We have only just been delivered from our final eclipse in Libra until 2033 and are now gearing up for the Full Moon in Aries on October 17th. While technically this lunation will mark the exit to eclipse season, it might have a very eclipse-like feel to it as it is still in the same sign as the North Node and square to a fallen pre-retrograde Mars in Cancer now in its foreshadowing period. We can't forget that Mars just squared the Solar Eclipse in Libra at the beginning of October, now it's hitting us from the opposite end of the axis. At the time of the Full Moon, it's likely that we are still digesting eclipse season revelations.
Eclipse season is a lot of things, at times it can even come through without much notice at all. This tends to be the case especially when the nodes and their rulers are far away from personal planets, there might be a later date when something more impactful is happening in the astro weather that triggers the nodal themes in a personal chart. On the contrary, I’ve also had eclipse seasons like the one I’ve just arrived from, one with twists and turns, surprises, spontaneous combustion, life altering clarity that severs the head off of long standing devils. Something that often accompanies eclipse cycles like these ones? The sensation of shock.
Shock is very often embedded into the Aquarius, Aries, Martian, and Uranian archetypes as well, this is something the collective will have to contend with as Pluto moves forward and settles into Aquarius for the next 20 years officially beginning on November 19th, as Neptune enters Aries in March of 2025, and as Uranus enters a new sign in July of 2025; when the transpersonal planets ingress new signs, it signifies a new direction and reality. These near simultaneous ingressions hint at societal and generational changes in the coming decade that may come on very suddenly. The thing that eclipses and these transpersonal planets might have in common are these out of body experiences like (but not limited to) shock. This is likely because these are all planets and points that go beyond the usual significations of the 7 traditional celestial bodies, they transcend the daily experience. In fact, we hardly notice Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto unless they are coming directly into contact with a personal planet allowing them access to our daily lives.
Shock is so pervasive because the information, outcome, or damage that comes as a result of an event is so out of the ordinary, so unexpected and outside of the typical reality that one is currently experiencing or has already experienced, that the mind, the body, and the soul falter. They, even if only momentarily, struggle to understand what this means, what the consequences are, and how this could have happened. It takes longer for the unexpected to fit into the already unified reality of what previously was. All of this discussion about the underlying planetary significations of shock is for the purpose of discussing Quantum Leaps and what I am calling “Quantum Crashes”
Keep in mind, I am not much of a physicist but from what I understand, a quantum is actually the smallest possible unit of energy and the quantum leap is describing an abrupt change in the state of an electron, going from one energy level to another as it interacts with its environment. If atoms (with electrons being a key subatomic particle) make up all matter, including human beings, we can see how important a role our very environment has in relation to our energy. This is the idea that all it takes is one small decision or unexpected event to “leap” into the future. This “future” might be symbolic for a reality that is completely different and particularly accelerated in some way, one that fundamentally changes the environments we are in and have access to. That might mean for example, that a particular career choice is made and due to the ripeness of the moment, the momentum of past choices, and an interaction with some stimulus in the environment, a person’s reality changes very quickly. It’s as though they were able to skip certain steps that others have to take, as though something or someone has appeared out of thin air, as though they literally leapt into a kind of future. Right place, right time.
Saturn is the planet that tends to represent a timeline, an order of things, patience that is required, the things that we are unable to fast forward through. This is why the leap is always accompanied by an element of surprise or shock– it is connected to something we thought we were far away from or would never happen due to the previous energy state that we were confined to. Very often, the thing that propels us into the future works with Saturn as a companion in waiting patiently and responsibly for the perfect moment.
This sounds like such a novelty, but it happens more than you might think, the thing is: It requires you to become very much like these transpersonal planets, these fated points, the wacky and unprecedented Aquarius and Aries archetypes. In order to leap into the future, you have to be embodying or interacting with something different. Sometimes that means saying “no” to things that others might say yes to, it might mean the willingness to look strange for the sake of being yourself, it might look like nothing at all– maybe it is simply waiting and staying still, particularly if before, you would have rushed ahead to your detriment. This kind of acceleration requires a readiness to move past certain cycles, lessons, behaviors and most importantly, it requires that you know yourself and your inner voice above all others. How often do we hear, “I knew something was off, but I trusted them/it anyway”? There are many reasons why we may succumb to outside pressures, but this inner conflict and distrust also shows that one may not be ready for this accelerated future that a leap provides. It is okay, by the way, to not be ready and to embrace where you are because accelerating and then not knowing how to listen to yourself results in, what I like to call, the “Quantum Crash”.
Sometimes this is a literal crash. What better indicates the sensation of “wrong place, wrong time” than a car wreck, a severe injury or illness, something that very likely isn’t explicitly your fault, but rather a result of a perfect storm environment. If the Quantum leap is about a moment of readiness or an unexpected event that lead to an accelerated future due to a change in energetic state or environment, a Quantum crash might be a moment where something is very wrong. This is where we might make a decision, entering an environment or state that goes against the inner voice that says “I don’t want to go” or “I don’t feel good about that person”, etc. These are make or break moments and if we are to push through the intuitive, instinctual gut feelings and do whatever we are “supposed to do” instead, we might meet the consequences of the reality that the body tried to warn against in the first place.
When the crash happens, it requires that we pay for it and make the necessary changes to our circumstances. Sometimes that means literally paying for collision damage or a hospital bill, sometimes that means we are paying in emotional or physical pain but either way, when we are able to recognize what went wrong, that means the pattern can change. The thing is, sometimes the crash is cataclysmic enough that it forces us back to the past first. This is the result of many decisions made against both the body and the intuitive vision that begin to stunt growth, bringing up very old patterns and characters that we thought we were long past, ones we thought we would never have to see again. When this happens, there is a choice to do what couldn’t be done before, i.e. change or risk continuing the pattern. The continuous pattern is a recipe for the destructive downward spiral. However, if you have paid for the damages inside or outside and have made a significant change as a result of the “crash”, often an opportunity to leap comes soon after.
Let's be clear though, the crash is still shocking somehow. I realize that this sounds like a series of natural consequences, but these can be missed so easily if you’ve lost your intuitive volume. In high school I was rear ended when I was in the car with someone who was extremely abusive and much older than me, but I couldn’t recognize it at the time, I couldn’t hear the wrongness and resistance of the moment. This was also someone I should not have been with at that particular time of day and I remember thinking, “What if the wreck had been worse?” If I had gotten hurt in the crash, this relationship would have been revealed and likely would have resulted in many other uncomfortable consequences in my life. In hindsight it was like the car behind us was saying, “Quick, run away while he’s distracted!” Luckily I did make the choice to cut ties soon after, though leaping was not an option at that time because I then jumped into something similar a few months later continuing the pattern and staying in a similar kind of environment. These quantum crashes are both shocking and seemingly unrelated to what is happening in front of you because there is a part of you asleep and in denial of the noise inside, we can only hope that recognition is available before the pattern continues and the crashes become more drastic as a means to prompt a wake up to the reality. While the crash looks and feels awful in the moment, it is ultimately the defibrillator bringing back the life line and ultimately an outer reflection to all that was happening inwardly.
Like I said, when the crash is dealt with properly (paying for the damages, rehabilitation, changing the pattern and environment), there often comes a moment for a leap that pushes you even farther than you would have been without the crash to redirect. The environment is forced to change. This also, from my observation, tends to have astrological symbolism that almost mimics somewhat of a trade up. If a relationship is the cause for the crash and changes are made to the pattern of behavior that lead you there, it might soon after result in another, better relationship that helps you leap into the future. Maybe that means the relationship has accelerated in maturity and therefore rapidly leads to moving in together or a healthy marriage if that’s what is desired. Maybe marriage was far off on your mental timeline and boom, it’s here now and it’s resulted in the improvement of all other areas of your life as well. Now you have a joint income, now this person has opened doors to other people and interests that you are now in love with too. These leaps are the complete expansion of your horizon while the crash results in the world becoming smaller, more insular.
Sometimes, the way that astrological symbolism shows up is, again, seemingly unrelated on the surface. Maybe you are in a college program that was incorrect for you, your body, your desires, and your path leading to a big crash, but if all efforts are made to leave the program (the environment) and make more aligned choices, perhaps you are unexpectedly given an opportunity to travel somewhere you’ve always wanted to go. This would result in the same dichotomy– the crash that minimized the world versus the leap that expands it. They might seem unrelated to each other on the surface but both college and travel are linked to the same astrological archetype– Jupiter, Sagittarius, or the 9th house. When examining the link between crashes and leaps, the astrological link is something that tends to remain consistent.
This isn’t easy though, going from a crash to a leap. It requires a complete transformation of foundational beliefs and sometimes the crash is big enough to change them in one fell swoop but... at what cost? The line between crash-to-leap versus crash-to-bigger-crash is precarious and it requires that you do many of the things you were too afraid to do in the first place to get the leap without the crash but also, that’s precisely its function, its the push to face your fears.
So, when we have these transpersonal transits hitting personal planets and majorly relevant eclipse seasons, you might notice more of these redirections that begin to happen in the months surrounding. When we have a Ketuivan season especially, meaning the South Node is active and making conjunctions, this is when I tend to notice more crashes happening in my own life and those around me. The South Node is meant to detach us from obstacles and while it is not always so dramatic, sometimes, the only way to do this is to crash out through a series of shocking events. If you are wondering whether or not you have experienced a quantum anything– look for those moments of shock, how you handled the sensation, and what took place leading up to and following the event. This can tell us a lot about ourselves, what wounds we are healing and what our bodies truly need from us.
As we head toward an albeit mutually receptive Full Moon in Aries square pre-shadow Mars, it might be a time to reflect on needs, desires, and how supportive the environment around you is in its ability to nurture those things. Have you been heeding the warnings your body and intuition have given? This is where we finally get to see what our Mars retrograde stories might be about, what we need to actively review until Mars exits the post-shadow period on May 3rd 2025.
May your crashes help you leap.
Your friendly neighborhood astrologer,
Katie
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