Sarah Varcas
Welcome to one of the most powerful months of 2015! With two eclipses, one occurring at a Super Moon, Mercury turning retrograde, Saturn entering Sagittarius, Pluto stationing direct in Capricorn and Venus completing its retrograde journey through Leo, there’s something for everyone and not a dull moment! Of course, if dull moments are what you crave, this month may be something of a challenge at times, unless you’re prepared to cast your preference to the wind and see what life has on the menu. You may just discover a taste for something you’d never tried before or a surprising appreciation of an unlikely circumstantial delicacy. Whilst ‘moderation in all things’ may be useful advice, there’s no harm in giving all things a go first, just to see what you would otherwise have missed!An opposition between Neptune and Jupiter and a sextile between Saturn and the North Node underpin September. Together they require committed realism alongside faithfulness to a higher vision. It’s a fine balance to be struck. There’s little point viewing life through rose tinted glasses which prevent us dealing with its necessary challenges, just as it is equally meaningless to become so overwhelmed by those challenges we give up the ghost and retreat into our own private world of fantasy or denial. Our presence upon this earth comes with power and responsibility and the current times of great change demand that we open our hearts and minds to the implications of both. Throughout the coming month we’ll be called upon to act responsibly and with great power. Discerning how to do so in honour of the greater good is key to our effectiveness.
Relationships feature strongly in September, with Venus conjunct Mars in Leo at the beginning of the month, Mercury retrograding in Libra and Venus turning direct on 6th. The first week of the month challenges us to combine love of self with love for others and find the highest expression of both. Expression being the operative word, for it’s one thing to profess love and quite another to demonstrate it! We need more than warm words for love to make the world go around. We need actions born of it, lifestyles centred around it, priorities reflecting it. And most of all we need to know what love is beyond the hearts and flowers of romance or the mutual accord of like minds. The common assumption that love must have an object upon which we pour its bounty diminishes this awesome force. As relational beings we primarily experience love in that way, but beyond this personalised love lies an infinite field of it from which we can draw, something we increasingly need to do in a world where love’s expression is often sorely lacking. September calls upon us to be love, in company or alone, in public or private: to know ourselves as an embracing and accepting force in the world, not a divisive and self-interested whirlwind of expectation and desire.
As Venus ends her retrograde phase in Leo on 6th September – during which we’ve had ample opportunity to recognise our unavoidable interdependence – we enter a new eclipse season: a time during which consequences of past actions catch up with us and progress (in any direction!) gathers pace. Eclipse seasons often come chock full of surprises and ‘well I didn’t see that coming!’ moments. Except we probably could have seen it coming if we’d been paying more attention! This one lasts until 12th October, during which time circumstances that need to shift will do so, and changes long overdue can take place whether we like it or not! But even the most ‘untimely’ events only happen when it’s their time – even if it’s not ours – and the best attitude in an eclipse season is one of openness and faith that whatever happens carries within it the seed of new beginnings, no matter how it feels at the time.
The 13th sees a solar eclipse in Virgo opposed by Chiron, which further emphasises the need for group rather than individual consciousness and highlights our role as the component parts of a greater move towards wholeness. This is a humble eclipse, bowing down to the natural forces which shape our world, recognising that these primal energies also flow through us. We do not stand apart from or above them, to manipulate as we see fit, but are instead animated by them, made alive by their very presence. Events around this time will remind us of our place in the order of things. Actions aligned with the greater cause of planetary evolution will be blessed by the prevailing energies. Those shaped to further our personal interests above those which serve planetary awakening may, however, struggle to gain a foothold. In all things the bigger picture is key, as is the humility of Virgo which affirms that a small role in the grand drama of collective awakening is a far greater blessing than a grand role in the mini drama of our tiny lives.
17th September sees Mercury turn retrograde in Libra, heralding a three week period for reflection on how we relate to the world around us. If the eclipse energies are unsettling us, Mercury reveals the underlying dynamics that may be fuelling this unrest. Are we being truthful with those closest to us, with ourselves, with the world at large? And if not, to what extent do we hide the truth and why? Everyone has a public and a private face which may differ, sometimes considerably, but if the difference is creating discord, stress and/or confusion we may need to narrow the gulf and own up to some truths previously avoided. Doing so before the end of October is important, when first Mars and then Venus further trigger issues raised by the solar eclipse, providing another opportunity to address them from a more open and engaged stand point.
Saturn enters Sagittarius on 18th September, where it remains until December 2017. It is time to give form to our longer term dreams, to manifest their presence as a reality not a ‘one day when everything else has fallen into place’ fantasy. The fact is everything won’t fall into place. Not all of it! Some bits will, others will take on a life of their own and do their own thing. It’s up to us to decide if we’re going to live life on hold or live it alive to the present moment making of it what we can. Saturn in Sagittarius teaches that we don’t need constant inspiration to act, boundless peace to focus, endless abundance to achieve our goals. All we need is us, awake and committed to bringing about change, prepared to stay the course and take the rough with the smooth. Saturn in Sagittarius gives us hope, but it’s practical hope, in ourselves and our ability to do what’s needed to manifest change, not hope in a miraculous shift that delivers our ideal life on a plate.
Saturn’s change of sign is supported by Pluto who turns direct in Capricorn on 25th. It’s been in this pragmatic and industrious sign for over six years now and we should be getting used to its remarkable power. Since turning retrograde in mid April it has recalibrated us to run on different fuel: that of life itself, not the fuel of emotions and inspiration or despair and angst. It has reminded us that we don’t need high drama to be committed to a cause nor spiritual highs to stay awake to the world. We can simply allow ourselves to be fuelled by the very essence of life itself: sometimes exciting sometimes still, sometimes sad sometimes inspiring, sometimes all we want and, at others, everything we feared. Pluto’s onward journey through Capricorn will reveal to us the profoundly creative power inherent in simply living and living simply: walking lightly on the earth whilst in deep communion with it. We don’t need to make a big song and dance about awakening, turning a natural evolution into a rigid identity. The universe just needs us alive and awake, ready to act when needed, wait when not and resonating with the ebb and flow its natural cycles, not striving to shape them to our own design, assuming we know better!
A lunar eclipse in Aries on 28th September coincides with a Super Moon, creating a formidable force for inner change which may catch us unawares if we let it! This eclipse raises the question of how our relationship with ourself impacts our relationships with others. This is a highly subjective moon, its light eclipsed by personal opinion and the power of our own psyche which seeks first to confirm its view of the world. We have a choice now: to believe what our conditioned mind tells us or to expand beyond it and discover new perspectives. A willingness to do the latter will allow for deeper communion with others as well as ourselves and a greater appreciation of just how influential we can be even, and perhaps especially, when we don’t realise it! The power of this eclipse may unleash a new vision for us, a realisation of potential not previously perceived. Or it may solidify an egocentric world view that simply serves to block progress in the months to come. Awareness now is key, and a willingness to sacrifice those things which serve only an egoic need for power and importance, without ever aligning us with the deeper cause of awakening.
As the month comes to a close we may feel liberated or restricted, or both in equal measure! The freedom available if we allow events of this month to act upon us is matched in force only by the extent of our clinging to what we believe we can’t live without. If we end this month hanging on for dear life to an imagined future slipping nonetheless from our grasp, we simply need to let go and be done with it. There is no time for long and lingering goodbyes or deadening compromise that quells our fear but denies our fulfilment. The universe has spoken and its word has power. As do we when we align ourselves with its unfolding and become the very thing we fear: unbridled change and unknown potential. Only by becoming life can we truly live it, filled with its vitality and irrepressible power. Only by stepping out of it do we stultify our energy and prevent our potential from ever being born.