Thursday overnight into Friday (depending on your time zone) there was a most interesting eclipse of the Sun, in the sign Cancer, opposite Pluto (read our coverage here). As mentioned previously, we’re in a series of three eclipses, all of them exciting and a bit unusual and distinct, even as eclipses go.

In this multiple exposure photograph, the phases of a partial solar eclipse are seen over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on Aug. 21, 2017. Photo by Jeff Robertson.

The opposition between Thursday’s eclipse and Pluto has a sensation of finality to it, and also a push in a necessary direction.

Strong aspects to Pluto can have the feeling of what Patric Walker would call “enforced changes,” or what I would call compelling circumstances that guide us into making adjustments. For some, this was no doubt leaning more toward enforced than compelling. The opposition had a touch of do or die to it, whatever that means to you, depending on your personal conditions.

The next eclipse will be at 4:20 pm EDT on Friday, July 27. This is a total eclipse of the Moon in Aquarius. Like all lunar eclipses, it will be visible anywhere you can see the Moon, which happens to be nowhere in the United States, the UK or Western Europe. Points east may have a view, such as Russia and China.

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Thursday, in the midst of Mars retrograde, we’ll experience the first of three eclipses that will occur over the next six weeks. The order will be a solar eclipse in Cancer, followed by a lunar eclipse in Aquarius, and then a solar eclipse in Leo.

The ‘blue skies’ of Pluto, supposedly due to reactions of nitrogen and methane activated by sunlight, as photographed by New Horizons. Image by NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI.

The lunar nodes (which indicate the approximate location of eclipses) are backtracking from the Leo/Aquarius axis to the Cancer/Capricorn axis.

Though the nodes remain in Leo and Aquarius for now, we’re about to experience the first in a series of eclipses along the Cancer-Capricorn axis: a partial solar eclipse in Cancer, exactly opposite Pluto in Capricorn.

A solar eclipse is a version of the New Moon, where the Moon and the Sun align not just by longitude but also by declination. In other words, rather than passing a little above or below the Sun, the Moon passes right across the disk of the Sun. There are several types of solar eclipses. Thursday’s is a partial, which means the Moon is slightly misaligned with the Sun, though it’s an eclipse nonetheless.

By exactly opposing Pluto, I mean that the opposition between the eclipse and Pluto aligns to about 40 arc minutes, or two-thirds of a degree, so it’s right in the pocket.

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Mars is now retrograde in Aquarius for the first time since 1971. Mars is retrograde for about 60 days every two years. However, by some astronomical quirk, the retrogrades are not evenly distributed through the signs, and tend to lean more in the direction of Leo.

Detail of view from NASA’s Curiosity rover of Vera Rubin Ridge on Mount Sharp, Mars, taken a year ago. Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

When Mars is retrograde, the Earth is passing between it and the Sun. Since the Earth takes a year to go around the Sun and Mars takes two years, it takes the Earth a while to catch up and pass it on the inside lane. That’s what’s happening now, and the result is that Mars seems to be moving backwards through the zodiac, from the standpoint of a viewer on Earth.

Mars is also visible in the night sky; it’s difficult to miss: it is red.

We’ve been under the influence of Mars retrograde since May 12, when Mars entered the degrees where the retrograde occurs, sometimes called the shadow or echo phase. Note the changes and developments in your life since that time; note the climate you’ve been living under, and the direction things have been moving. That is what you’re working with, developing, learning and integrating.

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Here we are, on the cusp of one of the signature astrological events of 2018: this Tuesday, Mars stations retrograde in Aquarius at 5:04 pm EDT (21:04:21 UTC). You might be feeling very curious about what you can (or want to) do right now, or too overwhelmed to take action on certain current issues; or maybe you desire to act but feel confused or frustrated in how to do so best in your particular social circles. Mars stationing retrograde in Aquarius can be seen to symbolize any of these possible states.

The August 2003 Mars retrograde, captured in a composite photo (digitally stacked images) to show the path Mars traces. The short dotted line just above the Mars loop is Uranus doing the same thing. Photo by Tunc Tezel via NASA/APOD.

Eric has written extensively about Mars’ impending journey backwards through early Aquarius and into late Capricorn, which will last for about two months.

You can read two of those essays here for in-depth discussions: Mars and Society: Retrograde in Aquarius, and Mars Retrograde: Background, and Deep Background.

Without trying to cover all of that ground again, I want to mention some of the big themes you’ll probably want to track in your life during these two months. These may include things like: your experience of asserting yourself socially; the ways in which you discover who you are through conflict with others; how you respond when your individuality runs counter to prevailing social rules, patterns and expectations; how you perceive and engage your sexual desire, especially related to shifting cultural norms and the ‘consent’ conversation; where you locate your creative will and sexual agency (do you claim it? Do you place that power in others?).

Insofar as the volition needed to make money relates to Mars, you might also pay attention to your motivation and sense of empowerment around your finances.

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By Amy Elliott
— with Amanda Painter

On Thursday of this week the Sun enters Cancer for the Northern Hemisphere summer solstice; just five days later, Mars will station retrograde in Aquarius. If this year’s Cancer solstice has a message, it seems to be: no matter how troubling a situation seems, you can always try to make changes for the better.

At any rate, you have options. Therein lies considerable power.

A seasonal shift always brings an air of decisively ending one chapter and beginning the next. Particularly at the solstices, it can feel like the changing of a tide.

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The Sun and Moon form a conjunction in Gemini at 3:43 pm EDT Wednesday. The retrograde happens in the context of many sign changes of outer planets (Chiron, Uranus, Pholus and others).

Mars represents individuality; and Aquarius represents the rules of society, which tend to ban individuals from expressing themselves, or make it frustrating to try. Mars, however, will not be contained. This dynamic, on one level, sets the group and the individual in opposition to one another.

‘Earthrise 2.0’, captured in 2015 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, while taking a break from documenting the Moon’s surface. Image by NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University.

Yet there are much wider forces that are conditioning groups of all kinds — families, companies, tribes, cliques and so forth. Collectives of any sort are being shaped by deep, far-reaching processes of change.

The individuality that would seem to be coming from Mars also originates with Chiron in Aries (the ultimate maverick) and Uranus in Taurus (a revolution in values). With these aspects, you only get the potential for change, and the energy to make it happen; you don’t get a guaranteed outcome.

You need to tap into the energy like the Sun, the wind and the rain, and harness it to get the desired result. It will help if you know what that is; and if you don’t know, spend some time considering what you need. What are the ways that your life is too conditioned or restricted by any form of a group dynamic?

Mars retrograde is an opportunity to shuffle the social order and make some space between our thoughts for these new outer planet transits to take root.

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The eastern limb of Mercury as seen by Messenger, in false color. Image by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.

This week’s standout event is Mercury conjunct the Sun. This happens six times a year, and is akin to the lunar phases; only it’s the phases of the Sun with its closest known planet.

Before I go there, one thought: the big astrology in the background, and by far the most intriguing (and challenging) of the year is Mars retrograde, which begins June 26. I just spent the past 10 days in front of a video camera, exploring this event for all 12 signs and rising signs.

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Photo by Eric.

Tuesday at 10:19 am ET (14:19:28 UTC), the Sun and the Moon oppose one another from Gemini to Sagittarius. This is one of those events where I have the feeling that writing about it can’t possibly do it justice. You just have to stare at the chart in amazement (so we’ve provided the one I’ve used to write the weekly horoscope, and this column).

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