Something is Revealed; Lunar Eclipse in Pisces

This week, late on Tuesday, September 17 at 10:34 pm EDT/ 7:34 pm PDT, we officially enter eclipse season. In astrological terms, eclipses bring powerful events. They are markers of change.  This  Full Moon eclipse is also a supermoon, where the Moon is closest to the Earth, and is likely to pack a powerful punch, bringing our emotions closer to the surface. 

Eclipses are literally defined as the total or partial obscuring of one celestial body by another. In the process of an eclipse, the Sun or the Moon creates a shadow, symbolically bringing night into day.  Eclipses are powerfully symbolic of the alignment of our inner and outer world and are associated with the shadow.

Lunar Eclipses are known for revealing something that has previously been hidden.

Eclipse season aligns with the path of the nodes of the Moon, and as the nodes change signs, so do the eclipses.  September 17th’s solar eclipse at 25° Pisces is our first in the series of eclipses along the Virgo/Pisces axis over the next two years, giving us a bit of a preview of what is to come. 

Pisces is a sign of release, of letting go of burdens that we have been carrying, both physical and emotional.   Aligned with Neptune, there is healing energy being brought forth even if we find ourselves feeling a bit emotionally overwhelmed. A passage is being cleared, washing away whatever is stagnant within our lives.  Hold space for yourself, and work at being self-compassionate. Lunar eclipses are portals for a profound shift.  

Eclipses offer the opportunity to work with our own shadow. To practice accepting the part of ourselves that we are unconsciously rejecting. This eclipse in Pisces is an invitation to let go of judgments we are holding against ourselves. So much of our energy is wrapped up in avoiding the uncomfortable parts of ourselves, the ones essentially hiding in the shadows. 

In many ways, this brings to mind the ‘sacred marriage of the Sun and Moon (the light of the day and the light of the night astrologically) which in alchemical terms, is the symbol of the Conjunctio or the Heiros Gamos. This is a stage in the alchemical process where the higher and the lower meet, the physical and the spiritual worlds work as one.  

Robert Bly said, “Every part of our personality we do not love will become hostile to us.” 

Shadow work can be uncomfortable but I promise you it is freeing.  In alchemical terms, this is how we turn lead into gold. 

This is the essence of what Carl Jung meant when he said “Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate. “ One of the two fathers of modern psychology Jung, over time, came to see the psyche as an inherently spiritual and fluid place, an ocean that could be fished for enlightenment and healing. In the shadows of our inner world, these treasures lie but they are also reflected in our outer experience.  I promise you the more you willingly explore your inner world the more your experience of the outer world transforms.

While shadow work is sometimes uncomfortable, it is also a gift.  So much human energy is wrapped up in avoiding, projecting, and hiding our shadows. When we integrate pieces of our shadow, we reclaim that energy.  It is part of our own life force that is simply waiting for us in the dark of our unconscious to bring it into the light. 

Over the next month, during this eclipse season, I invite you to consciously work to connect with your unconscious, your “night” self.  There are numerous ways to begin.  Keeping a dream journal is a fantastic way to start.  It doesn’t matter if you only remember glimpses, one of the most powerful things you can do is to simply ask yourself What was the primary feeling I experienced in my dream?  That alone can connect you to this uncharted territory within and serve as a leaping-off point,  From there you can journal asking yourself where you have experienced a similar feeling within your conscious “day” life.   If you are experiencing an uncomfortable pattern, for example, a discomfort or sense of alienation in how those around you are treating you perhaps look at how you habitually treat/speak to yourself within your inner dialogue. 

Eclipse season is a time when we are reminded that we are both light and shadow and that in the complexity of ourselves, there is room for all the different parts of us, all of what makes us who we are.