This week we get the second in our pair of current eclipses: a partial solar eclipse during the Aquarius New Moon on Thursday, Feb. 15. There’s been a lot on Planet Waves lately about interrupting old patterns to allow new ones to form — patterns that will better suit who you’re in the process of becoming — thanks to the general topics of eclipses and Aquarius. That might have you feeling edgy; but the chart for this eclipse underscores the themes in a way that, hopefully, will feel empowering for you.
Door of the Hermitage, Omega Institute. Photo by Eric.
At its most essential, this New Moon and eclipse involves the Sun and Moon making a conjunction in late Aquarius, exact at 4:05 pm EST (21:05 UTC) on Thursday. The Sun and Moon are also conjunct Mercury and the asteroid Juno.
Those four bodies will span about a degree and a half of Aquarius. That entire cluster is roughly sextile the still-functional Uranus-Eris conjunction in Aries. It’s this sextile that appears to give this event a lot of its potential traction to shift direction — even on top of the regular ability of eclipses to facilitate this. There’s no guarantee that your life will be vastly different in a week, however. You might find the adjustments you make now don’t seem that significant, and that’s okay.
What matters most is that you make a little effort. A sextile is not a magic wand. It’s more like an opportunity you can activate. Think of it like a door: to experience it as anything other than a different section of the wall, you have to grasp the doorknob and open the door; then you can walk through it. Similarly, a sextile’s mojo is more likely to reward you if you do your part.
Having Uranus in contact with these planets in Aquarius (a sign it co-rules with Saturn) multiplies the unexpected/inventive quotient. How open can you be this week to new discoveries — even as you set your mind to envisioning the bigger picture of your long-term goals? The less rigid you require your point of view to be, the more may catch your attention.
There also seems to be an image here of being able to tackle old problems with new solutions that emerge through friendships or group situations. Those friends might be new to you, or they could be people you’ve known for decades who just happen to be surfing this same wave of eclipse energy with new intention.
The idea is to notice what’s coming up for you that is atypical, or challenges a set pattern or system, and to capitalize on it. This may also apply to facets of digital life — or perhaps to some of the ways that digital relating has warped our idea of what ‘social connection’ means — though my sense is that the more you can work with things in 3D flesh-and-blood, the better.
Full chart for Thursday’s Aquarius New Moon and eclipse. You can see the yellow Sun and gray Moon symbols in Aquarius on the right side, with the bold “27” next to them. Venus and Nessus are just above them, in Pisces, with a bold “06” next to them. View glyph key here.
Either way, with Mercury in the mix (especially since it makes a square to Jupiter in Scorpio Tuesday, on the way to the eclipse), thought processes and communication are key elements.
If you can keep your mindset relaxed and work with any details that don’t fit what you think you’re aiming for, you’ll likely find that it will help you stay on your toes. Anytime fixed signs are involved, it pays to stay mindful of your ability to be flexible. The other main element of this chart that intrigues me is Venus conjunct Nessus in early Pisces, making a sextile to Saturn in Capricorn. A Venus-Saturn sextile can indicate strength in accepting the difficult parts of the growth process — including a greater awareness of the reality of relationships.
‘Change’ seems to be, for many people, one of the hardest parts of even the most positive process of growth and healing, and it can be a challenging topic in intimate relationships. So it’s nice to see this idea of ‘strength in acceptance’ show up in such a dynamic eclipse chart.
Yet the presence of Venus and Nessus in Pisces also underscores a signature topic of our current moment: addressing, redressing and otherwise ‘stopping the buck’ on a pattern of boundary transgressions — especially of the emotional and/or sexual variety. As described above, this sextile offers strength and traction if you find these issues resonate for you. If they’re central to what you’re working through right now, you can more consciously engage with it.
Often the two weeks between eclipses get described as having a kind of ‘vortex’ or ‘time compression’ sense to them. Yet you might actually notice this more after the eclipse has gone by, thanks to the astrology that ends the week, which includes both Mercury and the Sun entering Pisces. We’ll have more about those events (and more) later in the week.
For now, to paraphrase one of Eric’s horoscopes below, see if you can let this Aquarius New Moon and eclipse loosen up your idea of what ‘your future’ looks like. The more you can do that, the more you may find the wiggle room and excitement to allow it to unfold. Sometimes we need to strongly guide events; sometimes we need to get out of our own way and allow a shift to happen. Most of the time, I suspect a blend of the two is called for. This looks like one of those times.
WoW AMANDA!!
Merci chérie xx
Excellent analysis, Amanda. Congratulations and thank you.
In salute to be, whose current absence from these columns is, I sincerely hope, temporary, I would like to point out that this upcoming eclipse at 27 degrees of Aquarius is conjunct the natal Moon in the USA’s Sibly chart. By coincidence, it is also the position of the Moon in my natal chart. So, how am I feeling in the run-up to this eclipse, and what could one look for in the American political situation that might echo it in some way?
The main feeling I have at this time is that I should enter Retreat. I feel the need to contemplate my destiny in solitude for a while. Is America about to close its borders with the outside world while it works out where it might go from here? I wouldn’t be at all surprised. It might be a very good first step in protecting itself from unwanted outside interference.
I have found recently that I have had to name the reason for my incarnation at this time. As an Aquarian it inevitably involves some degree of rebellion (how would the world progress without some degree of rebellion?) but invoking the future is never going to please those whose existence relies on the status quo. Things don’t stay the same, of course, but who is to say what should replace what we have? Perhaps of all nations, America represents capitalism, the concept that money makes the world go around. Perhaps it does, but can it do so forever? The Sabian symbol for the eclipse degree is “A Tree Felled And Sawed To Ensure A Supply Of Wood For The Winter.” That’s OK for a nation big in trees, but it may not be the answer to the world’s everlasting need for warmth in its winters.
And then, of course, there is Vampirism. The powerful suck the blood of the poor in order to live. Eventually, of course, the villagers rail against the monster in the tower. Cue Tarot. If I wasn’t homosexual I’d offer the homeless a shelter for the night but society would think I was only after their bodies – or their blood.
So there’s some thinking to do as we struggle towards this change of the Ages. Knowing that we must eventually come to accept globalisation – treating the planet as a single entity, and integrate the differences in our cultures – will require we accept that none of us has the answer, but all of us have a contribution to make towards the future of our planet’s controlling species.
I hope you have a productive eclipse. Think about the future you would like to see on this planet. Not just in the next few generations, but into the future. It starts here, and you are a part of it, just as you have always been.
Thank you, Geoff — and I think be would be pleased with your noticing the Sibly chart correlation!
One such future I’d like to see is gun control, early intervention by caring social and medical professionals towards mentally-disturbed persons and Americans finally understanding that the right to carry arms was directed towards abusive federal government (and possibly state militias), and that this “right” must be heavily modified and regulated.
The Florida shootings underscore, enough is enough!!
I agree with your sentiment on gun control, Pisces Sun, although I have a problem with using some kind of societal judgement on “mental disturbance” to determine whether an individual should be able to arm her/himself or not. Such decisions might, after all, be used to support “approved” political viewpoints.
There may possibly be a solution to the problem in some advice I read this morning concerning control of another unwanted experience – wasps at the picnic. Swatting at them will generally make them more aggressive, but placing an open jar of honey a short distance away often proves an effective distraction. How might this idea be used to combat random gun terrorism?
I will reference be once more, who – on more than one occasion in these columns – has drawn our attention to the approaching Pluto return in the USA’s Sibly chart. This will be exact towards the end of 2022, a little under five years from now, which could be the time that nuclear capability becomes a possibility for almost anyone wishing to own it. Imagine being able to download a program to print a 3D drone armed with missiles in your garage. That should stir even the most copacetic conservative to agitate for some supervision, and once control of such personal weaponry becomes essential, who is to say what other devices might fall within that law’s remit?
My thoughts and feelings are with the relatives and friends of the victims of this latest outrage in Florida. America, something will have to be done, and it’s better sooner rather than later.