Hey y’all…
Hard to believe it’s October already, eh? This in-between eclipse Bardo certainly has me (and pretty much everyone I’m talking to) in a bit of a tizzy… I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the emoji with the spinny spiral eyes in texts over the past week…
Has your life shifted unexpectedly since the Lunar eclipse in Pisces on September 17? For the past year and a half, the eclipses have been on the Libra-Aries axis, focusing energetic shifts on our relationships with ourselves vs others, what’s mine vs. ours/yours.
The Pisces lunar eclipse on the 17th was the first on the Virgo-Pisces axis, which will highlight the next year and a half. This axis will bring energetic shifts around how we embody our own sovereignty vs. how we are codependent/merged with the greater whole. That last eclipse was like a door opening into the energies of the upcoming several eclipses, while the solar eclipse this week is almost like a door closing on the shifts and realizations that have occurred during the past 18 months.
The window between the two or 3 eclipses during eclipse season is often witnessed as a nebulous, liminal time, so I was really grateful for my conversation last week with Rebecca Baker as she shone a positive and welcoming light on that type of dreamspace. Despite lots of upheaval in my personal life, with the sun in Gate 46 (The gate of determination of the self) last week I did feel a lot of energy that reoriented me from seriousness to delight. Last week I made a point of recognizing that so much of how we perceive life can be re-framed simply by using a different word to gain a different perspective.
It’s not always easy to embrace the uncertainty that often arises during eclipse seasons, but Rebecca’s invitation to slow down, take a sacred pause, breathe, and sit with liminality in an embodied way certainly helped me ground over the past week. Thanks so much for all your downloads and streams of that last episode- I hope her reminders supported your between-eclipse time as well!
This week, we conclude this eclipse portal with the second of two eclipses this season- a new moon solar eclipse in Libra, happening in Gate 48: The Gate of Depth, known as “The Well” in the I’Ching. It’s a south node eclipse, so a theme might be something that you have to give up or let go of in order to reach a higher potential- it’s time to get out of your own way. The sun and moon will also be conjunct Mercury in the sign of the scales, so there might be an intellectual or communication revelation that opens you up to greater depths of understanding.
Before that, today (Monday) and tomorrow (Tuesday), the sun is finishing up its transit through Gate 18, the Gate of Correction.
Let’s get into the forecast!
This week’s highlights:
Wed, Oct 2: New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra
Human Design/I’Ching:
Last Thursday-Tues: Gate 18, the Gate of Correction
Wed-Sun: Gate 48, the Gate of Depth
This week’s themes:
Splenic energies abound
Judgement, when used on a collective scale (rather than directed at oneself or another) is another term for integrity
When you’re feeling insecure or scared, dip your cup into the deep well of resources, and be surprised about what comes up
Our Place in the Wheel of the Year
Medicine Wheel Direction:WEST (Water, Adulthood)
Wuxing Cycle Element: Metal
Pagan Season: Mabon
Zodiac Season: Libra (September 22-October 22)
Moon Phase: New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra
I Ching Hexagram/Human Design: Gate 18 (Thurs-Tues), Gate 48 (Wed-Sun)
18 = Mountain over Wind (Ku: “Corruption/Decay”) or the Gate of CORRECTION
48 = Water over Wind (Jing: “The Well”) or the Gate of DEPTH
“Spooky Season” (Libra > Scorpio) and the Spleen…
So I made my 6 gates of Libra season post on Instagram- check it out here!
After I posted this, I saw another post by Karen Scholle of humandesignsphinx that struck me:
For those of you unfamiliar with Human Design, each of the 64 I’Ching inspired Gates of the Fuxi Cycle wheel are also correlated with one of the body’s energy centers- and all of the gates of Libra season and most of Scorpio season are in the spleen. The spleen, a fist-sized organ in the upper left side of your abdomen, symbolizes body-consciousness, the ability to instinctively tune in to what is good for us and what is not. As the oldest evolutionary awareness center, it represents our primal instincts, intuitions, and fears.
Scholle writes in her caption:
“I had this thought a few weeks ago and it's been rattling around in my head ever since: “spooky season" and "cuffing season" are also "spleen season." It kinda works, yeah? "Spooky" because fear, duh. "Cuffing season" as in "lemme find someone to stay cozy with all winter" ...at least in the northern hemisphere. And both make sense when we look at it through the lens of the sequence of the wheel and the quarters of the year.
We’re in the quarter of duality, which is all about purpose fulfilled through bonding. And that makes me think about everything I’ve learned about myself in relationships over the last few years, and there are some pretty clear themes:
Relationships can bring up a lot of fears for me. I’ve been afraid that if I showed all of myself, I would be rejected. I’ve been afraid of being too cold, too harsh, too analytical. I’ve been afraid of being too sensitive & emotionally volatile. Too opinionated, not nice enough. Too much this, not enough that.
All of those fears created beliefs: if I downplay my bitchiness, maybe they’ll stay. If I morph into the version of “cool girl” they seem to like, maybe they’ll stay. Maybe if I have no needs, they’ll stay. Maybe I won’t be abandoned.
But the abandonment I should have been paying attention to was me abandoning myself. I’ve ignored that splenic hit more times than I can count, and that compromised my relationship with myself. That’s why I couldn’t trust myself, and that not trusting myself bled out into every relationship in my life. I got confused. I thought other people were untrustworthy, and I wanted to focus on that part. But it was also about me.
Deconditioning my spleen has largely come down to 2 things: learning how to listen to and heed that voice, and also apologizing to her. Apologizing to all the parts of myself that I’ve ignored & abandoned, and forgiving us all for doing the best we could with the information & skills we had at the time.
So I guess the headline is this: purpose fulfilled through bonding is about our relationships, and I think the most important relationship any of us will ever have is the relationship to self. And we heal that through love.
I absolutely love this take, this connection of the spleen’s instincts with these “spooky” fall months. Libra is the sign of relationship and inner balance, and Scorpio is associated with intimacy, and the darkening of the year is encouraging us to deepen our relationships and intimacy with ourselves, as well as others and the collective.
As we travel through the next several weeks and next 7 gates, you can be aware that the energies are splenic energies focused on body wisdom, intuition, and instinct.
Starting the Week with an Eye for Correction (Gate 18)
Starting last Thursday and going through this Tuesday, the sun is transiting Libra spleen Gate 18.
In Human Design, Gate 18 is known as The Gate of Correction. In the I’Ching, it’s symbolized by Mountain over Wind, known as “Corruption or Decay”. And in the Gene Keys, the path is from judgement to perfection through the gift of Integrity.
In the traditional I’Ching, 18 is a bit of a foreboding hexagram, represented by the cold winds descending from the mountain with the possibility of destroying the crops below. Scrutiny and judgement is necessary to avoid a larger crisis, and looking for issues and making corrections is required for survival and success.
People with this gate active have keen perception for what needs to be improved or what could be better. In the shadow frequency, this type of constant judgement is often turned on other people or back on oneself, which can be detrimental to self esteem and accomplishing goals. It can be a bit of a navel-gazey, victimized energy.
But in the higher frequency, when someone with this gate looks at the bigger picture, the judgement turns into the propensity to act with integrity, and they are incredibly gifted and valuable to creating solutions to larger scale issues. It’s not just about criticizing and correcting, it’s about guiding others toward a higher standard of excellence. The word integrity is used in architecture, engineering, and data/computer programming, indicating something that has a strong foundation based on keen perception and good judgement from the initial stages of building, and that is what people with gate 18 active can bring to the table!
As it is a splenic, embodied gate, this judgement and integrity is not mental, but rather instinctual. High standards is a key phrase for this gate- the energy can come off as highly critical if the opinion is not invited, so it’s a good idea this week to notice your tone and timing in communication when offering your input. By presenting corrections as opportunities for growth and improvement, rather than as criticisms of past mistakes, those with Gate 18 can foster a more receptive and collaborative atmosphere.
When I was listening to the Gene Keys audio chapter about Gate 18, I was struck by the emphasis on parenting and childhood development. In the traditional I-Ching, this gateway of corruption and decay is also sometimes called “work on what has been spoiled by the parents.” This is about judgement of the conditioning we’ve received from our parents, teachers, priests, social groups, etc.
Ra Uru Hu says of Gate 18:
Each generation, naturally and genetically, is empowered to challenge the next; it's simply there. The 18th Gate is about challenging that authority, challenging the authority of the mother and the father. However, that challenge is also rooted in a fear of that authority. That authority can be unreasonable, and by being unreasonable that authority can be dangerous.
From the moment that we come into the world, we carry with us a fear that those that are there to care for us may not, in fact, do a good job. Just about everybody who goes through being a teenager laments their fate and their parents; it's built into us. It's built into us to challenge those patterns, not necessarily to bring them down, not necessarily to find that there is something the matter with them. Many times, it is about reassuring ourselves that the pattern is worthy and is correct. But the challenge must always be there.
My eclipse surprises and upheavals have had to do with being a parent and coparenting dynamics- this tracks, with the eclipse happening in Pisces in my 8th house of intimacy- so the insights and contemplations around this gate helped me a lot. I listened to it at the end of last week as the sun began to transit through it, and it was the perfect time to have this information delivered!
Part of this process is about confronting our own parental conditioning, and to learn to parent and hold their own inner child, without reacting to judgements or self-judgements.
Some questions to ask yourself in the beginning of this week:
Where in my life do I feel a strong urge to correct or improve something?
How can I communicate my desire for improvement in a way that is supportive and constructive?
What practices can I adopt to balance my corrective instincts with appreciation for what is already good?
Wednesday, October 2: New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra ( in the HD Gate of Depth)
The solar eclipse is happening on Wednesday October 2nd 2:49 p.m. ET, soon after the sun transits into Gate 48, known as the Gate of Depth in Human Design. Themes here are wisdom, femininity, adaptability, and resourcefulness.
Solar eclipses happen when the moon is on the same plane, in the same part of the ecliptic, as the sun, so the moon blocks the sun’s rays from our POV here on earth. Symbolically, the moon represents our subconscious, emotions, and embodied wisdom, which in an eclipse is blocking out the rays of the sun, representing consciousness, willpower, and mind. In solar eclipses even more than other new moons, the body keeps the score, and the ground is fertile for new beginnings. As with all eclipses, I don’t recommend willfully planting seeds in this fertile soil. Rather, on this eclipse take the time to notice what seeds the wind has already blown in and watch it grow along your path of destiny.
As far as the micro-season’s specific energy for this lunation, I’d say it feels pretty supportive. In Libra, new beginnings and new growth might be emphasized in the realm of relationships. So, too, in the I’Ching and Human Design gates. The gate of this eclipse, Gate 48, is represented by Water over Wind, aka “The Well”, representing nourishment and resources from the surrounding environment and unexpected people.
An inexhaustible supply of water and sustenance are referenced by hexagram number 48. This is a time to make good use of all your resources. But if the well seems to have run dry, or the supply cannot be accessed, the solution lies in banding together with others for the good of all. This is a time to group together despite differences. It is time to draw from the well of knowledge. Let life itself sustain you. The wise person knows that despite superficial differences, we are all the same on the inside. Draw your sustenance from the entire kingdom. Good can come from anywhere and everywhere.
In the Gene Keys, the energetic path of Gate 48 goes from inadequacy to wisdom through the gift of resourcefulness.
Inadequacy and insecurity may show their faces during this eclipse, revealing places in our life where we don’t feel good enough. It could feel like staring down into a dark well and having trouble knowing how deep the darkness goes. Whatever is revealed on this lunation surrounding feelings of inadequacy encourages us to seek our resources in the moment, like a light at the bottom of the well. When we face our fears enough to drop a bucket down into the well, to engage with the unknown, we are likely to cause a ripple that catches the light, and more likely than not able to pull a bucket of water up from the depths as well.
Wisdom comes from acknowledging that both the dark and the light have their place, rather than avoiding the fear of darkness by hiding our heads in the sand or reacting to our fear with anger or blame. Wisdom means knowing that darkness, confusion, and the void is required to understand what lightness and clarity want to emerge, and that there is a right time for that emergence.
The 48th Gate has similarities with the Serenity Prayer: accepting what we can’t change, having the courage to change what we can, and drawing from the wisdom to now the difference.
As humans – rarely do we truly know our true capabilities – it’s more common for us to fear our inadequacies. We have examples of greatness around us all the time in our every day life – and yet we somehow convince ourselves that we can’t do that – or do it as well and be ridiculed for it.
Like Gate 18, Gate 48 is also about childhood, parenting, and how we were parented. Personally, as I move through a difficult week of parenting, I am deeply appreciating insights from these two splenic gates.
The Gene Keys states: “For all its darkness and fear, the 48th gene key holds great hope for humanity- and this hope mostly lands in the hands of parents.”
Gate 48 reflects on the ages between 7 and 14 in the life cycle, a stage of emotional development where children very much need a stable emotional environment and positive role modeling. Many insecurities and feelings of inadequacy are formed in the human psyche during this highly-sponge-like time of life, when the same feelings of insecurity or doubt are modeled to kids by the adults around them. This is a time of life when children are highly attuned to the emotions of their parents, not necessarily on a mental level but on a subtle, embodied level. How we arrive at our independent teenage years in an embodied, felt sense, will affect the rest of our lives in a big way. Richard Rudd notes how important it is to look for hidden resources during this time of parenting a child, for parents to heal their own emotional turmoil and raise their frequencies so they can break a cycle of passing them down through their children and ancestors beyond.
Trusting the shadow frequency itself and entering into our own fears is the only way to heal our own anxieties- we have to stop being afraid of fear itself, and lower a bucket down the well to see what it contains. As we lean more into trust of life and its ebbs and flows – we stop fearing fear as much. This doesn’t happen overnight but it’s power is noticeable and exciting to reflect upon. You start to see the light in all situations more than you see the cloudy shadows leading up to the destination of light. You will begin to tap into what it means to prosper – and become so deeply aware of what you are truly capable of.
Which house does this eclipse fall for you?
Astrologically, you can look to the house in your chart where Libra falls to see what elements of your life may undergo sudden changes. Eclipses to me often feel like “hindsight is 20/20”, where it feels impossible to predict what might be unveiled in that realm of life until after it happens, and then I reflect back saying “oh yeah, that was definitely an area of my life where I had a lot of blind spots, an area that needed a bit of a shake up!”
This eclipse is falling in my 3rd house of communication, siblings and old friends, neighbors, early education, gossip, immediate surroundings, and local community. I definitely feel energies pointing to changes in this area, but am not quite sure what is being hidden from view, so it feels soupy and frustratingly confusing. I’m sure by the end of this week some clarity will emerge, some actionable insights- it always does. Eclipses are cobweb-clearers, flashlights into the darkness, removers of blind spots. As we reach the final eclipses on the Libra-Aries axis before we move into Virgo and Pisces energy for the next 18 months, there may be a bit of a conclusiveness to the parts of life that have been shaken up by the universe in order to reveal what had been hidden from your consciousness.
Let me know in the comments what house Libra is in in your chart, and I’ll let you know how this eclipse may reveal some hidden beauty in your life. Take care this week, remember to stretch, and drink a lot of water. The emotions come up as the seasons change from summer to fall can feel heavy sometimes, not to mention what it feels like to shine a light on a dark place after ignoring it for a while. So take it easy on yourself, don’t try to effort too much or make big decisions until the eclipse portal closes. As for myself, I’m going to try to get into nature as much as possible. And wake up every day this week and think of what I am grateful for amidst the turbulence, and lead with that, lead with my heart.
Best wishes for this new moon and for getting through this eclipse portal. Onward!
Thanks, as always for subscribing, sharing, commenting. You can follow me on instagram at @cyclesoftimepodcast or @astro.somatics too.
<3
Alison
Solar Eclipse in Libra: A Well of Resources