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Looking at EclipsesI thought it would be fun to entitle this “Looking” at Eclipses because, in actuality, you can’t always look directly at an Eclipse, at least not a Solar Eclipse! But Lunar Eclipses are a sight to behold. In just a matter of hours, the Moon appears to go through all the phases of a month’s lunar cycle, albeit not in the regular order. It begins Full, wanes to total darkness, similar to a New Moon, then waxes to Full again at the completion of the Eclipse.
Eclipses are a great key to ascertaining the parts of a person’s life subject to extra attention during a given time. The house in which they occur and any strong tight aspects they make to natal chart points usually show where a person needs to make a decision or is taking action.
In Interpreting the Eclipses, Robert Jansky claims the Pre-Natal Eclipse is a key chart indicator. This is the Solar Eclipse prior to one’s birthday. He contends its house is an area that needs to be expanded in one’s life. The sign on the cusp and its element show how that expansion should occur, and on what level: fire corresponds to spiritual, earth corresponds to physical, air corresponds to mental, and water corresponds to emotional.
The house of the Pre-Natal Eclipse is continually emphasized throughout one’s life, even if it is not occupied by any other chart factor. Planets conjunct or opposite the Pre-Natal Eclipse degree (using a five-degree orb) are also emphasized and made more important. Watch for transits to and from such planets. Use the principles of any planet conjunct the Pre-Natal Eclipse degree to help with the expansion of the matters of the Pre-Natal Eclipse house. Watch the conjunctions of transiting planets to the Pre-Natal Eclipse degree.
He treats the Pre-Natal Eclipse degree as being as important as a planet. He uses only the Solar Eclipse preceding birth for this analysis. It is always within 6 months prior to the birth. It is often in the same house as either the North or South Node, but not necessarily.
Jansky says that transiting Eclipses conjunct either the natal Sun or Moon are stronger in their effects than Eclipses conjunct other planets, often signaling important turning points in life. Aspects other than conjunctions or oppositions do not interest him much; he thinks they’re subtle and few people notice them. Aspects to chart points other than the natal Sun and Moon may show some importance, but will not be as significant as aspects to the Sun and Moon.
The return of the Pre-Natal Eclipse is likewise of key importance. It occurs approximately every 19 years [Jansky said 18 years, but the ephemeris says 19 years], around the time when the transiting Nodes return to their natal positions (approximately every 18-1/2 years). Pre-Natal Eclipse Returns often indicate a symbolic crisis of a break from the past and ushering in new ways of doing things, somewhat like a transit of Uranus, but without Uranus’s forcing of the issue. Jansky points out that the 2nd Pre-Natal Eclipse Return at 36 coincides with a time when quintile aspects first come into prominence. [I’m guessing this is because 36 is half of the 72-degree quintile.] He sees this as an age of realizing that life offers alternatives.
Jansky recommends creating an Eclipse Journal for yourself and noting what’s going on in your life at the Pre-Natal Eclipse Returns, as well as transiting Eclipses to your Sun and Moon, noting any crises (turning points) going on in the houses involved. A key difference between solar and lunar eclipses is that there is never such a thing as a partial lunar eclipse; they are always total. That’s because the earth forms a bigger shadow than the moon can consistently provide. When the moon is closer to the earth it can create a total solar eclipse but when it is further away, its shadow isn’t as big and the eclipse is partial. When an eclipse occurs far away from the equator, it cannot be total either. It is possible to have a lone solar eclipse without an accompanying lunar eclipse, but the reverse never occurs.
There are 2 types of repeating eclipse cycles. One type is the Metonic cycle, where the degree and sign of an eclipse recurs 19 years later. There are 2-5 occurrences in a series. The other type is the Saros cycle, which consists of 1,260-year patterns, each comprised of 70-71 eclipses in 19 year intervals in a series with their shadows on earth “migrating” from one pole to the other. Each eclipse occurs 1/3 of the globe west of the one before and shifting in latitude toward the pole it’s migrating toward. The important fact from an interpretation point of view is that the degree and sign of the first eclipse in the series lays an imprint on the entire series, even though the degrees and signs of the subsequent eclipses are not repetitious as in the Metonic cycles. There’s no way to look up the Saros Series first eclipse in an ephemeris – you have to check tables of such things. When you determine the beginning position of the Saros series of your Pre-Natal Eclipse (or any other eclipse that is strongly affecting your chart), you can gain a little extra insight from its sign and house into the nature of how the Pre-Natal (or other) Eclipse has its affects on you.
In any given year, there are two eclipse times, approximately 6 months apart. One will have a solar eclipse in the neighborhood of the North Node, the other will have a solar eclipse in the South Node’s vicinity. These can be in the same Saros number series but the North Node portion of the Saros number series will have one beginning degree and the South Node eclipses in that Saros number series have a different beginning degree.
Jansky does not interpret the difference between a North Node Eclipse and a South Node Eclipse, but logic tells us there should be a difference in the way they affect us. Using the concept of the North Node as what we we’re moving toward but the path is difficult and the South Node as the comfort zone that doesn’t promote growth, the Eclipse at the North Node should present us with choices that while perhaps not easy are just what we need to advance and South Node Eclipses as tempting us with the easy way out or something that’s easy and can be a springboard to the opposite sign and house for growth. This will probably not be too difficult to interpret in the case of Solar Eclipses, when both the Sun and Moon are at either one Node or the other. But in Lunar Eclipses, the Sun might be near the North Node and the Moon near the South or vice versa. Remember to bring in the concepts of the Sun as representing active conscious awareness and the Moon as reactive subconscious instincts.
Which luminary has dominance in which type of Eclipse? The word “eclipse” has to do with obscuring, but its root word is related to abandonment. One or other of our two main lights abandons us when it is obscured. During the Solar Eclipse, the Sun is obscured, so its power is superseded by the Moon’s. It gets dark during the day, so it’s easy to understand that the Sun’s power has been compromised. During a Lunar Eclipse, the Moon is obscured and its usual power of being full and lighting up the night sky is abandoned, making the Sun the stronger “light” - even though the night is really dark at the moment of totality.
Now add the North/South Node connotation. Is the New or Full Moon taking us toward our goal (North Node) or away from it (South Node)? Which light is helping or hindering the process? There are four possible scenarios.
SOLAR ECLIPSE with Lights near the North Node Both the conscious and subconscious, the awareness and the instincts, draw us in the direction needed for our growth. with Lights near the South Node Both the conscious and subconscious, the awareness and the instincts, can hold us back from our growth or present extra challenges to our progress. LUNAR ECLIPSE with the Sun near North Node and the Moon near the South Node Emotional traps have an extra tug on us or we get lost in the comfort zone, opting for the easy way out of pressure situations. with the Moon near the North Node and the Sun near the South Node The Moon is the weaker luminary at a Lunar Eclipse. At the North Node, it will have a harder time pushing us to do what we need to do than if it was at the North Node in a Solar Eclipse, when the Moon is the stronger luminary.
FUN WITH TRANSITING ECLIPSES Find out the Saros series number if you can and see if its beginning degree makes a connection to your chart (or anybody’s you care to check). Note how the Eclipse Sun and Moon relate to the Nodes (see above). Look for conjunctions or oppositions to your Sun, Moon or other chart points. If you’re being directly affected by the Eclipse this way, from an ephemeris or from Dietrech J. Pessin’s Lunar Shadows, note the dates of the prior or following moon phases in the moon family of the Eclipse. (Her concept of “moon families” is that there are related phases at nearly the same degree of the same sign, with each phase 9 months from the one before. Thus, a New Moon at 10° Aries, is followed nine months later by a 1st Quarter Moon around 10° Aries, then comes a Full Moon nine months later around 10° Aries, and finally 9 months later a Last Quarter Moon around 10° Aries.) Check for any Metonic repetition in 19 years, or 19 years earlier (check an ephemeris). Look at the aspects in the Eclipse chart. Even if they are not directly impacting your chart, you can still grab the energies and make use of them in the month(s) following the Eclipse.
If you have an Astro*Carto*Graphy map for an Eclipse moment (often one appears in The Mountain Astrologer), look at the Sun and Moon lines particularly to see where the Eclipse will have its greatest effects. Watch the news in the coming weeks regarding these places.
OTHER THINGS TO PLAY WITH
Look at your Progressed Moon phases to see if any of your Progressed New Moons or Full Moons in your likely lifespan will be Eclipses. They will likely signal the most important periods of your life.
Eclipses can be used in rectification for hints as to the signs that go with the houses. The most pressing issues in a person’s present life may relate to the houses of the current Eclipses.
Lunar Shadows ©1998, Galactic Press, Boston, MA, is available directly from the author.
© 2006 Janet Booth, AstrologyBooth.com Home | Information Booth | Study Booth | Sales Booth | Janet Booth | Return to Top©2001-2008 Janet Booth for JanetsPlan-Its.com and AstrologyBooth.com |