A word on Solar Eclipses and Eclipse season
AÂ Solar Eclipse is when our two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, are in the same sign at the same degree much like a New Moon. What makes it an eclipse instead of just any New Moon is the proximity to the Lunar Nodes, the points where the Moon's orbital path crosses the Sun's annual path. During a Solar Eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth casting a shadow on the Earth.
Sometimes the eclipses are these shocking, intense, life changing revelations and... sometimes they're just checkpoints, portals. The real magic of Eclipses happens over the six months following (the journey, as you would have it) and largely over the entire Nodal cycle.
We are already well into this Nodal cycle which gives us the advantage of awareness, it is likely that you already know and have been experiencing the effects of this cycle, but that doesn't mean that there isn't more to learn. Plot twists are imminent at the Eclipses and because of the changes that are occurring, I tend to throw my hands up in surrender at these times, there isn't much you can do while you're in transit, right? You've given your life over to some other entity and all you can do is wait till you land and trust that you'll get to wherever you're "supposed" to be.
The Lunar Nodes in Aries and Libra have been as archetypally straightforward as you can get: War and Peace. Diplomatic agreements. Anger as a mirror for our pain. New relationships formed, old relationships dissolved. New ventures and the difficulty that arises at the beginning of anything new. Impossible choices. It's all happening globally and personally.
The Solar Eclipse in Aries (April 8th 2024)
Major aspects
• Sun-Moon in Aries conjunct Chiron in Aries (0º orb)
• Mars in Pisces conjunct Saturn in Pisces (1º orb)
• Jupiter in Taurus conjunct Uranus in Taurus (2º orb)
• Venus in Aries sextile Pluto in Aquarius (separating, 3º orb)
• Mercury rx in Aries conjunct Sun-Moon-Chiron in Aries (5º orb)
• Jupiter-Uranus in Taurus sextile Mars-Saturn in Pisces (5º orb)
Delineation:
Mercury retrograde in the same sign as the Solar Eclipse brings such symbolism to mind.
At last year's Solar Eclipse in Aries, Mercury was in Taurus and would have stationed a few days later. A pre-shadow and Mercury's station is about questions, confusion, things to-be-reviewed, things to-be-decided, a halt in motion, it is often a period of mental turmoil and misperception. As we know, eclipse cycles take a full six months to fully reveal its contributing events and motives, by the end of 2023 I imagine that both the Aries and Taurean sector of your chart brought surprising starts and stops. If Aries is a beginning, we have to remember that things rarely end the way they start, first impressions are often very wrong. At the same time, maybe things weren't completely revealed to you, maybe you are still feeling incredibly confused by the stories that have been developing since Spring of 2023. I know I am, there is a strong sense of ambiguity, like I'm not in a place to receive all of the information quite yet.
This year, Mercury is already retrograde. This is a different phase than the pre-shadow, one that is more reflective, more answers are shaken loose as Mercury walks backwards to review every interaction and idea and conversation past. This is when information, while not completely clear or solidified yet, is open to new interpretation. I have really begun to enjoy retrogrades for this reason, imagine being mid battle when someone says something so profound or disarming that the battle dissolves before your eyes in a moment of remembrance or resonance. Sometimes a single sentence is all it takes to make a difference– this is the power of Mercury. A Mercury retrograde in Aries specifically brings the imagery of Hermes the psychopomp. Or the Norse Valkyries choosing and carrying fallen soldiers to the afterlife. The 6 of Swords with the mysterious spirit guide rowing the woman and her child to safety. Mercury retrograde in Aries feels like the transition out of war and into peace. I don't feel as hopeful for this in the larger global cycle, but I do feel like this is possible to achieve within our personal lives on a smaller scale over the next six months. It's the how we're looking for now, the map that we're translating, the tools being gathered, the transportation readied. An eclipse is not an overnight process, but rather, an initiation. Not to mention, this is bringing some kind of revolution so that another story can fall into place with the upcoming Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries in the coming years, the nodes are rearranging us, preparing us to witness illusions that will peel like old paint. Understanding and sobering requires preparation, grease, medicine.
This eclipse is on top of Chiron which evoked an involuntary groan from me the first time I looked at the chart last year, but of course, we probably need this activation. These are (keeping Mercury retrograde in mind) wounds from the past that have never fully healed. How many minds have been schooled into hatred or bitterness with a seed of misperception? How many injuries formed from misinterpretation? From simply not knowing, not having the full story?
If Mercury and Chiron aren't indicators enough for seeing things of the past with new eyes, this eclipse is ruled by Mars (conjunct Saturn) in Pisces– the sign of the past, the ending, the confusion, the vision, the afterlife. These next six months are such a collision of The Past and The Now with Pisces as the end of life and Aries as the beginning of life. The Sun and the Moon collide to fuse the two together to create something new altogether for the future. We need our past, our regrets, the lessons learned and the lessons missed to alchemize with the present questions, the present version of you, the current circumstance. The intention isn't necessarily to go back to something, to another life nor is it to repeat the same thing. That really is the beauty of time, while a moment can remind us of another time or another person, it can never truly repeat. Every moment is completely unique in that way.
Mars aligns with Saturn every two years, they remind me of the scissors that cut the string of fate. Mars as a representation of severing ties, parting ways, the tower that collapses, sharp things that cut and Saturn as a symbol of time, the limits of a schedule, the demands and requirements we all have to abide by, the allotment. When Mars and Saturn conjoin we begin a new cycle, a long journey that requires a level of stamina, a new timeline is cut and we are simultaneously separated from something past and are ushered down another winding road. The malefics are the "bad doers" but really, they equip us with the tools to complete and initiate necessary movement. Arming us with bravery, with courage, willpower, the inner stuff that cannot be foraged for in the outer realms. Fortitude looks very different this year in a numerological 8 year with the malefics in Pisces– fortitude is found in walking away, in moving on, in letting the confusing be confusing. It's really about trust, working in partnership with the unknowable, this is a hard thing.
Additionally, the last Solar Eclipse in Aries (April 19th 2023) and everything we have witnessed and experienced since then plays into the story forming now. As I mentioned before, Mercury stationed in Taurus around the time of the eclipse in 2023 and now, Jupiter and Uranus meet 12 days after the eclipse in 2024. Mercury who was in its pre-shadow last year represented unanswered questions while Jupiter and Uranus aligning this year represent breakthroughs and exploration possible now that was somehow mentally capped and unavailable back then. This fusion of past and present is not as separate as we may be inclined to believe especially with Mars, ruler of the eclipse, contacting the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in a close sextile.
This would be the time to follow your instincts, especially the ones that scream at you to "get out" to try something new or different or risky.
This time period is our modern renaissance, pay attention to what desires a rebirth.
Your friendly neighborhood astrologer,
Katie