"The penumbral lunar eclipse of February 9 at 21° 00’ Leo opposes Neptune, just days after Saturn and Uranus make the first of their opposition alignments in 2009. This one has an effective geophysical shock window that stretches from the 4th (a day in advance of the Moon’s north declination maximum on the 5th) all the way through the 12th."
Here it comes, the lunar eclipse hitting the full Hunger Moon (also known as the Bony Moon [kagali] in the Cherokee tradition, and as Magh Poornima in the Hindu calendar) on Monday. In sum, solar eclipses are hard starts and lunar eclipses are hard ends. The shortest description of the effect of a lunar eclipse: you will lose something to which you have strong ego-based (i.e. you have your identity invested) emotional attachment. The moon is always about emotion and it's always about the impermanence of things - a lunar eclipse ratchets up the conjunction between the two, and weilds the effect of any full moon times 10 basically.
"A lunar eclipse is a supercharged Full Moon. The blocking of the Moon's reflection of the Sun's light by the Earth suggests that our material viewpoint stands in the way of our "seeing the light". It serves as a reminder that we need to realize how we are held in the dark by virtue of our perspective."
The Hunger moon signifies the deepest part of winter, the time of year when you are most likely to watch helplessly as those who are weakened may leave the material world. Most rituals associated with this moon are about honoring and asking guidance specifically from the people to whom you are related who are in spirit (i.e. dead). Speak to your (dead) folks as you prepare a meal - the smell of the food will carry your message, and in turn the guidance that you need will begin to come to you as you eat and thus feel the undeniable fact that you are still among the living. That's the Cherokee ritual, making a family dinner of sorts and setting places for your ghosts. You must accept: you are where you are (here); others are elsewhere (gone). Each of those facts presents its own challenges, felt uniquely at the crossroads between.
You may also choose something to let go of, a bad habit typa thing. A useful ritual option for that is simply flushing it down the toilet, symbolically or literally so long as you don't clog your drains. Of course you can use fire rituals for this too, and most group pagan rituals for this moon are some version of standing around a fire w your friends and throwing into it something that represents what you will henceforth relinquish (self-loathing, for instance, or bad memories, or a pic of an ex-lover you're still hung up on . . . ). Think of it this way: It's February, the food is almost gone, the firewood is wet, you're skinny and subject to maladies etc., so putting down anything to lighten your load may be the difference between your survival or not.
This year the Hunger Moon will be in Leo - that's not really good news. Leo is a fixed sign and doesn't get along well with emotionality, fluidity, change of any kind, and it especially is not happy with feeling out of control. Leo is one of those signs that is least likely to "go with the flow", especially any flow imposed on it by circumstances. Leo is prideful, it goes hard before falls. Chances are your emotional instinctive response to the eclipse will be something like "NO!", especially if you're a fixed sign. But it won't do you any good as the effects of an eclipse are usually not chosen and are usually "non-negotiable".
"The Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on February 9, 2009 occurs at 21°00' Leo (the degree of "Own Worst Enemy!"), in conjunction with the Fixed Star Algenubi, a star of cruelty, yet also artistic appreciation combined with great spiritual gifts, while the Sun is on the stars Castra ("The Fortress"), often considered problematic, though it has a good side, and Nashira, which favours good governance, writing, religion and the overcoming of evil. Pretty good, then, so long as you tread carefully and do not let ego create big problems making you your own worst enemy! [big caveat, eh?]
What we are called upon (or driven) to do may often interfere with what gives us emotional satisfaction, or we chase after our desires, while we waste or fail to develop our talents and skills. A tug-of-war exists between desires and emotional needs and practical ambitions. Appreciate whatever positive circumstances you encounter, and don’t be misguided enough to believe you can easily overcome any negative ones."
This full moon, one already about losses, magnified to the 10th power by an eclipse is a daunting notion. Seems like the arduous emotional tasks of letting a child grow up, of letting a parent grow old, of letting a person come into being in your life, of letting a person leave the world and yours = the most clear metaphors applicable to these first 2009 sun/moon eclipses respectively. In the most basic of ways, we are all trying to deal with those very cruxes all the time already, of course. I guess you could say that the stars are aligning themselves to help us have to.
No futures are ever set in stone, but in general news you get now will not easily be changed. For instance, a diagnosis of a medical condition now probably won't be miraculously revised. But it does bode well for transmutation. That seems like cold comfort for those bound to stay put, but it is good news for the ill and/or departing, for they are more likely to experience their mortality/leaving as a sensation of being strongly wanted/welcomed elsewhere. Full moons are always associated with lycanthropy [from Greek lykánthropos (λυκάνθρωπος): λύκος, lýkos ("wolf") + άνθρωπος, ánthrōpos ("man") used generically for any transformation of a human into animal form, though the precise term for that is technically "therianthropy"], but the Bony Hunger Moon is the one designated as such, and is the moon you honor as the guardian of transmuted souls and their commerce with this world, in aupicious forms and ways. Given the effects of an eclipse on that moon, there will be something like door thrown widely open btw us-here and them-gone, which will guard the paths forward in our own lives for us if we ask for that, and which will illuminate the path away for anyone leaving us and/or the material world if we find a way to ask for that. All very good things. But the challenge: Unattachment feels to me like swallowing gooey lead. A giving up thing, only bad. And given the affect of Leo, it might be like the Sun asking the Moon for a little light. Like Life asking Death to be maid of honor. (ways to cope)
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Instead of a song, I offer a recipe for your Hunger Moon dinner. From the sandwich menu, the "Hippie Heroin":
-Get a dense multi-grain bagel (dense like a hockey puck, not fluffy - I like the flaxseed ones from Wegman's) and toast it dark crispy.
-Spread it generously with whipped butter (do not substitute margarine cz that stuff tastes like shit - and this is no time to diet, anyway, since you're feeding souls duh).
-Let the butter melt in a little, then spread thickly with peanut butter (I like organic crunchy).
-Add just a wee pinch of sea salt (the representative of the water element in this recipe, as a substitute for the Hindu emersion rituals of this moon).
-Then drizzle a tiny bit of honey over the top and onto the plate.
-Serve open faced with a side of fresh fruit you splurged on, a taste of natural food you can't help but feel glad you're alive for - red raspberries are my choice, watermelon for my grandpa.
