Hand of Fate – Eclipse Season

 

It´s that time of the year again, eclipse season is upon us. It´s like you can feel the wheel of fortune turning. There is an anticipation in the air days before the eclipse hits, tension before a powerful release. My favorite pre-eclipse metaphor is an image of a hot summer day right before the storm. Clouds are getting increasingly darker and fuller, the wind is picking up and you wonder what is going to happen and when. The pressure is building up, it is hard to breathe or really do anything sensible. The tension is almost tangible. It gets to a point when you just urge that release so that you can relax a bit and deal with the consequences.

What happens during eclipses? Why does this period of time feel so heavy and intense? Just the meaning of the word eclipse tells us a lot. The term eclipse is derived from ancient Greek and its meaning refers to things like abandonment, downfall, darkening, being absent, and coming to an end. Let these words work on you, how does it feel? 

To me, these words invoke dramatic changes and extremes. There is a sense of finality, when some things are left behind either voluntarily or forcefully, when someone experiences a dramatic shift of status or a role when one falls from grace and all of a sudden becomes undifferentiated and unimportant. Imagine when an established order that has been set in place for a long time is violated. Imagine the chaos that breaks out as a result of that. No one knows what’s next. It’s like the cliffhanger moment in your favorite series. All you can do is anxiously wait for what happens next. Fate seems to have the upper hand.

In an astronomical sense, the term eclipse is most often used to describe either a solar eclipse, when the Moon's shadow crosses the Earth's surface, or a lunar eclipse when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. The main meaning linked with eclipses is obscuration of light. One object is getting darker while another is gaining more prominence.  

And this is all happening while the environment is getting darker and things are losing their clear shapes. It is easy for some things to become temporarily invisible or get lost forever.
  
Since spring 2023, we’ve been experiencing eclipses across Libra – Aries axis in our charts and we’re in for another round of eclipses in these signs. On March 25, 2024 (GMT), it is 5° Libra South Node Lunar Eclipse, and on April 8, 2024 (GMT) 19° Aries North Node Solar Eclipse.
 
The common route to describe the meaning of the Libra-Aries axis would be to draw upon Venus-Mars significations, i.e. perspective of domicile rulers of the eclipse signs. But since I like things differently, I’d like to look at Saturn-Sun symbolism and ponder about eclipses from exaltation lords' point of view. Can we learn something different?

Saturn is an exaltation ruler of the air sign of Libra.
What comes to my mind immediately is to think of where we are bounded by a form, where we are constrained or obliged to act or behave in a certain way, where we feel some moral obligation or perhaps a social expectation. We might not think of Saturn right away when it comes to relationships but when we think about „bonds of love“, no matter how much bliss we might receive through our relationships, relationships also demand sacrifice. 

Saturn is often linked to feigned appearance, false impression, and disguise. If we just glance at this idea of creating illusions, it might sound inherently negative. When we look at the meaning of the word feigned though, we learn that it comes from the Latin fingere and it originally meant the act of forming or giving shape to. Saturn often points to places where we lack confidence and when I think of the word „feigned“ in this context, I think of the „fake it until you make it“ approach. 

You need to inhabit a certain form that feels off at first in order to develop a new skill. You have to fake your way through this new unfamiliar terrain until you gain enough experience. You have to keep coming back to the image in your mind and reflect on your progress, rising slowly from the contemplative, doubtful space towards an enlightened, more confident one. It is a process of slow, gradual adjustment where you’re looking for that shape that is right just for you.

As the South Node is now present in the Libra part of our charts, this process comes hand in hand with clearing, and emptying of previously inhabited fixed ideas that guided our life.   
 
Sun is the exaltation ruler of the fiery sign of Aries.
Sun represents a natural contrary to Saturn, so while Saturn points to boundaries and obligations in the Libra part of our chart, Sun, as an exaltation ruler of Aries, orients us towards a need for personal freedom and personal sovereignty. How about we think of Sun – Aries connection in terms of self-love and respect? Do we listen to our core desires? Do we honor ourselves „first“? How about we become our own authority and always ask ourselves first if that’s ok with us?   

How about we start acting like our own leader? Like a Sun we need to rise higher, elevate our position, and become more visible. Sun-Aries territory is the domain of our personal will and independent decision-making. In the Aries part of our charts, light leads the way. 

Sun illuminates everything around. What is illuminated, becomes pure, clean, less confused, and hence more comprehensible. Let´s ask ourselves where can we shine more brightly? Where can we execute our authority? What can we shine the light on? Where can we bring more knowledge and understanding? 

Illumination brings clarity and where there is clarity, there is a direct path ahead. Imagine the speed of light. There is no time to waste. There is no time for pause or hesitation. Just a raw blaze of energy.

„Burn bright, die young“ is very much the energy that North Node brings to the Aries part of our chart through this eclipse series. There is no way to satisfy this insatiable zest for life. Use this energy well, it can fuel your desires but it can also burn you out.

Next week, we´re in for the 1st round of eclipses - the South Node Lunar Eclipse in Libra. It might sound funny but I want you to think of male ducks. Imagine their cheerful colorful plumage that sets them apart from their inconspicuously feathered counterparts.

Imagine they go through a regular process of losing their usual bright plumage after breeding. Their regular plumage is eclipsed by dull, female-like plumage that is in fact called „eclipse plumage“. Soon after males molt, they become flightless until they grow new plumage. Eclipse plumage allows them to quickly molt into fresh feathers and get back into top condition. 

Like male ducks, we also need to shed our old or damaged feathers to make way for new ones. We might feel lost and confused. We might feel weak, look odd and patchy for a bit but instead of agonizing over these transitions, we can embrace this metamorphosis. How about we see eclipse season as a profound regular renewal process that allows us to pause, let go, and let the new life come in? 

Keep hope alive, keep dreaming.
Petra