The Astrological Context of the November 8 Total Lunar Eclipse at 16° Taurus

Friends with Sun, Moon, or Rising Sign in Taurus, I really feel for you. This total lunar eclipse in your sign (it is also, incidentally, the Sign of the Moon’s exaltation) is already intense for you because it’s occurring in the zodiacal First House of your very Self, calling so much of your very identity and how you show up in the world into question/reevaluation.

Yet the intensity is ratcheted to an even greater degree for you more than any other sign (Aquarius claims a close 2nd place in the eclipse intensity factor) because of the “wild card planet” Uranus’ conjunction with the Moon (at 16° Taurus, and trust me, the degrees matter!) and the Dharma-Bearing North Node (at 13°) while opposing no less than a stellium of four planets in Scorpio (the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Karma-Clearing South Node) AND squaring dour Saturn, the Inflexible Lord of Karma, Who currently transits 18° Aquarius at the time of the eclipse. Phew!

It’s a lot to take in, not just for you patient (and stubborn/resistant to change) Taurus folks, but for us all, every person aboard Spaceship Earth, as the very structures of our societies and how we envision the concept of “good governance” are up for a complete overhaul, which has many people in power (whether they deserve to be in positions of authority or not) completely scared out of their wits (and for good reason!). For those of us in the United States, this Taurus Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse just happens to be taking place on our day dedicated to the 2022 Midterm Elections, which are fraught with all kinds of apprehensions, expectations, and deep-seated fears. There’s much here to unpack, so let’s dive right in!

Friday’s Taurus Full Moon Eclipse: Radical Changes, Ready or Not!

No matter where you are in the world, Friday’s lunar eclipse at 27° Taurus will be impactful. For starters, it’s the longest eclipse in duration in over 580 years of human astronomical reckoning: it will last three and a half hours! In the Central Standard Time zone of the U.S., which is my time zone (please adjust for your corner of the world accordingly), the Taurus Moon will noticeably begin to become engulfed by Shadow at 1:15 a.m. and the Shadow will have dissipated by 4:45 a.m. on Friday, November 19. The apogée of lunar fullness happens at 2:57 a.m.

What Mysteries will our beloved Luna undergo during this long descent into Shadow? Her story will ripple out and reach us all, especially with the dramatic backdrop of planetary aspects that set the stage for this eclipse.

 

Blessed Beltane and Happy Orthodox Easter!

Blessings bright on this beautiful, summery (here in Chicago, we’re looking at bright sunshine and temps in the mid-80s again!) Beltane and Eastern Orthodox Easter Sunday! As my friend Szmeralda observed, “You’ve got double the magic!” in my household as dual-faith observances, begun on Friday, continue. 

The Dark Goddess Howling: Venus Retrograde in Scorpio 2018 and October’s Key Planetary Transits

Energetically speaking, astrological events this year have really forced us into a “review and release” mode as we evaluate our lives. This past summer was an extremely challenging period for many people (myself included), dominated as it was by the Mars Retrograde and the major shake-ups brought by the eclipses. Whether we were ready for it or not, we were tasked with major, even karmic, releases. Now the shift focuses on reviewing and reevaluating our lives, including how we attract or repel the forces of abundance, as the planet Venus gets ready to station Retrograde on October 5, plunging us into the archetypal experience I liken unto the Goddess Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld. 

Selqet: Ancient Egypt’s Scorpion Goddess

Editorial Note: This is the transcript of the presentation I gave on Saturday at the 25th Annual Fellowship of Isis in Chicago Goddess Convention. I added photos from my PowerPoint presentation and my references list.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this historic 25^th anniversary Goddess Festival commemorated by the Chicago FOI Community! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Anna Applegate, I’m an ordained Priestess, and as a Polytheist primarily dedicated to the Kemetic or Egyptian Pantheon of Gods in my personal spiritual practice, I am very excited to be talking to you about the mysterious and powerful Scorpion Goddess, Selqet. I love Her very much. She features prominently in my ancestor devotionals and in the Spirit Work that I do, and I am deeply honored to ritually invoke Her in our Main Liturgy this evening, “The Mystical Awakening of Scorpio and Kundalini.”  

Announcing the 25th Annual Fellowship of Isis Chicago Goddess Convention: “The Mystical Awakening of Scorpio and Kundalini”

It’s an exciting time for the Fellowship of Isis (FOI) Chicago community—a network of FOI-chartered Lyceums, Iseums, and Temples dedicated to Polytheistic outreach and to carrying the ideological torches of Goddess worship, eco-spirituality, and interfaith ambassadorship as envisioned by co-founders Olivia Robertson, Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, and Pamela Durdin-Robertson in 1976—as we’ve lined up quite a roster of public ritual and educational events for the next few months. The biggest news is that our annual Goddess Convention, traditionally held at Autumn Equinox and which draws FOI members (and friends from related groups) from a variety of countries to convene in Chicago, is having its quarter-century anniversary this year! That’s 25 years of uninterrupted public festival service to the broader Pagan and occult communities; for my part, it’s been a very exciting 16 years of commitment, as I participated in my first FOI Goddess Convention back in 2002. 

Jupiter Enters Scorpio: King of Cups Energy

I’ve been giddily anticipating this transit for the past few months. Jupiter, planet of expansion and opportunity–our Big Daddy of the zodiac–has officially entered into the fixed water sign of Scorpio today, and will remain there until November 8, 2018. Of course, whether one experiences planetary transits as mostly “positive” or “negative” depends on the sign being transited and that sign’s relationship to one’s own Sun and Moon Signs and Ascendant (for the most part).

Mitrovski Zadušnice: The Serbian All-Souls’ Day Heralding the Start of Winter

There are times when you don’t need to look at a calendar page to know that the Days of the Dead are upon you. All of Nature seems to be a manifestation of the restlessness of spirits on the move, of hungry ancestors clamoring for your attention and your ritual foods. It’s the way that fog banks roll into the city on a strong north wind, blotting out the rising sun. It’s the way that the chill autumn rains beat upon your windowpanes as you curl up under the covers at night, trying to blanket all thoughts of your own mortality out of the province of conscious awareness. That’s what’s been happening in my experience here in Chicago as of the past 72 hours, and it’s all very fitting as tomorrow marks one of the biggest All Souls’ Days (Zadušnice in Serbian, from the root word duša, which means “soul”) in the Serbian calendar.

Rite of Hades: A Planetary Ritual Honoring a Stellium of Planets in Scorpio

(C) A. Applegate 2013. None may reproduce any portion of this ritual without my written consent.

RITE OF HADES

ERECTING THE TEMPLE

(Light the altar candles and incense. Ring the bell three times, then say:)

“Let it be known that the circle is about to be cast.”

8th House Mysteries: Le Petit Mort, Le Grand Mort, et Puissance

“I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”

Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” (1819; line 54)

If you find astrology interesting and you were to take a gander at my natal chart, you’d notice the fun stellium of planets (Venus and Uranus take center stage, so you know it’s a good time) giddily aspecting each other in my 8th House, the dark closet of sorts where subjects not meant for polite conversation in the light of day such as sex, other peoples’ money, and death get thrown in to be dealt with at a later time, when company leaves.