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The generalism about eclipses is that in the darkness the sun and the moon meet the archetypal shadow element. What do we want to remain hidden? What do we want to keep secret from our deepest selves? While a Mercury retrograde period pushes us to stop pushing and hit the pause button, eclipse seasons are a call to hit the reset button.

In times of darkness and shadow one needs a wholesome dose of truth. I turn to Rebecca Solnit's essays in Hope in the Dark. Here is a quote to consider during eclipse seasons.

What do we need? What shall we seed?

Hindsight, foresight,  20/20 vision.

Like many other ancient cultures, the Minoans were accomplished astronomers. Their mythology, their artifacts, and their architecture reflect their fascination with the lights that moved through the night sky as well as the brightest sky-light of all, the Sun. As so many other societies around the world have done, they incorporated this astronomical knowledge into their mythology and thus their spiritual practice.

With the Great American Eclipse just a couple of days ago, I began thinking about the Minoans' ability to predict eclipses. There is some contention that this stone die found near Palaikastro is an eclipse calculator:

Everything under the sun is in tune, But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

It's been heartening to see so much excitement about the upcoming solar eclipse. 

Across North America, hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of people will greet the eclipse just as we used to in the old days: with gatherings, with ritual, with parties.

Some years back I sat alone on my back steps to watch that intimate moment in the dance of our Earth and our Moon that we call a lunar eclipse.

As always, it was beautiful, moving, disturbing: a lunar month in unreal microcosm.

But at that silent moment of red totality, I thought: this isn't how it should be. There should be people in every back yard, in every park, watching this holy event.

And at that moment of totality, there should have been massive city-wide outcry: voices, drums, the ringing of bells. It could have been a ritual that united the city.

On Monday, August 21, 2017, people across North America will honor that awesome, beautiful Great Rite that we call a solar eclipse. At that moment of terrible Union, for a brief while we will become one, united people: Red with Blue, pagan with cowan.

The August 2017 eclipse season is upon us. Astrologer's view eclipses as doors closing (sometimes with a slam) and new windows of opportunity. During a solar and lunar eclipse season we encounter a period of shadow. Something is hidden. Then something is revealed. Weather can turn capricious. This summer I have had a sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, this  month I suspect we will hear multiple thumps on the ground of our being. 

Which may fill you with fear. And I say, in the Northern Irish vernacular, "Catch yerself on!" Which is a less elegant, but more bracing, way of rephrasing Hemingway's "Courage is grace under pressure."

“There was music in the cafes at night, And revolution in the air.”
~ Bob Dylan

There’s a challenging solar eclipse happening on February 26, and the chart for this one will be in effect for at least 6 months to a year. Revolution is in the air, and so are illusion, deception, inchoate fears — as well as enchantment, inspiration, and the highest and best reaches of spirituality and compassion.