Eclipses

Eclipses

Solar eclipses are a spectacle. To the ancients, it was a time of fear. Imagine seeing the Sun being eaten by an unknown source. Indeed, it would have been considered the end of times to lay folk. In fact, the Vikings believed the Fenris Wolf (chaos) was eating the Sun and would throw rocks at the Sun to scare the Wolf away. To them, it worked because the Sun came back.

What is a solar eclipse? It is basically a new moon. However, it is a new moon which occurs on the nodal axis. As viewed from Earth, the Moon and Sun are the same size, so it becomes fully covered when the Moon passes in front of the Sun.

Eclipses also follow a cycle of 18 years and 11.33 days, during which the Earth, Sun, and Moon return to nearly the same relative position in astronomical location. After that, the cycles repeat themselves. The series will last between 1,226 and 1,550 years, and a new cycle will be born. These cycles are known as the Saros cycle. There are northern and southern hemisphere eclipses.

Astrologically speaking, the eclipses carry that ominous feel to them. Something will break down or be impacted in a transformative way when the eclipse hits a point in the chart. Whether the hit occurs in transit or Solar Arc progressions, the effect is similar with a slight variation.

• In Solar Arc, it represents an event. Solar Arcs involve moving all the planets in the birth chart by how much the Sun moves in a day, representing a year of time. When the pre-natal eclipse contacts a natal point in the chart, something will happen related to the planet or concerning what the planet represents.
• While in transit, the eclipse point lasts six months until the following eclipse takes place. It will flavour that period based on the planet or angle it contacts.
• In the natal chart, the pre-natal solar eclipse represents an energy point that will be triggered by transits being flavoured by the house and sign it resides in. Planetary aspects to the eclipse point within the chart also flavour the planet receiving the aspect.

Solar Arcs

An example of an event that occurred because of a solar arc eclipse hitting a point in the chart happened recently. On 22 March 2024 at 20:00 Moscow time, four gunmen associated with the terrorist group ISIL stormed a concert hall, killing over 180 people.

The modern state of Russia was founded on 25 December 1991 at 17:25. With Solar Arc, the pre-natal eclipse had arced to Russia’s ascendant, suggesting that some severe significant event would affect the nation

Transits

Let us look at when the news story about Buffy Ste Marie broke. Sainte-Marie’s birth certificate states she was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts, at 03:15, 20 February 1941. When the news article surrounding her pretending to be Native American surfaced, the transiting previous eclipse point was conjunct her Midheaven.

The Midheaven is our career and our public persona. The eclipse there signalled some significant issues around her public persona. By the next eclipse, everything faded as she had just retired from performing anyway. (https://www.soulbody.ca/buffy-sainte-marie)

In the Birth Chart

Let’s consider John Coltrane’s birth chart. His pre-natal eclipse is in the fifth house of creativity and expression next to Pluto and is in quincunx to his Jupiter, which rules expansiveness and his liver. The fifth is also the house of excess, and Pluto can be associated with such things as drugs and underground dealings. Jupiter in quincunx means that adjustments have to be made. He did change later in life because he was a drug addict during his life, but he later succumbed to liver disease in 1967.

However, that same eclipse gave Coltrane the power to be one of the greatest musicians to come into the jazz music scene.

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Eclipse Paths

The various eclipses in the paths of the different Saros cycles have an effect later in history. Bill Meridian’s book The Predictive Power of Eclipse states that Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s pre-natal eclipse path divides the USA in half. Meridian’s book can be found here: https://www.billmeridian.com/books_and_publication.html

The book has numerous examples of charts where the eclipses tie into each other, connecting world leaders to countries or countries to events that bring the countries together as enemies or allies.

Conclusions

Eclipses are often overlooked by astrologers, but they should not be as they are powerful predictive indicators and natal influencers.