Dark Circle
In the Sky
Ambient Glow
Of Gold and Rose
Big-bellied, Asleep
Face to the Sky,
Arise to meet the
Talisman of Root
Divination
An old way of being is phasing out from your life. While the old period darkens, a new way is being revealed. Allow yourself plenty of rest while you adjust to this great transition. There is nothing extra that needs to be done while you undergo this change. However, don’t allow yourself to completely sleep through the change either. There is something rising from the rest for you to see and seize. There are protective signs around you that will help lead the way. They may be small, but they will stick out to you and become your guide. This guiding talisman will help you to stay grounded and light your path in the darkness that is inevitable during periods of eclipse.
Eclipses deal with the art and presence of shadows - the shadow of Moon covers the Earth in Solar eclipses or, in lunar eclipses, the shadow of the Earth swallows the moon. Thus opens the questions for shadow work in your own life. Evaluate the role sleep and rest has in your life at this time. Are you getting enough rest? Are you in a depression that has immobilized you? Less literally, what have you possibly been asleep to up to this point? What might you be awakening to? There may be a valuable aspect to your personality that has been asleep and will now awaken.
Most calendar years have two eclipses, with the most usually being five. 2024, will have a balance of 4 eclipses - 2 lunar and 2 solar.
The momentous year of 2020 - filled with political upheaval, the pandemic, fires and hurricanes - had six eclipses.
In 2020, where there were 3 eclipses in one lunar month - a phenomenon that won’t transpire again until 2029. The first of the three eclipses happened on June 5, a lunar eclipse that arrived in a time of immense social upheaval as protestors filled the streets in a passionate height of the Black Lives Matter movement. A demand for clear and rapid change came in a resonant voice that woke the masses from their slumber.
The next eclipse was on June 21, a solar eclipse (in astrology denoting a beginning) marked the Summer Solstice. July 4 had another lunar eclipse (denoting final endings) an Independence Day celebrated in the United States mostly in outdoor isolation with cancelled fireworks. This was a significant period of time where the country examined itself existentially, feeling the divide thickening between opposing parties and ideologies. Statues were falling, the economy flailing, flags burning, and people were dying from the coronavirus. The country was, and still is, searching for new talismans.
It can be interesting, once you are of a certain age, to do an autobiography of major transitions which can be noted through eclipses. I noticed and tracked the eclipses that marked major job changes in my previous life. Though my personal will was needed to make moves in my career, they felt as though they stemmed from a larger need or push for emergence.
Similar to the Wheel of Fortune in the Tarot, the Eclipse is a giant circle of change in the sky that marks a transition or change beyond your control. The change can be for good or ill but are always momentous. There is no going back to the old life once it has been eclipsed.
The Greek word for eclipse, Ekleipsis, means abandonment or cessation.
This Card in a Story Reading - What can you tell me about my retirement?
This reading was done for a 65-year old woman who was ready to retire and find a new life - moving from her home and purchasing a new car. She wanted to see what her stability would be in these changes, and how she would find community. Her only connection at the time was with her own aging mother. The reading provided her with a great deal of hope and it inspired her to downsize her possessions during her great transition. Here is the story that came from the reading:
It was a great time of change. Everyone expected the change would come from the surface, the sky, visible to every eye. However, it had been growing up – slowly, lowly and dark, like a root from below. One day it burst from the ground, burning hot with the lava of the Earth’s Center, too hot for anyone to touch. The Change was here but no one could yet grasp it.
And so there the root waited. One night, when the people were sleeping with their bellies full, the night sky was aglow with the latest full moon. The shadow of the sun eclipsed the moon in darkness, and finally the root was cooled. There had been one woman awake in this night and she found the root, lifting it to the sky as it glowed warm with the dawn.
The people surrounded her. They had never seen her, nor had she ever seen them. She wore a pack and had traveled from afar. The people were interested and curious where she would go next – she who had found the power or Change, the change that had been a long time coming.
Visualization
Imagine yourself in the scenery of the stone. See yourself asleep and awakened in the glowing light of the ring of fire. Alit within the ground, there is a talisman that catches your eye. What is it? What does it look like? What does it feel like as you hold it? Where does it wish to guide you? Follow the guidance of the talisman in your vision.
After the above visualization, awake and bring your awareness to the world around you. Amongst your things close by, is there something already in your possession that reminds you of the talisman in the vision? You can also use art supplies to draw a picture of what you saw. Keep this item or drawing with you as you proceed with a question or situation that is consuming your attention at this time. Allow it to help you feel rooted and protected as you proceed.
Resources:
https://www.astrologyzone.com/all-about-eclipses-a-guide-for-coping-with-them/
AI describes:
1️⃣ A square shaped stone with rounded corners has an abstract painted landscape on it. The sky is orange and yellow with a black background. In the style of watercolor painting. --ar 32:25
2️⃣ A square cabochon of jasper with an orange and yellow gradient, featuring a silhouette landscape at sunset. The sky is painted in shades of pink and purple against the dark background. There is an ancient tower visible on top of one hill, and another smaller mountain off to its right. A small black dot above reflects light from below, creating a contrast between warm colors. This artwork has been created using traditional ink painting techniques in the style of Chinese landscape paintings. --ar 32:25
3️⃣ A square cabochon with an orange and yellow sunset sky and black mountains in the background, with a small black dot on top left, on a solid dark purple paper, in the style of wabis sabi. --ar 32:25
4️⃣ A square rounded corner metal pin badge with the silhouette of an ancient Japanese landscape at sunset, with a yellow and orange sky and a black background, and no shadow on the ground, in a low resolution style. --ar 32:25
Powerful reading on a day of shifting change! May you be blessed with further insight. xo