Eclipses Season is Upon Us: Week of 5/23 - 5/29
Blessings from the Galactic Center, all!
Eclipse season is officially upon us. With the disruption of the vital, sustaining light of the Sun, the constant transmission from our own star, Sol, is temporarily jostled. Eclipses can quite literally knock us down, lowering our typical defenses against burn out, or even minor ailments (like a seasonal cold). The need for containment is especially pertinent now, perhaps, as we eagerly rush back into rebuilding normalcy in our lives. Please honor your body’s need to take things slower, and your spiritual process adapting to life on the other side.
Our lives are an interplay of fate and freewill, but during eclipse season, it would seem as if the hands of fate have a stronger influence at this time. You can try to fight the current, but trust me, it’s much easier to let the universe make its move first before you start planning your counter. Let things be up in the air right now. Mercury is still in a square with Neptune for the entirety of eclipse season. With more questions than answers, it’s normal to feel both overwhelmed AND joyous about everything going on in your life right now.
Eclipses are cosmic course-correctors, and whatever arises for you right now that feels random, electric, opportune or even complicated – just might have a very important invitation for you. That said, eclipses are not easy. Change, especially sudden change, can be immensely stressful.
We also have two planets stationing retrograde this week. For more information on stationary planets, you can check out my discussion with Stormie Grace here!
Astrology Watch
Saturn stations retrograde, 5/23
Lunar Eclipse, 5/26
Venus square Neptune, 5/27
Mercury retrograde, 5/29
Saturn stations retrograde, 5/23, 13°31 Aquarius
By Tim Walker
For a planet like Saturn who is retrograde 37% of the time, it’s not a huge deal that Saturn will be retrograde for the next four months. However, it is a very big deal when Saturn stations either retrograde or direct. Generally speaking, Saturn stations tend to knock us down a couple notches - throwing a weighted blanket over the castles in the sky and grounding our feet onto the earth.
We certainly have some fluffier transits going on at the moment: Jupiter in Pisces and both Mercury and Venus squaring off with Neptune, imbibing us with a hopeful eagerness to reclaim our lives. And this time, it’s going to be so dang magical! However, these aspects also create almost too many possibilities and it can be a tad overhwhelming, tbh. Saturn is here to ground us, to offer some clarity, reason and brutal honesty. This is a fab opportunity to bust out the drawing board and weigh out your options.
If you are feeling low, blah, blue, or even depressed, I know it’s not easy. My advice would be to try to lean into it and dissect where these feelings are coming from. Saturn might have an important message for you. But also know that it’s just ok to have days where we’re not on the up.
Saturn stationing in Aquarius will also highlight the themes of social distancing and masking and safety regulations in social settings. The mandates may have lifted on the day Jupiter entered Pisces, but Saturn in Aquarius (ever so slightly stronger) could have some sort of clapback now.
Lastly, Saturn’s station will activate the Saturn/Uranus square once more - either highlighting faults in the system with absolute clarity - or - its a plea from the current/old order with a counteroffer for why certain things should remain concrete. Psst - don’t worry. Change is inevitable! This is just part of the process.
Lunar Eclipse, 5/26/21, 5°26’ Sagittarius
Jupiter in Pisces rules over this lunar eclipse. With such a magical and abundant reputation hinged to Jupiter in domicile, it’s only natural to have high hopes for this eclipse. However, I must caution that eclipses are usually not smooth and blissful. On the contrary, eclipses are striking, chaotic and are potent enough to make us feel like we’re pawns on a giant Harry Potter chess board.
This is a south node eclipse, which can highlight loss, purging and a diminishment of energy. I think it’s important to remember that these are double-bodied signs. We can be both blissed out and overhwhelmed with so much change. We are letting go of A LOT right now, in terms of our beliefs, our world view and what we were once prescribed as absolute truth as taught by our teachers, mass media and the general collective litmus.
Jupiter in Pisces is sending us all on a journey to re-discover meaning and connection in our lives. After a collective crisis of values, we naturally have an eagerness to get back out there and reclaim the magic of being alive. However, with Jupiter square the eclipsed luminaries, it’s quite possible that we could bite off more than we can chew. Mercury and Venus square off with Neptune hypnotizing us with dreamy possibilities — but also significantly diffusing our focus. Meanwhile, both Mercury and Saturn are stationary, reminding us to slow down. It’s as if we are rushing forward, in attempts to return to “normal,” when normal does not even exist anymore. We have been through a collective trauma. A common misconveption of healing is that if we do enough work on ourselves, we too can go back to normal. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works most of the time. After a year of minimizing our engagements, it could be overwhelming to jump back in. What is it that you need to let go of? Which bricks don’t belong in your new world? Remind yourself that you have plenty of time to rebuild and maintain plenty of space for yourself to remain soulful, wonderous and receptive.
Venus square Neptune, 5/27
@cnikarts via Instagram
Venus is moving fast and eager to reconnect! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing to you about their conjunction! If you’ve been aggressively single for the past year or more, this aspect is one that will invite you to put yourself out there again. Neptune dissolves and opens, creating more possibilities for connection, love and magic. The only caution with this aspect is that we can fall in love with possibility - and I say, why not? Let it happen.
Venus in Gemini doesn’t want to overcommit to one flavor and miss out on the rest. This shade of wild abandon tells of a love that knows no bounds, but maybe it feels like you want to give your love a whole lot of places right now. Generosity, playfulness and flirtation are at an all-time high. Remeber that you too are hella desirable and beyond worthy of connection.
Mercury retrograde, 5/29 - 6/22
Mercury stations retrograde at 24°41 Gemini on 5/29 and will retrograde back to 16°06’ Gemini, stationing direct on 6/22. Overall, this means that Mercury will spend 2 entire months in the Gemini area of our chart, placing particular emphasis on these 8 degrees of Gemini. Gemini has been getting a TON of action over the past year. Between eclipses, Venus’ retrograde last May and June, and now Mercury’s retrograde, this area of life is under total renovation. This particular Mercury retrograde should be especially revealing, with Mercury’s cazimi (a highly clarifying midpoint of Mercury retrograde occuring mere hours after a solar eclipse. Whatever this Mercury regrograde reframes for us is going to be a very big deal, potentially integrating many of the questions raised last May when eclipses in Gemini began. If you remember, last May represented the George Floyd protests and the end of quarantine.
Remember to back up your phones, double check emails and don’t assume anything - double check that you’re on the same page as the other person! Also, remember that you don’t have to put your entire life on hold for Mercury. Just remain grounded, try not to make sweeping impulsive decisions on a whim and do your research! Retrogrades are invitations to rethink and redo. How can we make such adjustments when we are “supposed” to?