“Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all.” Master Yoda, The Last Jedi.
[types furiously like an asto-Carrie Bradshaw] Aaaand just like that...it’s eclipse season.
Again! Dear God wasn’t it only last week that we had the last lot? And what have we learned from them? Probably nothing, lol but regardless, let’s gird our loins and gear up for the next batch.
This week is a catch up on events post eclipse, it’s a little bit after the fact but hey, it never did Susan Miller any harm! :/
South Node Eclipse - Let it go!
I knew something was up when I heard an almighty crash reverberate through the house the other day and saw that a framed graphic print of the peerless spiritual guru Master Yoda, had come crashing down from the dining room wall.
I’m moving house in the next few weeks, from the place I’ve called home for eleven years, and where my little boy grew into a young man. I’m moving somewhere not too far away geographically, but light years away symbolically, into the new and foreign territory of what will be an empty nest, at least part of the year, this coming academic term.
This is just of one of many profound changes on the cards for me this relentless runaway Fire Horse year. You are likely experiencing something similar.
But as Yoda might say, ‘eclipse season it is, so deal with it we must.’
About that eclipse
Since the lunar nodes moved into Leo (South node) and Aquarius (North node) at the end of July, it was only a matter of time till we hit eclipse season and the choice points and crunch moments which bookend this brand new axis of change.
Leo (the King, ruler, heart and autocrat) vs. Aquarius (the common man, the collective, the higher mind, and the revolutionary) is always going to be a fun match card.
And while last week’s eclipse was the main event, this series of eclipses over the next 18 months highlight a deeper truth for us to consider.
A quick primer for those unfamiliar, if you want to see the areas of your life which will transform in the next year and a half, check your birth chart here and note the Leo and Aquarius houses, then check the house numbers against this list.
The stuff in your Leo house will need to be released and let go.
Conversely your Aquarius house points towards the direction in which you are heading.
Now – I’ll admit this is somewhat of an oversimplification, the truth of the Nodes is always more complex, and many astrologers advise more of an integrated approach between these two polar opposites. But it’s a useful prompt and thought-starter, so let’s take it and run with it for now.
What in the world?
In Mundane astrology, we know by now that the solar eclipse means the death or deposition of a King. And in this era of Kings we didn’t ask for (or did ask for then regretted it), it is quite fun to speculate which one of the b***ards might be up for the old heave ho.
This subject has been covered in the usual peerless and forensic detail by astrologers Lori Lothian and Dan Waites so if you want to find out more about what’s in store particularly the Middle East and Eastern Europe treat yourself to these videos.
Another eclipse analysis tool is to look at places in the path of totality (where the eclipse is 100% total) and that was Spain, Iceland and Greenland.
Spain has been the centre of much controversy lately with the Ceuta incident, and an earthquake in the south of the country today (18th August). Iceland has also been going viral thanks to its understandable resistance to the likes of Rabbi Schmuley and the Kushners. Likewise the pristine wilderness of Greenland issued a ‘strong warning’ last week to those would have it less pristine and less...well… wildery.
It seems likely that President Trump will pay no heed to the warning and intends to ‘drill baby drill’ so what next? This eclipse window will no doubt crystallise the possibilities.
When a tree falls in the Forrest
Instead of the Leo eclipse’s impact on world events, I wanted instead to focus on a dethroning closer to home. Well closer to the world of astrology at least.
I found it timely that the star-bothering community has been undergoing its own King-slaying via the cancellation of Steven Forrest.
Forrest, the author of a host of astro-bestsellers ‘The Inner Sky' and more recently ‘The Book of Pluto’ is one of the pioneers and leading lights of Evolutionary Astrology – a system of thought that blends psychological inquiry with spiritual concepts of karma, reincarnation and one’s astrological chart as a map of the soul’s evolutionary path through lifetimes.
If you haven’t read about ‘That Incident’ yet then I can save you the trouble. Older man displaying a lack of awareness or sensitivity says something awful (a racial slur). Younger people squeeze all the content they can baying for metaphorical blood and processing collective shame all over Instagram Reels.
This is not to defend what he said which was inexcusable, nor the way he said it, which was downright odd - even given the context in which it took place (a discussion about racism and shadow work with a black friend – astrologer Ricky Williams). He deserved to be called out.
Maybe it’s my stellium in Libra, (or perhaps my stellium in Leo (yikes), but if I thought what he said and the way he said it was awful, I think I like the ensuing reaction even less.
Has anyone else found the relentless tidal wave of virtue signalling and projection that lashed right back at him rather unedifying?
Forrest may have misspoke with the air of an out of touch boomer, whose self-avowed youthful activism and awareness of the racial divide has potentially been dulled by decades of comfort, privilege and having smoke blown up his arse by ardent followers and students worldwide. But the vitriolic hordes of astro-fans coming after him, reflects an unpleasant echo of the original darkness that inspired the direction of the now notorious interview.
Forrest’s admission of having an antecdent who was a founding member of the Ku Klux Klan perhaps makes him the WORST person to ill-advisedly splurt out the ‘N-word’ on a podcast. Unless you’re really into the shadow work and the inevitably uncomfortable conversations this requires, (the topic of the podcast in question!) in which case it makes him the BEST person to lance that proverbial festering boil.
“Let he who has fully integrated his own shadow be the first to critique another’s lack of awareness of theirs.” Jesus Christ X C.G Jung
It is worth noting that the people making the most noise about the affair are white, and their hand-wringing polemics in the aftermath have essentially disempowered and infantilised the black astrologer Williams, the person on the other end of that unfortunate conversation.
Ultimately it seems that Williams’ feelings (which he makes clear in this video) and those of other BIPOC astrologers (some of whom possibly disagree with him and are legitimately pissed off with Forrest), will always matter less than the positioning and virtue signalling of the accusers.
I read one virulent (white) woman’s comment on an Instagram post in which Forrest tearfully begged for forgiveness declaring that Forrest was using Williams as a ‘human shield’ and Williams himself was a ‘self-hating black man,’ no less. (Now where else have we heard that terminology recently?)
Is it a case of ‘meet the new lynch mob. Same as the old lynch mob’? It certainly seems that way at times like this.
I appreciate that as a Brit, I don’t bear the same scars of the heritage of slavery, and perhaps I don’t fully appreciate the extent to which this is a wound that has never healed over and still infects the American psyche.
And perhaps, just perhaps …Forrest can be both an accomplished astrologer and teacher with an important body of work and at the same time, behave like an arsehole.
Both these things can be true at once and both sets of astrologers arguing can be justified. But, to the group calling for more apologies, more sincerity, more cancellation, flagellation, retribution, more denouncements - here’s a cautionary tale from the UK, and a tragic Eclipse window example of the impact these unforgiving crusades can have.
Cambridge University’s youngest professor Jason Arday was recently accused of plagiarising work, and fabricating various aspects of his personal life experience to presumably create a mythos which made him more interesting, more employable, marketable - who knows? The media investigation which uncovered this, led mainly by The Daily Telegraph, was motivated less by their unyeilding quest for the truth and more by the fact he was a glaring example of the so-called, undeserving ‘DEI hire’.
After a week or two of daily revelations about Arday’s apparent ‘Walter Mitty’-style resumé, they achieved their aim, and Arday resigned his post.
That should have been it, really. He hadn’t killed anyone, committed a war crime, or said any horrible words. But the sheer amount of news coverage by increasingly hysterical press and social media commentators all tucking into the mass feeding frenzy clearly drove him over the edge and he was found dead at his home, last Friday.
It struck me, reading some of the comments under Steven Forrest’s latest instagram post, that despite his upcoming conference appearances being cancelled, his own astrological school issuing a crisis PR statement distancing themselves from him, and other senior and respected astrologers all forced to comment and denounce him, that some of the ringleaders of the move to topple him are so drunk on the kool-aid of intoxicating group think and righteousness, that they cannot be satisfied with public shame, a hiatus in public appearances and multiple apologies.
Which makes you wonder what would satisfy this type of person? Do they even know, themselves? It strikes me odd, that this awful but in the grand scheme of things small hill of beans, that this is what has motivated them to spend the last fortnight solidly manoeuvring to completely destroy another human being.
I note that almost without exception the same people have been conspicuously silent about any real world horror or any genuine miscreants in this world. Probably because these are topics which would get them shadow-banned, lose followers, or worse, YouTube ad revenue.
Perhaps this is the whole problem with many of the outraged and virtuous online warriors these days - they’re only prepared to step into battle when it costs them absolutely f*** all.
The Leo Aquarius nodal transit
Throughout this next chapter we will be called upon to navigate the consequences of the fall of leaders, and the disgrace of gurus.
Surely the challenge is not how we get rid of them, but how we improve on what they offered, and how we break the cycle and create something better.
In just over a week we have the next eclipse, harking back to the previous Pisces / Virgo axis. Blended with Leo and Aquarius we deal with themes of victimhood, blame, empowerment, sovereignty, accountability, collective responsibility, institutional power, but also empathy, compassion and forgiveness.
These last qualities are evidently in short supply at the moment. Let’s hope this Eclipse cycle changes that.
Until next time, friends.
What a fine writer and human being you are. Thank you!
Love this article and couldn’t agree more about the virtue signaling witch hunting … even when someone acknowledges and apologizes they continue their virulent smearing like a pack of hounds - and it isn’t just Steven Forrest - it happens all the time. So gross.