1:34pm EST on Friday May 5th... 14.58° Taurus/Scorpio... with Uranus on the Sun... closing the eclipse gate, until we meet again in the fall.
Ah, eclipse time. So many changes and abrupt reality shifts can happen when we dance in the dragon's mouth of karmic reckoning.
And... I'll just call it. I have not enjoyed this eclipse gate. My life feels like it fell apart. I'm mad. Madness. Maddening. Made. Me.
It's hard when things suddenly change, outside the plan the ego had in store... how does one adapt to something new, when the heart had imprinted itself into a shape that felt right? What shape can the heart return to, after the old dream is gone???
The shape of emptiness.
Alan Oken used to counsel me that when one form dies we must destroy it and return to emptiness (Scorpio) before building anew (Taurus).
So today... at this Scorpio Eclipse on the Karmic South Node... perhaps we are destroying something that is ready to die. A pattern, a habit, a way of being, a security, an attachment.
And perhaps we are returning to emptiness.... to create a space for something new.
This is a quote that I find particularly descriptive of Scorpio's delicate dance of alchemy:
“Only if we venture repeatedly through zones of annihilation can our contact with Divine Being, which is beyond annihilation, become firm and stable. The more a man learns whole-heartedly to confront the world that threatens him with isolation, the more are the depths of the Ground of Being revealed and the possibilities of a new life and Becoming opened. "
–The Way of Transformation, Karlfried Graf von Durckheim
My dear mom is coming for a visit today, from a far flung city. I'm going to buoy on my misery and go spend some time with her.
And I'll be fine. For ‘LIFE IS A FORGE’... says Taurus/Scorpio.
Hephaestus, so mythologically descriptive of this archetypal axis, learned this secret.
Created by Hera through parthenogenesis (when a child is created without copulation) in an act of spite against her husband Zeus, poor Hephaestus was born a shriven, ugly and shrunken demi-God. Hera cast him out of Olympus in disgust, clearly a terrible act of betrayal to her progeny. (To me her rejection speaks of the way the toxic feminine rejects the masculine, holds it in disgust, refusing to love it for its perfection and wholeness… warts and all. Yes, ladies, we are guilty of this.).
Bitter from his mother’s rejection, Hephaestus grew obsessed with a demonic need for revenge on the feminine. After using his wily creative powers to trap and humiliate his mother, the Queen of Heaven herself, Hephaestus ‘saw the light’ after Dionysus had the brilliant insight to get him a bit drunk on the fruits of the vine. Once intoxicated, Hephaestus was able to break the ‘form’ of his obsession… and see more clearly the places he’d been stuck. He ‘saw’ the darkness in his heart, and understood he was creating it and perpetuating it through fixating on rage and revenge.
Liberated from his vengeful nightmare, Hephaestus freed his mother and put his genius creativity to HIGHER use, forging brilliant weapons for the Gods of Olympus. (To me this symbolizes how when a man accepts the feminine and forgives her, he taps into creative power… and becomes his greatest self).
As reward for this priceless contribution, Zeus offered him the highest prize - Aphrodite as his wife (albeit a feckless one… but what would the Greek Pantheon be without a little drama?).
So… Hephaestus learned a valuable lesson… that dancing with darkness only gets you so far. And that it is the UNION of masculine and feminine that begets genius, not separation.
So better to stop using weapons against yourself… and each other… and use natural passion to create treasures that empower the world instead.
For as low as you go, that's as high as you may rise.
Your choice.
Here is a rather mournful song that feels like this day to me... have a listen. This artist speaks of the past, of the longing for what was, and about RAISING A GLASS OR TWO to all the things we leave behind.
Lost on You: https://youtu.be/hn3wJ1_1Zsg
All my love to you,
Sara
Artwork:
1. Unknown, from Deviant Art
2. Transformation #3, 2022; Liubou Sas
3. Parable Visions, Cameron Gray