Tag Archives: eclipse

Making Your Moves: Leo Full Moon and Eclipse

By Amanda Painter

We’re entering the home stretch of the current eclipse season: on Monday, Jan. 21 (Jan. 20 in some time zones), we’ll get the Leo Full Moon and a total lunar eclipse. This occurs one day after the Sun enters Aquarius — which happens at 3:59 am EST (8:59:25 UTC) on Jan. 20.

Lunar eclipse between the statues of Hera and Apollo in Athens, Greece, July 27, 2018. Photo by Aris Messins

Lunar eclipse between the statues of Hera and Apollo in Athens, Greece, on July 27, 2018. Monday’s event will be visible from North and South America, Europe and western Africa. Central and eastern Africa and Asia will see a partial eclipse of the Moon. Photo by Aris Messins

So there will be a shift in tone accompanying this event — fitting enough, given the way modern astrology views eclipses as times for releasing what has run its course and for moving into a new pattern or toward a new phase of development.

This is also the last eclipse on the Leo-Aquarius axis for the time being. In whatever way it relates to the eclipses of this past summer for you, there may be a sense of closing a chapter or springboarding into new territory.

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They Can’t Shut Down the Cosmos

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By Amanda Painter

We’re not quite at the midpoint between eclipses — that occurs Jan. 14 with the first quarter Moon. How are you doing with ‘looking where you want to be’? Are you feeling drawn to continue clearing out some space, or to initiate a project, or to dive into something? Are you feeling optimistic or frustrated (or something else entirely)?

M100, known as a ‘grand design’ galaxy, is 56 million light-years away, and is similar to our Milky Way. Studies of variable stars in M100 have played an important role in determining the size and age of the Universe. Photo by NASA / ESA / Hubble.

I ask simply as a prompt for some reflection and self-assessment; a way of taking a barometric reading on your inner and outer environment. With all the major sign-ruling planets in direct motion — and therefore not ‘forcing’ introspection — it occurred to me these questions might be useful.

Did you watch Pres. Trump’s Oval Office address Tuesday night? I confess I did not, trusting that I could read all about it afterwards if needed, without subjecting myself to his toxic projections in real time. It’s challenging enough being surrounded by its effects as they ripple through the collective. But in researching some of the current astrological aspects, it occurred to me just how reflective his speech and government-by-tantrum are of the astrology.

The first aspect to really speak to me of this is tomorrow’s Sun-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. Now, on the level of your own personal life, you may experience this as another wave of deep cleaning and space clearing related to the recent eclipse — particularly regarding how you express or present yourself to the world. Or it could come through as the drive to get beneath the surface of something. Or perhaps as the need to repair a thing or situation that’s broken and needs radical changes to be able to continue.

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Approaching the Capricorn New Moon and Eclipse

Getting Ready to Get Going

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By Amanda Painter

Even though the calendar page will turn to a new year in a few days, the astrological year still has most of a season left to it. Yet the sense of one thing ending and something new beginning is still strong — and there is some major astrology on its way to support that sensation, even if the timing is not exact.

Photo by Amanda Painter

For one thing, Uranus will station direct on Jan. 6. This means that ALL the sign-ruling planets will be in direct motion for a spell — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (the Sun and Moon are never retrograde).

If that doesn’t sound like a cosmic green light to finally move important projects forward, I’m not sure what does. I don’t know about you, but after the continual feeling of limbo I experienced with this year’s inner-planet retrogrades, I’m really looking forward to a phase of momentum and traction, even if it’s brief.

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Integration and a Mercury Station

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By Amanda Painter

Although the astrology has been relatively quiet this first week following the eclipse season, I’ve definitely noticed a sense of things still feeling unsettled. Some of that may relate to Mercury and Mars still retrograde but nearing their respective direct stations. Some of it could be due to the fact that no matter how pivotal events like eclipses can be, we still have to figure out how to integrate them into the unbroken continuum of our daily lives — and of social contexts with much longer arcs.

Babbling brook at Camp Timber Trails, Tolland, MA. Photo by Amanda Painter.

For its part, Mercury will station direct in Leo this Sunday, Aug. 19, at 12:25 am EDT (4:24:38 UTC). Mars, which is now in late Capricorn, will station direct eight days later, on Monday, Aug. 27.

Both planets are slow right now, which according to astrological tradition, means they’re more powerful. This does not mean that they ‘make you do things’, but more that their significance is heightened. Slow, powerful, stormy Mercury may churn something up so that it comes more clearly to your attention; determined-but-frustrated stormy Mars could be asking you to understand your motivation and desires with absolute clarity before you charge ahead with them.

Inner planets stationing direct — along with events like eclipses — are often key times to notice themes in world events. Even if you’re not sure there’s a strong thematic link, it can be worthwhile to notice what grabs your attention and the headlines. I must confess, last week I just could not bring myself to deal with the news, despite that kind of contextualization being a hallmark of Planet Waves astrology writing. But as this week has progressed, a few particular stories have caught my eye.

Given how much news coverage is about disasters, it’s no surprise that many of the items I noticed are not uplifting — though there are a couple. Take, for example, reports on Wednesday that the last of Puerto Rico’s homes have had electricity restored.

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From There to Here, and Onward: Leo New Moon Eclipse

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By Amanda Painter

On Saturday, Aug. 11, we’ll experience a partial solar eclipse with the Leo New Moon. This is the third and final eclipse of the current series. In modern Western astrology, eclipses are associated with the path forward into purpose — though a sense of purpose can be hard to come by with so much distraction and difficulty in the world, and at our fingertips.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

I say that eclipses are associated with purpose because when the Sun and Moon make their conjunction at 5:58 am EDT (9:58 UTC) on Saturday, they’ll be roughly conjunct the lunar North Node.

The Nodes are continually moving invisible points that represent the intersection between the path the Sun appears to make around the Earth from our perspective, and the Moon’s actual orbit.

When a Full or New Moon occurs near these points, we get an eclipse. In astrology, the South Node is associated with ‘karma’ — which you can also think of as overdeveloped character traits or comfortable habits that impede your growth, if you’re not into the idea of past lives. We associate the North Node with underdeveloped qualities or the life lessons necessary for growth — things that can also be thought of as your ‘soul’s path forward’ or ‘dharma’.

Dharma can also be translated as “acting as if to hold the world together” — or, as Eric wrote recently, “acting as if to hold the world.” No single person can actually, literally accomplish the feat of holding the world together. Yet what each of us can do is to be as conscientious as we can about always living our values and ethics; to behave with empathy, generosity and responsibility; to make choices that cause ourselves and others the least possible harm and greatest good; and being willing to move continually closer to what feels like a life lived with clear purpose.

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Between Eclipses, and Finding the Unknown

Entering the Eclipse Zone with Pluto

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By Amanda Painter

Tonight is the Cancer New Moon, exact at 10:48 pm EDT (02:48 UTC Friday). But it’s not just a New Moon: it is also a partial solar eclipse. Not only that, it’s an eclipse opposite Pluto in Capricorn.

It might look like they’re about to step off the edge, but they’re not. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Perhaps the most striking story I’ve seen in the news this week that illustrates this setup is the rescue of the 12 Thai student soccer players and their coach from the Tham Luang cave. Even though the rescue was completed on Tuesday, I’d say it’s still in the zone.

Pluto (lord of the underworld) in Capricorn (mountains) is absolutely subterranean. A New Moon is the darkest part of the lunar phase, yet it’s also the turning point when a new cycle begins. Cancer, of course, is a water sign — and the one most associated with taking care of others. It’s also worth noting that Jupiter stationed direct in Scorpio on Tuesday: an image of the trapped (or ‘fixed’) water that had closed off the cave deep under the surface, and the good fortune involved in being able to emerge from it.

Yet it’s Pluto’s associations with death, fear, and profound, soul-level change that really bring it all home. Think for a moment about the inherent metaphor: 13 people were ‘entombed’ while alive underground. They were brought back to the surface, but they will forever be changed in some way (likely in many ways) as a result of this experience. They can no longer be exactly who they were before — yet they still are who they are, and they are alive.

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