Rinse, Rinse...Rinse, Rinse.

We're just finishing the last of the lunar-driven rinse cycle and starting to dry out after the emotional floods of the past month. There are some lingering soggy spots, but the Sun, Moon and Mercury are now in Leo, post-solar eclipse at 29 degrees Cancer yesterday. We've shifted from the Moon being the major dispositing influence to the Sun. We've been emotionally wrung out like a sponge over the past month, and now the sunshine has just started to peek through, getting ready to dry us out and get some energy moving externally again - a relief after all that intense emotional, inner focus.

The total eclipse of the Sun was visible yesterday in the Asian countries of India, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China. Apparently, millions of people in India shut themselves inside yesterday to stay out of the eclipse rays. Eclipses have a bad rap as bringers of malevolent events in some of the old school Vedic astrology.

Back in the day before we knew the scientific explanation, I can imagine the sun "going out" was more than a little unnerving...if not terrifying.

I don't see eclipses as bad things...more as a backdrop change on certain levels. But they do have a tendency to be emotionally crazy and over the top (Full Moon lunar) and draining/exhausting (New Moon solar). The changes and sometimes overwhelming energy they bring can be difficult to deal with, so I do understand the distaste.

We've now got one more eclipse to experience for this particular eclipse season...

A Full Moon lunar eclipse in Aquarius August 5.

This one should be more emotionally detached and objective as we look to the future - both personally and for humanity/the planet as a whole. It should help us to gain some perspective on what we've been experiencing and where it's taking us. That'll be nice after just keeping our heads above water this past month.

As I said in the Uranus in Pisces Retrograde post, these eclipses should have an initially loosening effect, with some major catalyzing events/aspects in late August to mid-September:

Saturn in Virgo leaves its retrograde shadow August 22. So new territory and progress with our concrete structural realities, especially related to work, daily routines, health and practical service. Getting back into a new "swing of things" after so much ground to a halt over the past six months. Finally changing course and transitioning into new situations after biding our time.

Then we have Pluto in Capricorn (disposited by Saturn in Virgo) going direct on September 11. Pluto is right back at 0 degrees Capricorn here as it moves forward, and we can see how thorough (Virgo) this Plutonic gutting and transformation is. Pluto means business in the sign of business.

Four days later on September 15, we have the third Saturn in Virgo-Uranus in Pisces opposition (this time with Uranus retrograde). Again, the polarity of practical, functional structural realities and egalitarian humanitarian revolution and true spiritual understanding as we transition from Pisces to Aquarius.

The Cancer-Capricorn emphasis of the past month had us immersed in our pasts, our roots, our family histories. And now the FM lunar eclipse in Aquarius brings the future into the mix, creating some momentum and movement toward where we're going now and the astro events of August and September.

We're infused with the understanding and can really feel that we're always connected to our pasts, our families, our homes, our histories no matter how wild and wooly our futures appear to be - collective and personal. We always have that anchor there, and hopefully the past month has helped us to strengthen that anchor while releasing old resentments that were ready to go. We're in this together with the people we love, and the Sun and Mercury in Leo are reinforcing this fact, stretching open our heart centres beyond old wounds and old walls. S-t-r-e-t-c-h! Yowtch. Just keep breathing.

The fiery joy of Leo balances out all the Aquarius emphasis reminding us not to get too detached, too intellectual, too rational about it all...or we might miss the fun of experiencing life with our loved ones on this crazy planet.

Respecting our own emotional realities as well as the emotional realities of those around us. Easier said than done. It's an art, really, isn't it? Just in time to bring what we've learned in Cancer into our Leonine artistry and loving self-expression.