Eclipses are about our relationship to time, our experience of consciousness, and change.
The past, present, and future all swirl around us, ready to be reconsidered and recalibrated. In eclipse season, time is especially gooey, similar to clay — easily remade, easily reshaped.

The light switch of consciousness/present time/all time, toggles between our subconscious, unconscious, and present awareness. We can figure out who or what is running our scripts, and what aspects of our self has messages for us.

People say they want to change but are so scared when change appears.
People force others to conform to ideas that represent stability to their controlling parts, but are actually trading in momentary illusion for more timeless liberations.
Decaying power dynamics are still many of our defaults, even though we innately also understand they aren't working.

How do we become more open to change?

Our lives consist of the stories we choose to tell.
Whether we are aware of this or not, we live within our stories.
Our lives are influenced by the quality of our nervous systems:
our stories follow our state.

To break free from the past and land in the present time, a different story must be told.
One that returns us to more wholeness, not one that creates further fragments.
One that places us squarely at the center of our lives instead of squinting at it through the goggles of our oppressor(s).

When I choose to forgive a past version of myself, there is grief there, wide as a river.
With presence, the river turns into an ocean that overflows with relief.

Messages are delivered on full volume during eclipse season, but I truly believe there is nothing to fear about this potent time. We don’t have to view eclipses as malefic: many cultures do and many cultures do not — most of the popular takes we get from modern, Western, and pop astrology are from a mix of Greco-Roman ideologies, Hellenistic Astro, and European superstitions involving the power of kings. Tibetan Buddhists believe that eclipses are a sacred time of healing and amplification. My own background is in Judaism and the Torah says that Eclipses are a time of omens. Omens are warnings, sure, but they are also messages.

Over time, I began to think of Eclipses as portals and healing opportunities. I’ve spoken about this in the past, but it bears repeating: eclipses are a cosmic nudge. They initiate us into different spaces and places through signs, hints, and revelations. They often help us make closure or create a fresh start. Eclipses remind us to reflect and recalibrate. Ultimately, they help us break patterns. And pattern-breaking is often painful.

Below are some reminders, some inspiration, and some support for eclipse season. 

Reality Goggles.

Our realities are an invisible bubble around us that we create through habits, beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors. These create our perspectives, the lens through which we choose to see the world. Once we begin to push and poke at the edges of this bubble—or question the perspective we’ve adopted—the edges start dissolving. This can look like bliss, it can be deeply healing, it can also look like existential suffering and include a lot of grief.

Play with the idea that emotional pain is a message that you’ve forgotten something important about yourself that once integrated, will initiate healing. During eclipse season, play with the reality goggles you put on. Try rose-colored, black and white, holographic, microscopic, or the widest angle that exists. Don’t forget to be aware of what is happening in the world, these are heartbreaking, brutal times. Don’t forget to be aware of what is happening in the world, these are amazing, beautiful times. Choose your realities wisely.

The Stories Underneath The Stories.

Eclipse season is a time for telling and embodying new stories. Especially outside of the binary: try being a secret third thing. To shake loose of route reactions, pay attention to the stories underneath the stories you tell yourself. Go beneath the superficial into the bones, meat, and muscle that create the shapes that you—and others—have to deal with in order to push the boundaries of the bubble. The stories under the stories, the keys that are buried in the soil, the life haiku that hides in plain sight, are the ones to dive into, excavate, reshape, or root out. Rearrange your schedule: the order in which you put priorities must change. Prioritize rewards, play, work, intuition, stories, focus, attention, and those big dreams that never left you. 

Power Dynamics.

One of my teachers reminds us that we are someone else’s transit. They’ll be attracted to the same thing they might eventually hate you for. You are someone else’s eclipse.

Last year, I told this teacher a story about someone getting angry at me, and how confusing it was, because their large reaction did not match the small misunderstanding that began the outburst. My teacher astutely pointed out that an oversized reaction is often an indicator of some other dynamic: usually about power, or about the projection we’ve become to another to help them work out some story or suffering they had been carrying inside in the form of building resentment and judgment.

People will wait to pin something on you so they can finally release a harsh opinion or heavy insecurity. Gentle reader, be mindful of other people’s outbursts this week and for the next few weeks. Be mindful of your reactions: did someone really do something “wrong,” or is it simply not your ego’s preference? Does the situation simply not match the story you needed to fall back on?

Power is what we have easy access to after we clear away all the distractions, distortions, and noise that our egos and assorted conditionings create to keep us separate from…whatever it is we most need. To save energy, step away from people intent on telling you who you are, or those steeped in defensiveness, manipulation, or control dynamics. To save energy, relationships, and time, try to go straight to the sources of your power that involve spiritual practice, love, compassion, creation, and divinity. It’s ok to be alone for a while, as you figure out new dynamics that allow everyone to be (and breathe).

Healing Spirals.

Eclipse season is a time when we have an easier idea of gauging where on the healing spiral we are based on the types of themes that buoy up to the surface, and where they are anchored in the bones of our real stories. Eclipses are a time of omens: resistance is a sign as much as an angel number on the microwave, or a butterfly flying into your home. Look up, around, and notice what, and how, the universe communicates. What are the omens you’ve been carrying around, and what needs to be embodied instead?

If you're looking for some more support this Eclipse season, add the Protection Magic Collection to your altar.