Hi folks. A quick note before we get into today’s newsletter, which is that I am officially extending Book Deal Breakthrough registration through August 31st, or until seats fill (there are 26 left as of this writing).
That said! Tomorrow, August 12th at 11:59pm Eastern is the deadline for the scholarship application, for low and fixed income folks. One scholarship spot is being generously sponsored by USA Today bestselling romantasy author Nikki St. Crowe, a longtime client of mine who will be visiting Book Deal Breakthrough to talk about the self/indie pub —> trad pub pipeline.
Please note that tomorrow night is ALSO the deadline to get the bonus for paying in full, which is a 30-minute 1:1 Zoom call with me during the 10 week intensive that you can use to pick my brain, have me look at your query letter or first manuscript pages (while on the call), and more.
I know that folks are particularly sensitive to promotion right now, and I really appreciate you sticking around while I make a living. Self-employment in these times is a bitch, and August happens to be when I am heavily promoting the containers (BDB, The Grove) that will (hopefully!) ~pay my bills~ for the duration of the year. Ahh, the life of a working writer. Not as glamorous as it seems!
At any rate, I promise that ~promo season~ will be over soon. Thanks for your patience.
And now, for eclipse season —
the energy of this Leo eclipse
The solar eclipse arrives at 20* Leo at 1:36pm Eastern Wednesday, August 12th.
Relatively unaspected, this eclipse, which is functionally a New Moon, is also a south node eclipse. This presents us with a paradox: what are we beginning, or committing to, or renewing (new moon), that also requires a shedding (south node)? What is being seeded in the wake of loss, of grief, of death — however metaphorical or literal? And what do these patterns suggest as to how our sense of self and identity (Leo) might shift and change in the coming months?
To me, pregnancy is the most prominent image for the new moon/south node paradox, but perhaps that is unsurprising given my social circle. Just today, I was texting with two beloveds who are both expecting. One of them taught me the word “matrescence,” which she described as “a physical/emotional/spiritual change like adolescence, but about becoming a mother.” It is the way that growing a person quite literally changes you on a cellular level, but also the way in which one self dies and another is born.
Excitement for new life, for a new beginning, for a new change does not negate the grief of what is passing. Choosing one doorway can mean the foreclosure of another; certainly, with the journey to parenthood, there is a distinct “life before” children, and “life after.” I have witnessed and supported so many clients and students who, new to parenthood, are experiencing a profound grief for the time and energy no longer available for their writing.
You don’t have to have or want children (~waves in child-free auntie~) to understand just how applicable this new-moon-on-the-south-node framework of simultaneous birth and loss is to many experiences in life.
You don’t have to be pregnant to be on the verge of a major identity shift, the kind that cleaves a path in two, where there are no wrong choices but near-certain grief for the road not taken.
Unsurprising, then, that this eclipse is ruled by Mars in the third decan of Leo. Here, Mars as decan-ruler forces us to confront the challenge of self-assertion, the fight for the right to individuate and be. In 36 Faces, astro-mage Austin Coppock calls this decan “The Banner.” He writes,
The power granted here is the tenacity to fight for the place one has gained, to struggle and be victorious over contrary forces both within and without. One might call this quality courage, but it is not merely a quick surge of bravery, but instead the power of the utterly steadfast heart, which never fails to rise to the challenges present.
Becoming can be a brutal process. Even the safest and most textbook childbirths involve contraction and expansion, the kind of pain (however brief) where you meet yourself at the threshold.
This eclipse is a contraction, one where we screw our courage to the sticking place and rise to the challenge of Becoming what’s next.
I believe in you, and in your writing. We need more of it in the world.
WE GOT THIS! WE WILL SURVIVE ECLIPSE SEASON!
Writing Prompts for Reflection
The last time we had south node Leo / north node Aquarius eclipses was in 2008-2009. The last south node Leo eclipse was February 9, 2009, and the last south node, solar (new moon!) Leo eclipse was August 1, 2008.
What were you doing in those months, especially in the Leo house of your chart? (More on that below.) What did you believe, or want, or aspire to? What were you putting your creative energy toward? What changes did that time period bring about? What changes do you anticipate on the horizon now?
For more on the specific areas of life being impacted by this eclipse, check out your rising sign:
Aries Rising: your creative and erotic energy; your relationship to pleasure; recreational sex; important children in your life; inner child work; games and play, such as sports and gambling
Taurus Rising: your home; relationships with caregivers, parents (especially fathers), and grandparents; roots and cultural heritage; relationship to privacy
Gemini Rising: your daily rituals and routines, including your writing routine; communication; K-12 education; siblings and close friends who feel like family; local neighborhoods; short-form writing; newsletters, blogs, and columns; radio & podcasting
Cancer Rising: your resources, material and otherwise; your budget and personal finances; how you spend and how you save; what you value
Leo Rising: your self-expression & identity; your (approach to) appearance, style, and aesthetic; your way of showing up in the world; your general vitality and energy levels
Virgo Rising: your subconscious & personal connection with the unseen world; what you are slowly integrating into our consciousness; ancestral legacy, generational inheritance, and family secrets
Libra Rising: your friendships, community commitments, and/or professional networks; the internet and how you present yourself on it; hopes and dreams
Scorpio Rising: your relationship with legacy & authority; your public roles and reputation; how you think/feel about the idea of “career”; in Hellenistic astrology, this is also the part of the chart that tells us about the birthing parent or primary caregiver
Sagittarius Rising: your relationship to teaching & learning within the wisdom pathways (philosophy, religion, spirituality, and astrology); overall approach to beliefs; traditional publishing and legacy media; travel, especially international; long-term plans
Capricorn Rising: your collaborations with others; contracts — monetary, emotional, spiritual, and otherwise, including but not limited to the book deal itself, anything to do with your independent clients/students, freelance work, debts, taxes, royalties, inheritance, alimony, child support; grief and loss; mental health
Aquarius Rising: your committed partnerships, whether romantic or business, but most especially contracted relationships such as spouses, domestic partners, agents, long-time editors, and co-writers
Pisces Rising: your daily work life, especially the environment of your workplace; any people you specifically employ or who report to you; daily health & wellness; how your work impacts your body; pets
Thank you for reading Astrology for Writers. Paid subscribers keep the lights on, and every subscriber keeps me going.
Big love,
Jeanna
