"Everything we ever imagined, thought or felt is available now. This is chaos." Christine Page on Chaos and Re-Creating Our Lives.
 
On Thursday December 31st at 2:13pm EST we will experience a Full Blue Moon at 11 degrees of Cancer/Capricorn (Moon in Cancer/Sun in Capricorn).
 
A Blue Moon occurs when two Full Moons occur in a calendar. We call the second Full Moon the Blue Moon. A Blue Moon occurs roughly every 2.5 years.
 
This Thursday's Blue Moon is a bit more uncommon because it is happening on New Years Eve-a coincidence that happens only about once in every twenty years. So this particular Blue Moon is slightly more qualified than most for the saying: "once in a blue moon". And, as Susan Miller writes, "This eclipse might bring a 'once in a lifetime' event." It's the end of the first decade of the 21st century; and it seems the Lunar presence is putting a bit of an exclamation point on that transition.
 
Here is some good advice for the safe navigation of this touchy transition. "It is wise to keep gatherings intimate and safe. The eclipse comes with a caution to keep personal safety in mind; and if you're traveling, stay in the city where you're celebrating. Eclipses can bring sudden news, and in Cancer, it has to do with security, family, and for Americans, our national identity. Everyone may be seeking comfort, a sense of intimate connection, hominess." (Susan Miller)

 

 

Every year / simpler and quieter / preparation for the New Year --Mitsu Suzuki, Zen Master
 
The New Year's Eve partial eclipse can be seen throughout most of the northern hemisphere. Sky and Telescope says: "It won't be much of a visual treat - but at least it'll be noticeable!" So do step outside of your New Year's Celebrations to look up. Maybe crack open some champagne out there while you're at it. Celebrate the old and toast in the new.
 
"A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind the earth and the earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, there is always a full moon the night of a lunar eclipse... A partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the Moon passes through Earth's umbral shadow." Wikipedia
 
The fact that the December 31st eclipse is partial signals to me that at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, our transformation is only partially complete. Well, I guess that's pretty obvious when we look around at the state of the world and the crises on our plates - collectively and personally. Because of global technology, humans' lack of compassion for their fellow humans is right in our faces. We will be looking at it intently over the next decade.
 
In other words, we are just warming up. The second decade of the 21st century brings singular intensity in many different ways (from an astrological perspective, it is jam-packed). This is a decade of reckoning, when our unrealized dreams and negative patterns will be tested, as their outcomes become more and more obvious in the external world. 
 
Think about this number and say it out loud: 2020. That's right - 2020. One decade from now. How futuristic does that number sound? It kind of blows my mind.
 
Then, think back to, say, 1995 - which is when Windows 95 opened the internet information highway (the world wide web) to the mainstream. That was 15 years ago.
 
In this next decade. Similar - perhaps even more profound - leaps will be made. The Greatest Generation, the ones who lived through the Great Depression and two World Wars will all be gone by 2020. The Boomers, who were born from 1940 to about 1965 and represented a large influx of souls, will be around 70 or 80 years old. The new generations will be in charge. Gen X, Gen Y, The Millennials, The Indigos.
 
Where will we be in 2020? Where will you be in 2025 (15 years from now)? The phrase 'you aint seen nothing yet' comes to mind.
 
At maximum, only 8.2% of the lunar disc will be in the umbral shadow for this eclipse. To me this means that only 8.2% of the necessary emotional clearing has been completed since the year 2000. This emotional clearing is necessary for humanity to stop putting selfish personal security above creating a sustainable and compassionate world.
 
The need for emotional clearing is urgent. The only way we will be able to change the fate of humanity (and end war, hunger, poverty, disease, environmental devastation, climate change - whatever, there is a long laundry list) is if we clean our own wounds and begin to look around and say: how can I help?
 
Compassion has to come from an open heart. In order to truly (for) give, you must be willing to open your heart and release the pain. - Brandon Bays