April's 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse (Pt. 1: The Map and Basics)

 Eclipse map for the 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse of April 29, 2014
(generated by Solar Fire software/v.8 - recolored for posting purposes)

Above is the solar eclipse map for the April 2014 solar eclipse at 8 Taurus. It's a particularly interesting map as this eclipse path at its western (longitudinal) end stripes through western Russia, with the east end (marking the end of the eclipse path) being off the coast of New Guinea, effectively embracing some of our world's most heartfelt points of human contention...which is to say our contention with being human...in current play.

But it's not just what's going on there - which is to say, not just about what 'those' people are doing or experiencing. The astrological solar eclipse isn't just about what we do or don't do this month or even this year.

It's about everything which could be going on in each one of us which could cause us to do or not do things...which cause us to react to things as we do.

As solar eclipses rolls through we all witness things going on and feel things in our core and - in astrological terms - we react to what we feel in terms of where the eclipse is located not in some other chart, but in ours. In an ever-shifting pattern eclipses range from top to bottom in and around our world, giving us metaphysical images which are as much about where we will 'draw' from in reflecting on our own lives as anything else.

And yes - sometimes each one of us ends up on stage.

When that is for you would be read from your individual chart (alas, some things cannot be done through a blog...) but there are some general effects, the most important of which is that eclipses effects start several months prior to any given solar eclipse (of which we get at least two a year here on Earth).

And after the eclipse, effects evolve over a period of around three years.

Lore also says eclipses are seldom 'about' what they appear to be in the moment whether events are painful or delightful or anything else - they are about what this moment will cause/force/inspire us to fall back on because whatever that thing is, it's harder to do (or be) than what we have 'settled' for in the moment.

(For the record, I totally agree here. I also think this concept is exactly what makes solar eclipse periods so hard to deal with. We always think it's about something which is so very much not the eventual revelation.)

Apparently life as life applies to Earth doesn't like to settle when it comes to human beings...a concept which suggests that as a race we're precious. (Or rather precious, which is how we act from time to time, yes.)

The length of time it takes for any of us to move out of, or let go of whatever notion we have come into this time thinking (or clinging to) varies. However there is one more universal, that being the idea that about 6-8 months prior to the end of eclipse effects (which would be around the end of 2016/beginning of 2017) something which could not have happened...or mattered...will appear.

And that means that while this April 2014 eclipse certainly has its own essence, things which happen now may also have to do with the "twist" which develops as part of a different eclipse - that of November 2011 with the Sun and Moon at 2 Sagittarius. So...particularly if something started (or you initiated some major change) during late 2011, take a look at your chart to see if you have any planet, dwarf planet, node or axis point positioned between...

- 27 Scorpio and 7 Sagittarius (the conjunction)
- 27 Taurus and 7 Gemini (the opposition)
- 27 Aquarius and 7 Pisces (the departing square)
- 27 Leo and 7 Virgo (the approaching square)

If you do, its particularly apt to feel an emotional 'cross current' in your life at this time. Whatever happens now is being brought out by evolving (or new) circumstances, yes. But either on its own or when combined with whatever is discovered by pausing to understand what in you is causing turmoil...some part of that is likely to become part of your motivation to go on from here with more finely honed aims and priorities. 

Whether or not the 2011 eclipse was focal, today's positives and negatives pertain first and most of all to questions of personal growth - which makes perfect sense when we consider the whole of life's process. If, as entities in this world and of this life we won't 'do' or change or let go, life tends to come at us from other angles before moving on. Maybe we'll change, maybe we'll resist again and again.

When that happens life moves on, finding a more receptive funnel for its energetics. Life provides undifferentiated energy to which we apply the conscious sensibility we exist as in, and as an entity of this world.

Our choices...good or bad, productive or destructive are what they are just as there is no good or bad in the eclipse process except at our most human and mortal level.

You know, when eclipses time the end of things we love and cherish.

Sometimes it's just time. We have to let go.

That's just the way life is.

Whether any eclipse factor (solar or lunar) takes the form of a person, event, idea, situation or anything else is unique to each one of us.

And we can count on a good deal of it flowing at some level for this moment from the realms pictured above in the map, manifesting in person thusly simply because energy flows through and is human life, history and planetary as well as universal existence.
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News Brief: Spies coming of (Aquarian) Age

Pisces Zodiac sign - Chartres Cathedral, France

If you were alive, breathing and listening to anything besides voices in your head during the 1960's, you heard a song called Age of Aquarius from a musical called "Hair." (And yes, if you know the song, it's now going to be in your head all day.)

That song was about something real - a real event; we are moving from the Age of Pisces (as above) into the Age of Aquarius, aka the Aquarian Age.

The change won't be instant; astrological ages merge one into the other like the colors of a rainbow. And yet, if I said that Aquarius rules all things electronic...such as computers, TV and cell phones AND how it rules systems - particularly those based on other Aquarian precepts such as electronics...

Then you'd think Internet...networking sites...online shopping...and you'd go 'Oh...! So the Aquarius Age started to take hold, and computers and all this other stuff became part of life.' And you'd be absolu-ta-mente, proverbially, bull's eye right.

The whole Age thing is a giant, fascinating subject, but we won't get into it whole hog right now. Nor do we have to, as each astro-age lasts 2,160 years. (So we have time.)

The point is that each Age has it's own chart - the "coloration" of the Age through which everything we know of as Earthlings is well,....colored !

What this amounts to is how a slow but important focus shift is going on right now. And this recent nabbing of a bunch of Russian spies in the US of A pictures the whole thing rather well. 

In order to get how this works, here's the chart of Ye Olde (outgoing) Age of Pisces:

 And here's one for our spanky (almost brand) new Aquarian Age:

The name of an Age tells us what sign is on the Ascendant - the far left hand point of the horizontal axis line ("9 o'clock" if you will).

Each one of those 'pie shaped' pieces being called a 'house', we count and number them (always, always, always) in a counter-clockwise direction. So with Pisces on the Ascendant and coloring the 1st house in the Piscean Age, and Aquarius on the Ascendant and coloring the 1st house in the Aquarian Age, we count our way around the wheel.

The last house - the 12th house - is colored by Aquarius in the Pisces Age, and Capricorn in the Aquarian Age. 

With me?

Okay - so now we come to how this relates to the Russian spy thing. Espionage is a  12th house issue. Being a spy? Also a 12th house thing - each house describes traits, professions and the nature of various actions. In this case, anything 'behind the scenes' or done (even imagined) in a manner which is 'unseen' is 12th house.

Throughout the Age of Pisces, espionage has been about stealing information. And 'information' as a concept is a very Aquarian thing - hence the Aquarian Age being already known in the media as the 'Information Age.' 

And as the ages have "overlapped" we've sort of had a double dose of Aquarius - meaning spying has become about stealing technology. And the act of spying has  become highly electronic. All that fits with what we said about Aquarius coming in - that it's all about things techy, electronic, computerized and new-fangled.

But Aquarius doesn't stop there. Aquarius symbolizes a functional society which at one end is about fitting in, equality and universality, and which at the other is about rebellion, the anarchist and all those who feel they know 'better' when in reality what they know is simply what works for them. Or their interests.

Given this, what have spies been doing for lo, more than several past centuries? Their primary function has been to help find the (Aquarian) know-how/information so some group could overthrow some government or 'ruling cadre.'

And that's where the change is coming in. The spies so recently snatched up are part of the incoming (Aquarian/information Age) trend. They were looking for corporate information. They weren't aiming at besting a government - at least not directly. They were looking to get corporate research, trade secrets and the like.

Which leads us to the ultra-important thing to recognize about this incoming Aquarian Age: that it's about commerce. In the Age of Pisces, government ruled. The image of the two fish going in either direction tied by a golden cord is all about one body in charge, one being ruled.

But remember what we said about Aquarius - that it's about systems, universality and equality? Pisces supported the concept of the 'ruling cadre.' Aquarius levels the field, making the "classes" subservient to the system.

In time, government and its society will be equal. The corporate/commerce system will either be part of, or on a par with government. But here at the end of the Pisces Age we still have some of that Ruler-and-ruled vibe going on.

So at the moment, it's a struggle. In fact...since time only moves forward (at least in this dimension) those who rule commerce may currently be in a position to more or less rule government - at least in the short run.

It does explain a lot, doesn't it?