Eclipses, with their otherworldly, wildcard natures, always attune me to the strange mysteries of the universe. For instance, the number 3. They say things -signs, omens, bad luck- happen in 3’s. You lose your keys, spill your coffee and are late for work. Or, a package you’ve long awaited for arrives, you find a twenty-dollar bill in the dryer, then you see a beautiful sunset. Numbers are magical that way. Three is also a number in pothole theory. Do you know it?
One day I am walking down the street. I fall into a pothole. Where did that come from? Not my fault!, I cry. I pull myself out. Another day, I’m walking down the street again and I fall into that same pothole. I get mad at myself. Damn! Why did I do that again? Maybe it’s karma or bad astrology… The third time I walk down the street, I see the pothole. I walk around it.
Pothole theory can be applied to multiple situations. I use it to remind myself that the old trigger won’t go away by wishing it away, or beating myself up over it, but that I can make new choices. Because the more vital it is to our soul growth, the more that offensive thing that most disrupts our peace won’t stop happening. It will chase us down and harass us to no end. That’s because there’s something we’re meant to learn here. That learning boils down to getting better at spotting our pothole, then choosing to do something different.
Mercury is retrograde in others-oriented Libra, giving us opportunities to revisit our relationship dynamics…and interpersonal demons. While in Libra, Mercury receives a square from Pluto, planet of power and disempowerment three times (9/9, 9/24, 10/22). In this cycle, interactions with others are showing where we can work on our shadow stuff. If we fall into that same old pothole, we may have the sensation we’re moving backwards -especially when the same old feelings accompany. Though, like Mercury’s apparent, but not actual, backward movement when viewed from Earth- that could be an illusion, too.
The first time I fell into my latest pothole, I was walking down the road minding my own business when, whoosh, I found myself in the pits. Like a premonition or portent, I had an eerie feeling this would happen again. It did. The second time I felt even more outraged, violated and creeped out by another’s behavior. Sure, it was a different day and face, but the same old familiar pothole. Oh…here we go again, I thought, as the well worn grooves of neural pathways ever-ready to reflexively fire up like a pinball machine, did. However, there was a key difference. Once I recognised the transgression, which I did pretty immediately (tightening up my usual lag time) I didn’t allow it to continue. I confronted the wrongdoer. I took action. I honored myself. I still had to clear all the accompanying icky, swampy feelings, but I also got to experience a personal victory. I recognised the pothole! I addressed it as quickly, and cleanly, as possible!
Eclipses repeat; it’s in their nature to reveal patterns. Aries-Libra reveals those creating stress in our interpersonal life. We all have persistent relationship issues that have a gravitational grip so strong we think it’s impossible not to fall into them. Other people push our buttons so perfectly! Now is the time to draw a boundary, if you need. Protect your self. Stand up for yourself. Courageously honor your needs. Take action. Be alert to feelings of hyper-vigilance — fear is a sign to listen more closely to your warrior intuition. Just as each situation is unique, there’s not one right warrior response for everyone but there is one that’s just right for you.
Since eclipses offer thematic repeat performances, you might acknowledge how far you’ve come since the last time you visited the issue you are facing. Mars is square Saturn: Our courageous hero, Mars, has cut his teeth on the blade of experience, and learned something. You’ve grown wiser to your own ways. Where can you turn fear into trust? Where can you claim more clarity, maturity and surefooted-ness on this ground you’ve travelled so many times before… and will undoubtedly again? Which brings me back around to the number 3.
You know what they say: The third time’s a charm. To that, my Aries Moon says: Bring it on.
ThankYou for this article, it has made me realise just what these eclipses have been focused on for me. I now realise a subject I was fearing to approach with my ex partner was delayed, then all of a sudden yesterday out of the blue, I decided to send him a long message, he reacted as he always has and always will whenever I feel the need to discuss something sensitive reguarding our child, I felt sick to my stomach as his barriers went up, defensive mode switched on and then the personal none connected attack on me began, only this time the attack was blown out of the water with what I said and the way I explained myself,I didn’t go into defence mode, I ignored any personal attack and stuck to the subject at hand, every time he attacked because he’d assumed something that was totally not what the subject was about, I stayed calm, ignored anything that was irrelivant in the topic and persisted to correct his assumptions and fully explain my side, with no anger or hesitance, I’m still awaiting the outcome of the discussion in the mean time I have communicated with him as normal about our child and totally ignored his behaviour towards me yesterday, he’s communicated back as normal, so I shall wait a little while to see if he manages to respond about my concern without me mentioning it, if not I shall feel confident on how to approach the subject if and when I need to. Thanks, reading your article is what made me realise this is a huge lesson learnt for me and things will remain calmer in future 🙂
Congratulations to you, RigBear. I’m glad this article helped you become conscious of how you handled an old triggering situation differently this time. Keep it up! xoxo
Leave it to you Jessica to do such a great blog post! The pot hole theory is something I had never heard of before and that I think can save me for the rest of my life from putting my Mercury in Sag hoof in my mouth. I can’t tell you how many times I have pushed a certain persons buttons, unconsciously of course, with that and to the point it got ugly. On top of that, I learned some pretty bad behavior from my mother, and have not until recently understood that I was crossing thresholds not realizing I was really hurting someone, feeling they were just being “too sensitive”. Then my father, just yesterday, said something to me that would normally send me down a pot hole, but I see on hind sight I handled it pretty well. So I got a bit of my own medicine and saw how this sort of thing can be very harmful to someone, but it’s up to us to learn to walk around that pot hole instead of not paying attention and letting something worse come out later and falling into that damn hole. My warrior is working on being noble. Bring it on yes, but I will not lower myself to the same outcomes as before. I will take the higher ground.
Thanks for sharing your story, Michele. Yeah, an Aries Moon victory for you! Keep up the great work. xo Jessica
Thank you!