Lunar Eclipse Astro-tarot; doing the work

The lunar eclipse in Capricorn on Sunday 5th July highlights the ongoing balance between the need to keep material structures in place and the need to focus on caring for others. Time spent in lockdown, in seclusion, may have shifted our thinking and our priorities, reminded us of the importance of spending time with loved ones, of community and connection. These strange times have brought all kinds of restructuring, conscious or otherwise, chosen or otherwise. This lunar eclipse is the last in the current series and might bring manifestations and tangible changes which have been building for a while. The synchronicity with the next phase of lockdown easing in England at least is unavoidable.

Even the playground has extra boundaries right now

On June 30th Jupiter met Pluto in Capricorn for the second time so we have extra intense Capricorn energy around this week. The first was on April 5th, at the height of lockdown here in the UK and I wrote about it here. Ideally, the second pass of a transit is when we are gaining some awareness of the symbolism and how it's manifesting for us, allowing us to make better use of it and seek positive change. Now, of course, the planets in involved are retrograde, as is their ruling planet Saturn which has just moved back into Capricorn as well. The energy is slow and inwardly focused, and yet here in England at least lockdown is easing, businesses are reopening are people are beginning to move back out into the world. Capricorn energy asks us to be sensible, to take responsibility, but we are already seeing that many people simply aren't doing that. It may be through necessity, of course, the need to keep a job and provide for ourselves, which in itself shows where transformation needs to happen. The economy is all-important here, at least for the powers that be, along with the need to get back to "normal". But normal wasn't working for so many people. there's an opportunity (Jupiter) here to truly transform the way society works (Capricorn) and how we build security, material and otherwise. That's the Cancer Capricorn axis again.

More than ever, folks are challenging "that's just the way it is", pushing against hierarchies which have been around the centuries in one form or another. The lunar eclipse in Capricorn is another flashpoint for these changes, with the potential for established powers to push back still further, desperate to hold on to what they have. The restrictions and limits under which many have been living are being torn down, built up even more strongly, even overturned altogether. We have layers and layers of limits at work right now - so many more people becoming aware of systemic racism and other ingrained behaviours as well as the more everyday level of literal limits on where we can go and what we can do. On a personal level, the lunar eclipse calls us to check in with our own boundaries, to make adjustments if they've become too rigid or are no longer needed. Saturn, the Lord of Time, rules this eclipse and brings an awareness of ideas whose time has come, even acting as a tipping point for changing traditions which have long held us back. "That's the way it's always been" is no longer acceptable,  tradition needs to have meaning, respect needs to be earned. Saturn allows us to gain mastery, to bring personal and collective changes into manifestation. So the question becomes, have the lessons been learned?

Not surprisingly, the tarot wisdom reading for this eclipse is pretty intense;

Moon in Capricorn - where and how are we restructuring? - Justice

The Motherpeace Justice card shows the three Fates, the Norns who weave and stitch and cut the threads of our fate. This eclipse brings an opportunity to shift the fate of the world, to right some wrongs and correct some injustices. I hope this process is already happening but there is so much more to be done. This card brings a sense of everything happening in its own time, Saturn as Lord of Fate as well as Lord of Time. New threads are being woven, others re-woven, others are being cut. We are more aware than usual of the tensions in the web of wyrd, the web of life.

Sun in Cancer - what are we nourishing? - the World

I love this - we are nourishing the whole World. The all, the everything, the dance of life and the wholeness of all beings. This card feels like such an ideal right now, a potential which we desperately need to fulfil. All of those beings linked together, supporting each other, embracing each other in their differences and similarities. We all nourish each other, as long as we are willing to give as well as to take. Each of us is a valid and important part of the greater whole and we nourish that whole simply by being ourselves.

Jupiter conjunct Pluto - how can embracing our shadow allow us to grow? - Seven of Swords

But then we are brought into the everyday, the ways the big Major Arcana energies are showing up right now - as fear, deception, cunning. Are we predator or are we prey? There are so many unknowns right now, an invisible virus which might take our lives or those of our loved ones, confusion and manipulation in the way the virus is being managed. This card reminds us that we are responsible for our own safety, that we can't be complacent because we never know what's lurking just beyond our boundaries. Assuming that we are safe is not, well, safe. We can take nothing for granted right now and need to stay tuned in, allowing our deeper selves to speak as well as our conscious minds. Embracing our shadow means facing up to the ways we've been deceiving ourselves, bringing them out into the open.