April 6, 2024 | by Naraya Naserian |
No Ordinary New Moon!
I’ve said it often and i say it once more:
These are no ordinary times!
And sure as heck, this Aries New Moon is no ordinary New Moon!
From the Shamanic Astrology Divination Card Deck (sadly currently out of stock).
This New Moon is the epic stage on which plays out the last of four Solar Eclipses criss-crossing the continental United States of America, namely in 2012, 2017, 2023, and NOW. Hailed a Great American Eclipse, it will occur on April 8 at 19degrees 24minutes of the bold, fiery, action oriented sign of Aries, and cast its path of totality all the way from Mexico across the continental United States and South-Eastern Canada.
Around 31 million people live in this path and hundreds of thousands more are expected to travel into it. The media is full of narratives and “predictions” about it, local authorities have put “emergency measures” in place, NASA is launching three APEP rockets, and CERN intends to power up its dubious “particle accelerator” once again, supposedly to “search for ‘dark’ matter that secretly powers our universe.”
Investigating this remarkable confluence of events is like going down a deep, dark and damp rabbit hole, leading to Alistair Crowley (April 8-10 being ‘The Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law’), APEP (the name given to the NASA rockets) standing for Apophis, the Egyptian snake god of darkness and disorder, the X symbol, and so much more. As always, i suggest you do your own research.
Following the symbolism, we can reasonably expect that The Powers That Are flailing, faltering, failing, falling and finally fading away at this Great Turning of The Ages will attempt to use this Solar Eclipse and possibly the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction following in its wake for yet more of their concerted malevolent efforts to get all of us under total control and implement their agenda.
Much has already been said and written about this eclipse. To recap, you can watch some recent TOTAMS videos, such as Astonishing April Astro Events or The Incredible Aries Lunation.
Still, i’d like to highlight a few of the main players and how they might interact.
The Moon-Venus Occultation
On April 7, just 24 hours prior to the Moon’s disk temporarily covering the face of the Sun, the Moon will pass in front of Venus, with the path of this occultation following nearly the exact path of the Total Solar Eclipse. See this composite image where i have overlayed the path of totality of the Solar Eclipse (the narrow triple-line) with the much wider path of the Venus occultation (light purple). As this occultation – or Venus Eclipse – is happening during daylight, it cannot be observed with the naked eye. However, my sense is that it is bringing a highly significant added energetic imprint to the Solar Eclipse.
Let’s remember that only a few days prior, on April 3, Venus met with Neptune at 28Pisces. As I wrote in my media post on that day: “As she, the planetary representation of the Sacred Feminine, is about to enter the 8th Gate of Death by Intent of her Leo Overstory descent journey, and getting ready to – be it courageously or with shaking knees and chattering teeth – enter the Underworld, Venus has a very special and crucial role to play in the upcoming April 8 Total Solar Eclipse.” That role, in my perception, is to pass on the all-embracing, all-welcoming, all-accepting, all-inclusive infusion of Cosmic Mother Love she received during her encounter with Neptune’s compassionate Piscean nature to the Moon which she now encounters in an intimate occultation/eclipse embrace on April 7. We can imagine that in turn, the Moon will infuse this Cosmic Mother Love energy into the Solar Eclipse, even more so as the Eclipse action, albeit in the seasonal sign of Aries, takes place in the watery, loving, compassionate, celestial constellation of the Fish.
However, as another flavour of this embrace, let’s also consider the Neptunian contribution of “creative confusion”. Maybe it’s time to start understanding that we don’t fully understand, that we don’t know what we don’t know, that we are only ever able to see part of the picture of our individual and collective soul and path, and therefore, would do well to refrain from Aries typical good vs. bad, black and white, rash words, rash action, rash side taking.
Chiron
With Chiron occupying, by degree and minute, the same zodiacal position as the Solar Eclipse, i.e. Sun and Moon, he is obviously THE focal point here. Chiron’s orbit is one of between 49-51 years, while the Moon’s Nodes, the places where eclipses occur, return to each position on the wheel every 18.6 years. What are the odds for these two cycles to be in such exact alignment?!
Chiron’s archetypal energy is that of “the wounded healer”, or – preferred within the Shamanic Astrology paradigm – an Underworld teacher that points out the fracture points. Other than his colleague Pluto who is empowering through the letting go of, surrendering and composting that which no longer serves our individual and collective journey, Chiron invites us to look deeply into where the fracture points and fragmentations are, identify, compassionately welcome, integrate, and thus, heal them. To learn more about Fragmentation, you can read this article.
So here in Aries, at this crucial opportunity of the Total Solar Eclipse – where day turns to night and back to day within a few minutes, pointing out the shadows – and if we are willing to engage in this necessary healing process as our spiritual practice, what might be revealed? What fragmented parts and aspects of ourselves as individuals and of humanity’s collectively created extremely distorted expression of the Masculine Aries Archetype have we previously denied, disowned, repressed, and shoved into the deepest storerooms of the subconscious, desperately hoping they’d never bother us again?
After all, unhealthy expressions of Aries include (see Shamanic Astrology Handbook, p. 65)
- fighting for the sake of fighting
- extreme self-absorption, selfishness, and narcissism
- no empathy or compassion
- ruthless black and white fundamentalism
- winning at all costs
Sounds familiar? It certainly does, especially considering the case of the United States of America, the nation with the most involvement in 21st century wars, which finds itself not only center stage in this Eclipse but with its Chiron sitting at 20Aries08 also navigating their 5th Chiron return.
“The Chiron Return cycle gives us the greatest chance … to digest our life’s story. To fully digest your story you must be willing to open to transforming your wounds, coming to the place where you are no longer attached to your story as a victim or perpetrator.” But if a person or nation (!) “hasn’t done very much in the way of healing and isn’t aware of their sacred wounds, then usually the Universe will act to bring this to their awareness.” – Shamanic Astrology Handbook, p. 176
Or as Dale O’Brien pointed out:
“When Chiron was last in Aries, about 500 Vietnam Vets, led by amputee Vets, threw their war medals, and those of their dead fellow vets, over the White House fence, symbolizing their rejection of mass murder and the glorification of killing of people of no threat to the U.S. Even the ‘disabled’ were able to perform powerful actions to bring about an end to horrendous actions.”
“Chiron (in Aries) was and is a time for courageous solitary non-action as the best form of action. Then and now, Chiron in Aries says, I Will Not Comply.”
The Comet
Image: earthsky.org, via Stellarium/ Kelly Kizer Whitt
By now you will have heard all about Comet Pons-Brooks. Recently dubbed the “Devil Comet”, it appears every 71 years or so. A few days ago, it suddenly brightened manyfold in its appearance and is said to now be visible with the naked eye, possibly even during the Eclipse.
But other than fuelling fear, exactly why the lamestream media is spreading the “Devil Comet” narrative remains a mystery to me. They purport it is because some time ago it appeared with a forked tail that looked like “horns”. But frankly, it takes a lot of imagination to see a devil there. Given the option, i’d have probably described it as a cute kittycat face emoji. And in any case, the comet itself doesn’t even look like that anymore! Your thoughts?
However, in TOTAMS Astrology every prominent comet is considered a Wild Card, certainly adding another volatile element to this already myth- and symbolism-laden Eclipse. Reaching perihelion, the closest approach to the sun, on April 21, in addition, comet Pons-Brooks powerfully links the Eclipse with the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction happening on that same day! Don’t expect the expanded unexpected to be, look or feel like anything you could have ever imagined!
Mercury Retrograde and The Eris Wild Card
Mercury stationed retrograde in Aries on April 1 and will remain in the sign for an astonishing 66(!) days. During its pre-retrograde and retrograde journey it has three crossings with the eclipse degree (March 21, April 16 and May 5). Also as part of this journey, it is aligning three times with Eris, who is currently moving from Aries24 to Aries25.
Eris, the Goddess of Chaos and Discord – remember that Egyptian Snake God i mentioned above? – who gate-crashed the party and threw the golden apple “to the fairest”. And so, as they all wanted to win the label of “the fairest”, the fighting began… Often described by Daniel Giamario as a synergy of Gemini and Scorpio, Eris can be seen as an uncontrollable spirit, unwilling to mold herself to convention or accept any injustice, wild, free, “unbowed” as the late Kenyan activist and environmentalist Wangari Maathai called it and aptly described in her memoir. Eris in Aries, her powerful message to not yield to elitist power games amplified by her triple consultation with Mercury – another Wild Card in the mix!
A Ceremonial Approach
Considering all this, rest assured that an eager and excited group of Seed People led by TOTAMS Founder Daniel Giamario and Shamanic Astrologer Vivian Hurley will be on location in the path of totality to do ceremony and – regardless of weather or geo-political conditions – experience the eclipse with awe and wonder, just like the ancients did. Where they’ll be, amidst the sacred landscape of the ancient Ohio Valley Earthworks, the spectacle happens from 13:50-16:23 EDT, with four minutes of totality around 15:08 EDT.
For those like me, who cannot be physically present at the event, i warmly suggest we tune in in spirit to amplify the energy of our TOTAMS group as well as energize our own ceremonial approach to this incredibly significant celestial event, and thus assist to Inform The Mysteries As Much As They Inform Us! After all, to quote Daniel Giamario once more:
“The intention, then, is to develop such a depth of intimate connection with the seasons and cycles of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars that eventually we experience that connection all the time. In our ordinary lives, ceremonially engaging with the astrological timings and cycles is as practical a path to awakening as prayer or meditation. In this sense, having a ceremonial relationship with the seasons and cycles and stars and planets is the spiritual practice of Shamanic Astrology.”
Ceremonial fire at the TOTAMS 2023 Annual Gathering in Oracle/Arizona
As a final inspiration, i leave you with the lyrics and tunes of the song “We Shall Be Known” by Ma Muse:
“We shall be known by the company we keep,
By the ones who circle round to tend these fires.
We shall be known by the ones who sow and reap
The seeds of change, alive from deep within the Earth.
It is time now, it is time now that we thrive.
It is time we lead ourselves into the well.
It is time now, and what a time to be alive
In this Great Turning we shall learn to lead in love!”