Dandelions on the Eastern Prom, Portland, ME; photo by Amanda Painter.

Astro quickie: there’s a total lunar eclipse in the wee hours of Monday morning (essentially just after midnight Sunday night: 12:14 am EDT on May 16). The degree of the Moon in Scorpio for this Full Moon eclipse relates to “The ability to adjust swiftly to a new situation by tuning in to its requirements,” and “…the message of peaceful adaptation to nature, and through adaptation, of efficient functioning in all life situations.”

(Both quotes: Dane Rudhyar)

I don’t now about you, but the theme of shedding (things, patterns, emotions, expectations) to make space — and moving with that energy, finding ways to appreciate it rather than resisting it — has been a strong one for me in the last week. 

Specifically, I’ve leaned into my landlord & landlady’s insistence that I clear my stuff from spaces in the building where I’ve been allowed to store things for 15+ years under previous owners. 

It’s an incredible disruption. 

It has meant grieving gardening space lost. 

My initial instinct was to ask for concessions, to negotiate, to try and assert some piece of “what I used to do.”

But I realized that’s not the game they’re interested in. They have power, and an agenda. 

I also realized that if I entered into the process being foisted upon me, it might actually put me in a much better position to relocate. Not only that, but my current “part time” job is getting busier, and it requires me to be away for two weeks straight in the first half of August. Even my landlords allow container gardening this summer, it’s unlikely what I plant will survive those two weeks. 

And so I’m loosening my grip on my love of gardening this summer. Hopefully I’ll find ways for it to emerge in the coming months anyway. 

And I’ve discovered a whole bunch of things in my basement, under my sink, & in my storage cubby that have been waiting for proper discarding for *years* now. I would not have encountered them and taken action without the un-asked-for shove. 

And though I have no idea what to do with some things, I am also enjoying the sensation of releasing what has been hidden, stagnant, held too long (how’s that for a Scorpio theme?) — and of reevaluating the possessions I keep (hello, Taurus Sun!). 

I don’t know if my adjustment to these new requirements counts as “swift” or not (it’s a term rarely applied to me). But it feels “swift enough” to wide the wave. And that’s all the matters right now. 

The April 30 eclipse was about cultivation and aligning with what you desire to draw in; the May 15-16 eclipse is about (at least partly) releasing attachment to whatever could hold you back from adapting to what you intuitively sense is needed by you to be in harmony with nature — i.e., your environment. 

Note, that’s not the same as giving up your power to that which would hurt you, or hurts your environment. 

I do not get the sense my landlord/landlady care about my spiritual/energetic/emotional wellbeing no matter how concerned about the physical safety of the building. And they definitely don’t care about the thriving patch of nature (baby birds some summers! native wildflowers for pollinators! a small snake! loving attention and gardening by a tenant!) that used to be where they’ve now created a barren and much smaller patch of grass — and where, for the last week, the landlady has pulled by hand every. single. dandelion bloom. Every day. 

They may even be intentionally trying to squeeze me out — who knows?

But what they have put in motion, I am determined to use for my own benefit and growth. The more flexible and adaptable I can become, the greater my options for thriving like a dandelion seed wherever I am planted. 

With love, 

Amanda 

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