I remember mom telling me about the solar eclipse she
watched as a young child. It must have been the eclipse of 1923. She would have
been seven years old. They broke dark glass bottles through which to view it
and one of her classmates got a nasty cut. Times have changed. No responsible teacher
now would let a second grader use ordinary bottle glass and especially from a
broken bottle.
I had no interest in watching this one through special
glasses. It was a natural, recurring event and besides it was only partial here
in Taos. However, the sun did grow dim and I found myself wanting to wipe clean
a non-existent window because the light went down as if God had turned a dimmer
switch on the Sun. Nevertheless, I did notice a change in the energy surrounding us.
The Moon normally reflects the light of the Sun after the Sun has moved to the
invisible side of the Earth. When the Sun goes dark above us, in what would
normally be its zenith, it must turn our normal perception inside out.
Somehow, this fits perfectly with the times. Many qualities associated
with Leo, the astrological sign ruled by the Sun, such as ideals, leadership,
authority and protection from dark forces seems to be turned inside out, and
apt description I believe, of a Solar eclipse. This analogy is also an apt description of our current world condition and definitely our national leadership.
The enormous attention given to this Solar Eclipse,
indicates that such primal events in nature still activate something equally
primal in we modern humans however urbanized we have become. Nature rules in
spite of our artificial lights, electronic information and asphalt footing. Of
course, we attempt to capture such cosmic events with our mobile phone cameras.
Normally, the Moon reflects light from the Sun and
stimulates the inner Sun of the emotional, intuitive realm to come out and
play. A full Moon is an exact opposition of the Sun and Moon. However, there is
an unseen dark side to the Moon and Full Moons are notorious for stimulating
both sides of the Moon. In our culture,
the Moon has a feminine identity, and that is appropriate in that the Moon is
only a reflection of the dominant Sun who has all the other planets revolving
around him. This, however, is not true in all cultures. It may be that much of
the craziness in our daily news has something to do with overlooking the
intuitive emotional aspects of human nature and thus leaving them undeveloped and
prey to distorted expressions. I can’t help notice that most malicious, brutal
and irrational outbursts are coming from young males. They obviously lack something
important in their emotional development.
We will never control this rogue behavior with violence and
further rejection alone. There has to be a genuine and soul satisfying
alternative. Yes, it’s possible; even likely, that politically motivated forces
are encouraging much of this explosive behavior, but lighting the wick of a candle
has an entirely different effect than lighting the wick of a bomb.
Some years ago, the rangers in Africa began killing older
bull elephants, to thin down herds. Before long, they discovered that the young
males went rogue, killing other animals that elephants usually ignore, and harassing
the females with babies. It turned out
that older males were necessary to keep the young ones in check and show them
how to behave. When one gender is out of balance, all is out of balance. People
are more complex, but something important is missing in our development
whatever the origins of the problem.
Inevitably, the perceptual filters of our experiences and
beliefs are impacting this earth. I believe most of us would agree that it is
time for us to become conscious and responsible for the environment we create
with our unconscious views. We have lived for a long time with an approaching solar
eclipse. A physical eclipse of the Sun
by the body of the Moon that represents all the unconscious powers that we
ignore is a great symbol to work with. All that is unconscious is more likely
to manifest in destruction rather than creation. However, our universe lives in
cycles of a dance of darkness and light. I do hope, however, that the time is not far off for the Sun to shine again on the inside as well as the outside of our lives even though I suspect darkness will become deeper before the light begins to emerge.
