Solar Eclipse in Aries

Time is kinetic. The Earth turns. The Sun rises and sets. The Moon makes its way around the Earth, pushing and pulling on its surface while by the Sun’s light we watch as she waxes and wanes. From hours to days and weeks to months, season to season and year to countless millennia, this pas de trois is the tidal breath of all life on Earth.

Every so often in these seemingly endless turnings there occurs an eclipse. The paths of the Sun, Moon and Earth align such that the lights are obscured. The midday Sun goes dark, the Full Moon turns blood red. Ancient astrologers described the lunar nodes -- the points of intersection between the paths of the Sun and Moon -- as the head and tail of a great dragon that would alternately consume and expel the lights. In this way eclipses came to be associated with the polarities of increase and decrease, gain and loss, movement and stillness, future and past, beginning and ending.

Astrology as we know it developed from endeavors to discern the meaning of these ominous disruptions of normality. Nearly 3000 years ago, without the knowledge that the Earth is spherical nor even the concept of “zero,” Neo-Babylonian astrologers discerned that eclipses are themselves organized in potent cycles with seasons all their own, whose appearance they could predict with stunning accuracy.

An eclipse then can be understood as the intersection of disparate time cycles that disrupt the normal flow of events. We often experience these intersections as critical junctures in our lives.  

As we discussed previously, the Aries New Moon on the March 21 Vernal Equinox was an emphatic beginning to the astrological New Year. Today’s Solar Eclipse in Aries -- our second Aries New Moon in a row -- alerts us to the fact that whatever began around March 21 will be particularly consequential.

While the themes remain largely the same, there is an emphasis now on materiality. Where the previous New and Full Moons were about our visions for the future and the bonds of trust that shepherd them into being, today’s eclipse brings to the fore the foundations upon which those bonds stand and the means by which our visions become reality.

{Below you’ll find some quick horoscopes for each of the signs. Read the ones for your Sun, Moon or Rising sign. These follow pretty closely from our horoscopes from the last full moon. Re-read them here.}

CANCER

The sky is the limit and passionate desire is your rocket fuel. Now that you know what you can do, it’s time to decide what you want to do and why you want to do it. Choose the seeds you plant wisely and tend to them diligently. 

LEO

If you build it, they will come. The thing is, they will come while you are building it. You will need to revise your building plans once they start arriving. Remember that you are building it for them. If you built it, they will come. That’s a promise.

VIRGO

Your hands might be tied but your mind is not. When things don’t go as planned it is a good idea to examine (and revise!) your assumptions about how things are supposed to work. Trust your people to have your back while you re-group.

LIBRA

Every closet has a few skeletons. Some have been in there so long we’ve forgotten about them but they have a way of popping out at inopportune moments. Be honest about yours and try not to flinch when you see someone else’s. Bring them out, dust them off, take a good look and throw them out.

SCORPIO

It can take so long to get going sometimes that we jump off the starting line without telling the people closest to us where it is we are headed. Change is good. Don’t forget that you are not the only one things are changing for.

SAGITTARIUS

It is not exactly back to the drawing board. It’s more like turning the heat down to let things simmer. Setting the table, adding that new song you love to the playlist, making sure there’s toilet paper in the bathroom. Your guests will be arriving soon enough.  

CAPRICORN

All of a sudden things are opening up. Keep following where it leads. 

AQUARIUS

Intellectual understanding is no substitute for experience. Credibility comes when you practice what you preach.

PISCES

Licking your wounds and gathering you strength was a necessary first step but it was only a first step. It is time to come out of hiding and literally touch grass, if only to remind your self that there is such a thing as solid ground.

ARIES

On your mark. Get set. Hold on! Are you ready? Are you sure? Check. No, like actually check, where’s your list? Ok well make a list! Ok, now check it. Are you sure you’re ready? The road is long and you will need all of your strength. Ok, go!

TAURUS

There is something about the raw power of grief. When you experience loss it is as if the top most layer of your skin has been peeled off. The air is cold and bracing. You have nothing to lose there is nothing to fear, to hide or to doubt.

GEMINI

It may not feel like it but things are moving forward. There are just a few more detours than you anticipated. Take heart, help is on the way!