We’ve already been swimming through (Taurus lunar) eclipse energy for some months

It comes on gently. A slowly rising ripple, the curve of a swell. This week, it breaks as the lunar eclipse hits at 27º of Taurus: The first in this zodiac sign for 17 years!

Eclipses bring change that usually feels unexpected.

Jolting shifts.

Surprising shakes.

Revelations that set you on an entirely new path to the one you began that morning… BUT the signs are always there, if you knew what to look for. It’s just that most people don’t – slipping into a soft acceptance of lives that feel okay (“things could be a lot worse!”) but are actually straying further and further from the greatness they could (and should) be.

Astrologically, eclipse season occurs when the Sun moves within 18º of the Moon’s nodes. With the Moon just 4 degrees away at the time of Friday’s lunar eclipse in Taurus, we’ve been here in this window for a few weeks now. Behind the veil, preparations have been afoot.

Friday’s lunar eclipse in Taurus could bring seismic shifts

As a fixed earth sign, Taurus brings that slow, steady, grounded energy to the zodiac. The medicine of the sign of the Bull is strong, stable, considered, and devotional. It roots in, commits to a path, and stays the course. If you know anyone with this gorgeous energy in their astrology chart, you’ll recognize their faithful, dependable air (and their reluctance to make radical U-turns in a hurry!)

This grounded Taurus energy is the bedrock for our eclipse this week

…This devoted, dutiful sign (and archetypal energy) that doesn’t like change!

…That doesn’t especially love fast and vigorous transitions from one state into another! Hold onto your hat, my friend. This could be a rocky ride…

To our great benefit, la Luna is exalted in Taurus.

This means of the entire zodiac, Aries to Pisces She expresses her highest qualities most easily here, in Taurus. And this means that, in turn, our highest lunar qualities are also expressed more easily under this Moon.
↠ Receptivity
↠ Intuition
↠ Femininity (in the actual sacred feminine sense, not the manufactured, cliché and marketing-driven way. Men have innate femininity too).
↠ Magnetism
↠ Embodiment

(for example…these are just a sprinkling of the qualities the Moon mirrors for us). AND these are all innate qualities that will help us all roll with the punches of this eclipse season AND come out on top.

Because here’s the thing with eclipses – they don’t just swirl up the cosmic cauldron and leave us for dust. Eclipses are radical course correctors. They pick us neatly up from where we’ve strayed on our paths, and put us back down where we need to be. Further along.
This is why eclipses can so often feel like they bring harsh and dissonant events into our lives. When the truth is, eclipses bring US to the places we need to be, but have not quite made it to yet.

↠ Situations that show us our edges (so we can gradually expand them)

↠ Circumstances that ask us to step up (so we become who we’re capable of)

↠ Phases in our stories that we’ve been avoiding (so we move UP onto a new spiral of evolution)

↠ Events that demand rapid growth (so we stop opting out of the inevitable)

Eclipses (like all astrological opportunities) move us in the direction of ascension and conscious increase! So if any of what you are facing this week feels like it’s pushing you backward, realise that it’s not.

Pause.
Shift your gaze.
Find a new perspective.
Look again.

Lunar Eclipses v Solar Eclipses

A solar eclipse (also referred to as a “new moon eclipse”) happens when Sun and Moon come together, meeting at the very same degree of a sign. (On Dec 4th, we’ll see a solar eclipse in Sagittarius. This happens to be the last eclipse on the Gemini-Sagittarius axis).
As la Luna skirts in front of the Sun, its light is temporarily veiled and instead of ordinary daylight, a kind of eerie twilight descends over Earth as only the Sun’s corona is visible in the sky.

A lunar eclipse always happens at Full Moon, when Sun and Moon are opposing (180º apart). As the Earth moves between Sun and Moon – as she does this week – Earth’s shadow is cast over the surface of the full Moon and She turns a deep reddish-brown. This explains why people describe lunar eclipses as Blood Moons.

This week we will literally SEE our collective shadow, cast over the surface of the Moon

All full Moons tend to be emotional.

Like the water of the world’s oceans, they bring upswells of feeling, especially latent emotion that you’ve been resisting ACTUALLY feeling.

With the Sun in deep, murky, shadow-diving Scorpio right now, the intensity of this Full Moon / Lunar eclipse in Taurus means that we’re all likely to really feel the emergence of these latent emotions.

Especially the undesirable ones…

If you’ve already been feeling your own shadows rise – and as we enter this season of shadow (between Samhain and Midwinter on December 21st) it’s a collective theme – this Taurus lunar eclipse will amplify that.

This IS a gift and an opportunity!

Even though facing your ‘darker’ aspects can be a daunting prospect, it’s THE pathway to wholeness. And Taurus really wants us to know pleasure, comfort, and real, genuine wholeness. It wants us to unify and expand ourselves in the present moment.

But.
It may be tempting to take a shortcut.
To seek out an overload of sensory pleasure and stimulation – to fill up on junk food, numb-ly surf the internet, scroll social media or pour another glass of wine… Taurus loves to feel good. Yet if feeling good is a distraction, then the genuine wholeness this sign craves (and this eclipse is urging you towards) will remain elusive.

Seek your shadow, yes. But beware the masquerading shadow of Taurus

**The shadow contains the parts of yourself that you have, over time, denied, disowned, and rejected. Shadow fragments are aspects or qualities that belong to you, but that you’ve pushed into an unconscious place, where they have all but disappeared from your daily expression. Except when you express unconsciously.. which is actually a lot of this time!! So when shadows DO rise, and you’re suddenly acting or feeling in a way that you don’t recognise, or that you dislike, it’s normal, habitual to mask your awareness and claim over these parts of ourselves, by seeking comfort.

Hello, Taurus energy!

What feels good, may not be helping.

So be wise over this lunar eclipse in Taurus! Try to analyse the nature (and source of the desire) of the comforts you’re seeking.

Slow down.

Journal.

Drop into your heart and perceive yourself from there.

You can also HEAD HERE for a free guided shadow work journey

There is nothing wrong (and so much right!) with pleasure-seeking, but because the eclipse portal we’re ALL moving through is such a delicate balance of light and dark, both polarities are emerging through us. The work is to see these for what they are.

Since I began my lunar tracking and Moon medicine work, I’ve devised a toolbox of methods for getting through these eclipse times with the most grace and least friction. Here is a selection of tips and tricks to not just survive but THRIVE through the Taurus Full Moon / Lunar eclipse!

1. Release any resistance you have to change

Many of our ancestors did, it’s believed, fear eclipses. And like so much, this fear lives on in our bones. But it doesn’t need to!

Realize that whatever the surface appearance is, the changes wrung in by eclipse season are only ever in your highest good. It’s actually (again, like SO much!) the resistance that causes problems! So try to release your resistance to unexpected events, and surrender to the ebb and flow of the cycles of time and evolution. THAT is what’s happening.

2. Trust what the lunar eclipse in Taurus is unfolding

Eclipses are course-correctors. They may feel like total wild cards and full of trickster energy, but they’re actually more remedial in nature.

If you’re being uprooted from one situation, it’s so that you can be re-planted into another, that’s much more aligned with what you need.

The shifts occurring under eclipse energy usually only feel like total dislocation, because you’re so adamant about following the direction you’re facing. YET the clues, signposts, and guidance from Spirit have been there for months… you just weren’t looking!

3. Respond, don’t React

As amplified Full Moons, lunar eclipses bring illumination.

YET, even though a lot of new information tends to rise into the light of consciousness during eclipse season, it’s still unwise to act on it straight away.

So if you open a miss-sent text to discover infidelity, or find evidence of a sneaky deal happening behind your back at work, try NOT to jump to conclusions.

Find out if there’s another missing piece of the puzzle.

See what else needs to be revealed.

Try not to react to the first inkling of truth – there may still be wires that need uncrossing first.

4. Avoid manifestation rituals!

Full Moon and New Moon rituals are fun. Effective. Points of connection.

Taurus is a sign of pure abundance so it may feel like a waste NOT to harness the power of the lunar eclipse in Taurus!

But the energy of eclipses tends to be too erratic to direct cleanly.

This means that your intentions can be skewed, your willpower scattered. PLUS, there are so many unknowns being revealed under eclipse energy that it’s usually much wiser to let the dust settle before anchoring yourself onto one single desired outcome.

5. Invite integration

The ripple effects of eclipses can last for 6 months after the season itself comes to an end.

This means that any changes being ushered in now are unlikely to truly settle for many months. This is okay… it’s actually time we all need to integrate and BECOME the versions of ourselves we’re being invited to step up and be.

Expect your life to re-shape and re-form itself over this time. Allow it to. It’s safe for things to NOT be the same as they were before.

6. See yourself with honest eyes

You can’t hide during eclipse season. And you certainly can’t hide from yourself!

So look honestly at the shadow aspects of yourself that rise.

Sit with your anger, your frustration, your fear, panic, and anxiety. What are these emotions trying to tell you? Trace them back to their root and see what lies there – what healing are you being called to do?

7. BE in Nature during the Taurus lunar eclipse

As much as we try to rationalise the erratic energy of eclipse season, it can take its toll on the nervous system.

It’s no surprise that THE best way to stabilize and soothe your entire system is to spend time out in nature. Harmonizing and re-calibrating your own body’s frequency with the Great Mother is a GOOD thing. Communing with the Earth (especially under a Taurus Moon!) will also help you to more easily tune into the subtle changes being presented to you.

8. Unplug

Yes. Spend less time on social media. Turn off the chattering radio. Close the newspaper. Resist the temptation to fill the gaps in your day with digital media and instead tune in to the spectrum of yourself: The eternal you, the earthly you, the present you.

How are you feeling, right now? 

Sending you so many eclipse blessings!

Kat

 

P.S.

The last time we witnessed a lunar eclipse in Taurus was 17 years ago! Often they bring back energetic patterns of growth that echo through space and time… what were YOU going through in November 2004?

Do you feel a resonance with what’s happening for you now? Let me know in the comments…