Notes from a Solar Eclipse in Libra - choosing love
Simply, a Solar Eclipse is when the solar power goes out momentarily. The Moon slides between the Earth and the Sun. Our solar power is the light of the Sun, it is the driver of life, the catalyst for photosynthesis that feeds our ecosystems. It is our pure expression. What is there if the solar light is blocked? What creatures come out when they are no longer have to hide from the spotlight? The strange, the interesting, the unexpected. More personally, what parts of you are constantly repressed by your golden light? By your aspirations, by your expectations, by your goals, by the good to be done for others. Symbolically, it is when our subconscious comes to the forefront when we are no longer driven by the conscious. It is when glimmers of our own depths bubble to the surface, the lava of our core, bringing forth deep seeded wants and needs. When we are so use to functioning from our conscious place, we might not recognise these as our own. They are our dreams, the whispers that do not fit the ideas we have of successful lives, the feelings or bodily sensations of lives we have once lived, the parts that do not conform with societies expectations of ‘pretty’. The primal messages from within.
This Solar Eclipse is in Libra. Boundaries is a key word associated with this axis. Other people’s needs and your own. There are constant reminders on social media to “choose yourself”, “look after yourself”, “self care is an act of self love” etc etc, like you can only do one or the other. These messages do not always sit comfortably with me as I am attuned to associate them with selfishness, and that is something that has always been scorned upon in my world, for better or worse, probably a result of the system. And then some people go the other way and over compensate for others because they want to feel good, or maybe simply because they care, and then they lose themselves in the process, wondering how they got there. I think about moving along this continuum from ‘me’ to ‘us’ at different times in my life and remind myself that sometimes there is a need to just look out for yourself, for example, when protecting oneself, physically, mentally, emotionally. When you take a sick day and feel guilty for not cleaning the house, but you are sick! And so you sit with the discomfort of this and resist and it feels selfish and yucky but you deserve some rest! Choosing myself in this situation takes practice and firmly establishing some boundaries. And sometimes there is a need to give all of your energy to others’ - when those you love are in pain or need help. I think it is important to remind ourselves not to get too caught up in the extremes of this axis and what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’. It can feel like a lot of pressure to constantly choose yourself/others - so, relaxing this grip on the expectations to be ‘perfect’ for yourself, or for others, alleviating the guilt by choosing kindness and love.
And this is where Libra and Aries show up for us, reminding us that we drift along this polarity from day to day, moment to moment - and that is ok. So, take the day off and do nothing, say “no” if you don’t want to go, think of yourself first, or, drop everything for your friend in need, mow your mum’s lawn, care what other’s think, it’s all good. I see you there trying your best, going from one extreme to the other, or somewhere in the middle seeking terminal velocity, in this ‘free-fall’ we call life. Go forth and oscillate with compassion.
