Eclipse season is here! It’s time for a cosmic reset. In astrology, eclipses symbolize a time when human will and its relationship to the natural environment get synced up. We get to adjust our behavior and our actions to the conditions of a specific quality of time. Astrological timing occurs in cycles, and eclipses represent a “master clock” that delineates the cyclic relationship between the Sun and the Moon. The Sun indicates our life force and the ideals, inspirations, and fuel we need to embody a purpose. The Moon describes the instincts, emotional nature, and nervous system conditioning inherited from our childhood environment and ancestors. The Moon is felt in the body and oftentimes gets rationalized by the Sun. When they come together in a solar eclipse (new Moon) or lunar eclipse (full Moon), much gets revealed about how our ideals manifest on the material plane.
Here, on the ground, we might experience eclipses (they usually come in sets of two), as a time of erratic energy, high emotionality, and sudden changes. There’s a “fever-pitch” quality to them. They tend to usher in make-or-break situations and times of crisis. They are particularly good at fast-tracking changes that we’ve been sluggish in implementing. For example, if we’ve been overly cautious about making a move that would be good for us, an eclipse will give us a big push forward so that we’re in sync with the cosmic clock. On the other hand, if we’ve been heading down a path that is at odds with our nature, or trying to execute something that is ill-timed, an eclipse will derail us.
Nature speaks loudly during eclipses, which is one of the reasons that intention-setting and other manifestation ceremonies are not encouraged at this time. It’s a time to listen and observe. There’s a cyclic momentum and natural intelligence that is bigger and more powerful than human will and perception.
Astronomically, eclipses occur when a lunation is in close proximity to the lunar nodes. The lunar nodes are the two points (north and south) where the Moon’s orbital path crosses the ecliptic (the orbital plane of Earth around the Sun). A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, and a lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow.
The upcoming lunar eclipse on September 17 happens at the Moon’s north node. Astrologically, the north node symbolizes areas of life that crave growth and exploration. It also indicates qualities and new ideas we might become enamored, or even obsessed with.
This particular eclipse is complex because the north node is currently in Aries, even though the lunation is in Pisces, marking a shift in the current series of eclipses. For the past year, we’ve been having eclipses on the Aries-Libra axis. This month we will experience a point of transition to the next series on the Virgo-Pisces axis. Each series lasts approximately 18 months. We still have more Aries-Libra eclipses coming up, but we can think of this one in September as a preview for the next series.
Lunar eclipses are often characterized as full Moons on steroids. We receive the illumination and culmination of feeling that’s typical at a full Moon but with the added consequences and emotional excitement of being aligned with the nodes. Full Moons also symbolize points of release. This can look like major endings and beginnings for areas of life represented by the signs involved.
This upcoming Pisces eclipse points to topics on the spectrum of toxicity and purity, isolation and union, and the material and the sublime. It also activates the dominant signature of 2025, which is Neptune’s copresence with Saturn in Pisces and their upcoming conjunction in 2026. We’re being introduced to ever-intensifying confusion over the nature of reality, illusion, and what happens when the lines blur between the two.
We could experiment with integrating fantasy and fact to create something completely different. This eclipse’s proximity to Neptune also symbolizes significant events related to bodies of water and the rules and regulations that are (not) working to ensure their health and safety. As Pisces represents the ubiquitous, we’re also likely to learn more about what it means to be viral in terms of pathogens in our air and water, (mis)information, and cultural trends. Pisces is also the sign of compassion, anesthetics, convalescence, and transcendence. It might be time to look for the medicine in the poison, and the healing in the pain.
This article appears in September 2024.
