The ancients believed that during an eclipse, the "mighty will fall". Eclipses appear in the mythology of different cultures most often as symbols of obliteration, fear, and the overthrow of the natural order of things. They were the great omens of fated, large-scale events. The word eclipse comes from a Greek word meaning "abandonment." Quite literally, an eclipse was seen as the Sun abandoning the earth. The Sun seems to disappear from the sky. It gets dark in the middle of the day and it seems as if something dreadful is about to happen.
However, modern astrologers do not believe eclipses are necessarily negative. In our personal lives, eclipses can indicate a change of direction and what we are to accomplish for the following 6 months to 3 years. I was told by my teacher that the effects of an Eclipse can come exactly one month before it appears. I have been checking out this theory and it seems to work.
Eclipses bring in news and events that are sometimes "out of the blue". Time seems to speed up. Eclipses can clear what may obscure the way forward. Remember that the key words for eclipses are emphasis and crisis. Eclipses are contrary to the status quo. If impacted by one of these eclipses, your life will not run on the same track it has been on. But that can be a good thing. One of the techniques to figure out whether or not an eclipse will be positive or challenging, is to look at the aspects that the eclipse is making to other planets in the sky, and also to the planets they are aspecting in your natal chart.
Total Solar Eclipse of March 20 at 29 degrees of Pisces
Solar Eclipses tend to relate to sudden events that disrupt our day to day functioning. They are the crisis that seems to come out of nowhere and that suddenly demand all of our conscious attention and focus. They tend to stir things up on a physical and conscious level much more than Lunar Eclipses.
This eclipse will be seen in its total phase in The Faroe Island and in Svalbard,Norway. The Partial eclipse will be seen throughout Europe, Northern and Eastern Asia and Northern and Western Africa. Some ancient astrologers believed events related to the eclipse could only occur in the areas that fall under the shadow of the eclipse.
This eclipse is in the last astrological sign and the last degree. It is about letting go and making a fresh start. The eclipse is trine Saturn. Saturn is moving retrograde so during this eclipse period we may want to re-evaluate our career and the structures we have set up to help us feel secure.
The sign of Pisces rules drugs and alcohol and other things we use to escape reality. We are most susceptible to emotional assaults. We are feeling dreamy, wistful or impressionable. We are at our most compassionate, intuitive and sensitive to others. But the downfall of Pisces is martyrdom. Where in your life have you sacrificed too much for others?
A Solar Eclipse can bring an ending in one phase of our life and open a door to another one. Remember, Solar Eclipses are always very powerful times to meditate. Send out your intention of what you want to manifest over the next six months. A Solar Eclipse always occurs during a New Moon and New Moons are important because they bring in new, fresh energy.
This eclipse can be a positive time for making the changes we need to make in our life especially if it impacts a personal planet (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus or Mars) or the ascendant in your natal chart. The house that the eclipse falls in your natal chart shows the department of life where important changes and new developments will require your attention for the coming 6 months to 3 years.
Total Lunar Eclipse on April 4 at 14 Libra.
This eclipse will be visible in most of North and South America, much of Asia, in Australia, the Pacific, the Atlantic,the Indian Ocean, the Arctic and Antarctica. In North America, California will feel the strongest effects of this eclipse.
The Lunar Eclipse gives us opportunities to break out of our current cycles and move on to a different level. A Lunar Eclipse can make us more aware of our cycles and patterns, and our unconscious motivations. They can bring up old memories and feelings. As a full Moon, a Lunar Eclipse tends to bring completion or endings. On a Lunar Eclipse something will end and on a Solar Eclipse something will begin. A Lunar Eclipse is an opportunity to break habits or eliminate socially conditioned patterns of thought and behavior that stand in the way of self-realization.
Full moon eclipses can bring things to completion that you have been working on. You can finally make decisions about issues that you have been thinking about. The Sun opposite the Moon, lights up the Moon and brings previously unexamined areas of your life into awareness. Lunar Eclipses are more emotional than Solar Eclipses. Because a Lunar Eclipse only happens on a full moon, two houses in your natal chart will be affected.
This is a time of letting go of old emotional habit patterns and letting go of the people that you have become dependent on. This Eclipse affects two signs; Aries and Libra. The sign of Aries rules initiating projects, but Aries can leave projects half done, eager to go on to the next thing. This eclipse can stir up a lot of energy which can turn into stress if it is not used in a positive way such as exercise or hard physical work. The Libra half of this aspect rules peace and is looking for balance. So this eclipse is all about peace versus war. Libra can see both sides of a situation and is looking for balance. Also Aries rules the self and Libra rules other people. How much energy are you giving to others and depleting yourself? Or how concentrated are you on yourself and neglecting others?
This eclipse is in a trine to Jupiter, is conjunct Uranus and is square Pluto. This eclipse is engaging the Uranus/Pluto Square that is exact on March 16. (See the March forecast for a description of this square). So this is a difficult eclipse, but Jupiter may modify it somewhat. This eclipse is on Vladimir Putin’s Sun. The Sun is the most critcal planet that an eclipse can hit. He is sure to go through some major changes in his authority and power. My Virgo/editor husband just proof read this article and told me that Vladimir Putin has been missing from public view since March 5. It will be interesting to see what develops.
If one of your personal planets is being “hit” by this Lunar Eclipse, look back to see what happened 19 years ago (April 1996). Eclipses repeat at the same degree of the zodiac every 19 years.
Eclipses and Your Natal Chart
An eclipse tends to emphasize matters related to the house it falls in on your natal chart or what planets it conjuncts, or opposes. The areas ruled by the houses or planets will demand more attention, thought, energy, and time from you, at least until the next Eclipse (Sep 2015). Eclipses open doors and invite us to come in, illuminating and stimulating areas of our lives that need our attention.
Look for the houses in your chart that contains 27 Pisces to 2 degrees of Aries for the impact of the Solar Eclipse of March 20. Look for the house containing 12 to 16 degrees of Aries and 12 to 17 degrees of Libra for the impact of the Lunar Eclipse of Apr 4. To see a brief list of items covered by the different houses in your birth chart click here
Look for a planet(s) in your natal chart located at 27 degrees of Pisces or Virgo for the Solar Eclipse impact of March 20, and a planet(s) at 12 to 16 degrees of Aries or Libra for the Lunar Eclipse impact of Apr 4. To see a list of keywords for the planets, click here.
Janet Kane