Earth and the Moon will line up with the Sun and lunar south node on Sunday (Monday in the Eastern Hemisphere). The result will be a solar eclipse in the first degree of Gemini. From East Asia, and across the Pacific to western North America, viewers will see a black lunar disk block the Sun. Viscerally astonishing as solar eclipses are to witness, their astrology is best viewed without drama, as simply as possible, in order to work with what they symbolize — that something is out of place and must change.
When the sky is dark during the day and the darkest part is the middle of the Sun, things are out of place. When things are out of place, they cannot remain that way for long. That simple fact is how the reality of a solar eclipse connects with the symbolism of astrology.
One way astrology symbolically interprets celestial events is how big they are. When it comes to lights in the sky, none are as big, bright or important to your life as the luminaries, Sun and Moon. Earth’s rotation makes the Sun appear to move across the sky defining the day. Earth’s orbital movement, combined with the tilt of its rotational axis, makes the rising and setting Sun appear to move North or South along the horizon, defining the seasons. Unlike the Sun, the Moon really does move relative to our planet, and its orbital motion, combined with Earth’s rotation, contributes to its phases and the fact that it rises a bit later every night. For the most part, the respective paths of the luminaries across our sky, whether real or apparent, rarely intersect.
Another way astrology prioritizes events is by how rare they are. The Moon’s orbit around our planet is not in the same plane as Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Because of that, the two orbits intersect at only two small spots in the sky called the lunar nodes. Every month or so, the Moon is between Earth and Sun but the luminaries are in different planes for a New Moon, a conjunction of the Sun and Moon when we don’t see the Moon at all. A few times every year, the New Moon conjunction will take place near a node and that’s how a solar eclipse happens, as big as predictable celestial events get and rare as luminary events go. Further discerning solar eclipses from each other is which of the two nodes host the luminary conjunction and where that particular node is located.
Earth’s orbit around the Sun defines the apparent solar path across the sky, called the ecliptic. Where the Moon’s orbit rises above the ecliptic is the lunar north node. Conversely, where the Moon’s path takes it below the ecliptic is referred to as the southern node. The location of Sunday’s solar eclipse is the lunar south node in Gemini. The South Node is associated with what has already happened and its consequences. A solar eclipse near the South Node implies that there is something originating in the past that is out of place in the present. The eclipse’s location in Gemini gives us an idea of what that something might be.
Gemini is a mutable air sign ruled by Mercury. The planetary ruler and the the ancient element of air both represent something having to do with the mind, indicating that an idea, concept or mental pattern from the past is no longer appropriate. The mutable quality of Gemini works to prepare the collective mind for a new season of thought, by holding the time for an old pattern to be dismantled, making room for a new cycle to emerge. Finally, the dual nature of Gemini’s glyph and its association with twins indicates that it is a polarity of some sort which is no longer sustainable, or perhaps all of them.
When you look around, polarities abound. Sexual, racial, political and regional divisions are everywhere and most of them originated in a past which bears no resemblance to the present. Look within yourself and you will probably find similar polarities between what you were and what you are, what you show and what you hide, possibly even between what you say and what you do. At a time when it is painfully apparent that we are all in the same leaky boat, it is certainly appropriate to question if not discard any pretense at perpetuating partition.
If Sunday’s solar eclipse means anything, the resolution of old and outdated dualistic mental patterns must be a part of it. Finally, the particular kind of solar eclipse we are about to experience symbolizes a new pattern unheard of in our past.
Previously in human history, those brave souls who sought to increase the circle of light were paradoxically confronted by a proportionally increased circumference of darkness. Sunday’s solar eclipse will be of the annular variety, where the darkest part of the sky will be ringed by a circle of brilliant light — and what will ultimately prevail, once that which is out of place has passed, is the light. Would it not be grand if the real and visible symbolism of the sky were a harbinger for our planet and ourselves? Is there any reason why the duality between the darkness out of place and the light displaced should not resolve in favor of the light? The answer will begin inside each of us like a circle of light and if there are enough of us increasing our personal circle of light we will come together like a brilliant sky on the brightest day.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.