’ve tried to put the lessons of the past few years into practice — not simply to discard, or run from, what I didn’t want, but to articulate what I did. To step across the line and be counted, even if only within myself. What was I willing to put up with, what could I change, what are my politics, my values, who did I want to be? Who do I want to be with?

The Uranus-Pluto square in the coming year promises more upheaval, but after the last two eclipses in Sagittarius and Gemini, I have no fear of coming through the other side.

My resolution for 2012 is that it is okay not to have a resolution. Just be yourselves. Happy new year, all.

Eclipse in the first house: And the scabs fall off…

I like this picture of a replica of Donatello’s David (1430) (front view here) with the paint peeling off his butt like a scab. After the partial lunar eclipse in my first house (conj Jupiter opp Venus) this past weekend, it feels like the ones on my metaphorical behind are falling off too.

I can’t really explain what’s happened — nothing ‘big’ has occurred (so far). It is more like a sense that something’s shifted, and that while the movement was minimal the effects are multiplied. It’s a bit like that arcade game where you drop in coins one by one trying to move the coins in the moving drawer bit by bit. The process seems to take forever and then suddenly you drop in a coin at the right moment and a whole bunch (and maybe a prize or two) falls into the tray.

Lunar eclipse conjunct Mars: Curtain call

One of the benefits of writing a blog is being able to go back and look at what you’ve written. I have been trying to put the New Year’s Eve lunar eclipse, which was conjunct my Mars, into words and I forgot that one of the eclipses in the summer of 2009 was also a few degrees away opposite my Mars. I wrote then that it felt like a lot of little lights were going out in my life.* This time around, with all the other stuff going on (Mercury and Mars retrogrades and so on), it doesn’t feel so much like lights going out, more like curtains being drawn. And the set for the next scene isn’t up yet.

The winter travel chaos in the UK have seen me hiding out at home for the past week since I got back from being away most of December. I spent New Year’s Eve alone at home (already spent Christmas with the family) — what better way to herald a Cancer eclipse? In fact, I slept through the countdown. And then as the first week of 2010 wore on, I realised that I was sleeping … and sleeping … and when I wasn’t eating or washing … I was sleeping.

Poll: Are people feeling better yet?

As we leave the crazy summer of eclipses behind us, we are reminded that their effects will be felt for weeks/months/years to come. Nevertheless, I feel the mood lifting slightly, if only like one surveying the rubble after a storm!

However you’re feeling, enjoy the lull now. In September, we will have the Saturn-Uranus opposition to look forward to, not to mention Mercury retrograde (I just looked at the retrograde station chart and am depressed. Will blog about it soon).

By the way, I want to plug April’s eclipse report (no, I make no commission from it!). I ordered one for myself, having been pummelled by the tremulous trio this summer, and it offered a huge amount of insight into crises patterns over my life, and looks ahead to the next cycle of eclipses, which will continue to stress my personal planets.

Après l’éclipse: Sisyphus goes on strike

Whatever I expected from the solar eclipse, I didn’t expect this.

I have been putting off the revision of an article for weeks. It is due to the journal at the end of the month. As I opened it on my computer this afternoon and began to type a few lines in response to the reviewers’ comments, it came to me in a flash — I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to subject the originality of my ideas to the banality of the review process, and I am not saying this out of over-inflated arrogance. In academia, my work tends to polarise opinion. Reviewers often praise or slam the work with equal vehemence, often both at the same time. It is something I will need to deal with more productively in the future, but this article wasn’t it.

Day before the solar eclipse II: 8th house savings?

One of the things the eclipse in my 8th house is supposed to jumpstart is my finances, which has been under strain lately.

Day before the solar eclipse: Home retreat

Sitting on the bus on the way home from work this evening, it occurred to me that I would do a day retreat at home tomorrow, the day before the much anticipated Solar Eclipse in Cancer. For once, I’m going to put aside my guilt of never doing enough work (Sun-Merc-Saturn in the 6th house), and plan a day of meditation and yoga, a day of replenishment and reminders of what nourishes.

Call it a renewal ritual, if you like, given all that has been said of this eclipse as one of coming to terms with the past, of releasing old emotional baggage, and transmuting old hurts into future promise.

Lunar eclipse conjunct Mars: Lights go out

The recent Capricorn lunar eclipse didn’t seem to have affected me in a dramatic way, but more subtly. The eclipse occurred a few degrees away from my Mars and I know I woke up on the day feeling like my fire had been put out. I was fortunate enough to take the day off.

What falls away

In nature, what falls away without effort? Some examples:

• Autumn leaves
• Flaking paint
• Weathered rock
• Scabs