The Total Taurus Lunar Eclipse Nov 8 (on Election Day in the USA) is significant since it is conjunct Uranus, the wild card and the North Node of our collective evolution.  It’s opposed by messenger Mercury and ruler affection/finance Venus. Squared by disciplinarian Saturn. Sextile boundary dissolving Neptune and trine Provider Ceres.

Ever had a boil? This “skin eruption” is our immune system building a wall around the toxin, and exerting pressure until it bursts and the pus is released naturally. Sometimes, however, it does not. Squeezing it is dangerous, as the poison can spread to surrounding cells and further into our system and potentially our bloodstream.

In these instances, the boil must be surgically lanced, by inserting a needle or cutting it open to drain it.

If this eclipse is the boil, then Uranus is the necessary needle. 

The building pressure leads to the eventual sweet relief of release - pain preceding the clearing of toxic matter. The way to the Ease of Taurus is via Scorpio - facing the yucky, stuff. The trick is to not get ‘stuck in the yuck’, since no healing can come from constantly picking at old wounds.

My take on this eclipse is a radical switch (or opportunity thereof) from complex agendas, motives, desires and pursuits to a pendulum swing back towards quiet, calm, simplicity. A disengagement from drama, and a refusal to be bullied into giving up our growth. Even when life seems to be redirecting us into the darkness, these times ultimately can still lead us to the light. Those with covert agendas would be wise to note this. That which tries to divide us, can inadvertently and unwittingly unite us.

Simple pleasure and the pursuit of pleasure - despite our more advanced world - has been complicated. Simple (and good) food has been polluted by processing and scientific manipulations - the genetically-altered tomato immune to bugs, yet lacking taste. ‘More options’ doesn’t always facilitate a greater chance at satisfaction, but the harder task of wading through that which we do not like or want, in order to discover what we do - take TV channels and supermarket aisles.

If life is the buffet table, this Eclipse asks what we are ‘filling our plates with’? A return to simpler times is possible with a radical reorientation from pursuing what we think we should (or are told) to want, towards what our bodies naturally desire.

Simple Contentment, Comfort and Satisfaction is increasingly being revealed as unconnected to the pursuit or attainment of financial gain (although we can increase the number and quality of our pleasures). A glimpse at most lives of the “rich and famous”  proves that purely material wealth doesn’t necessarily bring lasting happiness. Chasing societies fads and a “one size fits all” mentality, leaves most unfulfilled.

There seems to be no consensus anymore - except on one thing: we would do well to return to a closer relationship with simplicity and Nature.

Trauma is addictive. Peptides released by our bodies during times of high stress can become a drug of choice - think watching a scary movie or riding a rollercoaster, on steroids. Those who suffered childhood trauma are unconsciously hard-wired to naturally gravitate towards people and situations that re-traumatize, as an echo of earlier events - a case of resonance; like attracting like. Sufferers of PTSD (of which we all are, to varying degrees of intensity) are trained to see quiet as simply the ‘calm before the storm’. How many of us have once been pulled back into the orbit of someone who hurt us, whether emotionally, mentally, physically, or spiritually?

If the South Node in Scorpio (with the Sun of how we define ourselves) is our addiction  - complete with Venus (how and what we love) and Mercury (how and what we think about) - we are pulled towards Cycle 8 shadow material, never more alive than when riding sidesaddle with Death - a reason scary movies, rollercasters and sex are so popular (all Cycle 8 brushes with literal or figurative death). Our minds and hearts are often stuck in past pain, or on the avoidance of it, thus still remaining defined by what was or could be lost (8th).

But what about gain?

One of the defining words of the past year was  “permacrisis” (an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events’). How perfectly fitting for the Scorpio South Node.

If the Hormones released during high stress Cycle 8 “fight or flight” events are Cortisol, Adrenalin, Norepinephrine, then in opposition, Cycle 2/Taurus would be the ‘happy hormones’ - Serotonin, Dopamin, Endorphins, Oxytocin - released through physical (Taurus) means:  massage, hugs, aromatherapy, music, exercise, laughter, sex, eating, walking etc.

Trauma robs us of these feel-good hormones but bestows the capacity to more greatly appreciate the simple pleasure, to be found in “ordinary” moments, often overlooked by those chasing (or surviving) a high in more charged, volatile offerings.

No matter who we are and where we find ourselves, these opportunities are available and it’s time to replenish our “happy hormones” - not by unnatural means like an attachment to technological pay-offs (the dopamine hit of checking social media, or “doom-scrolling” as it’s been coined [scouring for bad news]) - but a return to more natural rhythms.

If life is the buffet table, offering a wide array of experiential options, we get to choose what feels comfortable, yet sustaining and satisfying. And chances are, we already know.

Perhaps Uranus in Taurus, tied to this Eclipse, is a freedom found not in reaching for new excitement but in reawakening to the beauty of what we already know works for us.

Perhaps this is the radical Uranus uprising promised in this sky.

A return to simpler things and times - good food, good company, living more in synch with nature and its Cycles and our bodies- is a true rebellion from over-complication. A disregard of the pollution being promoted. In fact, aren’t we already being forced to adapt and adjust to Nature’s changes more than ever before? Uranus on the Taurus Node in this Eclipse is akin to unplugging from that which does not feel good, as simple (and complex) as that.

When power grids go down, we have no choice but to return to a simpler way of surviving. When death visits (Scorpio), we have no choice but to focus on that which remains - that and those we still HAVE (Taurus). When earthquakes, volcanos, floods and tornadoes strike (Cycle 8), we have little choice but to focus on basic necessities (Cycle 2), life’s overlooked luxuries. As technology overcomplicates whilst claiming to simply our human lives, we begin to reject its alluring promises and step outside of its daily control (Saturn Aquarius). A virtual reality webcam meetup will never match an in-person connection. Synthetic ingredients are rarely a worthy substitute for the real thing.

This encouragement to return to natural and simple is underlined by the trine from Ceres in Virgo - the ultimate hallmark of remaining as close to nature/natural as possible. Simple is best. Keeping it simple is better.

The Saturn-Uranus square is activated by this eclipse. Do we choose to commit (Saturn) to freeing ourselves (Uranus) from bondage to toxicity (Scorpio), and return to the greener grass of soothing simplicity (Taurus)? This is a win for the North Node. Or do we repress,  suppress and oppress ourselves - and each other - with doomsday fearmongering? This is a win for the South Node.

The South Node is not all bad. It contains power and resilience in overcoming.

We are each a phoenix, who reads these words. All is not lost. And there is still much to gain.

We have everything we need, as humans, to all live well and prosper. Yet the pus is building, putting pressure on the toxins keeping us from a state of peace, safety and contentment.  From the outside, it may look (and from the inside, feel) dark, dire, ugly, diseased and depressing. But this is only one face of an ongoing process. The yucky face of the boil. Cycle 8 and Scorpio may seem protracted - as does any dark night of the soul whilst we are in it and traversing the long, dark tunnel - but it is only part of a larger process - as long as we don’t give up.

It’s easy to dream up every way things could go wrong at this time but what about dreaming up ways things could go right?

In the days and months ahead, do your best to remain unruffled. To stubbornly refuse to budge from a mindset of prosperity, abundance, growth and gratitude - no matter what shows up. To tenaciously return to grounded inner calm, in any outer turbulent weather. To turn away from scorched earth, desolation and destruction, to gaze upon the greener grass we can plant, water and grow ourselves.

We are each a garden and it doesn’t take much to tend to our plot of land, keeping it clutter free, and always growing something we can look at and find simple satisfaction in.

May all boils burst and may all who suffer find sweet relief.

Possible Mundane Themes: digital (Uranus) currency (Taurus), surprise announcements from banks, shocking wealth and gains, debt and simultaneous surprise losses, new and significant developments in agriculture, farming/farmland, earth shifts: earthquakes, landslides, outages, electrical storms or surges, further fall of greedy companies and corporations & shady people ousted from power, new ways to heal diabetes/thyroid conditions, wild new musical styles and singers, radical art or graffiti movements and messages, unique and bizarre (or shocking) culinary offerings, unexpected high-profile company closures, more community gardens popping up (homegrown produce), further integration of technology in the human body.