A solar eclipse intensifies the energy of beginnings activated by the New Moon. This lunation, in the first degree of Scorpio, sign of power, opens major window of change that will help the year’s end be the best season of 2014.
Its ruler, Pluto, has been a central player of the year’s tensions, thanks to a long-term square from uppity Uranus in Aries. In mutual reception with Saturn in Scorpio, Pluto has been helping us restructure our relationship with power, mostly power as projected onto certain figures who dominate the world scene, as well as circumstances and people that seem to control our lives. But power is actually a characteristic of the divine, one which we all share.
Whereas the Lunar Eclipse of October 8 activated the Dragon’s Tail, closing doors on the past, the present lunation conjuncts the Dragon’s Head, considered fortunate and opening the way for something new. It’s a key link in the return of the Sacred Feminine, initiated in 2012, when the Solstice Sun was symbolically reborn in the birth channel of our galaxy, as predicted by the Mayan thousands of years ago. For women—and receptive men (like those who read Daykeeper Journal)—it can open the way for living our deepest potential.
Scorpio is the sign of the witch, whose fierce goddess energy frightened the patriarchy in medieval Europe (and at one time or another in most of the world), causing women and their once honored powers to be suppressed. This isn’t to say that men don’t have some of the intensely transformative, magnetic energy associated with this sign, but its most ancient and strongest archetype is the female shaman. We think of witch-hunts as a thing of the past. Actually, they still take place, burnings and all, in some isolated parts of the world. There is also a subtler kind of hunt, in the form of social programming and inner voices, that makes us feel helpless or unworthy of power.
Goddesses are riding this Eclipse. Venus activates the love energy behind true empowerment, and Pallas Athena invites us to use our strategic skills to project the change we desire. Moon also trines Neptune as it transits Pisces, sign of its rule and of the Great Mother, throughout the current year and beyond. If you are or would like to be a teacher, healer or spiritual growth facilitator, this eclipse will empower and especially open that path.
What does empowerment mean to you? Is it the strength to focus on your spiritual awareness? The faith and confidence to live your potential? To love yourself and overcome deep feelings of unworthiness? To be free from a constant sense of fear? To stop waiting for someone or something to help you, and strike out on your own? Whatever it may be, the forces of the dark goddess are with you and will respond to your invocation.
Altar-ations
On your altar or prayer space, have:
- A gold candle or candles
- Cinnamon or sage incense
- Flowers in shades of purple, orange and yellow
- An image of a phoenix, an eagle and/or spiritual helpers related to this eclipse. Choose from or combine: a woman shaman, fierce goddesses such as Kali, Shekmet, Simhamuka or Durga, changeful goddesses such as Persephone or Sarasvati, or Archangels and their twin flames Michael and Faith, Zadquiel and Amethyst.
- Natural symbols of autumn change: a pumpkin, cranberries, stick cinnamon
- Minerals: black onyx, obsidian, bloodstone, amethyst, opal
- Two sheets of paper for each participant, one purple and another yellow
The Ceremony
1) Light your incense, as you say,
This is an offering for (name of preferred spiritual helper), whose presence I now visualize and bless; and whose assistance I invoke, so that may trust, accept and express the force within me and live in a way that empowers myself and others.
2) Light your candle, as you say,
The rich and powerful light of Spirit now awakens in my being, and I let it shine.
3) Repeat the following affirmation during 5 minutes or more:
I am made in the image and likeness of divine power, and I invite this essence to express in me, through me and as me.
4) On the sheet of purple paper, make a list of ways in which you project or undermine your own power, and ways you allow situations, people or circumstances to keep you down. 5) In big letters, write over your list:
“Transmuted by the angels of change.”
6) Light your sheet in the candle flame and watch it burn as you say continually:
Just as this paper and these ideas are disintegrated by fire and disappear, any blocks or resistance to my empowerment, in my own mind or in the mind of others, are now undone.
7) On the yellow sheet of paper, describe what being empowered feels like and means to you, including activities, achievements and experiences that you find empowering.
8) Seal your prayers by repeating:
My clarity of intent and the help of positive spiritual forces have unleashed my consolidated empowerment, which is manifesting now. With love and compassion, I accept my power and bless the power in all others, which is also increased by my attention to it now.
Continue studying your empowerment list and repeating the last affirmation daily during seven minutes or more, from now at least until the coming Full Moon in Taurus (November 6). Remember, the power of your intention has been increased by the present eclipse. Watch for the doors that will open, and complete your empowerment ritual by walking through them.
References & Resources
Morrison, Dorothy, The Craft – A Witch’s Book of Shadows
Campbell, Joseph, Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine (Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)
Eisler, Rianne, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future—Updated With a New Epilogue
Pomeroy, Crystal, Daily Success Guide (Daykeeper Journal, October 2014)
Pomeroy, Crystal, Year of the Spiritual Warrior (Daykeeper Journal, January 2014)
Rose, Sharon, The Path of the Priestess: A Guidebook for Awakening the Divine Feminine
Teal, Celeste, Eclipses: Predicting World Events & Personal Transformation (Special Topics in Astrology Series)
Trobe, Kala, Invoke the Goddess: Visualizations of Hindu, Greek & Egyptian Deities
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thank you for each if these observances for the lunar and solar eclipses for Oct 2014
. I have done both and have benefitted.
Now I am free to love powerfully and freed from fears of ridicule and betrayal stemming from my past. I now know
that love and power cannot be separated without becoming inviting powerfil hatred. And weak love. It’s been a wondrrful adventure. Thank you!
Sally