The Power of Story: The Aries Solar Eclipse, April 8, 2024
Whale Rider: How to Claim Our True Identity
20* Aries Solar Eclipse, April 8, 2024
This Monday’s total solar eclipse has everyone’s eyes turned to the heavens. At totality, most of the other planets, stars and perhaps a meteor will be visible. A night sky seen within the day. (LadyHawke has the best solar eclipse scene in a movie.) Since it sweeps across the United States, we Americans have made a ‘thing’ of it. Which is annoying in general, since we overdo things all the time, but maybe this time, it might be a good thing. That is, if people give it meaning.
Astronomically, this New Moon solar eclipse is a super charged New Moon – something, along with Full Moons, we see happen every month. Solar and lunar eclipses occur around the world twice a year when the planes of the Sun, Moon and Earth join up. The Moon appears to move across the face of the Sun, sometimes partially, sometimes like this one, covering it completely. That’s how it creates a shadow on the Earth and darkness falls. Don’t we live in an amazing, magical world?
This New Moon is especially potent for many reasons. First, because it’s in the sign of Aries – the sign of beginnings, of the primal fire of creation, of the quest to answer the question: Who Am I?
Aries is the fire of life incarnating, the green plants pushing up out of the soil, the leaves beginning to unfurl. Who Am I? is a question we ask ourselves each year when we have an Aries New Moon, but because this year it’s an eclipsed New Moon, it becomes even more important that we take the time to answer that question.
Another energy that is conjunct (combined with) this eclipse also indicates that it’s time to discover who we really are, both personally and collectively.
The asteroid Chiron, symbolizing the energy of the centaur who taught many Greek heroes their talents so they could achieve their destinies, (as well as being the Wounded Healer archetype), will join this New Moon. Chiron in Aries tells us that our wound is to our identity, not a mommy or daddy wound, but a life wound for a generation. It seems we don’t know who we are in this time of cultural change. This is especially true of Americans, for we are all immigrants and so new to this land. (See my substack on our Identity Crisis.) And with all our diverse cultural backgrounds, we have somehow let the corporate media create our modern culture, instead of weaving all those bright colors together into something new. It’s no wonder we don’t have deep roots and find it hard to identify just who we are.
But Chiron also says, I can teach you the tools you need to discover who you are really meant to be. Let him be your mentor, the guide who helps you see clearly and act according to the dictates of your heart and your instincts. Be open to finding him/her in the world as well as within yourself. He’s here at the eclipse, lending his energies. Might as well use them since the dwarf planet Eris, warrior goddess who creates discord if you go against your heart, is also involved in this solar eclipse. At the risk of having your heart hurt, her energy demands the heart’s truth. When we stand up for our truth, we know who we are.
So our mission from this eclipse, if we choose to accept it, is to go in search of our identity this year. Not the patriarchal persona that wants to follow all the rules, but our soul identity. The thing that we love above all else but are afraid to acknowledge. What stops us from loving ourselves, from respecting our talents, from enlarging our hearts to include family and community. And the world.
As for Americans, our U.S. birthchart of July 4, 1776 also has Chiron in Aries! A cosmic surprise! How appropriate for a land of immigrants, don’t you think? And America’s Chiron is also conjunct this eclipsed New Moon. We once again have to decide what our national identity is going to be. Will we finally grow up and take responsibility as citizens for our country and its actions, or will we go back to sleep and let the ‘ruling class’ completely take control? What stops us? What are we afraid of? What happens if we finally embody our collective purpose as a land where everyone is welcome. A land of hope and promise. As a country that values our individuality at the same time as it values our collective cooperation.
While I just gave you a bunch of facts about Aries, the solar eclipse and the search for identity, I also want to tell you a story that embodies those facts. How do we claim our identity? Especially when our culture rejects our attempt. And what if we know we’re right – that it is necessary for life?
Whale Rider: The Quest for Identity Amidst Changing Times
While the sign of Aries conjures up images of warriors such as the Greek hero Jason with his golden fleece, and virgin huntresses such as the Greek Artemis and The Hunger Games heroine Katniss, it is also the sign of leadership.
Aries, which rules the head, gives the gift of strategy and leadership to its children. This eclipse emphasizes finding ourselves as leaders.
Our world needs good leaders, don’t you think? People who will take the part of the people over the powerful, people who actually know what needs to get done to heal Nature and shift our economy, leaders who know how to spark the enthusiasm and creativity of everyone to help create a better world of peaceful coexistence and good stewardship of the Earth. The world especially needs female leaders who are not molded by the patriarchy. We do not need female leaders who stand for the old patriarchal vision of hierarchical power, domination and greed, but rather women who know how to access their own feminine wisdom and who lead from the heart.
I advocate for strong feminine leadership because once we women leave what I call ‘the father’s house’ of patriarchal beliefs, we access our unique feminine gifts, talents and insights to help heal our world, talents that men often can’t access and sometimes won’t even explore. But these ancient ways of knowing can help take us through these changing times. (See my book Wisdom’s Daughters: How Women Can Change the World)
So let’s explore Niki Caro’s 2002 movie Whale Rider as an example of how we can find our own leadership skills despite what seems like over-whelming odds. I have to say spoiler-alert, since I will be telling the story of the movie. But don’t let that stop you from seeing the movie. Let its’ images sink into your psyche. It will change you.
Whale Rider speaks to this need for new feminine leadership in a heartfelt story about the death and regeneration of a culture. It also speaks to our own times and culture, for the old order is dying, but it seems that it is willing to kill off everything rather than die itself. The way to help it die peacefully is to incarnate the transformative power of Feminine Spirit to bring this new birth to life.
The mythological background of Whale Rider is important to the story, because our ‘creation stories’ help us understand our place in the universe. On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants.
Whales are mysterious and ancient creatures. They are the largest mammals, and since they live in the oceans, they symbolize creation itself. Being so ancient, they seem to hold the records of all our past history, back to the beginning of time itself. When I was young, I had recurring dreams of being in a primeval ocean, watching these ancient beings swimming around. It was my first conscious connection to the collective unconscious itself, which I’ve since explored through my dreamwork and storytelling. These gentle giants are mentioned in the Old Testament as leviathans, and they make a special appearance in the story of Jonah and the Whale, where the reluctant prophet Jonah is swallowed by a whale when he refuses God’s call. He lived in the belly of the whale for three days before he was reborn.
And so whales have come to represent going into the depths, containment and rebirth. The great whales in our story symbolize this same rebirth. While the ancient myth spoke of a rebirth of the Whangara, the story of Whale Ride speaks to the death of the old patriarchy and the rebirth of the culture through the powers of the feminine spirit and the new female leader.
Whale Rider begins with scenes of a hard birth and the death of the mother of twins, a boy and a girl, and the death of the baby boy. Fairy tales often begin with a death, signifying that something is wrong with collective consciousness. The missing piece needs to be regenerated, and in this story, it is the feminine dimension of life that can heal and transform the old order. The patriarch of the family, who is tribal chief, has been waiting for the birth of this young boy, believing he will be the long-awaited new leader of the tribe. Porourangi, the twins’ father, will not bend to his father’s wish that he become tribal leader, and he leaves his baby girl, whom he defiantly names Paikea, to be raised by her grandparents. While her grandfather, Koro, mourns the loss of the boy child, Paikea is immediately loved and cared for by her grandmother, Nanny Flowers. As the years go by, even Koro learns to love his intelligent, curious and loving granddaughter.
Years later, twelve-year old Pai is caught between her love for her increasingly bitter grandfather and her love of and heart-felt link to her ancient traditions. Koro is troubled because he needs to train a new leader for the tribe. He is fiercely dedicated to the old ways, even as the tribe itself flounders in modern misery. Neither of Koro’s sons were willing or able to take on the mantle of leadership, and this makes Koro even more rigid in his belief that he has to find a boy to take his place.
Meanwhile, Pai feels her connection to the whales and is so certain of her calling that she defies her grandfather and secretly sets out to learn the ancient lore of the tribal leaders, which her grandfather believes is reserved only for males. When she is banished from the lessons her grandfather sets up for the boys of the tribe, she secretly listens in and learns. She gets her uncle to teach her how to use a traditional Maori weapon and even defeats the young boy who is beginning to stand out as a leader. When Koro finds Pai fighting him, he sends her home in disgrace. He feels as if she is the cause of all the trouble the tribe is having, never once looking at himself and the kind of leader he is.
The sad part is that Koro really believes he is doing the right thing. But he can’t see that his inflexibility concerning the old ways is exactly what is killing the tribe. There is no life in the way he hopes to train the young men. While their fathers are proud that their sons have been selected for this honor, they themselves do not honor the system. They hang out like they’re teenagers, riding around like gang members or lazing away the day. They are not men, so they cannot provide the example their boys need to grow into men. And Koro’s rigidity does not serve them either.
There is no feeling life attached to the old system. This is what happens when an archetype becomes a stereotype. Archetypal energy is eternal, but its forms need renewing in each new age. There is NO LIFE in the old ways for this tribe. Except for Pai, who loves the stories and believes in them. The men take no pride in their heritage and it shows. And while the women support the old ways, they too are hampered by the deaden energy of the old system. Life has become a wasteland. (Just as there is no energy for continuing down our present modern course of wars, exploitation and greed.)
As Koro gets more desperate to find a new leader, he takes his anger out on Pai, the loving and innocent young woman of heart who just wants to help! He berates her and shames her and blames her for all his troubles, and still she loves him. At one point when her dad comes to visit, Koro says something so hurtful about Pai that she decides to go live with her father in Germany. But as they drive to the airport, Pai hears the call of the whales and knows she has to stay on. And so she goes back.
As things worsen, Koro becomes more rigid in his thinking. None of the boys are working out as leaders, while time and again Pai proves her worth by doing what they cannot do. But still she is rejected, because she is a worthless girl. How many women can relate that that! Even the most successful women have what I call the inner Taliban, voices within us which tell us how worthless we really are, berating, shaming and putting us down.
In a most poignant sceme, Pai, trying hold back her tears, recites something she wrote for her grandfather, about everyone being capable of being a leader in some way. But her grandfather never shows up at the school, because he has discovered that a pod of whales have beached themselves. When the tribe finds out, everyone tries to get the whales back into the water. But to no avail.
Except, of course, for Pai. She climbs up onto the biggest whale and prays for him to move. And he does! Soon Pai is holding on as the whale leads the other beached whales back to the deep ocean. Pai is willing to sacrifice herself for the whales and her people, even though her beloved grandfather even blames her for the whales’ plight. When Pai’s body is washed ashore and taken to the hospital, her grandfather finally acknowledges her as the leader of the tribe.
When Pai’s leadership is finally accepted, the tribe comes alive. All the members feel the power of their ancient roots, and they come together to reclaim their heritage. With young Pai as their new female leader, everyone is reborn.
And that’s the power and purpose of Feminine Spirit! With this strong solar eclipse in Aries, all of us are sensing that we have to see ourselves differently if we want to make a difference to our world. We all need a new identity, an archetypal identity, that names us as leaders, healers, wise women, storytellers, visionaries, warriors and stewards of the Earth. Hopefully, we will be seeing more and more feminine women taking on leadership roles in our society. It is time for women to shine.
Women, often against great odds, are already working all around the world to help people live a more peaceful and sustainable life. Now it’s time for each of us to become the female leader our world needs, just as each man is being called to remember that to be a leader means to sacrifice one’s ego needs for the greater good.
So get your eclipse glasses ready, get your drink of choice, pull out your chair and enjoy the cosmic show. While the Moon eclipses the Sun, shed your old identity. When the Sun is once more revealed, accept the new light that shines on your new identity.
Merry meet and merry part. And merry meet again.
Cathy
Amazing. Thankyou. And maybe we should just sit this one out. https://open.substack.com/pub/gregorypettys/p/sanity-eclipsed?r=f1gey&utm_medium=ios