Lunar Eclipse in Vishaka: A Fork in the Road

On Friday, May 5th at 7:34 am HT (10:34 am PDT) the Moon will be directly across from the Sun in our Full Moon, which is part two of our eclipse portal! The actual eclipse itself lasts from 5:14 am to 9:31 am HT and will be visible when it first begins in Hawaii. Australia, Asia and Eastern Europe will be aligned with seeing it.  It is a penumbral eclipse, however, so the Sun’s rays lighting up the Full Moon will only partially be shadowed by the Earth. We will certainly feel the effects, however!

Vishaka is the fork in the road where we must make a choice to follow our own path. Symbolized by a big tree with many branches, a potter’s wheel, or a lotus at the end of a finish line, it indicates a long-haul effort and a capacity for greatness at the end. Ruled by Indra-Agni, the sacrificial fire, it is where we need to learn to sacrifice immediate gratification to see our vision through. It is also the nakshatra that moves us from Libra to Scorpio, and on the Scorpio side, where it will arrive next, is debilitated. We are learning both how to compromise and not to over-compromise in order to be liked. Sometimes that results in painful feelings of insignificance or sadness as we have to face where we are co-dependent instead of a healthy inter-dependence and break free of those patterns. Ketu, the South node of the Moon is doing the eclipsing this time. While our Solar eclipse two weeks ago brought our obsession and immaturity with power to the surface, this Lunar Eclipse is bringing our deep knowing of how we sacrifice ourselves in our relationships to keep them alive. It also points out where we have disdain for needing to compromise and harmonize with others, and the ways in which we demonize them for taking our perceived power. Ketu is cutting, precise and fiery. It’s energy can feel implosive, as whatever we have been avoiding bursts through our awareness “all of a sudden”. The lesson this Chaya Graha (shadow planet) teaches is that what we actively avoid eventually comes up to bite us. This placement in Libra has been here since March 2022, so we are well in the thick of our remembering by now.

With Mercury Retrograde still in effect, joined the Sun, Rahu and Jupiter across the way in Aries, we can see the ways in which our selfish and self-righteous behavior has gotten us in trouble, particularly when we don’t think before we speak. Saturn is giving a one way,  dristhi right onto Mercury, committing us to learning new boundaries in our communication and how to stay humble but not withhold what we need to share. Conscious communication and listening skills come from an ability to take time for our thoughts and words to collect, and Mercury is giving us that delay right now, if we don’t try to will our way through it! One thing to reflect upon is how even our more giving or humble natures can ultimately come from a self-centric place of desiring acceptance, instead of being honest about our needs and feelings.

Venus has now joined Mars in Gemini and we might find our desire to connect with our communication is in contrast to our desire to “prove our point” or be right. Flirtations can be high but not necessarily followed through with. If there wasn’t so much charge around relationships from these two eclipses, this would be pure feisty fun. Try to find your light heart, laughter and own your triggers. Mars is moving into Cancer on May10th and what we have bottled up inside will come out in very passive aggressive ways, so use the courage you have now to share your feelings, needs and desires. Be bold, be vulnerable and try to be kind!

Happy Lunar Eclipse!

To Find out How this Eclipse is Activating YOU go to "The Stars this Week: Forecast for all 12 Signs"